Pastor Babij, teaching from 1 Peter 3:18-22, shows how Christ’s suffering is the pathway to victorious living. Pastor explains the following points:
1. Jesus’ victory over sin is final and complete
2. Jesus, the Just, suffered for the unjust
3. Jesus died for a purpose
Pastor shows that Jesus’ victory over sin and death is the Christian’s victory as well. Believers therefore do not need to fear anything they might suffer in this world.
Full Transcript:
We will be looking at 1 Peter 3:18-22:
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
Let’s pray:
Lord, as we approach this most difficult passage of Scripture, I pray, Lord, that You would give me liberty to explain the truths found here, so that we may get a sense of what it says. For the very practical reason, Lord, of it aiding us during times of trouble and suffering. That we would know the plan of God and pattern of Christ’s suffering and what it accomplished for us. I pray, Lord, as we do that, You may strengthen us in our heart and mind to become soldiers of Jesus Christ knowing we are on the winning, victorious side of the Cross of Calvary. Bless our time together now in Christ’s name. Amen.
Remember, the first section of 1 Peter is salvation. All Christians need to have a good understanding about what salvation is, and that they are truly and honestly saved. They know if they die today, they would go to be with the Lord. The second section was submission, which are the different ways a Christian is to submit coupled with the characteristics and attitudes for proper submission that is pleasing to the Lord.
The third major section is that of suffering. By way of wisdom, the Apostle Peter has laid the foundation for Christians to be prepared for any kind of trial or suffering that may come their way. That they would be able to stand firm in the truths that they know already and that have been accomplished for them by the Lord. Meaning, all Christians need to grow in these truths to understand the first two sections, so that this third section of suffering will not be debilitating or confusing when those times come.
Thus, this third major section of 1 Peter has to do with suffering for the cause of righteousness. In other words, suffering for doing what is right. On this Lord’s day, we will see how Christ suffered unjustly for the cause of righteousness, and Christ’s pattern of suffering was ultimately the pathway to victory, which is very key. What Christ did is the pathway to victory and glory.
Jesus’ victory is evident in the pattern of his suffering. Specifically, in three areas. First, it is that of being victory of Christ over sin. In 1 Peter 3:18, there are three things that come under this, which is that Christ suffered for sins once for all. Christ suffered for sins once. That is, His sacrifice was perfect and final. Therefore, it was to never be repeated in history or in symbol again.
Once for all offering of Christ stands in contrast to the annual sacrifice of the Jewish high priest on the day of atonement. The high priest job was never ever finished. They had to keep giving animals over to sacrifice for the sins of the people. It never finished. It was a very wearisome job. It was a repetitious work year after year.
Christ, at the fullness of time, in the consummation of the ages, came to earth to finish everything forever. Jesus came to put away sin by means of His sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice was and is an unrepeatable event according to Hebrews 9:25:
nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
This is where Jesus was so completely different than the Jewish high priest. For it was not necessary for Christ to suffer again and again. He was able to get the real expiation of sin complete, so that nothing else needed to be done.
Jesus does not need to leave and reenter often. Jesus does not need to shed His blood often. Jesus does not need to die often. Jesus does not need to offer sacrifice of Himself often. Jesus does not need to come into the world as a man often. He suffered for sins once.
When the Reformers began to see this, they realized they could not participate in the Catholic Mass anymore since it was a repetition of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is unnecessary. Otherwise, the Scripture would not stress this so strongly, not just here, but all over the Bible. How absurd it would be to make Christ do what Scripture over and over said that He did once for all like in Hebrews 9:26:
Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
That is a definite and strong Scripture to be able to convince us that we don’t need to keep going back over to some things. It is done for us. In fact, in Hebrews 9:12, it says:
and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
In other words, Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption for us by His one-time sacrifice. Therefore, why don’t the Jews offer sacrifice anymore in the temple? It is because Jesus finished the sacrificial system. He completed and fulfilled it, so no one needs to do that anymore. Jesus Christ becomes the sin bearer. In fact, the three great truths accomplished by our Lord is found in Hebrews 10:2:
Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?
Then, Jesus sanctified forever those who would believe. Hebrews 10:10 says:
By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Then, He perfected everything forever. Hebrews 10:14 says:
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
We get this finality about the Cross of Christ. What He completed on that Cross was definite for us, and never having to be repeated, which brings us to the second thing. Under the victory of Christ over sin, Christ suffered as a righteous man. Jesus suffered as the innocent one.
In 1 Peter 3:18, the unjust refers to us, the ungodly, unholy, and guilty sinner, who had no chance of getting to God apart from the finished work of Christ. The just refers to Christ. Acts 3:14 says:
But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you
In other words, Christ’s perfect righteousness meant that He never deserved to die. He was not dying for Himself. He was the perfect Son of God and the perfect Man. Jesus endured the pains of death on behalf of those who deserved to die, which is us. I like the way one writer put it:
He, the good One, died for us, the bad ones.
The Lord died as a righteous man, which leads to a third thing. Under the victory of Christ over sin, Christ died for an actual purpose. In 1 Peter 3:18, He died to bring us to God. No one else could bring us to God. We couldn’t find our way to God and didn’t have directions to get there. This follows right on the heels of what was said already in 1 Peter 2:25:
For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
Of course, this was coming from Isaiah 53:6:
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
This is a universal need among human beings. We have gone astray. We are wondering sheep with no direction, no one to look after us in this world, no one to protect us, and no one to show us the way to God. Then, the good shepherd comes on the scene, the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Here is the metaphor that points to the picture of wandering sheep and wandering sheep must be led since they are wandering in blindness, sinful passions and desires. They are caught in that vicious cycle of living according to their passions and desires. In 1 Peter 4:3, Peter brings to our attention:
For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
That is who we were before and what we did before. Of course, we did that in ignorance. Our lives have been muddied and stained by sin, yet dead, wandering sinners have no way to remove that stain. For the sinner is unclean and polluted by the filth of a transmitted sin nature and personal acts of sin. It is Jesus Christ that has the power to cleanse it. Through Jesus, we are washed from sin. In Acts 22:16, it says:
‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’
It is the only way we can have our sins washed away. Jesus Christ did that in His one-time, perfect sacrifice on the Cross, where He accomplished eternal redemption. In this phrase, “so that He might bring us to God,” is the purpose and why He came. No one was able to get to God apart from Jesus Christ.
There is an interesting connection to this phrase in the Greek culture. In the court of kings, there was an official in that court called a prosagoge, which is an introducer or giver of access. In other words, this was his job, and his function was to decide who should be admitted to the king’s presence and who should be kept out.
Once we, by repentance and faith, are cleansed by our sins by the sacrificial death of Jesus, that alone gives us access to God and brings us to God. Jesus Christ, through what He did, gives us access to God, and may I just say: period. Nothing else can give us access to God.
This is how we get saved, not by works or good deeds. That comes afterwards. We cannot add anything to the Cross, which has already been done. We must accept it as it is, and what Christ has done. Then, we have victory over sin. Because of what He has done, we can start putting our sin to death.
This leads me to a second point under the areas of victory, which is victory of Christ over death. At the end of 1 Peter 3:18, something happened when Jesus was put to death in the flesh. Simply, it means that He died in the sphere of weakness, which was His flesh.
Jesus took on a human body and came into the world as a real man, which is stressed all over Scripture. He had to become a real man, so that He could die on the cross. God cannot die on the Cross without taking on flesh. This points to the very fact that Jesus suffered a violent death as a human being. 1 Peter 2:24 says:
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
The Scripture repeats these things to give us some good theology about what God did. If it was not for Jesus coming to this earth and submit willingly to the Father’s will, then we would all be without hope because we are sinners with nothing to offer God. Yet, the Lord responded to sinful humanity with nothing to offer Him by offering Himself as an atoning sacrifice. Jesus came to earth as a man, in the weakness of human flesh, to redeem mankind from his fallen state, and to regain mankind’s destiny.
The Lord accomplished this by the design of Jesus’ suffering and death. Ultimately, the Lord had victory over death. Connected to the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 says:
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55“O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ triumphs over our greatest enemy, which is death. We cannot win death. Do you know anyone who has ever won over death? The only one is that of who God granted in Scripture. God, Himself, overcomes death, so that gives us hope to know that we do not have to fear that death is the end and doesn’t lead us somewhere. Death leads us to the presence of God.
Next, under this point, Christ is made alive in the sphere of power. His body died, but His spirit lived. Yet, the body of Jesus Christ was not left among the dead to rot in the grave. Scripture tells us in Psalm 16:10:
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
Jesus was entombed as one dead, but there was no decomposition, putrefaction, and no flesh rot touched His holy body, which laid in the grave. Jesus was made alive in the Spirit, which refers to the resurrection. It is the resurrection that divides Jesus from the rest of humanity. His eternal deity was strikingly and clearly manifested through His physical resurrection.
Essentially, the resurrection is what makes Jesus different from all earthly would-be prophets and messiahs. They did not raise from the dead, but all died in their decaying corruption. However, not with Christ for He is risen. Romans 1:4 says:
who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord
The resurrection enables us to see Jesus as He really is, which is God in the flesh. That is the good news, and without Jesus, there is no good news, no hope for everlasting life, no freedom from the slavery of sin, no being made right with God, no future ahead, and no hope that you will enter heaven and be with God forever.
Leading to the third point, which is the victory of Christ over evil. This is one of the most difficult passages of Scripture in all the Bible, and it would be an understatement to say that it is not difficult. In fact, when I was reading through all the material on this passage, I found maybe ten interpretations of this passage. It seems like the commentaries don’t even want to deal with it, and they just go to the next passage.
However, I cannot do that. I must look at the text and see what it says. Specifically, in 1 Peter 3:19-22, the first thing we see is that Christ’s victory extended into the spiritual realm seen in His saving power. In 1 Peter 3:19-20, the incarcerated spirits seem to be the same ones Peter mentions in 2 Peter 2:4-5:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly
The question you want to ask: why is this event repeated in 1 Peter, and then in 2 Peter? Also, it is an event that comes up more than once in Scripture in a very powerful way. Something is going on preflood that is very devastating to the world. When they bring these events up, what exactly are they talking about? Peter is writing in a way where the people already had knowledge of this, so he doesn’t go on to explain it.
In Noah’s day, something happened that caused God to bring about this catastrophic, worldwide flood. Then, incarcerate a section of very powerful, fallen spirit beings or angels, so I want you to see some things in Genesis 6:1-5:
Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Another translation of Nephilim is giants, but some believe that it was also giants thrown out of heaven that became part of the population of Palestine. Even in Numbers 13:33, it says:
“There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
In other words, they look small in comparison to how gigantic they were. They were powerful human beings. According to this passage and Epistle of Jude, these Nephilim were fallen, angelic beings also called sons of God, and these fallen, angelic beings are said in Scripture to have left their proper abode after strange flesh, which is cohabited with human women to produce a superhuman race.
Now, that sounds unusual. In Scripture, it does tell us that the Lord did something. This is a catastrophic event. Jude 1:6-7 says:
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
Abode means the parameters of their created being. In summing all of that up, this seems to be a sinister plot of Satan to contaminate humanity by involving the birth process. Again, this is no mistake that often Satan wants to mimic what God would do. So, what did he want to mimic?
Remember, Mary becomes supernaturally pregnant when the Holy Spirit of God came upon her, which brought about the incarnation of the son of God. That was a miraculous thing that happened, so this diabolical plot was overturned when God sent a universal flood to wipe out this contaminated seed. The only ones who escaped this gross, abominable accused practice was Noah and his family.
Something has drastically gone wrong in humans where only eight people could be saved, so what was going on? IF we think of these things, then we see that this could be the reason from Scripture. Genesis 6:11-13 says:
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
In other words, sin had so much abounded with all the demonic activity that was going on that God could do nothing but send a worldwide flood and wipe everything out. Now, who is Noah? Noah, as it says in Scripture, found favor in the eyes of God. Noah was a righteous man and he walked with God.
The length of time Noah labored and preached was a long time. In fact, the bible says that he preached for one-hundred and twenty years. For the very purpose of giving the world time to repent and believe Noah’s message.
When we look at our passage in 1 Peter 3:20, Noah challenged that unrighteous generation of his days, which was filled with violence and corrupt with his message of salvation. He warned that if they continued in unbelief, then divine judgement would overtake them.
In 2 Peter 2:5, the reason why Noah’s faith condemned the world is because what he was told by God, yet unseen, came to be in every detail to this unbelieving, corrupt, and violent world. Here is a personal righteousness of Noah contrasted with the godlessness all around him. In Genesis 7:1, it says:
Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.
His faith condemned the people around him, who disbelieved God and disregarded the warning. No person responded to his faithful example and his righteous preaching. After showing you all of this, back in 1 Peter 3, you can see more of what the Apostle Peter is communicating as far as Jesus’ proclamation to those fallen, angelic beings in Noah’s day.
In 1 Peter 3:19, it is translated as spirits since this word is not usually referred to human beings. Here, it is used to refer to angels, which are angels that are now in prison. Preflood, God had to do something about that event. Jesus made proclamation, so He went back either between His death and resurrection, or after. Whether or not it was in human spirit, I don’t know. However, He went back and made proclamation to those spirits that corrupted humanity.
Their diabolic plot and transgression not only put the whole created world in jeopardy, but also God’s purpose of salvation by grace, in Christ Jesus, to mankind. Thus, Jesus went to the place of imprisonment of these fallen angels, which is also called Tartarus. In 2 Peter, hell is the word Tartarus. Also, it is translated as Hades and Hell.
Now, we know that Tartarus, Hades, and Hell is a permanent place that departed souls go when they die. The permanent place it dumps out into is the lake of fire, which is found in Revelation 20:14:
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
It empties out to the final and second death, which is the eternal death where there is no chance to be saved. What Jesus does is make a proclamation to them, so what is his proclamation? Well, it doesn’t tell us what it is, but if I could put the story together it could be something like this where Jesus could have said:
In the beginning of time, when you evil spirits sought the utter corruption of humanity, you tried to usurp my plan of redemption, and you corrupted the people that were on the earth. They did not submit to Noah’s preaching, my authority as Lord, and your motive was to undermine my plan for humanity and take over. Then thousands of years later, I have patiently worked the plan of redemption, submitted to the Father’s will, humbled Myself by being obedient to the point of death, and even death on the Cross. Well, I am here to proclaim to you that I won. I came to proclaim to you that Christ’s proclamation, following His death and resurrection, was a victory proclamation.
When a king won a battle, he would take the other king, before he was put to death, and put his foot on his neck and say, “I won.” Usually, they would end up killing that king. Jesus, by His finished work, sealed the fate of these disobedient spirits. Thus, bringing them into final subjection. Jesus is now exalted to the place of sovereignty. As one of many passages of Scripture, Colossians 2:15 says:
When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
By Jesus’ atoning death, he defeats Satan and death. In Hebrews 2:14, it says:
Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil
The power of Satan has been rendered, inoperative, by Christ. Satan’s power of death has been annulled for those who are united to Christ, His death, and His resurrection. Satan’s authority to condemn and punish forgiven sinners has been made void. For them, God has already judged, condemned, and punished all their sins in Christ Jesus. There are other New Testament passages that show that Satan was disarmed. John 12:3-32 says:
“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
Then, we come to this next passage of Scripture in 1 Peter, which is that Christ’s suffering was also a type. In 1 Peter 3:21, the phrase, “corresponding to that,” means the antitype, which is like the stamp and the dye – one is the shadow and the other is the actual event. In other words, this term connotes the exactness of correspondence between the stamp and the dye. As mentioned here, baptism is a symbolic picture of the resurrection of Christ.
With this verse, the problem is that some people stop at “baptism,” and they assume that baptism saves. However, that is not what it is saying. Don’t get stuck on the phrase, “baptism now saves you,” because neither water nor baptism can save. The act itself does not save. As the text says, it cannot remove the filth of sin or dirt from the flesh.
Baptism does not function as an automatic right of forgiveness and spiritual cleansing. It must be accomplished by some form of a response to God. Again, what saves, as said in our text, is an appeal to God with a good conscience, which is what? In Hebrews 10:22, it says:
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
That is regeneration and being born-again. We have been cleansed and forgiven by being born-again. We are at peace with God only by the blood of Christ, and only then can we have a restored relationship with God. The risen and reigning Christ saves, and is the basis of our appeal to God.
If it is talking about water baptism, it represents all of this, and the representation of baptism is death, burial, and resurrection. That is why there is no such thing as an unbaptized believer. It goes together and is part of the package of salvation. You believe in Jesus Christ and come into union with Jesus Christ by submitting to that first step of obedience, which is to talk into waters of baptism and proclaim that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. Then, you live for Him the rest of your days. Ultimately, it is by the resurrection of Christ that one is saved.
The shadows of the Old Testament point to the very thing that seals, accomplishes, and finishes what Christ did on the Cross, which was raise from the dead. Just as God provided an ark to provide Salvation for Noah and his family as a type of Christ, and just as Noah was saved through water, the believer is saved through and by the virtue of Christ’s resurrection. God has provided salvation through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. The Living Bible translation has put 1 Peter 3:21 like this:
(That, by the way, is what baptism pictures for us: In baptism we show that we have been saved from death and doom by the resurrection of Christ; not because our bodies are washed clean by the water but because in being baptized we are turning to God and asking him to cleanse our hearts from sin.)
That is a good way to put it. Bottomline, for someone who is being insulted, persecuted, and suffering for righteousness in the context of 1 Peter, and because they are a Christian, they are to be well informed of something, which is to be cognizant that Christ has overcome death and Satan by His death. Christ reigns victorious over all evil forces that could hold power over His children like sin, evil, evil spirits, and death. Christ’s victory went to the ultimate place.
Lastly, Christ’s victory extended into the highest realm to show His sovereign power. In 1 Peter 3:22, it is telling us where Christ reigns right now, which is at the right hand of God in heaven. In fact, other passages say that Jesus is sitting, so why does it say that He is sitting?
Usually, a king does sit, but it also means that Jesus, as the high priest, will no longer go through all the standing. In the tabernacle, there was no chairs. The priests had no time to sit but keep working and working. Now, Jesus Christ sits down after the work is accomplished. Jesus assumes the position of authority, which is in the perfect tense, so it is still taking place.
Then, He is at the righthand, which signifies the might and majesty of deity sitting on the thrown at the right hand of the king. He, who sits there along with the king, Jesus is to bear the designation that is equivalent to saying that He is the ruler of the universe. There is nothing that is not under the rule of Christ.
A last thing we see here is that Jesus has all the authority over angels, authorities, and powers. They are under His subjection. Whether they like it or not, it is on what Christ has done and who He is. Philippians 2:9-11 says:
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Everyone will confess that someday. In staying within the context and flow of 1 Peter, the pattern of Christ’s suffering led to our victory. Our victory is over sin, evil, evil spirits, and death. Thus, Jesus suffered injustice for our salvation. Jesus satisfied the justice of the Father and was vindicating by His resurrection. In that, the Father accepted His offering for the sin of the unjust. Meaning, we are vindicated and on the victory side.
When a Christian is being persecuted for their faith, in Christ alone, for their obedience of doing what is right before God, and for their refusal to participate in the sins of society, we can find comfort and contentment in the middle of our trouble by reflecting thoughtful on the ultimate vindication and victory we have in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ sacrifice was so perfect, final, and sufficient that it gave, to all who believe, a permanent justification before God, and the continued position that cannot be altered before God, which will be enjoyed forever. That is what God gives us. Because He gives us that, all things that could happen to us on earth are paled to what God has already done and what we are to look forward to in glory, which is where we are heading. We’re heading to Glory and the presence of God.
I pray that as we consider that, we would be sober minded, and desire to walk holy and righteous in this world. If it need be that we suffer for what is right, then so be it. God knows you are going through it, and He will give you all you need to go through it, and He has already given you stuff now.
No demons, power, government, or person can take away what God has given you. They may take your life, but they cannot take your soul. Your soul is secure forever, and someday, you will get a new body anyway. These will go to the grave, die, and decay.
Someday, we will get a new body and be with Christ forever ruling and reigning with Him, which I believe to be on earth. Then, in the eternal state, we will be with God forever, and there will be no separation between us and God. The New Jerusalem will come down, and there’s nothing that separates anyone from God anymore. God will be our God, we will be His people, and that is the eternal state. All theologies end there. Let’s pray:
Lord, I pray that this passage of Scripture would resonate in our minds during the week, months, and years ahead. Lord, we want to rest in these things because You are so awesome and great. Lord Jesus, for what You accomplish is so final and complete that we could just rest on what You have done. You are the One who leads us to God. You are the One who keeps us here on earth. You are the One who is going to bring us and get us to take us to your side. Lord, we so much want to Thank You for these things. We are so privileged to know that this is in the word of God, and it has always been there. I pray, Lord, as You bring these things to our mind today, You would never allow us to forget them. Let us meditate on these points of theology until it becomes part of our thinking and decisions. That it would move our will to make the right decisions. Lord, if we must go through some punishment because we are doing what is right, then I pray, Lord, that at that moment, You would give us everything that we need apart from what You are already giving us. I pray all of this in the Great and Awesome name of Jesus Christ. Amen.