Friday, January 31, 2025
I Peter 5:8
Friday, January 31, 2025 |
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
For further study - I Peter 5:6-13
Our devotional reading for today starts with the exhortation to be vigilant in light of the reality that the devil is loose and seeking to devour each of us. Don’t let any one tell you that the Devil has been "bound". He will be "bound" when Jesus comes back to the Earth, Revelation 20:1-3. Notice James 4:7 for the way to have victory over the Devil.
The extended reading for today ends with a salute from the church, which Peter had started in the city of Babylon. Peter had been obedient to Jesus who said to go to the "ends of the earth" with the gospel. He went to Babylon to start a church.
From the outset, let me tell you that I believe Peter was truly in the literal city of Babylon when he wrote this passage of scripture. I do not believe that the use of the term "Babylon" is a code name for the city of Rome. I do not ever remember Peter being cryptic with his words in written or spoken form. Babylon is Babylon.
The fact is that Babylon was the second most populated Jewish city in the world at the time Peter wrote this epistle. Jerusalem was the most populated Jewish city with Babylon a close second.
What this means of course is that the literal city of Babylon on the Euphrates River, then in Mesopotamia, was still alive, a vibrant city, over 500 years after the fall of the Babylonian Empire. In Peter's day, Babylon was a thriving city. In fact, even today Babylon is still a city inhabited. In recent days there was a military compound there called Camp Babylon.
With this information, and the knowledge of Bible prophecy that the city of Babylon must be destroyed and never lived in again, one has to realize that Bible prophecy found in Isaiah 13-14, Jeremiah 50-51, Revelation 18:10,17,19 and Revelation 16:17-21 all state that Babylon, the literal city, must be destroyed and never lived in again - forever. These prophecies have not been fulfilled.
The conflict going on today in modern-day Iraq is setting the stage for all the aforementioned prophecies to be fulfilled - and soon.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me to understand current events in light of Biblical prophecy.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me to understand current events in light of Biblical prophecy.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
I Peter 4:17
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 |
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
For further study - I Peter 4:1-19
The Apostle Peter had a very close relationship with Jesus even though Peter was often in trouble with the Lord. There are a number of examples that I could bring to your attention, let me just remind you of one.
At Caesarea Philippi, in the foothills of Mt Hermon, at the pronouncement by Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, Matthew 16, is that one example. Those lips that praised the Lord, a few moments later, would be used to rebuke the Lord.
When Jesus told His disciples that He would have to go to Jerusalem and there be put to death, Peter, the text tells us, rebuked the Lord. The Lord's response was "get behind me Satan", Matthew 16:22-23. Peter was quite the character. As we read I Peter we see that this Apostle had matured and was able to be used of the Lord to remind the body of Christ that "judgment" is coming. The judgment of the "works of Christians."
One of the great past-times of Christians today is judging others. Paul told the Romans to not do that, Romans 14:10. We should not judge others. We must remember that we "all" will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ one day.
Peter goes one better than Paul, he says all judgment must start at the Church, "the house of God." In verse 5 of I Peter 4, Peter also reminds each of us that we will all give an account of ourselves to Jesus.
It is so important for us to remember that there is a "judgment day" ahead. It's not for judging to see if we're saved, that's already been determined before we get to the Judgment Seat of Christ.
This judgment is to determine if our "works" receive "rewards" for doing good works in His power and for His glory.
Bible prophecy, if studied, will reveal to each of us, every day, how close we are to the Rapture when Jesus shouts and calls us up into the heavenlies to be with Him forever. It is within this chapter of I Peter that we can find out how we can, and must live in the end times.
In fact, Peter reminds the readers of this book that the "end times are close, at hand," verse 7. This verse means that the Rapture is an "any moment" event. The days that we are living in now seemingly are the days leading up to the Rapture.
These "how-to-live tips" will prepare us for the Judgment Seat to follow right after the Rapture of the Church. This is an event that could happen at "any moment", maybe today. Keep looking up.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, help me to remember that one day I will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ and thank You for the instruction given to us from You through Peter on how I am to live as I await Your shout to join You in the heavenlies.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, help me to remember that one day I will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ and thank You for the instruction given to us from You through Peter on how I am to live as I await Your shout to join You in the heavenlies.
Monday, January 13, 2025
I Peter 3:22
Monday, January 13, 2025 |
Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
For further study - I Peter 3:1-22
Our key verse for our devotional reading today, verse 22, tells us where Jesus is right now. I want us to think about this verse in a moment. But first might we peruse the rest of the chapter, our extended reading for today.
Peter tells us, those of us who are husbands or wives, how we are to live with our mate. Verses 1-6 address how the wife should live, in "subjection" to her own husband.
Now the word "subjection" is not a bad word. The Lord speaks of His being "subject" unto His Father. The Word also tells us that we should be "subject" to those who are placed over us in higher authority, in leadership roles in the church and/or in the political arena.
God has a plan for each of us and the wife is to be "subject" to her own husband. Peter then addresses the husband, now that would be me, and those of you who are husbands.
Verse 7 reveals how I, as a husband, and all of you reading these verses who are husbands, must live. We must "honor" our wives lest our prayers be "hindered".
The word "honor" has the instruction within its meaning that says we must "lift up" our wives, place them on a pedestal, give each of them "respect."
If we fail to follow the Lord's directives our prayers will be hindered. By the way, notice that as we live our lives together, the Lord's eyes are upon us, He knows all that we are doing in our husband-wife relationship.
Verse 15 is an exhortation for each of us to have a ready answer to everyone that asks us of our reason for the "hope" that is within our lives. The answer of course is that the "blessed hope" is the truth of the "glorious appearing of Jesus Christ" in the future, seemingly the near future, Titus 2:13.
There is much more in these verses but look once again with me to our key verse, verse 22. Jesus is now in heaven, not on the throne that the "Most High God" will give Him one day, but instead Jesus is "seated at the right hand of God", interceding for each of us.
One day God will give Jesus Christ the "dominion over all of creation." The "kingdom" and His "kingship" comes about when Jesus returns to the earth from the heavenlies to set up His Kingdom.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me Lord to be the husband that Your Word tells me I should be, until You come.
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
I Peter 2:9
Wednesday, January 08, 2025 |
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
For further study - I Peter 2:1-10
Right out of the gate in I Peter 2, the apostle helps each of us know how to "grow" in our relationship with Jesus. Peter first informed us of what to "lay aside". The list of items Peter mentions will be the activities that will harm or at least hinder our growth.
These activities to be removed – "malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and evil speaking" cause a slowdown in our advancement in the Christian lifestyle the Lord wants each of us to have in Him.
Next, Peter exhorts us to "desire the sincere milk of the Word" that we might be able to "grow'. Notice Peter did not say the "meat" of the Word, a real deep study of the Word of God. What he mentioned was the "milk" of the Word. "Meat" is for "grownups" and "milk" is for those young in the Lord. Now, age here is not talking about how long you have been saved, but how mature you and I might be in the Lord.
You might recognize the phrasing as something you read in the Old Testament and you would be correct. Just before the Lord met with Moses to give him the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, in Exodus 19 the Lord tells Moses that the Jewish people have a special calling and He has set them aside for His purpose.
Look at Exodus 19:5-6. The Lord tells Moses the Jewish people are a "peculiar treasure", a "people above all people", a "kingdom of priests", and a “holy nation”. It does sound very similar to I Peter 2:9. What God does when His chosen people, the Jewish people, are disobedient and run away from God's plan for their lives, He then turns to Christians to carry forth the message.
There are some slight changes in the 4 descriptions of the people God wants to use to reach the world but the same game plan is in play. When the Jews rejected Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior of the world, He set the Jews aside and gave the present-day ministry to Christians. Remember, I said "set aside" not replaced them.
God still has a plan for the Jews as spoken to Moses in Exodus 19. After the Rapture, during the seven year Tribulation Period, the Lord will re-commission the Jews to "show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light".
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me, dear Lord, to "grow" so that I may "show."
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me, dear Lord, to "grow" so that I may "show."
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