January 6, 2008
Scripture:
This morning we have considered the glory of the Lord. He had glory before the world was made, but when sin came into the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, out of love, laid aside His glory and came to die. He took the form of a man and became obedient unto death. But now He has risen, ascended, and is seated at the right hand of God. That brings me to John 17:24: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” I can never get enough of this verse. I can feel the love and pathos in His voice when He said it. He knew that when we behold His glory, we will be astounded, amazed, and satisfied. Peter, James, and John saw the Lord in his transfigured body, but they were in their natural bodies. When we see Him, we will have our glorified bodies. Paul was blinded by the Lord’s glory in Acts; we will not be blinded, we will be able to behold Him without any effects. We will be like the queen of Sheba; we will realize that we did not even know half of it. We will see the One Who came and died for us. It will captivate us and we will never get over it. And don’t forget, when He comes back, He will bring us with Him and we will be associated with Him. As we ponder this, there is more than our minds can get around. But this should cause us to desire more and more to see that glory. We so weakly enter into all he would like us to!
EG Hymn 335 – I am so glad that our Father in Heaven
Prayer
Today I’d like to talk about another fish story: Jonah. Read Jonah 1:1–3. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. But Jonah didn’t want to obey God, so he went to Joppa and got on a boat heading for Tarshish. God caught up with Jonah, though, and sent a storm. The sailors were scared, so they cast lots to see whose fault it was. It was Jonah, they discovered. “What should we do about it?” they asked him. He told them to throw him overboard. So, v. 15, they did, and the sea got calm. Read v. 17. Some people say that this was a whale, but I believe it was a special fish. Whales chew their food, and secrete acids to digest it once they swallow; Jonah was not chewed or digested! God made a special fish just for this time, to teach Jonah his lesson. Read Jonah 2:1–5. This is a picture of the Lord, when He died for us. Just like Jonah, He was in the grave three days and three nights. Now read v. 10: the fish must not have been feeling very good, because it came to the shore and vomited Jonah out onto dry land. Now God told Jonah, again, to go to Nineveh. This time, Jonah obeyed, and many of the Ninevites turned to the Lord.
What can we learn from this story? Well, we saw how when God tells us to do something, we should do it. We also saw how Jonah is a type of the Lord. We can also see that Jonah’s story is similar to how someone gets saved. Jonah disobeyed, was punished, prayed, was saved, and became a blessing to others. This is also the case with us. We were born disobedient to God. When we realize that we are under punishment, we pray to God and He saves us. Then we should become a blessing to others.
I Peter 3:18–22
Last week we looked at v. 18, noticing it’s aspects of salvation. We could add to those thoughts the thought that “he might bring us to God” He didn’t bring us to a church, or a minister, or some other intermediary; He brought us to God Himself. We briefly mentioned “quickened by the Spirit”; quickened means made alive. His death was important, but His resurrection was just as important. His resurrection makes it possible for Him to give us the Holy Spirit and forgiveness.
It is interesting to note that Peter mentions Noah in both of his epistles. Here in I Peter, this mention can be somewhat confusing, starting in v. 19. Some say that this verse means that when the Lord died, He went to Hell and preached to those there. But there is no gospel for those in Hell. So what does this mean? It is talking about Noah; he preached in his day for 120 years. Between Adam and the flood, men were tested, they were judged by their own conscience. There were two testimonies during this time: Enoch (Jude 14) and Noah. But nobody listened to them. Peter was writing to a small group of Christian Jews who were in a similar situation to Noah: they were a minority in an unbelieving world. Peter tells them, just like in the days of Noah, only a few are doing right. God gave men a test, and what were the results? Read Genesis 6:3.
Look at the end of v. 20 “eight souls were saved by …” the ark? No, it says, “by water.” How is that? Well, he tries to explain it in v. 21, but that seems to complicate matters. Does baptism save us? When you put this all together, it makes sense: Baptism does not save us; it is a type. Noah was taken from a heathen world to a new world; how did he cross that gap? The water carried him (in the ark). Through faith, baptism sets us apart on Christian ground.
The last verse is special: the Lord is on the right hand of God, and one day, all will be put under Him.
LF Hymn 254 – Death and judgement are behind us,
Prayer