THE GOSPEL FORESHADOWED- The Typology of Christ’s Suffering

Since we had a week off from our series in 1 Peter, I want to give you a short recap of where we are at in our study so we can jump both feet into our text today.

Peter in chapter 3 starting in verse 8 has exhorted the church to be ready to suffer for doing what is right if that is God’s will for their lives.

and in verse 17 He says

1 Peter 3:17 (ESV)

17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

Peters point for these suffering Christians was that it is always better to follow God’s will even when it includes suffering.

Then is verse 18 He lays out the suffering of Jesus as the ultimate example of the good that comes from obeying the will of God, Especially when we are called to suffer for doing what is right

Listen to this again,

1 Peter 3:18 (ESV)

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death but made alive in the spirit”

This verse is easy to understand isn’t it?

Christ -who was perfectly righteous, chose to do the will of Father- and endured suffering to the point of death - why, so that He could make a way for mankind, who was completely unrighteous, to come to God.

Jesus suffering was Best- Without full obedience to the Will of the Father- He could not have redeemed mankind.

and now we come to verse 19

Listen to our text this morning

1 Peter 3:19–20 (ESV)

19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

What in the world does Peter mean when He says that Jesus went and preached to spirits in prison?

This verse brings out a lot of questions for a lot of People!

In fact many scholars say these verses might be the most difficult passage to fully understand in the Bible, Because it is not crystal clear like verse 18.

But even being a difficult verse, God put this difficult passages in His Word for our benefit. Even if we dont ever fully grasp it’s complete meaning.

that means that Peter wrote these words Not to confuse us, but to help us have a bigger picture of Jesus and what he has done for us through his atonement mentioned in the previous clear verse.

and so we dont want to skip over this difficult text, saying it doesn’t matter, but we want to look at it with discerning eyes.

`and so we are left to make a conclusion as to what this verse means and how it fits into this passage from looking at it through the lens of Peters Big idea for this passage and with other clear texts in the Bible as our guidelines.

Basically we want to answer the question. Does my interpretation fit within the context of the bigger passage and does it fit in line with other clear teachings in Gods Word.

So here we go….

After the Atoning work on the cross was over where Jesus took everyone of our sins and paid their debt in full with his life. and after he was put in the grave (verse 18 “ being put to death in the flesh”)

Peter now in verse 19 says that Jesus went and made a proclamation to the spirits that were in prison.

There are 3 questions that we need to answer in order to have a good understanding of what this verse means and why Peter included it in our our passage

who are the spirits?

When did Jesus make this Proclamation?

and What did Jesus Preach?

and Based on how you answer these three questions determines your view on this tough verse.

As I studied this verse out I realized very quickly that there are many different views on how to answer these questions.

For instance when it comes to answering the question “ Who are the spirits?

Some theologians say they are all of the fallen angels

others say that they human beings that have died without Christ

When it comes to answering the question what did Christ Proclaimed

Some Scholars would say that He preached a second chance of grace to people who never heard about Jesus.

Others say he proclaimed his victory to the demons who had opposed him before the Flood

When it comes to when this proclamation took place there are just as many ideas

Some theologians say that Peter is simply saying that the message of Jesus’s atonement was preached through Noah at the time of the flood, when he tried to get others to believe

others say this happened between his death and resurrection

and even others say it was after the resurrection.

Now you see why this passage can be very confusing when we just read through this one verse without taking the time to understand its meaning and how it fits inside the whole passage,

Let me attempt to explain better what I have come to believe this passage means and why it matters for us today..

Let’s back up again to verse 18 to the beginning of Peter’s thought. Where he is using the suffering of Jesus as an example that proves obeying God’s Will is always better.

Look with me again at verses 18-20

1 Peter 3:18–19 (ESV)

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,

So our question is, how does verse 19 where Jesus preached to the spirits in Prison fit with the clear gospel message of verse 18?

JESUS PREACHED TO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON.

verse 18 says that On the cross, Jesus suffered in the place of sinners so that he could make a way for the unrighteous to live with a righteous God,

and notice the last phrase Peter uses in this verse

1 Peter 3:18 (ESV)

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Christ’s body was Put to death, He physically died.

But Jesus also experienced Spiritual death that day on the cross.

Remember physical death is seperation of your soul from your body

and Spiritual death is seperation of your soul from God

I believe Peter wants the readers to understand that Jesus died both physically and spiritually on that Cross.

So why does it matter that Jesus died both physically and spiritually?

Remember Jesus’s purpose? He suffered in the place of sinners so that he could make a way for the unrighteous to live with a righteous God,

and in order for him to do this, He had to pay the debt of that sin in full; which carried with it spiritual death -seperation from God the father.

We need to understand that Anything short of Spiritual death would not be sufficient.

verse 18 tells us that Jesus went all in when he paid our debt- He died spiritually so that our debt could be paid in full,

Mark 15:34 describes this moment when Jesus was dying Spiritual

Mark 15:34 (ESV)

34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

(pronunciation- ELOE, ELOE LAMA SABACTONEE)

When Christ died on that cross all of our sins were transfered to Him and it it was in this moment as the wrath of God was poured out on him as He bore our sins , That He was forsaken by the father - He was no longer in Perfect union because He took our sins our imperfections upon himself,

`I believe that it was in this moment that Jesus died spiritually and was seperated from God The father as payment in full for our sins.

He bore the full penalty for our sins upon himself. He endured the seperation from God that you and I deserved.

and this is why He cried out “FATHER WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!”

But Christ did not stay spiritually dead -He was made alive again in the spirit.

And now we come to verse 19 which is a continuation of the sentence in verse 18

1 Peter 3:19 (ESV)

19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,

Question 1: When did this proclamation happen?

-As I have studied this out, I believe that the events in verse 19 come right after the events of verse 18.

Christ died on the cross

He died both physically and spiritually

but He was made a live in the spirit. He did not stay spiritually dead.

And so I believe that Sometime between his death and resurrection Jesus, alive in the spirit, went down into the underworld and made a special proclamation to “the sprits in Prison.

and this brings us to our second question?

Question 2: Who are the Spirits?

There are some people that would say that these spirits were the souls of lost sinners in hell, Specifically those who died in the flood. And Jesus went down and proclaimed the gospel message to them.

This is called 2nd chance theology- meaning that since they didn't get the whole picture of What Jesus was going to do on the cross,

He went down to proclaim the gospel message to them so that they could believe.

This view has a serious problem though- the Bible is very clear that there is no second chance when it comes to your salvation- once you die you enter your eternal state. Either you believed and had faith or you didn't.

So in my understanding this cannot be who the sprits are.

I have come to the understanding that these spirits were most likely fallen angels - who were somehow related to the period before the flood.

Why do I think that these spirts were demons who had been put in prison before the flood?

Look with me at Jude 6

Jude 6 (ESV)

6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

This verse in Jude is describing the angels who rebelled against God. We call them demons.

and because of their evil deeds, God threw them into a temporary prison to wait until that final judgement when they will be cast into Hell forever.

So here we have Jesus, who has been made alive in the spirit going to the underworld,, to preach to these demons who have been imprisoned because of their evil works they did in the time of Noah- waiting for the final judgement when they will be cast into the lake of fire forever.

This brings us to our third questions

QUESTION 3: What did Jesus Proclaim?

In order to answer this question, I believe we need to go back to the garden of Eden When God declared to satan “You may do a lot of harm-You may do a lot of evil in this world you may lead many humans astray into eternal destruction, but you will not win the war!

~When God declared to Satan that Man will Crush his head, He declared “I will have victory over all the Powers of Evil.”

and I believe that from that moment in the garden Satan and his demons had one goal- To stop the Messiah- To stop Mankind from producing an offspring that could be righteous enough to defeat the power of Evil in this world.

And this brings us to 1600 years later to the time of Noah. where historians estimate that the population of the world could be upwards of 750 million people.

And in Genesis six = God describes this earth as a place filled with violence to the extent He looked across the entire world and said “everyone on earth is completely corrupt to the point That I am going to kill every living thing and start over.

And No doubt these evil spirits had much to do with this wickedness.

- In fact, I believe that These demons thought that they were winning the battle against God- Think about it- out of 750 million people only one man and his family chose to do what was right and follow God.

and I dont know how or exactly when - But at some point, before God started over with Noah and his sons, These demons had gone too far in their deception towards mankind.

And so God removed them from this earth, and threw them into this Prison in Hades because of their great wickedness in the time of Noah.

And this brings us back to 1 Peter 3 :19

Think about Jesus’s death through the eyes of these demons in Prison. Jesus has just died on that cross - They Had just killed the Messiah, The evil in this world had killed the son of God- and in that moment it looked like Satan and his demons had won the war.

I don’t know for sure, but I imagine that these demons in prison were celebrating the death of Jesus Christ- JESUS IS DEAD- WE HAVE FINALLY WON THE WAR! He could not hold us down. Satan has prevailed.

But, Jesus did not stay dead, He was made alive in the spirit, and He went to these demons in prison, who thought they had finally defeated God.

and He stood there alive, He was not dead ,He was not defeated, and I believe at that moment in that prison- Jesus Proclaimed His final victory over death, putting the final nail in their eternal coffins.

Declaring that He as the Messiah had crushed the head of Satan ONCE FOR ALL.

This is the same reason Paul wrote in 1 Cor 15:54-57 about our final victory over sin when he said

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 (ESV)

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pause…

Peter wants these sufferign christians to see that It was through His Suffering that Christ was able to bring vindication with him for all mankind

He wants them to see that obeying the will of God - Even when it includes suffer is always best!

Let’s move on….

Peter is now going to Use typology to Paint a visual picture to help the church understand this truth even better.

throughout the Old Testament there are figures, things and events that foreshadow Christ and His work in the New Testament.

This is called Typology-

for instants it is through the seed of Adam mankind is birthed. This is a picture of the new birth we receive through Christ.

Jonah Being in the belly of the whale for three nights and then being spit out is another type of Christ picturing his death burial and resurrection.

Peter is using this story of Noah to paint a picture for the church to see the truths that they have heard in verses 18-19 come alive.

In the next few verses Peter is going to show the church How story of Noah is a type, or a picture of Believers Baptism today. and how they both are a visual illustration of the gospel message we read in verse 18

Look at our text again

1 Peter 3:20–22 (ESV)

20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Peter wants the church to see the connection between the Flood and Baptism and How they both point to this victory that Christ Proclaimed over the grave.

Typology: The ARK

In the story of Noah the Waters of the flood where a picture of death burial and resurrection.

It was the waters that buried the earth in Judgement,

Genesis 7:21–24 (ESV)

21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

The waters of the flood Brought death to all living things, verse 23 says “there was not one living thing left on the face of the earth.

Friends the water- does not represent grace, it does not represent cleansing It represents death.

In fact the picture we see here is that all living things were doomed to die in the waters of the flood

But God offered a way of salvation,. A way that could carry any one through this destruction.

That was the ark!!!

Notice verse 23 says ONLY those who were IN the ark were saved.

I love how Peter says in verse 20

1 Peter 3:20 (ESV)

20 ..in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

The ark is what Brought them through Death

So why was Noah and his family the only ones in all of the world who went into the ark and where saved through the waters?

Hebrews 11:7 tells us it was By faith-

Faith is beleiving that God will do what He says he will do,

Noah and his family believed God and obeyed, They acted upon their faith and did what God said was required to go through the flood

They understood and believed that the Water was going to bring destruction and the only way to have salvation from that death was THROUGH THE ARK.

Do you see how The ark is pictures Christ and your salvation?

John 14:6 (ESV)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The ark was not what saved them, it was their faith in God

The Ark was what what God provided to do what He said he would do.

The ark was what brought Noah and his family safely through the waters of destruction Because was Gods Plan.

Peter is using the ark as a visible way for the readers to see the gospel message of verse 18 come alive through the story of Noah a man they revered as a for-father of the faith.

Do you understand the gospel message that the ark pictures?

You are a sinner

Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Your sin requires death- Romans 6:23

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The point is this - there is no salvation without going through ONLY THROUGH JESUS you can be saved

Probably the most clear gospel verse in all of scripture is

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The point is this - there is no salvation without going THROUGH JESUS

It didn't matter what people did during the flood to save themselves. If they did not act upon faith and get into that Ark they perished in those waters.

Friends Right now sitting in your seat this morning you can have eternal life- You can be saved.

Friends if you confess your sins and ask Christ to come into your life,You will be forgiven through Him. You will find salvation today.

This is the gospel message, that the story of Noah and the Flood picture for us today.

ANTITYPE EXPLAINED

When we studying typology

every old testament type is a picture of a New Testament antitype.

for example- Jesus is the antitype of Adam. Adam is a picture of Jesus

Peter goes on and says that Baptism is the antitype of the Flood.

Listen to what he says

Antitype: BAPTISM

1 Peter 3:21 (ESV)

21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

There a many people out there that use this verse to teach that Baptism is essential in order to have salvation.

But this idea goes against every other clear teaching in the Bible.

So What does Peter mean when he says that Baptism which corresponds to this, now saves you?

I like how the Net Bible translates this verse. I think it gives us a clearer picture of what Peter intended to communicate

The NET Bible (Chapter 4)

3:21 And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you—not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Do you see what Peter is saying here?

Noah wasn’t saved because He built an Ark- Noah was saved Because He had Faith in God- He got on the ark in response to His internal faith.

Peter is saying that Baptism is the antitype to the ark.

He goes on and says…

—not the washing off of physical dirt

Peter wants to make it clear that baptism is not what saves us, it does not washes us clean of our sins,

but IT IS THE pledge of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Do you see what he is saying?

Baptism isn’t what saves us its the response… the public pledge, of the one who has been internally changed through Faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ..

Baptism like the flood is a picture of the salvation that we can have when we obey the will of God the Father.

Just like Noah’s Obedience in Building the ark in the midst of persecution was a public declaration of the Faith he already had in God,

So, Baptism for a believer is a public declaration that he has already put His faith in Jesus Christ for Salvation and is now a follower of Him.

For the first century church, baptism was by immersion in a public place, it wasn't done in private it wasn't done by sprinkling so no one could see, it was meant to be a picture of the death burial and resurrection of Christ,

Friends do you understand that when you are baptised as believers You are saying to the world I have died to sin through Jesus and have been raised to NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.

I believe that there must have been some Christians in this 1st century church who were fearful of making this public proclamation.

They were fearful of the persecution that they would have to endure if they Publicly identified as a Christ follower.

And Peter wants them to know that it is always better to obey the will of god even when it includes persecution in your life.

BRING IT HOME

What does all of this mean for us today?

Peter’s main point in all of this is this

1. verse 17-Obeying Gods Will is always Best even when it includes suffering

When Jesus obeyed the will of the Father and suffered He brought salvation to mankind

When Noah Obeyed the Lord and endured the persecution from the others- He was brought through the flood.

When the Believer obeys the Word of God and publicly identifies with Christ through Baptism, even when it is hard to do- He proclaims the gospel that saved him to the world,

I ask you this final question

What is the next step of obedience that God is asking you to take?

if you have never accepted the gospel of Jesus- I plead with you to come to him today- and receive him as your own so that through Him you may have eternal life.

Believers- Have you identified with Christ through Baptism?

If not, what fear is keeping your from making this public Pledge, From making this public profession of the inward spiritual change you have been given through Christ

Maybe you have been saved and baptized already- What is it in your life that you are holding on to, still thinking that your way is better than the will of God?

I leave you with this- God’s Will even when it includes persecution is always better!

Pray