17. Understanding our Redemption Pt 5

Understanding our Redemption Pt5

1Pe 1:13-21  Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  (14)  as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;  (15)  but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,  (16)  because it is written, "BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."  (17)  And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;  (18)  knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,  (19)  but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.  (20)  He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you  (21)  who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

As we have read in the context of these verses Peter has given us a command to be holy in all our conduct. We are to conduct ourselves in fear during the time of our stay upon the earth. This statement is sandwiched between our Father who judges without partiality and the preciousness of our redemption made so by the preciousness of our Redeemer. In verse 19 we saw the value of the substitution, the validity of the Substitution in that Jesus, the Christ was the Sacrifice to which all the OT forms of sacrifice pointed and we saw the virtue of the Substitution. Jesus fulfills all the 3 offices of the OT: Prophet, Priest, and King. This pointing to the complete and perfect nature of our redemption.

As Prophet, Christ is the eternal word. Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It is in and through the Holy Spirit we have received the inspired word of God and minsters that word to us to convict us of sin, instruct and encourage us in the faith.

As Priest He stands forever in the presence of God as the Passover Lamb. Rev 5:6-9  And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.  (7)  Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.  (8)  Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  (9)  And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,”.

As King He reigns and rules in perfect righteousness and peace. He has subdued and conquered the enemies of His people and will finally deliver them even from the presence of sin when we come into His kingdom. Col 2:13-15  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,  (14)  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  (15)  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

And no we come to verse 20. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

Christ’s Eternal Foreordination

The NKJV translates the Greek proginosko foreordination but literally means foreknowledge. It is the same word that we get prognosis.

Foreknowledge means to know about something prior to some temporal reference point or to know about an event before it happens or prior to some temporal reference point. The perfect tense speaks of a past completed action with continuing impact. This designates the central place that Christ had, and continues to hold, in God's redemptive plan. The word is Proginosko, the word from which we get prognosis. This is not simply a passive prior knowledge of what is coming in the future, but an active, willful planning of what is to come. How does God know all things? Because He decrees them. Act 2:22-23 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— (23) this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Rom 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;

God’s foreknowledge and His foreordination are practically synonymous

Illustration: We exercise foreknowledge. For example: There is an event called vacation that we all enjoy. First we decide, then we plan, then we execute the plan. Now sometimes we hide those plans from our kids because we want to surprise them. We foreknew the event because we foreordained the event or we foreordained the event because we foreknew it. Now if simple finite man can do so how much more the infinite, unchangeable God of all the universe?

Foreknowledge of what? It was of the Christ Himself. It was not only that Christ was foreknown but the yielding up of Himself according to the predetermined plan of God. Redemption was set in place before the foundation of the world; some time in eternity past. It was not an afterthought of God to fix something He did not know was going to happen. It was not a contingency plan. It was THE plan; the only plan. And it displays the mind of God for the people of God before there was yet one of them. It was God’s foreordained plan that displays His love, His grace, and His mercy to those who did not merit it and would not want it. Foreknown was every temptation Jesus would suffer, and yet was He without sin. Isa 53:5-6  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  (6)  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Foreknown was every lash of the Roman scourge, the number of every thorn that would pierce His brow. The pain and suffering of being nailed to the cross and foreknown was the Father’s response to Him who knew no sin but became sin on our behalf. Foreknown was every moment the Divine would humble Himself Php 2:6-7  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  (7)  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.. In the mind of God it was set to be accomplished, and as a result it was also then that those whom He foreknew He predestined to adoption according to the kind intention of His will.

Christ’s Present Manifestation – in these last times

The verb revealed or made manifest includes both Jesus' birth and life on earth for all His days as the God-Man are included in His Incarnation.

We see this same event described by John and Paul…

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

2Ti 1:9-10  who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,  (10)  but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

To be manifested is to be revealed in one’s true character.

What was then made known? In Christ Jesus is revealed in the heart of God for His people. Every act of compassion of Jesus was an exact representation of the compassion of the Father. Every act of grace was the Father’s grace. Every act of mercy is the Father’s mercy. Every pronouncement of Jesus against the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders was the Father’s pronouncement against false religion. Christ’s determination to be the ransom for many was the Fathers determination that the many would be ransomed. Mar 10:45  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Christ’s sufferings in His life and His death is the Father’s divine judgement and wrath His people’s sin. And also stands as an example of the wrath yet to come who have trampled underfoot and counted as nothing the glorious gospel of Christ.

In these last times – The word for time is the same word we use in eschatology, the study of the end times. Hebrews 1:2 “in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son”. Christ being manifested in the flesh is the beginning of the end of days. Paul uses the more generic expression in the fullness of time Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

The last times, the fullness of time, at just the right time. Have you ever been hopeless? Have you ever felt the pressure, the anxiety, the despair of hopelessness? I have told you about how Bek was diagnosed with leukemia and how she spent the first week in the hospital in Jackson. The kind of leukemia she had was rare in children. This particular hospital might only see 1 case a year. The doctor gave us her prognosis and it wasn’t good. Somewhere between high 30’s low 40’s percent chance of her surviving. With that kind of news the world closes in, the breath is sucked out of you. It’s impossible to think clearly. Your heart is broken. A friend of ours who lived in Memphis kept telling us about St Jude. After receiving a lot of counsel we decided to see if they would take her. After a couple of days we got the news they would. Hopeless, and at just the right time. Hope. Not an empty hope but a fulfilled hope. She is 26 years old.

If last times is indicative of the fullness of time how is this so?

First, it was the moment which God had ordained for Messiah’s coming. To Daniel was given the date of His coming, 483 years after the edict of the Medo-Persian government to rebuild Jerusalem.

Second, the Mosaic law had done its educational work, showing to the world that the most highly-favored nation on earth, the Jewish nation, was, despite all of God’s blessings and mercy, totally depraved, giving the Gentile portion of the race a picture of its own totally depraved heart.

Third, the Roman empire maintained world peace. Roman roads made travel for missionaries easy. The universal use of the Greek language made the speedy propagation of the gospel possible. The earth-stage was all set for the greatest event in the history of the human race, the incarnation, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection of God the Son.

These last times is also the right time - Rom 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

For the sake of you – This simple phrase should warm our hearts, it should comfort us, quiet us. This letter was written to the churches who were feeling the pressure of suffering for their faith. Those who had spent their whole lives in communities were now considered exiles, outcasts. They were maligned and falsely accused. They may have thought that God had abandoned them. But far from it, God displays His mind and His heart for the people of God and does the same for us today.

We have a historical reference, an objective sign for us to lay hold of. Christ was made manifest. Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Is your soul weary and heavy laden look to Jesus. GO to the gospels and drink deeply in the reading of them. They are a visible assurance of the testimony of God’s love and watch care of us.