1 Peter 1:10-12

This was written to Christians who are being maligned, isolated, persecuted because they were Christians.

We saw last week that Peter said that the trials that they face are being used by God to refine their faith…to test it that it might be made genuine…or, in other words, just as fire burns off the impurities in a precious metal like gold, so suffering has a purifying effect on our faith. The impurities that weaken our faith…such as self-centeredness, impatience, anxiety…are burned off as we go through bouts of suffering…Michelle and I had to really learn to trust the LORD and his provision during our days in seminary and in church planting. We lived on shoe string budgets and through difficult times in which we literally did not know where the money was going to come from to pay the rent or to buy the groceries…they tended to refine our faith…the tendency to anxiety was “burned off” as we watched the LORD provide for us time and again. In the last church I pastored we had a husband and wife visit us who were from Eritria- “Ertra.”

It is a small country in Eastern Africa where only government approved versions of Christianity are allowed and all others are considered enemies of the state. Those who evangelize are seen as seeking to destabilize the country and face prison time. So here is this couple, the husband had spent time in jail for being a pastor and his brother was currently in jail for pastoring an underground church.

They had only been in the United States briefly and I asked them what differences they noticed between Christians in America and those in Erta. The wife answered without any hesitation- “I have been shocked at how little of God’s power seems to exist within the American Church.”

It is probably no surprise to hear that persecution has a tendency to drive away the superficial. There is no time for games. If the threat of losing everything for one’s faith is pronounced by the government, then those who hold lightly to faith are going to fall in line and do as the government says. Only those willing to suffer continue to gather to worship in Spirit and Truth.

And a similar work is done no matter what types of suffering we face. Peter says in verse 6 they have been grieved by “various trials.” That means that he wasn’t speaking to just persecution, but a variety of flavors of suffering. And so…you have health issues? Peter is speaking to that as well. Financial issues- like that which Michelle and I faced? Yes and on it goes. Each one of these trials, if responded to rightly, will have a purifying effect on your faith. You learn to trust deeper and lean harder upon the LORD.

And the promise is that the end result will be praise, glory and honor at the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ…perhaps exemplified in that statement we all long to hear: “Well done good and faithful servant.”

And, as exiles here in this fallen world, all along we have the assurance that there is a new home waiting for us….kept for us…imperishable, undefiled and unfading…and Peter takes all of this and says “in this you rejoice.”

Now we turn to the last section of this introduction to this Letter by Peter- vss. 10-12- where Peter is putting a cap on what he has been saying to really drive home that his readers (including you and I) can really trust what he has said about the present and the future and he does this by pointing to the past.

Our PRESENT suffering will end in FUTURE glory and that is assured to us by PAST witnesses.

These past witnesses include OT prophets such as Isaiah.

Just as we know Isaiah, Today Isaiah is held in high regard by the Jews and Jewish rabbis follow a liturgy of OT readings in the synagogue and as they work through the book of Isaiah, they move from Isaiah 52 to Isaiah 54, skipping right over Isaiah 53.

If you don’t know why they might do that, let’s take a look at Isaiah 53- they actually skip beginning at Isaiah 52:13 so I’ll start reading there:

(This is God speaking through Isaiah)…

Behold, my servant shall act wisely;[b]

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14 As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15 so shall he sprinkle[c] many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,

for that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

Who has believed what he has heard from us?[a]

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected[b] by men,

a man of sorrows[c] and acquainted with[d] grief;[e]

and as one from whom men hide their faces[f]

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 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.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

9 And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;[g]

when his soul makes[h] an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[i] and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,[j]

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[k]

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The 17th century Jewish historian, Raphael Levi, said that the rabbis used to read Isaiah 53 in synagogues, but after the chapter caused “arguments and great confusion” the rabbis decided that the simplest thing would be to just take that prophecy out of the readings in synagogues.

Why do you think it caused arguments and great confusion among Jewish rabbis?

They knew it was a Messianic prophecy but they couldn’t figure out who it was pointing to…

Now it seems obvious to us who that prophecy is about isn’t it?

But to them…it is not obvious at all….

And, you know, it wasn’t obvious to Isaiah either.

When Isaiah penned these words he knew that they were words of promise regarding the Suffering Servant whom God would send but it was not obvious who that one would be nor when the one whom this referred to would come.

And it is not that he didn’t want to know. He sought to discover who it was, he investigated to discern what events these things were referring to, but the same Spirit that inspired these Words let him know…that while he must have faith that this Suffering Servant would indeed come….that He would not come in Isaiah’s day.

Well, it would have been natural, perhaps, for Isaiah to wonder…”Then why give me the prophecy at all? If it is for some time in the far away future…a time that none of my contemporaries will see….what good does it do us?”

The answer?

“Isaiah, these words that you write are not primarily for you, but for those yet to come.”

And so time goes by….Isaiah could not have realized just how long it would be….nor, perhaps, even that his words would survive as long as they did…but it was some 700 years before Christ would be born.

And even after Christ began his ministry in earnest, Isaiah’s words still remained a mystery.

The disciples, including Peter, did not understand them. When Jesus told them that he would suffer…alluding to Isaiah 53….Peter responded in shock and anger-

Matthew 16:22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord![e] This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance[f] to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

He didn’t get it. Until after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In fact this is the pattern that we see. When Jesus declares that the temple would be torn down and raised up again in 3 days…it wasn’t until after his resurrection that the disciples figured out what he was talking about. Undoubtedly when Matthew was writing his gospel and saying “This took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet” or other such phrases that appear repeatedly in the gospel… he was coming to these conclusions after the fact. He is scouring the prophets and looking at the life of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is giving him eyes to see how Jesus did indeed fulfill the prophetic witness.

Today, we look at a passage like Isaiah 53, and we’re very certain that this refers to Jesus Christ. It seems obvious. But that is because we have the benefit of the Scriptures. We have the benefit of seeing how the story played out. Benefits they did not have.

So now with these benefits, what do we draw from these 3 verses…quite a bit actually:

I’m going to start with the bonus lessons:

a) What does this say about Revelation?

b) How does this help in talking with Muslims? They argue that Jesus did not die at all but that it only appeared that he did. Christians made this up

1) The Old Testament is a message inspired by the Holy Spirit- who is the Spirit of Christ- and the message of the OT is ultimately about Jesus. So we might say that, overall, the OT is by Jesus and about Jesus…which should change the way that many people approach and understand OT Scripture. The reason that Isaiah 53 was causing such confusion was that Christians kept quoting Isaiah 53.In particular:

2) The prophetic passages speaking of Christ were, we learn here, specifically written for the church. Was there some benefit to the original hearers? Sure there was, but it was primarily that of assuring them that God was indeed sovereign and that the future was under His control and His people would be cared for. This would have been great encouragement to the original hearers.

But the particular details were not for them but they were written for Christian readers who would be reading them after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ in order to increase our understanding of the person and work of Christ and to increase our faith. And so OT prophecies are Christian Scripture.

And note too…that even angels did not have a full grasp of what these prophecies were all about particularly in regards to the overall gospel message…at least in the same sense that we do…they do not have the experiential knowledge of what it is to be lost and then found…to live as exiles longing for home….mercy, grace…subjects of which they would never know if it were not for watching how God interacts with His people. It is something for us to consider that angels who have dwelled in the presence of God still long to look into ANYTHING….yet here they are…so glorious the gospel…and yet there are so many who take little to no interest in it. Who don’t long to understand it. Even those of us who do…I think this shows us just how little we understand of just how amazing, how glorious the message of redemption of Christ is….the angels who sing “Holy Holy Holy” long to look into it. How about you?

3) Peter’s particular point here to the Christians of his day…and to us… is that, looking back at what the prophets were writing….they serve the ends of not only helping us to makes sense of the biblical story…but they present Jesus as a model for us. They foretold that Jesus was a servant of God the Father who would suffer but would ultimately be glorified.

Peter now says…you should take that as a message that…as it would be for Him so it will be for you.

John 15:20- a servant is not greater than his master, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

4) And so, none of what we face ought to be a surprise. It is by God’s design proclaimed in ages past. So suffering should not knock us off our game. It should not weaken our faith…it most definitely should not call into question what we believe concerning our future hope. The fact that this past promise of suffering has been fulfilled in the present should, in fact, give us greater confidence concerning that which is coming in the future…and with this underlying our assurance that we do indeed have a glorious inheritance that we look forward to…we fix our eyes and thoughts upon that and rejoice that that day is drawing near.