1 Peter 1:20 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Peter 1:20

Comments

The word ‘foreordained’ is the word translated elsewhere ‘foreknown', but in the usage of the New Testament the translation is quite correct. God obviously knows all things all the time. In his eternal counsel, before the world was ever created, he foresaw the fall of Satan, a once glorious angel and he foresaw the fall of man, and way back in eternity past he planned the way of redemption: that Christ the Son of God, equal with the Father, would come into the world and suffer and die for his people.Of course, this is an incentive to holiness, that God planned for us before the foundation of the world. Peter urges you to look at it this way. God planned for you and your salvation, your redemption in Christ, before the world was. That is a very moving thought, when you reflect upon it. How it spurs us to holiness.What about predestination and election? Oh, I would never have come if the Spirit hadn’t worked in my heart and sown the seed of life within me but the way in which he brought me to Christ was to open my eyes so, though it was his doing, at the same time I came most freely and most willingly to Christ. All the occupants of heaven would have come there freely and willingly – with the exception, it is true, of the little babies and the infants and the people who died before any consciousness of their rebellion and their fallen hearts, who we believe to be included in the redemption of Christ. Well, I believe they are mature in heaven, though that is an assumption. They personally did not willingly flee to Christ, but once they are in heaven, they will be so glad that they are there.This has taken place in the last times – the times in which we live. There are no further stages in the unfolding of God’s plan until the end. The next great event will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ on the final day to judge the world and take his people to glory.

Application

Atheism proclaims that you can have morality without God. Christianity, claims Richard Dawkins, has no monopoly on moral behaviour. You do not need God to be moral. Well, there is a tiny grain of truth in that. There are individuals who are atheists and yet they have strong moral values, but most of them had the benefit of the Christian ethic when they grew up. That is what we saw in the 2008 financial crisis. When it all began – sub-prime mortgages – we learnt that banks have been lending recklessly. What we didn’t know at first was the way they were parcelling up and selling loans in a completely dishonest way round the entire system. It was not just a few banks and building societies are in trouble; it was rampant dishonesty around the world. A post-Christian age equals rampant dishonesty and fraud on a massive and growing scale. It is proved and all that they claim about morality without God just crumbles to the ground.

Questions

Why did God let it all happen? Is there information for us in the word of God that would explain? Why did he let it go ahead, when there would be the fall and so much sin and so much suffering? We have to be very careful. We get very near to questioning God, and you have got to be very reverent and very careful. Remind yourself that he is perfect and loving and so fair in all his actions, and we come carefully to inquire. Well, there is not a lot of information. When we get to glory and our minds are fully emancipated, we shall see and grasp many reasons, but some we think we can see even now. Among God’s attributes, he is truth, and certain things must be known. In the eternal hereafter, when we shall dwell with him, one of the things that must be known is this: that the alternative to the true and living God is an unthinkable nightmare. All kindness comes from God; all life comes from God; all holiness comes from God. He is the source of everything which is beautiful and wonderful, and the people who serve God and praise him and love him throughout eternity will know this. Now, Satan was the first to fall. He was a wonderful, mighty angel, but he wanted to be equal to God or independent from him. He wanted to know about the possibility of not being under the service of God and as soon as he looked away from God and rebelled against him then everything that was different from God, opposite to God, that hadn’t existed before, sprang into being. Then Adam and Eve fell. They disobeyed God and felt that something was being withheld from them. As they looked away, all the anti-values came into their world and enveloped them. Only with God is there morality, his protective laws, safety, goodness, kindness, life. Now we are in the ultimate, atheistic world and these are the kind of things we see. Why did God allow man and Satan to exercise their freedom in such a disastrous way? Well, one day we shall know many reasons but among them will be this: the truth must come out. All those who turn to Christ say, ‘Lord, we know what the alternative is. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart, oh, take and seal it. Seal it from thy courts above.’

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1 Peter 1:20 Commentary and Bible Study