1 Peter 4

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1 Peter 4:1

Living by Faith (VI)

Hebrews 11:31. Not only is the faith of the people and its effect seen at Jericho. The capture of Jericho is also the cause for the manifestation of the faith of one individual from that city. The faith of Rahab shows that she chooses the people of God, while the power of her people was still completely intact and nothing of the claimed victory was yet to be seen with the people of God. But Rahab felt that God was with them. That determined her choice: a choice that was against the natural choice for her own people. In that way she is an example for the Hebrews who also had to choose for the apparently weak people of God and against their unbelieving, disobedient fellow countrymen.

What Rahab does, looks like treason, but it is a deed of faith. In that way she turns away from the world and from a life in sin to join the people of God. Her people knew from the great deeds of God, but they did not want to bow their knees to Him (Joshua 2:10). They resisted and rebelled. She disassociated herself from that. She made peace with the people of God by taking action to protect the spies. In that way she identified with them and disassociated herself from her fellow countrymen who are here called “those who were disobedient”. By accommodating the spies, she put her own life at risk. She connected her own fate to that of them. Her faith was abundantly rewarded. She even received a place in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 1:5).

Hebrews 11:32. The writer could be going on like that, but he doesn’t pay attention to details anymore. Time would fail him if he did. Guided by the Spirit he mentions in general sense a number of examples. In those examples it becomes apparent how persevering their faith has been in all kinds of ways and how it has sustained believers in all kinds of suffering. One thing they all have in common: no one of them has received anything of what has been promised, as that also applied to the Hebrews to whom this letter is addressed.

Because the writer of the letter only mentions the names, I don’t want to go into detail about the history of the persons he mentions. You should read their history. Then it will often become clear to you why he mentions them. Sometimes it will also surprise you, after you have read their history, that he mentions them. But when God’s Spirit quotes names of believers from the Old Testament in the New Testament, it is – with one exception, that of Elijah (Romans 11:3-4) – always in a positive way. God sees further than what is described in outward history. He sees what is in the heart for Him, even when its practice sometimes falls short of that.

Let us take a look at the list. When the people are in the land, the time of the judges begins. Four of them are mentioned. Gideon and Barak have done their faith job in little strength. Also Samson and Jephthah have dealt in faith, but their work was obviously not flawless. In both couples the most important one is mentioned first, while chronologically the order is the other way around. Of all judges it is common that their liberations were only temporary. None of them were able to create a lasting peace.

After the time of the judges the time of the prophets and kings follows. Of the prophets Samuel is mentioned and of the kings David is mentioned. Here also the chronology is reversed. First David is mentioned, then Samuel. David was the king after God’s heart and Samuel was his forerunner.

The prophets spoke to the conscience of the people. They rather died than preaching a lie and they rather went with a good conscience to heaven than that they lived with a bad conscience on earth.

Although David was a king after God’s heart, he too didn’t manage to bring the people into the rest (Hebrews 4:7-8). The ultimate rest was for him also a matter of faith, of which the fulfillment was going to happen through Him, Who was both his Son (Matthew 1:1) and his Lord (Matthew 22:41-45).

Hebrews 11:33. After these names a number of deeds follows that were done by faith. I will try to add an example to each deed: 1. “conquered kingdoms”: judges and David; 2. “performed [acts of] righteousness”: maintaining righteousness by judges and kings; 3. “obtained promises”: this is possibly obtaining what was promised, but also to be promised something; 4. “shut the mouths of lions”: Daniel (Daniel 6:22-23), Samson, David, Benaiah; 5. Hebrews 11:34. ”quenched the power of fire”: the three friends of Daniel (Daniel 3) who indeed quenched the power of the fire, but not the fire itself, for others were consumed by it; 6. “escaped the edge of the sword”: David, Elijah (while others were killed by the sword, Hebrews 11:37); 7. “from weakness were made strong”: Gideon, Jonathan; they proved that the weakness of God is stronger than men; 8. “became mighty in war”: Asa, Jehoshaphat; 9. “put foreign armies to flight”: many judges and kings; 10. Hebrews 11:35 “Women received [back] their dead by resurrection”: the widow of Zarephath, the Shunammite.

In the just mentioned situations faith appeared to be effective in favor of the believers and sometimes even in a wonderful way. Now examples of situations follow in which faith is also effective for those who heavily suffer and are even killed. This suffering and death would be foolishness if death were indeed the end of everything.

They “were tortured, not accepting their release”: enduring cruel torture, while to faith an unacceptable offer to stop the torture is rejected; they believed in “a better resurrection” and were looking forward to that; 2. Hebrews 11:36. “experienced mockings and scourgings”; Jeremiah, heroes from the Maccabees; 3. “chains and imprisonment”: Jeremiah; Joseph; 4. Hebrews 11:37. “were stoned”: Stephen, Zechariah, Naboth; 5. “were sawn in two”, according to tradition: Isaiah by King Manasseh; 6. “were tempted”: were put under severe mental or physical pressure to deny their faith; were forced to compromise or to abjure something, in any case to deny their Lord; 7. “were put to death with the sword”: mass murder by the sword (Daniel 11:33b; Acts 12:1; Jeremiah 26:23, while others escaped the sword, Hebrews 11:34); 8. “went about in sheepskins, in goatskins”: Elijah, John; 9. “being destitute”: hunger and thirst; 10. “afflicted”: were ruled by strangers; 11. “ill-treated”: general torture; 12. Hebrews 11:38. “of whom the world was not worthy”: the world didn’t assign any value to people who lived this way; 13. “wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground”: these places have provided refuge to many men and women of faith without a home, while they were hunted as if they were wild beasts.

Hebrews 11:39. God has seen and noticed that all these believers persevered in faith till the end. They didn’t receive on earth what they were promised. They still don’t have, even not in paradise where they are now.

Hebrews 11:40. They shall obtain what is promised only when the Hebrews and we also will obtain it. And when will that be? When Christ comes and establishes the millennial kingdom of peace. That is “something better” what God has provided. The ‘better’ is always connected to Christ as the glorified Man in heaven. He obtained that place there from God, while He is rejected on earth.

To that Christ you are connected, while you live on earth. Abraham lived in faith on earth with a heavenly mind in his heart, while he was looking forward to a heavenly city. But he was not connected to heaven through a Christ Who is really seated there in glory and he didn’t share the rejection of Christ on earth. That is our share. Therefore the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest among those who preceded (Matthew 11:11). Therefore God has waited to fulfill His promises. He didn’t want the Old Testament believers to be made perfect without us, which means to come to the wonderful place of taking part in the kingdom of Christ.

It is the privilege of all believers of all times to partake of the kingdom of Christ. But it is first of all the privilege of those who have partaken of the rejection of Christ. That are only the believers who are partakers of the church and not the believers from the time of the Old Testament or from the time after the rapture of the church.

The writer doesn’t go into detail about the special position of those believers. That is not the subject of this letter. From other letters we know that the church is connected to the Lord Jesus in a special way (e.g. Ephesians 1:10-11). In that way all who have lived in faith will be made perfect and God will fulfill His unchangeable promises to each of them.

Now read Hebrews 11:31-40 again.

Reflection: How did people manage to do such deeds of faith? How do you manage to do such deeds of faith?

1 Peter 4:2

Living by Faith (VI)

The prophets spoke to the conscience of the people. They rather died than preaching a lie and they rather went with a good conscience to heaven than that they lived with a bad conscience on earth.

They “were tortured, not accepting their release”: enduring cruel torture, while to faith an unacceptable offer to stop the torture is rejected; they believed in “a better resurrection” and were looking forward to that; 2. Hebrews 11:36. “experienced mockings and scourgings”; Jeremiah, heroes from the Maccabees; 3. “chains and imprisonment”: Jeremiah; Joseph; 4. Hebrews 11:37. “were stoned”: Stephen, Zechariah, Naboth; 5. “were sawn in two”, according to tradition: Isaiah by King Manasseh; 6. “were tempted”: were put under severe mental or physical pressure to deny their faith; were forced to compromise or to abjure something, in any case to deny their Lord; 7. “were put to death with the sword”: mass murder by the sword (Daniel 11:33b; Acts 12:1; Jeremiah 26:23, while others escaped the sword, Hebrews 11:34); 8. “went about in sheepskins, in goatskins”: Elijah, John; 9. “being destitute”: hunger and thirst; 10. “afflicted”: were ruled by strangers; 11. “ill-treated”: general torture; 12. Hebrews 11:38. “of whom the world was not worthy”: the world didn’t assign any value to people who lived this way; 13. “wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground”: these places have provided refuge to many men and women of faith without a home, while they were hunted as if they were wild beasts.

Now read Hebrews 11:31-40 again.

Reflection: How did people manage to do such deeds of faith? How do you manage to do such deeds of faith?

1 Peter 4:4

The Author and Perfecter of Faith

Hebrews 12:1. In this letter you have already had many persons brought to your attention. In chapter 1 it was the angels, in chapter 3 Moses and Aaron. Also Joshua and Levi were mentioned. They were excellent people. But each time the writer sets them aside by then focusing attention on Him Who is so much more than the angels and Moses and Aaron and those others.

It is also like that with the many persons in the previous chapter that he here calls “so great a cloud of witnesses”. In the following verses this cloud disappears from the view to make room for “Jesus”, Who transcends everyone and everything. Stars shine, till the sun rises. The believers from the Old Testament are stars that in great faith, though also in weakness and in part, have trusted in God. The Son is the sun. He has perfectly and continuously trusted in God. With Him there is no reference to a certain work of faith, an exceptional deed out of which His confidence of faith appears. His whole life was altogether confidence of faith.

You are surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses that you saw in the previous chapter. The previous chapter closed with the message that they had not received the promise yet and that they were still not made perfect. That goes for you too. Therefore their example is presented to you as an exhortation to imitate them. It is as if they are calling you from the Scriptures to continue the path of faith unabated and unhindered and not let anything distract you from the goal. But it is not so much about them watching how you do that, but rather about their giving their testimony to you.. Their witness is the inspired report of the various lives in the Scripture and points to God’s faithfulness in whatever and wherever they trusted Him.

That cloud of witnesses around you makes the writer call you to be freed from each hindrance. Lay aside every encumbrance [or: throw off each burden] and sin as useless and harmful weight. If you fix your eye on Jesus, it will be easy, but if you don’t fix your eye on Him it will be impossible. Looking at Jesus determines what a ‘burden’ is. With ‘burden’ the point is the daily and often good things of the earthly life that a walker may enjoy, but the runner cannot. Those are not the difficulties of life, for you cannot lay those aside, but you can indeed prevent that they keep you occupied in such a way that you have no room to see anything else. A burden concerns the earthly things which you freely take, but which you can also freely lay aside.

You are allowed to enjoy earthly things, for the Lord has given them. You are allowed to enjoy good food and good health with a heartfelt gratitude to the Lord. You may also start to see those things in themselves and invest a lot of time, money and energy to get or keep them. If that’s the case with you, then I hope that you acknowledge that and lay that attitude aside. Start to view those things again in the proper perspective. In this context I sometimes hear someone ask the question: ‘What evil is in it?’ But I think that the question should be: ‘Is it a weight, a burden, something that pulls you down, or is it a wing, something that lifts you up?’

Laying aside sin is different. Sin is anything you do independence of God. Here you read that sin so easily entangles you. To be entangled means that you are wrapped by something. In the picture we have here you can imagine your legs being wrapped by something that hinders you to walk or even causes you to fall. If for example, a sinful thought comes up, then you have to deal with that immediately by ‘laying it aside’. In case you keep on going with that thought, then that has the result that you lose sight of God and His plan with your life, which means that your race has ended. In the race the point is perseverance. The point is that you should not become sluggish or weak during the race. To prevent that you should pay close attention to the goal.

Hebrews 12:2. The point is that in your mind your goal should be Jesus all the time. The writer exhorts us to fix your eye on Him alone. ‘Fixing on’ here literally means ‘to look away’, which implies to abandon all other things and fix your eyes on one object alone. The name ‘Jesus’ reminds us of Him Who in humiliation on earth also has run the race, but Who has achieved the goal already. He has endured all difficulties and has overcome by submitting Himself to the path that the Father had determined for Him. He is the Author, the Chief.

He leads you on the path of faith until you achieve the final goal, the perfect salvation. He is the great example in the race. He transcends all things. He is also the Perfecter, the Completer, the Accomplisher. He guides the believer along the path of faith to perfection.

He passed the whole way in perfection and He entered the glory. Through His example and His strength He brings the believers to the glory. The Lord Jesus also had a glorious goal in mind when He went His way here. He was looking forward to the joy of the heavenly glory at the right hand of God. He persevered on that way. He endured the cross persistently. This doesn’t point to the work of atonement on the cross, but to the reproach and shame that are the part of the believer from the side of the world. It is the same as what He desired of someone who wanted to be His disciple: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). He has set the perfect example in His life regarding this.

The Lord didn’t despise the cross. He “endured” it; He accepted it as the will of His Father. He indeed “despised” the shame that men put on Him – although He was certainly not insensitive to what men did to Him. Now He is in glory He doesn’t have to go a path of trust anymore. He has sat down, once for all. There will come an end to the path of faith for you too.

His place is “at the right hand of the throne of God”. He is entitled to that because of His perfect life on earth. There is also the thought that after the suffering the kingdom, the throne, comes. He is already connected to the throne. Him is given all power in heaven and on earth. He shortly will openly accept His kingdom.

Hebrews 12:3. Consider Him. You can look at Him in His life on earth, for therein He is your example and your Leader. You can also look at Him in heaven, for there He is your target and the Perfecter. The calling ‘consider’ means that you consider by comparison. Therefore “consider Him” means that you consider how He endured the hostility by sinners and that you, who are now in a comparable situation, may be encouraged by that to keep on going yourself.

The expression “sinners” shows that in fact the whole sinful human race is meant, summarized in the Jewish and Gentile leaders. The Lord had nothing to do with sin Himself, but He had everything to do with sinners who surrounded Him and who tried to hinder Him in His walk. In that way these believers also had to do with families and friends who continually wanted to exert their influence on them to make them return to the old. Incessant “hostility” is hard to endure. The incessancy of it makes you tired. This puts you in danger of giving up the fight.

Hebrews 12:4. ‘But’, the writer seems to say, ‘let’s be honest: You have not, like He did, lost your life yet to glorify God and to serve Him.’ The Hebrews not only haven’t lost their life yet, but they have not even shed one drop of blood yet for the sake of the Name of the Lord Jesus, as the Lord Jesus and a lot of men and women of faith did in former times (Hebrews 11:35b-37).

With “striving against sin” is not meant that you should fight against the sin that dwells in you. The believer is not called for that fight. For that fight the Scripture doesn’t give instructions. On the contrary, the Scripture says that you should consider yourself to be dead for the sin that dwells in you (Romans 6:11).

Therefore it is not about the fight against the sin that is in you, but about the fight against the sin around you. This fight is connected to the hostility against Him that the Lord Jesus had to endure from sinners. He absolutely had shed blood in resisting this hostility. They were not that far yet, however. They were in danger of giving in to the pressure; He surely did not.

In the Scripture you find other forms of fight: 1. You read about the fight between the law that is given to man in the flesh, and the new life (Romans 7:23). That fight happens in the believer as long as he remains under the yoke of the law. 2. Another fight that happens in the believer is that of the Spirit against the flesh (Galatians 5:17). 3. There is also the struggle in the heavenly places against the spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:10-18).

It is a good thing to consider and be aware of these different forms of fight, for it will help you to be able to deal with a certain fight. Then you will not allow to fight a fight that should not be there at all. That will keep you from the deceit of the enemy, so that you may continue your path of faith striving and triumphantly.

Now read Hebrews 12:1-4 again.

Reflection: What is your daily practice of fixing your eyes on Jesus?

1 Peter 4:5

The Author and Perfecter of Faith

Now read Hebrews 12:1-4 again.

Reflection: What is your daily practice of fixing your eyes on Jesus?

1 Peter 4:6

The Author and Perfecter of Faith

Now read Hebrews 12:1-4 again.

Reflection: What is your daily practice of fixing your eyes on Jesus?

1 Peter 4:7

The Author and Perfecter of Faith

Now read Hebrews 12:1-4 again.

Reflection: What is your daily practice of fixing your eyes on Jesus?

1 Peter 4:8

God Deals With Sons

Hebrews 12:5. The writer encourages the Hebrews that they should not give up too easily. For all opposition, resistance and affliction they were enduring, they had an example in the Lord Jesus. By looking at Him they will be able to persevere. But they also have forgotten something, namely a certain exhortation. That was because they had become dull of hearing (Hebrews 5:11-12).

The point is, that there was external pressure and that they had become forgetful. They had forgotten something that was written in the Scripture and what was meant for them. In the quoted text Solomon is addressing his son, but here it is said that the exhortation is addressed to them, the Hebrew believers. This is an important starting point if you read the Scripture. Then you are to consider that the voice of God addresses you. Because the Hebrews had forgotten that, they dealt wrongly with the difficulties that they endured on their path of faith.

Here you learn that when you have to endure trials, because of being faithful, God uses those trials to discipline you. With discipline you may easily think that it happens because there is something wrong and that you should be punished or disciplined for that. That may be the case sometimes, but is not necessarily always so. Here discipline is not corrective but preventative, to prevent deviation. Discipline is also educative here with the purpose that the believer will more and more look like God. He wants you to partake of His holiness (Hebrews 12:10). With the Lord Jesus this discipline was not necessary. He always perfectly partook of the holiness of God, because He Himself was the holy God.

Just like you’re fixing your eyes on the Lord Jesus on the path of faith, in that way your eyes are fixed on the Father if it concerns discipline. He doesn’t use a whip to discipline you, but the pruning knife (John 15:1-2). He disciplines us (see Job in the book of Job), but He does that as a loving Father. It gives a lot of rest if you consider that what happens to you, is not caused by people, but that it comes from the hand of a loving Father. That is also what the writer wants to tell the Hebrews. He wants them to realize that they are addressed as “sons”. In chapter 2 they are also addressed like that, as sons who are on the way to the glory (Hebrews 2:10). Discipline or education is the proof of sonship.

Now, you may respond in two ways to discipline of your heavenly Father. Solomon said that in his wisdom to his son (Proverbs 3:11). On the one hand you may ignore the discipline of the Lord. That means that you act as if the difficulties and trials do not bother you. You remain indifferently and stoically under it. They have no special meaning for you. You may also consider them as situations that can happen to anyone. In itself, it surely is; but you are not anyone. You are someone with whom God deals with as a son. God is interested in you and educates you. Therefore He has His purpose with the things that happen to you. And that’s why you certainly cannot ignore that.

On the other hand you do not need to take them that heavily that it presses you totally down. It is not that God uses discipline to pour out His full wrath over you. You may experience it like that, but that is surely not true. No, you may know that God acts out of love.

Hebrews 12:6. Discipline is a proof of His love and is certainly not meant to discourage you. When discipline serves as punishment, then that means that God wants to convince you of something that is wrong, so that you may remove the wrong things out of your life. That is not necessarily something that you do wrong, but something that can cause you to do that. After all, some Hebrews were in danger to leave the path of faith.

As it is said, discipline doesn’t always mean that one should be punished for something. If you see discipline like that, whether it concerns you or others, you will draw the wrong conclusion. The outward, physical circumstances are not always the result of the condition of the soul. The friends of Job drew that wrong conclusion. They saw what happened to Job and were convinced that he had committed a great sin. But God punished them because of their remarks on this. With Gaius you see how discipline happens regarding the body, while the soul prospers (3 John 1:2).

That discipline can hurt, is indicated by the word “scourges”. Hereby you may think of the thorn in the flesh Paul had (2 Corinthians 12:7). That thorn was painful in the exertion of his ministry. It made him despicable – and this he endured for the sake of the Lord –, but that thorn also kept his flesh in control. This is how God deals with “every son whom He receives”. In the word ‘receive’ joy is sounding through. The word means ‘acknowledge with joy’.

A real son is someone in whom his father is well pleased (cf. Matthew 3:17). In this way the Father desires to have us as sons, according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:5). We are sons. God has given us this place on the basis of the work of His Son. He also desires that we live up to this in practice. To achieve this He disciplines us, for discipline serves to remove things that are not pleasing to Him out of our lives, so that we may be more pleasing to Him.

Hebrews 12:7-8. Therefore, in all discipline you should see the loving interference of God, Who deals with you as with a son. Be sure that this happens to every son. Sometimes it is quite visible, but even if certain believers visibly prosper, they surely partake of discipline, although it is not seen at first glance. “All”, those are all believers, are partakers of it. Every son is disciplined by his father. God also dealt with Israel, His firstborn son, like that (Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 8:5).

If the Hebrews are not partakers of discipline, they should have to worry about that instead of worrying about the discipline they were experiencing at that moment. If they were not partakers, it would mean that God was not interested in them and that He would have dealt with them as illegitimates. Illegitimates are not real sons. Therefore, if they would have missed discipline, it would mean that they were Christians in name or fake sons. Now they were really disciplined, it was proof that God had received them as sons.

Hebrews 12:9. With the word “furthermore” the writer adds a comparison between God and an earthly father. In this comparison it becomes clear that God is so much more than an earthly father. Our fathers after the flesh, “earthly fathers”, also corrected us. That belongs to the education. Because of their correction we respected them. How much more do we have respect to our heavenly, spiritual, Father. That Father is the origin of every spiritual life (Numbers 16:22; Numbers 27:16; Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Just like you as a child had to, or perhaps still have to, subject to the disciplining hand of your earthly father, in that way you should also subject yourself to the discipline of God. If you subject yourself to that, you will “live”! The point is not that you should learn to deal with the difficulties of life, but how you can enjoy the true life. Only then you really live the way God has purposed.

Hebrews 12:10. Now, your earthly father is fallible, but God is not. God never makes mistakes. The correction of your earthly father is also limited to “a short time”, which are the days of your youth, while God corrects you through your whole life. Ultimately His discipline is never meaningless, but is always for your benefit, for your improvement and advantage. His ultimate purpose with His discipline is that you “may share His holiness”.

Your spiritual well-being depends on that. This involves more than just being sanctified, or set apart, in terms of your position (Hebrews 10:10). It implies that you separate yourself from evil, just as God is separate from it and that you learn to be totally dedicated to God in everything. He doesn’t demand holiness here, but He works that. Discipline is His means for that. That enables you to have full joy in God.

Hebrews 12:11. The first response to discipline is not joy. If discipline were to give joy, it would miss its effect. All positive aspects of discipline that the writer has demonstrated in the previous verses do not change the fact that discipline itself is not something that makes you happy. It is not pleasant. If that would be the case, it would not mean discipline. On the contrary, the unpleasing thing about it should teach us to change our walk in such a way that we don’t have to be disciplined anymore. Therefore the discipline is meant for “the moment”. When discipline has achieved its goal, then there is a reason to be joyful. Then it is profitable.

By discipline you are “trained”, which means that you are taught how to deal with it. By training you learn how to control something. If you are willing to accept discipline in that way, if you can handle it like that, then it will bring you closer to God. The result is that you will enjoy more of the peace and you will grow in bringing righteousness into practice.

The “peaceful fruit of righteousness” will soon be reality to Israel in the millennial kingdom of peace, after they have gone through the sufferings of the great tribulation. God wants to work that fruit now already through His education in your life (John 15:2; 8).

Now read Hebrews 12:5-11 again.