There Is an Age to Come (1 Peter continued)

 There is an age to come.  Actions in this age determine how things will go in the age to come.  Obedience (trusting surrender) to the Messiah of Israel is the key.  Get out of the way and let His life flow through you. 1 Peter 2:1 "So get rid of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all lashon ha-ra."  This is a sentence on the Hebrew word  lashon ha-ra. "It has been said that lashon ha-ra (disparaging speech) kills three: the person who speaks it, the person who hears it, and the person about whom it is told."   This speech can be true speech, but words that should not have been spoken.  That takes it to a new level doesn't it.  "But it is true." is no longer a good enough reason to open your mouth and let spew, are the words coming from the tree of Life?  Did the Lord direct you to say them?

"But I tell you that on the Day of Judgment, men will give account for every careless word they speak."  Matthew 12:36  There is an age to come.  There is a coming judgment and your words in this age are an important part of that judgment.  

The Cost Demands Action

 Continuing through Peter's first letter.   1 Peter 1:18 You know that you were redeemed from the futile way of life handed down from your ancestors—not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with precious blood like that of a lamb without defect or spot, the blood of Messiah. 20 He was chosen before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through Him you are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your trust and hope are in God.

22 Now that you have purified your souls in obedience to the truth,[e] leading to sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently from a pure heart. 23 You have been born again—not from perishable seed but imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“All humanity is like grass,
    And all its glory like a wildflower.
The grass withers, and the flower falls off,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

God is saying very clearly, this life, this age, is not the point!  Nothing in this age stands alone.  Pursuing things in this age is a ridiculous waste of the imperishable, incredible cost that was paid to redeem you from death, hell and the grave.  Focusing on this life is FUTILE - "incapable of producing any useful result, pointless".  The precious blood of the Lamb, demands, draws out, hounds us, to a much higher calling in this age, with an unbroken focus on the next age, the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, with an open heaven and angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, a truly amazing, restored picture of earth ruled by the only One worthy to open the seals.  Lift up your eyes!

Suffering Before Glory in a PIcture

 

 

On a walk with a dog and came upon this scene that I feel perfectly illustrates the true principle of suffering before glory.  In the forefront of the picture is a part of the forest that has been harvested and it looks like it has been devastated, but further out and further away the glory of the forest and the mountains and the view is breathtaking.

As we continue through First Peter, this picture can help us see the hope that keeps us on the path of life.  First Peter 1:13 So brace your minds for action. Keep your balance. And set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah. 14 Like obedient children, do not be shaped by the cravings you had formerly in your ignorance. 15 Instead, just like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in everything you do. 16 For it is written,

“Kedoshim you shall be, for I am kadosh.”

17 If you call on Him as Father—the One who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds—then live out the time of sojourning in reverent fear."

Peter says clearly we should deny the cravings of our flesh, our self-life.  Instead, we gaze upon, we focus, we press into the reality of the beauty of His holiness and this transforms us into the image of the One we are obsessed with.  The Tree of Life version makes this so real.  Holy ones you shall be, for I am Holy.  Circumstances and the things that happen to us through the actions of other people are never to be our focus, there is no justice there, there is no beauty there. Expectations and hope not placed in the Holy One will be dissappointed and crushed.  "Holy One, what are you doing here and now?  How can I receive this in a way that glorifies Your Son?  I am poor, blind and lame, You are all-sufficient come and Live through me."  This suffering in my flesh is here to make me holy.  Thank you for Your covenant faithfulness to me.  

Do you see what a horrible lie the pre-trib rapture is?  It says, "You can bypass suffering and go straight to glory."  It says, "Love wouldn't allow you to go through tribulation, it would remove you before it comes."  This ear-tickling message is simply not true.  The very foundation of it is cracked and cannot be built upon.  When the shaking comes all who trust in it will be shaken and fall and it is only a cry for the mercy of God that will pick them back up.

Trials, So That...

 To continue our journey of understanding the on-going transformation of being a true follower of the crucified Lamb of God, we will take a slow stroll through First Peter.

1 Peter 1:7 "These trials are so that the true metal of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua."

Trials are a gift from God, so that we can see worked out in our lives by the life of Messiah Yeshua, the genuineness of our faith.  

Once when our bank account was totally inadequate for the current needs, a peace of God was given to us that this was a time to rest and trust and see the hand of God.  He met the need on the day it was due from a totally unexpected source.  

The "trial" of a low bank account, resulted in an opportunity to express fear, panic, frustration or faith in the God who promised to never leave us or forsake us, in the context of being content with what you have.  He is good, He is worthy of our trust.  His promises are true, His love is without end.  Trials speak a language of being abandoned and forsaken, faith speaks back to the trial a firmly planted sureness in the goodness of the love of the sovereign God.

So, thank you, "trial" for the opportunity to grow in the grace and knowledge of Yeshua the Messiah of Israel!  Every response in this life is a deposit in the next life.

Clearly There is More To This

 Philippians 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, these I have considered as loss for the sake of the Messiah. 8 More than that, I consider all things to be loss in comparison to the surpassing value of the knowledge of Messiah Yeshua my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things; and I consider them garbage in order that I might gain Messiah 9 and be found in Him not having my righteousness derived from Torah, but one that is through trusting in Messiah—the righteousness from God based on trust.  10 My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death— 11 if somehow I might arrive at the resurrection from among the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or been perfected, but I press on if only I might take hold of that for which Messiah Yeshua took hold of me.  13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself as having taken hold of this. But this one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the reward of the upward calling of God in Messiah Yeshua.

A friend has been sharing and trying to make clear the burden of the Lord.  This portion of scripture is just one spot of many where believers in Yeshua are encouraged to proceed through the gate of His death and resurrection and onto the Way of choosing, by the Life He places in us, to die to self and to embrace the suffering of the flesh that results in choosing to live by the Spirit of God.  Sharing in His sufferings is key to living a life that fully reveals the costly redemption of our lives.  

This understanding will change how we respond to trials, to difficult people, to situations that normally, in the flesh, would result in anger or a call to "stand up for our rights".

Let's start this journey through the scriptures.