Seeds for 05/23/2024 - 1 Peter 3:19-20a
Scripture:
After being made alive, He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Observation:
There’s a line in the Apostles’ Creed that is not included in the version I learned growing up, but which is present in another version I learned as an adult. Here it is in context:
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended to the dead.
On the third day He rose again;
He ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
What’s this descending to the dead talk about? And what was Jesus doing between His crucifixion, death, and burial, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father?
Peter tells that, far from idle, Jesus was actively working to bring people into the kingdom: “He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.”
God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). This would seem explain Jesus’ motivation for preaching to the “imprisoned spirits.” God wants all who will to come to Him. Those who died in the past were preached to. They heard the message of the Messiah.
Quite simply, this further demonstrates and illustrates that there is no place so remote from the presence of God that He won’t reach out to offer people life in Jesus. As Psalm 139:8 has it, “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” He can bridge any divide and stands ready to do so, if we will let Him.
Application:
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the lengths you will go to announce the message of grace. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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