1 Peter 1: Father, Son, and Spirit

Today’s reading is 1 Peter 1.

The Holy God, in the persons of Father, Son, and Spirit, is completely and fully involved in our salvation and election. He does not leave us on our own. Praise the Lord!

The Father

We are elect according to the Father’s foreknowledge. Note this carefully. We are not foreknown according to the Father’s election as John Calvin would claim. But the other way around. He chooses and elects based on something He foreknows about us. He doesn’t foreknow everything about us because He elected us to behave in a certain way. Paul says the same thing in Romans 8:29-30.

The Spirit

We are the elect exiles in the Holy Spirit’s sanctification. That is, we who are foreknown by the Father are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We don’t become elect and then pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and clean ourselves up. While we must, no doubt, cooperate with the work of the Spirit, we must not think we are growing spiritually because we are just so good at growing spiritually. The Holy Spirit is working in us, on us, and through us to set us apart for God’s good works. Paul says the same thing in Titus 3:3-7.

The Christ

Our connection to Jesus, the Christ, drives home the cooperative nature of our relationship to God. Taken in reverse order, we must recognize we are elect unto the sprinkled blood of Jesus Christ. In the same way Moses took the blood of sacrificed calves and goats to purify the tent, the worship vessels, and the people to sanctify them–set them apart for God’s service–Jesus sprinkles us with His blood of the covenant that we might be set apart and useful to Him. But this election based on foreknowledge and in sanctification is to produce something in us: obedience. As elect exiles, we obey. We don’t follow our own will, we have been saved to walk in a new life of submission and surrender to our King, the anointed Jesus. Paul says the same thing in Romans 6:1-4.

We are not alone. Father, Son, and Spirit are all working on our behalf. Let us rely on them and give our allegiance to our King, Jesus.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is 1 Peter 1.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does 1 Peter 1 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Psalm 136: God the Son

Today’s reading is Psalm 136.

Jesus Christ is God’s Steadfast Love

YHWH created the world alone. That is, no other separate being, divine or otherwise created the world. Certainly, He was equipped with wisdom and understanding, but wisdom is not divine. Wisdom is not a personal entity. Wisdom was the “mental” tool God used. However, John 1:1-5 draws out a conclusion.

YHWH created the world, but He did it through His “logos.” That is, He did it through His “Word.” John, however, demonstrates this “logos,” was more than simply God’s accompanying wisdom. This “logos” was with God, but also was God. Not was another god, but was/is God. I get it, trinity is a mystery. We can’t mine its depths in a simple daily blog devotional. Yet, John wants us to understand something.

Jesus is God. Jesus is the Creator. He is YHWH. He was with God. He is God. Jesus is not a second God. He is the same God. In other words, God is so far beyond our ability to comprehend, even trying to describe the nature of His existence goes beyond our ability to communicate. He must resort to presenting Himself in Oneness and in Threeness at the same time. But what we must know is the LORD whose steadfast love created the world is Jesus.

Unsurprisingly, the LORD whose steadfast love delivered Israel from bondage, led them through the wilderness, and conquered kingdoms before them is Jesus. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, the Rock which followed Israel through the wilderness and brought the nation into the Promised Land was Christ. It was Jesus.

This same Jesus came in flesh and tabernacled among us. He died on the cross to atone for our sins and cleanse our defilement away.

Let us give thanks to the Lord. Let us give thanks to Jesus. Because He Himself is the embodiment of chesed. He Himself is the God of chesed. His death on the cross is the ultimate demonstration of loyalty to every covenant the Lord made. And just as He created the world in covenant loyalty before any people had entered into covenant with Him, He planned the sacrifice of Jesus before the foundation of the world. Yet, that very steadfast love endures to us and will keep forgiving people for all time.

Praise the Lord! …for His steadfast love endures forever!

Next week’s reading is Psalm 137.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from Psalm 136?