The Second Letter of Peter- 7

Subtitle: The Problem of False Prophets 4

2 Peter 2:10-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 30, 2026.

Today, we continue Peter’s warning against false prophets and false teachers.

He has warned them that the Church will face false teachers just as Israel had.  He has also reminded them that the judgment of God will certainly fall upon these false teachers as it had in the Old Testament.

Verse 10 serves as a transition from two Old Testament examples of God’s judgment to a description of the false teachers and false prophets that the Christians will face.  We can leave their judgment to God.  He knows how and when to judge them.  Our focus is to recognize them.

Let’s look at our passage.

Further Descriptions (v. 10-16)

Peter says that God’s judgment is especially for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority.  These two are connected because a person who is indulging their flesh will not like godly authorities.  The godly authorities (like Peter) will remind them that they are not to live for their flesh but for Christ.  Of course, they then use rationalizations and human reasoning to justify their rejection of such godly men and women.

Verse 10 describes them as daring.  Daring can be good in certain contexts, but it is not good here.  They are bold in stepping over the proper boundaries and purposes of God in order to promote their own ideas and flesh.  Thus, daring here could be thought of as audacious and presumptuous.  To be bold in your areas of ignorance is not wise.

They are also called “self-willed.”  The word has a sense of pleasing yourself.  Such people over-value their own ideas and opinions about Jesus and God’s will and reject those who walked with Jesus and received the truth directly from him.  In the end, it is a rejection even of Jesus.  Many a false prophet has redefined Jesus into their own image.  They see Jesus as a helpful symbol, but they want to hollow out the true content of the character, work, and teaching of Christ, so that they can fill it in with their own desires.  Instead of praying “Not my will, but thine be done,” they put their will in the place of God.

It says that they are not afraid to revile majesties.  To revile or to speak evil of someone comes from the word for blasphemy.  They speak things that are untrue of God, of Jesus, of the heavenly beings, etc., without fear (remember they are daring).  It is not so much that they know they are saying something untrue.  This is certainly possible.  However, it is also possible that their slander is just wishful thinking, and uncareful projection.

Who are the “Majesties” (NASB) or “Dignitaries” (NKJV)?  The word is literally “Glorious Ones.”  In light of the commentary in verse 11, it is speaking of heavenly beings.  This fits in with Paul’s language of a hierarchy of heavenly beings in Ephesians 1:21; 6:12 and elsewhere.  Peter is not envisioning himself as a glorious one that they are slandering, though they most likely would do that.  He speaks of people who have no fear of blaspheming spiritual beings of the heavens.  Because this is a general warning, we can understand that the specifics of the blasphemies and their targets are left unsaid.  We can imagine untrue things being said of the good angels, and even Satan and his angels (fallen).   Of course, we should recognize that the Most Glorious One who has authority over all the heavens, Jesus, will be slandered and blasphemed as well.

If a teacher or prophet speaks of heavenly things revealed to them, how can you verify the veracity of these things?  Do I have to wait until I go to heaven for myself to verify?  And how would that stop false teachers?

First, we can compare what the teacher teaches to what the Holy Spirit has already revealed and confirmed in the Scriptures.  If you know the truth, then the contradictions will stick out for what they are, lies, vain imaginations, and fantasies.

Second, there are times when a so-called revelation speaks of things that we are not told in Scripture.  It doesn’t contradict per se but goes beyond what Scripture reveals.  In such a case, do not lean upon what the teacher teachers.  Don’t build your life on it because we already have everything we need for life and godliness.  Put it on the “back burner” and let the teacher’s life prove out the veracity or deceitfulness of such revelations.  No false teacher will be able to hide the fact that they are as this chapter describes.  It will be obvious to those who observe their teachings and life.

In regard to their daring blasphemy towards spiritual beings, Peter warns that even angels are careful with the things they say to one another or charge against one another.  His main point is that angels (who are greater than us) are careful in bringing charges against one another.  Therefore, how much more ought we to be careful?  The answer is that we should be much, much more careful, fearful even.

Where is Peter getting this idea?  There is an example in Zechariah 3:1-2.  God shows Zechariah a vision of a man named Joshua who was the high priest in the new community of Jerusalem that had come back from exile in Babylon.  He saw Joshua standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan at Joshua’s side to accuse him.  The Angel of the Lord responds to Satan’s opposition, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!  Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

For the sake of time, let me just point out that the Angel of the Lord doesn’t personally stand against Satan’s opposition.  He stands in the truth of the Father’s purpose.  God was plucking burnt branches out of the fires of the Babylonian judgment on Israel.  Whatever the Angel of the Lord had come to do with Joshua, Satan’s resistance is not taken personal.  The Angel calls upon God the Father to rebuke Satan.  Essentially, this is a challenge.  If Satan really thought he was in the right, then he should press his luck in opposing Joshua.  However, the Angel knows God’s will.  The Father will back up those He sends in His service.  The point is the Angel in the right does not blaspheme Satan (even though we might say he warrants it).

Another example comes to us in Jude 1:9. It is unclear where Jude obtains this information.  In Deuteronomy 34:5-6, we are told that Moses died on the mountain, unable to enter the promised land.  It only says “he” buried him in Moab, and no one knows where his burial place is to this day.  Since no one was with Moses, it must be God having Moses buried, which would presumably be accomplished by an angel of God.  In the first century, there was a tradition that Satan tried to stop the angel from taking Moses to bury him.  It is irrelevant at this point why he might oppose this.  The main point is that the angel said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you!”

Whatever the source of this story, Jude is not saying that the document this story comes from should be Scripture.  Rather, he is using this story as an example.  In both cases (Zechariah and Moses), a spiritual being is standing against Satan, or the devil, yet calls upon Yahweh to rebuke him (as opposed to themselves).  Instead of railing on about how bad the devil is, they call for the judgment and help of God who knows all things about Satan’s evil and slanderous work.

False teachers through the ages have had no problem saying untrue things of all the spiritual beings, our Lord Jesus and the Father included.

Let me just say that, in Christ, we do not need to fear any wicked spiritual being from Satan down to the weakest imp in his fallen empire.  Yet, neither should we become arrogant nor vocally swagger before them.  Our power is not just from Jesus but is in him.  Satan fear Jesus not you.  However, he does fear you standing by faith in Jesus and his work.

Verse 12 compares them to unreasoning animals.  Animals are creatures of instinct alone.  When Peter says “to be captured and killed,” he is not saying this is the only design of animals.  These false teachers are predators on the level of an animal.  In the end, a predator will not be reasoned out of its prey.  The predator is incapable of feeling guilt and shame for its actions.  False teachers, such as Peter describes here, are also predators.  God has a day of capturing and killing them.  Their judgment is certain.

Like an animal, they revile where they have no knowledge (like with the angels).  However, they also revile the true Gospel, the why and the how of God’s salvation through Jesus.  They revile the Lord Jesus Himself in a variety of ways (He’s not completely God; He wasn’t really human, etc.).  They revile the teaching of the apostles on how we ought to conduct ourselves in this life, i.e., in holiness and righteousness.  They daringly say all manner of untrue things about all of these.

Verse 12 states that they “will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed.” The word creatures is added for understanding.  It is simply the pronoun “them.”  So what plural noun is “them” referencing?  The closest and most likely candidate is “animals.”  What destruction of the animals that false teachers will also be caught up in is in mind?  Most likely, Peter is referring to the ultimate day of judgment where the current heavens and earth melt in fervent heat, destroying all material things (animals included).  The only way to survive such a judgment is to be in right relationship with God, and these false teachers are not.  They will die like the animals in that great heat, being cast into the Lake of Fire where all rebel imagers will be banished.

Verse 13 speaks of their wages.  There is a textual issue.  Some manuscripts have “receiving the wages of doing wrong (evil).”  Whereas other manuscripts have suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.  Regardless of which verb we use, the connection to wages is clear.  The wages of sin is death, not just the first death (separation from our mortal body), but also, the second death (separation from God and His good creation).

Verse 13 further describes them as stains and blemishes in the midst of the Christian community, “reveling in their deception as they feast with you.”  If we picture the Christian life and even the life of the Church (its witness and worship) as a volunteer sacrifice to God, the idea of spots, blemishes, and stains reflects an unacceptable sacrifice.  We cannot leave false teachers and false prophets in our midst.  They will defile our ability to be an acceptable worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They are not to be tolerated and accepted.  They are to be rebuked and, if necessary (in the case of refusing to repent), cast out of our gatherings.

This is not a call for perfection, but of being truly under the saving work of Christ.  The Christian is cleansed by the work of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the Word of Christ, and this through our faith in the One who supplies these things.  The false teacher has no faith in Christ, no faith in God.  They only have faith in their ability to manipulate these things to their own ends.

They are “reveling in their deceits.”  What a horrible picture of intentionality that is opposed to the work of Christ.  Some versions have “as they carouse with you.”  I think this is a misunderstanding.  Carousing in English fits well with the feasting of the wicked.  However, this is a feasting they are doing with the true Christians.  I believe Peter has the Love-Feast of early Christians in mind.  Their times of communion were part of a meal that they ate together.  The Apostle Paul gives us insight into some early problems with this in the Corinthian Church in 1 Corinthians 11:20-22.  Some people were over-eating while others didn’t get any.  Others were over-drinking to the point of drunkenness.  Paul rebukes this lack of Christian love and propriety.  He tells them to go home and eat if you are that hungry.  Our gathering together must not be about gorging our flesh but honoring our Lord Jesus by ministering to each other in love.  These false teachers are such.

Verse 14 describes them as having “eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin…”  The eye here can be compared to a greedy or evil eye.  They may be literally looking to commit adultery, but they are most assuredly also symbolically lusting for ways to be unfaithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.  A false teacher may be the definition of restraint when it comes to food, drink, even sexuality (of course, many are not).  Yet, they will always prove unfaithful to the Lord Jesus himself.  They will present themselves as in close relationship, but their lives will look nothing like the true Lord who bought us from slavery with his own blood.

Notice the idea that they never cease looking for ways of being unfaithful (that they can get away with doing). Without pause from sin is the sense of no true restraint within them.  If you see restraint in an area, it is only as a means of deception and satisfying their flesh in another area.  In fact, many who look restrained in public are anything but restrained in private.  Do not overly trust a person’s public image.

They also entice “unstable souls.”  New believers are necessarily unstable in the sense that they have not yet been strongly rooted in the things of Christ.  It is important for mature believers to help new Christians develop a good understanding of what God desires of them and a good spiritual relationship with Him by the Holy Spirit.

Some believers should be mature by now, but through neglect, they are easily misled by false teachers.  They will appear steadfast until their foundations are tested by the false teacher.  Martyrdom is another test of just how steadfast our foundation has become.

They also have a heart “trained in greed.”  The picture is that they go to the gym and train so that they can win the Olympics of greed.  They are well practiced in it, experts even.

“Accursed children” reminds us of Cain.  They are not cursed because of their genetics.  It is a spiritual thing that developed over time in their lives.  It was a series of decisions in opposition to the Spirit of Truth that has taken them down a cursed path.  Like Cain, they bear a curse, but they also are a curse to others who cross their path.  God did not purpose for them to be like this.  They are choosing it over the top of His warnings and calls to repentance.

Verses 15-16 end with the imagery of Balaam.  They forsake the right way and follow the same path as Balaam.  Of course, the right way is the way of the Lord, the way of Jesus.  It is not only right because God points us in that direction, but it is also right because the Lord Jesus has blazed that path before us.  He also empowers us with his Spirit to walk it. 

Balaam is presented in Numbers 22-26.  While Israel was in the wilderness, the king of Moab contracted the prophet Balaam to curse Israel for him.  Balaam starts out saying the right things like, “I can only say what God tells me to say.”  However, God rebukes him.  The whole story of the Angel of the Lord and the “mute donkey” speaking a rebuke to Balaam shows us that Balaam was excited at the prospects of making a lot of money.  The story looks like Balaam only blessed Isreal and that is the end.  However, a brief statement by Moses in Numbers 31:16 shows us that the counsel of Balaam was behind a seduction event that happened at Peor (Numbers 25).  Balaam could not directly curse Israel because God would not let him.  However, he taught the king of Moab how to get Israel to show unfaithfulness to God, thus bringing God’s punishment upon them.  What was the idea?  Send your scantily clad girls out to the edge of the Israelite camp and invite the young men to come worship with you.  Keep in mind that the worship of these false gods involved sexual immorality.  Through sexual seduction, and this in the guise of honoring a god other than the One True God, 24,000 Israelites were caught up in this sin and died in a plague from God.

This is the heart of a man who wants the wages of unrighteousness (whatever can be obtained by not following the Lord).  It cares not that thousands will come under the judgment of God.  It only cares about satisfying its own wicked lust.

Such men come into churches.  They even have websites and are on TV.  Yet, they are standing against the truth and purpose of God in true believers.  We must be careful and refuse to come into relationship with these false teachers.  As Ephesians 5:11 says, we must “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”

False Prophets 4 audio

The First Letter of Peter- 17

Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 9

1 Peter 4:1-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, March 15, 2026.

Having looked at what Jesus accomplished through the things he suffered, Peter now calls us to have the same mind that Christ had when he did these things.  We can rejoice in having Jesus at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.  We can rejoice in salvation and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  However, it happened because Jesus was willing to suffer.  He embraced suffering for what it would accomplish.

Let’s look at our passage.

Arm yourself with the same mind Jesus had (v. 1-4)

The word translated as “arm yourselves” was typically used to prepare for battle.  It has the sense of equipping or providing yourself with what you need for a task.

So, who or what are we battling?  We can think about those who persecute and cause suffering in our lives just for doing the right thing.  I can imagine early Christians being challenged to recant their belief that Jesus was Lord, and instead, declare that Caesar is lord.  This may be true to some degree, but to a greater degree, we are arming ourselves with a mentality.  This mentality is something that is going on inside of us.  It is a mental and spiritual battle with our own flesh that can only be won when we think like Jesus did.

Our flesh is looking for any excuse to avoid suffering and obtain pleasure.  If we do not have the mentality of Jesus, then we will be overcome by the desires of our flesh.  The devil knows this and uses it for his purposes.  We can be intimidated away from the work that God has for us.  We can be shamed by social pressure to shrink away from the call of Jesus.  If you are going to follow Jesus, you will need to approach suffering the same way he did.

Now let’s be clear.  Jesus didn’t relish suffering and rush towards it with glee.  He wasn’t bored in heaven and decided to come to earth for some extreme experiences.   He wasn’t on a field trip.  On the other hand, Jesus is not trying to get everyone to like him.  He is not obsessed with getting the Pharisees and Sadducees to like him.  He is thinking about doing the will of the Father.  This is why Jesus prayed and sought God for that purpose he should pursue in the things that he faced.

Jesus did not let the threat of suffering cause him to shrink back from the good and right thing that God wanted him to do.  Yet he also knew that God had a timing to those right things he needed to do.  This timing will also affect our level of suffering.  Jesus could have been stoned to death earlier in his ministry, but it wasn’t God’s timing and way.

Here in America, our suffering is at a low level.  We are not being physically persecuted for our faith, though that does seem to be changing.  Yet there is a mental and spiritual suffering that we carry in our relationships.  Parents who are raising their children for Jesus will find that it is not easy.  Their flesh wants to quit.  It may not want to quit being a parent but at least being a parent for Jesus.  We can shrink away from the right thing that we know we should do. This is our flesh.

Peter then states that those who suffer in the flesh have been made to cease from sin.  The verb “to cease” is actually passive.  We have been made to cease from sin.  This doesn’t mean that we are perfect and never sin. Rather, sin has ceased to be the willing choice to obtain what our flesh desires.  It is no longer our target or focus.  Instead, we are focused on something else.  We have stopped going after sin through the lusts of our flesh and we have been going after something else.  Something has changed within us.  We think and act differently in life because our purpose in life is now led by Jesus.

Peter fleshes out the idea of ceasing from sin in verse two.  Peter refers to the “rest of his time” here.  Each of us have a period of our life that is before becoming a follower of Jesus and another that is after we have followed him.  This is what he is referencing.  How much time do I have left?  Whatever it is, I should use it for the will of God.

The rest of our time is, of course, hard to know for sure.  Psalm 90:12 reads, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Wisdom recognizes that I am not guaranteed tomorrow.  How will I spend the rest of my time?  We can have a good desire to follow Jesus but be derailed by the threat of suffering.  Suffering can dissuade us from following Jesus.

Peter speaks of not living for the “lusts of men.”  It means the lusts that are common to men.  Of course, the strong desires of our flesh can be different from one person to another.  I need to particularly avoid and reject the lusts of my own flesh so that I can live for the will of God.

The will of God may lead us down a path that has suffering on it.  We can complain about it, but we lose sight of the fact that God has something good in it for you.  First, He intends to accomplish some things through the work that you do.  Second, He intends also to accomplish some things through the things you suffer.  We can forget that God is working to draw people to Christ through the things we suffer.  When wicked people persecute us for doing what is good, there is always something in the back of their head that they have to avoid or silence in order to keep going.  This is the mercy of God working to bring them back from the edge of a moral cliff.

We may want to avoid suffering.  We may even pray for God to take us to heaven.  However, who is going to influence your children, grandchildren, etc.?  Maybe you don’t have such relationships.  Regardless, our only ability to affect this world is while we are in these bodies.  Jesus is asking us to use our mortal life in order to help people come back to what we were made to do.  We were made to image God in relationship with Him.  Jesus has made that possible for those who will turn away from sin and follow him.

Listen, Jesus isn’t in heaven having a party while we suffer down here.  He is pouring out the Spirit into our lives as we seek him.  The Spirit of God is helping us to go to war against what the devil has done in people’s lives.  He is telling us today, “Pick up your cross.  If you do that, then I will fill you with the Holy Spirit, and He will help you do some powerful things.  It will have some suffering in it, but O the glory!”

Even if you don’t get to see the fruit of your suffering, that isn’t the point.  The point is that you laid down your life like a seed into their life.  I may not see it in this life, but God will keep using it in their heart and mind through the rest of their life.

Adding to this argument, Peter tells us that we have spent enough of our past life pursuing the “will of the Gentiles.”  There were Gentiles who knew God, but this is being used of the Gentiles as a whole.  They were separated and foreigners to God.  They only knew the false religions of Satan and his angels. 

What is the will of the Gentiles?  Peter gives us a partial list of such things.  Sensuality or lewdness has the sense of a person with no restraint.  That can be in speech, dress, or activity.  Lust is basically strong desires of our flesh.  Drunkenness is literally excess wine.  When we imbibe too much alcohol, it leads to sin.  The next two words go together, carousing (revelry) and drinking parties.  If you can imagine people eating and drinking to the point that everyone is drunk and then going out into the streets to do whatever comes to your pickled mind, this is what these things describe.  Finally, Peter lists abominable idolatries.  Abominable means hated which is true of idolatry.  God hates it.  However, he literally writes “lawless idolatries.”

This list is not 100% of the things we need to avoid.  In fact, many of these are easy to quit doing.  Many people can “clean up their life” and make the outside look good, but these things beg the question of why we choose them.  What is going on inside of my heart that I keep choosing to go after these things?  Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount does this with murder.  It should be easy to cut off contemplating murder.  But it is much harder to cut off the anger that leads to murder.  The harder things to cut off in our lives are things like anger, jealousy, selfish ambition and slander.  This is what James is talking about in chapter four of his letter.  Jesus is leading us away from these things and towards the will of God.

The world around you thinks you are strange for not joining them in this pursuit of pleasure.  The excess of dissipation is an overflowing of unsaved living, unhealthy, unspiritual living.  Like a flood of water surging down the course of a canyon, they can’t imagine doing anything else.  The Christian is the fish who is swimming up stream while the world around them plunges along with the water downstream.

And thus, we end up back at suffering.  Because you are strange to them, then you are viewed as a threat or a source of guilt.  You are viewed as someone who can’t be manipulated and therefore can’t be trusted.  This leads to those who will malign you for following Jesus instead of the world.  Some “Christians” may even malign you for following Jesus instead of their traditions about Jesus.  Regardless, the word for “malign” is literally to blaspheme.  We are used to that being used about God, but we can blaspheme one another when we say things that are not true about one another.  It may stop there, but maligning people opens the door to abusing them further.  People are first called evil and then it is okay to persecute, even to kill, them.  The malign statements, the blasphemies against Christians, then become justification for more sinful actions that cause suffering for God’s people.

Let us remember that Jesus faced such men, and he put his trust in the Father’s will in the moment and in His purpose through it, even though it led to his death.

God will judge those who malign you (v. 5-6)

Verse five reminds us that those who persecute us will not get away with it.  They will be judged.  All people will be brought before Christ and give an account for their life.  I do not suspect there will be much speaking on their behalf.  The emphasis is more on being held accountable for one’s life.  Those who have rejected his salvation and persecuted his followers will be found guilty on that day.  It may not look like this is the case, but this is God’s promise, warning, to humanity.

When a person is going through suffering, this may not seem very comforting.  We want God to stop it now or even before it happens.  Regardless, we are called to have faith in God.  The example of Jesus and God’s answer of resurrection makes this a well-founded hope.

By the way, Peter doesn’t explicitly say that Jesus is this one who will judge, but this is the clear teaching of the apostles and Jesus.  See John 5:22-23, Acts 17:31, Romans 2:16, among many others.

Christ is “ready” to judge the living and the dead.  This may sound like it is about to happen in a matter of days.  But the meaning is more that Christ has been given the place and authority of judging those who are alive and those who are dead.  He is ready to judge whenever the Father chooses.  Jesus was ready to sacrifice his life on day one of his ministry.  However, it was the Father’s will that this did not happen until three and a half years of ministry had occurred.  Similarly, Jesus is ready to judge now, but will not do so until the Father says it is time.

Let us remember that this is true for us as a world and for us as individuals.  When we lay down our mortal bodies in death, our judgment before Christ will be evident.

Why does the Father delay?  Particularly, why does He delay while I am suffering?  This ties into God’s purpose to send the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  This is a period of time in which the nations are given grace through Jesus.  The way that we suffer (like Jesus did) is one of the goads that God uses to prick the conscience of lost people.  If they repent, then they become a brother or sister in the Lord.  We should forgive them and love them.  If they do not repent, then they will be held accountable by Jesus. 

If you had been ripped off by a big corporation and sued them, how would you feel if you went into court and found out that the judge owned a similar big corporation?  The opposite is true with Jesus.  The One who will judge humanity on that day is One who was unjustly and wickedly treated by people.  He is not on the side of the elite.  However, he will not pervert justice for the poor.  Jesus will judge in absolute truth.  This is a sobering thought.

This brings us to one of the most disputed verses in this letter.  Peter turns from the readiness of Christ to judge the living and the dead and states that this is why the Gospel “has been preached” to the dead.  Most translations have interpretations affecting their end result.  It literally says, “For this purpose even the dead were evangelized (given the Gospel).”  It begs the question of when the evangelizing occurred.  Was it while they are alive, being dead now or was it while they were in the grave?

We will come back to this question.  Let’s continue the flow of Peter’s argument.  The coming judgment of Christ is the purpose, or reason, for this evangelizing.  Yet, Peter states that this evangelizing was done so that something else might happen.  This is what the second half of verse 6 reveals.  Let’s look at the statement first and then come back to how this all fits together with evangelizing even the dead.

The second half of verse 6 has a clear symmetry that contrasts the first clause with the second one.  It uses the phrase “on one hand” there is this bad thing, “but on the other hand,” there is this good thing.  These clauses are in the subjunctive mood which emphasizes that this is God’s desire or purpose, whether men cooperate with it or not.  Let me lay out verse 6 in a clumsy literal interpretation.

“For this reason, even the dead were evangelized in order that, on one hand, they may have been judged according to men in flesh, but on the other hand, they may be living according to God in spirit.”

God’s purpose in this evangelization is to overcome the judgments of men in this world that have sent many to the realm of the dead.  They may have been put to death in their flesh according to the judgments of men, but God intends to make them alive in spirit.  This is some of the same verbiage that was used of Jesus in 1 Peter 3:18. Jesus was put to death in his flesh but made alive in spirit.  God does not always stop persecution.  However, He always overturns it.

We can understand that God’s purpose is to change a person’s destiny any time the Gospel is preached to them.  Instead of removing death from our experience, He makes possible a greater life following that death for those who trust in Jesus the Christ.

So what is this evangelizing even the dead?  There are really two good ways to interpret this, though I know there are endless variations in them.

The first is to see this as people who are now dead, but the evangelization happened while they were alive.  God’s purpose in the Gospel is not to make us invincible to the wicked in this life, but that when we die (whether naturally or at the hands of persecutors) this will not be the last word.  They live in spirit.  Unlike Jesus, believers do not immediately receive a spiritual body.  Their spirits are with Christ at the right hand of the Father awaiting the day of resurrection when they will obtain glorified, spiritual bodies like Jesus.  Even before the cross, righteous believers like Noah, Abraham, David, and all the rest, went into the good side of the Grave (Sheol/Hades) awaiting the day when Messiah would make it possible for them to be released into the presence of the Father.

One of the fears of early believers is mentioned by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4.  They worried that somehow believers who had died were going to miss out on the good things that were expected at the Second Coming of Jesus.  Paul explains that those who are dead will not miss out on God’s plan.

In this situation, it is speculated that Peter is encouraging them that, even though we may be put to death in flesh, we are alive in spirit.  God’s judgment makes the judgments of men irrelevant.  In fact, this being alive in spirit occurs while we are still in this mortal flesh.  This is generally what is meant by eternal life.  It is the life-giving-principle of Jesus Himself working within us, no matter what state we are in (mortal flesh, body dead but spirit with Jesus, and finally a glorified spiritual body).

This is a good, scriptural understanding.  However, Peter may have been saying something more than this.  The second interpretation actually sees this as an evangelization by Jesus after his death to those who are in the grave.  Some oppose this because it sounds like they are getting a second chance at salvation.  However, this is not necessarily the case.

Scripture does appear to be clear that we are given this mortal life to make and to demonstrate our choice regarding Jesus.  Once we die, we are held accountable to that choice.  Hebrews 9:27 states, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…”  2 Corinthians 6:2 states, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  Clearly, we are called to accept God while He has opened a door for salvation.  If we wait, the time may close and be missed.  Death is equated with facing our judgment, not an extension of a season of salvation.

That said, there is a plausible way to see this in the second sense (Jesus evangelizing the dead after his death) without teaching that people get a second chance in the Grave.

In 1 Peter 3:18, we saw that Jesus went into the Grave and then to Tartarus (a prison for rebellious angels/spirits).  There he proclaimed his victory to them and the finality of their defeat.  There is no sense in that passage that he “evangelized” them.  That word is not used.  Also, it is not hard to see that while he was in the Grave where the departed human spirits are held in two compartments, one good and one bad, Jesus may do some more declarations.  Thus, we can see Jesus proclaiming his victory to those “in torments in Hades,” which would accentuate that they had chosen the wrong side.  We could also see him sharing the good news (the real meaning of the word evangelize) of his victory and what it means for those human spirits in Abraham’s Bosom, or Paradise, which is the good side of the Grave.  He is not so much giving them an offer of salvation but explaining what has happened and how they have been saved.  This makes sense because though they had a sense of the good thing God was doing, they were just as much in the dark as the disciples were to how God was going to do this.

The foundations of the Gospel were laid down in Genesis three as God pronounces judgments on the serpent, Eve and Adam.  Notice that He promises that a Seed of the Woman would come forth to crush the Serpent’s head.  He would no longer have dominion over humanity.  This is a kind of proto-Gospel.  Through the Old Testament more and more definition is given to what and how God would save humanity.  We can imagine David coming into Abraham’s Bosom and sharing with those who were there all that God had revealed in his day.  Isaiah would enter one day and share what God had showed him.  Yet Jesus coming into Abraham’s Bosom would not just lead the spirits into heaven without some kind of explanation of what had happened.

The New Testament even speaks of Abraham and Israel having the Gospel preached to them in the sense of a proto-Gospel.  Galatians 3:8 says this about Abraham, and Hebrews 4:2 expresses this sense about Israel in the wilderness.

This second view sees that sharing good news with even the dead is not the only thing in view.  The whole dynamic of Jesus going into the grave in order to bring the righteous spirits held in the grave (awaiting the price to be paid for their sins and justification) and lead them into the presence of the Father is part of the purpose of God.

This faithfulness that has happened already is part of the confidence we can have in the midst of suffering.  God will not and has not left us at the mercy of wicked men, treated as lambs for the slaughter.  Instead, God wants to use our suffering and especially how we do it in order to make peace possible with his enemies, our enemies.

The spiritual life we have in Christ while we are in the flesh will not cease when our bodies die.  Our spirits will then live before the Father in heaven until the time of resurrection comes.  Then, we will have glorified, spiritual bodies in which we will be “like the angels.”  This is the sure, proven hope that believers have when facing suffering in this life.  May God strengthen us as we live for him in this lost world.

Our Witness 9 audio

The Lifting up of Jesus

Mark 15:21-32.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 14, 2021.

During the last week before the crucifixion, Jesus had said, “If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”  He uses a verb that literally describes the crucifixion, but also has a metaphorical use that meant exaltation to a place of honor.  The people of Israel would lift Jesus up, one way or another.  We typically take this verse in the sense of exaltation.  However, we are told that Jesus was speaking of the way in which he would be executed.

The world was going to crucify Jesus, but it would ironically be his exaltation.  It would set in motion his power to draw all manner of people unto himself.  They would be drawn to him spiritually, but not forcefully.  The world will soon drag mankind into worship of a system and a god-man that will employ force.  However, this is not the way of the omnipotent God of the universe.

If we are to exalt Jesus before the world, we must be careful of separating him from the cross in people’s minds.  Yes, Jesus is coming back in power and great might, but he broke the might of our enemy at the cross.  We live in the face of a backlash against Jesus and his people that is growing every day.  It is a backlash against his word, the Bible.  It has already been happening in people’s hearts, even some who profess to be Christians.  This is being drawn to the surface through the events and social issues of our day.  Satan will seek to cancel the truth about who God is, who Jesus is.  Who will you stand with in this testing time?  I pray that you will stand with the one true Jesus faithfully revealed to us in God’s Word.

Jesus is taken to the place of crucifixion

In verse 21, it is time for Jesus to be crucified, and thus, they begin to lead him to the place of execution.  Jesus is a “dead man walking,” as they say.  It was typical for the victim to carry the crossbeam of the cross with the vertical member generally left standing in the same place between executions.    The physical condition of Jesus is so bad that he is unable to carry his crossbeam all the way to the place of death.  It is at this point that a man who happened upon the scene is forced into service.  Simon of Cyrene is force to help carry the cross of Jesus.

Cyrene was a city in Africa, what we would call the coast of eastern Libya today.  With a name like Simon, he is clearly a Jew who has made the long journey to participate in the Passover proceedings.  The mention of his sons, Alexander and Rufus, seems to indicate that the original readers would recognize the names.  They had most likely become a part of the early Christian community.

It is interesting that sometimes we are compelled to do things that we do not want to do, but they end up marking our life for good, and for God.  Where Simon Peter had failed to stand beside Jesus, the Father supplied another Simon to help His Son to complete the mission.  May God help us to do less complaining about the lot that we have received, and to do more praying about how we should respond to those difficult times. We must seek to discover what He is saying to us through it.  Simon of Cyrene had a close encounter with Jesus as he went to the cross.  This would mark him forever.

The execution site is named Golgotha, an Aramaic term meaning “place of a skull.”  There are two sites that are contenders today for this location.  The idea that it was a small hill that was shaped like a skull cannot be traced back to the first century, so it is unclear how dependable it is.  However, all of Jerusalem in those days would know exactly where Golgotha was.  It was the place that was just outside of the walls of Jerusalem, either to the west of the temple mount, or to the northwest of it.

Upon arrival at the execution site, Jesus is offered a mixed drink to help numb the pain.  Proverbs 31:6-7 tells us to give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart.  It was common for the Jews to offer such to those being executed.  However, Jesus refuses this, not so much because he loves pain and suffering, but because he must fully identify with our suffering in order to serve as a merciful High Priest, as the book of Hebrews details (Hebrews 2:17). 

There is a certain amount of suffering that we must embrace in this life, not because of some masochistic desire, but because it helps us to identify with Jesus.  It helps us to understand that his sufferings brought us life that our sufferings cannot neutralize.  We should not seek to make ourselves suffer on purpose, but neither should we run from it when it comes knocking.  Weep with those who weep, and know that, this too, Jesus shall overcome in the resurrection.

Jesus is crucified

At last, Jesus is nailed to the crossbeam and lifted into place.  Mark tells us that this happens at the third hour.  The Jews divided the day as hours counting from what we would call 6:00 AM.  Thus, the third hour would be the hour beginning at 9:00 AM.  Later in this chapter, we will be told that Jesus dies just after the ninth hour, or 3:00 PM.  This would put him on the cross for six hours total.  The Roman reckoning of time was as ours.  John’s Gospel must have been using this when it refers to Jesus being before Pilate at the sixth hour, or 6:00 AM.

Mark tells us that an inscription, or sign, is put above Jesus.  Typically, this would be the charge for which the person is being executed.  However, Pilate words it in such a way as to slight the Jews, or at least their leaders.  “King of the Jews,” is what it says.  John’s Gospel adds that it also said “Jesus of Nazareth.”  It was in Greek, Hebrew, and in Latin.  Though the Jewish leaders complained that the sign made it look like Jesus actually was the king of the Jews, it was fitting that the Savior of all peoples, of every language, should be declared in the main languages of the day.  Here is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.  Of course, Jesus is much more than this.  What Pilate does out of spite, God allows to drive home the point to the Jewish onlookers.  We have crucified the king that God has finally sent us.

Mark mentions that Jesus is crucified between two robbers.  Only Luke mentions that one of the robbers ends up putting his faith in Jesus while he was on the cross.  Mark’s gospel implies that both of the robbers mock Jesus at first.   Mark points us to Isaiah 53:12, which tells us that the suffering Messiah would be numbered among those who are transgressors.

Jesus was executed as if he was the same as these two robbers, worthy to be executed and cast out as a dead branch.  Yet, Jesus is eternal life!  Even today, this world will control the narrative by castigating believers as transgressors.  It is not what this world says about you that is most important.  It is what Jesus will say about you when you stand before God the Father.  May we be found as faithful in this generation.

Jesus is blasphemed and mocked

We talked about the mocking of the soldiers last week.  Now, Jesus is opened to further public mocking.  The terms blaspheme and mocking are used.  They can serve as synonyms in this situation, but essentially to blaspheme is to speak a falsehood about someone, especially God.  Whereas, mocking is more about the ridicule of a person and what they stand for.

The common people and the chief priests are all blaspheming and ridiculing Jesus.  It is unclear why these priests would be here when there are clearly duties to be done at the temple.  It can only be chalked up to their vitriol towards Jesus.

The first statement mentioned is blasphemy and mocking.  “You who destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days…”  Jesus never said that he would destroy the temple, but here they ridicule the idea that a man who is powerless to stop his own execution would have the power to rebuild the temple in three days.  What of your wild claim now, Jesus?  Of course, it is they who are destroying the temple of his body, and on the third day, Jesus would raise it up in his own resurrection.  It is not an honor to mock things that you do not understand because you end up being revealed as a fool in the end.

This is followed up with mocking his ability to save.  Save yourself and come down from the cross.  In a sense, they throw down the gauntlet for him to prove himself, but on the other hand, it is not something they expect him to do.  To them, Jesus has been checkmated and there is no way out.  He is proven to be a false prophet in their eyes.  Jesus was famous for saving people from the death sentence of hideous diseases.  Yet, he is powerless in the face of crucifixion.

They even add the twist that if he does come down from the cross then they would believe that he is the Messiah, and the rightful king of Israel.  The sad thing is that Jesus did have the power to save himself, but if he saved himself, he would be damning all mankind.  The logic goes like this.  “God, do this thing and I will believe.” However, if God does that thing my belief would be to late to help me.  I would be trapped forever in guilt, knowing that he was right and I failed to believe when I should have.

This is the great wisdom of the world.  It seems so powerful and wise, but in the end, it is folly.  It foolishly tells God how to run the universe, or ridicules the idea of God because the universe is not running in a particular way.  Imagine God at the beginning of creation, looking ahead and writing down a list of every demand from every human being who ever existed as to what he must do to prove Himself to them.  God is not a dog to jump through all the hoops we demand that He must jump through.  Yet, He does love us and demonstrated it powerfully on the cross.

So, I end with this.  Save yourself from this stubborn and wicked generation, by putting your faith in the crucified Lord who died for your sins, and rose up from the grave to give you eternal life!

Lifting up Jesus audio

Jesus before the Council

Mark 14:53-65.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 03, 2021.

Today, we will pick back up in the Gospel of Mark.  Jesus has been arrested and is brought before the chief priests and their council.  The events of this passage underline the importance of holding fast to Christ even when the institutions of justice in this world are perverted and twisted in order to bring about injustice.

Our Lord promised us that in this world we would have trouble, but that we were not to fear because he had overcome the world.  And, we shall too with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within those who are believing upon the Lord Jesus.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus is interrogated during the night

The Law of Moses (more properly, the Law of God given to Israel through Moses) had protections for the accused, which would counter humanity’s penchant for rash lynchings.  Several aspects of the proceedings before Christ’s crucifixion do not pass muster and make the proceedings illegal.  Yet, it is still being done under the color of law.  When those who are responsible to uphold the law are intent on breaking the intent of the law, they have a powerful ability to make an illegal thing legal, as if they were innocent of any wrong and merely providing justice.  This abuse of power is not a rare thing among human governments.  Thus, we see that the most righteous human who ever lived received injustice at the hands of those in this world who were responsible for giving justice.  This is an indictment of all of us.

Mark’s Gospel does leave out some critical details that the Gospel of John helps us to see.  There are actually three meetings between Jesus and religious authorities.  The first is a meeting with Annas who was a previous high priest and also the father-in-law of Caiaphas.  It is unclear who all is at this meeting.  It may have taken place as the greater council was being assembled.  The second meeting is where Jesus is brought from Annas to Caiaphas and the religious council of Israel, the Sanhedrin.  The time is roughly around 4 am, and thus this is an informal interrogation, or trial.  An official trial could not take place in the middle of the night.  Mark’s account does not mention the first meeting and details the second one.  The third meeting is mentioned in Mark 15:1. This happens as soon as it is morning.  It appears to be the official, on the books, meeting of the Sanhedrin where they determine to send Jesus to Pilate with a petition of execution.

The setting of this second meeting is in the compound of the high priest.  It has an inner courtyard surrounded by buildings, and perhaps even a large balcony.  I mention a balcony because Luke’s account will mention that, when Peter denies Jesus the third time, a rooster crows and Jesus turns to look at Peter.  Jesus must be either in the courtyard with the Sanhedrin, or on an elevated balcony with the group of 70 or so men.  It is quite likely that the meeting with Annas also took place somewhere within this compound.

I have mentioned Peter already, but it is the Gospel of John that tells us the details of how he was able to get into the high priest’s courtyard.  John records that another disciple was known by the high priest and his house.  This disciple first went in and then arranged for Peter to be admitted.  Most scholars believe this other disciple is John because John displays a tendency to leave himself anonymous in his Gospel.  Is John with Jesus, or in the courtyard with Peter?  The biblical account does not tell us.  This is where Peter’s infamous denials will take place, but we will save that for next week.

This second meeting with Jesus involves many witnesses who are brought forth for the event.  Obviously, they had been told in advance that they would be needed for such.  Mark tells us that none of their testimony was trustworthy.  However, one charge does surface from among the others that has legal clout.  It is purported that Jesus claimed to destroy the temple and then rebuild it in three days.  This is not exactly what Jesus said in John 2:19. The witnesses are talking about the time when Jesus had cleansed the temple.  Afterwards, Jesus is asked to give a sign to back up his actions.  Jesus tells them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.”  John then goes on to say that Jesus was talking about his body, and not the temple building.  So, on one hand there is a misunderstanding of what Jesus means by temple.  However, on the other hand, there is a twisting of just who Jesus said would do the destroying.  Notice that Jesus does not say he will destroy the temple.  He posits that they would destroy the temple and that he would do the rebuilding.

Now, to destroy the Temple of God was an unthinkable thing to the Jews, but even the Romans held the destruction of any temple in its lands as a capital offense.  It was treated as an act of terrorism that would threaten Rome’s control over an area.  Ultimately, the religious leaders needed something that they could use in order to convince the Roman Governor Pilate to execute Jesus.  This would do it.

Even then, Mark notes for the second time that their testimony didn’t agree.  Thus, the testimony in general didn’t agree, and then on the one item they were able to treat as legitimate the testimony was still flimsy.  The Law called for at least two witnesses.  The witnesses would clearly have to agree on the salient points for there to be a conviction.  When you testify against the truth, your testimony will be full of errors.  An individual who is not telling the truth has enough trouble keeping a story straight, much less multiple people called at a moment’s notice in the dead of night.

It is clear that the high priest recognizes the weakness of the case because he first questions Jesus about the temple allegations.  Jesus does not answer it.  This leads to the high priest asking Jesus straight forwardly if he is the Christ, that is the Messiah.  This would be a second point of contention with Jesus that the Romans would also take as serious.  If Jesus claimed to be the Messiah then Rome would see that as a threat to their political authority. Remember, Messiah would not only be king of Israel, but ultimately of the whole world.

Up to this point, we do not see Jesus defending himself and arguing with those who are giving false testimony.  He is essentially silent before them.  Isaiah 53:7 prophesied that Messiah would be “as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”  The main point is not about never uttering a syllable, but rather about defending himself and trying to get himself out of the charges.  Even a guilty man will brashly rail at truthful charges against him.  How much harder is it to hold your peace when those who accuse you are lying through their teeth?  Jesus is showing us that we are to have as our main defense the testimony and decision of God.  He is completely trusting God, which may seem foolish at the cross, but is clearly wisdom at the resurrection.

When authorities have a flimsy case, they fall back on getting the accused to talk so that their words can be used against them.  We don’t need the 5^th Amendment to teach us that there is wisdom in holding your peace and trusting God.  Yet, now the approach of the high priest has switched from labeling Jesus as a terrorist, and has moved to claiming he is a false Messiah.  Jesus does answer the direct question from the high priest, “Are you the Christ the son of the Blessed One?”

It is clear in the answer of Jesus that he is giving them the truth, and at the same time giving them the political ammunition that they will need to execute him.  First, Jesus answers, “I am…”  He clearly owns the title of Christ, Messiah, but he doesn’t stop there.  Jesus adds to the claim of Messiah an allusion to a figure in Daniel 7:13-14, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven!” 

This passage opens with 4 beastly empires that have their way on the earth until the Ancient of Days holds court.  The judgment of God the father is that three of the beasts will have their dominion taken away and the fourth beast will be slain and given over to the burning flame.  At this point, Daniel sees a being that comes on the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days, who is seated on His throne, in order to receive an everlasting dominion and kingdom over the whole earth.  This being is described as “like a son of man.”  Son of man is a way of describing someone as human.  However, the text says that he is “like” a son of man. 

The history of how this cryptic figure was viewed in the first century is shrouded in the history that happens after it.  The destruction of Jerusalem destroyed many documents and religious groups.  The Sadducees and their interpretations disband and do not survive.  The Pharisees that went with Israel as it was dispersed to the nations became the sole religious leaders.  They passed down their ideas by word of mouth, until their interpretations were written down in the fourth century AD.  Much of the original religious discussion of that time was lost and even purposefully hidden because of its closeness to Christian theology.  Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls have helped to shine some light on the beliefs of those days.  Instead of going into that, we can determine much about what they thought by how they responded to what Jesus said.

Caiaphas takes this statement as complete blasphemy, even ripping his robe as he declares it.  How is what Jesus said blasphemous?  It cannot be a blasphemy to admit to being the Messiah, at least not up front.  The Messiah would one day come and would need to be able to declare he is Messiah.  There is no law in the Torah that forbids claiming to be Messiah.  It could be seen as blasphemy once a person has proven they are not.  So, it is possible that they believe Jesus has more than proved that he is not Messiah.  I think this is a stretch.  I believe the declaration of blasphemy has more to do with the Daniel 7 allusion than the claim to being Messiah.

The Daniel 7 character is “like” a human, and yet rides the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days.  No mortal can ride the clouds of heaven.  It is clear that some groups saw this figure as a heavenly being that looks human. This would be one of the ways to see the statement as blasphemous.  The logic would be that Jesus is clearly a human being, and yet he is claiming to be a heavenly being.  Therefore, he must be a deceiver of the worst sort.

This leaves us with the main witness against Jesus as his own words, which are both truth and anything but blasphemous.  Though this is an informal trial, the group is asked what their decision is.  Jesus is declared guilty of blasphemy and deserving of death.  At first light, they will have an official meeting of the Sanhedrin that will rubber stamp this decision officially, but the real work happened in the dead of night under the hour and power of darkness.

At this point, Jesus is physically abused, which from the Gospels has happened several times before now.  This reveals the hideous hatred that was among the group towards Jesus.  It was an undeserved hatred, much like David of old.  Some were spitting on him as a show of contempt and humiliation.  A cloth is tied over his face so that he cannot see.  Then, different ones take turns hitting Jesus, and some of the servants slapping him.  A sick game commences with them taunting Jesus to prophecy which of them had hit him.

In all of this, the Lord of Glory restrained himself and took it all.  He did so for you and for me, for them, and he did so trusting in the judgment of his Father.  O, how difficult it would be to trust God when He allows such gross injustice.  Yet, trust he did.  If they treated the King of kings and the Lord of Life in such a way, how much more will this world treat us?  Is it only for Jesus to receive shame and only for us to receive glory?  Is not our participation in the coming glory of Christ dependent upon our participation in the present shame and humiliation of Christ before the world?  May God help us to stand with Jesus in the midst of a world that is still seething with a hatred and a rage for Jesus and any who will follow him in truth.  Yes, difficult days lie ahead, but those who know their God will do exploits in his name, amen!

Jesus before the Council audio