Thursday, September 08, 2016

In our last visit I began considering what it meant in 1st Peter 3:19-20 when it says Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit and went in the power of the Spirit to “preach to the spirits in prison.” If you read commentaries on this you’ll find there are a number of possibilities in what is meant here. One, is that when Noah preached righteousness for 120 years while building the ark he did so under the Spirit of Christ. Another is that the spirits in prison were fallen angels who abandoned their positions of authority, mentioned in 2nd Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. Another is that Jesus preached in His spirit between the time he died and when He was raised, to the spirits in prison who disobeyed Noah’s warning. Some say Jesus was offering them a second chance, but this is not consistent with what is described in Luke 16:19-31. Others believe He proclaimed His victory, thus sealing the judgment they received for rejecting God’s message. In each view the fact remains as Peter points out that among the whole population during Noah’s day, “only a few people, eight in all, were saved.” Their testimony of faith and obedience, as seen in their building the ark and entering it as the flood started, has been a public witness down through history even as baptism is a public testimony of standing firm in one’s commitment to faith and obedience. Jesus was right when He said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For…small is the gate and marrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). I hope you’ve done this.>