God’s Perspective – Page 12 – Three Minute Bible

June 22, 2020June 22, 2020

1 Peter 1:12 (a) — Whom do you serve?

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

What sets a prophet apart is being called by God to be a messenger of God’s Word. I am capitalizing “Word” because these messages are holy. Mundane or spectacular, the Word from God is special. But never forget, prophets are people, too. They are not Superman. They have feelings like you and me.

June 14, 2020June 14, 2020

1 Peter 1:7 — Refined by Fire

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

I don’t know about you, but I find this sentence confusing. I glanced through several other translations of this verse and you know what? They confused me, too.

Let’s deconstruct what Peter is saying here:

These have come…

In verse six, Peter talks about the grief believers suffer because of “all kinds of trials.” Peter knows what he is talking about here. He certainly has experienced all kinds of trials! But why do trials come? Why do we suffer if God is watching out for us?

June 9, 2020June 10, 2020

1 Peter 1:2 (d) — Sprinkled

Red paint splattered on a white background

… and sprinkled with his blood…

Let’s continue with our deep dive into Peter’s opening words. We’ve talked about who and what Peter is and then moved into his description of the people he is writing to. Looking at the key concepts he has included it reads almost like a creed. We who believe are chosen by God, exiled from the world, known intimately by our Father, sanctified and continuing in sanctification to be obedient to Jesus Christ. And then we come to being sprinkled with his blood.

The thought of writing about this is daunting for me. I don’t even like the sight of blood. Yet being “sprinkled in blood” is an important part of Jewish history. It is one of the key prophetic pointers in the Old Testament that foretell the work of the Messiah.

June 6, 2020June 6, 2020

1 Peter 1: 2 (a) — An Absence of Uncertainty

… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…

In our post titled, “God’s Eye” we discussed how God’s view of time is different than our own. In today’s passage, Peter affirms the idea that God knows the future. He uses the word, “foreknowledge” to describe how God chooses us.

Perhaps you have had a sense of “deja vu” now and then? It is the feeling that you have already been someplace or done something before you have actually experienced it. To be clear, that is not anything like foreknowledge.

June 4, 2020July 9, 2020

1 Peter 1: 1 (c) — God’s Eye

A green heart shaped stone represents the heart of man without God.

To God’s elect…

If you live in a place where there are elections, you might think that being one of God’s “elect” has something to do with being chosen. Looked at in a certain light, you would not be far off. Some people like to make a fuss over the idea that some are chosen and others are not, but it is not that simple. We all come into this world the same way by birth. We all leave through the same door; death. The problem with being human is that we cannot “see” things the same way that God sees them.

May 29, 2020May 29, 2020

Jude 1: 25c — Granted

… be glory, majesty, power and authority…

To the only God, our Savior, who keeps us from stumbling and brings us to Himself…

… be glory, majesty, power and authority…

Why does Jude tell us this? Isn’t it obvious that God is worthy of all glory and majesty? Doesn’t it make sense that all power and authority reside in the Creator of All Things?

No?

May 24, 2020May 24, 2020

Jude 1: 23c — Corrupted Clothes

A rack of shirts and jackets at a men's clothing store.

—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

As we continue to parse Jude’s closing thoughts, we run into this interesting phrase, “ — hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” Whose clothing is Jude talking about? Yours? Mine? His?

The answer, it seems, is “all the above.” Peter references this idea in his second letter when he writes, “This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.” (2 Peter 2: 10)

May 9, 2020October 9, 2020

Jude 1: 14a — A Faithful Walk

Silhouette of an old man and dog walking.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them…

One of the most amazing aspects of the Bible is the amount of detail it contains about the past. Of course, whether or not you believe this information depends on your view of the Bible.

As I have mentioned before, my personal view is that God exists. God created everything there is, and if God wanted to get a book published He could. If he did, it would be exactly the way He wanted to it be.

May 8, 2020May 9, 2020

Jude 1: 12b-13 — Twice Dead

They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

I like Jude. He doesn’t mince words! The joke line that goes with a passage like today’s is, “So, Jude, tell us how you really feel.”

Ha!

The thing is that Jude isn’t just some guy at work or someone you ran into at a coffee shop (pre-COVID coffee, of course). Jude is someone who, we presume, knows the risen Lord. He may have even been his half-brother.

In today’s passage, Jude describes the ungodly people as “twice dead.” Why? Why twice dead?

May 5, 2020May 5, 2020

Jude 1: 11c — Toast

Woe to them! …they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

In this unique passage, Jude does two things at once. He tells us one more thing about the ungodly people who pervert the grace of God. Then, in the same stroke of the pen, he tells us about their fate.

To put this story into context we need to look at a bit of Israel’s history.