On Baptism

Genesis 8:13-19           1 Corinthians 10:1–13            Jude 8–10

On Baptism

After our short detour through the book of 1 Peter, we now return to our journey through the book of 1 Corinthians. And wouldn’t you know it; we pick up the trail again in chapter 10 which starts with some interesting comments about baptism.

So, let’s talk about baptism, shall we? What is this sacrament that has sparked off so much debate within the Christian community, what does the imagery symbolise, and where does that imagery come from?

Let’s start with the two very interesting passages we read from today, starting with 1 Corinthians. First, it is important to note that Paul considers the New Testament Church a continuation of Old Testament Israel. “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren,” he says, “that our fathers were all under the cloud…” Now, we know that this was an ethnically mixed community and not exclusively Jewish, so by using the plural words “our fathers”, Paul is assuming that there is a continuity between Israel of the Old Testament and the Israel of God in the New Testament.

Second, we note that Paul is making a comparison between what happened with the people of Israel during the Exodus and what happened with the people of Corinth during their conversion process. “These things were examples (or patterns) for us…these things happened to them as an example (or pattern), but they were written down for our instruction…”

Third, we note that there is a progressive movement in what Paul says about what happened with the Israelites. To begin with, they were all under the cloud. From Exodus we learn that their journey began with the institution of the Passover where the angel of death passed over all the houses that were under the blood of the Passover lamb. This was the defining time of judgement on the Egyptians and of liberation for the Israelites…a separation of goats and sheep you could say.

Exodus tells us that “…the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light…” (Exodus 13:21–22) The Lord, the text says, was in the cloud and in the fire. But the cloud is also said to inhabit a figure usually interpreted to be the preincarnate Son of God…the Angel of the Lord who “…was going before the host of Israel…” but then when the Egyptians pursued the Israelites and cornered them at the Red Sea, he “…moved and went behind them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.” (Exodus 14:19–20)

Then, we note that this group of rescued slaves “all passed through the sea…” Now we can read all about the Red Sea crossing in Exodus 14 and 15, but the relevant bit for our discussion today is found in what Paul says happened when they passed through Sea. “…all,” he says, “were baptised into Moses in the cloud (the theophany or presence of God) and in the sea (the Red Sea).

But what does Paul mean when he says they were baptised into Moses? 

Well, perhaps it would help if we looked briefly at Paul’s use of the word “in” with reference to Adam and Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul speaks about those who are “in Adam” and those who are “in Christ”. In reference to these two “in” states he then says, “just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” So, I think we can safely assume that the use of the word “in” or “into” refers to some form of spiritual union under whomever we are “in”.

Their passing through the sea (this would be the first time the Israelites physically leave Egyptian territory) marked a sharp break from their past. They transitioned from being enslaved people (who were culturally not considered a people) to becoming the free, covenant community of God. We could say that being enveloped by the pillar of cloud and flanked by the walls of water served as a figurative "immersion" into the community of faith under the authority or headship of Moses.

So, in terms of progression you have a divine deliverance of men, women, children, and a mixed multitude (Exodus 12:38) sealed or validated by an act that constitutes a major change in status. From slaves to a free nation.

But why “into Moses”? Well, my best explanation for the use of the name Moses in this context comes from a rather enigmatic and confusing passage in the epistle of Jude. In verse 9 Jude writes: “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” Now, many scholars think that Jude 1:9 intends a straightforward, literal reference to Moses' physical corpse. They link this account to early Jewish extra-canonical literature, such as the lost portions of the Assumption of Moses, which describe a tangible struggle over his physical remains or bodily translation.

But I must ask myself: why on earth would an archangel and the devil get into a tiff over a stiff? That just doesn’t make sense to me. So, to find an answer to my perplexing riddle, I went looking in Scripture for anything that looked vaguely similar to this dispute… and guess what? Well, I found this in Zechariah 3:1–2: “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”

Now, in this context, Joshua the High Priest was the representative head of Jerusalem and consequently of the people of Israel. So, is it possible that this term “the body of Moses” is an allegorical reference to the people of Israel in the same way as “the body of Christ” is an allegorical reference to the Christian community? In fact, the Jews who stood in opposition to Jesus claimed to be “disciples of Moses” and Jesus says that they “sat in Moses’ seat”.

In other words, if my understanding is correct, then being baptised “into Moses” simply means that the freed slaves and the mixed multitude were united as a people under one leader, namely Moses. So, in this case, their baptism serves as a symbol of a new status for those who have passed through the waters. God had delivered them from slavery and then, through this imagery, he demonstrates that they are no longer under Pharaoh but under Moses.

But why baptism? Why water? What does passing through water have to do with a change of status? So, once again, I searched the Scriptures to see if this image was used elsewhere to illustrate a change in status. Prior to the Exodus there is, of course, the story of Noah and the Ark. Noah and his family, divinely saved by God through the instrument of an Ark, “pass” through water to begin a renewed creation. Most commentators down through the ages have seen a link between the flood and baptism, so there’s nothing odd about my discovery here.

But was there perhaps something earlier than the Flood that may help us understand the use of water to indicate a change of status? Well, I think there is. In Genesis 1:9 we read that “God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.” But what happened immediately after the dry land emerged from the waters? Life! For the first time since the beginning, things could live and grow on earth. Vegetation, birds, animals, and, of course, humanity.

So, I ask, is it possible that this is the origin of the imagery of baptism? It seems to symbolise the change that takes place when something emerges out of the waters. With the creation, it was life. With Noah, it was new life. Creation and re-creation. So, could it be that this is the same imagery for this baptism into Moses? Well, I think it is. They passed from one status to another. From slavery to freedom. From not a people to a people.

And this is not simply a connection I have invented by putting these stories beside one another. Some of the earliest Christian writers understood baptism in precisely this larger biblical pattern. For instance, Tertullian connected the waters of creation, the Flood and the Red Sea with Christian baptism, while Ambrose saw in them a continuing movement from creation, through the Flood, into the new creation represented by baptism. In other words, the Early Church itself saw baptism not as an isolated ritual, but as part of God's continuing work of creation, deliverance and re-creation.

But what makes this image of baptism confusing is the fact that the same Greek word “baptizo” is sometimes used in the Septuagint for the ritual washings in the Old Covenant cultus. In this case, most people “baptised” in water were being prepared to meet with God. For instance, in Exodus 19 the people were instructed to consecrate themselves, a ritual that included washing even their garments, because in three days God would manifest his presence on the mountain.

These Old Testament rites of spiritual cleansing continued through the Old Testament period into the New Testament period as any believer who wanted to approach the Tabernacle or the Temple precincts for whatever reason had to first wash themselves. Today, one can still see the many ritual baths (mikva'ot) at the foot of the Southern Steps at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The rites of cleansing were sometimes administered by the individuals themselves (Leviticus 15:13) or by the priests (Leviticus 14:1–7) as ablutions were considered a prerequisite to approaching God at feasts, festivals, and sacrifices. In other words, these were “baptisms of repentance” and cleansing prior to approaching a holy God.

Now, I believe that this rite of cleansing was the baptism that John the Baptist administered. First, because John was a priest, and second, because his ministry was one of preparation. “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”

And then, John also spoke of a different baptism yet to come. “I baptise with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I…he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Now, I think it is possible that John’s “Holy Spirit and fire” may very well be a reference to the pillar of cloud and fire in the Exodus because when the Holy Spirit does come on the day of Pentecost, it is with the sound of a mighty rushing wind that manifests itself, not as a single pillar of fire, but tongues of fire that rest on each and every believer.

But be that as it may, John’s baptism is not the same as Jesus’ baptism. How do I know that? Well because when Paul meets followers of John the Baptist in Acts 19 and is told that they were baptised into John’s baptism, he says, “John baptised with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” In other words, John’s baptism was preparatory.

This distinction was also made by the Early Church. Tertullian described John's baptism as preparation and anticipation, while Chrysostom pointed out that those who had received John's baptism still needed Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The point is not that John's baptism was meaningless. It was divinely appointed, but it was pointing forward to something greater that had not yet arrived.

What then is Jesus’ baptism if it is not the same as John’s? You might well point out that Peter said in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”? Yes, he did say that, but then he added, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Now, you need to do two things here. First, you need to think like an Old Covenant Jew whose faith taught him that the promises of God belonged to covenant families…men, women, and their children. And second, you need to hear a little word often overlooked that is used by Paul in our Corinthian text. And that little word is “all”. All were under the cloud. Men, women, children, and a mixed multitude. All passed through the sea. Men, women, children, and a mixed multitude. All were baptised into Moses. Men, women, children, and a mixed multitude. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. Men, women, children, and a mixed multitude.

Now, this is important because Peter's Pentecost promise deliberately uses the same expansive language: “…the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off (a mixed multitude, if you will), everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” This is more than likely why many of the baptisms recorded in the book of Acts were household baptisms. If the standard practice for the people of God was the inclusion of every member of the household and if that standard practice was suddenly changed or reversed in the New Testament period, surely those who understood how the covenant worked would have raised their voices in protest as they did when Paul did not require the Gentile converts to be circumcised.

An argument from silence I grant you, but I think that this is where Paul's comparison in 1 Corinthians 10 becomes particularly important. Whatever else baptism means, Paul chooses an event in which men, women, children and a mixed multitude together pass through the water and together become one covenant people. The emphasis is not on the age or even the decision of individuals but rather on God's gracious act of incorporating all whom he delivered into his covenant people.

So to recap, the progression in this text is as follows. Divine deliverance, despite themselves, illustrated primarily through the shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb. A divine change of status illustrated by passing through water as at creation and as at the flood, again, despite themselves. Then a divine feeding on spiritual food and drink, both of which were images used by Jesus when speaking about himself as the Bread from Heaven and the Water of Life.

Now the New Testament echoes the same pattern. Divine deliverance, despite ourselves, fulfilled through the shedding of the blood of Jesus, THE Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). A divine change of status, in this case from death to life, illustrated by passing through water as at creation, the flood, and the Exodus. Followed by a divine feeding on spiritual food and drink illustrated through our participation in the Holy Communion.

Once again, the early Christians saw this same pattern. Augustine, for example, could move directly from the Red Sea to baptism and then from the manna in the wilderness to the Eucharist: deliverance through water, followed by feeding on Christ. So Paul's sequence is not simply about three unrelated privileges. It is a movement from deliverance, to incorporation, to nourishment.

Then finally, in both the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, obedience to the will of God is expected. Remember, the Law came after the deliverance…Sinai came after the Exodus from Egypt. Salvation demands obedience as obedience is the natural consequence of salvation.

And with that in mind I now want us to look at what Paul says in verse 5. “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” Now, if these things happened to them as an example for us and were written down for our instruction, what are we to make of this understatement of all time? Remember, only three of the original adults who left Egypt entered the Promised Land.

Now, we need to keep in mind that Paul was writing to the church in Corinth to warn them against overconfidence and complacency. So, in these verses, he reminds them that, like them, the ancient Israelites shared great spiritual privileges…they were all divinely delivered by God despite their unbelief and doubt…they all experienced "baptism", in which their deliverance was made clear again, despite their lack of faith and their fear…they all ate miraculously provided spiritual food, and drank miraculously provided spiritual water, despite their grumblings and arguments. Yet, at some point their rebellion robbed them of their promised goal as many of them fell away in the wilderness.

Paul’s point then is that religious rituals or rites or sacraments do not automatically guarantee the inheritance of the promise if they are not backed by living, obedient, and enduring faith. Remember obedience is the natural consequence of salvation. So baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not assurances in and of themselves. They are symbols of an inward grace that must be made visible through obedient perseverance.

In his first epistle, John echoes this understanding. “They (and here he means those who were anti-Jesus) went out from us,” he writes, “but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

In other words, while all in the covenant family may receive the signs and symbols of covenant inclusion, men, women, children, and all whom the Lord our God will call, it is only those who obediently persevere who enter the proverbial Promised Land. The proof of salvation is therefore not in our participating in the sacraments but in our perseverance in obedient faith.

But to get back to our original questions. What is this sacrament of baptism that has sparked off so much debate within the Christian community, what does the imagery symbolise, and where does that imagery come from? And here we are going to look briefly at some other passages in the New Testament that might help us to answer these questions.

The Early Church Fathers connected Paul’s comment in Romans 6 to the Flood. “Do you not know,” Paul says, “that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” So, according to Paul, in baptism, there is a symbolic movement from death to life.

But there is also a deliverance from spiritual slavery. As Paul says in Colossians 2:13–15, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

And here we find another important biblical image for understanding Christian baptism. Paul does not merely associate baptism with washing. In Colossians he places baptism alongside circumcision, burial and resurrection: “you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands,” he says, and then immediately speaks of being “buried with (Jesus) in baptism” and “raised with him through faith.” The Early Church noticed this connection too. Chrysostom explicitly understood Paul's spiritual circumcision and burial as referring to what takes place in baptism. So baptism is not simply another ritual washing. It is the sign of God's new-covenant work of putting off the old life and raising us into a new one.

In Jesus, God provided the deliverance from slavery to the sin that cut us off from our only source of life – and from the death that came about through the disobedience of our ancestors, Adam and Eve, in whom we all once were. Jesus, the one who was like us in every way except for sin, died in our place. But because there was no sin or disobedience in him, death could not hold him, so he was raised from death to life.

As Paul says in Ephesians 2, “And God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” This transition from death in sin to life in Jesus is symbolised by us rising out of the waters of baptism into a renewed status as the people of God.

And perhaps that gives us the simplest way of putting all of this together. The Scriptures give us a remarkable sequence: creation, the Flood, the Exodus, the crossing (and re-crossing) of the Jordan, and finally Christian baptism. Again and again, water becomes the boundary between what was and what God is making new. The waters of creation give way to life. Noah emerges from the Flood into a renewed world. Israel passes through the Red Sea from slavery into freedom. Israel crosses the Jordan to dwell in the Promised Land. And in Christian baptism we pass through the waters as a sign of dying to the old life and rising with Jesus into new life.

That is why baptism is such a rich sign. It speaks of God's deliverance, God's covenant, God's cleansing, God's incorporation of us into his people, God's gift of his Spirit, and God's promise of new creation. But it also reminds us that the journey does not end at the water. Israel had to continue in faith after the Red Sea. And we too are called to continue following Jesus after the waters of baptism.

So today, as we have witnessed Ray’s baptism, let us remember both sides of the sacrament. It is a sign of God's gracious initiative and God's covenant promise. And it is also a call to a life of faith, obedience and perseverance. We enter the water because of what God has done for us in Jesus; and we rise from the water to live as people who belong to Jesus.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026

A Prayer for Revival in the Church of England

A Prayer for Revival in the Church of England

Based on Jeremiah 33

O Lord our God,

you are the God who calls your people to seek you,

and who reveals things beyond all that we can see or comprehend.

Please, hear us now as we intercede for your Church.

Call the Church of England again to yourself.

Speak into the places where faith has grown faint,

where hope has been lost,

where prayer has become weary,

and where the voice of your Gospel has grown vague.

Restore your Church, O Lord.

Heal what is broken among us;

bind up what has been wounded;

renew what has become lifeless;

and breathe your Holy Spirit into what has grown dry.

Bring us back to the simplicity of our calling:

to worship you in holiness,

to proclaim Christ faithfully,

to make disciples,

to love our neighbours,

to serve the poor and the forgotten,

and to bear witness to the hope of the Gospel.

Give your Church again a heart that seeks you.

Teach us to humble ourselves before you,

to confess our sins without excuse,

to receive your mercy with gratitude,

and to walk together in repentance and faith.

Restore among us the joy of your salvation.

Let our churches once again become places

where people encounter the living and reigning Lord Jesus;

where the lonely find welcome,

where the broken find healing,

where the questioning find truth,

where children discover your love,

and where those who have wandered far from you

hear again your gracious call to come home.

Make our worship active and joyful.

Make our preaching clear and courageous.

Make our prayers fervent, determined, and expectant.

Make our fellowship generous and deep.

Make our service humble and faithful.

Raise up among us true shepherds who love your people,

teachers who love and proclaim your pure Word,

evangelists who proclaim the Gospel with courage,

prophets who speak truth with humility,

and servants who gladly spend themselves for the sake of others.

Give wisdom to those who lead your Church.

Give them discernment when the way is unclear,

courage when biblical faithfulness is costly,

humility when they are praised,

and grace when they are criticised.

Guard them from fear, pride, ambition, and weariness,

and teach them to seek first your kingdom above all else.

Lord, restore the spiritual fruitfulness of your Church.

Let congregations multiply where they have declined.

Let new churches be planted where there are none.

Let old churches be renewed with new life.

Let homes become places of prayer,

and all members become confident witnesses 

to the grace they have received in Jesus.

Turn our mourning into joy.

Turn our weariness into hope.

Turn our anxiety into prayer.

Turn our division into charity.

Turn our uncertainty into renewed trust in you.

May thanksgiving once again rise from your Church.

May praise be heard in our congregations,

in our homes and schools,

in our streets and villages,

in our cities and communities.

Let those who encounter your Church

find not merely an institution,

but a people who know their one true God;

not merely religious observance, but living faith;

not merely tradition, but the transforming presence of Jesus Christ.

And where we have forgotten your goodness, remind us.

Where we have lost our way, lead us.

Where we have become cold, set our hearts ablaze with the fire of your Spirit.

Where we have become divided, teach us again the humility of Christ.

Where we have become fearful, give us courage.

Where we have become complacent, awaken us.

Where we have become discouraged, give us hope.

Restore us, O Lord, and restore your Church.

Let the Church of England become again

a blessing to the people among whom you have placed her:

a faithful witness to Christ,

a house of prayer,

a servant of the needy,

a light in the darkness,

and a joyful herald of the kingdom of God.

Do not allow us merely to preserve what we have inherited.

Give us grace to receive afresh what you desire to give.

Renew your Church from the inside out.

Begin with us.

Begin with our repentance.

Begin with our prayer.

Begin with our obedience.

Begin with our love for Jesus.

And then, Lord, let your restoring grace flow outward through your people

until lives are changed,

families renewed,

communities blessed,

and many who have forgotten your name turn once more towards you.

For you are the God who restores.

You are the God who heals.

You are the God who gives hope where hope has died.

You are the God who makes all things new.

Please hear our petitions, O Lord.

Restore your Church.

Renew your people.

Revive our witness.

And let your name be glorified through the Church of England.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

All Age Service: God's Gracious Provision

2 Corinthians 9:8–10                                                              Matthew 6:25–34

God's Gracious Provision

(Hold up a piece of bread)

What do you think this is? (Bread)

And where does bread come from? (Uncle Albert, the bakery…etc.)

But before it gets to the bakery, where do the ingredients come from?

They come from seeds like spelt or barley or wheat. And before there are seeds, there has to be a plant. And that plant needs rain and sunshine and good soil. And who gives us all those things? (God) 

All this reminds us of something important about God: God provides. That is the message running through both of our Bible readings today.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians: “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

And then Jesus says: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”

Now, that sounds wonderful, but there is an awful lot in life that makes us worry, isn’t there?

For many of us living here in the Netherlands, life is remarkably secure compared with parts of the world where parents genuinely do not know where their children's next meal will come from. We have food in our shops, clean water, homes, schools, and hospitals. But that does not mean that life is always easy.

Financial markets rise and fall. Politicians argue and sometimes seem unable to agree. People disagree with one another, even people sitting in the same church.

There are wars in different parts of the world. There are viruses, colds, flu and tummy bugs.

People worry about their jobs, their finances and what the future may bring.

And children have their own worries. “Will they like me at school?” “Who will be my friend?” “What happens if everyone else thinks something is right, but I believe it is wrong?” “What if I stand up for what I believe and people laugh at me?”

Adults and children may worry about different things, but underneath it all is the same question: “What is going to happen to me?” And Jesus does not pretend that these things are not real.

Notice what he does not say. He does not say, “Nothing bad will ever happen to you.” He does not say, “Christians will never get sick, lose a job, have problems or experience suffering.”

Instead, he says, “Do not worry about your life.”

Why can Jesus say that?

Because our security/safety does not ultimately depend upon having a life in which everything goes according to plan. Our security/safety depends upon who God is.

Jesus says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

He knows. Before we explain it. Before we ask. Before we even find the words. He knows.

Then Jesus gives his disciples a wonderful picture. He tells them to look at the birds. The birds do not build enormous barns and warehouses to store enough food for the next fifty years.

And then Jesus says, “Look at the flowers.” They do not worry about how they will look tomorrow. And yet God cares for them.

But then comes the astonishing part: “Are you not much more valuable than they?”

In other words, Jesus is saying: “If your heavenly Father cares for birds and flowers, how much more does he care for you?”

That is especially important when we are afraid, because when we are frightened, our attention tends to become fixed upon the problem.

We look at our bank account(s). We look at the news. We look at the doctor's report. We look at the school playground. We look at what others have that we don’t. We look at everything that might go wrong.

And Jesus says, in effect: Look somewhere else.

Look at the birds. Look at the flowers. Look at the God who made them. And most of all, look at Jesus.

Because Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. Nothing is outside his authority. Even the forces of darkness are subject to him. Life and death are in his hands.

And this great and almighty God does not stand far away from us because he loves us.

How do we know? We know because he was willing to die for us. The greatest proof of God's love is not that everything in our lives goes smoothly. The greatest proof of God's love is the cross. Jesus was willing to give himself in our place.

That is how much you matter to him. That is how valuable you are to him.

So when we say, “God provides,” we do not mean that God promises us a life without trouble. We mean something much deeper.

We mean that God will never stop being our God. His grace will always be sufficient. His presence will never ever leave us. His purposes and his plan will never ever fail.

And even when we cannot understand what he is doing, we can trust him because as Paul says, God is able to give us what we need “in all things at all times.”

Sometimes what we need is food. Sometimes it is money. Sometimes it is healing. Sometimes it is courage. Sometimes it is wisdom. Sometimes it is the strength simply to get through one more day.

And sometimes God's provision comes through other people…a friend, a family member, someone in the church, someone who notices that we are struggling and quietly puts out a hand. That is part of what Paul means when he talks about sowing and reaping.

God gives us what we need, and then he invites us to become part of his provision for others. He gives us bread and teaches us to share it. He gives us grace and teaches us to be gracious. He comforts us and then uses us to comfort someone else.

So what should we do when the future frightens us?

Jesus gives us the answer: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.”

In other words: Always put God first. Always keep your eyes on Jesus.

Don't let the uncertainty become bigger than God. Don't let tomorrow become bigger than Jesus. Don't let fear become bigger than faith.

One of the most comforting sayings associated with the late Corrie ten Boom is this: “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”

I love that picture because sometimes life feels like a train entering a tunnel.

A moment ago we could see the way ahead and then suddenly everything goes dark. We cannot see what is coming next, but the darkness does not mean the train has stopped or that the driver has lost control, and it certainly does not mean that we should jump off.

No, we must trust the one who knows the way through.

And that is what faith means. Not knowing everything. Not seeing everything. Not understanding everything. But knowing the One who does.

So when you are worried about school…focus on Jesus.

When you are worried about work…focus on Jesus.

When money is uncertain…focus on Jesus.

When people disagree or are mean to you…focus on Jesus.

When sickness comes…focus on Jesus.

When you cannot see any future at all…put your hand in the hand of the Good Shepherd and follow where he leads, because we may not know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.

And the God who holds tomorrow is the God who gave his Son for us. He knows what we need. He knows what we fear. He knows where we are going. And he will give us the grace we need, one day at a time.

So let us take our eyes away from all the uncertainty around us and fix them firmly upon our almighty Lord and Saviour, because God is our gracious provider and we can trust him.

We may not know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026

Humble Yourselves

 Leviticus 26:40-42                         1 Peter 5:1-14                         Matthew 7:1-12

Humble Yourselves

While many sermons on 1 Peter 5 focus on “leadership” or on “spiritual warfare,” I think the passage actually focuses on something far deeper. I think everything Peter tells us in his closing statements hinges on a quotation from the Septuagint version (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) of Proverbs 3:34, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 

The Proverb itself is based on promises of covenant blessing for humility and covenant cursing for pride (Leviticus 26:40-42; Deuteronomy 28:15-68: “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”), but in his application of these covenant contract principles for his own situation in life, the author of Proverbs, whom we believe to be King Solomon, wants us to be aware of how God’s reciprocal justice upholds our communal integrity by overturning arrogance and uplifting humility. 

Perhaps King Solomon’s Proverb is also an echo of what God said to him after the consecration of the Temple: “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

In the Septuagint, the Proverb reads as follows: “The curse of God is in the houses of the ungodly; but the habitations of the just are blessed. The Lord resists the proud; but he gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory; but the ungodly shall inherit dishonour.” 

Peter’s first century readers would more than likely not only have recalled the teaching of the whole passage from Proverbs, the allusion to the covenant curses and blessing in the Law, as well as perhaps the words spoken to King Solomon after the consecration of the Temple, but they would also have picked up on the echo of what the apostle had just said in 4:17. “For it is time for judgment (or evaluation) to begin at the household of God.” 

In many ways Peter broadens the horizons of the Proverb in his application here. His words appear to indicate that God’s judgment on arrogance and pride is not restricted to the “houses of the ungodly”. His judgement on arrogance and pride begins with us, the “household of God”. In other words, if we are proud, he will oppose us, but if we are humble, he will extend grace to us. 

So, humility is key to our identity as followers of the one who humbled himself even to death on the cross.

So, if humility is the focal point in Peter’s concluding statements in his first epistle, as I believe it is, then the question we must ask is how? How do we humble ourselves? If humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God is integral to our function and purpose as the body of Christ, how do we do it? Have you ever tried to humble yourself? 

Mac Davis once wrote a song titled, It’s Hard to Humble. In one of the verses he sings: 

“Oh Lord it's hard to be humble

When you're perfect in every way

I can't wait to look in the mirror

Cause I get better looking each day

To know me is to love me

I must be a hell of a man

Oh Lord It's hard to be humble,

But I'm doing the best that I can.” *

It’s hard to be humble…it has never come naturally to fallen, broken human beings. Often, in our claims to be humble we merely show our arrogance. But Scripture seems to indicate that God desires humility and he opposes any form of pride. So how do we humble ourselves? Is it even possible?

Personally, I think humbling ourselves is a process. It is something that happens when we constantly live in an awareness of our standing before God, our standing before our fellow humans, both believers and unbelievers, and then also our standing before supernatural beings, in this case specifically Satan.

First, we need of be aware of our standing before God. If we are to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, we need to remember who we are in the light of who he is…that we are created from dust…that we are grass of the field…that we are forgiven and resurrected sinners. Without him we were nothing, are nothing, and always will be nothing…and without him we can do nothing. We don’t deserve anything and we certainly can’t earn his love. Everything we are and ever will be is based entirely on his grace. The moment we lose sight of this reality, we lose humility.

Second, we need to be aware of our standing before one another. In verse 5 Peter tells us to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. Dearest beloved brethren, we are servants, not competitors. Even the leaders among us should live as servants. In Matthew 20, Jesus said: “You know that the rulers of the (unbelievers) lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. (Well) it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

I would go so far as to say that your humility before God will be shown through your humility before others. John says the same thing a little differently in his first epistle: “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” You see, love for God is made visible in our love for others…

So, if we want to obey the Scriptures by being humble…indeed, if we want God to grant us grace rather than oppose us…then we must become more aware of our standing before our fellow human beings. How do you treat others? What do you say to others, especially when they are not around? Do you think that you are better than them? Do you think that God loves you more than them? That God is more pleased with you than he is with them? I think Peter would say that if this is how you think about others…if this is how you treat others…if this is what you say about others…then you have placed yourself in the category of those whom God opposes.

So, we must always be aware of our standing before God…who we are in the light of who he is…and we must always be aware of our standing before others…who we all are in the light of who God is. Perhaps this is reason why Jesus said that the second greatest commandment, that we must love our neighbour as we love ourselves, is like the first. 

But then thirdly, we need to be aware of our standing before our adversaries, both human as well as supernatural. “Be watchful,” Peter says, perhaps recalling Jesus own words to him shortly before Peter denied even knowing his Lord… “Be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 

We must always be mindful of the fact that we are not merely facing human opposition. But this does not mean that we ought to fear either human or supernatural opposition…not if we are aware of who we are before God. “If God is for us,” Paul reminds us, “who can stand against us?” Satan and his followers, fallen humans as well as fallen angels, are all created beings who are and always will be subject to the one who alone is the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists. 

The book of Job teaches us that Satan may only do what God permits him to do. Why God permits Satan to do what he does is a debate for another time but allow me to say this much. Satan is merely a tool in the almighty hand of God to bring about God’s purposes in the world, but particularly in our lives. It is sometimes Satan and his acts that make us even more aware of our standing before both God and humanity. The work of Satan can make us more aware of the depravity of humanity and our desperate need for salvation. And the consequences of Satan’s misleading can make us more aware of our own need for forgiveness and sanctification. 

But, if we are aware of our identity even before our adversaries…that we are blood bought children of God Almighty…that we belong to the one who upholds all things by the word of his power…that we are subjects of the Universal King who has overcome all our adversaries…of the one who is presently enthroned at the right hand of God, systematically placing all his enemies under his feet…then we need not be afraid when we suffer as if our suffering is something beyond God’s control. 

So we resist Satan, not by our own will power or our own strength, but by firmly standing on our faith…standing on what we believe about God, ourselves, humanity, the enemy, about our history and about our future. In other words, we resist all that is not from God by humbling ourselves before God.

Living with clear-eyed awareness because we stand in the true grace of God is the key to humility, because humility is not merely one virtue among others; it is the posture that enables us to see reality as it truly is.

Now, you may never live perfectly but you can always live prayerfully, knowing that everything you are and ever will be is founded upon God’s grace.

You see, humility is not thinking less of yourself. No, humility is seeing yourself, others, and even your enemies clearly enough to trust the one who knows the way better than you do. That is Peter’s point as he concludes his letter: awareness changes everything.

A proud person usually sees only themselves. A fearful person sees only the opposition. An anxious person sees only the problem. But a humble follower of Jesus learns to see only the reality that is revealed in the Scriptures…their standing before God, their standing before other people, and their standing before every adversary.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026

* Davis, Mac. "It's Hard to Be Humble." Hard to Be Humble, Asylum Records, 1980.

Creation, Consummation, and the Christian Perspective

 Hebrews 12:1-2                        1 Peter 4:12-19                                  Matthew 6:19-34

Creation, Consummation, and the Christian Perspective

Scripture begins with creation and ends with consummation for a reason: it frames the whole story of God’s work in history. From the opening chapters of Genesis to the final vision of Revelation, we are invited to see life not as a series of disconnected events, but as part of God’s purposeful movement from beginning to fulfilment. And I think that the word “movement” captures the way we ought to think about everything that is between this framework.

Peter deliberately and repeatedly moves from creation to consummation to demonstrate how both intersect with life as we experience it, as he seeks to answer the question of why this in-between movement exists at all. God created a perfect creation and is moving toward the perfect new creation. What lies between these two realities is the undoing of what produced the need for a new creation…and that undoing, Peter keeps telling us, involves suffering. The main reason suffering exists is revealed in Genesis 3 where a rebellion began that engulfed us all in a cosmic battle that has been raging ever since. As such, suffering is directly linked to that battle…our suffering as followers of Jesus is a result of our choice to side with God against the forces of evil.

For this reason, Peter says that we ought not to be surprised when fiery trials come upon us. We are at war and our enemy is relentless, especially since he knows his time is limited. Having been defeated and disarmed by Jesus at the cross, and therefore no longer having any legal hold on those who are in Jesus, (see Colossians 2:13-15), Satan’s onslaught is continuous, despite his full awareness of his defeat, and he will use whatever underhanded method possible to undermine believers. 

The 2022 film adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front offers a powerful illustration of this deluded way of thinking. In the film, (and this is unique to the film as it is not in the book) the uncompromising General Friedrichs demands a final offensive, a vengeful last-minute charge if you will, to restore national pride. He orders a desperate assault on French lines at 10:45 AM, just 15 minutes before the 11:00 AM armistice takes effect, leading to the main character's death seconds before the end of the war. 

Now, I’m sure the director, producers, and screen writers did not have our cosmic battle in mind when they decided to change the ending of Erich Maria Remarque's original 1929 novel, but it does help us to catch a glimpse of why the in-between movement is so difficult to understand. Most of us don’t think like General Friedrichs. But believe me, the hard-hearted hatred of this psychotically deranged General pales in comparison with the hatred of our adversary, the devil and his minions. He knows the 11th hour is at hand and yet he still engages in a furious last-minute offensive. This is the time in which we live.

So, when we understand the nature of this in-between time, then fiery trials should not take us by surprise. In fact, if we seek to live as God intends us to live, we should expect them. As Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12-13, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” In this movement from Creation to Consummation, the cosmic battle continues to rage all around us despite the victory of Jesus on the cross. To restate our earlier illustration, we live between the signing of the armistice and the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. 

Once we understand that the moment we respond to the gracious gift of salvation that is ours in Jesus, we are enlisted and engaged in this cosmic battle…the moment we understand that, suffering takes on a whole new meaning. Indeed, suffering may very well be an indication that we are participating in the forward movement of the Gospel. Because we know that all glory and dominion belongs to God for ever and ever, we are able to face the trials of this in-between time because we know that the outcome of the battle has already been determined. The armistice has been signed. It is in this confidence that we can live faithfully…that we can counter insults with righteousness…because we know the end.

As the author to the Hebrews says so clearly: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (all those who have remained faithful through this in-between period despite suffering), let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is (now) seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

In this sense, our suffering is not just something that randomly occurs, but rather it is something that is fundamentally essential to who we are as followers of the one whose suffering brought about our reconciliation. You see, Jesus endured the cross because he knew that through it, he would redeem us. 

Likewise we endure our trials because we know that through them, we participate in his ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)…together with Jesus, we are pushing back the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18)…together with Jesus, we are plundering Satan’s defeated kingdom because Jesus has already bound the strongman (Mark 3:27)…together with Jesus, we are moving toward the consummation of all things because Jesus is presently reigning to place all his enemies under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25)…together with Jesus, we are moving towards the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

This is why Peter says we can rejoice in our sufferings because we stand between the already and the not yet. Jesus suffered and was raised in glory. We suffer and will be raised in glory. But it is the purpose of both his suffering and our suffering that gives us cause for joy because we know what is set before us. 

No battle is pleasant, as anyone who has actively fought in a war will tell you. But besides the intense regret and the sorrow for the loss of life, there is a certain kind of joy that comes in knowing that a greater evil has been prevented. As such, our suffering has purpose and meaning although that purpose and meaning will not always be evident at the time. 

But for a believer, suffering must be based on our bearing the name of Jesus…it must be undeserved, not deserved. And, as such, our suffering must present a dilemma for unbelievers in that they are surprised by our response. Unbelievers give evil for evil, they give railing for railing, but, as Peter has already said in 3:9, we give blessing because to this we have been called, that we may inherit the blessing. As such, suffering as a believer is not something we need to be ashamed of…to the contrary, suffering for the name of Jesus is a great honour.

But there is another side to suffering that we often miss and that is its use in our sanctification. As Paul tells us in Romans 5:3-5, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” You see, for a believer, suffering is a tool that transforms us…that renews us…that conforms us to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). 

In this sense, we are being judged…or perhaps in this case, “evaluated” is a better translation…we are being evaluated even now so that we might better reflect our new status in Jesus. This is not a Protestant version of the erroneous Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory. We are not suffering to make us worthy of heaven…no, Jesus’ suffering has already done that…the new creation was finished on the cross. No, rather our present evaluation and refining is to make us more like what we already are. Unbelievers cannot share in this outcome, because they do not participate in the victory that is ours in Jesus. As such, the positive effect of purification through suffering eludes them…because for them, judgement (or evaluation) delivers a negative result.

Now, Peter’s use of Proverbs 11:31 here may be to echo the teaching of Jesus in John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you,” Jesus says, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement but has passed from death to life.” You see, we who are in Jesus have been judged at the cross. As Paul says in Romans 8:1: there is now no judgment or condemnation for people who belong to Christ Jesus. 

But for the unbelievers…those who do not obey the gospel of God…judgement is yet to come. By “scarcely saved” I think Peter is simply saying that we are not saved through anything we have done to deserve it. We were saved through what was done for us by God in Jesus. But if we are saved by what has been for us, what will become of those who base their lives on their own strategies?

Nevertheless, Peter now concludes this section with another “therefore”. In response to the sufferings that we share because we are in the world but not of it, Peter instructs us to do two thing. First, we are to entrust ourselves to our faithful Creator. Now, it is interesting that Peter uses the word “Creator” here (the only time in the New Testament where God is referred to explicitly as the Creator) because it may be that he wants to conjure up an image of our new creation…or perhaps an image of the Potter and the clay (Jeremiah 18:6)…or an image of the one who has begun a good work in us and is still working to bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6)…or of the one who created us in Jesus to do the good works that he prepared beforehand for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). 

Which brings us to the second thing Peter instructs us to do. We are God’s workmanship for a reason. To do the good works that he prepared beforehand for us to do. The whole idea of doing good is to bring glory to our Creator. As Jesus says in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Peter has already alluded to the surprise of unbelievers when we do not join them in their way of living (1 Peter 4:4). But I think what Peter is trying to tell us here is that when we view suffering through this lens of glorifying God by our positive response to trials we gain a completely new perspective on life. 

So what difference does all of this make on a Monday morning? Well, I think, if we understand that we are living in between Creation and Consummation, we are given a new perspective on life as citizens of heaven living in a hostile environment…of new creations living in the confines of the old creation. We are given a new perspective on what it means to participate in Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation. We are given a new perspective on the function of suffering as both a refining tool and as a witnessing tool. And that means we need to learn how to live faithfully in the in-between, refusing to treat this present moment as though it were the whole story.

To that end, Peter gives us the first response: “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” We may not understand everything God is doing, but we can trust the One whose hands made us and who is remaking us.

The author to the Hebrews gives us the second response: run with endurance by looking to Jesus, who endured the cross “for the joy that was set before him.” We do not deny suffering, but we refuse to believe it has the final word, because suffering is a witnessing and a refining tool.

And then Jesus gives us the third response: seek first the kingdom of God. Because our Father knows what we need during this in-between time, we can keep doing good without anxiety, bitterness or fear.

That, dearest beloved brethren, is the Christian perspective: entrust yourself to your faithful Creator, fix your eyes on Jesus and keep doing good because you know where the story is going.

Scripture begins with Creation and ends with Consummation; between these two bookends, we live in a world where the battle still rages but the war has already been won.

One day the battle will cease, suffering will be no more, creation will be liberated and the King will make everything broken whole.

But until that day, we entrust ourselves to our faithful Creator, look to Jesus, seek first the kingdom and keep doing good, because none of it is wasted as the end is already secure.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026

Focus

1 Kings 19:13-18                  1 Peter 4:1-11                           Matthew 6:1-18

Focus

There’s a wonderful story about Elijah in 1 Kings 19. You might remember him challenging and triumphing over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. You might also remember that the threats of a mortal queen caused the great prophet to totally lose focus on his almighty God and the result was a fear that sent him running for cover. As you no doubt know, he eventually walked all the way down to Mount Horeb where he hid in a cave. There God spoke to him asking him a simple question. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

Elijah replied, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” Now before you say, “tsk, tsk, naughty prophet”, put yourself in his sandals. Jezebel was a wicked queen who wielded great power…one who murdered all those who opposed her. The threat was very real and Elijah knew that. But that was not the problem. The problem was that he focused on that.

So God redirects his focus and tells him to go back, reminding him that he was not, as he apparently thought alone. There were still seven thousand in Israel whose knees had not bowed to Baal, and whose mouths had not kissed him. 

You see, focusing on God – who he is, what he has done, and what he is doing – instead of your problems can provide a powerful corrective to fear and despair and helplessness. 

As we have seen in our previous talks on the first epistle of Peter, the life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus is the foundation upon which our lives are built. Now, in chapter 4 he once more gives us another sign that points us in the right direction. “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.” In other words, because we have this example of the suffering of Jesus, we must embrace his same assertive approach to faithful obedient living in a hostile environment.

I think, this is the same point Paul was trying to make in Philippians 2. That we should cultivate the mind or the attitude of Jesus, who emptied himself, took on the form of a servant, and humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross. But he went on to say that because of his obedience despite suffering, opposition, and violent rejection God highly exalted him. 

And that’s what Peter is getting at here…because of the example Jesus has provided…because Jesus has given us a road map, if you will, of how to navigate life in a hostile world…we must arm ourselves with his way of thinking. In this world, Jesus said, we will suffer, but we ought to rejoice in the fact that he has overcome the world. In the realm of the flesh, Jesus suffered and died, but because of his obedience to the will of the Father, he triumphed over it all through the power of the Spirit.

This metaphor, “arm yourselves”, is a military one that anticipates a battle. In this case it is not only a battle against our own fallen fleshly or human passions or the fallen fleshly or human passions of those who oppose us, but also it’s also a battle against the devil, whom Peter describes as a roaring or a prowling lion in 5:8. 

I think what Peter is saying is that as born again, recreated, new creatures, and as citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, who remain in the world for the sole purpose of fulfilling the ministry of reconciliation that began with the death and resurrection of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5)…because of all these present realities, we wage war against whatever stands in opposition to God and his kingdom. We are not only to resist all fleshy temptations, especially the temptation to give up when struggles and trials seem to overwhelm us…but we are also meant to resist the devil, to bind the strong man, to prevail against the very portals of hell so that we might plunder his defeated kingdom despite heavy resistance and conflict. 

In this sense, we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and crush Satan under our feet. You see, in choosing life instead of death believers cease from sin (not necessarily cease to sin) because in Jesus we have moved from the old to the new. In Jesus we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). In Jesus we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). In Jesus we have been raised up together with him and we have been seated in heavenly places with him. In Jesus we are citizens of his kingdom 

(Ephesians 2:6). The old has passed away, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The world we battle is marked by the flesh, sin, and human desires; but the realm in which faithful believers now live is shaped by the mind of Christ and the will of God. This contrast echoes Jesus’ words to Peter in Mark 8:33: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Whether we recognise it or not, believers live on a battlefield. Yet we are armed with a different mindset from our opponents – one that enables us to endure suffering and move toward victory, because Jesus has already overcome everything set against us. And if God is for us, who can stand against us?

Although we might not always be aware of it, depending on what we are focussing on, the old realm of the flesh is presently being dismantled. Because of who we are in Jesus we have entered a spiritual sphere for Christian living and therefore the various categories of sin outlined here by Peter are no longer fitting – they are completely inconsistent and incompatible with who we are in Jesus and therefore we ought no longer to practice them…we are to stand against them, fight against them, and defeat them…that is the fleshly part of the battle we face daily. 

Of course, as we seek to live lives that reflect our new standing in Jesus, our behaviour will seem odd to those of the old order. They will mock us and slander us. They will go out of their way to tempt us and trip us up. They will oppose us and reject us and perhaps even seek to violently suppress us. But that is why we must live faultless lives so that their accusations will be unfounded. 

Peter has told us repeatedly throughout his epistle that the life of a believer ought to imitate the life of Jesus…our suffering replicates his suffering. Therefore slander against us recalls slander against Jesus. And as they oppose us, they oppose him, and therefore their actions are blasphemous and they will have to give an account to God for their resistance.

There is an interesting possible echo here of what Peter said in chapter 3:15, in that while believers need to be ready to give an account to others for their behaviour when they are judged, nonbelievers will give an account to God for their behaviour when they are judged by him. Whether this echo was intentional or not it does emphasize that, in both cases, God is the ultimate and only truly righteous judge of the living and the dead. 

This highlights the universality of judgment as God is the creator and owner of everything in existence. As such, when Peter reminds us of this fact, he gives us hope to persevere as we faithfully press on against all that resists us in the flesh and in the spirit. In many ways, as long as we are on this side of eternity, we straddle two domains – the domain of the flesh in which we struggle against our own fallen human desires and in which we suffer the slander of those who remain dead in their trespasses and sins – as well as the domain of the spirit in which we stand reconciled, restored, resurrected, recreated, and revived. But our focus must always remain on the domain of the spirit if we are to live in the spirit.

Now, verse 7, “The end of all things is at hand,” is more often than not interpreted in terms of the end of time. And liberals have a field day with this type of interpretation as they point out that if that is the meaning of the text (that Peter believed the Second Coming of Jesus was imminent), then Peter was obvious wrong and therefore his words are fallible and that train of thought often leads to a denial of the reliability of Scripture. But besides that, this interpretation seems to contradict the clear teaching of Jesus regarding the unexpected and unknowable moment of the end of the age. 

So, some scholars have either opted to say that this verse can mean the definitive turning point of the ages introduced by Christ's first coming, placing all believers throughout time in a permanent "last days" era. While others have said that the phrase "at hand" functions to create a permanent posture of readiness and moral seriousness for every generation of believers, regardless of the exact date on the calendar. Still others connect the "end of all things" to the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (that occurred in AD 70), which radically upended the old Jewish religious order.

But given the context of this passage, I wonder if what Peter meant was that their current situation was to end soon. Remember, in chapter 1:6 he says, “In this you rejoice, though now (and here comes the relevant bit) for a little while, you have been grieved by various trials…so that the tested genuineness of your faith…may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 

Also, in chapter 5:10, Peter alludes to a limited time of affliction. “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” It seems clear to me that Peter believed that their period of trial and tribulation would soon end…he was expecting deliverance from suffering, not the second coming of Jesus. 

So, if we then read, in the light of what he said about a limited period of trial in chapter 1 and in chapter 5, if we then read what he says here in chapter 4:7, “The end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers,” is it not possible that he is simply encouraging them to hang in there, to not lose focus, to concentrate on living out the genuineness of their faith, because the trial they are currently enduring won’t last forever?

We know of at least the ending of two serious outbursts of persecution that were recorded in the book of Acts. The first was the persecution that started after the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 8:1) and ended with the conversion of Saul who later became Paul (Acts 9:31). The second was the persecution started by Herod (Acts 12:1) that ended with the violent death of Herod (Acts 12:23) as divine judgement. In both cases, it was the Lord himself who stopped the persecution…one could say he prevailed as judge over both Saul and Herod. Other persecutions recorded in Acts were also sporadic and short lived. Even the great tribulation under the Emperor Nero which is not recorded in Acts ended with the suicide of Nero. 

The early Jewish believers in what is modern northern Turkey needed to be encouraged so that they might navigate the painful geopolitical and religious shifts of their time. So, could it be that Peter's call for them to be "self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers" was a practical and urgent command for them to endure their fiery trials as none of them would be permanent? 

Could it be that he is saying something similar to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 where he writes that "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all", in other words, encouraging his readers to look at things that are eternal rather than the things that are temporary? Or something like what he says in Romans 8:18 that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us"? 

From my own personal experience, I think what helps most believers through times of suffering is the knowledge that it is temporary. Even if suffering follows us all the days of our earthly life, we know that ultimately, we will live on for eternity in a place where suffering is no more. No more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sickness, no more death.

So, in my humble opinion, I believe this is what Peter is telling us here in 4:7. Don’t focus on what is transitory. Focus on what is eternal. Otherwise our prayers will be skewed or hindered because our focus will be on the darkness and not on the light or on lies and not on truth or on people rather than on God.

This renewed focus is the basis upon which we build community in the here and now. We live as those who have already inherited that which is to be. If we are living stones being built up as a spiritual house with Jesus as our cornerstone…if we are a holy priesthood…if we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God…if we are to be his own personal possession…if we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light…then it seems obvious to me that we ought to live in a manner that will achieve these things, don’t you? 

God is love and anyone born of God loves as he loves…so we must love each other earnestly…forgiving one another, covering or smothering sin through love.

And because we are stewards of everything we own, whether these are physical things or spiritual things, we must freely and selflessly share them with each other. I think that’s what Peter means when he strings together these commands to be hospitable (the sharing of physical things such as shelter and food) and to serve one another through the exercising of our spiritual gifts (the sharing of spiritual things such as the various forms of teaching and serving). 

We ought to do all these things…love each other and serve each other…because our aim is to glorify God in everything we do in the name of Jesus. We must always remember that our actions proclaim a message…either a message that blasphemes the name of our God or a message that honours the name of our God.

In many ways, Peter is simply repeating what Jesus says…that people will know that we are his followers by our love for one another.

And since it is God who gives us everything we have…salvation, sanctification, spiritual gifts and the strength to practice them…since everything we are and everything we ever will be is because of who God is and what he has done and what he is doing…it is God who must receive glory. 

Since God is the source and culmination of all things…since he is the author and finisher of our faith…since he is the beginning and the end of all things…since he is the giver of all things…since he is the perfector of all things…all glory and dominion belongs to him for ever and ever.

Focusing on God, who he is, what he has done, and what he is doing, rather than on our problems, struggles, trials, or the hurtful things others may say or do, requires an intentional renewing of the mind. It means preparing our minds for action by turning our attention away from fear and toward the truth of God’s character and promises. 

When life feels heavy, we can redirect our focus through simple, faithful practices:

Praise God for who he is, remembering his goodness, his kindness, his compassion, his grace, his mercy, his forgiveness, his power, his faithfulness, and his love. 

Surrender control to him, trusting that he is at work even when circumstances remain difficult. 

Meditate on Scripture, allowing the truth of God’s Word to shape our thoughts, prayers, and responses. 

And finally, practice daily habits of prayer, thanksgiving, and obedience that keep our eyes fixed on what is eternal.

The way you live is determined by the way you think, and the way you think is determined by what you believe, and what you believe is determined by what Scripture teaches us about God and his ways. 

Ultimately, it’s all a matter of focus.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026

A New Behaviour Based on A New Beginning

Psalm 34:12-16                           1 Peter 3:8–22                               Matthew 5:38-48

A New Behaviour Based on A New Beginning

For the past few weeks we have been working through the first epistle of Peter. So far, we have seen that Peter is writing to newborn, infant Jewish believers living in what is today northern Turkey. They were likely converted, and perhaps initially discipled, in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church and more than 3,000 Jews and proselytes from across the world were brought into the kingdom of God.

Peter has already laid the foundation for their new behaviour: the astounding grace of God, revealed at the cross through the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf. Because of this grace, believers are called to abandon everything that fails to reflect the holy character of God, for we have been called out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Because of our new identity as living stones being built into a holy habitation for a holy God, we are to live as his holy priesthood. Our lives should reflect his character so clearly that those who observe us are led to glorify God.

Peter then gives practical guidance for believers seeking to live out their Christian witness in difficult circumstances, including slavery and unequally yoked marriages. In each case, he presents the silent suffering of Jesus as the supreme example of selfless conduct for the sake of the salvation of others.

In today’s passage, Peter now addresses the whole church as he concludes his discussion of appropriate social relations, both among believers within the covenant community and toward those outside it. Verse 8 is actually written as a series of participles rather than direct imperatives and is perhaps better rendered as descriptive instead of prescriptive. In other words, this is who you are as believers therefore you ought to behave in a manner fitting your true identity. 

So, the verse could therefore be translated as: “Finally, being united in mind, and being a sympathetic, loving, tender-hearted, and humble community, do not repay evil for evil or insult for insult. Rather, bless others, knowing that you were called to this, so that you may inherit blessing.” In the previous section, slaves, wives, and husbands are enjoined to repay opposition or even ill-treatment with a non-retaliatory response, so here, Peter reminds us that because we are a community founded upon the life of a non-retaliatory, loving, tender-hearted, and humble Saviour, we ought to follow his example in how we relate to others, especially those who oppose us or oppress us. 

This corresponds to our Lord’s own teaching in Matthew 5:38-42: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”  

Or as Paul teaches in Romans 12:19-21: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” 

The correlation between our blessing others (especially our enemies, abusers, oppressors, and persecutors) and then receiving blessing ourselves is also based on then teaching of our Lord. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” 

So, it seems plausible that what Peter is telling us here is that just as our Lord was called to suffer for the salvation of his enemies, so too are we called to suffer to make this salvation known to our enemies. Therein lies our inheritance of blessing. 

Again, it is possible that Isaiah 53:12 is in the background here: "Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong; because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors". This prophecy states that because Jesus suffered death and bore sin, God gave him a great reward and portion. Or as the author to the Hebrews says: While it is true that we don’t yet see the subjugation of all things, “we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death". Once again, the death and suffering of Jesus led to his inheriting the crown of glory. 

But ultimately, it is the nations that are to be his inheritance. “Ask of me,” the Lord says in Psalm 2, “and I will give you the nations as your inheritance.” So, here in Peter’s talk about the inheritance of a blessing, we hear an echo of Matthew 28:18-20. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me,” Jesus says. “Therefore, wherever you may go, make the nations my disciples…” Bring all under my authority. 

You see, God has called us to be images of Jesus in this hostile world, and that may very well involve suffering in silence.

In quoting Psalm 34:12-16, Peter provides a summary of all he said so far. We do not give evil for evil but commit ourselves to the one who will deal justly with those who seek to harm us. Remember, Peter is writing to a community who is suffering not only slander but some form of hostile reaction and he is seeking to remind them, and us, that as we are followers of a suffering saviour, our response to evil must be to bless.

In one sense, we ought not to fear harm if we follow the teaching of Scripture as our behaviour will be centred on the good of others, but Peter is realistic and therefore adds that if we do suffer unjustly, we should not lose hope because we are blessed…and nothing can ever take away our state of blessedness. It is possible that he is alluding to Matthew 5:11-12 where Jesus says: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

And as we fear God rather than humanity, we ought to sanctify him in our hearts by showing in our behaviour that Jesus is our Lord…that we are not governed by the things unbelievers fear and therefore do not need to retaliate as they do. However, we ought at all times to be ready to witness to our faith when our opponents demand that we explain ourselves. But again, note that our witness is governed by the example of Jesus…we present our defence in gentleness and humility, not in arrogance or anger.

Peter’s appeal to a clear conscience once more highlights the injunction that if we do suffer it must not be deserved. The shame on their opposition (the heaping of burning coals on their heads in the words of the Psalmist) must be because they have brought charges against the innocent.

Those who suffer because of their faith in God know that they are not suffering because of any fault in their behaviour, especially when it is their good behaviour on behalf of others that is the catalyst for opposition or persecution. In fact, insofar as we can discern God’s hand in our suffering, we are able to rejoice. This may sound strange to our 21st century ears, but the Scriptures are full of allusions to the sacredness of suffering…indeed, it is through suffering that we have received salvation. 

During the later persecutions in Rome under the emperor Nero, it was the non-retaliatory endurance of believers, and their steadfast faith in Jesus despite facing some of the worst forms of torture imaginable, that turned relentless persecution into a powerful pulpit. As Tertulian wrote in about AD 200: “"The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed." 

Now you may ask, “Why would God will our suffering for good conduct?” Good question!

The answer, I think, lies in what our suffering proclaims. In our suffering, we participate in and proclaim the redemptive suffering of our Saviour. Jesus suffered so that we might live, the sinless for the sinful, the righteous for the unrighteous. And because we are in him, because we are his representatives in the world, there is a sense in which we too suffer so that others might see the Gospel in and through us and subsequently come to faith in him and live.

Just as God reconciled the world to himself through the suffering of Jesus, so we have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-6:1). And that ministry requires us to sacrifice much of what the world considers valuable, secure, or worthy, for the sake of the reconciliation of others.

And this is where Peter takes us next. He says in verses 18-22:

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. In the Spirit he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison who had formerly been disobedient during the days of Noah, when God’s patience waited while the ark was being prepared. In that ark, a few, that is, eight persons, were rescued through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not by washing away fleshly pollution, but by an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.”

Now, these verses are notoriously difficult to interpret, and I do not want to pretend that they are simpler than they are. But I think Peter is drawing our attention to something much bigger than the question of what precisely happened to Jesus between his death and resurrection.

He is drawing together the stories of Noah, the Flood, baptism, death, resurrection, and new creation…of creation, de-creation, and re-creation.

Think about what happens in the Flood. There is, in a sense, a global de-creation. The waters cover the earth once again, just as they had before God separated the waters and dry land appeared (so that human beings, plants, and land animals might live) in the Creation account. But during the Flood, this is reversed. The world as it was known is overwhelmed. Human beings, plants, and land animals perish beneath the waters. This is an image of de-creation.

But the Flood is not the end of the story.

Through the ark, a remnant passes safely through the waters, and when the waters recede, a renewed or re-created world emerges on the other side. Creation begins again. Noah steps out onto a cleansed earth, and God gives humanity once again the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. (This is equally true of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea and the Jordan River, but that is a sermon for another time.)

But what is important for us to note at this point, is that there is a de-creation and a re-creation. Death gives way to new life, and I think that is the connection Peter wants us to see because the pattern appears again in Jesus.

The death of Jesus is itself a kind of de-creation. Here is the one who is utterly without sin, the one Paul calls the Second Adam. The first Adam brought death into God's good creation through disobedience; the Second Adam enters into death while remaining completely obedient to God or sinless, and therefore death cannot hold him.

But here’s the imagery. Jesus dies. He is buried. He descends into the realm of the dead. It is a de-creation image just as with the Flood, but, as with Noah, death does not have the final word.

The resurrection of Jesus (his emerging from the depths of the waters that smother life, if you will) becomes the beginning of a new creation. He is, as Paul calls him, “the firstborn from the dead.” The one who entered into death emerges from it into resurrection life.

And there is an important parallel here. Noah's message was rejected by those around him, yet the Flood vindicated what Noah had proclaimed. And in the same way, Jesus was rejected, condemned, and crucified, yet his resurrection vindicated the message that had been rejected. The resurrection reveals that what appeared to be defeat was actually the beginning of something new.

And this, I believe, helps us understand why Peter suddenly connects the Flood with baptism.

Baptism is not merely about getting washed. It is not simply a symbolic washing away of what pollutes the flesh. Peter is deliberately drawing our attention to the deeper pattern: death and life, judgment and salvation, de-creation and re-creation. The old world passes through the waters, and something new emerges.

In fact, this connection between Noah, the Flood, and baptism is not merely something we find in Peter. It became part of the visual language of the early and later Christian Church. Ancient baptisteries were often decorated with scenes of Noah and the Flood, sometimes in fresco and sometimes in mosaic, precisely because the Flood was understood as a biblical prefiguration of baptism. The great Baptistery of St John in Florence, for example, places Noah and the Flood within its Genesis cycle, and the baptistery's own interpretation explicitly connects the Flood with the meaning of baptism.

That is significant. Imagine entering a baptistery to be immersed in water and looking up at images of the Flood. The message is almost impossible to miss: the water that brought judgment upon the old world becomes, through God's saving purpose, the means through which Noah passes into a renewed world. And that is precisely the imagery Peter is using.

Paul makes the same connection in Colossians 2:11–12: “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision [or death] of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

And again in Romans 6:3-4: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Notice the movement again: death, burial, and resurrection. De-creation and re-creation.

In baptism, we participate symbolically in the death and burial of Jesus, and we are raised with him into new life. What the rite of circumcision anticipated…the putting off of the flesh from the organ of procreation through the shedding of blood …is fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus and is portrayed in our baptism.

So baptism takes us back to Creation. It takes us through the de-creation of the Flood. It takes us forward to the re-creation that emerged when Noah stepped out of the ark. (And you can add here the re-creation of the enslaved people of Israel through the waters of the Red Sea, but that’s Paul’s image in 1 Corinthians 10, not Peter’s here.) But ultimately, baptism takes us to the Gospel itself…to the death and resurrection of Jesus…through de-creation and re-creation…through which God has begun his new creation in and through us.

And that brings us back to the question with which we began: why would God will our suffering for good conduct?

Because we are not simply people waiting to escape this world. We are people who belong to the new creation, living in the midst of the old creation and bearing witness to the One through whom God is making all things new.

Through Jesus, we have been given new life and just as Adam was given the task of filling the earth and exercising dominion over the earth, and just as Noah was given the task of doing the same again after the Flood, so those who have been made new in Jesus are given a task. 

We are to go into the world and make disciples of all the nations. We have been given the ministry Jesus began in his death and resurrection…the ministry of reconciliation…a ministry that may demand the same type of suffering…the same type of self-sacrificial living…as that of Jesus.

And suddenly the whole passage, and, indeed, much of Peter's letter so far, begins to come together. We have been reborn, so we are to live differently. We no longer live in the realm of darkness; we live in the realm of light. We no longer live in the realm of death; we live in the realm of life. We are no longer defined by the old creation; we belong to the new creation. And because we belong to the new creation that is ours in Jesus, we are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation.

As Paul says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ (or through the death and resurrection of Jesus) reconciled us to himself and (then) gave us the ministry of reconciliation…”

That is where Peter's argument takes us. Our suffering is not meaningless because our suffering also bears witness to the Gospel.

Our suffering proclaims the pattern we see throughout Scripture: death does not have the final word. The waters of judgment become the waters through which God brings his people into a new beginning. The cross becomes the doorway to resurrection. And those who have been raised with Jesus are now sent into the world as ambassadors of the new creation.

We suffer, not because God has abandoned us, but because we belong to the One whose suffering brought life to the world. And our calling as re-created beings, is to live that new life and to invite others into it.

 Our suffering in this world takes on a whole new meaning once we understand that our citizenship is in heaven…that we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. And because our citizenship is secure above, we not only look forward to the return of Jesus Christ at the end of all things, but our primary loyalty and identity belong to heaven right now, not just in the future. God views us as part of his heavenly kingdom while we still live on Earth.

So I challenge you all to prayerfully meditate on these passages, asking the Holy Spirit to transform your old negative way of thinking so that your new positive way of thinking will match what the Word says about your identity and your status and your position and your citizenship. Ask God to help you comprehend this glorious truth and then ask him to help you respond appropriately as his new creations living as witnesses in a world being made new one heart at a time.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026