Revelation 1

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Revelation 1:1

The Time Past and the Rest of the Time

1 Peter 4:1. The first verse of this chapter is directly connected to what is previously said. You can derive that from the word “therefore”. That word makes clear that a conclusion follows. When Christ was on earth He “suffered in the flesh”. That does not refer to His work on the cross, but to His life in the midst of people who were hostile to God, how religious as they may have been.

He did not give in to their carnal desires and in no way He could be tempted to sin. The will of God was decisive for His life and to Him He entrusted Himself. The result of that was that He had to endure sufferings. He suffered because He was fully focused on God and did not want to have anything to do with sin. He did not want to do anything independently from His God. You must arm yourself with the same purpose.

The appeal to arm yourself proves that there is a battle to be fought. If you want to win the battle in the same way the Lord Jesus has won, you must arm yourself. The weapon is not a material weapon, but it consists of a purpose or a mind (Darby Translation). The content of that purpose or mind is Christ and that He has suffered in the flesh. If you are tempted to sin, then you should take out this weapon: the mind that Christ has suffered in the flesh. He has suffered and He has endured and has overcome.

The essence of this mind is that Christ has endured the suffering in the flesh, because He lived in the full confidence of His Father in doing His will. Satan tempted Him by offering Him the kingdom without having to suffer for it (Matthew 4:8-10). Men have tempted Him by trying to make Him King without Him having to suffer for it (John 6:15). The Lord has rejected each temptation and chose to suffer because this was God’s way to glory.

One who resembles the Lord Jesus in this is Joseph. Joseph also suffered because he did not want to have any part in sin. He was not willing to cooperate with the sins of his brothers and he neither wanted to cooperate with the sin that Potiphar’s wife wanted to commit with him (Genesis 37:2b; Genesis 39:9). Due to that he suffered in the same way as the Lord Jesus for the sake of righteousness. You are to arm yourself with the same mind, meaning that you choose to suffer instead of sinning.

The point is that you do not give in to sin, what the world continually seeks to tempt you to. If you suffer in the flesh, that is in the body, it is clear that you have dealt with sin and that you do not surrender to it. When you do surrender to it you do not suffer. Enjoying sin in not suffering. You can choose to enjoy sin (Hebrews 11:25), but you must consider that it is a passing pleasure that has a bitter and often permanent after taste. Christ did not have anything to do with sin and due to that He suffered. The same goes for you, who follows Him, as you have confessed, as I hope, with your baptism.

1 Peter 4:2. With your conversion and baptism “the rest of the time” has come to live “for the will of God”. You have thrown away enough time in the past by trying to fulfill your lusts. May I ask you how you spend your time now in contrast to the past? It cannot be the case that you just go on to excessively consume movies and other kinds of entertainment, can it? You should have ceased being obsessed with sports and recreation together with the world, shouldn’t you? You are not continually occupied anymore with making your house more and more comfortable, are you?

It is not always about things that are wrong in themselves. The point is that these things determine the life of people who do not consider the will of God, but live after their own desires.

1 Peter 4:3. You also belonged to those people in the past and you also lived the way they do. That must have changed when you turned to God and surrendered yourself to the Lord Jesus, hasn’t it? Since then your life has had a totally different principle and a totally different content and a totally different purpose. If that is reality for you, it will be seen by a real change in using your time.

For you have spent enough of your past lifetime in carrying out “the desire of the Gentiles”. Away with that! That time is over! Peter reminds us of that time. Sometimes it is necessary and useful to be reminded of the past. That is not to blame you again for your sins, but to show you from what you have been redeemed, from what kind of a horrible pit you were saved. It will help you to increase in gratefulness toward God and in your dedication to the Lord Jesus.

Just look at the desire of the Gentiles, what they want, and compare that to the will of God, what He has planned for you. The Gentiles live in total rebellion against God and they fully follow their own desires in which they satisfy their lusts in the most perverted way. They do not allow anyone to tell them to do anything and they swallow all unrighteousness like water. They surrender themselves to everything that can satisfy the physical and spiritual needs. Thereby they spare no one and also give up the health of their own body. Unlimited sex, uncontrollably consuming food and drink and a total surrender to demons are the ingredients of this life of debauchery.

1 Peter 4:4. They are surprised that you do not join them in “the same excesses of dissipation”. Your new conduct is strange and incomprehensible for those who used to be your friends in the past. Because you do not have part in their dealings anymore, they will talk all kinds of evil about you. They do not understand that God takes care of you. If you have received something they may for instance talk around that you have stolen it. Do not mind about that at all and do not worry about it.

1 Peter 4:5. You can surrender it to Him Who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:23). He is ready to “judge the living and the dead”. The judgment on the living will be carried out by the Lord Jesus when He comes to establish His kingdom (Matthew 25:31). He will carry out the judgment on the dead between the end of the millennial kingdom of peace and the beginning of eternity (Revelation 20:11). Both the dead and the living will have to “give account” to Him with Whom they did not want to have anything to do and they therefore mocked, persecuted and slandered those who confessed Him.

1 Peter 4:6. With a view to that judgment a joyful message was already proclaimed in the past. The Scripture calls that the “everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14:6-7). The content of that gospel is that each one who acknowledged himself guilty before God and accepted God’s judgment over his life as a man in flesh as just, was made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit. So through all ages it has been the Holy Spirit Who gives life and in that way enables us to partake of the risen Christ and His future. This is an encouragement for the believers to whom Peter writes and it is also an encouragement for you who also has accepted the gospel, though it is both for those and for you in its richer form: the gospel of grace.

In 1 Peter 4:5 you have read that the Lord Jesus is ready to come and judge all ungodliness (cf. James 5:9). That means that the end of all things is near. That is already the situation when Peter writes this letter. How much more does that apply to the time we live in. That it still has not come, is due to the patience of God, Who does not wish for any to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

1 Peter 4:7. When you think of the end that is near, it may encourage you. It will not last long anymore and then all boasting of man will cease. Also everything, in which a man may put his hope, will come to an end. Hereby you may think of his self-made religion with his self-shaped imaged of God. Materialism and spiritualism will be judged at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Then also all slandering, mocking and persecution will come to an end for those who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus.

When the Lord Jesus comes and when He has judged all unrighteousness, the millennial kingdom of peace can begin. If you focus on that, it will give you strength to bear and to endure what otherwise you are not able to bear and endure. Don’t be rushed by the delusion of the day, which would lead you to act wrongly.

“Be of sound judgment”, respond calmly and thoughtfully. Let yourself be led by God’s Word. Keep your eyes fixed on the coming of the Lord. Then you will be able to see all things around you in its true perspective.

Be of “sober [spirit]” too, meaning that you do not allow the spirit of the age to cloud your view, but keep it pure. See everything that comes toward you in the light of God and of the future, so that you may see the things as they really are and not as they seem to present themselves to you. That watchfulness does not make you overconfident, but it leads you to “pray”. The real awareness that you live in the end time will lead you to a deep dependence on God.

1 Peter 4:8. After having presented the relationship with God like that, attention is now paid to the relationship of Christians to one another. What is important “above all”, is that they have “fervent … love for one another”. A true and firm relationship among Christians is especially noticeable by the interest in one another. Then you also get to know each other in terms of both strengths and weaknesses.

In the end time it is more than ever important that the company of believers meet and encourages one another (Hebrews 10:24-25). True love seeks what benefits the other. Then one does not dig up the weaknesses and sins (Proverbs 16:27a), but on the contrary, covers them (Proverbs 10:12). Seeing other people’s mistakes and enlarging on them is not the love of the Lord. He does not see sins anymore in those who are His, but He covers them with His love.

That does not mean that you should not call evil by its name. It certainly does mean that sin is to be judged as soon as possible and after that there is also forgiveness. Love cannot live with sin. If a brother commits a sin, love will do everything to convince him of it so that the sin can be confessed and put away (Matthew 18:15). The devil will always try to cause disharmony among believers, often by using small matters. He will not succeed if we have fervent love for one another.

1 Peter 4:9. That love will also be expressed by being “hospitable”. This includes not only your friends, but precisely people who you do not know. ‘Hospitality’ literally means ‘love for strangers’. If a believer, whom you do not know, comes to you, you not only ought to offer him a meal, but also a home. Let him feel to be welcome and that your whole house is available to him. That doesn’t mean that you should be naive, but that you must have such an attitude.

It is also for a reason that Peter adds to it that you must do it without complaint, for that can easily happen. An unexpected guest can disturb your program considerably. You may find it also awkward because you may just have cleaned up and put everything in the right order and now have to pull out all sorts of things for that strange guest. And not to mention the costs that this visit may possibly bring. Therefore, take this word to heart and do not complain or even calculate, but show an abundance of hospitality. Invite one another, receive one another and serve one another.

Now read 1 Peter 4:1-9 again.