Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
| Media #1,243 |  |
 |
Good morning, Bereans. This morning, we are back in 1 Peter, and we'll be picking up with verse 11 of chapter 2. I want to focus on the fact that Peter calls his readers "sojourners and exiles." Some translate exiles as "pilgrims." This subject of being sojourners, exiles and pilgrims is one that used to be a major theme among Christians, but today you don't hear much about this, especially among preterists.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV
Would you agree with me that Peter calls these first-century saints "sojourners and exiles?" What does that mean?
The word "Sojourners" is from the Greek word paroikos. Oikos means "house," and para means alongside the house. Therefore, a sojourner is somebody who lives alongside the people who native to the area. A sojourner comes in alongside their homes. They're not actually family; they're just alongside the family. In other words, they just happen to be living near those who are at home in a certain place. They are basically non-citizens. The word came to mean a person who is a foreigner in a land that is not his own.
"Exiles"—is the Greek word parepidēmos which is really a synonym of paroikos. It simply refers to a visitor who makes a brief stay. He is a traveler who is just passing through.
A sojourner and exile, then, is a person who is a foreigner in a land that is not his own; he's just passing through.
Paroikos is only used four times in the New Testament.It is used twice in Acts 7 of Israel's history. And Paul uses it in Ephesians 2.
and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, Ephesians 2:16-19 ESV
Peter calls the believers that he is writing to "sojourners and exiles," but Paul tells the believers that he is writing so that they "are no longer strangers and aliens." Why the difference? Paul says in verse 12:
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12 ESV
Here Paul is saying that the unsaved Gentiles were outsiders to Israel. But Peter uses it for believers who are foreigners in a land that is not their own, and they are just passing through. He says this because the believers' home is heaven.
The word Exiles (parepidēmos) in our text of 1 Peter 2:11 is also used in Hebrews.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Hebrews 11:13 ESV
The word "exiles" here is also parepidēmos. Did Abraham view himself as an exile in the land of Cannan? No, Abraham saw himself as an exile on this earth and a stranger in this world. Abraham's hope was not the land of promise but the eternal city of God. Do you see that?
When God established the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12 and then expanded upon it in Genesis 15 and 17, what was Abraham thinking? What did he understand? What sort of fulfillment was Abraham looking forward to when he was given the word of promise concerning the land? What did he expect? Did he look for an earthly fulfillment? Not according to this passage which clearly states that he was looking for a heavenly city and country.
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:16 ESV
By faith he dwelt in the land of promise. By faith in God's promise of a heavenly city he lived as an exile on the earth. He knew the earth wasn't his home, so he never tried to make it his home. Abraham's desire was heaven, but he was an exile on the earth.
What about us? Are we (twenty-first century believers) sojourners and exiles? Or was that something only for the transition period saints? Although others would disagree, I believe that we are still sojourners and exiles. Why do I think that? Are we at our destination? As New Covenant believers, we live in the New Heavens and New Earth in the face to face presence with Yahweh. We are seated with Christ in Heaven.
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 Yeshua, Ephesians 2:5-6 ESV
We are complete in Christ; this is our position. But are we at our final destination? Paul said of believers:
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Yeshua the Christ, Philippians 3:20 ESV
"Our" is speaking of Paul and the Philippian believers and, by extension, of all believers. For all of us who have been born again, our citizenship is in heaven. "Citizenship" is from the Greek word politeuma. It is only used here in the New Testament, but it is related to the verb politeuomai that is used in Philippians 1:27 to denote "the Philippian Christians' 'way of life,'" with special reference to their responsibility as members of a community.
Paul told the Philippians, "Our citizenship is in heaven." The word "is" is the Greek word huparcho which expresses the continued state of a thing. It is unalterable and unchangeable. It speaks of a fixedness. Our citizenship is fixed in heaven; it is unalterable and unchangeable.
The verse goes on to say: "and from it we await a Savior." This does not apply to us. The transition saints awaited their Savior, but we do not because he came in AD 70. But like them, our citizenship is in heaven.
As Christians, our citizenship is in heaven. We are in heaven in a positional sense now, but what happens when we die? How many of you believe that when you die you go to heaven? What verse would you use to support that view? Where in Scripture would you go to support heaven/the afterlife?
I think that the best support for heaven or the afterlife is found in the story of the Sadducees who asked Yeshua about the resurrection.
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her." Matthew 22:23-28 ESV
What strikes you as odd in this text? Verse 23 reveals that the Sadducees taught there is no resurrection. Yet in verse 28, they reference the very thing they deny when questioning Yeshua: "In the resurrection… whose wife will she be?" The Sadducees were asking Yeshua about something they didn't even believe in. The best way to describe the Sadducees might be to say that they are the opposite of the Pharisees. If a Pharisee said, "White," the Sadducee would be almost certain to argue, "Black." The contrast between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, according to Edersheim at least, can be found in three major areas: (1) their view of tradition (at least the traditions of the Pharisees), (2) their view of the supernatural, especially the resurrection of the dead, angels, and spirits, and (3) their views on divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The Sadducees were disenchanted with the traditions of the Pharisees, so they rejected the concept of the resurrection of the dead and the existence of angels and spirits, and they leaned heavily on the role of the responsibility of man.
To the Sadducees, this life is all there is. When people die physically, that's it—they're done. This is a rather sad position.
The Sadducees didn't care about whose wife someone would be in the resurrection. They didn't even believe in the resurrection. This never really happened; it is simply a ridiculous story that they made up. The question of the one bride and the seven brothers is not a search for the truth. The Sadducees do not expect nor do they even want an answer. They hope to stump Yeshua and thus demonstrate how "foolish" the ideas of a resurrection from the dead are. If Yeshua, the most noted and "unstumpable" teacher who ever lived, could be confused by their question, then He would become (reluctantly) an endorsement for their view.
But Yeshua answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Matthew 22:29 ESV
Even before He offered any response to the actual question, Yeshua commented on the incompetence of the interrogators. "You are wrong." This is the Greek word planaō, which originally meant someone that had geographically gone astray from a particular road or path. Later, it came to take more ethical connotations. They had gone astray from truth—that's what Christ meant by "You are wrong."
When Yeshua declares that they deny the power of God, He may evoke the traditional Jewish view that God expresses His power most visibly in the resurrection of the dead.
Now let's look at Yeshua's answer to the Sadducees.
For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living." And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. Matthew 22:30-33 ESV
What does this answer of Yeshua tell us? This text affirms the reality of an afterlife. It doesn't really tell us much about the afterlife, but it affirms that there is one. By "afterlife," I mean the continuation of spiritual life in heaven after physical death. So, I'm using afterlife and heaven interchangeably.
Yeshua didn't go back to an obscure text buried somewhere in the Torah. This would have been one of the most well-known passages to these men. And Yeshua is saying, "You don't even get this one. When God said in Exodus 3:6, 'I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,' He did not say, 'I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' And He's not the God of the dead."
Let's compare Matthew's account to Mark's.
And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? Mark 12:26 ESV
Mark says, "Have you not read in the book of Moses," and Matthew says,
And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: Matthew 22:31 ESV
"Have you not read what was said to you by God." Yeshua affirms the plenary inspiration of Scripture—"When the Scripture speaks, God speaks." Moses was not just speaking to the Israelites of his day, because Yeshua says, "It was said to you by God,"—referring to His first-century crowd in the temple. At the end of verse 32 Yeshua said,
'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living." Matthew 22:32 ESV
"He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." These words come from an early portion of the book of Exodus known as "The Bush" section. That is, these words were spoken to Moses by Yahweh from the burning bush. Both the precise words and the context are of great significance to us in the matter of the resurrection of the dead.
But further, Yahweh referred to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thus speaking of these patriarchs not as dead men but as those who are alive and immortal. If God spoke of dead men as though they were alive, then this implied that these men would live again; they would rise from the dead.
There may also have been the further thought that Yahweh is the God of covenant. He was "the God of Abraham" precisely because He had entered into a living covenant with him. He had shown His love to Abraham time and again. That was what His being "the God of Abraham" indicated. Did the Sadducees then think that the living God would forget that covenant and that relationship when Abraham died? Would God just drop him and overlook him and let him sink into nothingness while still claiming to be his God? Never! For then He would cease to be the God of Abraham. He would simply be the God of the present generation. He would cease to be the faithful God towards those with whom He was in covenant. And that could not be. So, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would live again; they would rise from the dead.
This event in the life of Moses occurred about 1440 B.C. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived from 2000 B.C. to 1870 B.C. They were a long time dead when Yahweh said this to Moses. The Sadducees would have believed them to be extinct, no longer existing. But Yahweh said, "I am [right now, still] the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
The resurrection is no small matter. It was, and is, one of the fundamental and foundational truths of the Bible. Yahweh is the God of the living.
Look with me at Luke's account of this incident.
And Yeshua said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, Luke 20:34-35 ESV
According to these verses in Luke, those who attain to "that age" and the resurrection from the dead don't marry. If this is true, then why do we marry? We are living in the "that age," and we have experienced the resurrection from the dead. We have been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life by the power of God. So, does this statement about marriage apply to us? In the text, whom is Yeshua talking about? The subject is physically dead people. The woman and her seven husbands had all died physically. This "no marriage" state will also apply to us when we physically die.
For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Matthew 22:30 ESV
As little as this verse tells us about the afterlife, it tells us more than any other verse that I am aware of. So, what does it tell us about the afterlife? Yeshua did not say that resurrected believers become angels, as some have mistakenly believed. He said, "When they [those who died under the Old Covenant age—this age] rise from the dead [which happened in AD 70], they don't marry, but are like angels in heaven. The word "like" is a comparative adverb which draws a similar but not exact comparison.
I believe that Daniel tells us the same thing in Daniel 12.
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3 ESV
This is after the Resurrection. Who are those who shine brightly like the brighteners of the expanse of heaven? This is astral language to speak of believers. They viewed the stars as deities.
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:7 ESV
Here "stars" and "sons of God" are synonymous. Daniel is saying that believers in The Resurrection will be like the sons of God; they will be like stars. This is what Yahweh promised Abram in Genesis 15.
And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Genesis 15:5 ESV
The question here is does the phrase, "So shall your offspring be," refer only to the quantitative (i.e., you'll be as numerous as the stars) or does it refer qualitatively (i.e., you will be like stars)? I think it is both. This is theosis, "the deification of man." We are to be like the divine host, part of Yahweh's celestial family.
A number of early Jewish interpreters of Genesis 15:5 understood the patriarchal promise of being multiplied as the stars of heaven, not merely quantitatively, but also qualitatively. Abram's seed would become star-like, assuming the life of the gods or angels.
The common belief of the Second Temple Period was that in the resurrection, we would be like the gods. And they believed that the gods had bodies. There is actually a considerable amount of literature in terms of ancient texts where writers talk about what the gods are made of, because they appear in bodily form.
So, Daniel says believers will be like the gods and Yahweh says we will be like the gods. That is exactly what Yeshua is saying when He says that we will be like the angels.
What does the Bible say about angels? First of all, the term "angel" is derived from the Hebrew word, malak, which means "messenger." According to Strong, Malak is "from an unused root meaning to dispatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically of God." In general, in texts where an "angel" appears, the task is to convey the message or do something on behalf of Yahweh.
In what way are believers in the afterlife/heaven like the angels?
1. We do not marry. After physical death there is no marriage. In heaven, men become spiritual beings like the angels and do not need to marry for companionship. Marriage is for now, but not for the afterlife/heaven.
2. We cannot die (Luke 20:36).
for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. Luke 20:36 ESV
Remember, in the context he is speaking of physically dead people that are spiritually alive. So, the death that he speaks of is referring to any death—we cannot die physically or spiritually. Resurrection brings one to a state where he or she can never again experience death, which is to say that we can never be separated from Yahweh. This is true of us now, so the only thing for us to experience is physical death.
Let's talk about our hope. What is HOPE?
Let me give you the Biblical definition of hope because the word "hope" has come to have a different meaning today than it originally had in the New Testament. Today it indicates something of contingency; an expectancy that something will happen, but there is some question as to whether or not it will really occur. We say, "I hope they'll show up," or, "I hope I can make it to next payday." There is some uneasiness or uncertainty about the future. But this is not the New Testament usage.
In the New Testament, "hope" involves an absolute certainty about the future, an attitude of eager expectancy, of confidence in God and his ability to do what He has promised.
With that understanding of hope, what was the hope of Old Covenant Israel? Israel's hope was the Resurrection of the dead. Paul said the following:
And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? Acts 26:6-8 ESV
It is clear from verse 6 that Paul sees the resurrection of the dead as that which fulfills, "my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers."
What was the hope of the first-century Church? In the New Testament, we find several things that were objects of hope:
1. The Second Coming
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Yeshua the Christ, Titus 2:13 ESV
The Second Coming was a hope to those who lived in "this age."
2. The Resurrection
having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. Acts 24:15 ESV
Paul clearly taught that the resurrection was the hope of Israel and the New Testament saints. Scripture also tells us that they hoped for eternal life, salvation, and righteousness. All of these were part of the hope of those who lived in "this age." Eternal life, salvation, and righteousness became the full possession of the church at the Second Coming, which happened at the end of the Old Covenant age.
At the end of the Old Covenant age in AD 70, which was the last day (of the Old Covenant), several things happened.
1. Christ returned.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Yeshua, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 Timothy 4:1 ESV
"Who is to"— is mello: who is about to come and judge.
2. The resurrection occurred.
Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." John 11:24 ESV
This was the "last day" of "this age." but "the age to come" has no last days. So, the resurrection was to happen at the end of the Old Covenant age when the Lord returned.
3. The judgment occurred.
Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. Matthew 13:40 ESV
Since the "this age" of the Bible ended in AD 70 with the destruction of the Temple and the Coming of the Lord, we must be in "the age to come." And if we are in "the age to come," then Christ has already returned, the Resurrection has already happened, and the Judgment of the nations has taken place.
Notice what Yeshua said the believers would receive in the age to come.
Yeshua said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. Mark 10:29-30 ESV
As we saw, eternal life was a "hope" to those who lived in "this age," but it is a present possession of all believers in the "age to come," which is the New Covenant age.
Now, because the Second Coming, the Resurrection, the Judgment, Eternal life, Salvation, and Righteousness have already come, they are not our hope. You don't hope for what you have.
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:24-25 ESV
We have as a present possession what the early church hoped for.
So, What Is Our Hope Today? Do we have a hope?
To those who do not believe in Yeshua, there is no hope:
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12 ESV
But for all of us who have placed our trust in Yeshua, we have eternal life, and we know that we are not going to live here forever. Everybody physically dies. But our hope is that when we die, we will be in heaven. I have often said, "We are not living in the age of 'hope'; we are living in the age of 'have.' But I believe we twenty-first century believers do have a hope. Paul said to the Corinthians:
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:19 ESV
Is the believer's hope in Christ only for this life? NO! Our hope is spending our eternal life in the spirit realm; our hope is heaven.
Look with me at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians.
I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 ESV
Here we see that heaven is the abode, the dwelling place of God. Heaven is not a place in this physical realm. Heaven is a literal place in the heavenly realm or dimension. As Christians, our citizenship is in heaven. We are in heaven in a positional sense now, and when we leave this realm at physical death, we will go to that realm in a locational sense. When we die physically, we will dwell in heaven (i.e., the spiritual realm where God dwells).
Abraham is a good picture of the Christian. We are pilgrims on this earth, we're aliens, foreigners. As such, we shouldn't get too attached here, we're just passing through.
Look at how Yeshua put it:
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
Believers are challenged in verse 20 to focus on the heavenly treasure that is permanent. It is not transitory or subject to destruction of any kind; it is secure and safe. Believers are told to store up for themselves treasures in heaven where they are safe and secure.
The terms "treasures on earth" and "treasures in heaven" were very familiar to the Jews. They had many sayings regarding almsgiving and piling treasure in heaven. Yeshua was speaking in a vernacular that they understood. They believed that deeds of mercy and deeds of kindness to people in distress were tantamount to storing up riches in heaven.
As long as you're only a pilgrim here, you should not invest too much in this world. And if you're only transient, you shouldn't need much to get by on. Aboard ship in the Navy, I didn't have much other than a bed and a small storage area under it. That was it. But it was fine because I knew it was temporary. Since you are a pilgrim here, wouldn't it be far better to spend your time and money advancing God's kingdom instead of building your own? We need to order our priorities and work for the real rewards, not for the ashes of the earth's decaying gold.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:18 ESV
We live in the earthly kingdom of God now, but our hope is to someday be in his heavenly kingdom.
Do you see yourself as an exile in this world? Do you live as in a foreign country? It takes faith to live in this world as an exile because we all tend to want to settle down and get comfortable. But as Christians, we're only exiles here. We're on a journey to a spiritual home in the heavens. Faith is the conviction of things not seen. We're very much like Abraham. God has called us out of the world and told us that He has something better for us—Heaven. But we're still waiting for it. And as we wait, we must live by faith as exiles.
| Continue the Series |