Suffering for Jesus Part 16
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you!" KJV Note: AMP=Amplified Bible; NKJV=New King James Version
During the time the Apostle Peter wrote these words to our brothers and sisters 'in Christ' in those early days of the beginning of the Church, the persecutions they were experiencing were very serious, even into death, that is, being murdered for being followers of Jesus Christ. Peter wanted to warn them, especially New believers to not be shocked 😳 at the treatment they would receive from Jews and Gentiles alike who were still 'dead in their trespasses and sins', for they were aliens to the life of God as Paul the Apostle wrote with these words to the Ephesian believers, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart ❤️; who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." (Ephesians 4:17-19) (NKJV). The Apostle Peter wanted those early believers to be aware that the people outside of Christ would act in very hostile, heinous, and hateful ways towards them because they were still under the power and control of the prince of the power of the air Satan (Ephesians 2:2). This truth is still active for those of us today who truly belong to Christ and for all true born again sons and daughters of Christ Jesus our Lord of every era and generation since the Cross. We who are Christ' have been 'delivered from the power of darkness' (Colossians 1:13), therefore, us and them are like oil 🛢️ and water 💦 which do not mix, so we find Peter writing these words to them and to us to warn us of what to expect in our sojourn and pilgrimage on our way home 🏠 to Heaven and to Jesus, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you!" (1 Peter 4:12) (KJV). The little English phrase 'fiery trial' Peter uses in this verse is translated by the Greek word purosis meaning ignition, that is, (specifically) smelting (figuratively conflagration (a very intense and uncontrolled fire 🔥) , calamity as a test): - burning, trial. One of the reasons the Apostle Peter used this word is because at that time he penned this letter ✉️ Nero was Emperor of Rome and it is documented in the history of ancient Rome that he had many Christians captured bound and set on fire 🔥 to light 🕯️ up areas around his place of residence. Today the fiery trial 's for some believers are not less horrible, haunting, or horrifically carried out as we see hundreds of thousands of people/born again believers in our Lord Jesus Christ in northern Nigeria being murdered/martyred simply because Christ Jesus our Lord brought them out of the lie of Islam and into His marvelous light 🕯️ just as the Apostle Peter said earlier in this same first letter ✉️ with these exact words, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness' into His marvelous light 🕯️; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10) (NKJV). It was the mercy of God that brought those thousands of former Muslims out of that lie and into the truth (John 14:6), so then those remaining Muslims being energized by Satan acted in violence to take their physical lives (as I said earlier of oil 🛢️ and water 💦). Our Lord Jesus Himself warned us and affirmed to us that despite the things that will happen to us on our sojourn that we can rest in His peace, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world 🌎 you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world 🌎." (John 16:33) (NKJV). We can rest in these words of our Lord Jesus Christ and these words that He wrote through our brother 'in Christ' the Apostle Paul, "For we know that if our earthly house 🏠, this tent ⛺, is destroyed, we have a building 🏢 from God, a house 🏠 not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. For in this we groan 😮💨, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation,/dwelling which is from Heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent ⛺ groan 😮💨, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee/down -payment. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home 🏠 in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, and not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:1-8) (NKJV). Therefore, when we keep these words in mind we can then not think 💬 it is strange or foreign that those who are darkened in their minds are doing these things to us as we follow Christ. Amen!!!
Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 1 Peter 4:12, "After the benediction in 1 Peter 4:11, might have supposed that the exhortations of the Apostle were ended. But he now proceeds to make general application of the lessons which above (1 Peter 2:18-19) he had confined to a particular class: the Christians who were in great tribulation. St.Peter speaks here, more than in any other passage of the Epistle, as if persecution were afflicting the whole Christian body: 'Beloved'-the word embraces them all-'think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you...as though a strange thing happened unto you.' His strong word implies extreme suffering. St. John uses it (Revelation 18:9; Revelation 18:18) of the burning up of the mystical Babylon, and it is found no where else in the New Testament. A trial meriting this description was harassing the Asian Christians; but spite of the intensity of suffering, which may be inferred from his language, he bids the converts not to wonder at it or deem it other than their proper lot: 'Think it not strange.' He does not enter upon reasons for his admonition, or he might have selected a goodly list of Old Testament saints who for their faith were called to suffer. For the Jewish brethren, Joseph and David, Elijah and Micaaiah, David and his companions in exile, Job and Nehemiah, would have been forcible examples of suffering for righteousness. The Apostle, however, selects only the loftiest instance. Christ, the Master whom they were pledged to serve, had suffered, and had said, besides, that all who would follow Him must take up the Cross. Need they wonder, then, if in their case they found the Lord's teaching come true?"
If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen!!!
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