The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #4643

My highlighted verses:1 Peter 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.


Peter now continues to identify more specifically to whom he is writing.
[2] Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Who are these "elect" according to the foreknowledge of God the Father?
The word eklektos (elect) comes from eklegomai (chosen), and what Peter is saying is that there was a time, long ago, when our Father "chose" those who deserved to be chosen to be used by Him whenever and however He so chooses!
Now it is up to you to choose whether or not to believe and understand it.
It is unfortunate that traditional Christianity does not teach about the earth age that existed when Satan rebelled and drew a third of God's children away from our Father (Rev. 12:4).
Oh, they recognize that it happened but seem unable to connect it with the fact that there was once a cataclysmic event that destroyed every structure and every living thing on this planet and the entire global surface was covered with water.
You can read about that destruction in Jeremiah chapter 4.
This is the Lord speaking:
Jeremiah 4:22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Look up the word "sottish". It means "stupid". It is the word our Father chose to use.
[23] I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Yep, this is what it looked like it Genesis 1:2 when He was finished wiping everything out!
One needs to know and understand the use of the Hebrew words tohu va bohu, without form and void.
And please note the fact that there was no light, which is why He would first say in Gen. 1:3 "Let there be light".
There was light during the flood of Noah, so let's not be ignorant (or sottish) and try to say this was Noah's flood.[24] I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
It was a shaking indeed![25] I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
There were men alive during Noah's flood, weren't there?
But there was NO MAN here.
No birds like a raven or dove either!
[26] I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
Was there ever a Lost City of Atlantis?
You bet there was and the North and South Poles were plush with green vegetation, too.
All of it was destroyed, broken down, BY GOD HIMSELF!
Hello, wake up!
Again, the earth wasn't destroyed when He created it!
He created it beautiful and to be inhabited in Genesis 1:1.
God Himself even says that He didn't create it in the condition of Gen. 1:2. Isaiah records His words for us:I
saiah 45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
God didn't create the earth void and in a state of total destruction, which is what the words "without form and void", tohu va bohu in Hebrew, mean.
But it "became" (see NIV translation) that way in Genesis 1:2 when our Father knocked this planet off its true axis, which is why magnetic north and true north are 80 to 90 miles apart depending on the wobble, and slightly out of it's true 360 day orbit around the sun.
Have you ever read the Book of Job?
If so, do you remember after the 37 chapters of traditional church teaching by Job's buddies (which God said was bunk), that He gave Job a little lesson in humility and perspective? God described to Job the creation in Genesis 1:1, not Genesis 1:3, and guess what?
ALL the sons of God, that would include Job and you and me and all those who have died in the flesh and have returned back home (Eccles. 12:7), and those who haven't made the trip here yet, i.e. are waiting to be born in the flesh, SANG FOR JOY at the beautiful handiwork of God.
They wouldn't have sang for joy at the condition in which it is described in Genesis 1:2.
They would have said "Yecch!"
Here's the account where God is speaking to Job:Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
If you have understanding then you know where Job was.
He was amongst those singing for Joy!
[5] Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? [6] Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
How does this planet hang in space anyway?
Job couldn't answer that question and neither can NASA![7] When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Yep, all of them sang for joy, including Satan, because this was before iniquity was found in him and he drew a third of God's sons away from Him.
Your documentation is in Ezekiel 28:15 concerning Satan: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."
But after his rebellion, Satan was judged in that "world that then was", a phrase Peter will use in chapter 3 of his 2nd book, and sentenced to DIE!
That is why Satan is called "Death" and is referred to as the "son of perdition", the son who will perish.
Of course God wasn't too happy with the rest of His kids who sided along with Satan, but rather than judging them and perhaps sentencing them to die, He postponed judgment until after the Millennium, after His plan to redeem them, the plan of salvation (which means to salvage), has been accomplished.
So He destroyed the earth age that was, the age to which all "Fossils" and "Remains" belong, and gave us this flesh age to be born of woman, innocent, without any prior knowledge of the "world that then was", with an opportunity to decide whether to love God or follow Satan.
Now you know what happened to the dinosaurs, don't you!
God destroyed them all following Satan's rebellion!
The apostle Paul knew all of this, just like Peter did.
They both speak of the time before the "foundation of this earth age" so matter of factly that it makes you wonder why everyone doesn't talk or teach about it.
Here's Paul talking about the same "elect" or "chosen"
:Ephes. 1:4-5 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Were God's elect chosen at birth?
No!
They were chosen before the foundation of the world, a long time before they would be born in the flesh.
[5] Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
If you have a Companion Bible you should read appendix 146 concerning the "foundation of the world" and you will see documented that it really means before the casting down, or overthrow, i.e. the time of the destruction following Satan's rebellion.
So we see that God predestinated His elect to be used "according to the good pleasure of His will", i.e. however He so chooses.
Our Father knew us all, long before we were born of woman to temporarily dwell in a flesh tabernacle, which we call our body.
He knew Jeremiah before he was born:
Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
He knew Jacob and Esau before they were born.
That is how He could say in Romans 9:13 "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" even before they were yet born.
Yes, He knew us all long before we were born.
But guess what?
We've left out the best part!
We know that Satan drew 1/3 of God's sons away from Him, but there were some who stood and fought against the dragon [Satan] and made our Father proud of them.
They exercised their "free will" then, (in the first earth age) and chose to love God and not Satan, and so God has chosen them and predestined them to be a part of His plan in this earth age.
He has used them all down through history until even now.
And you know what else?
He chose the last ones, the elect who would be present during the final generation, first!
Now you know the more in-depth meaning to Christ's words that the first shall be last; and the last first.
So no altar call is necessary for God's elect, His chosen, because when He's ready to use them He'll let them know.
He might knock them off their horses (Paul) or have them swallowed by a big fish (Jonah) or just call them away from fishing (Peter, Andrew, James, and John) if they are the type who haven't let their "free will" run riot, like some He has to rescue from themselves first.
If you understand any of that which we are talking about, then you can fill in your own experience.
So it is God's elect to whom Peter addressed this marvelous epistle.
Read Romans 8:29-39 and discover that they were not only chosen and predestinated, but "them He also justified".
Are you one of God's elect?
If so, this Book of Peter is addressed to you!

3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you
5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Pet. 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Just wait until that last time, that last day, that last trump, when the gift of eternal life is granted to His saints at His coming.

What a glorious day it will be!

Also, it would seem to me that if one is under the protection of the power of God that there is nothing and no one in the world, including Satan and his cronies, that He can't handle.

Right?

Paul says it even better:

Romans 8:31
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
This is not to say that there are none who are against us, for certainly Satan and his followers are, but it means there are none who can prevail against us.

Christ even said in Luke 10:19 "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Romans 8:33
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Should we worry about what others might think or say about us, including Satan who accuses us day and night before God (Rev. 12:10)?

Nope, God is our Judge.

Tell everyone else to take a hike, unless you can plant a seed.


6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1 Peter 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
[9] Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
What is the end result of faith and believing (vs. 8)?

Salvation, which means Eternal Life in a glorious spiritual body (without having to ride a bucking bronco anymore).

And along with that salvation an inheritance from the 1st Title Owner of the Universe.

[10] Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Salvation was not available until the Lamb of God shed His blood as the sacrifice for our sins.

Then Christ was able to offer salvation to the prophets, which He did while He was yet in the tomb.

[11] Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
The words "of Christ" should come after "signify".

Nevertheless, all you have to do is read the 22nd Psalm written by the prophet David (Acts 2:29-30 declares him a prophet), and see how accurately the sufferings of Christ were testified to beforehand.

The prophet Isaiah in the 53rd chapter of his book also testifies.

In fact, the testifying goes all the way back to Moses, the prophet who wrote the words of Gen 3:15.

[12] Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
The prophets testified of Christ and His salvation, to us and for us, long before the Holy Spirit was sent in Acts chapter 2 and the apostles reported the good news that the living hope, vs. 3, has arrived.

Now if that isn't the best news that sinners like you and me have ever heard, then there is none.

No wonder Peter begins verse 3 praising our Father.





13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
17  And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
21  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
 
 

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

This "American Wisdom Series" pamphlet

is.

Published by:

Rhine Publishing Co.
E-mail address - americanwisdomseries@verizon.net

If you would like to have your essay published
as part of the American Wisdom Series
submit your manuscript to Rhine Publishing Co
at the address above for consideration.

Click Here to Return to "The American Wisdom Series" home page.