Read with Me
1 Peter 4:17-19 (HCSB)
For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?
So those who suffer according to God’s will should, while doing what is good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.
Listen with Me
Many Christians today recoil from the idea that they, as the people of the kingdom, will be judged by God. In fact, in some places a theology has grown up that declares that God’s people are not subject to God’s judgment. But that theology militates against the clear words of Scripture, as this passage from Peter’s letter clearly shows.
God’s people have always been required to stand before Him and to be accountable for what they have done and for how they have carried out His commands. Even Jesus, in many of His parables, has pointed out this reality. Witness the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) in which every one of the three servants was required to give an account of their obedience to the Master’s charge to grow the resources He has left with them. Two of the servants did well and were commended in the judgment. But one was lazy and wicked and was condemned.
But Peter isn’t talking about the last judgment here. He sees in the rising persecution a time of testing of the faith of the saints, a time of judgment by fire when each person’s faith would be tested by the fiery trial of persecution that would reveal the validity of the faith that each Christian had professed.
The fact is that it is easy to profess faith in Jesus during peaceful times, when Christianity is favored and in the ascendancy. But when the times change, and they always change sooner or later, when the church is no longer favored and is in fact reviled and attacked, the validity of the faith of each person is shown for what it truly is. Many fall away, sometimes even denying Jesus in the process, and will ultimately be judged to unworthy of eternal life.
This reality is the basis of Peter’s quotation of proverbs 11:31. But Peter also knows that even in times of trial and persecution, Christians are never alone. God’s promise to never leave or forsake His people (Hebrews 13:5), and Jesus’ promise to be with us until the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20) are as valid now as the day they were first spoken. Therefore, anyone who leans fully on God in times of trial will find that He is true to his word and will help us to persevere and be faithful all the way to the end.
Pray with Me
Father, at first glance this seems to be a depressing reality, and Peter’s warning seems to be the voice of doom, telling us that it will be difficult to pass through times of testing. But when we keep reading, we see the hope that he has and that he conveys to those who are determined to be faithful. That hope is based squarely on Your promises, which he himself has had the opportunity to test and prove, and which he urges us to lean on in challenging and perilous times as well. Thank you, Lord, for this important warning for our times, and thank You for your sure promises as well. Amen.