1 Peter 5:8-14
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Farewell and Peace
12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.
13 She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.
Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
We are called to be sober in this world as we diligently run the race of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus toward the goal of seeing Him face to face at last (Job 19:25-27, 1 Corinthians 13:12, 1 John 3:2-3)! We are to be both sober-minded and diligent in our walk with Christ, calm and collected as we keep watch for the wiles of the evil one and being on constant alert for his temptations and trickery to subvert the word of God through compromise and twisting of words to pervert the meaning God intended. We are to notice these attacks when they come and resist them as we stand against the accuser and father of lies who would devour us as a hungry lion; but we remember Daniel thrown among the lions and likewise trust the Lord to keep us through the potential onslaught, committing our souls to our faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19) according to the promises and comfort of His word cut straight (2 Timothy 2:15-16), interpreting the truth directly and correctly through sound hermeneutical study of the scriptures enabled by the supernatural understanding of God’s Spirit (John 14:26, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 16) in us. We who are in Christ all suffer under the attacks of the one set against the Christ and all who are in Him and have the testimony (Revelation 12:9, 17) of His gospel. Ah, but the grace of God is stronger in us who called us to eternal glory with Him in the end and we can rely on His precious promises (2 Peter 1:4) to perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us after we suffer and come through by that grace of His mighty hand on us that keeps us. To perfect means He will complete us to be what we ought to be. To establish us means He will make us firmly placed and stable. To strengthen us means that He will make us strong and steadfast in His strength. Finally, to settle us means that God will firmly anchor us in our faith on the solid foundation of Christ our Rock. Then we can glorify Him together as our eternal Sovereign Lord as we stand firm (Ephesians 6:13) in this evil age (Galatians 1:4) by faith in Christ alone. Peter ends this letter as Paul often did, sending welcoming greetings to the elect in Christ and encouraging them all to do the same as they encourage and strengthen one another by speaking and teaching these words of truth and encouragement, understanding our responsibility and God’s sovereign work of grace in us all that keeps us to the end that we may persevere and not lose hope (Luke 18:1, 7, Romans 5,5, 8:25, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18) as we live sober-mindedly and run the race diligently. Peace to us all who read these words from our Lord.
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