For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
This passage has caused me some wonder...I see that Christ died and then the subject is baptism; the intervening portion related to what Christ did in the spirit and when is what puzzles me.
The also which is bold-faced above is the same word interpreted as even, (which we looked at a couple of days ago), indeed, actually and certainly. I could read that verse as He even went (so far as) to witness to those who were in the days of Noah but are now spirits in prison awaiting the final judgment. That makes sense and it matches up with the promise Jesus gave the thieve on the cross that "Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise".
As I sit, examining the words and the context, a phone call comes. My (hero) husband invites me to lunch with the goal of visiting Umesh, a man who wanted to know about Jesus and Santa Claus, (seriously). Remembering verse one which instructs me to be submissive to my husband (hero), I readied myself to leave.
As I was driving to lunch, I was struck by the thought that I was musing and meditating on what I did not and could not definitively know. But I had an opportunity to share with another what I did have; knowledge of the True, relationship with the One, hope in the Faithful, salvation for eternity. How encouraging that was to me that God is still mysterious after all these years, I can still operate from what He has absolutely shown me and it is a good thing to submit to my hero (husband) and my Hero God.
Thanks and praise to You, Glorious One. You have deep and deeper still; some things are not clear to me and yet, what I need to know has been made clear and available. How perfect are Your ways, oh Lord, how incredible are Your mercies that You would include me in Your plan. Help me to always have a heart for Your purpose, a desire to fulfill my part and to not get stuck in the unknown parts.
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