"..raised to life by the Spirit" - 1 Peter 3:18 (TPT)

There is much in this passage to consider, “Christ suffered”— notice it doesn’t say “Jesus suffered”, Peter is making a distinction between the man “Jesus”, and the anointing “Christ” which was upon the man Jesus.  The title “Christ” or “anointing” speaks of the office or position that Jesus filled which was that of the Messiah (deliverer or rescuer), Christ is the position rather than the man Himself. 

We tend to use these terms interchangeably but they are fundamentally and distinctly different, Jesus didn’t have a sir name of “Christ”, the correct way to use the terms would be “Jesus who is called Christ”.

So what is the significance of the word Christ?  Christ speaks of a coming warrior King who would deliver Israel from their political oppressors, and unite the nation in a great theocracy which elevates the God of Israel as the only true God to be worshipped, and His chosen “or anointed” earthly ruler to execute God’s edicts upon the earth.

This however only highlights the outward signs of the rule of Christ, there is so much more spiritual significance which is attributed to what was actually accomplished by the man Jesus by what He endured through His suffering.

“For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 (TPT)

Jesus was the righteousness of God being made visible in a man, and it was this man who proved by His acts that He performed that He was the chosen or anointed of God to become Christ.

The passage says that “Christ suffered”, how could a title suffer?  The positional office of the anointed one suffered for the sake of the people He represented.  From a natural perspective, it would be like a King going into battle to defend His people, even though the thought of a King fighting in a battle seems ludicrous, it is the ultimate example of the depths of loyalty our King would go to defend and protect us.  

As a King suffers wounds or even death in a battle for His people, so Christ suffered for His own people by fighting the ultimate battle over the right to rule God's people.  Christ suffered death by waging a war of divine right to regain a royal position of authority over Lucifer (Satan) who deceitfully stole it away from God’s people. No man alone could perform this mighty act, it had to be orchestrated by God Himself.

It says that He died once for all, the battle was completed, and His victory was absolute, Christ now reigns as supreme commander over all of the created order because He overcame the last enemy which is death itself and now lives and will never die again.  He died for all, which means “the just for the unjust”, He didn’t just die for good people, He died for everyone even to those who didn't have a clue of what He had accomplished, He provided access through this tremendous victory.

That access was that we could be “near to God by His body being put to death”, Jesus being the Christ provided us direct access to the Father by giving up His mortal body as a sacrifice in our stead, and as we receive that sacrifice as our own we are justified.

“For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.” 

John 15:13 (TPT)

When Jesus said these words He was speaking to His disciples in an intimate setting letting them know what would befall Him in the coming hours and days that lie ahead.  In the Aramaic language which Jesus spoke, when He said “..when a person sacrifices his life for his friends”, the Aramaic word for “friends” is actually “family” or “relatives.”  This is how intimate Jesus sees us, we are family to Him.

Peter was a man of passion and He responded out of His passion as a younger man and made many mistakes which taught him to put his full confidence in the finished work of Jesus.  History tells us that as Peter grew further in the knowledge of Christ you see a deepening awareness that his passion is being focused on Christ and what he must become to be a Christ-follower through his writings.  Peter becomes less and less, and Christ becomes more and more.  

When Peter finally reaches the end of his life he is arrested and condemned to be hung on a cross to die as Jesus was hung, Peter willingly goes to the cross to die, but being a man of passion he doesn’t see himself worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus died so he asks to the hung upside down so that his sufferings may bring glory to the one who paid for his redemption.

Peter was raised to a new life with Christ in a heavenly Kingdom which we will all inherit when we come to Jesus and surrender our lives to His rule and rein in our lives.
Peter experienced this at the end of his life, we can live for Christ today and live by the Spirit's power in our lives as we grow and change into Christlike character and know what it means to be nearer to our Father in heaven.

There is no greater love that one can offer another person than to lay down their life as a sacrifice for them.  Jesus did this willingly out of love, not out of obligation, His desire was to redeem us from the effects of sin and death so that we might live with Him forever. 

We were created by Christ in the beginning, and we can return to Him now that He has provided a means of access back to His Kingdom where He will always be with His family which he bought back by His sacrifice, WE are His family!

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett