Verse 5 Peter now says that Christians are like ‘stones that are living’. Jesus makes people alive in their spirit. God lives in Christians. He does not live in a physical building (1 Corinthians 6:19). When the builders made the temple, they built the walls with stones. God now builds a *spiritual house. He builds it with people. Here *spiritual means linked to God’s Spirit, not to a physical building. This *spiritual house is the church. When people become Christians, they become part of the church. God is holy, so he wants to live in holy people (see chapter 1:15-16). Christians are also ‘holy priests’. The Jewish priests were the only people who could go into the temple. They worshipped God and prayed to him. They sacrificed animals to God so that he would forgive sins. They went to God on behalf of other people. Now Jesus has died on the cross to forgive sins. We do not need to sacrifice animals any more. Everyone can come to God through Jesus. ‘*Spiritual *sacrifices’ are what Christians offer to God. This shows God that they love him. In the *New Testament there are 4 ways by which Christians offer *sacrifices to God: (1) They give their whole life to God (Romans 12:1). (2) They *praise and thank God (Hebrews 13:15). (3) They do good work and share what they have with other people (Hebrews 13:16). (4) They support people who explain the good news about Jesus (Philippians 4:18). Verses 6-8 These three verses are *Old Testament *prophecies about Jesus. A *prophecy is a message from God. Sometimes it describes what is going to happen. These verses *prophesied that God would send Jesus. But the *Jews would refuse to accept him. This happened. They did not accept Jesus as the Christ (*Messiah). ‘Zion’ is the name of the hill where the *Jews built the temple. Zion is also another name for Jerusalem. God wanted all the *Jews to believe in Jesus. He wanted them to be part of the church. In Matthew 21:42-45 Jesus says that the ‘builders’ were the *Jewish leaders. They did not accept Jesus, so they are not part of his church. Jesus is the *cornerstone. He is the head of the church. A physical *cornerstone shows how straight a building should be. In the same way, Jesus shows what the church should be like. He shows how Christians should behave. ‘He will not disappoint anyone who believes in him’. Christians should never be ashamed to say that they trust in Jesus. They know how wonderful he is. Jesus is precious to God (verse 5) and he is precious to Christians. Many people who believe in God do not accept Jesus. But only Jesus gives *eternal life. People who choose not to follow Jesus will not be part of his *spiritual house. They ‘trip’ and ‘fall’ when they refuse to receive Jesus. This means that they will not receive *eternal life. They will not go to heaven. People like that continue to do what is wrong. They ‘do not accept God’s message’. God knew that this would happen before he sent Jesus to this world. Verse 9 In the *Old Testament, God chose the *Jews to be his special people. In Exodus 19:5-6, God says that all the *Jews who obeyed his laws would be his ‘royal priests’. And they would form a ‘holy nation’. Most of them did not obey God. Now God has chosen everyone who trusts Jesus to form that special nation (1 Peter 1:2). Jesus is their king. They belong to God, because Jesus has bought them at the price of his death (1:18-19). God wants Christians to tell other people about him. Then those other people may become Christians too. ‘Darkness’ describes the time when people do not know about God. It also refers to *Satan and his works. People who come into God’s ‘wonderful light’ understand about God, because they know Jesus. Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world’ (John 8:12). Verse 10 Peter compares what people were like before and after they accepted Jesus. The words of this verse come from Hosea 2:23 (Paul gives a fuller explanation in Romans 9:22-26). The *prophet Hosea had two children. God called Hosea’s daughter ‘Lo-Ruhamah’, which means ‘no *mercy’. God called Hosea’s son ‘Lo-Ammi’, which means ‘not my people’ (Hosea 1:6-9). When people accept Jesus, they receive God’s *mercy. Then they become ‘his people’, the people who belong to him. In the *Old Testament, God promised many good things to the *Jews. In verses 4-10, Peter says that God has now given these good things to the church. In 1 Peter 1:1-2:10 Peter has been teaching about *salvation; what Jesus has done for people. Now he writes in a more practical way about how to live as a Christian.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 02:40:30 +0000