Text: 1 Peter 3:18-22
Date: November 29, 2020
Event: The First Sunday in Advent, Year B
1 Peter 3:18–22 (EHV)
Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, 19in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. 20These spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 21And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 22He went to heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Jesus Is Coming! You Are Saved!
While we’re still almost a month a way from saying goodbye to the absolute trip that has been 2020, today we have started a new church year. We’re in the season of Advent which is not, as it often feels like, actually just “Pre-Christmas.” Sure, the stores have long converted their Halloween sections to Christmas trees and lights and ornaments. While, yes, part of Advent is looking ahead to the celebration of of our Savior’s first arrival that we will observe starting on December 24 and 25, Advent is much more than just a lead-in to Christmas.
Our focus over the next several weeks our worship will be a natural continuation and evolution of the themes that ended this last church year. Jesus is our King who rules all things and is returning to rescue us. Our lives ought to be one of humble repentance and thankful service both to him and to our neighbors while we’re here, ever looking forward to what is to come.
Our Second Lesson from Peter’s first letter is our focus for this morning. Peter is writing to Christians who are struggling to persevere in their faith, but also with the understanding that Peter and many of the other apostles probably won’t be on this earth much longer. So it’s a letter largely encouraging anyone reading it at any place and at any time to stay focused on the things that are truly important and truly matter—what God has done and will do for us in Jesus.
Our lesson doesn’t waste any time getting to that point. Peter zeroes us in on the one thing needful: Christ also suffered once for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. Were they feeling separated from God? Did they feel like God was distant and unconcerned or uncaring about what they were going through? “Look at Jesus!” Peter says. He suffered and died so that we would be unified and united with God once again, as we were originally created to be.
But when things are bad, that’s hard to believe, right? When we’re struggling anyway, it can seem like either God is too far away for that to matter or that it’s all just fiction, a fable, that will have no lasting meaning or benefit for us. Our minds can begin to spiral, even wondering, “Well, what if Jesus didn’t do what he said he was going to do? What if he was just a man who died and that was it? What if I’ve been duped?”
Peter heads these thoughts off at the pass and takes us to an event that we know very little about. We confess in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus “descended into hell,” and here Peter talks about what that descent into hell was all about. In the creed, we’re not talking about Jesus suffering hell. That happened before he died while he was on the cross. And even though the order of the creed is confusing, this isn’t something that happened in-between Jesus’ death and resurrection—he didn’t spend those three days in hell; he commended his spirit to the Father. No, Peter instead tells us what happened: He was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. Jesus was put to death in flesh, that is, in the weakness of his self-imposed humiliation, and was made alive in spirit, that is, in the full use of all of his divine power. After his resurrection, he no longer seems to have the weakness of any other person. Jesus is different, changed after he rises from the dead. And it’s in this status of exaltation, of him once again making full use of his power as God, that he went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison.
Some translations use the word “preached” where our translation uses “made an announcement.” That makes sense, because the word Peter uses here is the same word that would be used to describe Peter or Paul preaching a sermon to a group of people. But, the word “preached” can be confusing and misleading, because this is not Jesus preaching a sermon to give the spirits in hell one last chance to repent and believe. This is a proclamation, a decree, to announce things as they are. Jesus descends into hell after he rises from the dead to give one clear message to Satan and his cohorts in hell: “You lost; I won.” We know that Jesus’ resurrection is the clear indication of his victory over sin and death, and here Jesus makes it inescapable. He’s acting like a king who has just conquered a city or nation, parading through the streets of the newly-conquered land to announce that he is their ruler now.
Because Jesus lived, died, and rose, Satan no longer as any autonomy. He no longer has control. He no longer has authority. Jesus won. Satan lost. You are saved.
Do you want further assurance that you are rescued and that no matter what happens to you here, you are safe? Peter goes on. When Jesus descended into hell and made that announcement of victory over Satan and all of his schemes, there were people there, people who had died in unbelief prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection. These were people who had rejected the promises given to Adam and Eve and their descendants. They ignored God and chose what they wanted to do instead.
Perhaps the biggest influx of souls would have been the flood of Noah’s time. We often think of the flood as being a pronouncement of God’s judgment, of his law. While that is true, Peter allows us to see the flood in a different way. [Jesus] was put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, in which he also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. These spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Peter describes the flood as a good thing, as a saving thing. The water of the flood in Peter’s words didn’t destroy, it saved those in ark. How? Because at that time there was rampant unbelief, and left unchecked, the promises of a Savior that God had made were in danger of being wiped out. So when the flood waters wiped out those who were enemies of God’s promises and Word, that same water was saving those eight believers in the ark, saving them from be inundated with the threats to their faith.
This has application to us as well. Peter goes on, “And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Peter connects the flood waters with the waters of baptism. Like the flood waters wiped out all the dangers that threatened God’s promises, the waters of baptism wipes out the sin that we are born with, drowning our sinful natures. Baptism saves us by bringing the forgiveness of sins through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Your baptism is further proof, further comfort in times of trial. Paul describes baptism as a guarantee of a good conscience before God. You do not need to worry that maybe Jesus didn’t do enough, or that maybe something is left over for you to handle. You have the guarantee that your conscience is clear because Jesus has wiped away your sin. The word Peter uses there is a word that would be used as an official confirmation of a treaty. Baptism is not something we do for God. It is not showing our deduction to God or our commitment to him. Baptism is not about us at all. Baptism is is God confirming his promises to us. Baptism is God saying to you, “I have forgiven your sins. Jesus died and rose victorious for you. And here is the confirmation of that work for you. You are now adopted into my family.”
Because baptism makes us God’s own children. That means we don’t need to have any fear about what is to come. Peter’s first readers would have been nervous what their faith would mean for Peter’s future and their own. We look around us with concern about our own futures. Unplanned as it is, we are once again all separated from each other. But even as a pandemic once again forces us to be apart for a time, because we are part of God’s family, we are still connected to each other and, more importantly, to him. We don’t need to be afraid or have any concerns. [Jesus] went to heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. Jesus reigns as our King and will return as such. He will take us to be with him in eternity. Come, Lord Jesus, and quickly. Amen.
