Rest Not Wrestle!

 

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

1 Peter 3:18-22

 

When I lived in Indonesia and was studying Bahasa Indonesia (the Indonesian language) it was frequently easier for me to pretend to understand what someone was saying than to question again and again until I got the full meaning. I might know most of the words that were said and so I would simply guess at the part I did not understand.

That’s the way I feel about these verses in 1 Peter 3. I think I grasp most of it except the part about Jesus preaching to the “spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” I can only guess about what this means. When did Jesus preach to these people? Better yet, what did He preach? What was His message to the people who died in the flood? Oh yes, where is the prison? Did Jesus do this for other generations of people? Did this mean that these folks had a “second chance” to accept Jesus? Does it mean that people today who never hear the message of Jesus will also get such an opportunity?

I don’t know the answer to those and many other questions these verses bring to the surface. But I do know one thing. The love that Jesus has for every man, woman and child ever conceived is deeper, wider, and more profound that I can ever grasp. Jesus never looks at a man as calls his case “hopeless.” Someone has said “as long as there is breath there is hope.” The deeper reality is that as long as there is Jesus there is hope!

I cannot go beyond the written Word in my understanding of Him. But He goes beyond my understanding. It is like trying to understand a soldier by looking at his sword. I can know some things about him, but much is left to be discovered.

When the trumpet sounds and the Day has finally arrived we will see Jesus in His Glory and know Him fully! All questions will have obvious answers and all mysteries will be as clear as crystal. So my job now is to trust Jesus enough that when it comes to the things I don’t understand I can rest in Him not wrestle with Him!