1 Peter 3:18-22 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Our God Is Always Faithful

It should not surprise you if I tell you people make mistakes, that people are fallible, and prone to evil. Yet God never makes mistakes. People can be ignorant, dense even, but God knows all things. He is ever faithful, ever dependable, ever trustworthy, and very precise. His precision is seen in the Heavens, in their clockwork movement, in their complexity. It amazes me that people are constantly looking for space aliens and ufo’s, but will not look around the beauty of this earth and see God’s handiwork. Only a fool would look at creation and ascribe it to random chance. The Bible says:

Psalm 14:1-3 (ESV) The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

To do good is to look around you, to look up, to see the clear design of the Creator’s loving hand, and to rejoice that He cares so much for us. Of the thousands of worlds that are seen by astrologers, only earth has been so blessed by God. It is here that He planted us, it is here that He loves us.

Yet sometimes love MUST punish. If a cancer grows in your body, you allow the doctor to attack it, to poison it, to excise it. So it is with sin. Sin is a moral and physical evil that kills what it clings to.

We “wink” at sin today, but sin is a horrible thing. Sin separates us from God. Why is that dangerous? Because God is the Source of life. Life and light are in God. I came across this great truth the other day – and it is true because it is scriptural.

Illustrate: When God wanted to create GREEN things – plants and trees – He spoke to the EARTH. He said “Let the EARTH sprout” (Genesis 1:11) and the earth brought forth trees and grass, plants of all types. When God wanted to create FISH He spoke to the WATERS. He said, “Let the WATERS swarm” (Genesis 1:20) and the waters brought forth the fish and sea creatures. But when God created humanity, HE SPOKE TO HIMSELF (Genesis 1:26). He said “Let US make mankind in our image, after our likeness”. If you take a tree out of the EARTH, it will die. If you take a fish out of the WATERS, it will die. If you take a person out of GOD, that person will die. God is the Source of human life!

Jesus Christ did not come to this earth just to be an example to us. We are told:

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God

Jesus did not just die to bring us to Heaven. So many people think this is the end all and be all of salvation, but this is not true. Jesus did not get His ticket punched so you can get free admission to Heaven. Jesus died on Calvary – died a horrible death – “that he might bring us to God”. God sent His Only Begotten Son to this earth to offer a way to…

cover our sins (atonement),
conquer our sins (indwelling Holy Spirit),
CARRY us into the Family of God.

Why do we need to be in union with God? Because to be in union with sin and Satan is death. “The wages of SIN is DEATH” (Romans 6:23). As SIN spreads, like cancer it brings DEATH. God does not want this. He said:

Ezekiel 33:11 (ESV) … As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die ?

I have often read those passages in the Old Testament where God sent Israel into an area or a town, and told His people “You must completely destroy them – the Hethite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite ….” (Deuteronomy 20:16-18). Or where God said, “Go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.” (1 Samuel 15:3). I read these things and shudder in my soul. How horrible this must be! And yet, God has said “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked”. If God is love, then how can we reconcile the deaths of whole people groups – with their animals – with the loving character of God? Dear one, it is simply this.

Sin is a cancer, a departure from the life that should be in God.
Cancer unchecked will destroy a body.
Sin unchecked will destroy a world!

God did not choose destruction as the first course in dealing with the wicked. If they would not repent, then He ordered them “driven out” (Exodus 23:29; Leviticus 18:24; Numbers 33:52), lest their sin spread through His Church. God did not drive out people because of their ethnicity. If you look in Chapter 1 of Matthew at the lineage of Christ, you will see in Christ’s lineage several believing Gentiles:

Tamar the Canaanite
Rahab the Midianite
Ruth the Moabite

God is not racist. He loves all people. But God is against sin, regardless as to your color or nationality. Yet you will not come to God unless you come through Jesus. God is FAITHFUL, and in His FAITHFULNESS He sent Jesus Christ to this earth to die for our sins and rise from the grave to lead us to God.

The devil has fought to keep us from this great truth.

The Devil Fought It, But God Is Faithful!

1 Peter 3:18-20 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Word Study: To bring us to God our Lord Jesus was “put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit”. The word “quickened” is the Greek zōopoieō, which means “was made alive, restored to life”. The Bible tells us that it is “God Who brings to life the dead” (Romans 4:17). When Jesus went to the Cross, He did not just swoon or pass out. He literally DIED. His body lost all of his soul and spirit. He was dead, inspected as dead by executioners. When the executioner pierced His side, “blood and water (John 19:34) came out”. Jesus was dead. He was cleansed, wrapped in linen, and put in a sealed tomb. He was dead. He died for our sins. Then God the Holy Spirit brought Him back to life. Why? This was God’s assertion that Jesus Christ ALONE is the Messiah, the One and Only Who can bring us to God. We are told that Jesus was “quickened by the Spirit”. But now our God – through the Apostle Peter – takes us down a strange road. He says:

vs 19 By which {Spirit} also He {Jesus} went and preached unto the spirits in prison

Word Study: Following His death and resurrection Jesus took a “field trip” for God. He “went and preached unto the spirits in prison”. The word “prison” is the Greek phylakē, which means “a place watched over, a place where someone is guarded, a holding area”. What is our Lord telling us? These “spirits in prison” are tied to the Flood of Noah, for we are told

vs 20 Which sometime {pote, literally “in times past”} were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah

These “spirits in prison” are in prison because of what the did “in the days of Noah”. So what is our Lord telling us? To understand this, we have to go back to the beginning, back to Genesis. Directly following the fall of humanity – a fall engineered by “that Old Serpent, the Devil, called Satan” (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) – God told Satan:

Genesis 3:15 I {God} will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

God told Satan that He would send a “Seed of the woman” Who would “bruise” his HEAD, but that “Seed” would have only a “bruised” HEEL. I’ve seen street fights before when a person gets knocked down on the ground, and the person standing stomps down on the fallen’s HEAD. The person standing may limp away, but the one whose head was stomped doesn’t get up.

God promised Satan that his head would be
stomped by the coming “Seed of the Woman”.

Satan has no desire to get his head stomped – so he started working. He watched the woman Eve. When she had a son named “Cain”, Satan watched Cain and his brother Abel. Abel loved the Lord, for Jesus called him “RIGHTEOUS ABEL” (Matthew 23:35). We are told in Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous”. Satan watched the brothers, and enticed Cain to sin rather than repent (Genesis 4:7). When Cain killed Abel I suspect Satan felt relief. He had killed the “Seed of the Woman” by killing the lineage of Christ. Yet our God is FAITHFUL (1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:13). The Bible says:

Genesis 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

The Hebrew “Seth” means “the substitute”. Satan wanted to cut off the lineage of Christ, but his efforts failed. As you go forward in the Bible history you come next to the Flood of Noah. What brought about this Great Flood? The Bible tells us:

Genesis 6:2 … the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

The righteous of God compromised and blended with the unrighteous. The Bible says “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). What caused this massive spread of evil?

(1) The LIGHT of God’s Children blended with the DARKNESS of the lost.
(2) Satan inspired angels – those who joined him in rebellion against God – fanned the flame of evil.

Wickedness progressed to the point where God decided to “destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air” (Genesis 6:7). Yet “Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). For 120 years Noah built an Ark as God decreed, and for 120 years God gave mankind a chance to repent. Yet mankind would not repent. So only 8 souls were saved on that Ark from out of humanity. But the lineage of Christ was on that Ark.

What about those “Spirits” that were involved in the days of Noah. The Bible tells us in:

Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Word Study: The fallen angels that “left their own habitation” are thought by many to be angels that “possessed” the lost during the time of Noah. As the Flood destroyed all but eight souls, the angels that “left their own habitation” were imprisoned by God in a place called “Tartaroō”. This is also written of in:

2 Peter 2:4-5 God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to HELL {Tartaroō}, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

There is an interesting place in Luke 8 where Jesus visits an area in Gadarenes to address a demon possessed man. The Bible says that the demons that possessed him – fallen angels – called themselves “Legion” (Luke 8:30). Now we come across an interesting statement:

Luke 8:31 And THEY {Legion begged Jesus} that He would not COMMAND them to go out into the DEEP {Greek abyssos}.

Word Study: The Greek abyssos means “the Abyss, the Bottomless Pit”. This is a reference to Tartaroō, the place where the angels that contributed to the corruption that led to the Great Flood are imprisoned. Legion begged Jesus not to send it there. This Bottomless Pit is mentioned again in Revelation 9, when these demons are released on the earth during the Great Tribulation to hurt those “which have not the seal of God in their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4). Those trapped in Tartaroō are horrible creatures, creatures that sought to destroy Christ’s lineage. Yet God is faithful.

The Devil Sought Our Damnation,
But God Our Salvation

Though Satan was thwarted at the Great Flood, and God protected the lineage of Christ, he did not stop trying to destroy the Plan of Salvation. When God promised to Abraham:

Genesis 12:2-3 … I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Satan heard what God said. God was going to bring “The Seed of the Woman” through Abraham, through Israel. So many years later when Israel was in Egypt, Satan moved in the heart of the King to decree:

Exodus 1:16 (AP) … If you mid-wives see a Hebrew woman giving birth, if she bears a MALE child, KILL IT – but if a daughter, then she shall live …

When the mid-wives failed to do this, the King extended his decree. “Every SON that is born, you will cast him into the river” (Exodus 1:22). Yet God prevailed, and raised up Moses to lead Israel from that demon infested place. The lineage of Christ was preserved.

Go forward a few more years. God decides to bring the “Seed of the woman” through David, a lowly Shepherd. David’s line is the Line of Judah. The Bible tells us that when King Ahaziah of Judah died, his mother Athaliah decided she would rule Israel. What did she do next?

2 Kings 11:1-3 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. 2 But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram (the 9th King of Northern Israel, see 2 Kings 8:16, 25-28), sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah … put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. 3 And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

Word Study: What better place to hide the lineage of Christ than in the Temple of God. The devil won’t go there! The line of Christ was down to just one righteous person – “Joash” – but Satan did not triumph. The name “Joash” (Hebrew Yôʼâsh) means “given by the Lord”. Satan tried, and failed again. Our God is faithful.

Is Satan done? No, he’s not. When the Wise Men come to Israel looking for the young Jesus, they stop in at the palace of Herod (Matthew 2:1-7). Herod told them that, if they would find Jesus and come back and tell him about it, that Herod would go and worship the Lord. God knew the intent of Herod’s heart, and warned Joseph to flee to Egypt with his family (Matthew 2:13-15). When the wise men didn’t return to Herod, the Bible says:

Matthew 2:16 (ESV) Herod … became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

But Jesus – the “Seed of the Woman” – was safely in Egypt while this horrible thing happened. Satan wanted Jesus gone. He did not want his head crushed. But once more, he was thwarted by the Lord.

When Jesus came of age, and was ready to begin His ministry, the Bible says that:

Matthew 4:1 … (ESV) Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

During one of those temptations we are told that:

Matthew 4:5-6 (ESV) … the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

The devil quoted Psalm 91:11-12, a prophecy of the coming Christ, hoping that Jesus would jump from this great height, killing Himself. If Jesus took the bait, the “Seed of the Woman” would not come, and Satan could continue to rule this earth. Yet Jesus was and is God Incarnate, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Jesus quoted Scripture back to Satan, “You shall not test God” (Numbers 14:22; Deuteronomy 6:16; Psalm 78:18, 41, 56; Psalm 95:9; 106:14). Satan did all he could to destroy the “Seed of the Woman”. This is the pattern he has followed from the fall of Adam till now. We are told of Satan’s attacks in

Revelation 12:1-5 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne …

The pregnant woman is the nation Israel, from whom Christ would come. The “great red dragon” whose tail swept down a third of the “stars of heaven” is Satan, who led a third of the angels in revolt against God. Israel gave birth to the “Seed of the Woman” through the virgin named Mary. Satan did his best to destroy Jesus, to kill Him before He crushed Satan’s head – but could not catch Him.

It amuses me when people are scared of Satan. You should be frightened of him, and of sin, just as you should avoid poison ivy or a rattler. But Satan is no more than a created being. If Satan couldn’t destroy Jesus, maybe he could modify what Jesus was going to do. The Bible tells us that:

Matthew 16:21-23 (NASB) … Jesus began to point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. 22 And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but men’s.”

Jesus MUST go to the Cross. Jesus MUST be bruised, and beaten. Jesus MUST suffer the humiliation of Calvary. Jesus MUST bear the penalty of our sin as He dies, suffering immeasurably, upon that Tree. Only the Seed of the Woman can do what He is going to do.

And He does it. Jesus hangs on that Cross. The sun darkens. He cries out. “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46). He knows why, but the pain makes Him cry out, just as pain makes us cry out. Why? Why? Satan watches from the sidelines, his agent Judas Iscariot watching. An innocent Man is being crucified between two thieves. Satan has surely won. What does the Scripture say?

James 1:15 (AP) When LUST has conceived, it brings forth SIN, and SIN “WHEN IT IS FINISHED” brings forth DEATH

Satan has won! The Evil Won has triumphed. The “Seed of the Woman” will no longer be a problem. Then what happens? We are told:

John 19:30 … {Jesus} said, “IT IS FINISHED”, and bowed His head, and GAVE UP THE GHOST …

But before Hell could celebrate the death of Christ, the Bible says that “when Jesus gave up His spirit …

Matthew 27:52-54 (NASB) …the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54 Now as for the centurion {, he said…} “Truly this WAS the Son of God!”

Satan thought Jesus was done. But He wasn’t done. Dying, we read that …

1 Peter 3:19-20 {Jesus} went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime {pote, literally “in times past”} were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah

The demons bound in Tartaroō thought that they had beaten Jesus. But He came, and “preached” unto those fallen creatures. Why do you think He preached? I believe He preached “God is FAITHFUL. God is TRUE. God cannot be thwarted. God is in control!”.

Why Does God Bring Water Baptism In At This Point?

1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Water baptism is “the answer of a good conscience toward God”. What does Water baptism symbolize? It is symbolic of the Noahic Flood. When the rain fell, the water would be the judgment of God that destroyed the unbeliever. The BELIEVER GOT ON THE ARK of God. The BELIEVER did not try to swim through the flood, but GOT ON THE ARK. As the judgment of God fell, that same judgment raised the believer above the water unto safety. If you have received Jesus Christ as BOTH your Lord and your Savior, your resting in Him will raise you above the judgment of God. The “Seed of the Woman” Jesus Christ will destroy death and the devil for you – but you must receive Him. Do not believe you can escape judgment if you reject Christ. The demons in Tartaroō probably thought that, upon Christ’s death, that they would be freed from prison. They were not, and will not be until God frees them. God is faithful! God is true!

1 Peter 3:22 {Jesus} is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.

He has crushed Satan’s head! He is Lord! Jesus Christ is the Great Ark of God. Is He YOUR Lord and Savior? If not, today is the best time to call upon His Name and be saved. May God the Holy Spirit draw you to His side. Amen and Amen.