Last week we spent some time dealing with the exhortation from Peter to, 'set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. Always be prepared to give an answer (a defense) to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.'

The defense Peter was talking about was the objective truth of God's solution to our sin problem as its found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But one thing I didn't have time to touch on last week was the end of that verse which states, "do this with gentleness and respect,..."

This might seem obvious, but I've seen otherwise calm discussions turn into verbal brawls and things turn ugly in a hurry. And I think Peter is simply reminding us that when we get the opportunity to give a defense or an answer concerning the hope we have in Christ we need to be sensitive to the person we're talking to and try to understand where they're coming from.

A person who wants to be confrontational with you may need a short sharp answer given with confidence and boldness, yet not in a retaliatory way, but in a way that lets them know that you really are concerned for their eternal welfare. A person who has doubts or just doesn't know can be dealt with in a gentler way.

Everyone is different and everyone should be approached in a way that is best for them. Paul understood this and he was a man who dealt with all types of people ranging from angry Jews to suspicious Gentiles.

But he said in COL 4:3 "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

And so basically he's saying, just keep in mind who you're talking to and approach them with the truth in a way where Christ will be exalted in your words and in your actions. And keep in mind that it is God who has given you the opportunity and it is God who is with you in that situation. And so in reverence to Him represent Him faithfully.

And as we are faithful to do that our behavior can't be questioned as something meant to belittle or hurt someone. This is partially why Peter continues with this thought in the next verse. 16 "keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

Now their shame may or may not occur in our lifetime. The shame may be associated at the time such a person stands before God, or it may happen in this life when they come to realize how they were actually coming against God and are now ashamed, and desire to humble themselves before the Lord and repent of their sin.

You never know how the Lord is going to touch a persons heart with the truth. A classic example is when one of the soldiers who was personally involved in Christ's crucifixion was ashamed of what he had done as he considered the blameless lamb of God slain for others.

MAR 15:37 "With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

The reality of Christ's life in His death brought a softened heart to this man. And often times people will see the reality of Christ in our lives under difficult times and gaze upon the grace of God and turn their eyes heavenward.

Sometimes suffering may come at the hands of individuals who God is going to speak to through the way you react to them. And so Peter can say in 17, "It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil."

It may be God's will for us to suffer. But it is not His will for us to suffer as a result of doing something evil. He say's, 'if you're going to suffer, suffer for doing good where I can be glorified instead of suffering for something that would dishonor Me.'

And then Peter gives an example of suffering in Jesus. In giving this example Peter brings in some very interesting images that have been taken in different ways throughout the years.

1PET 3:18 "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,
19 through which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison
20 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,..."

There's a lot here in these verses which we need to take careful note of. First, Peter brings in the suffering of Jesus and makes it clear that His suffering for the Father was not in vain. It had a purpose. Sometimes we lose sight of this in our lives. Trials and tribulations have a purpose and as we're willing to follow Christ He will use the circumstances in our lives to bring glory to His name.

In the case of Jesus, His suffering was designed to be for other people. And Peter tells us what kind of people these are; unrighteous people, which includes all mankind. We have no righteousness in ourselves to bring to God and lay at His feet to allow us entrance into His presence.

Only Christ's righteousness on our behalf will ever do. But it's precisely because of His righteousness that we have access to the Father. Notice that Peter says in verse 18, "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." That's the reason Christ came; to bring us to God as ones who are declared not guilty because of Christ's righteousness.

Peter then explains that this process of taking our penalty for sin involved the sinless Christ dying for sinful man, but he then shows how this same Jesus was raised from the dead. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.

This doesn't mean He physically died but was raised only in the Spirit as though He were some sort of phantom. His physical body was laid in the tomb and His physical body was raised from the tomb.

In fact, we know that Jesus was raised with a body because on one occasion He had breakfast with His disciples. But this body was a body which was spiritual in nature, with none of the physical limitations our bodies have. And we know that one day we will receive a resurrected body like our Lord's.

1CO 15:42 "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."

The point Peter is making in our text is that Christ was resurrected by the power of the Spirit and is now contrasting His physical life, before the resurrection, with His post-resurrection existence.

It was the agency of the Holy Spirit which brought about the resurrection. And it was in the power of the Spirit, as well as His post-resurrection life, which enabled Jesus to go and make proclamation to the spirits in prison.

But the end of verse 19 has confused people over the years regarding our Lord's state between His death and resurrection and what He was doing during that time. Some have taken the position that what Jesus was doing was going down in the nether-world where the souls of men were located and that He preached the gospel to them and led them out as they accepted His payment for them.

Now whenever we come to a verse which seems a little confusing we must do a number of things. We must look at the context. We must look at other portions of Scripture which deal with similar teachings, and we must arrive at conclusions where the whole counsel of God's word is brought to bear on any particular area.

Now, in our text of 1Peter, the context has to do with suffering and living because we've been given life in the Spirit through faith in Christ. This life in Christ was brought about as a result of Christ dying in our place and then being raised to life.

That's the context and so for Peter to abruptly change gears and introduce something which has no relation to the context is to misunderstand the point of the passage. The point of the passage is not to teach about the intermediate state of the dead, but to comfort believers who have life in the Spirit.

How was he going to comfort them by relating Christ's death and subsequent resurrection? By showing Christ's victory over death and how that proclamation would verify the very work He was sent into the world to accomplish.

With that said let's go back to our text and look at this portion and ask some questions. The first question we might ask is who are these spirits? Do they belong to human beings or to fallen angels?

What do we know about these spirits? Well, we know that they are in prison, but where is this prison? When did Christ preach to them and what was His message? These are all legitimate questions which need to be answered before we decide what is being said.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, some believe that during those three days in the grave the Spirit of Jesus went and preached the gospel to these spirits. The problem with that is that the Greek language makes a connection between verse 18 and 19, which makes a contrast between being put to death in the flesh, and being made alive in the Spirit, in which He went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison.

However, "In the Spirit" does not necessarily refer to the time between His death and resurrection. Dr. Kistemaker in his commentary on 1Peter makes the point that "scholars are of the opinion that the word body signifies Jesus' earthly life so the word spirit refers to His resurrected life. The term spirit, then, relates to the spiritual sphere of Christ's post-resurrection existence."

Dr. Heibert in his commentary quotes Mounce who asserts, "The point that Peter makes is that by means of the resurrection, Christ passes into a new and fuller life. Previously He had experienced the limitation of physical existence. Now He enjoys the freedom of a spiritual mode of existence."

Heibert then says, "the contrast is between Christ's death as a real man here on earth and His risen life as the glorified Lord. Flesh and spirit thus denote two successive spheres of existence of the incarnate Christ. Made alive in the spirit does not refer to Christ disembodied - the period between His death and resurrection."

And so to be made alive in the spirit, which is His resurrection, is the condition in which He went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison.

But who are these spirits? Peter doesn't spell it out. But what's interesting is that he does not say the spirits of men. He simply says, spirits. We know these spirits are in prison and we know these spirits disobeyed long ago during the days of Noah. However, we are told some interesting things about spirits who are mentioned in other portions of scripture as it relates to prison.

In fact, Peter himself gives us a glimpse into what he was talking about here in our text as he explained in his second epistle to many of these same people.

He wrote in 2PE 2:4 "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
9 ..... then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment."

Jude gives us some additional insight in Jude 1:6 "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day."

The idea of being bound with chains carries with it the idea of imprisonment. It doesn't necessarily mean physical chains but rather restraining. God has graciously restrained the activity of the demons in this world. It doesn't mean they have no influence it simply means that they cannot run rampant, and are still subject to God. That should encourage all of us.

We read in Luk.8:29 "For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him.
31 And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss."

The abyss is a place of restraining where they could not pursue their demonic work, and it's a place of torment. The abyss and hell are the same place as you put 2Pet.2:4 along side of Luk.8:29-31.

We also see it in REV 9:1 "The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.
2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss."

Leading up to this judgment we read in REV 20:1 "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.
2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time."

REV 20:11 "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Hades is the place from which all rebels against God are taken and given up to be delivered into the Lake of Fire. Hades is the same as hell or the abyss. It is from this location that they are taken after the Great White Throne judgment. This final judgment places all rebels in the Lake of Fire forever with Satan as the ringleader.

So what does all of this have to do with Jesus going to preach to the spirits in prison? The only spirits in prison who are identified as such are demons, but it would also include those who have died not trusting God for their salvation.

For this we go to LUK 16:19 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.
20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores
21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 In hell, (Greek Hades) where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
25 "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'"

This would also agree with what the writer of Hebrews said in HEB 9:27 "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,"

If this is the case then Jesus could not have been going to preach the gospel to these spirits with the idea of bringing them out of this place, since all who have rejected God die and a judgment ensues with their being placed in Hades or hell. There are no second chances after death.

Sometimes it's pointed out that there are these holding areas for all people which would include a special place for O.T. saints called Abraham's bosom or as the NIV puts it Abrahams side.

Again, the Scriptures make it clear that there are only two places, of either being in the presence of God or being separated from God. Regarding Abraham's bosom it must be pointed out a bosom doesn't imply a place of residence but being with Abraham at his side. And where was Abraham after his death?

HEB 11:8 "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

What city is that? HEB 11:13 "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. (Ie. physical land promised)
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

Abraham died and went to the city whose architect and builder is God. He went to heaven to be with God and for anyone who died after him they would have gone to join Abraham at his side, which is Abrahams bosom. They went to heaven.

If Abraham's bosom were a place of residence in holding until heaven were opened up after Christ came then what happened to the saints before Abraham? Where did they go?

No, the saints of old understood that at death they went to be in the very presence of God. Listen to David. PSA 16:9 "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

This psalm is certainly Messianic in nature, but it was also a real expectation for David when he wrote it. PSA 49:15 "But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah"

PSA 73:23 "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Of course we know that today if we die in Christ we will come face to face with our Savior. Paul says "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." That's the hope we have in Christ. Those outside of Christ don't have that hope.

So, what was the message Christ brought to these spirits in prison? Well, we're not told specifically. What's interesting about this however is that the word preached, which is the way the NIV puts it, is the Greek word kerusso, which means to herald. The NAS uses the word proclamation.

Now the reason that this word is so interesting in our text is that this is not usually the word used to describe the proclamation of the gospel. In fact, the word used to describe the preaching of the gospel is the word euaggelizo which is where we get our English word evangelize.

This is the word Peter uses in 1PE 4:6 "For this is the reason the gospel was preached (euaggelizo) even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit."

Here in 1Pet.4:6 he's not talking about sharing the gospel with corpses in the grave, he's talking about those saints who are now dead, but who had the gospel preached to them and are now living in regard to the spirit, as they are with the Lord.

Why then, didn't Peter use the same word "preach" (euaggelizo) for Jesus when He went to the spirits in prison in 1Pet.3:19? In all likelihood it was not because He was going to share the gospel with demons or with those who willfully disobeyed as in the days of Noah to bring them into paradise, but to (kerusso) herald His victory over the grave and demonstrate that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

COL 2:13 "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

Christ heralded his victory to these rebellious spirits. He demonstrated that He has disarmed the powers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them. He promised Satan back in the Garden of Eden that He would crush his head and destroy the power of sin and death. He has come through with His promise and has heralded that even among the authorities and powers He overcame.

It is appointed for men to die once and then they are judged. These spirits in prison, spoken of in our text, are there because of their rebellion. They do not get a second chance of receiving the gospel. But Christ is the One who is heralding His victory and making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

If this is the sense in which Jesus went to the spirits in prision then Satan and his followers get to see the victorious Lord up close and personal and to understand in no uncertain terms that there is only One Lord, One God and One Savior of men, the man Christ Jesus who has fulfilled His promise made back in the Garden of Eden to send a Savior born of a woman who would crush the head of Satan.

I would say at this point that the idea of Jesus going to speak to these spirits in prison in a literal sense is not the only explanation for this passage. Some have taken it to mean that Jesus, in the Spirit, or through the agency of the Spirit, spoke to those who were formerly disobedient during Noah's days and gave them an opportunity to heed Noah's proclamation, and be saved from the flood.

This is entirely possible, but to suggest that Jesus Christ is not free to move within His own created spiritual sphere, even the sphere of spirits who were formerly disobedient in the days of Noah, after He paid our debt on the cross and rose from the dead, is to not allow Jesus to be God over all His creation.

Some of these passages can be difficult to understand but one thing which is not difficult to understand about this passage is that Jesus Christ has conquered death and sin and He has made proclamation with His resurrection from the dead.

Christ's victory is our victory and this is the point Peter is making to these suffering Christians. 'I have overcome the grave and you are more than conquerors in Me. Take heart, I am alive and you are My people to enjoy My fellowship forever more.'

1Cor.15:54 "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

May we exclaim with David: PSA 17:15 "And I - in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
18:1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."