Audio Download

Acts 11:1-18 They That Were of the Circumcision Contended With [Peter]

[Study Aired April 2, 2023]

Act 11:1  And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Act 11:2  And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him,
Act 11:3  Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
Act 11:4  But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,
Act 11:5  I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:
Act 11:6  Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
Act 11:7  And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.
Act 11:8  But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
Act 11:9  But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Act 11:10  And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.
Act 11:11  And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.
Act 11:12  And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:
Act 11:13  And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;
Act 11:14  Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
Act 11:15  And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
Act 11:16  Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:17  Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
Act 11:18  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

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Act 11:1  And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

What had happened in Caesarea, with the apostle Peter entering the home of the Gentile Roman centurion, Cornelius, was shocking to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, but they acknowledged “that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God”. However, there were those who simply could not yet understand how this was possible:

Act 11:2  And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him,
Act 11:3  Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.

“They that were of the circumcision” means those Christian Jews who were “zealous of the law [of Moses]”, as James boasted before Paul in:

Act 21:19  And when he [Paul] had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
Act 21:20  And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

The events of Acts 21 are about fifteen years after Peter was given the honor of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles for the first time. Yet even the apostles at Jerusalem are not yet given to understand that “they of the circumcision”, while indeed being “zealous of the law”, will be counted as being “under tutors and governors” at a later standard (Gal 4:1-5), and therefore “carnal babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4). It is important to realize this standard was not yet applied when Paul himself was living under the law when he wrote the book of Galatians. It had been agreed in Acts 15 that the Gentiles did not need circumcision and the ordinances of Moses, but the Jews were required to continue in those things. If this is not true, then Paul would have been lying to Felix when he made this statement:

Act 24:11  Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.
Act 24:12  And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city:
Act 24:13  Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.

The accusation made against Paul in Acts 21 was:

Act 21:21  And they [the Jewish believers in Jerusalem] are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

Stephen and the apostle James, the brother of John, one of the two sons of Zebedee, died as martyrs before the holy spirit revealed that favor with God was no longer tethered to being physically attached to Abraham. Stephen and James were not considered ‘carnal babes in Christ’, because it had not yet been revealed at the time of their deaths that the law of Moses was no longer the standard for the righteousness needed for salvation. The apostles, Paul himself included, as late as the end of Paul’s third journey when he went up and was apprehended of the Jews in Acts 21, were all still very much attached to the law of Moses:

Act 21:18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
Act 21:19  And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
Act 21:20  And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

It seemed impossible to the apostles that “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” could possibly also become the God of the Gentiles without first becoming proselytes to Judaism. It is hard for any of us to accommodate such a great doctrinal change. It seemed as impossible as one rising up from among the dead. Christ had told His disciples well in advance that He would be murdered and raised back to life, and yet not even His own apostles believed that would happen:

Mar 16:9  Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
Mar 16:10  And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
Mar 16:11  And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

Mar 16:14  Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

That is the lesson for all of us as we read of the spiritual immaturity of the apostles and of the churches they established. One and all, we begin our walk with the Lord as “carnal babes in Christ”, and it requires the patience of the saints to bear with us until we no longer need a schoolmaster to teach us and to help us get from our classroom to the lunchroom.

That was Paul’s experience with the Corinthians and the Galatians:

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Pointing out the revelation that the gospel would go to the Gentiles and that the law of Moses would no longer be the standard for the righteousness of Christ is not to condemn the apostles. Christ does not have us give an accounting for what He has not yet told us. Christ Himself told His disciples:

Mat 23:1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

“All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do” in no way conflicts with the holy spirit telling Peter to go to the house of a Gentile, if we are granted to acknowledge the progressive revelation of scripture. The first Adam knows nothing of ‘the things of the spirit’. In fact, ‘the things of the spirit are foolishness unto him’:

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world [the letter of the law], but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things [of the spirit] that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth [the letter of the law], but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things [spiritual realities] with spiritual [types and shadows].
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The natural man has no trouble understanding these words:

Deu 7:1  When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Deu 7:2  And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Peter could easily understand those words. Those are utterly carnal words, admonishing physical, natural Israel to perform carnal actions against her carnal enemies. What Peter had to be made to understand through his own miraculous vision, supernaturally connected to the equally miraculous vision which was earlier given to Cornelius, was the spiritual meaning of those words. Those carnal-minded words are being used by the holy spirit as types and shadows of our carnal nature to tell us, if we have the mind of the spirit, that we are fighting spiritual giants in our own spiritual land. We are commanded to completely destroy those lusts, passions and false doctrines, and every spiritual thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and ‘make no covenant with them and spiritually show them no mercy’.

The Lord knew from the beginning that such a marvelous work would require a lot of time. The Lord’s plan all along was to create a carnal, dying body of flesh and bones, for the purpose  of giving it an experience of evil which would then provide Him with the occasion He is seeking to crush and humble us.

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. (CLV)

Therefore, the first ‘Adam’ was only the very first step toward the making of mankind into the image of God. The clay model is nothing more than a necessary evil which must be endured as an integral part of the process of creating mankind in the image of God and His Son.

Jeremiah later expresses this Truth with these words:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made [Hebrew: Qal stem, indicating a process, not the finished product] of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made [Qal stem ‘is making’] it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

What bookends this subject and sinks the false doctrine of God giving mankind a will that is free from His influence is the fact that both Jeremiah 18:4 and this verse of Genesis 1 are in the Qal stem, a form of Hebrew grammar which correlates to the aorist tense in the Greek language:

Gen 1:27 And creating [Qal stem] is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them.

 In other words, God is in the process of making mankind in His image and after His likeness. The ‘first Adam’ is but the first part of that creation process.

The second stage of that process does not begin until after the sacrifice of Christ was made. That is why the Lord made this statement to His apostles the very same evening in which He was apprehended by the Jews, just before His crucifixion:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

This entire story of Peter entering into the home of a Gentile, and eating with that Gentile, is all a part of revealing to each of us how hard it is for us to give up all our own weaknesses and all the false doctrines we cherished  while we were at home in our own Babylonian experience.

Christ had already made it clear by every “…but I say unto you” statement in:

Mat 5:21  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mat 5:27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Mat 5:31  It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Mat 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Mat 5:33  Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
Mat 5:34  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

…that He had come to reform the law of Moses, as Moses had prophesied that He would:

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Deu 18:20  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

This is that part of the law of Moses which identifies Christ as the prophesied reforming Messiah who would reform the law. Instead of understanding and accepting the words of Christ as the fulfilling of this prophecy, the scribes and Pharisees, along with the priests and elders of Israel, used  this very scripture to justify the death of Christ by claiming He was casting out devils “in the name of other gods… by the power of Beelzebub.” All their eyes and the eyes of Saul of Tarsus could see were the words “even that prophet shall die”:

Mat 12:22  Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. [As a type of you and me]
Mat 12:23  And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?
Mat 12:24  But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

Nevertheless, those who made this accusation against Christ were “they which were of the circumcision”, and the apostles of Christ had not yet been brought to see that being “of the circumcision” would in time be revealed to be spiritually immature. This immaturity is on display when James makes it clear that as of the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15, which was several years after the death and resurrection of Christ, “they of the circumcision” still considered the local synagogue to be the church of God:

Act 15:12  Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
Act 15:13  And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
Act 15:14  Simeon [Peter] hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
Act 15:15  And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
Act 15:16  After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
Act 15:17  That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Act 15:18  Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Act 15:19  Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21  For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

These words, “Moses [is] being read in the synagogues every sabbath day” demonstrate that the whole Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem, including all the original twelve apostles, minus Judas but including Mathias, considered the “reading [of] Moses… in every city… in the synagogues every sabbath” to be sufficient for Jewish Christians to “rebuild the tabernacle of Moses… That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called.”

In other words, the apostles at this time still believed their salvation depended on keeping the law of Moses and that “the tabernacle of David” was consisted only of those who were physically descended from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob or were proselytes to Judaism and who were physically circumcised and keeping the law of Moses. The letter to the Gentiles did not require the Gentiles to be circumcised, but that letter made it clear that the apostles and elders at Jerusalem did indeed think that “them that were of the circumcision” must be physically circumcised and keep the law of Moses. All the twelve original apostles at this conference, with the exception of Peter, thought that physical circumcision was essential for the salvation of any Jewish Christian. Peter is obliged to explain to the other apostles (“they of the circumcision”) why he broke the law of Moses which forbade any Jew from fraternizing with, entering the house of, and eating with any Gentile:

Act 11:4  But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,

If the angel had appeared to Cornelius after Peter had his vision, then someone might say that Cornelius made his story up to fit Peter’s vision. However, the whole thing took place in a order which made it impossible to deny that it was a supernatural work of God. That is why Peter expounded it to the apostles in the order in which the holy spirit worked those events, and it all accords with Christ’s words:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Peter does not specifically refer to Christ’s words in John 16:12, but he does affirm that it was the spirit which ‘bade him to go’ with the three Gentile men inquiring for him at the door of the house of Simon the tanner.

Act 11:5  I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:
Act 11:6  Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
Act 11:7  And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.
Act 11:8  But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
Act 11:9  But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Act 11:10  And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.
Act 11:11  And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.
Act 11:12  And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:

Peter and “these six brethren” equal seven Jews who were the complete witness of the holy spirit being given to the Gentiles before they were even baptized.

Act 11:13  And he [Cornelius] shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;
Act 11:14  Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
Act 11:15  And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
Act 11:16  Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:17  Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
Act 11:18  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

‘God… hath… also to the Gentile granted repentance unto life!’ What a shocking development! It seemed to contradict everything these Jews had ever believed, but it had been done in such a way that it simply could not be denied. God had given His spirit to them without the benefit of either circumcision or baptism. When Peter reminds the other apostles that Christ had said “Ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost”, Peter was applying those words to these uncircumcised Gentiles, and Peter was making it clear that he personally counted the Gentiles as part of those to whom Christ had made that promise.

There was simply no way that Cornelius could possibly have known that a man name Simon, whose surname was Peter, and was lodging with another man named Simon, who was a tanner and who lived by the sea shore. Nevertheless, when the men Cornelius sent to enquire for Peter it was all exactly as the angel had told Cornelius, and there was no way Peter could deny that His vision of a sheet filled with all manners of unclean beasts accorded with the three ‘unclean’ Gentiles who the spirit told Peter were calling for him. When the Lord wants us to know something, He works circumstances so that we cannot deny what He has shown us to be His work and His words.

If He wants to confirm to us that the thousand-year reign is over the natural, physical “kingdoms of this world” and that the establishment of that kingdom is preceded by “the resurrection of life”, and then that thousand years of ruling over the kingdoms of this world is followed by a short period of a natural and physical rebellion of ‘the nations in the four quarters of the earth’ against the “camp of the saints”, providing the Lord with the occasion He is seeking to “destroy death”, then He can and He has ‘expounded to us in order’ exactly what are the necessary events to confirm that doctrine in our hearts and minds in a way that cannot be denied. Truly if we are His “disciples indeed” then “all things are for [our] sakes”:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Christ warned us against setting dates. Nevertheless, He Himself gives us a very specific timeline of the events He is bringing to pass to bring all of mankind to be made in His image and after His likeness:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world [carnal worldly kingdoms] are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The timing of this momentous event and the events that follow it are all clearly laid out for us in the fifteen short verses of:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season [Notice the order of events].
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. [Notice the order of events] This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The thousand-year reign is not designed to produce the great revival we have been led to believe from our years in the churches of this world. Instead, the thousand-year reign of the Lord and His Christ is designed to demonstrate that physical rulership, even if it is by the Lord and His Christ, does not convert the souls of men. All that physical rulership with a rod of iron produces in mankind is rebellion, just as Israel’s time under the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day for forty years proved. That is what living under a rod of iron for a thousand years also produces:

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired [notice the order of events], Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

This great final rebellion which comes only “when the thousand years are expired”, provides the Lord with the occasion He is seeking to destroy death by the destruction of the source of death which is the rebellious carnal mind. That rebellious carnal mind is integral to and is within all dying flesh and blood:

Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

This has always been presented to us as the single most dreadful moment in all human history, because it is presented as the beginning of everlasting, eternal torment for the vast majority of humankind. The Truth is that this is the single greatest work of grace ever experienced by mankind, because the grace of God chastens and judges us, and the lake of fire is the second death, and the second death begins with the great white throne judgment:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books [of Psa 139:16] were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life [the book of those who were resurrected a thousand years earlier, who reigned with Christ over the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years and are now the judges of angels in this ‘great white throne judgment/lake of fire/ second death’]: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [whosoever was not in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”] was cast into the lake of fire [as the ‘second’ group to experience the death of their old man].

That is how all of mankind will finally be made in the image and likeness of God. It all culminates in the greatest work of God’s chastening grace known as ‘the great white throne… judgment’. It is a ‘white’ throne. It is not a dark, black throne judgment.

Now let’s ask a very simple question… What do all of God’s judgments produce? Here is the answer to that question:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by [the lake of] fire.

It is not adding to the words of God to insert the words ‘the lake of’ in that verse because this is what all of God’s judgments, including this “great white throne… judgment” produce:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Resurrection precedes the day of judgment. There are only two resurrection and only two days of judgment mentioned in all scripture. We are at this very moment living in the first judgment day:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

These verses refer to the first day of judgment which Christ calls “the resurrection of life”, because those few who are blessed to be in that resurrection are being judged in this present time. According to Christ Himself there are many who are not being judged in this present life, and they will come up out of their graves at a much later judgment which He labels “the resurrection of judgment”:

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” which immediately precedes the thousand year reign]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920: ‘krisis’, judgment, the great white throne judgment].

Peter understood Christ’s word’s “Ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost and with fire” to include the Gentiles to whom the Lord had sent him. That baptism of fire, spoken of by the Lord and repeated by Peter in our study today, is now on the house of God, and that baptism of fire is the ‘death of Christ’ into which we are now being baptized:

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Every word in these verses dealing with being buried with Christ into His death is in the aorist tense because we are in a process of “dying daily” with Christ, and being baptized into His death. That daily dying is our judgment in this present time that Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 4:17, and if we are judged in this present time, then we will not be raised up in “the resurrection of judgment”:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves [in this present time], we should not be judged [in the resurrection of judgment (Joh 5:28-29)].
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged [whether in this present time or in the resurrection of judgment], we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned [to the resurrection of judgment] with the world.

 While the phrase ‘first death’ is not to be found in scripture, the phrases “first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12) and the phrase ‘judgment… first begins at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17) are scriptural phrases which establish the fact that those who suffer death to their old man in this present time (Rom 8:18) are indeed suffering the first death as opposed to “the second death” which is “the lake of fire”

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

The second death is the death of the old man in the second resurrection. The death of our old man which we are seeking is the one that is “[now] on the house of God” and leads to “the resurrection of life” at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead [who do not live and reign with Christ during that thousand years] lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.