1Pet.3:18-22

Peter was writing a letter of encouragement to suffering Christians. In the verses immediately before this passage he had written about suffering and witnessing. The point that he is making is that, even if the Christian is compelled to suffer unjustly for his faith, he is only walking the way that his Lord and Saviour has already walked. The suffering Christian must always remember that he has a suffering Lord so, in these verses, he brings us back once again to the Cross.

He makes the point that the work of Christ was unique and never needs to be repeated. Christ died once for all for sins. The New Testament says this over and over. When Christ died, he died once for all. Rom 6:10 “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”

The priestly sacrifices in the Temple have to be repeated daily but Christ made the perfect sacrifice once for all time when he offered himself up Heb 7:27 “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” “Christ was once and for all offered to bear the sin of many” (Heb.9:28). “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once and for all” (Heb.10:10).

The New Testament is completely sure that on the Cross something happened which never needs to happen again and that in that happening sin is finally defeated. On the Cross God dealt with man's sin in a way which is adequate for all sin, for all men, for all time. Heb 10:10 “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”.

The function of the High Priest, and Jesus Christ is the perfect High Priest, is to offer sacrifices for sins. He is the propitiation for our sins (1Jn.2:2).That is to say, that the death of Christ is the sacrifice which atones for all the sin of all mankind. Sin is anything which interrupts the relationship which should exist between God and men. The object of sacrifice is to restore that lost relationship. The death of Christ upon the Cross accomplishes that. He restores the lost relationship between God and man.

As Charles Wesley put it in perhaps his best known and best loved hymn;

No condemnation now I dread:

Jesus, and all in him, is mine!

Alive in him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

It may be that we will never fully understand what exactly happened on the Cross, for, indeed, as Charles Wesley said in that same hymn: “Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies”. Of one thing we can be sure, through what happened on that cross we now can enter into a new relationship with God.

The sacrificial death of Christ was vicarious. It was on behalf of others. Christ died once and for all for sins, the just for the unjust. That the just should suffer for the unjust is something many people cannot get their heads round. At first sight it looks like injustice but as Edwin H. Robertson put it, “Only forgiveness without reason can match sin without excuse.” The suffering of Christ was for us and the mystery is that he who deserved no suffering bore that suffering for us who deserved to suffer. He sacrificed himself to restore our lost relationship with God.

Peter makes the point very clearly that the work of Christ was to bring us to God. Christ died once and for all for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. The word for “to bring” is a Greek word that historically has two meanings, depending on your background.

To those believers who were Jewish it had an Old Testament meaning. God's instruction to Moses was, “You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting” (Exo.29:4). The point is, at that time, only the priests had the right of access into God’s presence. In the Temple the layman could only come so far. He could pass through the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Women, into the Court of the Israelites, but there he must stop. Into the Court of the Priests, into the nearer presence of God, he could not go; and of the priests, only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies. But Jesus brings us to God. He opens the way for all men into His presence.

It also has a Greek background so that it meant something special to the Gentile believers. In the New Testament the Greek word is used three times. This word means to give the right of access which is the result of the bringing in. Through Christ we have access to grace (Rom.5:2). Through him we have access to God the Father (Eph.2:18). Through him we have boldness and access and confidence to come to God (Eph.3:12).

In Greek this had a special meaning. At the court of kings there was an official whom we might call the introducer. He was the man who granted access into the King’s presence. He was the one who granted access. It was his function to decide who should be admitted to the king's presence and who should be barred. He, as it were, held the keys of entry to the presence of the king. It is Jesus Christ, through what he did, who gives men access to God. There are two more great truths to Peter's view of the work of Christ. In 1Pet.3:19 he says that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison; and in 1Pet.4:6 he says that the gospel was preached to them that are dead. This most probably means that in the time between his death and his resurrection Jesus actually preached the gospel in the abode of the dead; that is to say, to those who in their lifetime had never had the opportunity to hear it. Here is a tremendous thought. It means that the work of Christ is infinite in its range. It means that no man who ever lived is outside the grace of God.

Peter sees the work of Christ in terms of complete triumph. He says that after his resurrection Jesus went into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him (1Pet.3:22). The meaning is that there is nothing in earth and heaven outside His rule. To all men he brought the new relationship between man and God; in his death he even brought the good news to the dead; in his resurrection he conquered death; even the angelic and the demonic powers are subject to him; and he shares the very power and throne of God. Christ the sufferer has become Christ the victor; Christ the crucified has become Christ the crowned.

Christ the Saviour died for you. Have you invited Christ the Saviour into your life? Have you set Him on the throne of your heart?