As you will hear in this PODCAST, there is embedded within the pages of the Old Testament one standout picture (one among so many) that we must consider together.
50 chapters were devoted to the painting of this one picture. (By way of contrast, do you remember how many chapters are devoted to painting the picture of the creation of the world? Two!)
When it came to painting the picture of Christ dying for our sins once for all time, God—forgive the cliché—spared no expense in painting this one.
This podcast—my stuttering, stumbling, verbal depiction of this painting—is singularly dedicated to the enrichment of your soul.
Enjoy!
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His name was Pontius Pilate. And as you will hear in this PODCAST, he was not a nice man.
This is the man to whom Jesus was handed over to be crucified.
This is the man who will live long in infamy.
This is the man who caved to political pressure in order to preserve his position of power, even if it meant crucifying an innocent man who though He was God, held no position.
This is the man who metaphorically drove the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet, and a stake through the heart of Peter. Peter, whose faith would fail spectacularly in the face of Jesus’ trumped-up charges.
There is a lot going on here, every salient detail of which will enhance your Easter season enormously.
Here’s the thing: As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, at precisely 6:13 this past Monday morning, I had an epiphany.
Fact is, between last Saturday night and Monday morning, I was stymied by one perplexing question:
“Here in 1 Peter 2, why in the world didn’t Peter use the word for stones that is his name? Petros?”
Or to put that another way,
“Why did Peter here in 1 Peter 2 use the word for stones, Lithos?
They are, after all, synonyms—Petros and Lithos—at least in English. Both are translated “stone.” So why didn’t Peter refer to himself—and to you and me—as a Petros? Why a Lithos?
Oh, my friends, the answer to that question is breathtakingly beautiful. Beautiful indeed.
As are you!
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In 1 Peter 2:5a (NLT), Peter painted this amazing picture. Speaking of you and me, he wrote,
“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.”
Living stones. As you are about to hear in the PODCAST, Peter may have been an uneducated fisherman. But he was inarguably the master of the metaphor.
Last week, he referred to us as “priests”—a metaphor rich with a wealth of meaning once we understand the role of priests throughout the biblical narrative.
For this week, “living stones.” What a meaningful metaphor that is—“living stones.”
As we are about to learn, this is perfect for us to consider as we close out 2018—a year that has dealt with most of us in a remarkably unkind way. The challenges we have faced, the trials we have endured, the obstacles we have overcome… And yet, and yet, like “living stones,” you are still standing. And for that, I applaud you!
Now to the point at hand: Does anything strike you about Peter’s reference to “living stones”?
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