Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I ask you all again for your continued prayers. There is a lot going on and mainly, I’m wanting to work on being the man that I need to be. There are many flaws I find in my character that I just pray that the Holy Spirit will do his work and transform me so that I will be a better man. I hope he does so soon, but as the Scriptures say, blessed is he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. The Holy Spirit can do it and I need to submit to his work. I also pray for help in financial areas. Meanwhile, let’s go to the text. I want to concentrate on verse 25 of 1 Peter 2:18-25. We’re starting at verse 18 for the full context:
18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
We should not overlook the example that Peter used in referring to Jesus as the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. He was the one who walked with Jesus and was there no doubt when Jesus spoke of being the good shepherd. The Jewish mindset would have seen that to be a claim to YHWH, especially since in that same passage Jesus said “I and the Father are one.”
Peter doesn’t hesitate to use that same language here. Interestingly, he quotes from Isaiah 53 in order to prove his case. What makes this fascinating is that this passage is the one who speaks of Jesus as a sheep led to the slaughter. This is a theme that we will see an interesting twist on once we get to the book of Revelation.
Our wish at this point is that Jesus is seen as the one in charge of our souls, which is a position that would have belonged to God as God could place a soul in a person or call a soul out and if the account of the witch of Endor actually involved Samuel coming up, could mean that it was Samuel’s soul which God would be in charge of us as well.
Yet if Jesus is the one in this position, then the conclusion is that for Peter, Jesus is YHWH.
We shall continue tomorrow.
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