1 Peter 1:17-21; Phil. 2:5-11, Fear (3)

In 1 Pt. 2:4,6,7 (three times) Jesus is referred to as precious (valuable).  What makes Him and His blood so valuable as to be sufficient to pay the price of redemption for us?  Peter gives us several arguments.

·        He is the perfect Lamb of God, our Passover Lamb, without blemish.  In the NT there are two terms for “lamb,” both used of Christ.  The one here “points directly to the fact, the nature and character of His sacrifice; the other, used only in Revelation, presents Him on the ground, indeed of His Sacrifice, but in His acquired majesty, dignity, honor, authority and power.” (Vine)  Jesus is the One that the Jews had hoped for throughout the many generations of celebrating Passover as well as the Day of Atonement with its sacrifices for the sin of the Nation.  The whole Levitical system was designed to promote anticipation of God’s chosen Lamb whose once-for-all sacrifice would provide atonement that would end the daily sacrifices.  Jesus was that Lamb without spot and without blemish (the absence of internal blemish and of external spot, as Trench defines the terms in Synonyms of the New Testament).  Thus Jesus is precious, One of a kind!

·        He was ordained before the foundation of the world.  Jesus was not a late insertion into the lineup for God’s plan of salvation.  He was always the focus of God plan being the Redeemer at the center of it and the King to whom it all pointed.  Thus He is precious.

·        He dwelt among us (was manifested).  This is amazing.  This One without spot and without blemish lived His holy life in the same place we live out our pilgrimage.  He experienced the trials and testings as we do.  He humbled Himself (Phil. 2:5-8), leaving the glory of heaven, emptying Himself and becoming the bond-slave to do His Father’s will.  Anyone with this condescending love for mankind is precious.

·        He was raised from the dead.  He humbled Himself, to death, even death on a cross.  But then God highly exalted Him, and that began with His powerful resurrection whereby He defeated our most feared enemy.  He has been given the name above every name.  Thus He is precious.

·        He was glorified by the Father.  Jesus prayed this at the end of His earthly ministry: glorify Me with the glory I had (Jn. 17:5).  The Father was pleased with the Son at every point in His earthly ministry.  The Father was pleased with the payment for sin; full atonement was made on the cross.  The Son ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father to await the day of His revelation.  Thus He is precious.

In every way Jesus is the precious, valuable Son of God, valuable in His sinless life and having blood of sufficient value to be the ransom for sin.  Because of this the only sensible worship you can offer is to put your faith and hope in God, as Peter says.