And we're back. We are
talking of the book 2 Peter and
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Dr. Shepherd is with us. We are
talking about this departure.
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Yes. You said
the term is exodus.
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Exodus. Now there is a book
in the Bible is Exodus and I
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understand it
means exit from Egypt.
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Yep. The departure. So the term
can be used several different
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ways but it became also
used just to talk about a person
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dying. Okay. Going
back to 2 Peter now.
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What we've read appears to
say that Peter is leaving or
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departing his body after death.
Yeah. And many people might
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use some of these verses to
say that. Right. Is that right?
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Well they do and there are, as I
said, these two passages in the
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New Testament that particularly
focus or make use of the
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terminology tent to refer
to the body in relationship to
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questions of death. The other
one we want to take a look at is
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in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
So let's go over there right now
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so we can get a good look at
that and then we'll come back
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and relink it with 2 Peter. So
2 Corinthians 5. It's a little
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longer passage. We want to read
verses 1-10, so I'll read the
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first 5 verses and then you can
read verses 6-10. We're reading
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2 Corinthians chapter 5 starting
in verse 1. For we know that if
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the tent that is our earthly
home is destroyed we have a
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building from God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the
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heavens. For in this tent
we groan longing to put on our
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heavenly dwelling. If indeed
by putting it on we may not be
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found naked, for while we
are still in this tent we groan
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being burdened. Not that we
would be unclothed but that we
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would be further clothed so that
what is mortal may be swallowed
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up by life. He who has prepared
us for this very thing is God
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who has given us the
Spirit as a guarantee.
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So we are always confident
knowing that while we are at
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home in the body we are absent
from the Lord, for we walk by
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faith not by sight. We are
confident, yes, well pleased
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rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the
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Lord. Therefore, we make it our
aim whether present or absent
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to be well pleasing to him, for
we must all appear before the
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judgment seat of Christ that
each one may receive the things
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done in the body according
to what he has done whether good
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or bad. All right.
Now this passage is
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another one of those passages
that people kind of scratch
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their heads over and kind of
worry about because many of our
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friends from other denominations
will talk about being absent
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from the body and present
with the Lord. They talk about a
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person going to heaven when they
die. So we have to look at this
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passage quite carefully to
try to understand it. The reason
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we've come here is because Paul
talks about this idea of a tent
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as well just like Peter did.
So we have this parallel between
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the two apostles and one
scripture can help us understand
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the other. Peter talks about it
almost in passing. Paul focuses
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attention on it and so
he unpacks the ideas more.
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The first thing we notice
is that he's using a number of
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metaphors to talk about life and
death and future life. And the
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first set of metaphors that he
uses are structural metaphors.
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He talks about a building and a
tent. We notice this in verse 1;
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he says that if the tent that
is our earthly home is destroyed
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we have a building from God,
a house not made with hands,
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eternal in the heavens. He makes
a contrast between our earthly
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bodies, the bodies that we have
now and the bodies that we will
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have when Jesus comes back
and takes us to heaven, okay.
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He makes a distinction between
those. Now the other place where
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he talks about these ideas in
much detail is in 1 Corinthians
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15. So we have 2 Corinthians
5, 1 Corinthians 15 and then we
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have our passage in 2 Peter 1
that we've been talking about.
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Okay. It's quite clear in 1
Corinthians 15 that he talks
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about the mortal and immortal
bodies and the time when this
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all takes place is when Christ
returns at the last trumpet and
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that's when we are shifted
from mortal to immortal. And he
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displays this same kind
of idea here very nicely in
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2 Corinthians 5 verse 1. He
talks of our earthly tent and
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he talks of a heavenly building.
Now which is more permanent,
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a tent or a
building. A building.
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A building, yes of course.
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A tent can be blown down by the
wind, it's movable, it doesn't
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have the same kind of quality
and structure and stability that
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a building does. So he says that
if I were to compare my mortal
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body and the heavenly body that
Christ has prepared for me it
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would be like comparing a
tent and a massive, beautiful
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building. So he says, we have
this in the heavens prepared
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for us. Now notice, he goes on
in verse 2, For in this tent we
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groan, that's in our mortal
bodies here, longing to put on
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our heavenly dwelling.
He's still talking about the
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difference between a tent and
a building. Now notice verses 3
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and 4. These are crucial verses.
He says, If indeed by putting it
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on we may not be found naked...
Read verse 3 in your version.
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If indeed having been clothed
we shall not be found naked...
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So mine talks about
clothing, being clothed.
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Yeah, he shifts from a metaphor,
this is mixed metaphors again,
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he shifts from a metaphor
of structures and goes to talk
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about clothing. Right? But
notice that he talks about a
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state where he wants to put
something on, that's of course
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his heavenly building, but he
says he doesn't want to be found
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naked. Now read verse 4 for us.
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For we who are in this
tent groan being burdened not
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because we want to be unclothed
but further clothed that
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mortality may be
swallowed up by life.
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Now here are three states; it's
very important to notice three
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states. We have our mortal body,
we have our immortal body, you
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could say our tent and we have
our heavenly home, our heavenly
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building, now we're talking
about a new body that God gives
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us at the resurrection and
in between our mortal life here
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and our heavenly home there's
another place, there's another
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state we might say. He switches
metaphors; he's been talking
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about being clothed and he
wants to be clothed upon and in
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between as being naked. So the
one talks about our earthly life
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the other talks about our
heavenly life, the one that's in
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between, the nakedness, that's
being dead. Okay. That's when we
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die. So when we die we take off
this mortal body but we don't
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have our immortal home yet.
We're in a state of nakedness,
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that is, we are in the grave, we
are sleeping waiting for Jesus
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to come which is the
same thing that he teaches in
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1 Thessalonians 4. It's
the same thing he teaches in
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1 Corinthians 15 that you have
mortal and immortal bodies and
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when do you get your immortal
body? When Christ returns.
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He says oh death is swallowed
up in victory and that all
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happens at the return of Christ.
Okay. So when we get down to
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these verses in verses 6-10 and
now he shifts over to talk about
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geographic concepts as to where
you are, absent from the body
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present with the Lord. Sometimes
people confuse this and they say
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oh he goes to heaven right
when he dies. Well, no, he isn't
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going right to heaven when he
dies. If you read 1 Corinthians
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15, this shift from mortal to
immortal, from the tent to the
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heavenly body, that occurs when
Christ returns, you see. And so
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we sleep in the grave, 1
Thessalonians 4, people are
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asleep in Jesus, they're asleep
in the grave until he calls them
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back to life. So when Peter
discusses these things over in
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2 Peter chapter 2, we can take
all this knowledge, all this
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background that we have in
Paul's writing and bring it over
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to understand better what is the
idea of the tent. It is of our
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movable, mortal body
that does not last forever.
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And if we look at verse 14...
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Yeah, go back to 2 Peter, right?
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...2 Peter and verse 14, Knowing
that shortly I must put off my
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tent just as our Lord Jesus
Christ showed me... Okay Peter
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is saying that Jesus showed him
that he must put off this body
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or this tent. Yeah.
This mortal body was going
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to pass away and he says Jesus
told me about this. Now we're
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going to look at that in just
a moment, but he mentions his
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departure in verse 15 and I will
make every effort so that after
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my departure you may be able at
any time to recall these things.
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He says, I'm not
going to be around forever.
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Had Jesus at one point showed
him or told him about his death?
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He did. In fact we have
that record in the book of John
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chapter 21 verses 18 and 19.
So we want to turn over there.
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This is a story we looked at
before. In 1 Peter we noticed
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that the last chapter of 1
Peter 1 Peter 5, plays into the
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metaphor of the shepherd that
Jesus shared with Peter when he
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reinstated him to ministry, but
we didn't keep reading and that
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is in John chapter
21 and verses 18 and 19.
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Most assuredly I say to you, now
this is Jesus talking, When you
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were younger you girded yourself
and walked where you wished but
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when you are old you will
stretch out your hands and
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another will gird you and carry
you where you do not wish. And
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verse 19. This he spoke
signifying by what death he
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would glorify God. And when he
had spoken this he said to him
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follow me. Yes now
we read these verses the
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other day but we didn't discuss
the last part of what verses 18
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and 19 meant. Jesus is
foretelling Peter's death here,
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the way he was going to die.
He says, When you were young you
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dressed yourself and you walked
where you wanted but when you
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are old you will stretch
out your hands, he says, and
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another will dress you and carry
you where you do not want to go.
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It's there's not a lot there
described but the tradition is
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what happened to Peter, he went
to Rome eventually and he was
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put to death, he was crucified.
He said to those who were going
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to crucify him that he wasn't
worthy, this is the tradition,
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that he wasn't worthy to be
crucified in the same way as
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Jesus, he said, so please
crucify me upside down. Put my
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head down, the cross upside down
so that I won't be like my Lord.
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Stretching out the hands; that's
exactly what they did when they
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crucified somebody. So notice
here that he was going to die
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and John in stating this in
John 21:19, This he said to show
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by what kind of death he was
going to glorify God. So when
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Peter says in verse 14, Since I
know that the putting off of my
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body will be soon as the Lord
Jesus made clear to me, he's
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talking about that story that
he heard when Jesus met him in
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Galilee. It's very interesting
that the words that he says at
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the end of verse 19 to Peter
are Follow me. He was going to
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Jesus through his life and he
would follow him as well in the
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manner of his death. So he wants
to get these people in the book
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of 2 Peter, he wants to be sure
that after he dies they will
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have a testament, they will have
a message that will help protect
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them against these false
teachers who are trying to lead
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them astray. It's rather
encouraging that the Lord showed
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him what he should share with
people before his death so the
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church would be
protected from evil doers.
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Amen. Dr. Shepherd I want to
thank you for joining us again
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in this series of 1 and 2 Peter.
We're not through, we're not
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finished yet so stay tuned
as we continue studying now the
00:13:31.54\00:13:34.98
book of 2 Peter
with Dr. Shepherd.
00:13:35.01\00:13:38.23
He comes all the way from
Andrews University. He is a
00:13:38.26\00:13:40.71
professor there. I certainly
have been blessed and I ask that
00:13:40.74\00:13:44.98
you pick up the Bible, ask God
for his Holy Spirit as you read
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in his word. God
bless till next time.
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