Underlining every call of -submission- in the Bible is a principle upon which rests civil, ecclesiastical, and familial authority. Those offices of authority that exist in this world- civil, ecclesiastical, or familiar- have been-established by God.

When you came to Christ and confessed your sin and He said, -Your sins are forgiven-, you on your part may only have been asking for 1-1 trillionth of your sin to be forgiven -for those are the only sins you saw at the time-- yet the text before us tells us that Christ forgave them all.

Unlike the non-believer, there is no veil covering our eyes when we read the word of God, again in v. 14, -the veil- is removed in Christ-- As such, we now can read and understand what the word of God says. This is NO different from what we read in Exodus 33 and 34 when, in answer to Moses' prayer, God manifested Himself to Moses in a fuller way. How is it that Moses could look upon the Theophany that God would give and NOT die- Cf. Ex. 33-21-23--Don't miss it- Whatever you know about God today- as much as you may have studied the Bible- you can be sure it is much less than 1-1 Trillionth of what truly God is-

From 1 Samuel 14-2, we know that Saul's forces were down to 600 men- There is no conceivable way that so few men could oppose, much less vanquish the thousands of Philistine soldiers which now had been split up into three companies and were on the march. Yet faith is not daunted by a lack of weapons and Jonathan was a man who had great faith in God-

Jesus Christ came into the world to seek and to save those who are lost.

--God sent forth His Son, born of a woman,-born under the Law -the Covenant of Works. Why--, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons- -v. 5-- --That is the gospel---Christ came to uphold the covenant Adam violated. And if you and I will rely upon His work as your own, our sin will be wiped away- Glory be to God-

Peter is writing this passage to explain first why God ordained suffering in this life, and then secondly- with Christ as our pattern- why God ordained for Christ to suffer when He walked the earth. The answer is one and the same. Why did Christ -bare our sins in His body on the cross--

Yes, Christ suffered for you. He suffered on the cross. Yet we must see that this suffering involved His entire life as well as His person- physically, emotionally, and spiritually -cf. Is. 53-3-- Christ came to this world to suffer on account of sin. As such, God's plan when it comes to His children in this world is that they too suffer -cf. Acts 14-22b- Phil. 1-29- 2 Tim. 3-12--

Salvation is so important that when one comes to Christ we need to rejoice with them.