The apostle Peter and the prophet Isaiah.

1 Peter 1.22-25, Isaiah 40.6-8.

Simon Peter, in his first letter, is addressing Jewish Christians (and obviously any gentiles who worship along with them) scattered throughout what’s now northern Türkiye. His first chapter mainly greets them, reminds them what Christ Jesus does for them, and in today’s passage he commends them for being good Christians—for legitimately loving one another. And throws in an Isaiah quote while he’s at it.

Here’s the passage:

1 Peter 1.22-25 KWL

22You purified your souls

by obeying the truth,

in brotherly love—

not insincere,

and out of a pure heart.

Fervently love one another!

23—you who were born again,

not from corruptible seed

but incorruptible,

through God’s living, abiding word,

24 for “All flesh is like hay,

and all its glory, like a hayflower.

Hay dries.

A flower falls off.

25The Lord’s word

abides in the age to come.” Is 40.6-8

This is the word

evangelized to you all.

And here’s the Isaiah passage Peter quotes. It comes right after the “voice in the wilderness calls out, ‘Clear the way for the LORD’” part Is 40.3-5 which John the baptist quoted. It’s a passage about the coming of God’s kingdom.

Isaiah 40.6-8 KWL

6There’s a voice saying, “Call out!”

and he says, “What am I calling out?”

“All the flesh is grass.

All its love is like a flower in the field.

7Grass withers.

A flower wilts when the LORD’s wind blows on it.

Certainly ‘grass’ describes the people.

8Grass withers and a flower wilts;

our God’s word stands, for eternity.”

There’s a little wordplay going on in Isaiah when God (who has the red-letter parts) says a flower wilts “when the LORD’s wind blows on it”—the word for wind, יְהוָ֖ה/ruákh, can also mean “spirit,” and the LORD’s Spirit is of course the Holy Spirit. The Spirit could wither a person if he so chooses, but this passage isn’t about judgment; it’s about God’s דְבַר/devár, “word,” which both the Septuagint and Peter translates as ῥῆμα/ríma, “word”—the messages he gave Moses and the prophets—standing until עוֹלָֽם/olám, the vanishing point, till we can’t see any further; basically forever.

This kingdom you’re in, is the one Isaiah foretold.

Yešayahu ben Amoch (KJV “Isaiah the son of Amoz”) lived, prophesied, and wrote down his prophecies in the סֵפֶר יְשַֽׁעְיָ֣הוּ/Sefer Yešayahu—which we call the book of Isaiah—during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Jerusalem. So, from the 740s BC to the 680s; he heard from God pretty much his entire adult life. His book consists of his prophecies throughout that time. Because there are some pretty big time gaps between the prophecies, and because his writing style and topics change throughout, some scholars suspect two or three different guys wrote the book. The evidence for that is really debatable though. Writers change over time. We see new writing styles we like, and adopt ’em; sometimes we even invent them. It’d be weird if Isaiah wrote the same way his entire life. It’d imply he never grew as a person.

Yep, Isaiah wrote seven centuries before Jesus. Yet Isaiah wrote of Jesus. He foretold the later destruction of southern Israel by the neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar 2—the end result of Israel’s hypocrisy and unrepentant sinful behavior. He likewise foretold Israel’s restoration: God was gonna undo all that destruction and create a peaceful kingdom for the Israelis to live in forever. The king of this future kingdom just turns out to be Jesus of Nazareth.

Back to Peter. Simon bar Jonah grew up in the Galilee, surrounded by people who anxiously wanted the kingdom Isaiah wrote about. Wanted it right the heck now. The Roman Empire had taken over Israel after Herod 1 died; Herod was bad enough, but the Romans were worse, and the Israelis wanted them gone and replaced with God’s kingdom. And God obliged—he sent ’em Jesus. But Jesus isn’t the military Messiah, the political Messiah, the furiously vengeful Messiah, they coveted. They rejected him and had the Romans kill him. A few years after Peter died, the Israelis tried to overthrow the Romans themselves, and the Romans destroyed them. But that’s ahead of our story.

Obviously not all Israelis rejected Jesus; Peter didn’t! The Jewish Christians didn’t. Peter was probably the first to correctly identify him as Messiah, Mk 8.29 and despite a momentary lapse of faith, Peter followed Jesus the rest of his life. He knew, through personal experience, through supernatural visions, Jesus is the king of God’s kingdom. Jesus is coming back to inaugurate his kingdom and rule it personally.

And Peter assumed Jesus would come back and inaugurate his kingdom in his lifetime. All the apostles did. Most Christians have, throughout history. After all, the stuff Isaiah foretold about Messiah happened before Peter’s very eyes. Isaiah’s poem of the suffering servant? Peter saw it happen. So why wouldn’t the rest of it happen at the same time?

Well, because Peter didn’t know the timeline. None of us do. Nope, not even the guys who publish books about their End Times timelines. Peter had some assumptions, which are kinda obvious in his letters. Thankfully the Holy Spirit kept him from trying to turn his assumptions into doctrines… unlike the guys who write the End Times books. Peter acknowledged in his other letter Jesus is taking his time, for his own good reasons, 2Pe 3.9 but make no mistake—he’s returning to judge the living and the dead. 2Pe 3.10-14

Jesus said he would, and we can rely on his statements because—as the Isaiah quote said—God’s word lasts for eternity. People live and die, and their promises die with them. But Jesus isn’t gonna die again; he lives forever. His promises last forever. He will return; he will establish his kingdom. His kingdom is so certain, we can even tap its resources now, and live according to its principles now. Same as the Christians whom Peter wrote to—obeying the truth, loving one another, and exhibiting good examples of the way Christians in the new kingdom oughta be. We need to do that too.