January 13 | 1 Peter 3:13-22

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DAILY READING

1 Peter 3:13-22

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REFLECTION

No Pit So Deep

By Pam Mann

We’re reading this passage from 1 Peter during a week with the overall theme: Was God Still Good on Saturday? We can answer that question easily. God is good all the time, including Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. What does Peter tell us about Christ’s action during that first Easter weekend to demonstrate God’s goodness?

Let’s zero in on 1 Peter 3:18-20. Peter recounts how Christ died on the cross (the once-for-all sacrifice for our sin). Then, dead in the flesh, but alive in the Spirit, Jesus went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.

That is, Jesus descended into hell.

This concept was so important in the early centuries of the Church that it was included in the Apostles’ Creed. Why have believers regularly recited this truth in the creed for centuries? For the same reason that Peter wrote it down for believers to read in the first place!

Peter writes to people facing persecution for their faith. They don’t know what form of resistance to the gospel they will endure. Peter wants them (and us) to consider Jesus Christ crucified and not yet raised from the dead. Where is Jesus on Holy Saturday? His dead flesh lies in a cold tomb, but his Spirit descends to hell. On the cross, Christ has defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil. Therefore, Jesus descends into hell to announce His victory. There is no place that the power of the crucified and risen Christ will not be known.

The fact that we have a Savior who would go to hell and back for us is very good news.

Corrie ten Boom, a survivor of the Nazi death camp at Ravensbrück, cherished this truth.

She said: “There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still.” She was a watchmaker in Haarlem, Netherlands working in a family business when the Nazis took control of her country. Being committed Christians, Corrie, her father and her sister worked together to give secret passage to hundreds of Jews and resistance workers for several years. Eventually the Nazis discovered their operation and arrested them. Her

father and sister died in imprisonment. Corrie was released through a clerical error only days before all imprisoned women her age were executed. She then committed her life to telling believers that, whatever hell you face, God is there for you.

Christ is the Lord of Life, not only in the heavens, not only on the earth, but also in the depths of hell. What good news for us! Whatever pit awaits us in the new year, the power of Christ goes deeper.

God is not only good all the time; God is good in every place. Nothing stops the mighty goodness of God.

PRAYER

Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice for us. Thank you for your powerful presence with us in our future, whatever pit lies ahead. The heights of heaven are ours to behold because you free us from the depths of hell.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAM MANN

I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.