“For, ‘All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever.’ And this is the word which was preached to you.” 1 Peter 1:24-25 (NAS)

The apostle Peter opens his inspired epistle to the scattered aliens (all Christians) by moving them through themes of propitiation (vss 2-4), protection (vs 5), persecution (vss 6-9), prophecy (vss 10-12), preparation (vs13-15), purification (vss 16-22) and closes with the proclamation contrasting the perishable with the imperishable, the temporal with the permanent (vss 23-25). 

“And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord” ’ ” Mark 12:28-29 (NAS)

Be honest now brethren, when someone has asked you in the past what is the greatest (foremost) commandment of the Bible, have you answered the way Jesus did, or have you answered the way most of us have by citing the verse that follows the one in our text above? 

“and he (Satan) said to Him, ‘All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me.’ 10 Then Jesus said to him, ‘Begone, (or, “Away with you!” NKJV) Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” ’ ” Matthew 4:9-10

In the gospels, we have two parallel accounts of Satan’s three shots at tempting Jesus while he was in the wilderness: Matthew’s and Luke’s. 

“Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, ‘See,’ He says, ‘that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’ ” Hebrews 8:5

The move from the physical view to the spiritual perspective is the core issue the inspired penman of the Hebrew letter is working to communicate as the divinely directed mouthpiece of the Lord. 

“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”  Heb. 10:36-38

The inspired writer of the Hebrew letter has moved the reader step by step to this point preparing them to stand and persevere through the trials of rejecting the Old Covenant system which had been taken away in the eyes of God through the offering of the His body (Heb. 10:9) and His blood, and was now ready to disappear physically (Heb. 8:13) as had been prophesied by Jesus Christ (Matt 24).  

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, ‘He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness abides forever.’ ” 2 Corinthians 9:8-9

The apostle Paul, in exhorting the church in Corinth to follow through on their “previously promised bountiful gift” (2 Cor. 9:5), quotes from the context of Psalm 112, in particular, a portion of verse nine. 

“..who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.’ ” Acts 4:25-26 (NAS)

The apostles, after receiving their first taste of persecution in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, quote Psalm 2, verses one and two, as a prayer for the Lord to intervene on behalf of the fledgling church. 

“And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?” And He answered and said, ‘Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female’ ” Matthew 19:3-4

There are many out there in the religious marketplace who say that Jesus never directly condemned homosexuality so therefore, He didn’t condemn same sex marriage.

“But the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt, and have heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them; come now, and I will send you to Egypt.’ ” Acts 7:33-34

Last week we covered the first part of this Old Testament quote, “Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is Holy Ground”, lifted from Exodus 3:5 and proffered by Steven in his defense before the Council. 

“But the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Acts 7:33 (NAS)

Steven’s defense of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and the church as the intended spiritual temple of God before the Council (San Hedrin) as recorded in Acts chapter seven, is chock full of references to Old Testament passages.