The Strangers

by Richard St.James

The Strangers

First Peter 1:1 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,”

1. The Land

2. The Time

1. The Land

Now, who are these strangers that are “scattered throughout” these regions? These are the Jews that are “scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.”

RULE: Any time a Jew is not in his homeland, that is, in THE LAND of Israel, he is termed: a stranger. The Jews, rightly, belong in their homeland! Amen!

Now, we are ready for the next question. Are you ready? Where is THE LAND [or the Homeland] for the Jews? The Bible shows us ... clearly where it is. It is the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan was given to Israel as a homeland by the GOD of Israel. [God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans to into THE LAND that He would show him – in 1922 BC, according to Genesis chapter fifteen, verse seven.]

How do we know this thing to be true? We can see this thing is true by reading in the book of the Exodus in chapter six, verse four: “And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.” [Exodus 6:4] The relationship of the Jewish people to “the land of Canaan”

[THE LAND] was “established” by a “covenant”. This covenant was established by GOD. This truth is not just located here in this verse, but it is a truth that is established throughout the whole Bible. To deny this TRUTH, one has to place himself or herself CROSS-WISE with the GOD of the BIBLE. I fear for that person! Amen!

There is something else we need to learn while we are here on this subject [the Jew, and THE LAND]. It is located in the Bible in the book of Acts … in chapter thirteen, verse seventeen: “The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.” [Acts 13:17]

Do you see something here? The status of the “people of Israel” [prior to their going down into Egypt] was that they were strangers [in Canaan], but after the exodus from Egypt, that status changed. They were no more … STRANGERS! Why were they no more strangers in Canaan? They were no more strangers in Canaan, for this reason. It was TIME now, [in God’s timing]. This time, they were at home in THE LAND.

This was a land that flowed “with milk and honey”. This LAND was theirs, now, and encompassed all the land … “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.” [Joshua 1:4] This is the LAND for the Jew! Amen!

2. The Time

The TIME [in God’s scheme] had arrived! From this point on, God’s revealed intention was for the Jew’s to be no more THE STRANGERS in anyone else’s land … that is, the land of the NATIONS. Israel was to have its own land, as the head nation, of all the nations of the Earth, at the exact geographical, political, and religious exact center of the Earth. Israel [by covenant] was destined to be the called-out nation which eventually [in the seventh millennium] will rule all the nations of the Earth. [The number seven signifies completion.]

Look with me in Micah chapter four, in verse two: “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” [Micah 4:2]

How do we know this to be true? We know it is true because the Bible tells us it is true. Amen! Read with me in Jeremiah chapter eleven verses five through seven: “That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O Lord. Then the Lord said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.” [Jeremiah 11:5-7]

I gave you all this, so that you may understand who the “strangers” are in our text [in the first book of Peter]. Let me give you more.

According to the book of the Acts of the Apostles [in chapter two, verses nine through eleven] we learn that were Jews and Jewish PROSELYTES living throughout the Roman Empire [including “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”]. These “strangers” witnessed the beginning of the body of Christ [which is the church].

Notice that they were: “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians,” [Acts 2:9-11]

Again, these were Jews who were the “strangers” who were living among these nations. Later, in Acts chapter eight, we learn the persecution “against the church which was at Jerusalem” which arose at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom was instrumental scattering the Jewish believers in Jesus Christ. “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” [Acts 8:1]

These, therefore, are the “strangers” who Peter wrote the First Epistle of Peter.

The Elect

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The First Epistle of Peter

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

1 Peter 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

1 Peter 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

1 Peter 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

1 Peter 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

1 Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

1 Peter 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flowerthereof falleth away:

1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.