1 Peter 3:13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
Paul tells us to put on the whole armor of God so that we would not be harmed. To be girt about with the truth, to have the breastplate of righteousness on, to have your feet shod with the gospel of peace and your head covered with the helmet of salvation, and to have a shield of faith. These things are all about being followers of that which is good. The word of God is a lamp unto our feet, without the word of God you are in the dark and cannot see the narrow way, much less follow it.
14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
Nothing can be any more clearer than when they attack you for righteousness sake. We have seen this many times recently. They drag some man out of a school board hearing because his daughter was assaulted in the bathroom at school due to their policy of letting boys into the girl's bathroom. Don't back down, rather sanctify the Lord Jesus in your heart and walk according to Christ. You will put them to shame for their false accusations.
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of this darkness. Any time you shine a light on that darkness he will retaliate and that will be to cause you to suffer for well doing. However, suffering for well doing causes the spotlight to shine on that evil and expose Satan even more.
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
When Jesus was crucified it shined a bright floodlight on how evil the rulers of the Jews and of the Romans were.
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
When you take a stand for the Lord it becomes a powerful testimony to the spiritual forces of evil of the coming execution of their judgment. They have been judged already at the time of Noah, but when you are found guilty of a crime in a court of law you don't get sentenced the same day. Rather the judge must now look at the judgment and the trial and determine the appropriate penalty. So the sentencing takes place later. During that sentencing hearing you get to hear from those who were wronged and harmed by the crime. Jesus was a witness of the harm their crimes do when he preached to the spirits in prison. Think how much more powerful that testimony is if you were doing good and returning blessing for cursing. We don't consider "self defense" to be a crime. If you return reviling for reviling and cursing for cursing then it is hard to say who was at fault. But if you were praying for them, blessing them, and suffering for doing good, then it is crystal clear who is at fault.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
And this chapter has described the spiritual reality of Baptism. In the world we all wear the same clothes, it is "tit for tat". You attack me, I attack you. You curse me, I curse you. You rail against me, I rail against you. Wives attack husbands, husbands attack wives. But when we become born again we take those clothes off and we put on Jesus Christ. When they cursed Him He blessed them. When they railed against Him He blessed them. This also "saves us". It isn't the salvation by the blood of Jesus, that was the price for our forgiveness, we cannot and could not afford that price, and so that salvation if all of the Lord and not of us. No, this is a different form of salvation. You see, you reap what you sow. If you sow cursing, you reap cursing. So to put a stop to sowing cursing means you also stop reaping cursing. But if you instead of repaying cursing with cursing, if you repay cursing with blessing, not only do you stop sowing and reaping cursing, but you are now sowing and reaping blessing. So when Peter talks about this "saving us" he doesn't mean redemption, we are already redeemed. He means instead of us reaping a steady stream of cursing, that stops and now we are reaping a steady stream of blessing. We were dwelling on the ash heap just like Job but we have turned it into a garden that is reaping a wonderful harvest.
22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Do you see that! They cursed Jesus, slandered Him, crucified Him, treating Him as the absolute worst offender. But God has put Him on His right hand! He has made all those evil powers who tried to hold Him down, God has made all of them subject to Jesus. This is the path that Job took and this is the path that we are to take. Jesus is our forerunner, He cut the way for us to follow.
