“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
I love the exuberant praise Peter begins with, and that it is woven through the whole passage.
“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”
Love the balance between it being a “hope”, recognising that this life will always be forward looking and one of discontentedly waiting, crying “come Lord Jesus”, because of all that makes life unbearable – i.e. sin and suffering. But at the same time, the hope is breaking into our lives already. We don’t just wait, but we experience too. Eternal life has begun already, so our hope is “living” if we have been reborn.
And this is all because of God’s “great mercy”! It is not something we deserve. Neither is it something we have to work up, because it is “through the resurrection of Jesus”. It’s all God’s work!
“and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power”
Peter just piles up the words and concepts to show how solid and sure our promised inheritance is. It will never “perish, spoil or fade” because it is “kept in heaven” where nothing that anyone does on earth can touch it. Our inheritance has our name on it though, because Peter says it is “for you”. It isn’t sat there waiting to be claimed if we do this or that, or if fortune smiles on us. Because our inheritance is personalised then not only is it safe but we are as well. We are “shielded”, surrounded and protected by the almighty power of the living God! What do we have to fear.
“until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”
But Peter never gets carried away, and blind to the realities of life now. All that we are and have is still to be revealed. We have to walk by faith and not sight at this time, eagerly longing for that future day.
“In this you greatly rejoice”
But this isn’t a stoically gritting of our teeth while we wait. It is a joyful life because our hope is so amazing, and the experience of what we wait for is already so wonderful. So we don’t just rejoice, we do so “greatly”.
“though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine”
Peter will not let the painful realities of life go though. He keeps on returning to them again and again. This time not just to acknowledge that they exist but to tell us why they exist. Our struggles with sin, our hard work in life, and the sadnesses that come along are all to purify us. To change us and help us put shed the dead skin of our old life that still clings to us.
“and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
But it’s not all about us. God doesn’t exist to serve our needs, but we exist to glorify him. And he is glorified in our salvation – in Jesus’ work 2000 years ago and in the Spirit’s work in our lives now. What a wonderful coming together of our good and God’s, that is not just a fortunate occurrence but because of God’s nature and character.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Again, this is just such a wonderful combination of thoughts one on top of another. We love God, we believe God, we rejoice in God, because we are receiving (note the tense) our salvation. I want that life and that salvation. I want what Peter says there to be a description of me!
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”
Finally, to prevent us from making our salvation too small a thing. In case we have domesticated it and lost it’s cosmic greatness despite all the praise and joy of Peter’s writing, he tells us to look back and up. Back to the prophets who so passionately searched and investigated all they could to understand this incredible event – “the sufferings of Christ” (it’s all about him!) and “the glories that would follow” (that is the revelation of Jesus’ glory and our inheritance – suddenly we’ve been caught up into Jesus’ glorious story!!).
And then he directs our gaze upwards to the angels, who dwell in the glories of heaven, live lives which we would make ours look like as meaningless and brutal as the life of an insect. And yet... they long to look into the things of our salvation.
What an enormous Gospel!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
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