Month: March 2022

1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

As our Lord promises us eternal life, so He promises us an Eternal Word. The promise of an enduring word is given that we might have something solid and lasting to place our hope and trust in. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Count on it. Everything and everyone else will wear out, die, disappear, disappoint. and let us down, but God’s Promises last forever.

This means that Sin, Death, and everything that diminishes Life will be gone. The only things left will be God, His Kingdom, His Word, and everything good. Even the good works that the Lord has done in us and through us will last forever. ”Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; even their good works do follow them.”

We learn through life that every created thing in this fallen world, including our bodies, breaks down, wears out, and dies or is trashed. Everything ”under the sun” is vanity. Outside of God, His Word, and His Kingdom, nothing lasts. ”The word of the Lord endures forever.”

This enduring word has been preached to you by the gospel. Through the heard and read Gospel, Life is generated, and that life is maintained and grows strong through hearing the word of Christ. Believers endure forever.

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

God promises us a New Life. We are born again, a second time, from above, into new life. This life is God’s Life. He lives in us next to the Old Life. This life is spiritual, invisible, heavenly, unseen but nevertheless real and substantial. This life is sinless, pure, holy, and everything good. It bears good fruit and does good works. And this life is eternal, for it is born of incorruptible seed, so it will never sin and never die.

All this we have been given by grace since we have been baptized and believed in Christ. This life has come into us by means of the Eternal Word of God, which lives and abides forever. Everything else will pass away, but the Word and the Life of God will live and keep on living forever without end.

Being born again to a new life is actually a two-fold promise: The first aspect of the promise is that we are living this life now already; the second is that we are guaranteed that we shall enjoy the fullness of this new life in the future, but not yet. The problem is that in this earthly lifetime the devil, the world, and the flesh (the old man) drowns out the new man, the new life. But we have this promise so that we might remember our baptism and see by faith what we have been graced with. By daily repentance and faith in the Gospel we walk in newness of life. in addition we have the sure and certain hope of life with God in the forever Kingdom. That not yet hope positively affects our present day.

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.

”Love one another” is an oft-repeated command in Scripture, but it is also a promise: you will love one another with a pure heart fervently. When Jesus gives this ”new commandment” He also gives the desire and the power to actually do it. For the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our hearts and actually love the brothers and sisters in Christ. We see this promise working out in churches and communities of faith everywhere.

The power comes about and the promise comes true after we have purified our souls (confessed sin and received forgiveness) in obeying the truth (believing the gospel) through the Spirit. The Spirit has brought us to faith and He renews that faith daily, with the result that we genuinely love the brothers. We love God by loving others because He first loved us. This is a beautiful promise that Christians enjoy giving and receiving.

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.

It is by him that you believe in God. Saving faith in God is a gift, given and worked in us by the Spirit through the Gospel. We did not make it up, think it up, work it up; we did not decide to believe by our own effort, reasoning, or strength. It is only by Christ that we can come to the true god. Coming to God outside of Christ is coming to a false god, an idol, or a demon, ”No one comes to the Father but by me.”

The one true, Almighty, Creator God that we believe in by Christ is the God who raised Jesus up from the dead, and gave him glory. We who believe in Jesus will also be raised up from the dead and given a share of Jesus’ glory. All this salvation and resurrection to glory we have as a hope and a promise is designed by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and granted by the Spirit.

This great and glorious promise is worked by God in us for this purpose: that our faith and hope might be in God. This is the promise. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and hope will not let us down or disappoint us. The hope is in God, who has proven to be faithful to His promises. We take this hope as an anchor of the soul with the other end of the rope securely fastened in heaven. This hope, gifted by the Lord, gets us through every day with joy and peace.

1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

The promise for us is that God redeems us with the blood of Christ, the sinless Lamb of God. ”Blood” = Life. Shed blood = Death. Jesus died for us, died in our place, as the punishment for our sin. ”Redeem” = buy back. One pays a redemption price to buy back a person (a soul) from either kidnapping or slavery. We were kidnapped by Satan and enslaved to Sin and Death. Jesus paid the price to set us free.

How much is my soul worth? My soul is worth more than all the silver, gold, and money in the world. My soul can only be bought with the blood, the life, the soul of the Son of God. God became a human so that He could die for us. That is what I am worth to God. How much does He want me? ”God gave His only Son….” That is how He loves me. The blood (the life) of Christ is ”precious,” that is, beyond countable price. He makes me precious, valuable beyond price. Take that promise personally, and don’t let anyone, especially yourself, tell you otherwise.

We have been ransomed from the ”vain conversation,” or futile ways, inherited from our fathers. Whatever we have learned from this world, or made up in our own minds, is vanity and emptiness. Man’s ideas, his own philosophy and religion, is useless. It cannot save, but it is what we need to be saved from.

1 Peter 1:11 [The prophets] 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.

The prophesies were fulfilled in the life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. The promise has come true: the glory has been revealed. We who believe in Christ share in, and have a part of, the glory of Jesus. ”The glory that follows” has come to us. This is the promise.

The next verse (12) explains this: It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. The Prophets were serving you, the Apostles preached that gospel to you, and, through it, the Spirit brings you to faith and eternal life. Thus, by the preaching of the gospel we all participate in the glory that should follow.

Jesus earned the glory. We get to walk in it.

1 Peter 1:10, 13 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:….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.

God promises Grace. The Prophets prophesied salvation and promised that grace should come unto you. And the Grace of God has come to us at the first coming of the Christ. Grace is the undeserved favor and kindness of God, whereby He gives forgiveness and life for free. GRACE = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Jesus earned it and gives it to us. The promise was fulfilled: when Christ came, Grace came.

Grace, mercy, and peace now comes to us during our lives in the present when we repent and believe the Gospel on a weekly and daily basis. By faith we live in a constant state of grace, wherein forgiveness and life is always coming to us with the power to renew and strengthen us.

Finally, the promise says we may hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to us in our future at the second coming (the revelation) of Jesus Christ. This hope is an anchor of the soul, with the other end of the rope securely tied in heaven. This anchor promise keeps us from drifting away and powerfully moves us to live in the good works God created us for. We look to the past (to the cross and the tomb) to trust strongly in the future. Past and future grace makes present life enjoyable.

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

Salvation is the point, the goal, the purpose, the end result of your faith. God promises that your soul will be saved because you believe in Jesus. Faith is not the cause of salvation; it is the hand that receives the gift of salvation.

When Jesus appears the second time in glory, we who believe will receive the end of our faith. We will see Him as He is in Truth and Glory, the Kingdom is open to us, and we will enjoy Him forever. We will see what salvation really looks like: we will see the ugliness, darkness, and evil of Sin that we have been saved from, and the beauty, glory, and goodness that we have been saved for. For now, faith gives us a blurry glimpse, but then, faith turns into reality when the full, glorious vision of God and His Kingdom is realized. This is the end of our faith. It is why we believe.

Faith in Jesus is a precious gift that the Spirit has given us now through the Gospel. By faith we look at the Cross and see our Sin being judged; by faith we look at the Empty Tomb and experience the New Life; by faith we look at the face of God and feel the Love of God. We see a face that is pleased with us because it is pleased with His Son. We have the promise: faith will receive the full, glorious salvation of the soul.

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.

God promises that we will rejoice with unspeakable joy and great glory. We can understand that our joy and rejoicing will be unbounded when we see Jesus face to face in glory. But it is quite a promise to know that we will rejoice exceedingly without seeing Him. Just believing we are filled with joy and glory, for believing is seeing.

The promise of Joy will, of course, be filled fully when we see Jesus in glory. But the greater promise of Joy is that we will rejoice with joy unspeakable just by believing, which is seeing. Joy happens, whether we feel it in our emotions or not, every week after we hear the Gospel in church, leave a Bible study, or arise from our personal devotions every day. This unspeakable joy is actually deeper than just our surface emotions. We may feel good after church, but true joy is more abiding than just ”feeling good.”

Another promise in this verse is that we will love Him, even though we see Him not. We love Him because He first loved us. That we love Him implies that we believe Him without seeing. Faith sees wondrous things which bring Good News of Great Joy.

1Peter 1:6, 7 …now for a season…ye are in temptations, 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.

Like it or not, God promises trials by fire, so that He can bring the greater promise: faith found unto glory at the Coming of Christ. The faith we have been given is weak and impure in a sinful and deadly world. Therefore, the Lord arranges and allows trials and temptations to come in order to strengthen and purify our faith.

Faith is like gold in that it can be tried with fire and the impurities and admixtures be burned out. Gold is precious, but it will perish (along with the world). Our faith is much more valuable, for it lasts forever. God uses trials by fire to purify our faith so that our faith will be found firm and strong when Jesus appears to take us home, where faith is not needed any longer.

This promise helps us go through ”little deaths” and our own Death until we come out on the other side stronger and more precious than ever. It is how we ”go through” that determines how we ”come out.” Because we have this promise of hope and joy we can endure, and thrive, through anything.