Suffering and Glory.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹It 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 good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. – 1 Peter 1:10-12 ESV In verse nine of this chapter, Peter mentioned “the salvation of your souls.” In verse five he referred to “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” He said that we were being guarded by God’s power through the means of our faith until that day arrives. We have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading” being kept in heaven for us. And even while we wait for that day, “the revelation of Jesus Christ,” we “believe and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”  Why? Because one day we will receive the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls.

But along with all the talk of a “living hope” and “the salvation of your souls.” Peter mentioned suffering, trials and the testing of our faith. Suffering and glory are both inevitable for the believer. In fact, glory is preceded by suffering. And it is our future glory that makes our current suffering bearable. In his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that we are  “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17 ESV). And our suffering and glorification were modeled for us by Christ.

In continuing his discussion of salvation, Peter expands his thoughts to encompass both suffering and glorification as aspects of that salvation. The very writings of the prophets of God predicted both. Under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, these men penned the words of God that told of “the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories” (1 Peter 1:11 ESV). Isaiah predicted His birth: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6 ESV). Isaiah also prophesied about His character. “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1-2 ESV). He wrote of Jesus' ministry, even penning the words as if they were being spoken by Jesus Himself. “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:1-2 ESV).

But Isaiah also predicted the sufferings of Jesus:

He was despised and rejected by men;     a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces     he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs     and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,     smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions;     he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,     and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;     we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him     the iniquity of us all. – Isaiah 53:3-6 ESV

He would be like “a lamb that is led to the slaughter” and “a sheep that before its shearers is silent” (Isaiah 53:7 ESV). He would be “cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people” (Isaiah 53:8 ESV). But Isaiah also wrote that the sufferings of the coming Messiah had a purpose behind them. They were intentional and providential. They were necessary. “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11 ESV). The sufferings of Jesus were as integral to the plan of God as all the miracles He performed and messages He gave. His crucifixion had to precede His resurrection. His physical death was required before He could offer mankind eternal life.

It’s fascinating to think about the incongruity of Peter writing about the sufferings of Jesus. He is the one who vehemently resisted any mention by Jesus the He would suffer and die. Matthew records a memorable moment in the life of Peter when Jesus had just shared some shockingly bad news with the disciples. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21 ESV). Peter, always the outspoken one of the group, didn’t like what he had heard. “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you’” (Matthew 16:22 ESV). He wasn’t going to have any of it. All the talk of suffering and death was unacceptable to him. And he basically told Jesus that, if he had his way, none of this would happen. To which Jesus responded, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23 ESV). At that point, Peter had become a adversary of Jesus, attempting to stand in the way of God’s will and Jesus’ desire to obediently finish what He had been sent to do.

So here we have Peter, the one who rebuked Jesus and who, in the heat of the moment at Jesus’ arrest in the garden, would cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, writing about “the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.” He had been at Jesus’ arrest. He had stood in the shadows in the courtyard at one of Jesus' trials. When confronted about his relationship with Jesus, he had denied even knowing Him – three separate times. And yet, here he was encouraging his readers as to the reality of Jesus's suffering and its necessity as part of the salvation of their souls.

For the believer, suffering in this life is inevitable, but so is glorification. Jesus suffered, but was glorified. And our glorification will be preceded by our suffering. The author of Hebrews provides us with some words of encouragement as we await the salvation of our souls:

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. – Hebrews 10:32-36 ESV

In This You Rejoice.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. – 1 Peter 1:6-9 ESV Where do you find your joy in this life? To what do you turn to for hope as you make your way on this topsy-turvy journey of faith? Peter would say that your joy and hope should be based in nothing less than your “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4 ESV). It is the promise of eternal life and our final glorification that should bring us joy and give us hope. The promise of life to come should strongly influence the life we live. So much so, Peter says, that rejoicing is the norm even “though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6 ESV). Our circumstances in this life do not derail us because we have our hope firmly planted on the life to come.

For the believer, trials and testings are nothing more than opportunities to prove his or her faith. The issue has less to do with the quality or quantity of our faith, than with the object of our faith. God has promised us eternal life. His Son has pledged to return for us and to take us to be with Him. Heaven is our ultimate destination, so we are able to endure all that this life throws at us, knowing that these temporary testings “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18 ESV). The trials of this life provide us with proof that our faith is well-placed. Our hope and joy are not dependent upon the circumstances of this life. When bad things happen, rather than panic, we remind ourselves that any “light momentary affliction” we suffer in this life is “preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV).

Peter assures us that our faith will not fail us, not because of the quality of our faith, but because of the faithfulness of our God. Because our faith is placed in Him, it will survive the fires of adversity. It will prove to be more precious, more valuable, than gold. But we must remember that the final proof of our faith will be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It will be on that day we fully realize that our faith in God was safe and secure all along. We will have survived. We will have endured and come through the testings of this life unscathed. In fact, we will be purified, without sin, spotless in our moral character.

Peter reminds us that the outcome of our faith is “the salvation of our souls” (1 Peter 1:9 ESV). Our faith should have a focus. It should long for what God longs for. It should seek that which God has promised us: our adoption as sons and daughters and the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). Paul boldly claimed, “So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8 NLT). On this earth, we are stuck in these fallen, earthly bodies. They are prone to sin and saddled with the baggage we inherited from Adam. They are decaying and dying. They are lust-filled and earth-bound. But the day is coming when we will receive new, redeemed bodies. We will be as Paul longed to be, delivered from “this body of death” (Romans 7:24 ESV).

Where our faith comes in is simple. We have never seen Jesus, but we believe in Him. And Peter says, “Though you have not seen him, you love him”  and “Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8 ESV). Why? Because we trust Him. Our hope is based on that which we do not yet have. Paul put it this way: “hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” (Romans 8:24 NET). We have forgiveness of sins. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have a right standing with God. But we do not yet have heaven. We hope for that which we do not yet possess and cannot yet see. And we rejoice in it because we are fully confident that it is ours. Jesus promised it. “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going” (John 14:3-4 NLT). And when Thomas asked Jesus to explain what he meant by “the way,” Jesus replied, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT). Faith in Jesus is the way. Hope in the promise of eternal life made possible by His death and resurrection is the means by which we rejoice now in what is yet to come.

A Living Hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. – 1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV Peter was writing to a church that was facing persecution. He was trying to encourage them in their faith by reminding them of who they were in Christ. And it is interesting to note that the very first thing he emphasizes is their inheritance. As they were going through earthly trials, he attempts to redirect their attention to their heavenly hope. He calls it a “living hope” because it is unending and undying. It is unstoppable and, therefore, inevitable. And it is a hope based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was once dead, but was raised to life again by the power of the Holy Spirit, and He now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He is where we should long to be. He told the disciples that He was leaving, but that He would be returning for them one day. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3 ESV).

Peter reminded his readers that their inheritance was “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” and “kept in heaven” for them. It is for that hope we wait. It is for that future hope our bodies groan. Paul said it this way, “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:23-24 ESV). As we live in this world, it is very easy to forget about the world to come. Heaven can become an abstract, somewhat ethereal concept that is hard to imagine, let alone long for. We can tend to view it as some kind of nebulous reward that we will receive after death. But in the meantime, we live with our attention and our appetites firmly rooted in the here and now, and attempt to place all our hope in this life. But Peter would want us to remember that we are “exiles” here. This is not our home, no more than Babylon was the home of the Israelites for the 70 years they were captives there. Egypt was not the home of the descendants of Abraham, even though they had lived there for more than 400 years. God had promised Abraham that the land of Canaan would be their home. The Promised Land was to be their inheritance. And while they had to suffer and wait for the day God’s promise would be fulfilled. they were to keep their hope firmly focused on what God had promised. The author of Hebrews, in his great chapter on faith, reminds us of those Old Testament patriarchs who lived their lives with a future-focused faith, hoping in and waiting for the promise of God.

All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. – Hebrews 11:13-16 NLT

They were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. There were expecting more. But if we are not careful, we can become like the Israelites who, after being set free from bondage in Egypt and making their way to the promised land, began to look back. At the first sign of trouble, they started longing for Egypt. When the journey got rough, they found themselves viewing a return to slavery preferable to enduring hardship on the way to that which God had promised. When we lose sight of heaven, we make earth our hope. When we take our eyes off the prize, we tend to seek rewards that are temporal in nature, rather than eternal. We settle for less. Unwilling to suffer in this life while we wait for what God has in store, we seek to find our satisfaction and contentment in this life. But Paul had a different outlook. He said,  “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18 ESV).  He was heavenly-minded and it gave him a much more healthy perspective on his earthly life.

God has something incredible in store for us. The problem is that we can’t see it. It’s invisible to our eyes. We don’t know exactly what heaven looks like. We can’t make out what our experience there will be like. So we tend to focus on what we know and what we can see. We begin placing all our hope in this life, demanding from God that He give us our inheritance NOW. We want heaven on earth. But again, Paul would have us consider that hope is not hope if it is based on what we can already see. “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:24-25 ESV). Heaven is invisible to us. It it outside our range of view and beyond our faculties of comprehension. Yet Peter tells us that God is guarding and protecting us in this life so that we might enjoy that which we can’t see – “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Our salvation has an ending, a completion point. It culminates in heaven. We have been born again to a living hope – the hope of eternal life.  

A Word to the Weary.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. – 1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV

We all need encouragement at times. Especially when it comes to our walk of faith as believers. Living the Christian life can be difficult. There are pressures and expectations. There are constant temptations and trials. Our own sin natures wage war within us, attempting to lure us away from obedience to Christ and back in to the self-gratifying lifestyle He died to deliver us from. It is during those times that we need to be encouraged and reminded of our calling. When times are difficult, it helps to have someone come alongside us and boost our spiritual confidence by pointing us back to the reality of our relationship with Christ.

Some time in the middle of the first century, the apostle Peter wrote a letter to believers living in northern Asia Minor. These people were living in a Roman province that is now modern western Turkey. Peter refers to them as “elect exiles of the Dispersion.” They were believers who found themselves living as relative strangers because of their faith in Christ. The Greek term Peter used was παρεπίδημος (parepidēmos) and it was used of “one who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives” ("Blue Letter Bible - 1Pe 1: Peter's First Epistle - 1 Peter 1, Blue Letter Bible: KJV - King James Version). Peter was using the word metaphorically, calling his readers “strangers” or “aliens” because their real home was in heaven. They were essentially passing through this land on their way to their real homeland. They had been dispersed, so to speak, among the Gentiles living in northern Asia Minor and, as a result, were suffering the effects of their status as believers living among unbelievers. It was not easy. Their lives were not always pleasant.

They were the “elect”, chosen by God for salvation and set apart by Him to live holy lives in the midst of an unholy world. Their salvation had been God’s doing. He had made it possible for them to be restored to a right relationship with Himself. It was His Son who had died in their place. It was His Son’s righteousness that had been imputed to them and  made it possible for them to stand before God as justified. Their situation was part of that election. God had saved them, but had also placed them in the context in which they found themselves. God was not surprised by their circumstances. He was not unaware of the difficulties they were facing as His children living in a sinful and, oftentimes, hostile world. Dr. Thomas L. Constable explains what Peter meant by the foreknowledge of God.

The foreknowledge (Gr. prognosin; cf. Acts 2:23) of God refers, of course, to what God knows beforehand. God’s foreknowledge has an element of determinism in it because whatever really happens that God knows beforehand exists or takes place because of His sovereign will. Therefore when Peter wrote that God chose according to His foreknowledge he did not mean that God chose the elect because He knew beforehand they would believe the gospel (the Arminian position). God chose them because He determined beforehand that they would believe the gospel (the Calvinist position).

God had predetermined their salvation and their circumstances. They were right where He wanted them to be. Their struggles and trials were not to be viewed as indicators that they were out of God’s will, but right in the middle of it. He was in control. He was sovereign. He had chosen them and He would care for them.

In a single sentence, Peter mentions sanctification, obedience and sprinkling with blood. It almost comes across as a throwaway line, but there is significant meaning behind what Peter is saying to his readers. The sanctification of which he speaks is that which is accomplished by the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. When we come to faith in Christ, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit. His presence within us sets us apart from the rest of the world. He becomes our guarantee, our down-payment, so to speak, of all that is to come. It is His presence and power that enables us to live the life to which God has called us. It is the Holy Spirit that makes it possible for us to live obediently to Christ. No longer is our obedience dependent upon our own self-effort, but on the power of the Spirit of God who lives within us. And while we still struggle with sin in this life, we must never lose sight of the fact that we have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood, shed on our behalf and as payment for our sins, cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He has purified us with His blood.

The blood of Christ has provided us forgiveness of sins and a right standing with God. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to live in that right standing, obeying the will of God even in the midst of the troubles and trials of life. And our willful obedience is the proof of God’s ongoing sanctification of our lives. He is at work within us. And He uses the circumstances surrounding our lives to mold us into the likeness of His Son. Just like those to whom Paul wrote this letter, we are “elect exiles” living as strangers and aliens in a foreign land. We are citizens of heaven. We are members of another Kingdom who find ourselves living temporarily in a land that is hostile to our King and opposed to His rule. The rest of Peter’s letter will be a loving reminder of who we are in Christ, how we have been called to live and what our faith will look like as we live out our lives in this world.