Introduction
– Peter begins with a song of praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The words are so full and rich
with meaning and implications. Each
phrase can be savored for a moment now, and for the rest of your life if you
see these things with faith.
Abundant
Mercy – The praise and obedience of the church today
is pathetic because we do not grasp the depth of Christ’s mercy (Eph
3:14-19). Semi-Pelagianism is the
technical term for believing that we were sick, but not dead, in our sins. We don’t believe that we were really all
that bad as sinners. But we were
transgressors from the womb (Is 48:8).
Here is an example of what American modern evangelicalism denies – your
theology matters.
Blessing God – Mercy
without a top or a bottom, and mercy with sides that never end, when
apprehended by faith, results in a song.
This mercy came from God, who is to be blessed forever. Our blessings of God are not the same as His
blessings of us (Neh 9:4-5), but we are called to offer our sacrifice of praise
nonetheless (Heb 13:15). The following
are the topics of our blessing, the fruit of His mercy.
Begotten
Again – You cannot learn the steps so that you can be
born again. It is not something you
do. It is something God does and you
bless Him for it. While the concept of
adoption is true for those who have been brought to the Father through Christ,
it is not enough. Adoption grants us
the status of sons; regeneration grants us the nature of
sons.
Living Hope – ‘I hope it
is sunny tomorrow’ is not the kind of hope described here. This hope is sealed with the Holy Spirit as
our down-payment (Eph 1:13-14). This
living hope goes all the way to the grave, for even death is a messenger sent
to bring those in Christ home to possess their inheritance. Not so for the man without this hope (Prov
11:7, 14:32).
Through the Resurrection
– Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is the cause of our new life. Because He is the ‘firstborn from the dead’,
we have this hope (Rev 1:5, Acts 13:13, Ps 2:7). But this hope is exclusively through His resurrection –
there is no other way (Acts 4:12, John 14:6).
A Different
Kind of Inheritance – Proverbs teaches that “a good man
leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” (13:22), but nothing
compared to that of our heavenly Father.
Our inheritance in Christ is Christ (Psalm 16:5-6).
Incorruptible – It cannot
decay, for our inheritance is Christ (Rom 1:23, Ps 16:10).
Undefiled – There will be no
stain in the beauty or excellency of it, for our inheritance is Christ (Heb
7:26).
Does Not Fade – No matter
what you have done, your inheritance cannot fade, for it is Christ (Psalm
102:27), and He is for your children as well (v28).
Reserved in Heaven
– Christ, your inheritance, sits in heaven, and who can stand against Him? (Ps
2:4-9).
Good Meditation, Good Motivation
– Peter wants his readers meditating on these descriptions of their
inheritance. It will keep them faithful
in afflictions (2 Cor 4:17-18), rejoicing in those trials (Rom 5:2-3), and
despising the pleasures of sin (Heb 11:25).
It is a good thing to obey with an eye to the reward. Stoicism is not called for in the
scriptures. God calls us to pursue the
reward, running as to win (1 Cor 9:24).
Kept By the
Power of God – ‘froureo’ is a military term used to
describe the work of a garrison or strong guard. But this ‘keeping’ is even stronger, for the Guard of our
salvation is God Himself. Our
redemption was all the work of God, and so is our perseverance. We cannot lose our salvation, for it is not
ours to lose. It is the Lord’s. The inheritance cannot be lost, and the
inheritors cannot be lost either.
Through Faith – Neither our
salvation nor our perseverance finds its ground in our faith. The ground of these things is the Lord Jesus
Christ and His power alone. But the
means of both is our faith.
For Salvation – In one
sense, our salvation is that wall of protection (Is 26:1-4, Prov 18:10). In another sense we see that we are kept for
that final salvation still to be revealed.
To Be Revealed – Here is why
you bless God. He predestined the
salvation of the elect before the foundations of the world. The final end of this work takes place at
the end of time (this age). Even though
in Adam we were guilty of sin and worthy of eternal wrath, we have a sure hope
of eternal life. Our sins have been
forgiven, but we still walk in the shadows of the fullness of our freedom from
the power of sin. But if you are in
Christ, one day you will be completely united to Him, you will have perfect
rest, your body will be resurrected and glorified, all of those in Christ will
be united together in perfect fellowship as the completed body of Christ, we
will sit down at the great Wedding Feast, and the music of this new song will
be complete.