Chosen Exiles With a Living Hope

Big Idea

God’s people can endure earthly trials because they have been chosen by God and secured by an eternal inheritance.

For the Christian the way up is down.

The identity that Peter gives his audience as elect exiles is this identity of Christians in every age.

Throughout this letter there is the theme of trials and Peter calls the people to stand firm. Here today before we even get to the discussion of trials he is giving us reasons that we can endure.

Our identity as God’s chosen people (1-2)

Peter is the apostle that you see the most in the gospel narratives, he is almost like a leader of the apostles.

before stating their locations he identifies them as elect exiles. These two terms stand in opposition to each other.

elect means chosen

exiles points to the reality that they are not at home

They are elect in that they are chosen by God for eternal life, but they are not elect of this world. In this world, they are exiles and sojourners, waiting to go to the place to which they have been called. The same is true of us today.

Hebrews 11.13-16

Peter then gives us the physical location of those he is writing to and we see this is a large area and it makes up the area of modern Turkey.

After the location we see that the the election of the exiles is first according to the foreknowledge of God. The word here for foreknowledge carries the sense of predetermination. Thus our election is based on the predetermination of God within the foreknowledge of his eternal plan.

Next we see that we are chosen exiles in the sanctification of the Spirit. Our election guarantees our sanctification, our becoming more like Christ through the work of the Spirit.

Finally in this we see the purpose, for the obedience to Jesus and the sprinkling with his blood. Our election leads to our sanctification, our sanctification leads to our obedience.

The sprinkling with his blood calls back to Exodus 24.3-8. This is where the nation of Israel promises obedience to God and they enter into covenant with him and Moses sprinkles blood from the sacrifice on them. In the same way we pledge our obedience to Christ and his sacrificial blood is upon us as we enter into the new covenant with him.

Application

Those of us who are saved are the elect exiles. We have been chosen by God and this world is not our home. In the foreknowledge of God we were elected to something, to be sanctified and obey Christ. These things are works of God in us but we are not called to be stagnant in them.

Our hope through Christ’s resurrection (3-4)

Before addressing the difficulties that these people are facing, Peter reminds them of their hope. There must be a deep delight in God to sustain the Christian when everything around them is threatening to destroy them. For this reason, Peter begins by pronouncing a blessing .

God in his mercy has called us to be born again. This is what we call the doctrine of regeneration. This is our spiritual new birth. This too is an act of God, as we see it says that God has caused us to be born again.

It is clear how great the mercy of God is in all of these things because he is the one bringing them all about! The more we learn about God the more we see that our salvation is of him and not of us.

This salvation has been accomplished through the resurrection of Christ. Just as we saw earlier, we enter covenant with him through his blood. This is where our salvation rest, in the finished work of Christ.

Note here too that Peter is not emphasizing what we have been saved from, he emphasizes what we have been saved too. We have been saved to an inheritance. This is great news for exiles because exiles have no hope in an inheritance.

This inheritance is:

imperishable

undefiled

unfading

kept for us

All of this points to our inheritance with God is something that will never go away and and will never be taken away.

Application

The world may treat you like an exile, but God treats you like a son or daughter awaiting an inheritance.

That means Christians should not determine their identity by how comfortable, accepted, successful, or secure they presently feel. There will be seasons when following Christ makes us feel profoundly out of place. Peter reminds us that being out of place here does not mean we have no home. We belong to a kingdom whose fullness we have not yet received.

Our security through God’s power (5)

Not only is the inheritance being kept for believers, but believers themselves are also being guarded.

God therefore preserves both the inheritance for his people and his people for their inheritance. Their hope does not ultimately rest in the security of their present circumstances but in the power of God who guards them through faith.

John 10.27-29

Romans 8.38-39

Peter’s statement that salvation is “ready to be revealed in the last time” also points toward the already-not-yet nature of salvation. Believers are already saved, yet they still await the final revelation and completion of that salvation. We are already saved, but we are not yet finally saved.

The beauty of this is though that we know it is secure. We have a living hope who is guarding it all.

Application

Our confidence is not ultimately in our ability to hold ourselves together.

Our confidence is in the power of God.

This does not mean that Christians will never struggle or doubt or feel weak. Peter is going to spend much of this letter talking about the reality of suffering.

But underneath our perseverance is God's preservation.

When we feel weak, we can remember that our salvation does not rest on the strength of our circumstances.

God is guarding his people.

The Christian can endure the difficulties of life as an exile because God has caused us to be born again to a living hope, has secured an eternal inheritance for us, and is guarding us by his power until our salvation is fully revealed.

Before Peter tells these Christians about their trials, he reminds them of three things:

who they are, what they have, and who is keeping them.

They are elect exiles.

They have a living hope and an eternal inheritance.

And they are being guarded by the power of God.

This is what prepares them for everything Peter is going to say about suffering.

The Christian life is not easy because we belong to Christ. In many ways, belonging to Christ is exactly what makes us exiles in this world.

But being an exile does not mean that we have been abandoned.

We may be strangers here, but we have been chosen by God.

We may not have a lasting inheritance here, but we have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

We may face circumstances that make us feel insecure, but our salvation is being guarded by the power of God.

So when trials come, remember who you are. You are an elect exile.

Remember what is waiting for you. You have an eternal inheritance that cannot be taken away.

And remember who is keeping you. The same God who chose you is the God who is guarding you until the end.

So do not make it your goal to become completely at home in this world.

Do not measure God's faithfulness by how easy your life is.

Do not measure the security of your salvation by the security of your circumstances.

Instead, stand firm.

Live as someone who has been chosen by God.

Obey Christ as someone who has been cleansed by his blood.

Hope as someone whose Savior has risen from the dead.

And endure as someone who knows that God is guarding both you and your inheritance until the day your salvation is fully revealed.

We can endure as exiles here because God has chosen us, God has given us a living hope, and God will keep us until we are finally home.