Heavenly Hope

Who’s power saved us? Do we have any part in choosing our destiny? Can we be sure that we will get to Heaven? These questions have been widely debated in Christian circles since at least the 5th century AD. And this debate continues to rage even today. Many Christians believe that they must do something to help in their own salvation. If we only look on the human level we can be easily fooled into think that we play a part in choosing Christ. I chose Him. The reality, though, is that we only choose God because He first chose us. It isn’t possible without God first giving you the ability, making you spiritually alive. This is the Biblical idea of salvation. Salvation being wholly a work of God, and this is what we saw in verses 1-2; it is the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, this truth just doesn’t sit well in the human mind. We believe that although God puts His hand down, we must grab hold of it if we are to be saved.

This is bad theology, and isn’t what the Bible teaches. Why is it bad? It is bad because it gives too much credit to fallen humanity. Genesis 3 is a watered down story. It makes us believe that we are mostly good and left to ourselves we are able to make the right choice. Those who believe this are not taking seriously, who God is or how fallen mankind really is. What this does is elevates mankind to an equal footing with God. This in turn strips God of His sovereignty, His kingship over creation.

But this is not how the Bible speaks of our salvation. In Romans 3:9f, Paul quotes the Old Testament, showing us that we cannot choose God in our own power. We read,

“For we have charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written:

There is none righteous, no, not one;

There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one.”” Rom. 3:9f

It doesn’t get any clearer than that, does it? Not one person in all of history has ever done the right thing according to God. For this reason God intervened by sending His only begotten Son, that whosoever God the Father chooses, will be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and be saved by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood.

Doxology

Peter begins the body of his letter by appropriately giving praise and glory to God, the author and giver of life. Genesis 1 tells us that God is the author, the Creator of all creation. He is also the giver of eternal Life.

V3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peter begins his letter with a blessing to God.

Like Paul in his letters, Peter gives priority to the honour and glory of God. In verses 1-2 we read that Peter upholds God as three persons in One being. That the whole work of salvation from beginning to end is a trinitarian work. It is right and proper to give praise and glory to God because everything in creation is from Him, to His glory. More than that, God is the reason for our very existence. And for these reasons alone He is deserving of all our praise.

But there is more isn’t there? Peter is praising God for a very specific reason. First and foremost, God is “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The most famous verse in all the Bible, John 3 :16, says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...” In true Biblical terms God only has one Son, Jesus Christ, and this is central to the bible. Something we hear, these days, and that is both very common and slightly twisted is the concept that we are all God’s children.

Creator-hood of God

Many people today believe in that God loves everybody equally, that all mankind are family, and so everyone is brother and sister to each other. Adolf von Harnack, a professor of church history in the early 20th century, defined the essence of the Christian faith as the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man.

But what does Scripture say? Scripture affirms the universal Creator-hood of God, for all things we can see, and touch and measure are created by Him. In Acts 17:22 and following, Paul stands before the Areopagus explaining to the Athenians who the ‘unknown God’ is. During the address, in Acts 17:25 Paul tells them this, “Nor is He [God] worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - made not just all the material things we have in this world, but He created humanity. And in this relationship of Creator and created we have the universal Creator-hood of God.

Son of God / Children of Wrath

God is true Father to One. Jesus Christ is the only person who is truly known and declared as the ‘Son of God.’ This title is one of the most important and widely used titles for Jesus, both in the Bible and within the Church. On the other end of the scale is mankind. As far as mankind goes, we are called children of wrath, children of Satan. Ephesians 2 tells us that we are by nature children of wrath. And in Romans 3:24 we are “justified freely by [God’s] grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Brotherhood in the New Testament refers to those whom God has given eternal life. They are no longer children of wrath and become adopted children of God. Everyone else in the world is called our neighbour.

The Lord Jesus Christ

Jesus shares in all the Father’s divinity and sovereignty. It is God the Father who has bestowed the titles Lord and Christ upon the Son. The word Lord is one of God’s most common title’s in the Old Testament, Adonai. The simple meaning of Lord is the Sovereign One. Jesus to be given this title shows us that all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him, and this is what He tells the disciples in Matthew 28.

In v3 Jesus is given another title, Christ. And Christ is so common in Scripture that many people have come to think it is His surname. Christ is the Greek word used in place of Messiah, which means Anointed One. We see this in the Old Testament when God sent Samuel down to Bethlehem and had him anoint David, a man after God’s own heart. David had many opportunities to kill king Saul but refused because Saul was the anointed ruler of Israel. Another example would be Aaron, who was anointed into His role as high priest by Moses. David though is a shadowy picture of the real thing, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ was the long-awaited Messiah, the One who would bring redemption, and peace to Israel. And, It was the Father who gave the titles Lord and Christ to the second person of the Trinity.

God’s Abundant Mercy

Continuing in v3, Peter is also praising God because “according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Notice where Peter places the emphasis. His abundant mercy, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our most blessed gift of eternal life is owed to God alone - to God’s abundant mercy and Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Not one thing of any part of our salvation can be attributed to us.

Rebirth in Christ

What is the makeup of God’s abundant mercy? Peter tells us immediately.

Firstly, We are begotten again. This is what Jesus explains to Nicodemus, in John 3, but Nicodemus didn’t understand what Jesus meant. Those who are born again have been, back to v2, foreknown by God the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, and sprinkled with the blood of Christ. One thing that is easily missed is that this rebirth is a past event. It is a past event because if we are true believers in Jesus Christ then His sacrifice on the cross has washed us clean.

The Holy Spirit is given as a guarantee of our place in God’s Kingdom. We read in Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.”

In Adam we are all children of wrath, through Christ’s death and resurrection we are born again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

We have been born again to a living hope. This living hope that is ours to possess is the direct result of the living Saviour. Our hope is not a dead hope because Jesus Christ really and truly rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God. It is a living hope because the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the foundation of Christian hope.

Inheritance that is Out of this World

Secondly, we have an inheritance that is out of this world. You see, everything in this world eventually wears out and falls apart. Don’t put your hand up, but how many people here, or people that you know of, have a hip or knee replacement. But in verse 4 we are told that our God given inheritance is “incorruptible… undefiled and… does not fade away,” Heaven doesn’t have a use by date. Revelation 21 says it this way, (4-6)

““And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.””

Nothing in the New Creation will go mouldy, or rusty. Nothing evil will ever contaminate it. And, as the last verse in Amazing Grace puts it:

When we've been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we've first begun.

After ten thousand years our inheritance will be in as new condition as when we first get there. And that includes us. To top it all off, at the end of verse 4, this inheritance is guaranteed, “reserved in heaven for you.” This includes everyone that is begotten again to a living hope, according to God’s abundant mercy.

Hope in the Power of God

This gives us great comfort because we know that God will never lose our heavenly reservation. Those who are given the new birth will never lose their place in God’s kingdom. Verse 5 says, we “are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Brothers and sisters, the power of God is keeping us secure as His beloved children. If you are a person who doubts their salvation, and we all do at differing times, then here is where to place your hope. God’s Spirit safely guards us until we enter into our eternal rest. All God’s adopted children are kept and preserved from all sins that might prevent us from the safe arrival at Heaven’s door. The earthly heir to a fortune, may not live long enough to enjoy their inheritance, but the heirs of eternal life can have full assurance that they will enter and enjoy it.

God’s almighty power can never be matched. God’s power is limitless.

The power that keeps the inheritance reserved for us is the same power that keeps us reserved for the inheritance. It is the power of God that keeps us to receive the full and final measure of salvation. This is Peter’s doxology. Peter could have given the benediction after this opening statement. You see in these few lines he communicates to the Christians of the Diaspora the heart and soul of the Christian faith. God saves without human intervention, for the purpose of blessing us with eternal life in His presence. A place where no moth or rust can destroy.

Sounds a lot like Heaven, doesn’t It?