From Heaven to Earth

From Heaven to Earth    I Peter 1:6-12   (2/8/09HBCAM)

He Turns from Praise for the wonderful gift of salvation to the reality of life today—suffering. (Vv. 5-6)

The Reality of Suffering (V. 6)

Earthly trials constitute a problem of our salvation, but they are only for a season, or temporary.

          --“Now for a little while” is set over against the eternal nature of the inheritance.

Manifold temptations means diversified trials. True faith cannot be destroyed though God is in the process of refining faith through our trials.

          --“Suffer various trials” is set over against the ultimate victory.  The war is won even though the battle continues. 

The Purpose of Suffering (V. 7)

Peter views trials of faith as essentially productive. To illustrate the point, he refers to the common practice of subjecting gold to such intense heat that the initial form of it is destroyed. When the gold is ready to be remolded, however, the impurities have also perished in the flame. Trials and difficulties may assail the life of a believer, but they also have the ability to identify and banish those impurities which might impair growth and service. This is the first of several passages in the epistle which view suffering as essentially fruitful and necessary.

          --“Genuineness” Peter encouraged the Christians to look upon the trials as a means of demonstrating the genuineness of their faith in their God. 

          --“Gold”  As gold is purified by the fire which burns away the dross, so their faith would be purified by the fiery trials.  Gold is fireproof, but it is perishable.  A demonstrated faith is not perishable. 

          --“Revelation of Jesus Christ”  At the revelation of Jesus Christ, the second coming, that demonstrated faith will be an occasion of “praise and glory and honor.”

Reality of the unseen Christ brings Hope and Joy (V. 8)

          --These tested Christians had not seen Christ, they loved him without having seen him.  They believed in him, and even under trials they experienced joy beyond their power to express it. 

The Purpose of our Faith (V. 9)

          --“outcome…salvation…souls”  The outcome, the end product, of their faith was that ultimate complete salvation of their souls.

          “Souls” in the NT is most often used for the whole person.  It is not just for the spirit of man, it is the total being, and that total being is the objective of God’s redemptive purpose in regeneration and resurrection.

The life from God is life now!  It is life by God’s mercy.  It is life in union with the living Christ.  It is life which is secure in God’s power.  It is life which is to be consummated at the coming of Christ. 

Born of Grace Promised by the Prophets (Vv. 10-12)

          The fulfillment of all that God had spoken of…

Salvation was the object of prophecy and reveals how much the Old Testament prophets knew of Christ. The prophets, that is, the Old Testament prophets searched diligently: This emphasizes the study involved in their search. They wanted to know when the Messiah was coming and what would be the circumstances of His coming.

The Prophets:

-The most honored people in the history of Israel.

-The OT spokesmen of God

-They had the Spirit of Christ within them: Means that the agent of God's revelation to the prophets was the preexistent Christ who later became flesh (Jn. 1:1-18; Phil. 2:5-11)

“Spirit of Christ.” That designation supports both the deity and the preexistence of Christ. Though the phrase is intended to be synonymous with “Holy Spirit,” the identification of the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of Christ who was in them” clearly indicates the existence of the Son of God prior to His incarnation in Bethlehem.

-Inquired—They sought diligently to understand what person or time it was of whom God spoke to them.  Who would be the giver of grace?  When would it be? 

-The thing which were foretold by the prophets came about in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

-In the past, prophets sought to know the details of God’s redemption.  Now. Angels desire to look into it.  The glorious fact is that the redeemed experience it.  Those who were sent by the Holy Spirit announced that fulfillment as they preached the good news, the gospel to these exiles. 

Angels, who are not themselves objects of redemption, desire to look into (lit., “desire to stoop to look into”): This is the same word used of Peter at the empty tomb of God (cf. Luke 24:12).

“Stooping down close to get a peek at.”  The picture is that this is something the angels had always wanted to do (Greek present tense) but have never been able to accomplish. This stresses the point that although prophets and angels have been unable to satisfy themselves as to precisely what salvation is all about, we have the privilege not only of full exposition, but of real possession.