A New Birth into a Living Hope
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the death and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you , who are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5
As Peter wrote about our wonderful salvation his heart must have leaped within him; he communicated such a display of God’s mercy and love toward us that he first had to begin with an expression of praise. Examine the words of the passage above, filled to overflowing with meaning:
Great mercy
New birth
Living hope
An inheritance that can never perish
Kept in heaven
You, who are shielded by God’s power
Coming salvation
Ready to be revealed
Each word inspired of the Holy Spirit and written for the precise purpose of building us up in our faith, the greatness of God’s love toward us and the limit to which He is blessing us today and will bless us even more greatly in the future clearly laid out for us.
We took a guest, a close friend, with us by S-Bahn to Cologne, Germany once see the Cathedral. We told her that we would get off when we came to the big church. Several stops before the main train station where the cathedral is there were smaller churches and she, of course, thought a few times that one of these was where we were going to get off. We told her to wait, that she would know when we arrived. The huge and ancient cathedral is adjacent to the train station and the entrance is quite spectacular and impressive. Her jaw dropped as she saw the magnificent structure. She realized what we meant, that she would know when we arrived.
Our hearts have a similar experience with every other ideology, philosophy, or worldly diversion, when compared to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The others do not satisfy the soul, but in Christ we find more than enough, more than we dared to dream, available by God’s grace through our faith. We have in Christ an experience so radical that it can only be described as “a new birth into a living hope,” so God can afford to be unapologetic about life, ready to bless us in so many more ways than we could have ever imagined.
Whatever has held us back from the fullness of life in Christ, is not able to defeat the power of God. We can release all matters into His hands, all things that have robbed us of life and hope, and live through faith in the reality of our eternal inheritance. God does not play games with us. That which His grace has purchased for us, what He has prepared for us, He also will keep safe for us, and keep us safe for it. Not only is our inheritance kept from spoiling or fading, but we are also shielded by God’s power. We can rejoiced today in the greatness of our salvation in Christ!
Lord, let us live by faith in You and in Your precious promises. Let the reality of the new birth into a living hope become our reality today. Amen.