A Guaranteed Hope - Meditations on 1 Peter 1

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5, ESV)

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Hope may refer either to the act of hope or the thing hoped for. "Living hope" refers to the act of hoping, a hope that will not be disappointed. Peter goes on to identify what it is that this hope actually hopes for: an inheritance and salvation.

The Inheritance is Guaranteed

 

First, Peter says that we have been born again "to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (v. 4) He doesn't yet tell us what this inheritance is, but he does teach us about its character and certainty.

He uses three words to describe its character:

1. It is imperishable. The inheritance that we hope for is invincible. It cannot be destroyed, compromised, nullified, or killed. And since the inheritance (the object of our hope) is indestructible, our act of hoping can be indestructible as well.
   
2. It is undefiled. Do you remember the old Ivory soap commercial - "I want my real 99.44"? For soap, I guess, 99.44% is impressive. For an inheritance that sustains hope, though, that's not enough. It must be 100% pure. The inheritance that God has promised us is such an inheritance. It is undefiled, and undefilable.
   
3. It is unfading. Beauty fades, flowers fade, daylight fades. Our lives are fading. Our inheritance is unfading. It will always be as fresh, as vivid, and as vibrant as it is now.
    
   One commentator has summarized these qualities like this: "The believer's inheritance is untouched by death ('incorruptible'), unstained by evil ('undefiled'), and unimpaired by time ('fadeth not away'), a supernatural combination of immortality, purity, and beauty."
    
   Next, Peter explains why our inheritance is guaranteed, why it is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading: it is "kept in heaven for you." The word "kept" carries the idea of guarding or preserving and is used throughout the book of Acts with reference to the guarding of prisoners (Acts 12:5-6, 16:23; 24:23; 25:4). Also, the form of the verb (perfect, passive, participle) indicates that the inheritance was secured in the past and continues to be guarded. In other words, the inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading because God has placed it under lock and key and keeps it under guard round the clock, so to speak. It is in the vault of heaven, a vault that makes Fort Knox look like a house of cards. This is the message that Jesus preached, too:
   

   "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matt. 6:19-21)
   

   
   We Are Guaranteed
   
   Second, Peter tells us that this hope is "for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (v.5). As with the inheritance, he tells us about the character and the certainty of this salvation.
   
   Our salvation has the character of completeness. I think about one of my favorite scenes from one of the best movies of all time. In The Princess Bride, Inigo and Fezzik bring Westley to Miracle Max to see if there is any hope after he has been tortured by the six-fingered man, Count Rugen. Miracle Max explains to them that there is a big difference between mostly dead and all dead:
   
   

   Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
   Inigo Montoya: What's that?
   Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.
   

   Likewise, there is a difference between all done and mostly done, and this salvation is all done. It is "ready to be revealed in the last time." Everything is accomplished; there is nothing left to do but to reveal it. It's like sitting at a banquet table waiting for the servers to lift the covers from the platters.
   
   The certainty of our salvation comes from the fact that we are being guarded. The word "guarded" is stronger than "kept." It indicates that a garrison has been set up. The difference between the two might be understood as the difference between a medium and a maximum security prison. Why should he use a stronger word for guarding us than he does for guarding our inheritance? Probably because if there is any possibility that we should fail to come into possession of this inheritance it would be on our part. We need to be guarded more closely than the inheritance itself.
   
   Does this mean that there is a possibility that we might not obtain the inheritance? No. Peter says that we are guarded through faith by God's power. God himself has taken his post as the security guard of our souls. The power that created everything in existence is at work to make sure that we receive our inheritance. The power that raised Christ from the dead caused us to be born again and continues to sustain our spiritual lives until we get what has been promised (cf. Eph. 1:19-20).
   
   More than You Thought It Was
   
   So we see that the inheritance is guaranteed and that we are guaranteed to receive salvation, but what exactly is the inheritance? Is there anything more that can be said about what this salvation entails?
   
   For Peter, there is one thing that stands out above the rest. That one thing is what is to be our highest hope and greatest joy. Consider these verses:

• So that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:7)
  
• Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)
  
• But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13)
  
• So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed… (1 Peter 5:1)
  
• And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Peter 5:4)
  
• And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10)
  

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, your primary inheritance is glory, but not just any glory. You are to share in the glory of Jesus Christ. Like the Christians to whom Peter was writing, you have not seen Jesus but you love him, you believe in him, and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory (1 Peter 1:8). Because you have been united with Christ, your past has become his past and his past has become yours. Your life today belongs to him and his life has been give to you (see last post). This means that you can expect to suffer in this life because he suffered (1 Peter 2:20-21). Your suffering is a participation in his suffering (1 Peter 4:13). But there is an end to suffering. Christ, whom you love, will one day be revealed in glory. At that time, you will experience his glory as your own, even as you have experienced his sufferings. Today, Christ is in you as the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). On that day, he will be with you as the fulfillment.

 

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:3-4, ESV)