Encouragement in Difficult Days (Part 5)
by Phil Haines
The Oxford English Dictionary defines hope in this way: ‘a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.’ Hope is a word we may hear our children use before birthdays or Christmas when they have mentioned a specific present they would like to receive. Both the definition and the child’s statement lack absolute certainty because there are variables and circumstances which, if they come to fruition, might result in that hope being turned to disappointment. Thankfully, when the Bible speaks about hope there is no room for such uncertainty, because our hope is grounded in God, whom we know as Father, and in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ‘living hope’ that the Apostle Peter writes about is sure and certain. We read:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you
Peter here, blesses God because by His great mercy we have been “born anew to a living hope”. Peter first mentions the amazing, transforming work of spiritual rebirth. Our Lord Jesus Christ told the Pharisee, Nicodemus, that unless he was born from above then he could not see the kingdom of God. To be born from above or born anew is to be born of the Holy Spirit and it is the only way that we can enter Christ’s kingdom. Without this work, a person remains in their sin, they remain far from God, unable to know him or to know his salvation. This spiritual rebirth is a gift from God in which he does a work in the sinner, replacing the heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and it is a change wrought by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit acts in conjunction with the Word and the sinner is brought to the foot of the cross to see not a terrible criminal, but a blessed Saviour. This birth from above has a goal and the goal is the hope, and Peter describes it as a living hope.
This living hope is the absolute certainty that, because Jesus Christ, after he died upon the cross and was buried, rose gloriously and triumphantly from the dead. Because of his perfect sacrifice, all of Satan’s works have been destroyed, Satan himself has been crushed under the heel of the Lord Jesus and as death could not hold Christ, because He had not sinned, so all those who believe in Christ shall never taste that eternal, spiritual death. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, in that glorious resurrection passage which records so wonderfully the truth of our living hope:
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Christ has been raised and hundreds of people saw him after his resurrection. These events did not take place in a corner. After 40 days he ascended into heaven to await the day, when He shall return as He has promised.
It is because of him that we have a future living hope, and Peter tells us more about this hope: It is our inheritance (Hebrews 9:16-17), not an earthly one like the land of Canaan, which was given to Israel which was never secure, and always under attack from the nations. Rather, this is an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for all those who belong to Christ, for us who believe. It is now our inheritance; ours by right, ours because we have been born anew, adopted as sons into the family of God, heirs of God and joint-heirs with our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a tremendous, overwhelming declaration of God’s great mercy! It is a glorious reminder of what God has given to His people; we have an inheritance! What is the nature of our inheritance? The Apostle uses three wonderful adjectives to describe the nature of the inheritance; imperishable, undefiled and unfading. Think about our earthly lives, think about what surrounds us every day. On a daily basis, we are face-to-face with sin, decay, defilement, death, and grief, but the inheritance that has been given to those who believe is none of those things. It is:
Imperishable: Another word for Imperishable is incorruptible. This means that unlike the things of this world, it is not subject to rot, to change, to decay. Our inheritance is not subject to the fall, to the consequences of Adam’s sin and because of this, it is permanent, it can never be destroyed, it is everlasting.
Undefiled: This indicates that it is pure, holy and clean. It is not compromised in any way, it is morally and religiously pure, it is perfect, no sin is found in it, no sin can defile it.
Unfading: In the Old Testament, we are told that the grass withers and the flower falls or fades, but the word of the Lord abides forever. Our inheritance has that same quality as the word of the Lord, it is unfading, it abides forever, it is everlasting, it is eternal, thus it will never pass away.
What glorious descriptions! We know nothing like it in our days, there has never been anything like it throughout all our history. Great civilisations have come and gone, cities have been built to show man’s knowledge, understanding, giftedness and many have decayed. Where we see the ruins of old and lost civilisations across the world, in contrast, this city, our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading!
This inheritance is described in greater detail in the final chapters of the book of Revelation. The Apostle John paints a picture of the glory of that city, a city of unimaginable glory, and wonder and everything that John describes, helps us to understand why Peter could write that our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Best of all, our God and Saviour is there:
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Peter tells the believers in the regions to whom he is writing, and he tells us also, that, though you are exiles in this world, though you are sojourners and strangers, though this is not your home, your home is awaiting you in heaven. To use our Lord’s illustration in John 14, the room in the Father’s mansion is prepared for you and that is your home, that is where you will be at home, the place where you belong. That place is there in heaven being kept by God, and because it is heavenly, it is not subject to the curse, because it has been built by God himself, then it cannot perish, it cannot be destroyed, it cannot change or decay, it cannot be defiled, and no sin can enter into that city. It is a city without fear, a city without the pollution of the fall, a city that will never be destroyed; imperishable, undefiled, unfading. That city, New Jerusalem will descend from heaven when Christ returns, when the heavens and the earth will be rolled up in flames and renewed, then will our living hope become the existential reality for us.
This is what the suffering church needs to hear. There are times when individuals or churches are in the midst of the trials and it is possible for the blinkers to be on, and our eyes are fixed upon earthly things. But here the Apostle Peter is encouraging the church that if the blinkers are on, then rip them off, tear down the veil if it is up, get your heads up and fix your eyes on things eternal, fix your eyes on the living hope, on your imperishable inheritance. This is what the new birth has fitted you for, this is what you are being prepared for, eternity. In this we rejoice!
