I Peter 2: 4-10
And coming to Him as to a living Stone
Jesus Christ is the Living Stone that gave Moses water in the Desert for the Israelites; it followed them in their wanderings (I Corinthians 10:4).
which has been rejected by men,
Most people in the World will not turn to Him, but rather turn to the World and themselves instead; His own people turned Him over to execution as a criminal.
but is choice and precious in the sight of God,
He is God's own Son, greatly beloved and treasured.
you also, as living stones,
As Christians, "little Christs," we are His sisters and brothers, also living stones.
are being built up as a spiritual house
God is building us as His own Heavenly Temple.
for a holy priesthood,
We are living, so we are not only the Temple, but also the Priests of the Temple.
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Spiritual sacrifices are sacrifices of praise and the good works we do in the power of the Spirit, and to tell of the goodness of the Lord (Hebrews 13:15-16).
For this is contained in Scripture:
Behold, I lay in Zion a choice Stone, a precious Corner Stone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed (Isaiah 28:16).
Jesus is the anchoring Corner Stone of the Heavenly Temple, the Rock upon which our Father has placed our feet out of the miry clay, the Stone from which the stature of the whole Heavenly Building takes its shape and form.
This precious value, then, is for you who believe;
We who have put our trust in Christ as our Sacrifice for sin and rose from the dead. We now partake of His riches in Heaven, the glory He left to come to Earth. But our real Prize is Jesus, Himself, not what He will give us to enjoy.
but for those who disbelieve,
Those who refuse to humble themselves before His majesty and authority.
The Stone which the builders rejected, this became the very Corner Stone (Isaiah 28:16),
The One they refused to believe, has become the very basis and pinnacle of existence and Life.
and,
A Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense (Isaiah 8:14).
This One is offensive to them, they trip over Him in their rush after things that will never satisfy.
For they stumble because they are disobedient to the Word,
They refuse to obey His rules or think reasonably, or cooperate with the Love principle upon which God set this Universe to run and work and operate.
and to this doom they were also appointed.
God decided before Creation that those who chose their own will would be given their own will; when they choose to reject Light, He will grant them darkness; when they decide to hate, God will give them the hatred they want; when they refuse order, He will allow them chaos.
But you are a chosen race,
Born into His family, we are a people who belong to Him.
a royal priesthood,
His princes and princesses who offer Him spiritual sacrifices.
a holy nation,
God made Abraham into the Nation Israel, and He is making us into His own Nation.
a people for God's own possession,
We are a people-group that God takes particular ownership over.
so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him
It is up to us to lead the worship of our Lord God Almighty.
who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous Light;
We were trapped in the darkness of sin, then He released the trap and led us out into the Sunshine of His Grace.
For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God;
We come from many different and varied nations, but we have become the Nation of God.
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Before we were saved, we had no hope. There was nothing we could do to help ourselves; everything we did, even the best most altruistic things, were still polluted by the sin that we were born in, that we inherit from Adam--that damaged DNA.
But now we have experienced the great mercy of God that put His wrath that we deserve on Jesus instead, on His Cross. Now that Jesus has cleared our debt, God can now extend His grace to give us the wonderful bounty of His riches in Christ.
O my Father, You have taken us out of the slave-market of sin and elevated us into positions of authority and leadership in Your own Kingdom! From one extreme to the other! And in between, You have washed us clean, pristine, as though we'd never sinned at all! And You are leading us along the narrow path for each of us, keeping us on the path, hedging us in; that we will not wander or veer off to the right or to the left. We will not miss the right way, because You have laid it out for us before us.
And Your Word is the lamp for our feet that shows us each step to take, so that we can confidently proceed in Your footsteps, not running ahead or lagging behind; right on Your schedule.
Father, You are never too early, nor are You ever late. When it seems to us that You are taking too much time to answer our prayers, we know that Your answer will be just in time.
You are taking the time we need to grow, to learn, to accomplish all the good works that You planned ahead of time for us to do. And everything will be ready for the Glorious Appearing of our King, Christ Jesus, our Lord.
O Father, find the rest of Your sheep. Locate and send Your under-shepherds out to find and rescue every one of Your little lost lambs, that not one will be lost, but that all will be gathered into the comfort and safety of Your fold. And there will be one Fold and one Shepherd.
O how grand, how magnificent, how glorious You are my Father! That You have planned such honor and such respect would be given Your children by Your holy Angels, and the fallen angels, and every created being.
We who could never deserve anything but Your wrath. Instead we who were the tail will be the head. Your ways, Father, are so beyond our ways! You are good, much better than we can ever imagine.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess in every language, that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, is the Lord God Almighty over the Universe, and our Magnificent, Sovereign King over all the World; to the glory of God the Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 2: 1-3
Therefore
Taking note of the teachings of the whole first chapter.
putting aside all malice
"Malice" is desiring to inflict injury, harm or suffering on another; meanness. Let's not do this any more.
and all deceit
This is concealing the Truth in order to mislead; fraud; cheating. This is never appropriate for a child of the King.
and hypocrisy
This word comes from "actor" and has come to mean a pretender, one who gives a pretense of being what he is not; of having good character when he does not possess the virtue he is pretending to have.
and envy
"Envy" is wanting what someone else has. People confuse it with "jealousy," which is a fear of losing what one has. God is a jealous God, and will not give His glory to another to be replaced by any other god.
We are to be content with what we have, and rejoice with others in what they have, not envy them.
and all slander,
This is to spread malicious untrue stories about someone, to tear down their character with lies.
As newborn babies,
One may be advanced in years, yet still a babe in spiritual matters.
long for the pure milk of the Word,
Milk is the "first food" of a newborn child, after the colostrum. This is the "perfect food" that provides all the nourishment the baby needs in order to grow. The pure milk of the Word would be the basic, fundamental Truths of who God is, what Jesus accomplished, and who we are in Him.
When we have an adequate understanding of these concepts, then we can go on to other things. But these are basic, and all the other teachings depend on these.
that by it you may grow in respect to Salvation,
We need to learn these first things so that we will be able to grow up spiritually into adults in God's family and in His Kingdom. We must prepare in order to eventually rule.
If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
If you have experienced the kindness, the graciousness of the Lord, in His having taken Your death upon Himself in your place, so that you could live with Him.
Peter says, "if." Because if you have not taken that first step, to realize that you deserve execution as a criminal because of your own sins, and that Jesus died for you; then you might as well just close the book, because you won't be able to understand the rest.
These smallest words may be the heaviest. "If." A tiny word. But with so much importance. It conveys doubt. "Since" would be "because of," assuming the salvation of the readers. But "if" conveys a wondering whether the hearers of this letter really do know the Lord.
So we must examine our own hearts and motives and understandings. Peter doesn't accuse here, he just throws out that "if" to encourage each one to examine himself. God only knows another person's heart. We are all responsible for our own thinking processes and desires, which result in what we do.
So if anyone has a problem with malice, or deceit, or hypocrisy, or envy, or slanderous gossip; then, by all means, get this settled with the Lord, in the privacy of your own heart, and ask for forgiveness and strength to do better. And if anyone else was harmed or hurt, then make amends. Get it right. Make it right.
O my Father, please help us to know ourselves. Our own hearts lie to us, and we are vulnerable to the attacks of the World and our enemy and his minions. Keep us aware of our own weaknesses, and rely on You for Your strength. Enable us to help one another, in a positive mode to build up, and not negatively blaming or accusing.
Give us eyes to see one another as You see us, Father. So that we will recognize Your image stamped upon each other, and encourage one another in our knowledge of You and our walk with You in our individual paths.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 1: 22-25
Since you have in obedience to the Truth
When they responded to God's calling to faith in believing the Gospel.
purified your souls
The Truth here is Jesus' fulfillment of the Law, in sacrificing Himself so that His Blood would wash away our sins. Now our souls, our hearts, are free from the shackles (sins) that bound our thinking processes.
for a sincere love of the brethren,
Now that our minds are clear, our affections for one another (fileo, brotherly love) are not clouded with the residue of the past, and we can consider one another with a fresh view.
fervently love one another from a clean heart,
Now we can love one another (agapeo, unconditional, as God loves us) without any filters, or barriers, to limit our care. From a clean heart, pure, not having any kind of dirt to interfere in our relationships with one another.
for you have been born again
Born a second time, the spiritual birth being compared to the physical birth.
not of seed which is perishable
Mortal, what will one day die; flesh.
but imperishable,
What will never die, spirit; that will continue to live on forever.
that is, through the living and enduring Word of God.
The Word of God is spirit, as Jesus told His disciples in John 6:63, It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing; the Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are Life. Our bodies are flesh.
When what is spiritual in us is gone, our bodies are dead. Our minds, our emotions, are spiritual, they have no substance. We are born with dead spirits, our life is only physical. Then when we are born spiritually the Holy Spirit comes in and makes our spirit alive. That is why it is referred to as a birth.
For:
All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. (See Psalm 103:15-16.)
This is our physical life. We have a very brief time here, our bodies will not last very long, even if we live a long life, it is but a moment compared to Eternity.
But God's Word is Life. Eternal Life, because He is eternal. His Word is Spirit, it is Life, it is Jesus, it is His Holy Spirit. It is God's breath, He spoke and we are.
And this is the Word which was preached to you.
This Living, eternal Life was given to us when we heard the Word and it penetrated our psyche into our very heart and soul, and caused us to be born spiritually with a real, vibrant, lasting Life.
This is the power of God's Word. And it now lives in us. We have no excuse, we need never go back to thinking like we used to think, or doing the things we used to do, before we were saved.
We are now transferred into a whole new realm.
I used to live in the world, with worldly thoughts, doing worldly things.
Now that God has found me and made me Alive, I see with new eyes, and can see what I was blind to before. I have understanding of things I never could have imagined before. Everything changed for me that day, though nothing around me changed, because I was born again.
O my Father, thank You so much for choosing me! Thank You for knowing me, and loving me anyway! Thank You for opening my eyes to Your Truth, and giving me understanding of what I could not conceptualize before.
Father, continue to teach me how to love others with Your Love. Show me how to demonstrate to others how much You Love them. Give me opportunities to give to others the same Love with which You have Loved me.
O Father, help us all to live together with one another in the fellowship and care for one another to build the society that You have designed us to be in.
Father, give us Your strength in our weaknesses, Your compassion in our apathy, Your provision in our lack, and Your joy in our misery.
You are our Source, my Father, of Life and Light and Love and everything else that we need, that comes of these.
Hold our hands as we walk through this vale of tears; keep our feet in the path You have placed them on, let us not wander or fall off the course, but step each step in Your footsteps, until we reach the end our our course. And may we look back to see how You have cause everything to work out for our benefit and Your glory!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 1: 13-21
Therefore,
When we see a "therefore," we need to see what it's there for. This means we are to keep in mind what we just covered in the previous verses: the Salvation we have, that even the Angels long to investigate.
This is to be our response:
prepare your minds for action,
Everything starts with our minds, how we think. We are to be transformed by the renewing our minds (Romans 12:2), because how we think determines our attitudes and our hearts, our feelings about things. This is where our actions come from.
keep sober in spirit,
Our thinking needs to be characterized by seriousness, realizing the gravity of the situation, keeping our emotions in control; not frivolous or upset.
fix your hope completely
Focus and concentrate on:
on the grace
On the free gift that God grants to us in His gracious generosity.
to be brought to you
Not only what we have enjoyed so far in this life, but what is still waiting for us to experience.
at the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus returns to this Earth and everyone will see Him. Then we will receive our spiritual bodies, participating in His Resurrection, and follow Him down on our own "white horses," to set up His Kingdom here.
As obedient children,
We are born into His family, we are sons and daughters of the King; we need to learn His royal ways and act like the princes and princesses we are.
do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,
Don't go back to wanting what you want when you want it, right now (lust); like you used to do, before you learned better.
but be like the Holy One who called you,
Take after your Father, as demonstrated by the Son, and separate yourself from all the things, places, and people that draw you back into Worldly ways.
be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
All our behavior, everything we do, all the time. We are different, we're not like how we used to be, we're changed into a whole new realm, the Kingdom of God. So we need to act like it.
because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44).
God wants His children to be like He is, and He is completely separate from everything He made (holy); so we need to separate ourselves (be holy) from all the worldly thinking and attitudes and opinions that surround us. Then our lives will look different from how they used to be, and from others around us who don't yet know the Lord. We should stick out.
If you address as Father
If you consider that God is your Father, and pray to Him as such.
The One who impartially judges
His judgment is totally impartial, not considering persons, but just comparing to His Law that He set for the Universe to run by.
according to each one's work,
All the stuff we end up doing with our lives: what we think, what we say, what we do, how we treat one another, our priorities, and our accomplishments.
conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on Earth;
This doesn't mean for us to be afraid, but to have a healthy respect for the authority God has over us, and the importance of aligning with His ways.
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold
Even the most valuable things in this World are only temporary.
from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
The way we were raised, the traditions we learned from our parents, that were handed down from our ancestors, were most likely Worldly; either no religion, or legalistic religion, or even non-Christian religion. Any way of living that is not according to God's ways is futile, ineffective, and incapable of producing any lasting result.
but with precious Blood, as of a Lamb unblemished and spotless, the Blood of Christ.
The Son of God was born as a Man, named Jesus, who came to be our Lamb of God, the Lamb God told Abraham that He would provide (Genesis 22:8). He sacrificed Himself on His altar, the Cross, and the precious Blood of God that He sprinkled on the sides of His altar was the full payment (propitiation) of our whole, eternal debt we each owe. He was the unblemished and spotless Lamb that the Law required (Leviticus 1:3, and others).
He alone could die without having to pay his own debt, as the Old Testament High Priest needed to have an animal die in his place for his own sins first, before he offered for the people. Jesus, tempted in His flesh, but never sinned, was the only One who could die for us.
For He was foreknown before the foundation of the World,
I can imagine that before anything was created, how the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were enjoying fellowship and conversation, deciding that they would create, and what they would create, and how it would work, and all the contingency plans. And the Son agreed to take responsibility for this Mankind that they would make. All before They (He) did anything to create.
but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
The "Last Times" began when Jesus rose and went back through the clouds into Heaven. He came for your sake, and for mine. That's how much He values us, and Loves us, each one of us.
who through Him are believers in God,
We who are believers, are given the faith to believe God through the Sacrifice Jesus offered for each of us.
who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory,
God the Father raised Jesus the Son from the dead, right out of His grave, to prove that He accepted the Payment He paid for us.
And because Jesus was willing to suffer, and went through all the agony and pain and grief; now He has been given this whole Universe, and our Earth, and everyone as His own possession. That makes Him our Sovereign King and Judge.
so that your faith and hope are in God.
Our loyalty and allegiance is to the ultimate highest Authority, God the Father. We believe Him, we trust His Word, we know He has already finished everything He told us He is doing, and has included us in His great Plan of the Ages.
So our hope for the future is confidence that what is ahead is already there, we just haven't seen it yet. What we do in the power of the Spirit who lives in us, God will reward us for; and we will be His kings and queens, ruling His New Heaven and New Earth in King Jesus' authority forever.
And every created being in Heaven and in Earth and under the Earth will worship and adore the Lord God of the Universe, Jesus of Nazareth, the Sovereign King over all; to the glory of Almighty God the Father.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 1: 10-12
As to this salvation,
The Salvation we just went over yesterday, in the verses just preceding these.
the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries,
Those ancient writers who penned the prophesies so long ago. They wanted to know what they were writing about.
seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating
The Spirit of Christ was telling them what He would do when He came. The Son is our Christ, who is the Lord God of the Old Testament, and the High Priest and Sacrifice of the New Covenant.
as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
He told them in advance of His coming, so that they would recognize Him when He came and fulfilled all these laws and prophesies. He laid it all out for them.
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you,
They knew that they would not live to see the fulfillment of what they were writing, so they weren't doing it for themselves or the people of their time, but their future time, when we would be living.
in these things which now have been announced to you
Now all these things that were written so long ago have been presented to us.
through those who preached the gospel to you
Our pastors and missionaries and teachers today are preaching and teaching us how Jesus came the first time and fulfilled what He had told the ancient prophets to write.
That He was our Personal Sacrifice given in the Law who suffered the execution death of a criminal to pay our debt. That's the first part of the prophesies.
The second part is that He rose from the dead, and received the Kingdom from His Father: the glory that follows the suffering.
by the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven--
The same Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Prophesy, is the same Spirit of Truth who taught the Prophets of Old, and who lives in us today to teach us these Truths.
--things into which Angels long to look.
Even God's holy Angels in Heaven are curious about how God's love for us planned out all these things and is carrying out His plans in accomplishing all the things that must be done to redeem this fallen race of Man.
The Angels are watching us, too. Watching how God is redeeming us from the foreclosure our enemy tried to pull over on us, buying us out of the eternal debt we owe for sin, paying off our mortgage in full. This is amazing.
That this sorry race of Mankind would get itself into such a pickle, to rebel against our very Source of Life, and get caught in a trap that snares us so hopelessly that there is nothing we can do no matter what we try.
Then our Hero steps in "at the last minute" and pays off our debt for us, breaks the chains that hold us fast, releases the trap that holds us securely, and washes us from the mud and grime and filth we are mired in.
Then He sends His Spirit to actually live inside our spirits, to keep us, and hold us accountable, and strengthen us, and change us. He is molding us, day by day, moment by moment, into the very image of the Son of God--His character of holiness and honor and glory!
This is incredible! No wonder the Angels are interested in seeing how this is all working out. We who had no hope at all, now have the hope--the certainty--of what we don't even see yet, all done for us! All we need to do is cooperate with Him!
That's the rub. If we don't even want to come to God, He won't force us. If we don't want His will, He lets us have our will.
But when we realize we can't do it, we're weak and need help; when we search for Him and seek Him honestly, then He will be found of us. He is searching for us, we're the ones who are lost! We are the lost lambs, caught in the thicket, and He comes and finds us and untangles our lives.
O my Father, You are Amazing! You are Incredible! You are so far beyond all the superlatives I can think of!
Your wisdom and discernment and cleverness has planned out this whole route. Your imagination is fabulous! All You need to do is to Say it, and it is!
And the Word You Said is Your Son, the Living Word (John 1:1-5). And You gave Him the authority, the Lordship over all You have made.
He was born as a Man, and given the Name Jesus. Now we have a face to put to our God. And He is our example, to show us who You are, and teach us Your order that You put into this Creation. First He suffered, then He receives the glory.
And we also, walking in His steps, accept (not welcome or desire [Gethsemane]) the problems, hardships, disappointments, and sorrows this World throws at us. We lean on You, Father, for the strength and perseverance to wade through all the stuff of life. And we learn the lessons they all teach us ("Well, I know not to do THAT again!" "Oh, THAT'S how I can get it done!").
And when we are finished with our course, and have matured to the degree You intend for each of us, then You will take us Home. And our Graduation will be when Jesus returns to this Earth to receive and set up His Kingdom here.
We will be raised, our mortal bodies taking on immortality, our flesh bodies being changed into spiritual bodies, and we will receive our rewards.
Rewards! For what You have done for us and in us and through us. You, Father, have done it all, yet You will reward us! Wow! You are so generous, Father, so gracious, so stupendous! Marvelous are Your works!
Father, I am eagerly anticipating what You have promised us! Please find all of Your little lost lambs who are still out there, on mountain crags, caught in thickets.
Send Your workers into Your missionary fields to find them, having compassion, ... and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 22-23). Give us the courage and boldness to do this, so that all the lost sheep will be found and brought into the safety of the Fold.
That there be One Fold and One Shepherd, that Your House will be full, every place at Your Banquet Table filled.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim in every language, that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord God Almighty, our Sovereign King over all Creation, to the glory of God the Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 1: 3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We give credit to God the Father, the great God and Originator of the concept of Creation, the Head over all; who is Father to our Lord Jesus, our Christ.
who according to His great mercy
It is the Father's mercy that does not give us the punishment we deserve.
has caused us to be born again
We receive our physical life from our mothers when we are conceived and born. But we are born with dead spirits, so we need to receive spiritual life, too. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born again," spiritually (John 3:3-7).
to a living hope
The World sees hope as a wish, but our hope in the Lord is alive, it's knowing we can trust Him to do what He says He will do, He will keep every promise. Our hope is knowing that we just haven't seen it yet.
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Because Jesus rose from the dead, we know that everything He said is True, and we can trust Him implicitly. It's not blind faith, because we can see spiritually what the physical eye cannot. Because He lives I can face tomorrow.
To obtain an inheritance
An inheritance is received after the death of the one we inherit from. Jesus died, and we stand to inherit all His riches. We have already received this inheritance, we just don't see it yet.
which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
Everything in this World is temporary. It wears out. It breaks down. It decays. Science calls it the Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy. It is the curse God put on the whole Universe as the consequence of sin. Because it is damaged, it must be done away with, so that the perfect can come in.
The inheritance we have is not damaged, it is perfect, so God is keeping it safe for us with Himself where He lives, ready to give it to us at the right time, when we're ready for it.
Who are protected by the power of God
To make sure we will get it, He is protecting us, too, so that we will not miss receiving what He has already given to us, by His great power.
through faith
Through our trust, our reliance on Him.
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
We have already been saved from the power of sin over our lives right now. This Salvation that we will experience is when God Redeems us out of this body of mortal flesh by changing it into a spiritual body, transforming us to be like Jesus in His Resurrection Body. Because He rose, we also will rise.
In this you greatly rejoice,
Anticipating this, we can feel happy, we can rejoice in knowing it's there waiting for us, we can be joyful in realizing what God has already prepared for us to enjoy.
even though now for a little while, if necessary,
Regardless of the circumstances we may find ourselves in right now.
you have been distressed by various trials,
These Jewish Christians don't fit into either the Jewish society of their relatives, or the Gentile society of their neighbors. So they are vulnerable to mistreatment and persecution for being "different."
Just like when we live as Christians in the midst of our secular societies today.
So that the proof of your faith,
If our faith is genuine, we truly are trusting in God and Jesus' Sacrifice on our behalf; then no matter how others treat us won't matter or turn us away from God's ways in contrast to the World's ways.
being more precious than gold which is perishable,
The most valuable substance we have on this Earth has always been gold. But gold is of this Earth, so will one day be consumed by the fire of God.
Our faith is more precious, has greater worth and value than anything on this Earth or in this World. We are more precious and we have greater worth and value than anything else God created including His holy Angels.
even though tested by fire,
Just as gold is refined by fire, so we also are tested by the refining fire (not consuming fire) of trials and sorrows and troubles.
may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
For the purpose of refining us, our lives, our attitudes, our thinking processes; so that it will be right and proper for us to receive all the honorable and valuable things He has already given to us, that we will experience when He returns. When He comes back to set up His Kingdom on this Earth, every eye will see Him, He will be manifested to the whole World, the whole Universe! And we will be with Him!
And though you have not seen Him, you love Him,
Even though we have not seen Him with our eyes yet, we know him; and to know Him is to love Him, because He is Love and we cannot help but love Him back!
and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him,
Even though we still haven't seen Him with our eyes, we still trust Him and lean on Him and depend on Him. In my weakness I must rely on His strength.
you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
The joyfulness we can enjoy right now cannot even be put into words!
Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
We can experience this joy as the result of knowing that we are seen of God right now as already finished with this schooling and graduated into the position of kings and queens ruling the New Heaven and New Earth in the authority of King Jesus.
Our souls are mentioned here, because that is where our minds and emotions reside, from whence come our attitudes and lifestyles. Our hearts are the wellspring from which our lives come (Proverbs 4:23).
When Jesus "saves your soul," He saves all of you: your body, your soul, and your spirit. We are three-part beings, made in the image of God, and we are not complete without all three parts.
Paul said that to be without the body is to be unclothed, and we don't want to be naked, but to wear the spiritual robe of our glorified, spiritual body (II Corinthians 5: 1-4).
So the Blood of Jesus shed for us, sprinkled upon the sides of His altar, the Cross, has such high value that He cleansed our whole selves, and bought the whole Universe. That's why He came. And that's why the Father put it all in His hand to own. And that's why He rules.
O Father, You are the Great Originator. O Lord Jesus, You are the Savior and Redeemer and King over all. O Spirit, You are the Holy Being who lives in us, the Power that gives us victory over sin, and teaches us God's ways, and has sealed us up from ever getting lost or losing out on what God has planned for us.
O Holy Trinity, You are our Great God! There is no other! There could never be any other that could in the least even compare with You! You have shown us how to think, how to live, how to worship You, how to see ourselves as You see us, how to humble ourselves beneath Your great Awesomeness!
You have done it all: You thought it all up, planned it all out, took care of every exigency, wrapped it all up in Your mercy and grace, and finished it to the very end. And now we are watching You work it all out in the line of Time.
When Time is no more for this Universe, then You will go on to make other Universes and Worlds and Creations from Your limitless imagination! Forever and ever and ever.
You have told us that His Kingdom will never stop increasing! (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I Peter 1: 1-2
Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ,
This is Peter who denied Jesus three times, and was restored on the shore of Lake Tiberius when Jesus fixed them breakfast after their night of fishing.
And Peter is the one who stood up and preached to the Jews in Jerusalem who had gathered from all parts of the known world for the Feast of Pentecost, and three thousand people became Believers, some of whom were from the areas mentioned next.
To those who reside as aliens, throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
These are Jews who lived in these Gentile areas. These are areas that are to the North and East of where Paul took his missionary journeys, so their faith came from being in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, when they heard Peter's sermon; and those who believed through them.
who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
When the Father, the Son, and the Spirit decided to create, and that they would give Mankind a free choice, that is when the Father decided that those who would want to come to Him would be the ones who would be saved. He knew our names even then.
by the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
It is the Spirit who sets us apart to understand God's call and come to Jesus.
to obey Jesus Christ
Jesus is our Christ, and He is also the Law-Giver of the Old Testament. He knew what He would do, so He told His people so they would recognize Him. When the Spirit opens our eyes, then we can see that Jesus is our Savior, and turn to Him.
and be sprinkled with His Blood:
When we turn to Jesus, we realize that He is our personal Sacrifice who took our place in death, and His Blood that sprinkled the sides of His altar, the Cross, will not just cover, but wash away all our sinfulness. Both the sins we are guilty of, and our very sin-nature we are born with naturally.
May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
This is Peter's greeting to these scattered Messianic Jews. It's only the very beginning of his letter to them. This is Peter's "Dear Brothers."
All the things Peter described here only constitute the first step, the birth of the new baby.
These are things we need to understand first, the "mother's milk" to nourish us as we grow into the toddlerhood of our spiritual life. As we learn to walk in the knowledge of God, we will progress along the path God has put our feet on, that narrow path that leads to glory.
O my Father, thank You so much for knowing us, and loving us, and choosing us out of the World, so we can be born into Your own family. Thank You for the new identity You give each of us, to learn to live as Your children, the children of the Great King.
Father, hold our hands as we travel this road with You, learning who You are, and who we are now. Help us to pay attention to Your lessons, to learn how to think Your thoughts and have Your attitudes and views.
Keep us from going back to our old ways, Father. You have given us Your own Spirit to live in us to strengthen us, so we have no excuse.
Thank You for Peter, Father. Thank You for Jesus who Loves us more than we can imagine; to leave his glory in Heaven with You to be one of us, so that He could make us fit to live with You. You didn't want Heaven without us, so You did everything possible so we could be able to be with You.
Father, Your plans for each one of us brings us through all the trials, troubles, and sorrows this World can throw at us, but Your Spirit in us encourages us and strengthens us and enables us to carry on, to push through, and to gain the victory.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
