Peter reminds Christians that their suffering is essential to their final salvation. They are safe and guarded by God through faith. Though they have not seen Jesus, they love him.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Podcast. We’re so thankful that you’ve taken the time to join us today and want you to know that this is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode.
This is our first episode in the book of 1 Peter entitled, “Christ a Predicted, Powerful, Purifying, and Precious Savior,” where we’ll discuss 1 Peter 1:1-12. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, give us a brief overview of 1 Peter and what we’re going to see in these verses we’re looking at today.
Andy
Well, I would love to. This is one of two epistles written by really the foremost of the 12 apostles that the Lord discipled and trained in his earthly ministry. Peter, just remarkable to see how God used him despite his many failings and weaknesses, but what an incredible leader he was. And here he’s got a shepherd heart, he’s an under shepherd, he’s going to say that later in the same book, and he has a tremendous care for the suffering people of God.
So this is a book written to people who are being persecuted, people who are struggling and suffering, and the primary message is to focus on Christ, to understand this Jesus whom we have not seen, but we love, who was predicted in the prophecies, and who will be with them through all of their trials, and that they would understand that their trials have worth and value in finishing their salvation. So throughout the book, we’re going to see Peter writing to different ones, such as slaves with harsh masters, perhaps wives with unbelieving husbands, and just people in general being persecuted by the surrounding world. Peter has a word of encouragement to all of them.
Wes
Well, for the sake of our time today, I’m going to go ahead and read 1 Peter 1:1-12:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
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. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials 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. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Andy, how is it helpful to meditate on Peter’s calling Christians elect?
Andy
Well, it is vital for us to understand the eternal purposes of God, that from before the foundation of the world, Paul tells us in Ephesians, God chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight. We are chosen people. That’s what election is about, God’s choosing, and Peter’s going to tell us, as Paul does as well, that it’s based on the foreknowledge of God, and we’re going to try to understand that. I believe it’s not information about us that God had ahead of time, which God has all information about us ahead of time, we don’t deny that, but that’s not the basis of election that he chose us because he knew some things about us, but rather that he set his covenant love on us before the foundation of the world, and what that does is it gives us security. It gives us a sense of absolute protection and especially, as I mentioned, these people going through suffering, going through persecution, elect strangers or aliens in the world, knowing that God has set his electing love on you—completely apart from what you deserve—before you were even born or had done anything good or bad, he chose you and loved you, gives us a sense of security.
Wes
That’s so helpful. I want to pick up on the word that you mentioned, aliens or exiles here. Why is it vital for us to meditate on our status as aliens or exiles? Is it possible for us to feel too comfortable or at home in this world?
Andy
Absolutely. I think it’s a great temptation, especially we who are in the West, and we’re used to a certain level of affluence, a certain level of ease in the world. We look on problems with our bodies and with our circumstances as something to be solved. They frequently are solved by giving time, energy and money to them. We can change the climate. We can set the thermostat, so that the temperature’s just how we like. Actually, my car that I’m driving now has heated seats. It’s got a dimmer switch on the heating or whatever. I can get the heating just right.
Wes
Just right.
Andy Davis
And that’s just that climate-controlled approach, and we can become very comfortable here. But most of God’s people throughout the world have had a very harsh life. They’ve been persecuted and not been welcomed by the surrounding culture or the prevailing religion of their land or the prevailing government. They have known that they were in great distress, and so I think it’s harmful for us spiritually to think that we should learn to be comfortable here, that this world is our home. It isn’t. This world is much more like a corridor through which we are passing to get to something else, and so what we do is we pass through matters greatly, but our circumstances don’t matter much.
Imagine if you were with a friend in a nice hotel, and you’re walking down a carpeted corridor, and your friend has a pretty expensive oil painting that he bought and he brought to the hotel, and halfway down the corridor he stops and puts nails in the wall and starts hanging up this framed painting. You’re like, “What are you doing? First of all, it’s not your wall—it’s a hotel. They’re going to be upset. Second of all, we are just passing through. You don’t need to make the hallway better.” So I think for us to meditate on being aliens and strangers in this world is vital.
Wes
Absolutely. Now, how are God’s elect dispersed throughout the world?
Andy
Well, God in his wisdom and his sovereignty has controlled the geographical spread of his elect people. Now, of those that are alive now, the elect people that are in the body now, in the flesh on planet Earth they’re in two categories: as yet unconverted and converted. Now, we have seen an explosive spread of the gospel even in our lifetime, but certainly, within the last 100 years so that literally every political nation on Earth has converted elect people there. However, every nation on Earth, every nation, tribe, people and language has elect people, unconverted elect, we would even say, and they are scattered all over the world, and they’re scattered according to the infinitely wise and inscrutable plan of God. He knows exactly what he’s doing, how many in one country, how many in the other, et cetera, scattered by God’s wisdom throughout the world.
In other words, scattered is important too. Jesus talks about anyone who does not gather with me scatters, and so sin had a scattering effect. Also, God scattered the sinners from the Tower of Babel to be scattered all over the earth. Also in John 11, when Caiaphas said, “It is beneficial that one should die and that the nation should not perish,” (paraphrase of John 11:50) John tells us as an editorial comment he was not speaking of just the physical situation, but he was speaking of God’s people and not of the Jews only, but he says of the scattered people of God that Christ would bring them together and make them one—that there’d be one flock, one shepherd. So it’s amazing this scattering. So missions is all about finding the scattered, unconverted elect people.
Wes
I love that image. Now as we take the next step into verse 2 here in Peter’s greeting to these elect exiles, what does verse 2 teach us about the role of the Trinity in our salvation and God’s sovereignty in human salvation?
Andy
Yeah, this is a trinitarian verse. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you,” (2 Corinthians 13:14), that’s another trinitarian verse, or, “Baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). But this is another trinitarian passage here, and this time it shows different offices of the Trinity. We believe in three persons. The church fathers that went before us and wrangled out the language by which we could talk about the Triune God, three persons, one God, one God and three persons, the Father, the Son and the Spirit, co-equal, co-eternal, but have different roles. So here we get an insight into the different roles that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have, and it’s not exhaustive. He doesn’t say every aspect of the Son’s role, but here the Father was the one who chose us, and he’s the one that foreknew us. He set his love on us. It’s really like a marriage-sort of love. He set his knowledge of us in an intimate, loving, committed way before we were even born.
According to the foreknowledge of God, we were elect. So God the Father chooses us. He mentions the Spirit next, where he talks about the sanctifying work of the Spirit. There, I think he’s talking first and foremost about being set apart by the Spirit for salvation completely, so include justification and sanctification and glorification, but the Spirit sets apart the people of God. I really believe that the Spirit begins working on the elect from the moment they’re born. He is showing mercy to the elect from the moment they’re born, getting them ready for their future conversion. But the sanctifying work of the Spirit, sanctifying there meaning set apart unto God, is unique and being dealt with in that way.
“For obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood,” (1 Peter 1:2). So the goal of the salvation there is that we would obey King Jesus. So that really is a powerful word in terms of our obedience. If we love him, we’ll obey him. Sprinkling by his blood means that purifying the application of the atoning blood of Jesus cleansing us from all sin, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son in that order here.
“The goal of the salvation there is that we would obey King Jesus. So that really is a powerful word in terms of our obedience. If we love him, we’ll obey him.”
Wes
Wow. That’s an amazing introduction to this letter that we’ll look at together. As we move then into verse 3, the epistle begins with a word of praise to the God and Father of Jesus for this living hope that’s mentioned here as well. What does this teach us about the role worship should play in our lives?
Andy
Yeah, I think we are saved, in the end, we are saved so that we may worship the triune God. But it’s interesting, there are not pictures of trinitarian worship. I think all roads ultimately go to God the Father. Jesus came to bring us to the Father, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6). This is how I tend to look at the role of the Trinity. The Spirit delivers Jesus to us, and Jesus delivers the Father to us, kind of like that. “He is the image of the invisible God,” (Colossians 1:15), et cetera. So ultimately, all praise and glory goes to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reason we’re saved is that we can give him worship. We’re going to find out the details and the dimensions and the aspects of our salvation that will all be fresh, eternal fodder or reasons why we will worship. It’s pretty exciting. So he gives praise to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wes
So what then is the relationship between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and sinners being born again to a living hope? Who causes this new birth?
Andy
So the Holy Spirit gives us the new birth. We’re born from above, born by the Spirit, John 3. So here Peter picks up on the same language that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John 3, but here and we have it in Peter. We have been born again. There’s a new birth. We’re born, he says, into a living hope, which is such a powerful image, the living hope. What is hope but a feeling, a sense in the heart, in the mind, that the future is bright.
It’s a living hope, I think he uses that phrase ’cause it’s linked to the living Lord, to Jesus. Our hopes will die if Jesus ever can be killed again, but he can’t be. He will never die again. So as long as he lives, we have a living hope. His resurrection will be our resurrection. He is the first fruit of a big harvest of people who will be resurrected. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives us an unquenchable hope. Therefore, that one of the greatest anomalies there could ever be would be a despondent or despairing or hopeless Christian. That doesn’t make any sense. We should be filled with good hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
“Our hopes will die if Jesus ever can be killed again, but he can’t be. He will never die again. So as long as he lives, we have a living hope. His resurrection will be our resurrection.”
Wes
Well, let’s press a little more into that then in verse 4. What’s the inheritance that can never perish, be defiled, or fade, and how should knowledge of this inheritance influence our daily attitude and disposition?
Andy
Okay, so fundamentally, when all is said and done, an inheritance is some treasure that you get, generally, we understand that you get upon the death of someone. So someone dies and they name you in their will and you get this valuable thing. It could be real estate, it could be treasure, that’s what we think of when we think of an inheritance. All right. So for us in this case, the inheritance is something we get when we die. There is an argument made that a covenant is ratified by the death of the one who made it. Paul says that in Romans. So Jesus died to give us an inheritance. You could see it that way, but fundamentally, it’s what we get in the next world. It’s what we get in the future.
What do we get? I’ll just say it in one word: God. God is the inheritance. “Fear not, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great reward,” Genesis 15:1. God is what we get in heaven. It’s what the Levites got. They didn’t get an inheritance in allotted territory. They got God. “I am your inheritance,” he says that. Well, we then become like the nation of priests. We get God. So what is it you get as a Christian? You get God, and that is infinitely enough. Now you get a lot of other things too. You get a resurrection body. You get a place at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You get property of your own, Jesus said, a portion of the new heaven and new Earth that will be yours. You get a right to enter the new Jerusalem, part of that redeemed, undefiled nation. You get all of these good things. That’s all part of the inheritance, but all of it is God, the glory of God, and all of it. The inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for us is God in all of that glorious manifestation.
Wes
Now, really, that’s a helpful point as well that it’s kept and secure. How are both we and our inheritance protected by the sovereign power of God?
Andy
Yeah, guarded, kept, shielded. So that language implies danger. It implies attack. It implies an enemy. I think Peter’s picking up on some of the language from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,”—inheritance—“there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:19-21). That’s hope. So as you look ahead, you’ve got this protected treasure up in heaven, he says. Now in the context there, he’s talking about our good works. We can store up treasure. We can accumulate through doing good works, glorious treasure, which like I said, all roads lead to God.
So we get more and more of God by serving him in this world, but it’s under attack. So we have the ancient triad of enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil are assaulting us at every moment, and we are protected, kept, guarded by the power of God. He will not let us be destroyed by Satan’s works. Satan has been pounding on me since October of 1982. He has been specially pounding on me since I came into vocational ministry and took the responsibility to be an undershepherd. Same thing with you, Wes. We’ve got a target on our back so to speak, and Satan comes after us, but the Lord is sovereign. He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. He will protect us. He’ll put a hedge around us like you did with Job. He’s going to shield us and protect us. He will not allow us to be swept away. He has prayed for us that our faith will not fail, Jesus has, and it won’t. So we are kept or guarded by the power of God. It’s pretty awesome.
Wes
Yeah. Praise the Lord.
Andy
Yeah.
Wes
What is the salvation that will be revealed yet in the future? I think we’ve talked about this, ultimately, that it’s being with God. You’ve been preaching in 1 Corinthians, so we’ve talked about the resurrection body being glorified. Peter uses an interesting phrase, “guarded through faith.” What is this salvation, and in what way is it guarded through faith? What does that mean?
Andy
Okay, so we definitely need to see a time orientation of our salvation. If we are Christians right now, we’re born again, we’ve been justified, then we could use this language. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. So we got an “are being saved” or continual sense here in verse 9, “You are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” That’s present dynamic. We are getting saved, that’s sanctification. He’s working on us, purifying us, bringing trials in our lives, using our trials to refine and purify our faith like he says.
We have been saved by believing in Jesus, by being born again and being forgiven of all our sins, but there is a yet future salvation. There’s a salvation that’s yet to come, and that is glorification. So that comes in two stages unless we’re part of the final generation, then it comes instantaneously at the same time. All right? The two stages for us if we die is the glorification of the soul first, when we’re absent from the body present with the Lord. We’ll never sin again, but we don’t have our bodies yet. Then at the resurrection, at the second coming of Christ, then we receive the final act of our salvation. So we are looking ahead to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. It’s a future salvation. That must mean resurrection, the resurrection body.
Wes
That’s beautiful.
Andy
Yeah.
Wes
Now, what painful topic does Peter address in verses 6-9? How do these verses relate to other passages we may be familiar with like James 1 or Romans 5?
Andy
You know, I wasn’t listening to you a second ago, ’cause I just realized I didn’t answer your question about how are we kept or shielded by faith?
Wes
Sure.
Andy
Okay, let me say that real quickly.
Wes
We can answer that first.
Andy
All right, and then ’cause you have to say it again. So I was like, “Oh, man, I missed that question.” All right, how are we shielded by faith again? It is essential for us to keep believing in a Jesus we’ve never seen, and he’s going to talk about that, though you have not seen him. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11:1). We need to keep believing in Jesus while we live in this world. That’s why Jesus says to Peter, I alluded to it a moment ago, but, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift all of you,” plural, “like wheat,” that includes us. “But I prayed for you, Simon—in particular ’cause you’re about to have the hardest night of your life. You are going to be assaulted by the devil—but I’ve prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back—repented from your sin that you’re about to commit—strengthen your brothers,” (paraphrase of Luke 22:31-32).
So he, Jesus, is at the right hand of God, Hebrews 7:25, and is constantly living to intercede for us to what end? That our faith won’t fail. We are being shielded, or kept, by our faith, and therefore, our faith must not fail. We must continue believing in Jesus. That’s our protection. It’s like a force field like the old Star Trek force field that went around the whole ship, the Enterprise or whatever. It’s a force field that protects us from being mortally wounded in our souls. Our faith shields us. So all right, what was the next question?
Wes
All right, that’s really helpful for us as we think about faith and why that’s so vital for us as we look ahead to that inheritance that’s secure. What painful topic then does Peter address in verses 6-9, and how do these verses relate to James 1 and Romans 5?
Andy
Grief in various kinds of trials, that’s the painful topic: the afflictions, the sorrows, the sufferings of Christians in this world. It’s a great unanswered question. It was Job’s question, “Why is this happening to me?” So in Job’s case, it was the loss of everything earthly that he put any value on at all except his wife. So you’re talking about 10 children, we’re talking about all of his material possessions, you’re talking about his health, everything. Those are afflictions. Very, very few of us have that level of suffering to go through. Paul had all manner and levels of afflictions and sorrows and imprisonments and riots and people hating him and swearing to never eat again until they had assassinated him and things like that. That’s afflictions.
Most of us have lesser afflictions, but it could be just stuff common to all people, namely, our physical maladies and aging and pains or accidents, car accidents, things that happen. But then there’s special trials that Christians go through such as temptations, wrestling with sin, and the difficulties of being witnesses as we try to share our faith and people persecute us. So these are the afflictions. So the painful trials, that’s the question. Why is this happening to me? Peter addresses that. Yeah.
Wes
So what then is the specific purpose? Why would we go through various fiery trials? Peter talks here also about just the value of faith in the midst of that, but what exactly is the specific purpose of these various fiery trials?
Andy
Well, you know, it’s interesting, I have a little different translation of verse 6 than you do.
Wes
Sure.
Andy
Why don’t you read verse 6, ’cause I like your translation a little better than mine?
Wes
So verse 6 says, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.”
Andy
That phrase is not in my translation, the “if necessary.” Well, guess what? It’s necessary—‘cause everybody goes through trials.
Wes
Right.
Andy
And the reason is, and let me tell you, I remember memorizing this. I did extended memorization of scripture in 1 Peter years ago. It was shortly after my marriage. I’ll never forget this, and I had a job that meshed perfectly with my seminary training. It was a great job. I had a Christian boss, and we had Bible studies, and the schedule was flexible for my MDiv and all this. It all worked out well. When I got back from my honeymoon, my boss was still in place, but he was now reporting to a new boss, a new head of, or director of engineering. That man was one of the most aggressive anti-Christians I ever worked with in my 10 years of secular employment. He was extremely hostile to me personally, to the Bible studies we did, to my special schedule.
He basically said, “You have to work the same hours as all the other engineers or you can’t be here,” and the owner of the company let him lay down that law. So I had to basically quit my job. It put my wife and I into immediate financial crisis. I had to choose between that and my seminary training, but I already decided I was preparing to be a pastor, and it was very, very painful. It wasn’t just that it was done, it was how it was done. It’s how miserable this individual was toward me. It was very mean. I was memorizing this very chapter, and verse 7 was incredibly encouraging to me. The purpose—these trials have come so that. I was arrested by the so that. It’s not mindless. It’s not purposeless. It’s specifically crafted and chosen by your heavenly Father. He is a sculptor carving at your soul with a skillful hammer and chisel stroke, and yes, it hurts. He knows it hurts. He doesn’t want to hurt you. It’s not his goal. But there is a purpose for the specific trials you go through and how long you must endure them.
Another image I have is of baking cookies. My wife is an excellent baker. You know, she’ll bake cookies, or she’ll bake muffins, and she’ll pull them out, like muffins in particular, and stick a toothpick in them and pull out the toothpick. If it comes out with wet batter, guess what? Going back in, going back in. So we’ll be in that 350 degree oven for as many minutes as is needed to get the job done. So we have to have this so that our faith, which is a greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine. You’re genuinely born again and may be purified by the trials, and that’s the purpose.
Wes
What does verse 8 teach us about our relationship with the invisible Christ, and how does this relate to the joy that Peter describes here?
Andy
Jesus, “though you have not seen him, you love him,” (1 Peter 1:8). It’s very much like Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed,” (John 20:29). So though we have not seen him, that’s the Holy Spirit’s work. Isn’t that incredible? We are in that blessed group that Jesus talked about with Thomas. Blessed are they who have not seen Jesus and yet have believed. Peter’s writing to those same people, category. He’s saying, “You’re aliens and strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia now all over the world who have never seen Jesus, and yet we believe in Him. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.” That melts me. Yeah, I do. “Why do you love Jesus?” I love Him for who He is. “Well, how do you know who He is?” I read about it in the Gospels and in Scripture. I read about Him, and I love Him, and I love what he did for me, that he died for me. I love that he’s never forsaken me. He’s never left me or forsaken me. I love that he has promised me good things in the future, and I’ll get to look at him forever and get to fall down before him and be one of his billion closest friends. I get to be part of that. I love him even though I haven’t seen him, and I believe in him, and I trust him even though I still don’t see him. So that’s the focus and that shows the Holy Spirit has worked in me and in you, Wes. That’s how you believe in someone you’ve never seen.
Wes
And that produces in us this rejoicing and joy at the fact that we would be able to enjoy that relationship, which is so sweet.
Andy
Yeah, that’s a very powerful expression. It was one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read in my life, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, it’s called Joy Unspeakable comes right from this verse. “Joy unspeakable” is the KJV translation. It’s a joy you really can’t put into words. It’s like, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds,” (Philippians 4:6-7). So there’s a peace that goes beyond understanding. This is the joy that goes beyond verbal expression. You can’t put it into words. It’s just like Paul, when he came back from the third heaven, he heard inexpressible things, things that man’s not permitted to talk about. So I can’t put it into words, and I’m not allowed to try. That’s what heaven is all about. It’s an inexpressible joy. You can’t even say why. It’s just a joy that fills your heart.
Wes
So as we look at verse 9, how does it reveal our salvation to be an ongoing process?
Andy
Yeah, I mentioned that’s we are being saved. So in the process of affliction, the fiery trial we’re going through if necessary—yes, it’s necessary that our faith be purified as by fire. In that process, we are receiving the goal of our faith, which is the salvation of our soul. Our soul is being saved. It’s being purified. It’s being gotten ready for heaven. We are being humbled. We will be humble in heaven. Think about that. We’re going to be perfectly humble. “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord,” (2 Corinthians 10:17). We’re going to boast in the Lord in heaven. So we are receiving a purification of our souls, a fittedness and a readiness for heaven because of these trials we’re going through.
Wes
Now, Peter rounds out this opening section here, talking about the gospel being predicted clearly by the prophets.
Andy
Yes.
Wes
What do verses 10-12 teach us about these Old Testament prophets and the scriptures that they wrote?
Andy
Okay, so the prophet’s knew aspects of our salvation, Peter calls it, “the grace that was to come to you,” so the grace of our salvation. They knew about it in part, and they wanted to know more. It says in my translation, “The prophets searched intently with the greatest care.” They’re trying to find out more details. What are they trying to find out? The time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing. So they want to know more details. “Well, when’s that going to be? How’s it going to be? Tell me more. I want to know more.”
They want to know more about these two categories, the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. By the way, that’s a great two-part outline of Psalm 22, which begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Talks about, “They have pierced my hands and my feet.” He’s surrounded by bulls, they’re ravenous lions, whatever. Then suddenly, “I will praise you among my brothers to the ends of the earth,” (paraphrase of Psalm 22:22). It suddenly changes the entire mood and celebrates and rejoices. So you got the cross and then heaven in Psalm 22. It’s a great two-part outline of Psalm 22, the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories, and what is that? His own resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of God, exalted above every power and heaven and earth under the earth, all of the angels worshiping him, then a steady stream in every generation of redeemed, elect people saved by the power of God, falling down before that same throne—subsequent glories. That’s how awesome that is. I’m getting excited.
Wes
That’s amazing.
Andy
Isn’t that good?
Wes
It’s awesome.
Andy
So anyway, the prophets wanted to know more about that, the Spirit of Christ was in them back then. We’re talking about Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, when he wrote Psalm 22, all of these Old Testament prophets, but especially Daniel, more than anyone else. Why? Because Daniel, more than any other prophet asked about the visions and we’re told, “Don’t worry about it.” He at the end, read about it in Daniel 12 and in earlier other times, he says, “I don’t get it.” He says, “Seal it up for it concerns a subsequent time.” “I’d like to know more.” “You don’t need to know more.” “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you,”—future generations (1 Peter 1:12). “So you, Daniel, finish up your job here, and die and go to heaven and you’ll go into your glory. Other people will read your scroll, and they’ll understand more, abomination of desolation, the Son of Man vision, all of that. They’ll get it. But you just write it down.”
So here’s the thing. We talk about author’s original intent with the prophecies. They didn’t know what they were writing about. There’s some things they just could not have understood. When Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53 about the Suffering Servant and all that, Isaiah didn’t fully understand what he was writing about. Isaiah’s original intent doesn’t matter. What’s the Holy Spirit’s original intent? The Spirit of Christ in them was pointing ahead to the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories when he wrote Isaiah 53. So that means we got these predictions, these prophecies of Jesus written down by the prophets. That gives us a sense of assurance, of certainty. You’re going through afflictions for a faith that was predicted long before you were born.
Wes
Yeah, well, and the power that’s promised that we have now with the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. When you talk about the Holy Spirit’s intent in what was written down, that same Spirit by God’s grace, he dwells within us and now guides us into truth so we can understand and see those connections you were talking about.
Andy
The Spirit is mentioned twice. The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets and the Spirit of Christ was in the evangelists, the ones who spoke to you, apostles perhaps at that early stage, but messengers, the ones who came. The Spirit of Christ wrote it, and then the Spirit of Christ was in the evangelist that brought it to you and said, “Hey, look at this, read this,” et cetera. Spirit’s all over your salvation. That’s why I say we cannot worship him highly enough. We would not be saved if it weren’t for the Spirit. You wouldn’t care. You wouldn’t know anything about Jesus, first of all. And second of all, you wouldn’t care about Jesus if it weren’t for the third person in the Trinity.
Wes
Now there’s an interesting phrase at the end of verse 12, a little comma here in the ESV, and then it says, “Things into which angels long to look.” What does that mean?
Andy
Well, it’s interesting again, the book of Daniel, there are angels, clearly angels who in Daniel 12 don’t get it either, and they’re asking questions. Some answers are given to them and some are not, so angels are learning things too. Angels are surprised. In the book of Revelation, things happen and there’s silence in heaven for half an hour, like, “Wow.” So they’re tracking along with they don’t know everything. They’re not omniscient. God alone is omniscient. The angels don’t even know, and so they’re longing to looking into these things. So when things happen, they erupt in excitement. When the Son of God is born into the world by the virgin Mary, they let all God’s angels worship him. They’re like, “Yeah, hallelujah.” They’re praising God. It’s awesome.
Wes
Well, Andy, thanks for walking through these first 12 verses with us. I’m excited for what’s ahead in the rest of 1 Peter. What final thoughts do you have for us on this passage?
Andy
Well, this may be speaking directly to you. Maybe that you’re going through, dear listener, afflictions and trials, and you don’t know why. Keep in mind, God never explained himself to Job. He didn’t tell why. He didn’t say, “By the way, I had a conversation with Satan about you.” He never said that. We know more about that now than he did then. Now he knows more now than we do now because he’s up in heaven. But the fact is God doesn’t explain himself. He just says, “Trust me, I know what I’m doing and I’m refining your faith. I’m refining your soul. I’m saving your soul, so don’t murmur against me. Don’t complain. Don’t be angry. Just be patient and keep trusting me.”
Wes
May we learn to trust him more and more. This has been episode 1 in the book of 1 Peter. We want to invite you to join us next time for episode 2 entitled, “You Shall Be Holy, For I am Holy,” where we’ll discuss 1 Peter 1:13-25. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Podcast. We’re so thankful that you’ve taken the time to join us today and want you to know that this is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode.
This is our first episode in the book of 1 Peter entitled, “Christ a Predicted, Powerful, Purifying, and Precious Savior,” where we’ll discuss 1 Peter 1:1-12. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, give us a brief overview of 1 Peter and what we’re going to see in these verses we’re looking at today.
Andy
Well, I would love to. This is one of two epistles written by really the foremost of the 12 apostles that the Lord discipled and trained in his earthly ministry. Peter, just remarkable to see how God used him despite his many failings and weaknesses, but what an incredible leader he was. And here he’s got a shepherd heart, he’s an under shepherd, he’s going to say that later in the same book, and he has a tremendous care for the suffering people of God.
So this is a book written to people who are being persecuted, people who are struggling and suffering, and the primary message is to focus on Christ, to understand this Jesus whom we have not seen, but we love, who was predicted in the prophecies, and who will be with them through all of their trials, and that they would understand that their trials have worth and value in finishing their salvation. So throughout the book, we’re going to see Peter writing to different ones, such as slaves with harsh masters, perhaps wives with unbelieving husbands, and just people in general being persecuted by the surrounding world. Peter has a word of encouragement to all of them.
Wes
Well, for the sake of our time today, I’m going to go ahead and read 1 Peter 1:1-12:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
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. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials 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. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Andy, how is it helpful to meditate on Peter’s calling Christians elect?
Andy
Well, it is vital for us to understand the eternal purposes of God, that from before the foundation of the world, Paul tells us in Ephesians, God chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight. We are chosen people. That’s what election is about, God’s choosing, and Peter’s going to tell us, as Paul does as well, that it’s based on the foreknowledge of God, and we’re going to try to understand that. I believe it’s not information about us that God had ahead of time, which God has all information about us ahead of time, we don’t deny that, but that’s not the basis of election that he chose us because he knew some things about us, but rather that he set his covenant love on us before the foundation of the world, and what that does is it gives us security. It gives us a sense of absolute protection and especially, as I mentioned, these people going through suffering, going through persecution, elect strangers or aliens in the world, knowing that God has set his electing love on you—completely apart from what you deserve—before you were even born or had done anything good or bad, he chose you and loved you, gives us a sense of security.
Wes
That’s so helpful. I want to pick up on the word that you mentioned, aliens or exiles here. Why is it vital for us to meditate on our status as aliens or exiles? Is it possible for us to feel too comfortable or at home in this world?
Andy
Absolutely. I think it’s a great temptation, especially we who are in the West, and we’re used to a certain level of affluence, a certain level of ease in the world. We look on problems with our bodies and with our circumstances as something to be solved. They frequently are solved by giving time, energy and money to them. We can change the climate. We can set the thermostat, so that the temperature’s just how we like. Actually, my car that I’m driving now has heated seats. It’s got a dimmer switch on the heating or whatever. I can get the heating just right.
Wes
Just right.
Andy Davis
And that’s just that climate-controlled approach, and we can become very comfortable here. But most of God’s people throughout the world have had a very harsh life. They’ve been persecuted and not been welcomed by the surrounding culture or the prevailing religion of their land or the prevailing government. They have known that they were in great distress, and so I think it’s harmful for us spiritually to think that we should learn to be comfortable here, that this world is our home. It isn’t. This world is much more like a corridor through which we are passing to get to something else, and so what we do is we pass through matters greatly, but our circumstances don’t matter much.
Imagine if you were with a friend in a nice hotel, and you’re walking down a carpeted corridor, and your friend has a pretty expensive oil painting that he bought and he brought to the hotel, and halfway down the corridor he stops and puts nails in the wall and starts hanging up this framed painting. You’re like, “What are you doing? First of all, it’s not your wall—it’s a hotel. They’re going to be upset. Second of all, we are just passing through. You don’t need to make the hallway better.” So I think for us to meditate on being aliens and strangers in this world is vital.
Wes
Absolutely. Now, how are God’s elect dispersed throughout the world?
Andy
Well, God in his wisdom and his sovereignty has controlled the geographical spread of his elect people. Now, of those that are alive now, the elect people that are in the body now, in the flesh on planet Earth they’re in two categories: as yet unconverted and converted. Now, we have seen an explosive spread of the gospel even in our lifetime, but certainly, within the last 100 years so that literally every political nation on Earth has converted elect people there. However, every nation on Earth, every nation, tribe, people and language has elect people, unconverted elect, we would even say, and they are scattered all over the world, and they’re scattered according to the infinitely wise and inscrutable plan of God. He knows exactly what he’s doing, how many in one country, how many in the other, et cetera, scattered by God’s wisdom throughout the world.
In other words, scattered is important too. Jesus talks about anyone who does not gather with me scatters, and so sin had a scattering effect. Also, God scattered the sinners from the Tower of Babel to be scattered all over the earth. Also in John 11, when Caiaphas said, “It is beneficial that one should die and that the nation should not perish,” (paraphrase of John 11:50) John tells us as an editorial comment he was not speaking of just the physical situation, but he was speaking of God’s people and not of the Jews only, but he says of the scattered people of God that Christ would bring them together and make them one—that there’d be one flock, one shepherd. So it’s amazing this scattering. So missions is all about finding the scattered, unconverted elect people.
Wes
I love that image. Now as we take the next step into verse 2 here in Peter’s greeting to these elect exiles, what does verse 2 teach us about the role of the Trinity in our salvation and God’s sovereignty in human salvation?
Andy
Yeah, this is a trinitarian verse. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you,” (2 Corinthians 13:14), that’s another trinitarian verse, or, “Baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). But this is another trinitarian passage here, and this time it shows different offices of the Trinity. We believe in three persons. The church fathers that went before us and wrangled out the language by which we could talk about the Triune God, three persons, one God, one God and three persons, the Father, the Son and the Spirit, co-equal, co-eternal, but have different roles. So here we get an insight into the different roles that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have, and it’s not exhaustive. He doesn’t say every aspect of the Son’s role, but here the Father was the one who chose us, and he’s the one that foreknew us. He set his love on us. It’s really like a marriage-sort of love. He set his knowledge of us in an intimate, loving, committed way before we were even born.
According to the foreknowledge of God, we were elect. So God the Father chooses us. He mentions the Spirit next, where he talks about the sanctifying work of the Spirit. There, I think he’s talking first and foremost about being set apart by the Spirit for salvation completely, so include justification and sanctification and glorification, but the Spirit sets apart the people of God. I really believe that the Spirit begins working on the elect from the moment they’re born. He is showing mercy to the elect from the moment they’re born, getting them ready for their future conversion. But the sanctifying work of the Spirit, sanctifying there meaning set apart unto God, is unique and being dealt with in that way.
“For obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood,” (1 Peter 1:2). So the goal of the salvation there is that we would obey King Jesus. So that really is a powerful word in terms of our obedience. If we love him, we’ll obey him. Sprinkling by his blood means that purifying the application of the atoning blood of Jesus cleansing us from all sin, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son in that order here.
“The goal of the salvation there is that we would obey King Jesus. So that really is a powerful word in terms of our obedience. If we love him, we’ll obey him.”
Wes
Wow. That’s an amazing introduction to this letter that we’ll look at together. As we move then into verse 3, the epistle begins with a word of praise to the God and Father of Jesus for this living hope that’s mentioned here as well. What does this teach us about the role worship should play in our lives?
Andy
Yeah, I think we are saved, in the end, we are saved so that we may worship the triune God. But it’s interesting, there are not pictures of trinitarian worship. I think all roads ultimately go to God the Father. Jesus came to bring us to the Father, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6). This is how I tend to look at the role of the Trinity. The Spirit delivers Jesus to us, and Jesus delivers the Father to us, kind of like that. “He is the image of the invisible God,” (Colossians 1:15), et cetera. So ultimately, all praise and glory goes to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reason we’re saved is that we can give him worship. We’re going to find out the details and the dimensions and the aspects of our salvation that will all be fresh, eternal fodder or reasons why we will worship. It’s pretty exciting. So he gives praise to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wes
So what then is the relationship between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and sinners being born again to a living hope? Who causes this new birth?
Andy
So the Holy Spirit gives us the new birth. We’re born from above, born by the Spirit, John 3. So here Peter picks up on the same language that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John 3, but here and we have it in Peter. We have been born again. There’s a new birth. We’re born, he says, into a living hope, which is such a powerful image, the living hope. What is hope but a feeling, a sense in the heart, in the mind, that the future is bright.
It’s a living hope, I think he uses that phrase ’cause it’s linked to the living Lord, to Jesus. Our hopes will die if Jesus ever can be killed again, but he can’t be. He will never die again. So as long as he lives, we have a living hope. His resurrection will be our resurrection. He is the first fruit of a big harvest of people who will be resurrected. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives us an unquenchable hope. Therefore, that one of the greatest anomalies there could ever be would be a despondent or despairing or hopeless Christian. That doesn’t make any sense. We should be filled with good hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
“Our hopes will die if Jesus ever can be killed again, but he can’t be. He will never die again. So as long as he lives, we have a living hope. His resurrection will be our resurrection.”
Wes
Well, let’s press a little more into that then in verse 4. What’s the inheritance that can never perish, be defiled, or fade, and how should knowledge of this inheritance influence our daily attitude and disposition?
Andy
Okay, so fundamentally, when all is said and done, an inheritance is some treasure that you get, generally, we understand that you get upon the death of someone. So someone dies and they name you in their will and you get this valuable thing. It could be real estate, it could be treasure, that’s what we think of when we think of an inheritance. All right. So for us in this case, the inheritance is something we get when we die. There is an argument made that a covenant is ratified by the death of the one who made it. Paul says that in Romans. So Jesus died to give us an inheritance. You could see it that way, but fundamentally, it’s what we get in the next world. It’s what we get in the future.
What do we get? I’ll just say it in one word: God. God is the inheritance. “Fear not, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great reward,” Genesis 15:1. God is what we get in heaven. It’s what the Levites got. They didn’t get an inheritance in allotted territory. They got God. “I am your inheritance,” he says that. Well, we then become like the nation of priests. We get God. So what is it you get as a Christian? You get God, and that is infinitely enough. Now you get a lot of other things too. You get a resurrection body. You get a place at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You get property of your own, Jesus said, a portion of the new heaven and new Earth that will be yours. You get a right to enter the new Jerusalem, part of that redeemed, undefiled nation. You get all of these good things. That’s all part of the inheritance, but all of it is God, the glory of God, and all of it. The inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for us is God in all of that glorious manifestation.
Wes
Now, really, that’s a helpful point as well that it’s kept and secure. How are both we and our inheritance protected by the sovereign power of God?
Andy
Yeah, guarded, kept, shielded. So that language implies danger. It implies attack. It implies an enemy. I think Peter’s picking up on some of the language from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,”—inheritance—“there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:19-21). That’s hope. So as you look ahead, you’ve got this protected treasure up in heaven, he says. Now in the context there, he’s talking about our good works. We can store up treasure. We can accumulate through doing good works, glorious treasure, which like I said, all roads lead to God.
So we get more and more of God by serving him in this world, but it’s under attack. So we have the ancient triad of enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil are assaulting us at every moment, and we are protected, kept, guarded by the power of God. He will not let us be destroyed by Satan’s works. Satan has been pounding on me since October of 1982. He has been specially pounding on me since I came into vocational ministry and took the responsibility to be an undershepherd. Same thing with you, Wes. We’ve got a target on our back so to speak, and Satan comes after us, but the Lord is sovereign. He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. He will protect us. He’ll put a hedge around us like you did with Job. He’s going to shield us and protect us. He will not allow us to be swept away. He has prayed for us that our faith will not fail, Jesus has, and it won’t. So we are kept or guarded by the power of God. It’s pretty awesome.
Wes
Yeah. Praise the Lord.
Andy
Yeah.
Wes
What is the salvation that will be revealed yet in the future? I think we’ve talked about this, ultimately, that it’s being with God. You’ve been preaching in 1 Corinthians, so we’ve talked about the resurrection body being glorified. Peter uses an interesting phrase, “guarded through faith.” What is this salvation, and in what way is it guarded through faith? What does that mean?
Andy
Okay, so we definitely need to see a time orientation of our salvation. If we are Christians right now, we’re born again, we’ve been justified, then we could use this language. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. So we got an “are being saved” or continual sense here in verse 9, “You are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” That’s present dynamic. We are getting saved, that’s sanctification. He’s working on us, purifying us, bringing trials in our lives, using our trials to refine and purify our faith like he says.
We have been saved by believing in Jesus, by being born again and being forgiven of all our sins, but there is a yet future salvation. There’s a salvation that’s yet to come, and that is glorification. So that comes in two stages unless we’re part of the final generation, then it comes instantaneously at the same time. All right? The two stages for us if we die is the glorification of the soul first, when we’re absent from the body present with the Lord. We’ll never sin again, but we don’t have our bodies yet. Then at the resurrection, at the second coming of Christ, then we receive the final act of our salvation. So we are looking ahead to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. It’s a future salvation. That must mean resurrection, the resurrection body.
Wes
That’s beautiful.
Andy
Yeah.
Wes
Now, what painful topic does Peter address in verses 6-9? How do these verses relate to other passages we may be familiar with like James 1 or Romans 5?
Andy
You know, I wasn’t listening to you a second ago, ’cause I just realized I didn’t answer your question about how are we kept or shielded by faith?
Wes
Sure.
Andy
Okay, let me say that real quickly.
Wes
We can answer that first.
Andy
All right, and then ’cause you have to say it again. So I was like, “Oh, man, I missed that question.” All right, how are we shielded by faith again? It is essential for us to keep believing in a Jesus we’ve never seen, and he’s going to talk about that, though you have not seen him. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11:1). We need to keep believing in Jesus while we live in this world. That’s why Jesus says to Peter, I alluded to it a moment ago, but, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift all of you,” plural, “like wheat,” that includes us. “But I prayed for you, Simon—in particular ’cause you’re about to have the hardest night of your life. You are going to be assaulted by the devil—but I’ve prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back—repented from your sin that you’re about to commit—strengthen your brothers,” (paraphrase of Luke 22:31-32).
So he, Jesus, is at the right hand of God, Hebrews 7:25, and is constantly living to intercede for us to what end? That our faith won’t fail. We are being shielded, or kept, by our faith, and therefore, our faith must not fail. We must continue believing in Jesus. That’s our protection. It’s like a force field like the old Star Trek force field that went around the whole ship, the Enterprise or whatever. It’s a force field that protects us from being mortally wounded in our souls. Our faith shields us. So all right, what was the next question?
Wes
All right, that’s really helpful for us as we think about faith and why that’s so vital for us as we look ahead to that inheritance that’s secure. What painful topic then does Peter address in verses 6-9, and how do these verses relate to James 1 and Romans 5?
Andy
Grief in various kinds of trials, that’s the painful topic: the afflictions, the sorrows, the sufferings of Christians in this world. It’s a great unanswered question. It was Job’s question, “Why is this happening to me?” So in Job’s case, it was the loss of everything earthly that he put any value on at all except his wife. So you’re talking about 10 children, we’re talking about all of his material possessions, you’re talking about his health, everything. Those are afflictions. Very, very few of us have that level of suffering to go through. Paul had all manner and levels of afflictions and sorrows and imprisonments and riots and people hating him and swearing to never eat again until they had assassinated him and things like that. That’s afflictions.
Most of us have lesser afflictions, but it could be just stuff common to all people, namely, our physical maladies and aging and pains or accidents, car accidents, things that happen. But then there’s special trials that Christians go through such as temptations, wrestling with sin, and the difficulties of being witnesses as we try to share our faith and people persecute us. So these are the afflictions. So the painful trials, that’s the question. Why is this happening to me? Peter addresses that. Yeah.
Wes
So what then is the specific purpose? Why would we go through various fiery trials? Peter talks here also about just the value of faith in the midst of that, but what exactly is the specific purpose of these various fiery trials?
Andy
Well, you know, it’s interesting, I have a little different translation of verse 6 than you do.
Wes
Sure.
Andy
Why don’t you read verse 6, ’cause I like your translation a little better than mine?
Wes
So verse 6 says, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.”
Andy
That phrase is not in my translation, the “if necessary.” Well, guess what? It’s necessary—‘cause everybody goes through trials.
Wes
Right.
Andy
And the reason is, and let me tell you, I remember memorizing this. I did extended memorization of scripture in 1 Peter years ago. It was shortly after my marriage. I’ll never forget this, and I had a job that meshed perfectly with my seminary training. It was a great job. I had a Christian boss, and we had Bible studies, and the schedule was flexible for my MDiv and all this. It all worked out well. When I got back from my honeymoon, my boss was still in place, but he was now reporting to a new boss, a new head of, or director of engineering. That man was one of the most aggressive anti-Christians I ever worked with in my 10 years of secular employment. He was extremely hostile to me personally, to the Bible studies we did, to my special schedule.
He basically said, “You have to work the same hours as all the other engineers or you can’t be here,” and the owner of the company let him lay down that law. So I had to basically quit my job. It put my wife and I into immediate financial crisis. I had to choose between that and my seminary training, but I already decided I was preparing to be a pastor, and it was very, very painful. It wasn’t just that it was done, it was how it was done. It’s how miserable this individual was toward me. It was very mean. I was memorizing this very chapter, and verse 7 was incredibly encouraging to me. The purpose—these trials have come so that. I was arrested by the so that. It’s not mindless. It’s not purposeless. It’s specifically crafted and chosen by your heavenly Father. He is a sculptor carving at your soul with a skillful hammer and chisel stroke, and yes, it hurts. He knows it hurts. He doesn’t want to hurt you. It’s not his goal. But there is a purpose for the specific trials you go through and how long you must endure them.
Another image I have is of baking cookies. My wife is an excellent baker. You know, she’ll bake cookies, or she’ll bake muffins, and she’ll pull them out, like muffins in particular, and stick a toothpick in them and pull out the toothpick. If it comes out with wet batter, guess what? Going back in, going back in. So we’ll be in that 350 degree oven for as many minutes as is needed to get the job done. So we have to have this so that our faith, which is a greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine. You’re genuinely born again and may be purified by the trials, and that’s the purpose.
Wes
What does verse 8 teach us about our relationship with the invisible Christ, and how does this relate to the joy that Peter describes here?
Andy
Jesus, “though you have not seen him, you love him,” (1 Peter 1:8). It’s very much like Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed,” (John 20:29). So though we have not seen him, that’s the Holy Spirit’s work. Isn’t that incredible? We are in that blessed group that Jesus talked about with Thomas. Blessed are they who have not seen Jesus and yet have believed. Peter’s writing to those same people, category. He’s saying, “You’re aliens and strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia now all over the world who have never seen Jesus, and yet we believe in Him. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.” That melts me. Yeah, I do. “Why do you love Jesus?” I love Him for who He is. “Well, how do you know who He is?” I read about it in the Gospels and in Scripture. I read about Him, and I love Him, and I love what he did for me, that he died for me. I love that he’s never forsaken me. He’s never left me or forsaken me. I love that he has promised me good things in the future, and I’ll get to look at him forever and get to fall down before him and be one of his billion closest friends. I get to be part of that. I love him even though I haven’t seen him, and I believe in him, and I trust him even though I still don’t see him. So that’s the focus and that shows the Holy Spirit has worked in me and in you, Wes. That’s how you believe in someone you’ve never seen.
Wes
And that produces in us this rejoicing and joy at the fact that we would be able to enjoy that relationship, which is so sweet.
Andy
Yeah, that’s a very powerful expression. It was one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read in my life, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, it’s called Joy Unspeakable comes right from this verse. “Joy unspeakable” is the KJV translation. It’s a joy you really can’t put into words. It’s like, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds,” (Philippians 4:6-7). So there’s a peace that goes beyond understanding. This is the joy that goes beyond verbal expression. You can’t put it into words. It’s just like Paul, when he came back from the third heaven, he heard inexpressible things, things that man’s not permitted to talk about. So I can’t put it into words, and I’m not allowed to try. That’s what heaven is all about. It’s an inexpressible joy. You can’t even say why. It’s just a joy that fills your heart.
Wes
So as we look at verse 9, how does it reveal our salvation to be an ongoing process?
Andy
Yeah, I mentioned that’s we are being saved. So in the process of affliction, the fiery trial we’re going through if necessary—yes, it’s necessary that our faith be purified as by fire. In that process, we are receiving the goal of our faith, which is the salvation of our soul. Our soul is being saved. It’s being purified. It’s being gotten ready for heaven. We are being humbled. We will be humble in heaven. Think about that. We’re going to be perfectly humble. “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord,” (2 Corinthians 10:17). We’re going to boast in the Lord in heaven. So we are receiving a purification of our souls, a fittedness and a readiness for heaven because of these trials we’re going through.
Wes
Now, Peter rounds out this opening section here, talking about the gospel being predicted clearly by the prophets.
Andy
Yes.
Wes
What do verses 10-12 teach us about these Old Testament prophets and the scriptures that they wrote?
Andy
Okay, so the prophet’s knew aspects of our salvation, Peter calls it, “the grace that was to come to you,” so the grace of our salvation. They knew about it in part, and they wanted to know more. It says in my translation, “The prophets searched intently with the greatest care.” They’re trying to find out more details. What are they trying to find out? The time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing. So they want to know more details. “Well, when’s that going to be? How’s it going to be? Tell me more. I want to know more.”
They want to know more about these two categories, the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. By the way, that’s a great two-part outline of Psalm 22, which begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Talks about, “They have pierced my hands and my feet.” He’s surrounded by bulls, they’re ravenous lions, whatever. Then suddenly, “I will praise you among my brothers to the ends of the earth,” (paraphrase of Psalm 22:22). It suddenly changes the entire mood and celebrates and rejoices. So you got the cross and then heaven in Psalm 22. It’s a great two-part outline of Psalm 22, the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories, and what is that? His own resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of God, exalted above every power and heaven and earth under the earth, all of the angels worshiping him, then a steady stream in every generation of redeemed, elect people saved by the power of God, falling down before that same throne—subsequent glories. That’s how awesome that is. I’m getting excited.
Wes
That’s amazing.
Andy
Isn’t that good?
Wes
It’s awesome.
Andy
So anyway, the prophets wanted to know more about that, the Spirit of Christ was in them back then. We’re talking about Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, when he wrote Psalm 22, all of these Old Testament prophets, but especially Daniel, more than anyone else. Why? Because Daniel, more than any other prophet asked about the visions and we’re told, “Don’t worry about it.” He at the end, read about it in Daniel 12 and in earlier other times, he says, “I don’t get it.” He says, “Seal it up for it concerns a subsequent time.” “I’d like to know more.” “You don’t need to know more.” “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you,”—future generations (1 Peter 1:12). “So you, Daniel, finish up your job here, and die and go to heaven and you’ll go into your glory. Other people will read your scroll, and they’ll understand more, abomination of desolation, the Son of Man vision, all of that. They’ll get it. But you just write it down.”
So here’s the thing. We talk about author’s original intent with the prophecies. They didn’t know what they were writing about. There’s some things they just could not have understood. When Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53 about the Suffering Servant and all that, Isaiah didn’t fully understand what he was writing about. Isaiah’s original intent doesn’t matter. What’s the Holy Spirit’s original intent? The Spirit of Christ in them was pointing ahead to the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories when he wrote Isaiah 53. So that means we got these predictions, these prophecies of Jesus written down by the prophets. That gives us a sense of assurance, of certainty. You’re going through afflictions for a faith that was predicted long before you were born.
Wes
Yeah, well, and the power that’s promised that we have now with the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. When you talk about the Holy Spirit’s intent in what was written down, that same Spirit by God’s grace, he dwells within us and now guides us into truth so we can understand and see those connections you were talking about.
Andy
The Spirit is mentioned twice. The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets and the Spirit of Christ was in the evangelists, the ones who spoke to you, apostles perhaps at that early stage, but messengers, the ones who came. The Spirit of Christ wrote it, and then the Spirit of Christ was in the evangelist that brought it to you and said, “Hey, look at this, read this,” et cetera. Spirit’s all over your salvation. That’s why I say we cannot worship him highly enough. We would not be saved if it weren’t for the Spirit. You wouldn’t care. You wouldn’t know anything about Jesus, first of all. And second of all, you wouldn’t care about Jesus if it weren’t for the third person in the Trinity.
Wes
Now there’s an interesting phrase at the end of verse 12, a little comma here in the ESV, and then it says, “Things into which angels long to look.” What does that mean?
Andy
Well, it’s interesting again, the book of Daniel, there are angels, clearly angels who in Daniel 12 don’t get it either, and they’re asking questions. Some answers are given to them and some are not, so angels are learning things too. Angels are surprised. In the book of Revelation, things happen and there’s silence in heaven for half an hour, like, “Wow.” So they’re tracking along with they don’t know everything. They’re not omniscient. God alone is omniscient. The angels don’t even know, and so they’re longing to looking into these things. So when things happen, they erupt in excitement. When the Son of God is born into the world by the virgin Mary, they let all God’s angels worship him. They’re like, “Yeah, hallelujah.” They’re praising God. It’s awesome.
Wes
Well, Andy, thanks for walking through these first 12 verses with us. I’m excited for what’s ahead in the rest of 1 Peter. What final thoughts do you have for us on this passage?
Andy
Well, this may be speaking directly to you. Maybe that you’re going through, dear listener, afflictions and trials, and you don’t know why. Keep in mind, God never explained himself to Job. He didn’t tell why. He didn’t say, “By the way, I had a conversation with Satan about you.” He never said that. We know more about that now than he did then. Now he knows more now than we do now because he’s up in heaven. But the fact is God doesn’t explain himself. He just says, “Trust me, I know what I’m doing and I’m refining your faith. I’m refining your soul. I’m saving your soul, so don’t murmur against me. Don’t complain. Don’t be angry. Just be patient and keep trusting me.”
Wes
May we learn to trust him more and more. This has been episode 1 in the book of 1 Peter. We want to invite you to join us next time for episode 2 entitled, “You Shall Be Holy, For I am Holy,” where we’ll discuss 1 Peter 1:13-25. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
