1 Peter 1:3-5 Part 2

1 Peter 1:3-5  (continued)

 “This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…”

Peter was writing to Christians who were facing persecution, the forfeiture of property, exclusion from society, loss of status and everyday freedoms. If we are faithful to Jesus it may well cost us too. Peter’s point is that our salvation, our security in God, our status as children of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—whatever else we lose, we can never lose our place in God’s love, and our hope in Christ. What we have received in Christ, all the graces and gifts of salvation are under the lock and key of heaven, guarded by the eternal promises of God.

“who through faith are shielded by God’s power…”

In case we missed it, God not only guards and keeps all he has promised to those who are in Christ; but because we live in Christ by faith, we also are shielded by the power of God. An older translation says “we are kept by the power of God.” A shield is only effective when it comes between the heart and danger. The Psalmist even calls God a shield, One who protects and defends when the heart is under siege. 

“until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Outside the discourse of the Church, the word salvation is hardly ever used these days. But it is a key word of Christian life." It contains the ideas of rescue from danger, healing from illness, deliverance from the threat of death and entering into a state of well-being. We are born anew into a living hope, so that in faith we look forward to the final revelation of all that God plans for the new creation in Christ. So we live in anticipation, but we do so secure and “kept by the power of God.”

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Read the whole text again and allow your mind and heart to follow its rhythms. Another word hardly used outside church is ‘Doxology.’ Literally, it means to speak words of glory, to give God glory. 

It seems right to finish with perhaps the most frequently sung four-line verse in English hymns:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation