A 1 Peter Easter

I hope that you had a terrific weekend celebrating our hope in the face of death. We need it, don’t we? Perhaps the uncertainty living under the shadow of COVID-19 has brought the fragility of our existence home to us in a way that few other things have. If you missed our Easter Day sermon, you can find it here on our new YouTube Channel. 

I’ve been re-reading 1 Peter to prepare some Bible Studies for our CONNECT Bible study ‘Zoom’ groups this term. And I was reminded of these terrific verses from the first chapter. I thought they’d encourage us. Peter writes,  

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Praise be, indeed! Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we have an inheritance. God is going to give us a heavenly inheritance that he’s got for every one of his people. Like Jesus, we too will be raised to life again from the dead into an existence in which we will be utterly transformed. It’ll still be us. But it’ll be the very best version of us. It’ll be eternal, unblemished, ‘just like’ Jesus us! Do I get a ‘whoop’ for that?!! In these few verses, Peter tells us three things about our heavenly inheritance.

1.     Our heavenly inheritance is completely undeserved. Peter writes, ‘In his great mercy he has given us new birth’. And so, the reason we’ve got this inheritance says way more about God than it does about us. We’ve got it because of his great mercy and for no other reason. We don’t get heaven because of who we are but because of who God is. He is merciful. It’s like being super kind, but better. And that’s brilliant because he doesn’t change. If it depended on us, we’d be stuffed wouldn’t we? But because it depends on God’s faithfulness to deliver on his promise it means I can’t mess it up.

2.     Our heavenly inheritance is absolutely permanent. Peter writes of this inheritance that it, ‘can never perish, spoil or fade’. In other words, it lasts. It’s imperishable so it can never wear out. It’s undefiled so it can never spoil. And it’s unfading so it will never disappear. It’s permanently permanent!

3.     Our heavenly inheritance is totally guaranteed. Peter writes, ‘this inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through God’s power are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation’. In other words, we haven’t received our inheritance yet. But no matter, because God’s keeping it safe in heaven and he’s keeping you safe on earth. He’s looking after our heavenly inheritance and he’s looking after us. It’s going nowhere and neither are we. If we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ then God is powerfully preserving us so that we go the distance.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for sure!

These words of Peter help us see that the resurrection isn't only for Easter Day. It's for Easter Monday. And then the Tuesday that comes after it. The one that's not called anything because it's just normal. But then again, there are no normal days since God raised Christ from the dead, are there?!