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By T. M. Moore|Published Date: September 02, 2010
1 Peter 1:4, 5
4…to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
The Story: It is characteristic of those who exercise leadership in God’s covenant people to try to draw them through their present circumstances into the future by holding out the precious and very great promises of God (2 Pet. 1:4). God, Peter reminds his readers, is keeping an inheritance for them in heaven. It is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. This is not some lascivious promise of vestal virgins awaiting our every pleasure. This is the promise of God Himself (Ps. 16; Jn. 17:3). What God is keeping in heaven for us is none other than Himself! Moreover, He is guarding His children, as they look to Him in faith, for that day when He will fully reveal Himself to them (1 Jn. 3:2) and their joy will be complete. Peter encourages His readers not only to remember who they are but also to dwell on what’s laid up for them. If they can glimpse the beauty, glory, holiness, and presence of God, beyond the horizon of their present sufferings, they will be able to bear up until the day that God makes His saving glory fully and completely known.
The Structure: What Edwards and others referred to as the “beatific vision” is an important component in the life of faith. We will forfeit real Christian joy if we focus only on our temporal circumstances or present condition of life. The Christian’s hope is to know the glory of God, and we pursue this hope, here and now, every day. But the fullness of that hope lies beyond all time and history in the new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells. “There and then” we will have no more sorrows and no more tears and unending bliss in the uninterrupted presence of our Savior and God. The challenge for these “last days” is to learn how to live the “there and then,” here and now. Crucial to this is focusing beyond our temporal horizons to what God has laid up for us.
Could you summarize your vision of our blessed hope? In other words, if someone should ask about the hope that is within you, what would you say?
For more insight to the 1 Peter, get the book, James, Epistles of John, Peter, and Jude, by Simon John Kistemaker, from our online store.
The Worldview Bible examines the teaching of Scripture according to the Story and Structure of Truth – the Framework of Christian Worldview – using only other Scriptures for illumination. Information about The Framework of Truth is available on this site. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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