Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who are being guarded (garrisoned) by God’s power through [your] faith [till you fully inherit that final] salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5 AMP
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As I read this passage, three phrases got my attention:
- ever-living hope
- inheritance which is…imperishable, and
- being guarded
As I studied each one I realized, while each is uniquely different, they are all tied together. According to John Piper:
“…hope, as we typically think about it, is a desire for some future thing which we are uncertain of attaining…. Christian hope is a strong confidence in God which has power to produce changes in how we live.”
Our hope is provided by the death of Christ. Because of His Resurrection, our hope possesses life and vitality—a living hope. We can hold tight to the confident hope we have in Christ because He has paved the way for us. Look at Hebrews 6:19:
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus….
Amazing, isn’t it? Christ went before us to give us hope and provide us with an inheritance. Ephesians 1:11 states “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance.” As I read through different translations of 1 Peter 1:3-5, these are a few of the words used to describe our eternal inheritance:
incorruptible, imperishable, undefiled, priceless, unsullied, and unfading
Can we say that about any earthly inheritance we might receive? Plus, this eternal inheritance is already ours. We do not have to do anything to earn it and it can never be taken away from us. Which brings us to our last phrase.
The term guarded often means ‘shielded or protected by’. God is not only standing guard over our inheritance but we are shielded by His power as well. Job 33:11 HCSB states “He stands watch over all my paths.” John 10:28 HCSB reminds us “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” We are guarded by His power. God’s power is our security.
Our hope is in Jesus Christ, who provided us with an eternal inheritance through His Resurrection. This inheritance is (as we ourselves are) being shielded and protected by the power of God Himself.
