Peter's Letters
1 - Key Truths of the Bible
We begin today a study of two letters from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. They were written about 65 A.D. Peter’s self-reliance has gone now and he’s doing what Jesus told him to do. He’s ‘strengthening the brothers’ (Luke 22:32) and ‘feeding the lambs, taking care of the sheep’ (John 21 verses 15-16). This is a letter of encouragement and personal witness.
In the early church Peter went east, but Paul went west. Peter was the apostle of hope, Paul the apostle of faith. Some think this letter was written from Babylon (1 Peter 5 verse 13) where there was a large colony of Jews who had fled Rome due to severe persecution under Emperor Claudius. Others reckon it was written from Rome, a latter-day Babylon. The recipients are Gentiles, converts from paganism, and also Jews of the Dispersion. In other words he wrote to Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor i.e. modern day Turkey.
Wherever the exiled Jew settled, his eyes were towards Jerusalem, in foreign countries his synagogues were so built that, when the worshipper entered, he was facing towards Jerusalem. Paul addresses them as “God’s elect, strangers in the world.” In reality all believers are temporary residents, sojourners in a strange land, never really feeling at home in this world.
Pentecost is behind him, three decades ago. Peter knows what it is to take a stand for Christ. He’s been arrested and put in jail. He’s been threatened and realizes that crucifixion, as foretold by Christ, awaits him some time in the future.
Never dismiss Peter as an ignorant fisherman. In the first few verses of his first letter, he deals with the great doctrines of election, foreknowledge, sanctification, obedience. The blood of Christ, the Trinity, the grace of God, salvation, predestination, revelation, glory, faith and hope!
Paul expressed similar thoughts famously in his Roman letter. “For those God foreknew, He also predestined, and those He predestined, He also called, those He called, he also justified; those He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8 verses 29 and 30).
How wonderful to know that He, who predestined us in eternity, calls us in time and gives us grace to respond to Him. God has planned things. He’s always ahead of the game. He never has to hurriedly convene an extra-special emergency meeting because of unforeseen circumstances. He has made a decree, from before the foundation of the world that He would save those who came to Him, the elect. Those who turn to Christ for salvation are the elect. Whosoever will may come.
As Vernon McGee says, “I don’t know why we find fault with God for having a plan. Perhaps some folk imagine He’s up to some dirty tricks. God knows everything that is foreseeable and unforeseeable.”
How can you know if you’re one of the elect? Henry Ward Beecher divided people into two categories. Knowing that ‘whosoever will may come” he said, “The two categories are the whosoever wills, and the whosoever wont’s.”
In verse 2 we see how the Trinity is engaged in our salvation. We are chosen by the Father, purchased by the Son and set apart by the Spirit. As far as the Father is concerned, I was saved when He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world. (This is the election of the Father in eternity). As far as the Son is concerned, I was saved when Jesus Christ died for me on the cross 2,000 years ago. As far as the Spirit is concerned, I was saved one Friday night in the summer of 1966 in Georgetown, Guyana, South America when I came as a sinner to Jesus. Then it all came together, but it took all three persons of the Godhead to bring me to salvation.
Now Peter has a living hope, grounded on the living Word of God, made possible by the living Son of God who rose from the dead. His encounter with the Risen Christ completely transformed Peter from a no-hoper into the apostle of hope. God, in His great mercy, has for believers an inheritance that can never perish or decay, never be spoiled or fade away. Peter writes in verse 4 that it is ‘kept in heaven for you’. It’s reserved; it’s got your name on it.
The Levites were told in Numbers 18 verse 20 that God Himself was their inheritance. Will the born again receive anything less? Imagine the joy of exploring the wonder of God Himself for all eternity!
Some timid soul might bleat, “Suppose I don’t make it”, Peter counters, that believers ‘are shielded by God’s power’ (verse 5). The same word is used in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 32 where it’s translated ‘guarded.’ (See also Philippians 4 verse 7) The divine power surrounds the saints like a bodyguard or an armed force on escort duty. All believers can declare “the Lord is my Keeper.” Wasn’t it the Good Shepherd Himself who said of His sheep, “No one can snatch them out of My hand”? (John 10 verse 28).
Peter acknowledges that ‘now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials’ (verse 6). The Greek word for ‘all kinds of’ is ‘poikilos’. It means ‘many coloured.’ It’s the same word used in 1 Peter 4:10 to describe ‘God’s grace in its various forms’. Grace for every trial. Manifold grace for manifold trials. 2 Peter 2 verse 9 underscores the fact that ‘the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials’.
Faith – ‘of greater worth than gold’ – is tested that it ‘may be proved genuine.’ By heating precious metals to melting point, all foreign bodies are skimmed off in the refining process and the end result is genuine. Suffering in a Christian’s life is designed to prove his faith genuine. Although Satan designs temptation to defeat us, God uses it to test the authenticity of our faith. It’s a process. You say, ‘Nothing’s happening, only trouble, trials and tribulation.’ God says, ‘A lot’s happening. It’s the refiner’s fire.’
Apostles viewed life from God’s perspective. They spoke beyond common sense and uttered revelation truth. That’s why the natural mind thinks it bizarre to read in James 1 verse 2 “Consider it a pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Our immediate reaction is to consider it sheer hell. The divine perspective is very different. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1 verse 2).
Someone has well said that when God permits His children to go through the fiery furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. If we rebel, He may have to reset the clock. In every furnace there is one like the Son of Man accompanying us.
The eastern goldsmith kept the metal in the furnace until he could see his face reflected in it. So our Lord keeps us in the furnace of suffering until we reflect the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ