PETER’S EPISTLES: PREPARING FOR ETERNITY

II. Kept By God For A Heavenly Inheritance

(1 Peter 1:3-5)

I. Introduction

A. Before the Apostle Peter began to minister for the Lord in the Church, his outlook was impacted by Christ’s prophecy in John 21:18-19 that he would be crucified for Christ. Eternity was thus always in Peter’s mind.

B. We study Peter’s epistles that focus on preparing for eternity, and in 1 Peter 1:3-5, Peter taught that we believers are being kept by God for a heavenly inheritance. We view it for our insight and edification:

II. Kept By God For A Heavenly Inheritance, 1 Peter 1:3-5.

A. Having mentioned how his Hebrew Christian readers had been chosen by God unto a holy walk, Peter began a doxology of praising God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:3a.

B. God is to be praised for having caused us to be born again (anagennesas) according to His great mercy unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3b. “The ‘living hope’ is based on the living resurrected Christ (cf. 1 Peter 1:21). The Christian’s assurance in Christ is as certain and sure as the fact that Christ is alive!” (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 841) The fact that Christ is risen from the dead is certified by the author of this epistle: Peter entered Christ’s empty tomb and beheld Jesus’ empty graveclothes (John 20:6-7), Jesus personally appeared to Peter after He arose (Luke 24:34 with 1 Corinthians 15:5a), and Jesus appeared to Peter by the Sea of Galilee at the first Men’s Breakfast in Church History (John 21:1-14) where He called Peter to shepherd His sheep (John 21:15-17).

C. The believer’s sure hope includes a future “inheritance,” what translates the Greek noun kleronomian that is also used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament in Peter’s day, of Israel’s promised possession of the land of Canaan (cf. Num. 26:54, 56; 34:2; Josh. 11:23), Ibid. Peter’s Hebrew Christian readers of the diaspora (1 Peter 1:1 KJV = “strangers scattered”) would be greatly encouraged upon learning that they have a heavenly inheritance that is just as real as the earthly inheritance their forefathers came to possess in the days of Joshua! (1 Peter 1:4a)

D. That inheritance is described in three Greek words that stylistically begin with the same letter and end with the same syllable, words describing the permanence of this inheritance: they are aphtharton (never perishing), amianton (never spoiling) and amaranton (never fading), 1 Peter 1:4b; Ibid. The possessions we believers have in this life can perish, spoil and fade in glory, but the heavenly possessions God has laid up for us cannot perish, they cannot spoil and they cannot fade in glory. They are eternally priceless possessions from God!

E. Each believer’s inheritance is “reserved in heaven,” the Greek word rendered “reserved” being teteremenen, the perfect passive participle of tereo, meaning “guard, keep watch over” (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 791; The Analyt. Grk. Lex., (Zond.), 1972, p. 402; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 822-823), 1 Peter 1:4c. The perfect passive participle meant that God was permanently keeping watch over the heavenly inheritance of Peter’s Hebrew believers so that they would certainly obtain it. This truth was very significant to Hebrew believers who may have seen their earthly possessions confiscated when they scattered away from Israel and fled to Asia Minor for their Christian faith! (cf. 1 Peter 1:6; 4:12-19; Hebrews 10:34)

F. Peter’s readers themselves were being “shielded” by God’s power, the verb “shielded” rendering the present passive participle of phroumeo, “to guard, protect,” U. B. S. Grk. N. T., loc. cit.; The Analyt. Grk. Lex. op. cit., p. 430; Arndt & Gingrich, op. cit., p. 875; 1 Peter 1:5a. The present tense indicated that God was in the process of guarding and protecting Peter’s Hebrew readers, implying ongoing salvation security, and that He was preserving them so they could obtain the inheritance that God was in turn preserving in heaven for them! The repeat emphasis in this passage is God’s provisions to secure the believer’s future heavenly blessings!

G. Peter’s readers were being kept through faith for the physical salvation of the body (cf. Romans 8:23) that was ready to be revealed at the last time, 1 Peter 1:5b. The “last time” is the ultimate completion of their salvation when Christ is revealed, what occurs at the rapture of the Church, 1 Peter 1:9, 13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Lesson: Beyond this earthly sojourn for the believer is the sure hope of a heavenly destiny and a glorious, lasting inheritance all based on the mercy of God in His causing us to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ.

Application: (1) May we realize that our heavenly inheritance is not only imperishable, incorruptible and unfading by God’s grace and power, but that it is also as real our Lord’s bodily resurrection from the dead! (2) May we then set our affections on things above and not on things on the earth, cf. Colossians 3:1-4.