1:3
“Praise be ..” Remember that these Christians were facing persecution, but the starting point is praise to God. Why? Because in His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope. God could have chosen to leave us to the path we have chosen, He could have chosen to leave us dominated by sin and heading to death. But instead He has given us new birth into a living hope. Birth can be traumatic, sometimes when God works in our lives it is traumatic, but we now have hope. We can see a positive future. We now have a living hope. It is not just something that might happen in the future if things work out well, it is something that is already happening to us. Its culmination will only be when Christ returns, but it is happening now. How has this happened? It is through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the cross He conquered sin, death and the devil.
1:4
The lives of the Christians would seem to be in peril, surrounded with much uncertainty. Even in the comfortable West there is a large, and increasing, amount of uncertainty. In contrast, the inheritance we have can “never perish, spoil or fade”. It is totally secure. It is kept in heaven for us. Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. God is keeping the inheritance for us, and it is kept in heaven. Men may do all sorts of things here on earth, but they have absolutely no influence in heaven. There is nothing that happens on earth that can affect or imperil our inheritance.
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