1st Peter 1:3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
ABUNDANT MERCY. As a trait of character mercy is quite rare in most of the sons of men Because it implies something has to come from me that will be a benefit to them And I will be deprived of what I think is mine when I to another show mercy “After all, isn’t it only fair to insist the miscreant to pay the full penalty?”
But then the tables are turned and I’m found out to be the one who is wrong And I am the one needing mercy for I have continued to sin so long The sinking feeling of guilt permeates through every part of my life And now I am longing for mercy, while justice full payment requires.
How thankful I am for God’s mercy way beyond the mercy I needed For by His mercy not only He saved me, but the hunger inside He feedeth That mercy described as “abundant” goes way beyond deliverance from hell It touches every phase of my life until I say, “He does all things well!”
His mercy is in no way deserved but it has opened new vistas to me And to assure me of a future secure, the risen Christ I will see Things that come to trouble me, His mercy deals with in grace He paid the price that’s needed so I won’t be embarrassed when I see His face.
Again I bless my God and Father for His mercy is so great And I bless the Lord Jesus my Savior for willingly taking my place When the cost of sin was paid and abundant mercy to me was a fact And I bless the Holy Spirit who through God’s Word in faith made me act.
“I have experienced Thy mercy all through my life Father, and thank Thee that it is still a fact of my life that mercy is being continually shown to me. I give Thee grateful thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”
This inheritance stands apart from that which one may receive from our earthly forbearers. The inheritance the Jewish believers to whom Peter was writing was only a distant and fading memory they had heard about from others but had never experienced for themselves. Moreover, they would never experience it because of the influence other nations had on them to the extent they turned away from what they had been given by God, to seeking other baser things other people had. Now they had nothing but a fading memory their fathers told them about, and a powerless, joyless form of religion.
Peter's letter clarified to them the extent of blessing the new birth brought them now and awaited them in the future. The substance of the living hope is eternal life. That life is eternal in its very essence and is kept by God Himself in its preservation for us. He has given it to those who believe to enjoy now and it will never decay nor fade and is not able to be contaminated by sin. It is undefiled. The inheritance Israel had was defiled by the influence of false religions and their own failures to live by the word of God He had given them. Their own sins had brought about the events that led to the loss of their inheritance. That will not be theirs as a nation in reality until the Lord Jesus Christ reigns as the True King on David's throne.
The Christian's lively hope that is based on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that we have eternal life now that we can experience and live by each day, and it is ours forever. We have been born again by an "incorruptible seed" that by its very nature gives us new life that remains ours through life. That eternal life will not change and the inheritance in the eternal city in the future is the same as the eternal life we enjoy today in the house of God here. God has reserved that inheritance for us and it will never decay nor will its reality fade. By its very nature eternal life is unstained by sin.
When a believer who has received Christ by faith, and in reality, trusts Him, for some reason sins, that is an act of the old nature that remains and deceives us and ties us to that which is around us. It is incumbent on a child of God who has been born again to "reckon dead" that which ties us to the life of sin and in a real way live life in the power of that which has been accomplished for us in a spiritual way. We have been born again by the Spirit of God. Now we are to "walk in the Spirit" and we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Our sin-prone bodies and natural flesh tie us to the earth presently. Our sin and failures grieve us and also the Holy Spirit within us. But when "this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption," then we will experience the full joy of our inheritance when we are "with Him and like Him."
Our inheritance is reserved for us by God, and by the power of God we are reserved for our inheritance. No wonder there is praise for God in our hearts, and joy even when there is sorrow because of circumstance, as we realize who we are in Christ, all we have in Christ and what we will be forever in Christ. This "lively hope" - "living hope," that the resurrection of Christ guarantees will never perish, spoil or fade away. Praise God!!