“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT
Continuing in the opening remarks in Peter’s letter, we find he writes about salvation. So far he has reminded us that we have been born again because of the resurrection of Jesus. Then Peter highlights our Heavenly inheritance. And now he brings into the mix our faith, God’s power and our coming salvation, due to be disclosed “on the last day for all to see”. Just three verses at the beginning of this letter but such a profound and concise summary of important aspects of our life as believers.
Peter implied that we haven’t yet received our salvation. But we have to be careful how we use this word. “Salvation” comes in three parts. We were saved, we are being saved and we will be saved. It is a life time process, reliant on our faith in God, and the way we live our lives. After we repented of our sins and turned to God we were saved. But if we then reject that decision and return to our old ways of sin then we fail to keep the second part of the process. Day by day we walk in faith, reliant on the Holy Spirit within us to help us. Paul wrote about this in Philippians 2:12-13 and the Amplified version of the Bible makes the process very clear. “So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energising, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfil your purpose] for His good pleasure.” (Emphasis mine). Finally, as Peter wrote, we will one day, on the last day in fact, “receive this salvation”. The theological names for this process are Justification, Sanctification and Glorification. We are Justified before God when we made a decision for Christ, we are Sanctified as we “work out [our] salvation”, and we are Glorified on the “last day”.
In his great sermon following the Pentecost experience, Peter said this, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Just a few words but how profound they are. That’s where we pilgrims started our Christian lives, being birthed into a new existence. And what he preached obviously had quite an impact because 3,000 were saved that day. It must have been an amazing spectacle observing that many baptisms!
“It is by his great mercy that we have been born again” Peter wrote to his Turkish audience. And in the end, it is all about God and His mercy. We have been released from the penalty we deserve by His grace. We are saved. And now we pilgrims are being sanctified through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. It’s all in God’s plan and He gets all the praise and glory.
Father God. Through Your grace and mercy You have saved us. We know that it is an ongoing process and we thank You for Your help in the journey. We worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 