1Pe 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) to
an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven
for you, (5) who by God's power are being guarded through
faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Repetition in the bible is intended to draw our attention to
the importance of what’s being said.
Here Peter re-states what he said in verse 2. There’s a little different twist but it’s the
same good news!
c 1. according to his great mercy,
h 2. he has caused us to be born again
3 3. to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 4. to an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for
y you,
5 5. who by God's power are being guarded through
faith
6 6. for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time.
Let’s look at two things.
The passage begins with:
Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Praise is important.
It doesn’t have to be excited or loud or even joyous – it just has to be
praise. And that’s what Peter is doing
here. This “blessing” is typical of
traditional Jewish prayers. “Blessed be
. . . “ It simply means, “well spoken
of,” “honored,” with an element of gratitude and happiness. I know we all believe God is worthy of being
well spoken of – even or especially when we see our battle with sin and our
stumbling.
The second thing is, “who by God's power are being guarded
through faith.” Please notice it doesn’t
quantify “faith.” It doesn’t say a strong
faith, a mighty faith, an un-disturbed faith of even a happy faith. It just says faith.
Remember what Jesus said?
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith
like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted
and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
Gill writes:
"for such a tree to be plucked up by the root at a word
speaking, is very wonderful and miraculous, and beyond the power of nature; and
much more for it to remove into the sea, and plant itself there, where trees
grow not; and to believe this should be done, and such a word of command
obeyed, one should think required very great faith; and yet, if it was but as a
grain of mustard seed, which is very small, it might be done. The design is to
show, what great things are done by faith, and what an increase of it they
should have."
This isn’t about horticulture, it’s about faith.
Jesus uses the mustard seed another time. He says concerning the Kingdom of God:
Mar 4:31-32 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which,
when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, (32)
yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden
plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests
in its shade."
The Kingdom of God is “in” you, Jesus said that. It starts like a little bitty mustard seed
but Oh how it grows – remember – all trees don’t grow the same!
By God’s power YOU are being guarded through – faith! Our faith isn’t perfect but it is being
perfected.
Remember who guards you – could you ask for better?
