1 Peter Chapter 1 Pt. 3 The Trials Of Our Faith And Future Glory
The Spirit of God guided Peter to write an extended greeting filled with praise and extolling the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This first chapter reminds me of Ephesians 1, where Paul wrote an extended paragraph, essentially echoing many of these same truths.
Peter did indeed heed His Lord's command to "Feed my sheep."
Peter and the other apostles suffered much for the cause of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, they persevered even if it meant they would be martyred.
The trials of our faith can wear us out, but they are temporary.
1 Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
Christians ought to be rejoicing in the glorious gift of salvation by repentant faith in Jesus Christ.
The grace of God that brought salvation to us, should shape what we think about God, and how we interact with others around us.
The verb "greatly rejoice" has the idea of jumping for joy, at least in our inner man. It is enthusiastically exalting God for His gracious provision of salvation.
It is praising Him for loving sinners enough to send His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place.
However, every Christian is also now considered an enemy by the Devil. Satan will relentlessly attack the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ and us, as he seeks to undermine our trust in the scriptures.
In addition, we still carry about our body of flesh that does not want anything to do with living for God's glory. We still have our "old man" who wants to satisfy the lusts of our flesh.
For as long as we live here on earth, our Father in heaven, is working to sanctify us.
Therefore, He uses trials to purge out dross, so that the pure, precious metal remains. He uses tests to strengthen our faith and deepen our dependency upon Him.
The words "for a season" remind us that life on earth is temporary and that eternal life in heaven is our destination.
"Heaviness" that we experience while undergoing trials, is due to seeing our sin and selfishness as God does.
This heaviness or grief, leads us to a godly sorrow that works repentance (See 2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
These trials will pass, and the tests will cease, when the Father's purifying work is completed in us.
Our trials connect with Jesus teaching about the vine and branches.
John 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3) Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
The idea of "manifold temptations" shows us that the Father will use a variety of means, in order to sanctify each born again Christian.
It is less about being tempted to sin and much more about God carefully doing what is best for us.
"Manifold temptations" has the idea of adversity, affliction, or trouble that is sent by God to us. It's purpose is a good one, serving to test or improve our Christian character, faith, and holiness.
Jesus taught us that He is the True Vine, and we are branches that must abide in Him. Thus, our Father will prune the branches (individual Christians) as we abide in the True Vine, Jesus Christ.
Every grape vine has many branches that receive nourishment from the vine. Every vineyard requires pruning of the branches, so that they continue to be productive. Otherwise, they grow too large and produce less fruit.
The trial of our faith is more precious to God, than the testing of metals.
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
The Spirit of God guided Peter to use a metallurgical term to teach us truth about Christian living.
When someone finds gold, they must bring it to an appointed place and a trained official who can determine the fitness, fineness and value of the gold.
An assayer is an officer appointed to try the weight and fineness of the precious metals. Fire is used to heat up the metal.
Testing gold by fire shows if it is really gold or not, and then it shows whether the gold is full of impurities (dross) or if it is fine (very pure).
Though God's purifying fire may cause us short term discomfort, He designed it to make all the dross in us, rise to the top. Our Father will skim it off and discard it.
What remains after the testing or trial of our faith, is a more pure and resilient faith, that is better than it was before testing by fire.
Thus, the trial of each believer in Christ is precious to our Father. He knows our frame, that we are made of dust (See Psalm 103:8-15). He has compassion for us and sends trials to us in love, and for our good.
Peter reminds us that when Jesus comes to take His church home to heaven, He will receive praise, honor and glory.
Jesus Christ will appear again in glory, and when He does so, the saints will appear with Him. The graces that the Father has worked into us will appear bright and luminous. The more our faith has been tried, the more bright it will then appear.
Our trial will soon be over, but the glory, honor, and praise will last to eternity. Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ shall be glorified in that day. We will be proven as children of the Living God and we shall be with Christ forever.
These truths should reconcile us to our present afflictions, and help us have a mind to accept and embrace them, as good for us, because they come from our Father. They work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Unspeakable joy for us when we see Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation.
1 Peter 1:8-9 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
We will not see our Savior, Jesus Christ, until we are taken home to heaven. Yet, even though we do not see Him, we love Him.
We believe all that the scriptures declare about Jesus Christ and this fills our hearts with great joy.
Those to whom the apostle wrote had never seen Christ in the flesh. Yet, this is the nature of faith. They loved Him as much as any of His disciples did.
Faith in the Lord Jesus brings Him into our heart, through the indwelling Spirit of God. He promised that He will come and abide with each Christian (See John 14:15-18; 16:7).
John 20:28-29 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29) Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
This is part of the blessing reserved for Christians like us, who have not seen Jesus face to face, but who believe on Him. This is what Jesus said about us. We are blessed because we believe, even though we have not yet seen Jesus.
Therefore, we have great hope and will experience great joy on that day when we see Him. On that day we will receive the full realization of our salvation, and enter into eternal life.
Thoughts to Ponder...
May these truths fill us with renewed hope and strengthen us as we go through various trials of our faith.
Let us remember that God has good purposes for each trial that we endure, and that our duty is to persevere and look to the Lord for His mighty help.
May the Father's purifying work in us, fill us with joy, as we grasp that trials do indeed prove that we are children of God, bought by the precious blood of Jesus, destined for eternal life in heaven.
Bob
These lessons contain good resources to teach these truths to those whom we love.
I hope and pray that these lessons are a blessing to you and your family.
In Christ's love,
Bob
A note about the archives containing all lessons I have posted on this blog.
The index for all lessons posted from 2019 through 2021, were posted on September 7, 2022.
The index for all lessons posted in 2022, was posted January 24, 2023.
Each index lists the lesson titles and the dates each one was posted, so that you can study subjects that we have written about.
A note about Thanksgiving. I posted a series of lessons on the topic of thanksgiving from a Biblical perspective in November, 2022.
In November, 2021, I posted a series of lessons about the Pilgrims and Puritans, and Thanksgiving's origins in America.
Please use these for devotional material in your homes and with your families, neighbors and friends.
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