In this message we will begin to consider the aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ revealed in 1 Peter. Although 1 Peter is a short book, it reveals many rich aspects of Christ for our experience and enjoyment.
First Peter 1 presents Christ as the element of Christian experience in its totality.
First Peter 1:2 tells us that we were “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” In eternity past God the Father chose us (Eph. 1:4), exercising His foreknowledge, and the sanctification of the Spirit followed unto the obedience of faith in Christ. Our believing in Christ results from the Spirit’s sanctifying work. We were sanctified, separated, by the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ; sanctification brought us to the sprinkling of the blood shed by the Savior on the cross and separates us unto this divine provision. As a result, we are now the redeemed ones. The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is the basic element for us to experience Christ.
In verse 2 Peter does not use the word redemption. He purposely uses the expression, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. It would have been too simple merely to use the word redemption. But to speak of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is to expound, define, and apply the matter of redemption.
According to the teaching of the New Testament, God’s salvation is first composed of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. After a person repents and believes, the first thing God applies to him is the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” God applies the sprinkling of the blood to us because we are sinners. We have no ground to receive anything from God; we have no merit in ourselves. The only ground that we have is the blood shed by the Lord Jesus for us. In order to receive or claim anything, we need the proper ground. The redeeming blood, which is applied to us, is the ground for all the items of God’s salvation. It is the only ground on which we can stand to claim all that God intends to give us.
The application of the blood of the Lord Jesus is its sprinkling upon us. We were evil, filthy, and full of transgressions. God’s condemnation was upon us, and there was no way for the record of our sins to be annulled. But when the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus was sprinkled upon us, it solved all these problems. The blood not only covered our sins; it also purged them away. The sprinkling of the blood upon us enables God to continue with many works of grace within us.
In typology the sprinkling of the expiating blood ushered the sprinkled people into the old covenant (Exo. 24:6-8). Likewise, the sprinkling of Christ’s redeeming blood brings the sprinkled believers into the blessing of the new covenant, that is, into the full enjoyment of the Triune God (Heb. 9:13-14). This is a striking mark that separates the sprinkled people from the common people, who are without God.
First Peter 1:3-4 goes on to say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens for you.” This reveals Christ’s all-inclusive resurrection. Through His unique and all-inclusive resurrection, both Christ Himself and all His believers were resurrected. In His resurrection not only was Jesus, the Son of Man, begotten to be the firstborn Son of God, but also all His believers were regenerated to be the many sons of God unto a living hope, that is, unto an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, kept in the heavens for us.
When Christ was resurrected, we, His believers, were all included in Him. Hence, we were resurrected with Him (Eph. 2:6). In His resurrection He imparted the divine life into us and made us the same as He is (John 20:17). This is the basic factor of our regeneration. In keeping with this, the Lord Jesus said in John 12:24 that if a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it bears much fruit. This is a matter of germination through resurrection.
God has regenerated all His chosen people through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We were not regenerated separately. According to 1 Peter 1:3, we all were regenerated at the time that the Lord Jesus was resurrected. In this light, all the countless believers are as one man in the sight of God. This universal man is the new man (Eph. 2:15). The Head of this new man is Christ, and the Body of this new man is the church. The church as the Body of Christ is not the individual Christ but the corporate Christ, the enlarged Christ.
Regeneration, like redemption and justification, is an aspect of God’s full salvation. Redemption and justification solve our problem with God and reconcile us to God; regeneration enlivens us with God’s life, bringing us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God. Hence, regeneration issues and results in a living hope. Such regeneration is accomplished through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. “The resurrection of Christ, bringing in life and the gift of the life-giving Spirit, is that which potentiates the new birth unto a living hope” (Alford).
A living hope unto which we have been regenerated is a hope for the future in our sojourning today. This is not a hope of objective things but a hope of life, even eternal life, with all the endless divine blessings. Such a hope should cause us to set our hope perfectly on the coming grace (1 Pet. 1:13).
The living hope, the hope of life, brought to the regenerated believers through regeneration, can be likened to the various expectations for the future brought to parents through the birth of a baby; all such expectations hinge on the life of the newborn child. Likewise, the life that we, the believers, have received through regeneration enables us to have a hope, with numerous aspects, for this age, for the coming age, and for eternity. In this age we have the hope of growing in life, of maturing, of manifesting our gifts, of exercising our functions, of being transformed, of overcoming, of being redeemed in our body, and of entering into glory. In the coming age we have the hope of entering into the kingdom, of reigning with the Lord, and of enjoying the blessings of the eternal life in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. In eternity we have the hope of being in the New Jerusalem, where we will participate fully in the consummated blessings of the eternal life in its ultimate manifestation in eternity. This living hope, the hope of life, hinges on the eternal life, which we received through regeneration. Only the divine life can enable us to grow in the divine life until we grow into the reality of the hope that is brought to us by that life. This is the hope that the life within us will develop until it reaches maturity and consummates in the New Jerusalem.
The hope of life is the enjoyment of eternal life. This enjoyment is not only for the future; it is for us to experience today. The enjoyment of eternal life is the fulfillment of the hope of life. The full enjoyment of eternal life will be in the future, but today we may have a foretaste. Then in the future we will enjoy the full taste. Both the foretaste and the full taste are the fulfillment of the hope of this life.
The expression unto an inheritance in verse 4 is in apposition to unto a living hope in verse 3. The living hope, resulting from regeneration, is our expectation of the coming blessing; the inheritance is the fulfillment of our hope in the coming age and in eternity.
The inheritance in verse 4 comprises the coming salvation of our souls (vv. 5, 9), the grace to be received at the revelation of the Lord (v. 13), the glory to be revealed (5:1), the unfading crown of glory (v. 4), and the eternal glory (v. 10). All these items of our eternal inheritance are related to the divine life, which we received through regeneration and which we are experiencing and enjoying throughout our entire Christian life. “This inheritance is the full possession of that, which was promised to Abraham and all believers (Gen. 12:3; see Gal. 3:6 ff.), an inheritance, as much higher than that which fell to the children of Israel in the possession of Canaan, as the sonship of the regenerate, who have already received the promise of the Spirit through faith as a pledge of their inheritance, is higher than the sonship of Israel: compare Gal. 3:18, 29; 1 Cor. 6:9; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 9:15” (Wiesinger, quoted by Alford).
In 1 Peter 1:4, Peter uses three words to describe our inheritance: incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. Our inheritance is incorruptible in substance, indestructible, not decaying; undefiled in purity, unstained; and unfading in beauty and glory, not withering. These are the excelling qualities of our eternal inheritance in life. These qualities should be related to the Divine Trinity: incorruptible relates to the nature of the Father, which is like gold; undefiled, to the condition preserved by the Spirit’s sanctifying work; and unfading, to the glorious expression of the Son.
We should not regard the inheritance in verse 4 as only for the future. This inheritance is for us today, tomorrow, and for eternity. From the day that we were regenerated, this inheritance has been our portion. An inheritance is a proper and legal possession. It is not gained by our energy, ability, or deeds. On the contrary, it is granted to us in a way that is legitimate. We do not work for an inheritance; rather, we receive it. On the day that we were regenerated, we were given the right to share an inheritance. This inheritance includes all the blessings related to eternal life.
Our first birth gave us an inheritance. When we were born of our parents, we inherited God’s creation. Because creation is our inheritance through birth, we can enjoy the earth, the sunshine, the air, the atmosphere, the rain, and the wind. All these aspects of our earthly inheritance serve to keep us alive. Without such an inheritance, no one could live. In the same principle, through our second birth, regeneration, we have been born into a new inheritance. This inheritance is not on earth; rather, it is kept in the heavens. Although the new inheritance is kept for us in the heavens, we can enjoy it now on earth. Just as electricity is stored in the power plant far away yet is transmitted from the power plant to our homes for our consumption, so also our heavenly, divine, spiritual inheritance is kept in the heavens yet is continually being transmitted into our spirit for our enjoyment.
As reborn ones, we can daily experience a divine transmission. When we call on the Lord Jesus, we may sense that something within us is connected to the heavens. Before we were regenerated, we never had this kind of realization. This transmission is the application and enjoyment of the inheritance kept in the heavens for us.
Once a person has been born again by God with His Spirit, that person is born unto a living hope, and this living hope is the inheritance of all the spiritual and heavenly blessings related to eternal life. Daily we need to take possession of this inheritance and enjoy it. This inheritance is legal, proper, and legitimate, for Christ died to purchase it for us. He paid the price of His precious blood, and we have been sprinkled with this blood. Therefore, every day we may enjoy the riches of the divine life. Daily we may participate in the inheritance that is ours today and for eternity.