In 1:3 and 4 Peter 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 among the dead, unto an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens for you.” For many years, I have been trying to understand the words “living hope.” I could not understand how this living hope could be the inheritance, as indicated by the fact that, according to grammar, the inheritance in verse 4 is in apposition to the living hope in verse 3. This indicates that the living hope is the inheritance and that the inheritance is the living hope.
A living hope is a hope of life. In particular it is a hope of eternal life. Life is the source of hope. For example, a little child has human life. Because he has life, his parents are full of hope that he will grow. At birth he weighed several pounds, but his mother is expecting him to grow to maturity as a man. Her hope is the hope of life.
We could not have such a hope in relation to something that is not living. For example, we would not have hope in relation to a chair. No one would look at a chair and say, “This chair is small and ugly, but I am full of hope that one day this chair will become larger and beautiful.” That kind of hope is altogether vain. But it is not vain for parents to hope that their child will grow. By this illustration we can see that hope depends on life. The living hope is a hope of life.
We may also use a carnation seed to illustrate what Peter means by a living hope, a hope of life. If you were to sow a carnation seed in your yard, you would sow it with hope. You would have the expectation that the seed would eventually sprout. After a period of time, you would expect to have a full-grown carnation plant with blossoms on it. This is an illustration of the hope of life.
A dead person has no hope. However, if life could be imparted into a dead person, he would have the hope that every member of his physical body would be enlivened. In principle, the same applies to our regeneration. Before we were regenerated, we were dead and without hope. But the eternal life that has been sown into us is full of hope, full of the hope of life.
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. But when I was young, I was taught that the living hope in 1:4 was only for the future. I was taught that, sometime in the future, I would have a mansion in heaven. It was explained to me that believers have such a wonderful hope. This hope seems to be good, but it is for something far removed from us. We cannot participate in it today.
From the time I began to know eternal life, I also began to enjoy the living hope. To enjoy this living hope is to enjoy eternal life. This eternal life enables us’ to change. Furthermore, the enjoyment of eternal life is the fulfillment of the hope of life. Of course, the full enjoyment of eternal life will be in the future. But today we may have a foretaste. Then in the future we shall enjoy the full taste. But both the foretaste and the full taste are the fulfillment of the hope of this life. Therefore, this hope is actually the enjoyment of eternal life.
Now we need to ask how this living hope can also be our inheritance. When a child is born, he receives human life. In the future this child will enjoy many things. All the things which he will enjoy in the future are counted as an inheritance. Every human being receives as an inheritance many things related to human life. Birth gives the right to this inheritance.
When I was young, I was told that the inheritance described in 1:4 will be ours to enjoy in the future. I was taught that we must wait until the Lord Jesus comes back to experience this inheritance. Eventually I learned that the salvation in 1:5, the full salvation, is ready to be revealed at the last time. But we are not told that we must wait for the future to enjoy our inheritance. Peter does not say that the inheritance is kept in the heavens until the unveiling of the Lord Jesus. Rather, he says only that the inheritance is kept for us in the heavens. The heavens can be compared to a bank, and in this bank we have a deposit—the inheritance. We can make withdrawals from this heavenly deposit today; we need not wait for the future. At any time we can write a “check” to make a withdrawal from our heavenly checking account.
Eternal life is our enjoyment and also our inheritance. All the riches of God’s being are involved in His life. These riches have become our inheritance in the heavenly bank. Our daily experience of eternal life is also an experience and enjoyment of the inheritance kept for us in the heavens. This means that the living hope and the inheritance are one.
In 1:4 Peter gives a threefold description of our inheritance. He says that this inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. I believe that this threefold description points to the Trinity. The word “incorruptible” refers to the nature of this inheritance. This is God’s nature, signified by gold. “Undefiled” describes the condition of the inheritance. This condition is related to the sanctifying Spirit. “Unfading” refers to the expression of this inheritance. This inheritance has unfading glory. In chapter five Peter speaks of an unfading crown of glory. The everlasting expression indicated by the word “unfading” is the Son as the expression of the Father’s glory. Therefore, here we have the Father’s incorruptible nature, the Spirit’s sanctifying power to maintain the inheritance in an undefiled condition, to keep it holy, clean, and pure, and also the Son as the expression of the unfading glory. Therefore, the description of our inheritance is also a description of the Triune God.