Through Christ’s all-inclusive death, God’s chosen people are ushered into Christ’s resurrection. When Christ was resurrected, God’s chosen people were resurrected with Him. Consider what 1 Peter 1:3 says concerning this: “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.” Here we see that the Father has regenerated us through the resurrection of Christ unto a living hope. This living hope will be fulfilled completely in the New Jerusalem.
Living hope is a hope of life. This is the hope that the life within us will develop until it reaches maturity.
We may use the birth of a child as an illustration of living hope. After a woman gives birth to a child, she will have a hope for that child, a hope for his growth and development. Perhaps the mother of a certain child may hope that he will become a medical doctor or even the president of the country. The basic factor of this hope is the life in the child. Because the child has life, the mother will have hope for his future.
In a similar way, we have been regenerated unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This hope is the hope of life, a life that will grow and develop until it consummates in the New Jerusalem.
This living hope issues from our regeneration. Do you know when you were regenerated? You may answer this question by saying that, in your experience, you were regenerated some years ago. Actually, you were regenerated when Christ was resurrected. It is a divine fact that you were regenerated before you were born. In the sight of God, you had your second birth before you experienced your first birth.
Acts 13:33 indicates that Christ’s resurrection was a birth to Him, for in resurrection He was begotten as God’s Son. In resurrection and through resurrection the Lord Jesus as a man was born to become God’s firstborn Son. The word “firstborn” indicates that the Lord Jesus has brothers. In Romans 8:29 Paul speaks of Christ as the firstborn among many brothers. In resurrection we all have been born with Christ to become His many brothers. How marvelous!
As we read the Gospel of Mark, we need to realize how much the death of the God-man includes and also how much His resurrection comprises. When the process of Christ’s death and resurrection was taking place, we, represented by Peter and the other disciples, were involved. In chapter fourteen Peter wept after he denied the Lord Jesus (v. 72). We may say that Peter wept because he was spiritually bankrupt. However, because he was brought into the death of Christ, Peter was ushered by that death into the Lord’s resurrection. At least by the time of Pentecost Peter realized this. Instead of weeping, he was proclaiming the gospel to the people of Israel. On the day of Pentecost Peter could have said, “I can tell you good news concerning Christ because I am now in His resurrection. The resurrected One is within me. He is the all-inclusive, compound Spirit saturating me. He is one with me, and I am one with Him.” Peter had been brought into the death and resurrection of Christ, the One who had become his all-inclusive replacement.
We have seen that regeneration issues in a living hope, in a hope for the full development of the divine life within us. We have the hope that this life will grow and develop in us to the uttermost. We are in this life, and this life is within us growing and developing.
First, this life issues in today’s church life, which is the reality of the kingdom. Eventually, with many, this life will reach maturity in the millennium, which will be the manifestation of the kingdom of God. Ultimately, the divine life within all believers will reach its fullest development in the New Jerusalem, God’s eternal kingdom in the new heaven and new earth. This will be the consummate development of the life we received through our regeneration.
No doubt, we lack an adequate realization of the divine life within us. Nevertheless, we have had at least some realization of the fact that we have been regenerated through Christ’s resurrection unto a living hope. Many saints can testify that, on certain occasions, they have prayed themselves into an ecstasy. When they were in such a state, they may have found it difficult to say where they were—in the church, the millennium, or the New Jerusalem—for they were beside themselves in the Lord. All of us need to have experiences like this.
Although we are of different nationalities and come from different places around the world, we all have had the real experience of being in resurrection. When we are beside ourselves in the Lord, perhaps not knowing where we are, that is an experience of being in resurrection. Because we have been regenerated, we have been ushered into Christ’s resurrection.
How wonderful it would be if we were always in resurrection! However, we may face problems that cause us to feel that we have been buried and placed in a tomb. But we know from experience that when we cry out to the Lord, calling on His name, we once again experience His resurrection. This is the story of our Christian life. Unbelievers, of course, do not have such experiences, because they have not been regenerated. Praise the Lord that He has brought us into His wonderful resurrection!