Day 72: We Have Been Reborn
Being “born again” is almost a cliche of Christian jargon. However, the spiritual new birth that comes to us by way of Father God’s great mercy is one of our birthright blessings. It is our “new birth” into all our blessings in Christ.
WORDwork:
1 Peter 1:3-9
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. 6 This brings you great joy, although you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials.
7 Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold – gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away—and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 because you are attaining the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
Notice in this passage, just as in Ephesians 1, God is to be blessed. What has God done for us in verse 3? On what basis does He do this?
What does all of this lead to in verse 4? Where is this inheritance now?
What does this say about the quality of the inheritance?
How can we be certain that we will receive this inheritance in verse 5?
Explain verses 6 and 7 in your own words. What is the purpose of the “trials” and “suffering” that we face?
According to verse 7, how valuable is our faith?
In verses 8 and 9 what causes our joy and rejoicing?
What do you think Peter means in verse 9 where he says, “you are attaining the goal of your faith – the salvation of your souls.”
Reborn According to God’s Great Mercy
In this passage, we see that on the basis of God’s mercy, He has caused us to be born again! Just as in the Ephesians passage that we have been exploring, God treats us according to the riches and blessing of His Grace. Here, His grace is revealed as His mercy —He has not treated us as we have deserved, but has been merciful and kind to us.
Reborn to a Living Hope
Notice also that this rebirth gives us access to a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus.” When we think of Jesus’ works for us, we most often think of the Cross and we should. But we must also remember that the resurrection of the Jesus is just as important. Because He has defeated death, He forever lives to save and sustain us. We have hope in Him and this hope is a living hope. It is an ongoing, life sustaining hope that God will complete His saving work in us and make sure that we reach our eternal destination.
Reborn to a New Inheritance
This spiritual rebirth also means that a new inheritance has come to us as Father-God’s children. This inheritance is imperishable (does not grow old and does not wear away with time), undefiled (untouched by the corruption of this fallen world) and unfading (is eternally glorious and beautiful). This full inheritance is kept in Heaven for us and is far above anything that we can even imagine now.
Earlier, we considered verse 5 where Peter talks about God protecting us by His power through faith. Our experience of complete, perfect salvation will not occur until we are in the presence of Christ. Until that time, Father-God is protecting us so that we arrive at this final destination. Until that time, we experience trials which reveal the real value of our faith.
Our Faith is being Refined
As we move forward in our journey, we will face suffering and hardships—trials. Remember, the world does not “know” us because it did not know our Master and it also hates us because it hated Him (1 John 3:1, 13). However, now with our new origin and destiny these trials prove the character of faith. They are also used by our Heavenly Father to build up our faith.
When suffering and trials come, they simply reveal the character of our faith. They help us to see that there is no other hope than to cling to our Creator, Savior and King in the midst of this fallen and corrupt world. Our trials push us to see that there is no greater joy and blessing than being completely included in Father God’s glorious, eternal family in Christ through His Spirit. The conviction of our faith, empowered by God, is the very thing that enables us to persevere to the end, to see Christ and be revealed with Him in glory (see also Colossians 3:1-3).
Christ is our Goal
Finally, Peter brings all of this to a point: Even though we have not seen Christ, we love Him. We do not yet see Him, but we believe, trust in Him. Because of our faith and hope we can rejoice now, in the present, because we know for certain that we will reach our final eternally glorious destiny – complete, made perfect in His presence! Then we will experience the full salvation of our souls. All of this will come to us because we have been reborn, welcomed into God’s eternal family.
Take a minute to think on anything new that you learned in today’s discussion. How do these truths help you to understand what Father-God is doing in Christ to save you?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
