64 - What Kind of Love is This?

1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

In this passage, John is inviting us to take a look at something very special - the love the Father has given to His children. So let’s take his advice and see what we can learn.

It’s a different love. John asks us to consider what kind, or what manner, of love we have been given. The word “kind” often means “from what country”. It implies that there is something very different (perhaps even foreign) about this love - something that draws attention because it is not like anything we are familiar with. After the disciples had seen Jesus still the storm, they said “What sort of man is this?” (Matthew 8:27) They used the same word that John uses here - “Where does He come from?” in effect.

It’s a given love, or a “granted” love. This rules out any sense in which the recipients deserved this love by their character, position, education or effort. The Father gives this to His children because it pleases Him to do so.

It’s an adopting love. Those upon whom it is bestowed cease to be outcasts and orphans. They enter into a new family in which God Himself is the Head and the Father. They leave behind the filthy rags of what they once considered to be their righteousness and are clothed in royal robes provided by their elder brother by adoption - Jesus Christ.

It’s a transforming love. They receive a new name - and a name of great honor - “Children of God”. And being His children and called by His name, they increasingly partake in the family likeness - they are changed from one degree of Christ-likeness to the next. And it is clear in this letter that John expects God's children to have the same kind of love for the world and for one another that God has given to them.

It’s a generous love. Having been adopted into the Royal Family of Heaven, and having been made princes and princesses of the heavenly King, they are granted the full rights that their new standing affords. They become heirs to a glorious inheritance - co-heirs with Christ. They become priest-kings as Jesus is The Priest King. They are destined to sit with Christ on His throne in glory. We wouldn’t dare to make this up - but this is what God has revealed in the Bible! It’s worth reading on a few verses in 1 John 3, because John talks about the amazing glory and grace that are yet to be revealed to the children of God because of the love He has given them!

It’s an all-surpassing love. To take sinful rebels, make them clean and adopt them as children calls for a kind of love that is (or should be) jaw-dropping. I love that John feels he must emphasize that what he has just been writing is the truth - “and so we are!”

It’s a costly and demonstrated love. I can’t finish this survey without referring to John 3:16 - a verse that answers the question, “What kind of love is this?” in a very powerful way:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This “agape” love of God is a love that is seen in action. It is freely given to His children but very costly to the Giver. Such is His love for the world of fallen mankind that He gave up His actual Son, His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross, so that He could then give His love to others and make them His sons and daughters by adoption !

It’s “whoever” love. God’s love will save a countless multitude and bring them into His family. It will save whoever will come and believe the good news, says John. We will have only ourselves to blame if we reject the generous offer of this different, given, adopting, transforming, generous, all surpassing, demonstrated and costly love of God.

63 - Lots of Things God Cannot Do!

I read Psalm 77 this morning and I was struck by the way Asaph prayed. He is having a hard time of it. It is a day of trouble (v 2). He remembers God, but that just makes him ache all the more, because He seems to be absent now, and Asaph moans as he thinks about this (v 3). He can’t sleep because he is overwhelmed.

Then things begin to change for him. Now he begins to remember the past in a different way (v 5-6) - not to be depressed that his present experience isn’t like the “good old days” but rather to be encouraged that God hasn’t changed and there is therefore hope for the present and the future. As he meditates on this, his spirit makes a diligent search, the result of which is a series of rhetorical questions about God, the answer to all of which has to be an emphatic “NO!” Here they are:

• Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? 
• Has his steadfast love forever ceased? 
• Are his promises at an end for all time? 
• Has God forgotten to be gracious? 
• Has he in anger shut up his compassion?

Spurred on by the realization that here are five things that God cannot possibly do and remain true to His word, the psalmist is encouraged to reflect on, and to appeal to, “The years of the right hand of the Most High.”

Now, for the third time, he revisits the past and recalls all of God’s gracious dealings with Israel from the time He redeemed them by bringing them out of slavery in Egypt. What mighty works He had done! What promises concerning His people and their inheritance. How He had introduced Himself to Moses as “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). See how this wonderful statement of the being of God lies at the very heart of the rhetorical questions above. If these questions could ever be answered in the affirmative, then God could no longer be the God Who revealed Himself in such amazing terms to Moses!

And Asaph knows this appeal to the character of God and to the honor of His Name will be heard: “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me” (Psalm 77:1).

How gracious of God to give us this Psalm as an object lesson in prayer! Sometimes I think we don’t really know God all that well; if we knew Him better, we would have courage to pray more forcefully. We would argue with Him to do something to prevent His name from being dishonored in His Church or by those in the world. We would go to him as children to their father and say those words that always unlock a blessing: “But Daddy, you promised!”

Asaph tells us that he kept on keeping on in his prayer. He refused to be comforted until he was answered. He sought the Lord day and night without wearying:

Psalm 77:2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.

Likewise, we are encouraged in Scripture to give God no rest until He answers us (Isaiah 62:6-7). Jesus Himself repeats that lesson in the story of the man asking a friend for bread after he had gone to bed (Luke 11:5-13) and the parable of the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8). And the wonderful thing is that we don’t have to persuade God to be good to us. He is already on our side! It is already His heart to abundantly bless His children! He wants us to come like this!

This seems a particularly good time for us to learn from Asaph, to listen to Jesus and to ask Him to teach us to pray more powerfully and more effectively. Some lyrics in a song by a contemporary secular folk band seem to fit Asaph’s problem (and ours) quite well:

The swing sets are empty like dirt turned the dark of the night

The center of this town it used to whirl in the glow of twilight

It might look like god's away with all the trouble these days

We'll come home before the girls are grown

We're coming home tonight 

(From “The Ash & Clay” by The Milk Carton Kids)

Does it look like God’s away with all the trouble these days? Take another look at Asaph’s five questions, because the answer to them all is still an emphatic “NO!” But then follow Asaph’s example and take the questions to God. Remind Him of all that He has done to redeem His children. Plead with Him about His oath and His promise. Talk to Him about the covenant He has entered into with us - which is sealed with the blood of His dear Son. Reason with Him about the honor of His Name. Beg Him to return, and to grant that, as those God has redeemed out of their slavery to sin, we may again see the years of the Right Hand of our God - The Most High!

62 - Light or Dark; Truth or Lies?

1 John 1:5–10 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

In the opening verses of this letter, John paints a stark contrast between two different groups of people and their relationship with God from a spiritual perspective.

First, John sets up the standard for the comparison he is going to make, and of course, the only valid one in the spiritual realm is God Himself. What God revealed to his apostles and sent them to proclaim in the world is a simple, three-word message: God is light. In spiritual terms this means He is pure and untainted to the least degree with darkness (sin). Although the physical light that we see with our eyes, and which He created in the beginning, helps us to understand God’s spiritual purity, it is not the same thing as His pure and spotless spiritual light - the light of His very essence - which John speaks of here. This is His holiness or His complete “set-apart-ness,” or “other-ness” - the true, and indeed the only, standard by which we may make valid assessments on spiritual matters.

Understanding this is critical when it comes to our relationship with God. The first question in the Shorter Catechism asks “What is the chief end of man?” What is his purpose, the point of his existence? The answer is this: “To enjoy God and glorify Him forever.” But just how is it ever going to be possible for us to enjoy a God Who dwells in unapproachable light and Whose eyes are too pure to look on sin? How will we even get close to One of such unimaginable purity and dazzling, spotless righteousness?

John shows us two ways in which people try to answer this question. He compares the things people in each group say about their enjoyment of God with how they actually live, and then draws conclusions based on this data.

The group of lies, darkness and self-deception.

• What they say: “We have fellowship with God (v 6), we have no sin (v 8), we have not sinned (v 10)
• What they do: They walk in darkness and do not practice the truth (they live a life where the established and willing pattern and practice is sin - v 6). 
• What is the conclusion? They are living a lie (v 6). They are deceiving themselves and showing that the truth of God is not in them (v 8). Indeed, they make God a liar, because His testimony is that we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. Therefore His Word of truth has no place in their hearts(v 10).

The group of truth and light, of fellowship, forgiveness and cleansing. 

• What they say: “We have sinned.” They confess it and do not seek to deny it (v 9).
• What they do: They walk in the light - they strive to live in the light as God is in the light (v 7). They fight against sin and seek to put on righteousness.
• What is the conclusion? They truly have fellowship with God (v 6). Therefore they must have been forgiven by Him and made clean from their sin. That cleansing must be a lasting and repairable thing in this life for their fellowship with the God Who is Light to be sustained (v 9). It must be a complete cleansing - from all sin (v 7), and from all unrighteousness (v 9), because there is no darkness in God. They must also necessarily have fellowship with others who have been cleansed the same way and who enjoy fellowship with God on the same basis (v 7). They must be practising the truth, and God’s Word must be in them (v 10). Finally, their cleansing must have been accomplished through the blood of Christ (v 7), because there is no other way for our sins to be completely and lastingly erased. 

It’s a stark contrast, isn’t it? The first group thinks they are just fine and that God couldn’t possibly find fault with them. They don't really think they have any sins - at least not big ones. No-one is perfect, but compared with the vast majority of people, they are among the best.  If God examined them (they believe) any minor blemishes are outweighed by a vast mountain of good things they have done. God is basically obliged to have fellowship with them and take them to heaven when they die. Can you see that they’ve produced a modified god who is no longer light? Can you see they’ve discarded what God says about them (they have sinned and fallen short of His glory) and have therefore rejected His Word of truth and called Him a liar?

The second group really only says one thing - they are sinners. God has opened their eyes to see this and they no longer try to hide it. They seek God for forgiveness and find it as the blood of Christ is applied to them. The sin that separated them from God is cleaned away and they have fellowship with Him and with others who come in the same way. They love God and His light, hate the darkness of sin and seek to live in His light as much as they can.

John doesn’t give other groups of people in relationship to God - there are those who are clean and living in His light, and those who are not, no matter what they tell themselves. Which group are you in?

61 - You Hold My Hand - Part 2

Psalm 73:23–26 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

The words from the end of verse 23 have remained on my heart today. It occurred to me that there was more that could be said about God holding our hand than I included in the previous meditation. What I want us to do here, then, is to spend a few moments reflecting on some of the implications that flow from this idea. We’ll do so by considering the purposes for which an earthly parent may take the hand of his/her child. Some of them I think are clearly meant to be understood in verse 23 above. Others may not flow so directly from the context but certainly find support elsewhere in the Bible.

1. Support. When a young child is learning to walk or is crossing an uneven piece of land, a father will take their hand so that they will not fall if they stumble. That is definitely one of the meanings of the Psalmist here; he had stumbled but he now knew that God had him by the hand to support him. He has us by the hand, too - He will not let us fall.
2. Assurance. While our hand is being held by a parent, we know that they are with us. It is clear that the psalmist here is conscious of God’s presence and it seems probable that he uses the idea of God holding his hand to refer to that. God wants us to know He is with us, too, as His children (even within us by His Spirit). He holds our hand in this way.
3. Guidance. When we are going somewhere that is unfamiliar for our children, we will take them by the hand and draw them along with us so that they don’t take a wrong turn and get lost. Again, the psalmist is conscious of God’s guidance here and this may well be included in his meaning. In the same way, God leads us on through our lives by the hand until we safely arrive at home.
4. Protection. A parent will hold their child by the hand in a strange or dangerous place to keep them from wandering into a place where they may be harmed. Or they may grab them by the hand to pull them away from imminent danger. God does exactly this for His children, too.  He will not allow any to harm us but will most certainly hold our hand to keep us safe until we arrive in glory.
5. Comfort. How much comfort is there for a fearful child when a parent tenderly holds his/her hand? What a sense of confidence and strength can be communicated in that way! How often do we find in the Scriptures that God is a comfort and a strength to His people? He is even called “The God of all Comfort!” He holds our hands in this way, too.
6. Affection. A gentle squeeze from the hand of a parent can be an unspoken indication of affection for the child. I love Philippians 1:8 where Paul talks about yearning for the believers there “with the affection of Christ Jesus”. This is a deeply felt love/compassion that Christ has for His blood-bought brothers and sisters by adoption. God holds our hand in this way.
7. Encouragement. When children are about to undertake a challenging task, a parent can wordlessly encourage them by the way they hold their hand. Our God is the God of encouragement to us (Romans 15:5), Who has equipped us with everything we need to live for Him in this world. His Spirit draws near and fills us when we witness for Christ, giving us the courage and the words to speak. He holds our hand.
8. Instruction. Some tasks are challenging for a growing child to learn - such as tying a shoelace or correctly holding a pencil. A parent will often take the child’s hand and lead them through the motion involved, or show how the fingers need to be placed. Again, through the Word, God has given us many examples of godly living to be emulated - supremely the example of Jesus Himself. He holds our hands as we learn how to live for Him in difficult situations.
9. You may be able to add more!

Let me say again that I do not know how many of these things may have been in the psalmist’s mind and on his heart as he wrote these words, though it is certain that some of them were. I do know, though, that God is our support, comfort, protector, encouragement and guide, that He grants us assurance and instruction and daily showers us with tokens of His affection! And I know that all of these activities can be performed in the simple act of an earthly parent’s holding of their child’s hand. What a rich picture to dwell on for a few moments in terms of our relationship with God! How we should praise Him that He holds our hands in all these ways and more!

60 - You Hold My Hand

Psalm 73:23–26 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

These words are the testimony of a man who had almost envied the wealthy and powerful, the violent and the wicked, because there seemed to be no justice for them, whereas those who set themselves to live holy lives encountered all sorts of difficulties and afflictions. He couldn’t make sense of it until he drew near to God and saw things from an eternal perspective. No sin goes unpunished by God. No justice will be left unfulfilled at the end of the age, and no-one who has made Him their refuge will be disappointed - He will hold them fast and will never let them go.

He looks back at how foolish he was to have questioned God’s dealings with men, and then he launches into the wonderful conclusion that appears above. In spite of his one-time bitterness toward God, he had now arrived at a place of joy and peace.

He had “found” God when he entered His sanctuary - that is when he understood how unblamable God is - how righteous in all His works. He seems now to never want to be away from God’s presence again, but to be with him “continually” (the word in v 23 is used of the repeated offerings of the Tabernacle/Temple worship - every day without fail - all the time). Although he had behaved very badly toward God, God had not let Him go. Rather, He held onto Him - grasped him - by his right hand. He had counseled him and guided him to a place of greater understanding. Clearly, the psalmist reasons, if that is the strength of the bond God has forged with him, He will never let him go but will bring him without fail to glory (v 24)!

His love in time past forbids me to think

He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.

As He reflects on the love God has shown him, his heart swells with adoration and admiration for God and he engages in true worth-ship - ascribing to God far greater value, honor and glory than anything he could ever possess in this world. In his sense of eternal security and in his wonder for the matchless being and character of God, he surrenders himself afresh to Him and casts himself entirely upon Him to be His eternal strength and inheritance.

There is a lot of spiritual sunshine radiating from these few short verses and it is good to bask in the warmth and the light for a while! Of course, New Testament believers can take exactly these thoughts and words and make them their own - but with even greater grounds for our acts of worship and sacrifice than the Psalmist had. We look back on the demonstration of God’s love at the cross and we understand that our strength and our inheritance were secured irrevocably there. We have the promise and the oath of God to assure us that He will in no way cast out any who have come to Him, turning from their sin - and that He will lose none of those whom He came to save.

Is this your confidence and your assurance? Can you take the words from Psalm 73:23-26 and own them as your own prayer to God as your heavenly Father?

59 - A Changed People

We’re delighted that our good friend and brother, Simon Chase, has agreed to prepare a few “lockdown ponderings” for us! These are adapted from a series Simon is teaching at Gillingham Baptist Church, and which began when the UK went into Lockdown due to the coronavirus.

__________________________________________

1 Peter 1:22-25 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Peter wrote to a people scattered over a large area, yet all were chosen eternally by God, and  all had been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. They all had an imperishable inheritance stored up for them and they all enjoyed the power and presence of the Spirit to bring them safely to glory. And all this is true of us. We know (as they did) we need to live holy lives fearing God, having a faith and hope rooted in God Himself.

Now Peter tells this chosen people to be a changed people – for they have been changed by being saved. And as Scripture, all this applies equally to us, for we are Christians just like those who first read this letter.

1. CHANGED BY PURIFICATION  v 22

‘Having’ indicates both what has happened and that they were involved in it. How were they involved? ‘Obedience to the truth’ indicates how they participated – not by baptism or any kind of ritual, but by saving faith in Jesus Christ. Faith involves obedience; the Greek word carries both ideas.

They are ‘purified’ not by their own act but, as verse 2 says, by ‘sprinkling’ with the blood of Jesus. God Himself has done this – ‘in the sanctification of the Spirit’, v 2. Purification has a particular purpose – ‘for a sincere love’. Again, just as in v 2’s ‘for obedience’. The result of becoming a Christian is that God has changed us so that we may be purified, sanctified and  obedient.

God calls for a changed person to show change. The evidence is ‘by a sincere brotherly love’. This is a new feature in a new Christian’s life: love for other Christians. There is a new sense of kinship and affection. And Peter says because of what they now are, they must do it more and more: ‘love one another earnestly from a pure heart’. That call applies to us as well. We cannot be godly, changed Christians and ignore the fellowship of the local church. To God, the second commandment – to love your neighbour as yourself – really, really matters. And even though at present we too are scattered, we should look for opportunities to show this love.

2. CHANGED BY REGENERATION  v 23

Peter has word themes that run for a while (like ‘revealed’). Here, it is new birth, see verse 3 and chapter 2 verse 2. This transformation within us is a new birth, a ‘regeneration’. It is a spiritual birth. It is not ‘perishable seed’ but ‘imperishable’. That’s another word theme – see verses 4 and 18. No earthly or human process produces regeneration, but God’s Word does. It happens ‘through the living and abiding word of God’. That is why the Bible is so important, why preaching is so important (look at verse 12 again) and why explaining the truth to others is so important. Paul tells us that ‘faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ’ in Romans 10:17. We come to new birth ‘through’ the Word of God. We do not bring ourselves to new birth; God does this through the Word, by the Spirit.

3. CHANGED BY THE GOSPEL  vv 24-25

The prophets, directed by the Spirit ‘of Christ’, served us, speaking of Him, v 10-12. So Isaiah’s vision of God’s glory in chapter 6 of his prophecy is explained in these terms in John 12:41. Here Peter quotes Isaiah 40:6 and 8. Why? Well, Isaiah 40:1-2 speaks of comfort replacing trouble. Then verses 3-5 speak of John the Baptist and his days. The effect of the Word comes in vv 9-11 – gospel days! So the point of Peter’s quotation is to underline that the ‘word’ is particularly the gospel of Jesus’ coming, life, death and resurrection.

The quotation also contrasts what humans are and can do compared to the always-relevant and life-giving word of God. Times come and go; people have their time ‘on stage’ in this world. We wax and wane. Yet God’s Word remains suitable, powerful for everyone everywhere for evermore.

Peter applies ‘this… word’ (that is, this section of Isaiah chapter 40) to the Christians of his and of every succeeding generation. He says ‘this word is the good news that was preached to you’. This is good news: the good news. Isaiah spoke of it; Jesus is it. They believed it. So all this glorious change – purification, regeneration – is produced by gospel preaching. This comes as no surprise if verse 12b is true. The living word is such because of the Spirit’s work in us. And the gospel of conversion is the gospel which also speaks of sanctification. God still works in us this way.

Chapter 1 ends like this: a changed people are to go on changing in the same direction increasingly. We are to love one another – sincerely, earnestly, purely. Even though we are scattered.

Living as a growing Christian includes, but is more than just, doctrinal knowledge. It is also more than just personal holiness. These are both inward things. Love of other Christians, in this church and in others, is out-going, like the love of God. Like the ‘love that drew salvation’s plan and brought it down to man’ as an old hymn goes. This, supremely, shows that we are a changed people.

So let us love one another.

58 - A Redeemed People

We’re delighted that our good friend and brother, Simon Chase, has agreed to prepare a few “lockdown ponderings” for us! These are adapted from a series Simon is teaching at Gillingham Baptist Church, and which began when the UK went into Lockdown due to the coronavirus.

________________________________________

1 Peter 1:17-21 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

We have many blessings from God the Father in Jesus Christ by the Spirit. Supremely the salvation gifted to us in the gospel. Therefore we should live holy lives – especially as God himself is holy. Now Peter reminds us of the fact, cost and value of our redemption.

1. FEAR GOD  v 17

A Christian is adopted when they are saved. So they can call God ‘Father’. As a family member we have access to him, so we can ‘call on him’. Not in the sense of visiting him, but in the sense of praying to him and asking for his help. These are blessed privileges.

But we must realise that the God who is holy also ‘judges’ at the present time. He deals with us justly but in a fatherly way. So we have the intimacy of being his children, but we must always remember he is God and so reverently ‘fear’ him. That should spur us to ‘conduct ourselves’ is a way that will please our heavenly Father who loves us so much.

And we should bear in mind that this is only for a while – ‘throughout the time of your exile’. We are passing through, we are heading home. We are only here for a while. Don’t settle down! Remember verse 1 and look at 2:11.

2. REMEMBER YOUR REDEMPTION  vv 18-19

When the Bible says ‘knowing’ it tells us to keep something in mind. Our minds are meant to be ‘ready for action’, v 13. But particularly we are to realise we have been ‘ransomed’ traditionally referred to as being ‘redeemed’. The idea has to do with the slave market of those days. A ‘redemption’ fee could be paid to purchase and free a slave. God has done this for us.

In fact the Son of God has done this – and in a way the world and all who belong to it could never have achieved. The best of this world – silver and gold – is ‘perishable’. Our inheritance is imperishable, v 4. The best life this world achieves is ‘futile’ (vanity); we lived like that in ‘ignorance’, v 14. The pattern of this world (under the sun) is repetition – ‘inherited from your forefathers’. Ancient societies outside Israel saw the world as a series of cycles. The world can’t break out of itself and so cannot bring true change. Only God himself can break that pattern and bring change – he does this through the gospel when we are ‘born again’, v 3. That is why British Christians came to America in search of religious freedom. This is why we should be ‘non-conformists’, v 14. Christians don’t repeat, we are renewed.

So verse 19’s ‘but’ is a radical, eloquent, sequence-breaking intervention by God himself.

Salvation is bought in a totally different currency – ‘the precious blood of Christ’. Indeed it is a sacrifice, the ‘lamb of God’ who takes away our sin. Jesus was the perfect, fulfilling, ultimate, propitiating lamb, who spiritually was ‘without blemish or spot’. Keep in mind this wonderful provision from God and live with a profound sense of gratitude and obligation.

3. IT WAS PLANNED AND PRESENTED  v 20

Peter’s point about the prophets’ ministry being intended for our benefit is expanded here. The Spirit informed them of what God had already decided and planned. As in verse 2 , God’s ‘foreknowledge’ more than just foresees what will happen, it establishes it. Both who will be saved and who will save has been set in place by God’s will. Just as the beneficiaries of redemption were decided, v 2, so was the means, v 20, ‘he’. It is clear this ‘foreknowing’ happened before creation.

Yet only ‘in the last times’ has it been made ‘manifest’: the prophets’ answer has now been fully revealed. God plans from before time itself. God works according to his schedule through time. But in these days the whole shape of the plan has been revealed and implemented.

In order to have a people for himself, God needed a redeemer for them: and so the Word was made flesh. The Fall, Adam’s disobedience in Eden, was no surprise; the arrival of the Messiah was no emergency response. World governments did not see Covid-19 coming. God provided the answer to human sin before the first human had even been made. Before the first sin, our salvation was planned and provided for – ‘for the sake of you’!

4. AND EVEN OUR FAITH IS THE GIFT OF GOD  v 21

We ‘are believers in God’. Why us? Well our faith is not merely our human response – ‘through him’ we believe. Yes, we truly trusted Jesus. But the reason we did is because God gave us that gift to exercise.

But faith is not mere faith in faith. So often the world speaks in this way. “I wish I had your faith’ they might say. As though faith was some inner quality that only a particular configuration of DNA has provided to some. No, God-given faith, the faith that saves, is directed to God. ‘Your faith and hope are in God’. Faith has an ‘object’ as theologians say. It is directed to Jesus Christ, who he is and what he has done. For really, though we are saved by faith we are actually saved by Jesus. Faith trusts him to do this.

This faith is rooted in fact: ‘who raised him from the dead’. This faith is strengthened as it sees fulfilled prophecy: ‘and gave him glory’. Thus our ‘faith and hope’ aren’t stumbling in the dark, but embedded ‘in God’.

The world only has faith in the idea of faith, and hope in the idea of hope. We trust in the God who has done all this – redemption – and will deliver on all his promises. We can live now, looking forward to then – when Jesus Christ is revealed.