Take the Beat Down But Still Come Out Victorious

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Vss. 8-9

God’s got a plan.  Peter has laid out that plan.  We might very well take a beat-down for believing in that plan.  But that is okay, Peter focuses us on understanding that the beat-down is proof to the genuineness of our faith.  Because, when we really believe, we have something magnificent, something even beyond words.

And it is so kicking that we love Jesus, we believe in Jesus, we rejoice in Jesus, even though we’ve never seen him, nor shall we see him in this life (unless he is to come back, God hear my prayer!)  There is a future being cast in this letter, one where we shall receive the full outcome of our faith, the complete salvation of our souls. 

But it is an outcome that starts now.  The joy is already something we can aspire to, something we can touch, something we can experience.  Maybe if the Seahawks had run the football in those last plays of the Super Bowl, they would have achieved the joy of the victory that they were touching all the way through the game.  Jesus would have run the football. 

So here we are.  Peter has completed his introduction to his audience, recapped the history of salvation, celebrated the results of salvation, and reminded his audience of the joy of salvation.  From here, Peter goes on to tell us why we can latch on with such certainty to the promise of salvation.

Salvation: That’s The Word For This Whole Faith Thing!

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Vss. 8-9

So, this is what we call it.  The outcome of our faith, loving Jesus, believing in Jesus, the whole plan that God set into motion, the plan that Peter’s audience have undertaken trials on behalf of, it is all ‘the salvation of our souls.’  I say ‘our’ souls where Peter says ‘your’ souls, because this letter speaks to the Jews of the Diaspora but it also speaks to us.  If that were its purpose, it wouldn’t be in the Bible.

To the Jews in Peter’s audience, salvation of their souls is the fulfillment of the Messianic expectations.  There are so many perspectives to this.  The Messiah is the Second Adam and Eve, restoring the relationship with God that was messed up in Genesis 2 and 3.  The Messiah is the Son of David, Israel’s greatest king, coming to establish a perfect kingship.  The Messiah is Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant”,

⁴ Surely he has borne our infirmities
   and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
   struck down by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions,
   crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
   and by his bruises we are healed. (Is. 53:4-5)

So we spin back to the beginning of Peter’s words, giving us a new birth into a living hope, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.  It is a salvation to be revealed in the last time, but one that begins in our lives now.

Pretty cool if you think about it.

Already Transcending the Fetid Swamp of Existence, but Not Yet Done

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Vss. 8-9

“Jesus, the reason for the season”.  It irritates me that we have to go back to such basics to define Christmas.  There is desperation in this expression as Christmas gets taken up by the popular culture. 

We have not seen Jesus, we won’t see him now, but we will love him, we will believe in him and rejoice.  Such is the basic expression of our emotional connection to Jesus.  Rejoicing with indescribable and glorious joy, that comes from someplace.  We ‘are receiving’ the outcome of our faith.

We receive the full outcome of our faith at the end of time.  This is the ‘past, present, and implicit future’ in this sentence.  We have not seen Jesus, Jesus is not with us now, but still we love, still we believe, still we rejoice, all of which is the outcome of our faith that shall be brought upon us in the future. 

Peter has just spoken of surviving, and even thriving, in the trials that come upon us because of our faith.  The genuineness of our faith is revealed, the precious gold, which comes in full measure “in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

There is a great shorthand for this, the “already-not yet” of Jesus.  It is already here but it is not yet fully realized.  The joy is so powerful, we can taste it.  But, in this sinful world, we will get pulled back into the fetid swamp of humdrum existence.  Except the outcome of our faith can power us up to overcome the current sinful world for our Lord and for our community. 

Standing in the Thunderstorm, Praising God!

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Vss. 8-9

Crap, crap, crap.  This voice, from two thousand years ago, is reaching out and grabbing me by the throat and reminding me of how freaking wonderful my faith is.  Personal epiphany and reminder of this faith I hold dear!  How does one share in a blog post that being reminded of the obvious can make the faith fun?

Part 2 of the couplet that started with ‘you have not seen him’.  Yes, Jesus has risen to the Father by the time of this writing.  He’s been gone anywhere from 3 to 30 years at this point.  “You do not see him now”.  Past to present, Jesus not in either.  The promise, however, is that we will see him in the future.

We believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy because we have the future promise of seeing him once more.  He came once, he’ll come again. 

Peter is naming the reality.  This is not salvation history, this is not the future of revelation of God’s plan, this is not some tricky theological discussion. 

Go back and watch the “Shawshank Redemption”, this is the moment when Tim Robbins is standing outside the prison walls, hands raised to the cleansing of the thunderstorm, knowing he is free.  This is Lt. Dan in “Forrest Gump”, the day after he was up on the mast of the shrimping boat, challenging God for all he was worth, and finding faith once again.

How do you describe what is indescribable?  How do you truly define ‘glorious’?  I can’t.  I only know that my faith resonates with what Peter is saying.  Does yours?

Dear Jesus, We Are Taking The Word of A Guy About You!

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Vss. 8-9

Well, there is a wonderful mystery of the faith.  What Peter says is right, for me at least.  I haven’t seen Jesus, but I love him.  Peter is assuming the same thing of his audience.  I would think that is a reasonable assumption.  If they didn’t, why would they read his letter?

Yes, “he” and “him” throughout this sentence refer to Jesus.  Pronouns can be funny things in Bible verses sometimes. 

Peter assumes his audience loves Jesus because their faith has been tested, because they have come through the fire.  Praise, glory, and honor in Jesus are the result of their faithfulness, as we have seen in the last sentence. 

And the testing of their faith results in the genuineness being revealed, because their faith is built upon the promise and plan that God has put into effect.  Thus they can love this Jesus who they’ve never seen.

Such is a grand testing of faith.  This guy-Peter-comes in and starts preaching about someone who showed up, died, and rose again back in the motherland.  There is only the whole ‘grand plan of God’ to explain it.  He doesn’t have the YouTube feed of Jesus walking on water, photobombs of Jesus and the feasting 5000, even network news to back him up with reports of a strange, new Judean phenom.

For two thousand years, all we’ve had is someone who told someone else about Jesus, and wrote it down for us to have now.   I am having a ‘mind blown’ moment about the power of faith.  I have never seen the guy and I love Jesus.  Wow.

More Blessed Than Peter; Those Who Have Never Seen Jesus

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Vss. 8-9

It is a fascinating thing to consider.  The Jews Peter is preaching to only have his word for what happened.  None of them were there to witness what happened to Jesus.  And yet they believe.  Of course, that is also our experience.  Maybe the fascinating thing to consider is the flip of this situation.  Consider that Peter walked with (on land and water), talked with (and argued and denied), and was chosen by Jesus to carry the keys to the kingdom.  He is someone who KNEW Jesus!

This next sentence carries forward to those in Peter’s audience who have carried through the trials endured for the faith.  It is not simply looking forward to the end for praise, honor and glory.  This is the paradigm of their current faith.

“Although you have not seen^* him, you love him; We hold that in common with Peter’s audience.  At least I hope we do.  Peter began by explaining why we should love Jesus, then placing a context around the trials they have undertaken.  Here, he speaks to the result of all that.

and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, This is a couplet with the first phrase, repeating the heart of the phrase, but with a slight variation.  They did not see Jesus when he was on earth, they do not see him now, but the implicit promise is that they WILL see him in the future.  And Peter does not consider the results of believing in him to be a disappointment.

for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, We have faith for a reason.  Such is what Peter started explaining his letter with, the plan of God and the outcome that it will bring to the lives of believers.

the salvation of your souls. Salvation history was summed up in less than a hundred words.  Here is the explicit tying in of that history to the lives of the believers to whom Peter writes.

Another shift to note in this sentence, God is no longer explicitly defined.  That context has been set, Peter is now exploring the relationship between his audience and Jesus.

 

“K, is it worth it? Yes, if you are strong enough.” Quoted from Men in Black

In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  1 Peter 1: 6-7 

The Jews of the Diaspora are called upon to rejoice in the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah by God.  It is the first ‘hands on’ work from God for almost two centuries.  That is the time of silence from the last prophet, Malachi, to the coming of Jesus.  The death and resurrection of Jesus, and what that means, it is all set in the context of God the Father, God the Creator, the God that Christians and Jews continue to share (but we might do a better job of it!).

Peter is seeking to create a context for the trials they have suffered.  The context is that of refinement by fire.  They have been challenged, we do not know exactly what they went through.  But in the end, they are stronger for it.  It is the exposure of the genuineness of their faith.  It would have been easiest to simply drop all the “Jesus-talk” and slid back to what they believed before.

But Peter would have no reason to write to those people.

This audience is standing firm.  And Peter is seeking to support them in their faith, looking to what they have to look forward to.  It is reassurance that what they are suffering is, in fact, worth the trouble.