Word of Encouragement (9/13/2021)
Let us continue our reflection on Peter’s prayer in 1 Pet. 1:3-5: “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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Last week, we talked about the living hope, to which we are born again. This living hope is to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading and is kept in heaven for us. Not only that, we ourselves are guarded by God’s power for the heavenly inheritance. How does God guard us? What does He do with His power to guard us?
Peter tells us that God protects us “through faith” (v. 5). This is interesting, isn’t it? Faith is a human act. Yes, faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). But that doesn’t mean that God believes for us or makes us believe without any involvement of our intellect, emotion, or will. Faith is a gift from God because He enables us to believe by causing us to be born again (1:3) when we were dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:3, 5). But notice: God enables us to believe. We must believe. It’s like what John Newton said in “Amazing Grace: “I once was blind but now I see....” God doesn’t make us see while we are blind. God opens our eyes so we can see with our eyes. Similarly, God makes us alive so we can believe with our intellect, emotion, and will.
Many have a hard time thinking of our faith as something we do because we are not supposed to be saved by our works. But when the Bible speaks of “works,” it means a specific type of human acts—the acts that are meritorious—that is, the acts of virtue, which deserve a reward. Not all human acts are works; not all human acts are meritorious. Faith is a non-meritorious act. It is not meritorious because it is an act of dependence on someone else’s help. Then, what does it mean for God to guard us through faith?
This reminds us that there are two phases in God’s redemption: the first phase is Christ’s work for us, outside of us, to live, die, and be raised from the dead to accomplish our salvation; the second phase is Christ’s work in us to apply that salvation to us. The chief instrument of Christ’s work in us is faith (and repentance, which makes up the two sides of the same coin with faith). Faith is what unites us to Christ and all His benefits. Therefore, God cannot preserve us “for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” without preserving our faith. True faith, which is saving faith, is a faith that perseveres till the end.
How does God guard us through faith? By nurturing our faith through His Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith is not a blind or abstract faith. We don’t just believe; we believe something or someone. Faith has a specific content it believes. For the Christian faith, it is the Word of God, which is God’s self-revelation. So, the more we know the Word of God (not just with our heads but also with our hearts), the greater and stronger our faith gets. We cannot savingly know the Word of God, of course, without the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
How do you expect God to guard you till the end? Do you want God to send you a host of angels from heaven? Do you want God to send a sign from heaven? Do you want God to answer your prayers in miraculous ways? Do you realize that these things would not benefit you in any way (at least, not for long) if you don’t have the faith to see them for what they are? Think of the Israelites in the wilderness, who experienced God’s miracles daily and more than any generation of God’s people. Yet, they perished in the wilderness for their lack of faith. Miracles and signs are but coincidences to those who don’t believe in God. The lesson God wanted to teach the wilderness generation (and all generations) is that man does not live by bread alone (even manna, the miraculous bread from heaven) but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (Deut. 8:3). God will guard you through your faith and your faith comes and grows by hearing (and reading) the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).
God has provided the word of life to you in the Bible. Read it, praying that the Holy Spirit will help you to understand it and believe it, and believe it. In His Word, God promises to guard you through faith.