When life strikes it most severe blow into your life, what is it you most need (want) to hear?

It might be a difficult question answer, because we’re often not thinking clearly and our spirituality and emotions are in conflict, to some extend.

And yet when the Spirit of God inspired Peter to write to these suffering Christians, after his opening greeting, the first thing he does is to burst forth in praise: ³ 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…

The message of the resurrection will not erase your grief and your pain right now, but through Christ, you can experience grief differently.

As Scripture says, those who place their faith and hope in Christ do not “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The resurrection is God’s reminder that although our suffering is real, it is also temporary.

The resurrection is the only reason I have something to say when I look into the eyes of those who are experiencing the worst tragedies this life can offer.

The resurrection represents the historical fact that death has been conquered. For all of human history, death had a perfect record. It was unbeaten. From the strongest and most powerful to the weakest and most vulnerable, death got them all in the end. Until Jesus.

Christians have insisted from the very beginning that Jesus died and was truly resurrected from the dead. This wasn’t a fable. As Peter said, “we did not follow cleverly devised myths” (2 Peter 1:16). 

Paul underscored just how essential the resurrection was to the Christian faith, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). 

The resurrection is a fact in the past that offers hope for the future. It means death is not the end for us or our loved ones.

If we believe in Christ, we will one day receive the very same type of body he has–one that will not age or get sick or die again. We will receive a body fit for a New Creation.

This world will be wonderfully freed from its bondage to sin and renewed to the abundant life God intended. The resurrection affirms that this future hope is not a fantasy. It’s real.

Whatever our problems, we can praise God as Christians because He has saved us unto eternity.

But maybe you’re thinking, “Now, wait a minute! That’s really a superficial approach to my very complex problems. If you knew the things I’m facing, you wouldn’t be so glib as to say that I should praise God because someday I’ll have pie in the sky when I die. I need help right now!”

Maybe you’re saying, “I’m being treated unfairly at work.” Or, “I’ve been fired because of my Christian testimony.” Or, “I can’t find work and I’m facing severe financial problems.” Or, “I have a mate who’s not a Christian, who makes life miserable for me.” Or, “A good friend turned against me without cause and runs me down behind my back.”

Or, “Since I’ve begun to follow Christ, problems have multiplied to the point where I’m overwhelmed.” Or, “I’m facing death itself.”

I’ve just described those to whom Peter wrote this letter.

• Christian slaves were being treated unfairly by their masters, even though they had done no wrong (2:18-20).
• Christian wives were being mistreated by their unbelieving husbands (3:1-6).
• Many of the believers had lost former friends who now were slandering them (2:12; 3:16, 17; 4:4, 13-14, 16).
• Some were being threatened and it’s likely that some even were facing martyrdom (3:14; 4:12).

Peter knew all about these problems and yet he proclaimed to them, “Blessed be the God … who has caused us to be born again to a living hope ….”

We need to stop and think about what salvation means. Salvation means that we who justly deserve the eternal wrath of God have been delivered from that wrath through the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

If we are not saved, we’re lost, under the terrible condemnation of God. One of our problems today is that we’re trying to get people saved who have no concept of how terrible it is to be lost.

And we’re trying to coax people who have forgotten what it feels like to be eternally lost into enduring hardship in living the Christian life. They don’t appreciate what God has done in saving them.

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In recent years, our culture has taken a very unhealthy turn, embracing a perspective which predisposes our collapse under life’s adverse circumstances rather than causing us to persevere through them. The essence of this new perspective may be summed up in the word “victim.”

No longer are we responsible for our attitudes and actions when we have been wronged or abused—we are now “victims.” Whatever happened is no longer our fault nor are we responsible for the way we choose to respond.

Large segments of our society have built an entire party on the game of victimhood. The whole premise of this delicate system is that it is unsolvable. It must remain unsolvable because the power derived from victimhood will cease to exist if the problems are solved.

The Scriptures make it very clear that Christians will be the recipients of unjust treatment because of our faith in Jesus Christ and the godly lives we are to live in a sinful world.

While the Bible promises that we will experience innocent suffering for the cause of Christ, it nowhere speaks of our being “victims” in the contemporary sense of the word. Rather, the Bible forthrightly speaks of us as “victors.”

Peter introduces the subject of innocent suffering for Christ’s sake in 1:6: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials…

But he will not mention the trials and testing of our faith until he has first set down the essential truths which should shape our perspective on suffering.

If God had left Jesus in the grave, our salvation would not be complete. In His death on the cross, Jesus bore our sins. But if He had not been raised bodily, He would not have conquered sin and death.

We find God’s mercy always at the center of any discussion of salvation. Only God’s mercy would allow him to have compassion for sinful and rebellious people.

Salvation is all completely from God; we can do nothing to earn it. Salvation is given to us because of God’s great mercy alone. Peter’s words offer joy and hope in times of trouble.

He finds confidence in what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, who has given us hope of eternal life. Our hope is not only for the future; it is “living.”

Eternal life begins when we trust Christ and are added to God’s family, when we were baptized in order to have our sins forgiven.. Regardless of our pain and trials, we know that this life is not all there is. Eventually we will live with Christ forever.

In the new birth, we become dead to sin and alive to God with a fresh beginning. People can do no more to accomplish their “new birth” than they could do to accomplish their own natural birth.

Believers are reborn into a living hope. The “hope” refers to our confident expectation of life to come. “Living” means that it grows and gains strength the more we learn about our Lord.

It is not dependent on outward circumstances; it is dynamic and vital. Hope looks forward in eager anticipation to what God will do. We have hope based on our conviction that God will keep his promises.

We base our hope in a future resurrection on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is living because Christ is alive. By rising from the dead, Christ made the necessary power available for our resurrection.

Christ’s resurrection makes us certain that we too will be raised from the dead. We shouldn’t be discouraged by earthly trials, for we have the Resurrection to be our backup.

Peter’s words indicate that he is writing more here than simple instruction to give comfort and assurance in times of suffering; he is also indicating the basis for praise toward God.

Christ’s resurrection is the assurance that we have a future, and that future is our hope. As Christians, this should be our desire and our expectation.

Christ’s death and resurrection accomplished an inheritance for which every saint waits. Christ’s resurrection from the dead assures us God was well-pleased with Christ’s atoning work.

Since His resurrection is the basis for, and assurance of, our own resurrection, we know we will enter into God’s eternal blessings.

All Old Testament saints died without entering into the promised blessings, but they were assured they would experience them after their death: All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth (Hebrews 11:13).

All Old Testament saints, like Abraham, had a resurrection faith which enabled them to hope for blessings after death: He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him [Isaac] back as a type (Hebrews 11:19).

Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we have a future inheritance. This inheritance will be ours because Christ died. Because our hope of future blessings rests in the finished work of our Lord, it is a certain hope.

Peter gives a three-fold description of this hope: it is imperishable, it is undefiled, and it will not fade away.

William MacDonald says it is death-proof, sin-proof, and time-proof.

The Security of our Salvation (1:5)

… who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

God is our refuge and strength. He is our strong tower. His power protects us. Because He is all-powerful, nothing can cause us to lose that which God has provided, promised, and preserved.

Many of the benefits and blessings of our salvation are yet to be experienced in the future. It is important to note that Peter very clearly states we have not obtained all of the benefits and blessings accomplished through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord.

Salvation is the vantage point from which we must view suffering.

How unfortunate that many Christians look at their salvation from their circumstances, rather than looking at their circumstances through their salvation.

When some saints suffer, they begin to doubt their salvation and the certainty of their future hope. Other Christians may even encourage such doubts.

Peter wants us to view our suffering from the standpoint of our security as saints, based upon God’s mercy, grace and power.

Peter teaches us that saints are not “victims” but “victors” in their suffering. The “victim” mindset has become a dominant note in our society. We look to our past, and to the abuse of others, or to the “genes” passed on to us from our parents as the cause of our sin and suffering.

Peter turns our eyes toward God and toward the shed blood of His Son, in whom we have not only forgiveness of sins, but victory in Christ.

We were not saved merely to cope with life; we were called to be conquerors in Christ. We are overcomers, especially in the trials and tribulations of life. Let us believe and behave accordingly.