1 Peter 1

All 5 places are in modern day Turkey.  (The city of Nicaea is in Bithynia.  Almost 300 years after Peter wrote this letter, Constantine assembled a council to draw up a creed for Christianity.  It was called the Nicene Creed, and it’s still widely used in churches today).  Foreknowledge-awareness or anticipation of events before they occur.  Sanctification-the process of being made holy, resulting in a changed lifestyle for the believer.  Imperishable-enduring forever. Undefiled-not spoiled.  Unfading-not losing value or effectiveness.  Prophets, as they were being led by the Holy Spirit, asked who and when the Messiah would come.  They knew they wouldn’t see His coming, but they wanted to perfectly articulate the Promise found in the sacrifices.  They did this to serve their future brothers and sisters the prophecy, that they would see come to pass.  All loose ends were tied up in Christ Jesus.

 These Jewish Christians have been sent to Turkey (546 miles away from Israel!!) in exile, because it was no longer safe for them at home.  Peter reassures them that God knows where they are, why they are there, and what He plans for them, which will cause grace and peace to flourish. The living hope they received by adopting the truth of Christ Jesus’ resurrected life is their inheritance!! And although they’re not in their ancestral home, This inheritance has a security guard—God in His Great Power, holding our redemption in a place where it can’t spoil or lose its value; where it will endure forever! They haven’t seen any of this, especially where they are now, but they still believe.  They not only believe, they love Christ Jesus; and with unspeakable, weighty joy, they pledge their allegiance to Him alone, and receive salvation.  

This chapter changes me by guiding me to identify with these Jewish Christians.  God is guarding my inheritance in heaven.  I have the same prophets to read, and I have the benefit of the completed Word of God. But my faith is no less a “believe without seeing” faith.  So the “therefore” in vs 13 is as much a call to action to me as it was to them.  I need to have a seriously prepared mind; I need to anchor into the hope that is only revealed in Christ.  I need to leave my old self behind, and be different than the sinful world around me.  And when I call Him by such a familial name as Father, I should know I’m not trying to get Him to choose sides, but I should respectfully go to the side of The One who paid my ransom and saved me from sin. He didn’t buy me with whatever He could scrape together, but with His precious, perfect, spotless blood.  All of this, plan A from the very beginning of everything, has been for us, that we would believe.  So..I should obediently prepare myself for love to my fellow humans from a pure heart.  And when I don’t have the strength, or the desire, or the nerve to love my fellow humans(because I’m exhausted and drained and annoyed)-who I can see right before me-then I can draw from the alive and staying word of God, that  remains forever.  “Believe—and only then can you truly see.