Get
excited! Be totally present and aware
that the Father loves us to such a degree that we have been shown extravagant
mercies, which will never be matched by anything else.
What are those extravagant mercies you
say? It comes down to the phrase “new
life” in the text.
The Greek word
used here for “new life” is unique to the entire new testament and only occurs twice, once in John 3:3 and is here is 1 Peter 1:3, it is the Greek word “ä-nä-gen-nä'-ō”.
So why is
this word so important? This word shows us
that it is God Himself is the one who gives us new birth as newborn believers
filled with the life of Christ. God is truly our Father, who gives us new life
through his living mercy. As a husband
and wife procreate and produce new life in the form of a child, so God provides
the seed (which is His word) which penetrates our minds and begins the
process of creating new life (the definition is we are born from above).
The word “anagennao,”
which comes from “gennao,” means “to beget or (by extension) bear (again).”
Peter makes it quite clear that he considers those he is writing to as already being
born, rather than unborn and within a womb.
We were
spiritually dead in sin with no hope of being revived, as we hear the word of
God, we are impregnated by the seed of the Father. As the seed grows and matures in us it
eventually gives birth in our minds, and what is produced is Christ in us, we are
changed (transformed).
This
transformation goes to work within our minds, our thinking, and our perspectives
change which reveals to us a higher life, which is the work of the Father. We
begin the process of restoration of what we were originally designed for, to be
brought back into an intimate relationship with the Father and welcomed back into
the family of God.
Peter says
in this passage “we are reborn to experience a living, energetic hope…”,
hope is an expectation or desire of something happening, in this case, Peter
says it is a living, energetic or vital hope.
This means that when we are reborn we encounter this new life with a new dynamic, and powerful expectation of God being lively and energetic working
within us.
We begin to see with new
eyes, we begin to sense and feel with a new love and compassion for
others. There is an awareness that we
are changed into something new, something different, much like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into
a butterfly we become a totally new creature.
How is this
all possible? Peter explains: “through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” This is how everything about the Christian
life is made possible, and why Christianity has survived for so many generations. No other religion on earth can claim
resurrection from the dead other than Christianity which is what makes it so different than any other belief system out there. Others may claim social justice or some type
of programmatic order or law, but none compare to the claims of Christianity or possess its power and vitality.
The message
of the cross of Christ is a simple one, Jesus said: “take up your cross and
follow me”, (Luke 9:23) which means embrace death, and sacrifice of your life
for the sake of the gospel so that you may have life. Recognize
that "as they persecuted me, they will persecute you". (John 15:20).
Jesus didn’t
die on a cross just to save us from sin, He died and suffered on a cross to restore
us back to the purpose for which we were originally created to become sons unto
the Father, and not just sons but co-heirs with Christ Jesus sharing with Him everything that He had with the Father before He was ever born.
We have a royal inheritance which is beyond
imagining, it is our birthright in Christ Jesus. But you have to see it to actually see
it. It is a perspective we see with our spiritual
eyes because it is living, active, and energetic but invisible to the natural eyes. It is the living hope that Peter was speaking
of.
The eyes are
the “window to the soul”, but if the eye is clouded or corrupted and has trouble seeing, then
maybe a tweek is required to the eye to change our perspective.
The Christian life is all about perspective,
not about physical observances of spiritual things.
May we grow into a deeper relationship with Christ
Jesus to reflect back to the Father who we were intended to be, we were
intended to be lovers as God loves us, and to reflect that love to others so that His
love might fill the entire earth through us.
Now that is extravagant mercy, and something to get excited about!
Be Blessed;
Stephen
Barnett
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