Safe and Secure
As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, all you need to know about the precious people to whom Peter wrote is summarized in three telling terms. One phrase, really.
One phrase that so accurately described them.
One phrase that so accurately describes each of us.
ἐκ-λεκ-τοῖς παρ-επι-δή-μοις διασ-πορᾶς—literally, “elect foreigners in the diaspora.”
Now why in the world would Peter begin his first letter with this carefully crafted first phrase?
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect foreigners in the diaspora.”
Because the one question looming in minds of Peter’s distressed audience was this:
Has God abandoned us?
Not to get too personal with you, and at the risk of invading your private space, I cannot help but to wonder if you have ever asked of yourself that exact same question:
Has God abandoned me?
And Peter wanted them—and us—and you!—to know that as he penned this epistle, that same question was looming large in his own mind and his own soul.
Peter knew his audience.
Peter knew them.
Peter knows us.
Peter knows you!
Peter feels our pain.
Peter asks our questions.
Peter understands our doubts.
Peter feels our fears.
Peter can relate.
Peter “gets” it.
Peter “gets” us.
And I, for one, am profoundly grateful that he does.
And in “getting” us, he will assure us in this podcast that NO!!! God has NOT abandoned you. He has NOT turned His back on you. He will NEVER stop loving you. He will NEVER leave you. He will not now or EVER forsake you.
In a word, we are SECURE in His omnipotent hand.
Aren’t you glad?
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia,Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance. (1 Peter 1:1-2)
Did you catch that? Peter makes sure that his readers, including you, know that the entire Holy Trinity, are on your side with the foreknowledge, and your preselection, of the Father, the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and the sacrifice of the Son. As a result, the longer that we live walking with Jesus, the more obedient to God’s will we become.
Who was the first “elected” / “chosen”? It was Abraham.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
And, oh, how quickly… just like the Jews of Peter’s day and us today… did Abraham forget God’s promise and his steadfast companionship:
Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
2 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.3 You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him.13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.)16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:1-21)
God promised Abraham, and He promises us, that we will be safe and secure as we walk according to His will… His covenant… His grace.