1 Peter 1:3-12--​Born Again to a Living Hope

​Born Again to a Living Hope
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, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

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Remember that we've talked about the phrase "born again" quite a bit now.  It means to undergo a radical change such as metamorphosis where everything about you is new--you may be the same person, but you look, talk, act, and feel different. You have different desires and your have a different mission, vision and destiny.  Your entire worldview has changed and it is impossible for you to go back to how you were before.

This change is accomplished through the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  We were raised with him (metaphorically) to not only walk in newness of life, but life eternal.  As for what we believe by true faith, see the blog on creeds and catechisms, specifically the Apostle's Creed.  We have hope of this eternal reward and it can help us get through our present trials and sufferings as we know they will only be a "flash in the pan" compared to the eternal life that is to come.  Satan wants to use these trials to condemn you and make you feel inadequate and possibly even disqualify you form service, but God uses these same tests and trials to remind you to lean on Him completely and for your faith to be strengthened and to bring about His plans and purposes which include bringing all of His elect to salvation.

We have a special kind of relationship with God now that is different than what the Old Testament saints experienced.  In the past, the Holy Spirit descended on specific people and anointed them with specific gifts to accomplish specific tasks for a specific time.  God dwelt near the people in the tabernacle or temple, symbolic of how Jesus was going to come and make His dwelling among us and the Spirit of God would reside in Him, but we now are temples of Holy Spirit and have communion with God in the way that it was meant to be back in Genesis 1 before sin entered the world, yet our joy is not quite yet complete because we don't get to experience God fully because of our sin nature we battle with and the presence of sin in this world.  But one day the veil will be removed and we will see clearly and we will know Him as intimately as He knows us.  We are getting to experience things that the prophets longed for and the angels cannot understand.  Praise be to God that He gave His one and only Son to bring an end to the need for sacrifices that simply covered our sins in atonement and now our sins have been taken away and placed on Christ so that His righteousness could be placed on us and that we could be declared righteous and made holy unto the Lord.  We are His and have been set apart for His purposes.