The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 23

of the livi!1g hope on which St. Peter loves to dwell" (Leighton). 4. The obJect of tliat hope. It 1s the henvenly inheritance. It is God who fills his people's hearts with. the hope of th~.t inhe~itance. He enli~hten~ the e.ves of their ?11dersta.nding, that they may know what 1s the hope of his callmg-, and what the nchcs of the glory of his inheritance in the 9;1Lin~s ''. (Eph. i. 18). 'l'hat inheritance is (1) incorruptible; like the pea~ of God which 1s 1ts foretaste on earth, it passeth understanding; it hnth not entered mto the baa.rt of man; we can only describe it by contraries• wo know rather wh~t i~ fs no_t, than what it. is. It is not corr~ptible.. Hero we ar~ "inter peritura pen tun' (Leighton); we pensb, our host possessions perish. There they die no more• their inheritance of gladness is like themselves, incorruptible. Here the very heaven~ shall perish; they shall wax old as a garment (Heb. i. 11); the new heavens and the new earth, which are the inheritance of the saints, abide for over. (2) It is undefiled, Here ~he trail ?f the serpent is over all things; men's hearts, lives, conversation, bear the tamt of evil; the earth has been marred by the sin of man; there is no earthly beauty, no earthly possession, free from blemish. The heavenly inheritance is wholly pure ; "the street of the city is pure gold, as it were transparent glass; " nothing that defileth can enter there. (3) It fadeth not away. The lapse of time doth not affect it, for it is timeless, eternal. There is no old age there, but perpetual youth. The best joys of earth fade into weariness; there is no weariness in heaven; the new son" never wearies the blessed. The joy of God's presence is never obscured there. God~ saints sometimes have '• sweet presences of God here, but they are short, and often interrupted; but there no cloud shall come betwixt them and their Sun; they shall behold him in his full brightness for ever" (Leighton). 5. The certainty of that inheritance which is the obJect of our hope. (1) It is reserved in heaven for God's elect. Its preciousness is shown by its being in heaven, and by its being reserved for God's chosen. He reserves it for them; therefore none can take their crown, none can spoil them of their reward, for God, who bath reserved it for them from the beginning, is able to keep it unto that day. (2) They are guarded unto salvation. The inheri- tance is reserved for them; they are guarded from the evil (John xvii. 15). God careth for them; his angels by his appointment succour and defend them. Their Guardian is almighty. "Fear not," he saith, "for I am with thee." They need only faith to look above, to grasp the promises, to cling to the Saviour's strength. (3) That salvation is ready to be revealed. It is veiled from us now; but the veil shall be withdrawn in the last time. Then shall "thine eyes see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off" (Isa. .x.xxiii. 17). Now we must live in hope, blessing God for that living hope which is the anchor of the Christian soul. II. Fox THE JOY OF THE CHRISTIAN. 1. It is great. He rejoices in hope; he exults when the blessed hope lives clear and bright in his heart; he strives to "hold fast the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Heb. iii. 6). But: 2. Tliat joy is amid tears; for man is born to sorrow; suffering is the lot of all men, and Christians have their own peculiar trials: "Ye must through much tribulation enter into the kinudom" of God. Those to whom St. Peter wrote were suffering a great trial of afil~tion : the apostle comforts them, bidding them look away, as far as might be, from their earthly troubles to the joyful hope of everlasting life. 3. T!te foy of the Lord is strength in the time of trouble. (N eh. viii. 10.) It helps the Christian to dis- cern the meaning of his afflictions; they are but for a moment, for a season, and they are necessary; they come from our Father in heaven, and he doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men; he sends them "for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Heb. xii. 10). They would not be trials_ if they were not felt· the Christian's cross must sometimes be sharp and heavy, or 1t would not make him' partaker of his Saviour's sufferings. 'l'he Christian is often sorrowful, but he ought to be" always rejoicing" even in_ sorrow; ~or these trials1 so hard to bear, 111:e as necessary for the purifying of our faith as fire 1s for the refinmg of gold. Gold 1s counted precious among men; faith is precious in the sight of God. Gold perisheth; faith abidetb. The proof of faith is of infinitely greater importance than the proof of gold._ Temptations try the Christian's faith. God tried the faith of Abraham and Job; temptation, resisted and overcome, proves faith to. be real ~nd tr~e. And temptation refines faith; temptation horne meekly and patiently purifies fa.1th from the taints which cling about every human character; it helps us to overcome pride aH. 1. 1-25.J THE FIIlST EPISTLE GENERAL 01<' PETF,ft, 17