Where's the Hope?
March 01, 2025
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By Dr. J. Vernon McGee
Some people call Peter “the ignorant fisherman,” but no man who had spent three years in the school of Jesus could be called ignorant. The Epistles of Peter confirm this. In the first few verses of his letter he deals with the great doctrines of election, foreknowledge, sanctification, obedience, the blood of Christ, the Trinity, the grace of God, salvation, revelation, glory, faith, and hope. So much doctrine crowded into a few verses! The way in which he handles these great themes of the Bible reveals he was no ignorant fisherman. Peter writes very literally and practically. He gets down to where the rubber meets the road, right down on the asphalt of life.
Peter wrote these two letters between A.D. 64 and 67, after bloody Nero had come to the throne and persecution was already spreading through the Roman Empire. According to tradition, Peter himself suffered and died as a martyr, “a witness.”
Simon Peter likely never went to Rome. He wasn’t the apostle who opened up that territory. Likely Paul founded the church at Rome, not Peter. Judging by the people they addressed in their letters, Peter went east while the apostle Paul went west. Peter’s ministry was primarily to the diaspora, believing Jews living in Asia Minor, particularly in Babylon. Babylon was still a great city there on the Euphrates River, and many of the Jews had remained there after the end of the captivity. Only a very small group of Jews returned to their land—fewer than 60,000. When severe persecution of Jews and Christians began under Claudius in Rome, Jews escaped to Babylon. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, and Simon Peter was the apostle to Israelites who had turned to Jesus Christ.
Peter wrote these two letters to people who were suffering. He may deal with a lot of weighty subjects, but the core message is Christian hope in the time of trial. As an eyewitness to Jesus’ suffering, Peter has a lot to say about it. He also speaks to us out of his own suffering experiences, but he knew the sweetness of them, how they firmed his beliefs and strengthened his faith. When Peter writes about suffering, he emphasizes the joy and testifies to God’s goodness.
Even in this letter about suffering, Peter begins with gratefully praising and adoring God. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This word “blessed” is similar to the word “eulogy.” It’s never used to refer to man, but always about praising God. We praise God because He’s given us a living hope, a hope that rests upon the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And did you know it was the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead?!
Whenever you study Peter’s preaching, you’ll see the resurrection of Christ. It was his great theme on the Day of Pentecost and in all of his letters. He said in effect, “All you have seen here today is because Jesus, whom you crucified, has come back from the dead.” And when he writes his epistles, he anchors us in Jesus’ resurrection. He was a witness, and he never forgot it.
Peter has described to us what God has done for us in the past. Now he moves into the future.
Do you realize you have an inheritance reserved for you in heaven? The Trinity guards it for us. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are taking care of it for us. This treasure is incorruptible, indestructible, and undefiled. It can’t be gotten illegally, no enemy can take it away from us, nor can it be damaged in any way—no rust, no moth, no germ, no fire can touch it. Its value will never fade away. We won’t inherit it and then find it to be worthless.
Imagine how precious this promise was to the Jewish Christians who were suffering trial and persecution for their faith. They had been forced to leave their homelands and whatever inheritance would have been theirs. Now they can praise God as the Father of the incarnate Son, the Lord Jesus, the Author of the new creation and of a spiritual redemption. He’s the one who gives them a living hope, a hope that will never die. He has begotten us and made us His sons through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. And He’s the one who reserves this inheritance for us—not on earth but in heaven.
Peter reminds us of an amazing truth wrapped up in a wonderful word, kept. Our salvation is “kept by the power of God through faith.” Jesus Christ protects and shields our salvation through God’s power until the day we are delivered to heaven.
The only way you can live the Christian life is by the power of the Holy Spirit and because you are kept by the power of God—right on through until the day when Jesus presents you to His Father. As we are going to see, the hope we have is completely based on the personal relationship we have with Jesus Christ.
My Turn
- How can the change in Peter, from the disciple in the Gospels to the writer of the epistle, give us hope?
- Why do you think Peter will talk a lot about suffering in this letter?
- How should God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge give us confidence, even though we can’t see the future that God sees?
- The Holy Spirit works in our lives to bring us to maturity, but that requires us to cooperate with His work in our lives. In what areas of your life do you need to allow the Spirit to work?
- How can the knowledge of a future heavenly inheritance help you deal with suffering today?