The church is the people of God in this age, and we exist to proclaim His excellencies as testifiers of His redemptive grace that drew us out of sin and into a new life in conformity to His holy character.
Christ is the cornerstone with which every member aligns himself. The spiritual house, the church of God, is the fulfillment of God’s plan, even as He predicted the rejection of Christ by Israel and the establishment of another place of worship.
We were born to grow. God’s purpose for regeneration is maturity. Between spiritual birth and heaven is a long process of maturation in which we eagerly long and so drink of the pure milk of the Word so that we are nourished and sustained and matured and prepared to meet the Lord face to face.
Redemption through Christ the ransom is God’s eternal plan. Before creation, God forged a plan to redeem sinners through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Contrary to the common antinomian idea that sin has no consequences for the believer, the true converted person takes to heart the warnings/threats of Scripture and earnestly strives after the holiness of God. We fear God and we are genuinely afraid of sinning against Him.
The redeemed in Christ are children of obedience before God. As converted people, our aim in this life is to reflect God’s holiness. This has always been the purpose of God for His people. Peter appeals to the authority of OT Scripture to point out this serious duty in the sight of our holy God.
We have an exhilarating hope ahead of us. Peter exhorts us “therefore” to fix our hope completely on that hope with a mind that is spiritually clear and free of clutter, sharp and alert.
Salvation of grace was the eternal plan of God which the prophets of old earnestly sought to better understand. It sparkles and shimmers in the eyes of God’s people, but for all else, it is dull flat.
