The First Epistle of Peter
There are three things in the first part of this epistle: first, the Apostle contemplates the saint in times of various troubles; second, God gives the mind we should have to pass through these troubles; and third, He provides the consolations for such a time.
Undefined Trials
The first trial that he contemplates is the trial of faith (1 Peter 1:513). The form of trial here is that God’s hand is dealing with our faith. The trial is to exercise the soul in the principles of faith. It may be a circumstance or disappointment, but it is something to link the heart with the objects of faith. And it is very beautiful that the wisdom of the Spirit leaves the trial undefined; it is only known as being the trial of faith. It may cause present heaviness, but the support which God provides for this trial of faith is the forward look. In the day of the appearing of Christ this faith which has been burnished by the fire shall be found unto praise and honor and glory.
Notice again the three things here: the trial of faith, the exercise of heart it produces, and the Lord’s comfort of the heart in the trial. The trial exercises the heart to link it with eternity and heaven. The Lord comforts the heart under such a trial by directing it onward to the appearing of Jesus, and the Lord counsels the heart to show it how to behave under the trial. The Spirit of God does not tell us to reason about trial, but tells us to submit under it and rejoice in the hope to which it is leading.
Defined Trials
In chapter 2 you find a very well-defined trial. There is comfort provided and duty prescribed in the midst of it. This kind of trial and suffering is not left undefined but is a suffering that is commonly known in human life. It is a suffering brought from the ill usage and treatment of others. It may be a servant suffering under the hand of a hard master or one suffering under the hand of an evil-minded neighbor or relative. These are well-understood and often-experienced sorrows in this life. The comfort is that the Spirit of God knows our little secret fretting, and none of them no matter how small or ordinary is beyond His sympathy. Though our nature feels the suffering, faith apprehends the unseen eye of God waiting upon the patient endurance of the servant with complacency. As a servant suffering all the day long from the hardness of an evil master was the life of Jesus. He was reviled and ill-treated by an apostate world, yet He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. The Apostle speaks very sweetly to us of the most common scenes of human life, and he dignifies them with the sympathies of Christ. Can anything be more precious than that?
Suffering for Righteousness
Now look at the third chapter where we get another suffering. “If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye” (vs. 14). When we go on in a path of integrity or uprightness, maintaining it at all cost, because of our faithfulness to the Lord in doing what is right we are made to suffer. This is another kind of trial. The Spirit of God comforts us by telling us to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts — to remember how Christ was in the same condition.
With that thought he points us to the days of Noah. Noah for a long period was preparing the ark. He looked like the fool of his generation. There is a beautiful link between Noah’s preparing the ark and what ought to be the condition of our soul. We should have a good conscience, not just a good moral conscience, but a freed conscience. The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us a good conscience towards God; it discharges our conscience from all guilt and delivers us from all fear of a coming judgment. Just as every stroke of Noah’s hammer told him he would be safe in the “day of judgment,” so in the trials of righteousness we go on by maintaining a good conscience. We must not give up a good moral conscience. Regardless of what it may cost or we may need to suffer, we must not give up righteousness. Our support in this path is that all is settled between us and God for eternity by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our conscience has eternal peace.
The Trial of Holiness
In chapter 4 there is another kind of sorrow. In the very opening we see not the trial of righteousness but of holiness. What is the difference? Righteousness is uprightness of conduct outwardly in the world; holiness is the purity and chastity within. In this world we have to fight both the battle of holiness within and the battle of righteousness without. And what is our comfort in this conflict? We shall soon give an account to Him that is ready to judge the living and the dead, and while we are living our time, we do it not to the lusts of men but to the will of God. This is our comfort.
Martyr Suffering
Later in the chapter we find another form of suffering we will call “martyr suffering.” It is not suffering in the trial of faith, or suffering from the hardness of an evil master or from a relation, or the suffering for righteousness, or the trial of holiness in our members, but what we call martyr suffering. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:12-13).
“Think it not strange,” says He, for when you are taking the journey to the prison or the stake, you are on the journey with the Saviour to Calvary. You and I may not be prepared for it, but we must not measure the Spirit’s thoughts by our attainments. It is but a little pain for a while, until His glory shall appear. Note the cheerful spirit here: “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” It is a happy thing, when the martyr is on his way to death; you should see the Spirit of glory resting upon his head. O beloved! Those suffering this persecution know even while in the dungeon that the hand of God is fitting a crown of glory for their brow! “The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.” We know not what a day may bring forth, but Jesus knows, and He will provide.
The Mighty Hand of God
In the last chapter, we find in verse 6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” We cannot tell in what form that “mighty hand” may humble. It may be by removing prop after prop, disappointing one expectation of the heart after another. It may be by terrible ways God may humble us, and in what seems worst of all, He may appear to be against us. He may seem to carry Himself so against our circumstances and our present joys that the heart begins to fear that God is against us. His hand is a “mighty hand,” but let that comfort us instead of frightening us. There is a great comfort in this word “mighty.” It is not a “soothing hand”; it is a “mighty hand” that seems set on bruising. But the Spirit of God says, “Humble yourselves” under it, for “He will exalt you.” Oh how beautiful! See how roughly Joseph spoke to his brethren. He put them in prison and told the keepers to take charge of them, but in secret he wept, and in due time, he “exalted” them.
“Casting all your care upon Him” (1 Peter 5:7). Oh, what comfort there is in these words! I believe that Joseph’s tears in secret have a strong message for our ears, because they tell us what God’s heart is feeling while His hand is outwardly dealing roughly. The devil will tempt us to doubt God at such a time. He will say, Don’t “humble yourselves” under that hand. We must resist the devil just as Jesus always did.
“The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 5:1011). Thus the mighty energy of the Holy Spirit carries the Apostle Peter, you and me, as well as those “strangers,” through every variety of human trial. Whether it is the undefined exercise and trial of faith; whether it is enduring suffering from the hardness and ill-nature of those that are around us, or from the maintenance of righteousness and a good conscience, or from the struggles between flesh and Spirit, or martyr suffering, or enduring under the hand of God, or the devil himself, the mighty energy of the Spirit of God provides strength and consolation. May the Lord preserve us from unbelief and keep our hearts with the sense of these eternal realities.
Adapted from The Northern Witness,
by J. G. Bellett