Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is doing for us what the Lord Jesus did for him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee after Peter had denied knowing the Lord Jesus on the morning of His crucifixion. He is showing to us the compassion and mercy of God.
In the first part of today's verse we read, "Once you were not a people."
After the Fall of man, mankind had no identity as a people or we had no identity as the people of God. Before we came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we were under the domain of Satan himself. We had been hijacked out of the family of our Creator. In fact, we never had a chance to be defined by none other than the evil one. That is until the Lord Jesus came to earth to be our Savior. But, while we were under the authority of the devil, we were complete nobodies, we were the slaves of the enemy.
In the second part of today's verse we read, "... but now you are the people of God."
The Apostle Peter reached way back into the Old Testament to the book of the prophet Hosea to provide an apt description of the lost condition of all who have not a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so He alluded to Hosea 1 where God said, "I will call those who were not My people My people and she who was not My beloved, beloved."
God has always been available to those humble and honest enough to recognize their utter need of Him. God had always reached out to wayward man beginning in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve rebelled against Him. And, God has made it possible for anyone to enter into a permanent and secure relationship with Him through His Son's satisfying sacrifice on the cross. Having believed in the Lord Jesus we now have been given meaning and purpose through and by the One who suffered separation from God, so that we could be included in God's family.
The word Peter uses for "people" is used 142 times in the New Testament. By using this word, Peter is helping us to see the contrast between our aimless lives previously and our purpose filled lives at the present. As the people of God now, we have been blessed with a new desire that the Apostle Paul describes in Philippians 3:8 which reads, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
In the third part of today's verse we read, "... once you had not received mercy."
The word Peter uses for "people" is used 142 times in the New Testament. By using this word, Peter is helping us to see the contrast between our aimless lives previously and our purpose filled lives at the present. As the people of God now, we have been blessed with a new desire that the Apostle Paul describes in Philippians 3:8 which reads, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
In the third part of today's verse we read, "... once you had not received mercy."
At the center of this contrast is the mercy of God. This word communicates that we were down and out, finished, with nothing of value left to offer. We were at best hopeless with an awful future in hell awaiting us. Then the mercy of God entered the ring through the Lord Jesus Christ. This character quality of God enabled Him to give to His Son what we deserved. Of course, God did that when the Lord Jesus hung on the cross so many years ago. When hanging on the cross, the Lord Jesus purchased the mercy of God on the behalf of all who would believe on Him as our Savior.
In the last part of today's verse we read, "... but now you have received mercy."
Having trusted in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, we all share this story with God. The word translated "mercy" in this verse means "to have pity for" or "to show compassion towards." Mercy is God making the choice to withhold from guilty and vile sinners the just punishment of our sin. But, through believing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have accessed God's mercy. It is God's mercy that makes it a possibility for us to be included by Him into His family. And, we will spent our eternities understanding His great mercy for us.
There is an Old Testament story which illustrates God's mercy well. Hosea was a prophet. One day, God told Hosea his bachelor days were up. The problem with the wedding announcement was it came with a dreadful prophecy.
Hosea's wife would break his heart. Aware of Gomer's promiscuous reputation, Hosea humbled himself in obedience to the Lord. As a godly man, he surely had different hopes for marriage, hopes of pursuing a lover who would share not only his heart but also his faith and convictions.
After they were wed and they had a few children, Hosea began to hear awful rumors. And his heart began to break. His wife, Gomer, was prostituting herself to the men of the city. Hosea couldn't even be sure the children she bore were his. And, then came the final blow. Gomer's wanderings had drawn her into the most embarrassing arena of prostitution. Then, God told Hosea to do the unthinkable, to go redeem his wife.
What is of great note in this story is when Hosea finally gave into the idea of going through the humiliation to buy his wife out of prostitution, he didn't have enough money. He needed 30 pieces of silver and he only had 15. Out of desperation, Hosea emptied his cupboards of all of his barley flour and purchased his wife. Hosea's frustrating lack was strategic because when Gomer saw the great lengths that her husband went to to buy her back, her heart was won over. In fact, after she was purchased by her husband, Gomer never ran around on Hosea again.
Hosea and Gomer's story is also our story. When we, like Gomer, were enslaved, God sent His Son to this earth in order to buy us back. God gave His most precious Son to redeem us out of our prostitution. He freed us out of our chains of ignorance, discontent, selfishness and fear. Even after we, by our very nature, had thrown God's love away, the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us. And, the more we learn of His great love for us, the more our hearts will be won to Him.
