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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? - 1 Peter 3:13.
THERE are two kinds of questions: some are for information, and some are for conformation. Now, the question here proposed is not of the former but of the latter character; that is, it does not arise from ignorance, but from knowledge; it does not import any doubtfulness, but is designed to express certainty. It is of the nature of a powerful asseveration; as if he had said, “No one will hurt you if ye be followers of that which is good.” The assertion, however, requires some considerable illustration, if not proof, because there are facts which seem to oppose it, and there are parts of Scripture which seem not well to harmonize with it.
Who will harm the believer? Will God? He is able; his very frown-his look-is annihilation; his eye is upon us, and we are nothing. But will he “harm us”? He? Is not he our Friend and your Father? He? Has he not “loved us with an everlasting love,” and drawn us to himself? He? Has he not sacrificed his own Son for the salvation of your souls? “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up, how shall not be with him also freely give us all things?” Will angels? They are able to do it; they are called the “mighty angels,” the least of whom could wield the elements of destruction; and we see in the Scriptures what they have done to the enemies of God. But, though they are the enemies of God’s enemies, they are only friends to God’s friends; for “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, to deliver them.” Will devils? They are able. They have malice enough, if they had liberty; and they have liberty with regard to some, and therefore the Apostle Peter says, “Your adversary, the devil, goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” But what said Satan concerning Job himself? “Doth Job fear God for naught? hast not thou made a hedge about him and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?” And what said our Saviour of Peter? “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Oh, we need not be afraid of him; the apostle says, “The God of peace shall bring Satan under your feet shortly.”
Who among the children of men will harm a Christian? Good men certainly will not. They “who love him that begat love, love them also that are begotten.” A Cain may ask, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” but every one who partakes of the disposition of Paul will say, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?” Will wise governors? No; they know that “righteousness exalteth a nation;” they know that the best subjects must be always those who are “subject, not for wrath, but for conscience’ sake towards God.” Will God-fearing magistrates? No; “they are ministers of God for good;” they bear not indeed “the sword in vain;” but while “they are a terror to evil-doers,” they are “a praise to them that do well.” But will not ignorant bad men injure a child of God? Solomon tells us that “he who follows after truth makes himself a prey.” The apostle says, “If any man will live godly in Christ Jesus, he shall suffer persecution.” Our Saviour says, “Marvel not if the world hate you; ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” There are yet instances of injury which law cannot restrain; and there are dependants-there are wives, and children, and servants, and workmen, and tradesmen-who are suffering from persecution at this very hour. In a subsequent meditation, we will endeavour fairly to meet this difficulty, and see whether we cannot remove this apparent contradiction; for this assurance must be true, notwithstanding all this.
An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. - 1 Peter 1:4.
AN inheritance properly signifies patrimonial or hereditary property, as distinguished from what is obtained by purchase or received as wages or reward. And this blessing, this glory, comes to us from relationship, for we are children and heirs. “If children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.” But we would have regard rather to the nature of this object than to its name; and yet, what do we know of this object? “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him;” but though it be “glory to be revealed” as to its full disclosures, it is a glory already revealed as to its reality and essence. We have allusions if not resemblances; we are told what it is not, rather than what it is; and Peter furnishes us with four articles concerning it, telling us that this inheritance is, First, Incorruptible. Everything here tends to dissolution-kings die, and thrones moulder away. Where now is all that was venerable in relation, and all that was sacred in office; all that was once dear to affection and lovely in appearance?
“A heap of dust alone remains of thee,
’Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.”
All that our eyes behold is going, and we are going. The world itself is doomed to perish.
Secondly, This inheritance is undefiled. Sin is the source of mortality. Of all we possess and enjoy here, sin is the worm at the root and the mildew in the bud. There are few inheritances which are undefiled. If we trace them back we shall find them frequently originating in violence, knavery, or injustice. And how are they held? What forgetfulness of God! What improper hoarding, what improper expenditure, what provisions for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof! They may well be called in general the “mammon of unrighteousness.” But into that world enters “nothing that defileth;” the pure in heart only shall see God. The Author of that blessedness is holy, the companions of it are holy, the pleasures and the enjoyments of it are holy- “the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
Thirdly, This inheritance fadeth not away. The meaning here is not only that there shall be no annihilation, but no decline, no variation. Not only that all will be living, but always living-always new-always flourishing and green.
“There everlasting spring abides,
And never withering flowers.”
Fourthly, It is “reserved in heaven for us,” and therefore it is safe. Whatever tabernacles we build here we shall surely have to take them down again. As long as we remain here we shall hear a voice saying, “Arise and depart hence, for this is not your rest.” Thus when the Jews were in the wilderness, the inheritance which God had promised them was reserved in Canaan for them, and they could not reach it until they had passed the river Jordan.
Christians who are now in the wilderness, and between whom and their inheritance the Jordan rolls, need not be afraid. The foot of our High Priest will divide the stream and give us a dry passage, and then we shall have no objection for the waves to unite behind, and to exclude us for ever from a world lying in wickedness and woe. We shall have gone the way we shall not return, nor shall we desire it.
