This is how Peter describes the Christian pilgrim on his or her way to heaven. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1: 3-5). He recalls when the disciples’ hopes had been dashed by the crucifixion, summed up in the opinion of the two on the way to Emmaus, “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” But Jesus had reproached them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” They were begotten again to a lively hope by Christ’s resurrection reinvigorating them. B. B. Warfield described the resurrection as “the fundamental apologetical fact of Christianity”.
The Risen Christ keeps His people throughout their pilgrimage. It is useful to recall this at the end of another year. Yet, how does He keep them? “By the power of God,” Peter answers. But how does the power of God operate to keep them? “Through faith,” he goes on to explain. Christ keeps their faith alive by the power of His Spirit, and so keeps them on their pilgrimage to heaven. Well did Peter know this from his own experience. Peter’s faith had been severely tried by the events around the crucifixion. Tried, but not extinguished, due to the keeping of Christ. He had followed Jesus afar off and had fallen into the sieve of Satan. Christ foretold it, “Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” The intercession of Christ is what kept Peter. He was kept by the power of Christ’s Spirit, responding to that prayer, operating in his heart to keep faith alive, so that notwithstanding his grievous backsliding, he recovered and was restored. The present intercession of the exalted Lord is represented to us by His praying alone on the mountain for His disciples, while watching them toiling in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. This is followed with His coming to them, manifesting Himself to them, their reception of Him into their boat and the calming of the storm. “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” “Thy foot he’ll not let slide, nor will he slumber that thee keeps. Behold, he that keeps Israel, he slumbers not, nor sleeps.”
Asaph’s feet well nigh slipped. He had been envious at the prosperity of the wicked and he had doubts that his attempts to live a virtuous life were in vain. “Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain.” (Psalm 73: 13). In his doubts, he resolved not to offend the godly but to make it a matter of prayer before the Lord. He went into the sanctuary of God and all his misunderstandings were cleared up to him. The Lord preserved him, and how afraid he became of himself! “So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by thy right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.”
Asaph made use of the means of grace, those channels through which God imparts His grace. The Spirit of Christ keeps faith alive by blessing these means. It is to the throne of grace we are to come that we may find grace to help in time of need. Asaph prayed, “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel”. It is the Word of God that the Spirit uses to guide and revive heavenly pilgrims. “This word of thine my comfort is in mine affliction: for in my straits I am revived by this thy word alone.”
They are kept for a purpose, for a place. They have an incorruptible inheritance awaiting them in heaven. Only they can claim it. They are not only a prepared people for a prepared place, they are a preserved people for a reserved place. “Reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith.”
At the end of another year we think of those who have gone to their heavenly inheritance. They were kept to the end. The close of another year reminds us we are but pilgrims. Are we declaring plainly that we are seeking a heavenly country? or, as our days close in this life, have we still to be weaned from the sinful pleasures of this world? May you so learn of Christ in your own soul’s experience that you can join with the Psalmist in saying:
“Lord, keep me; for I trust in thee . . .
God is of mine inheritance and cup the portion;
the lot that fallen is to me thou dost maintain alone.
Unto me happily the lines in pleasant places fell;
Yea, the inheritance I got in beauty doth excel.”