What kind of benefits did the Christians enjoy as elect of God? Peter says we are "born again to a living hope". We have been given new life only through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Without resurrection, there can be no new life and we will still be the old creature. When we are saved, we partake in the life of Jesus: as he was raised from the grave and given life again, so also are we given new life. We are born again. That's who we are now.
The future ahead is one of glory. We are born again to a living hope. Living, because Christ still lives, and as surely as that fact stand, so is the assurance of our hope. We are guaranteed an inheritance that is eternal and cannot fade away, kept in the heavenly realms, the final destination of our spiritual pilgrimage.
Yet now as fragile saints living under the suffering and persecution of this world, we may feel that the future is not that secure. Heaven seems a tad far away sometimes, and sometimes it seems suffering will take the better of us. Peter tells us we are not in it by our own strength. If indeed by our own strength, we will surely fail. Rather, we are kept by God's power which will eventually reveal our final salvation. We will be totally saved at the end, with no more tears and sufferings, by the power of God. It is a living hope we have.
This salvation that we now enjoy must be lived by faith through sufferings. It produces four good things: firstly, our faith through sufferings will be proven genuine. Faith that lasts is true faith, while faith that gives up in the midst of persecution are like the seed that fell not on good soil and is eventually fruitless.
Secondly, faith through suffering becomes more precious. Faith is compared to gold here. Gold eventually perishes, but faith that is refined by suffering is has much more worth: it is shiny and attracts people around us as to the character that we live. Godly character is more readily seen and Christ more readily magnified.
Thirdly, faith through suffering brings us joy. We can rejoice, Peter says, if we keep our eyes fixed on the future salvation that is to come. Otherwise, what's left is only grief when we are fixed only on our temporal problems. But for the Christian suffering is always grief-joy affair. There must be nothing so difficult that we despair of the trials we go through, unless the Christian has lost his fixation on the power of God. If God will finally give us full salvation, will he not bring you through this trial too? He has done that which is more difficult!
Lastly, and most gloriously, faith through suffering eventually brings praise and glory and honor at the final salvation. Peter says, the outcome of our faith is the salvation of your souls. Though you may be beaten, mocked, taken advantage of in this life, the final end will be glorious. The description of faith is this: that you do not see Jesus now, yet we love him and we believe in him with joy. At the very end, Jesus will be revealed right before our eyes. And there will be praise - praise for God who has mightily brought us through. There will be glory - glory of the coming Jesus, as well as glory for us, as we are given new imperishable bodies and a perfect soul. There will be honor - the Master will reward the faithful servant and he receives a crown of everlasting life.
There is no doubt though that Peter's emphasis is not the quality of our faith that eventually brings us through, but rather the glorious work of God. The salvation we have received, Peter says, is glorious: it is served unto us by the prophets preceding us, it is delivered by the gospel through the Holy Spirit from heaven, and finally it is something that even the angels long to ponder.
What great salvation that we are born again to a living hope!
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