” For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say, ‘People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”
The depth of this passage may not immediately jump out, but this is a good lesson in digging into Scripture to understand all that is there. Peter has been talking to us in this letter about this amazing salvation that the prophets could only dream of. He has told us about this idea of being born via the Holy Spirit into the kingdom of God. And here he brings those concepts all together with a quote from Isaiah 40. Take a moment to read that passage before you move on so that you can enter into the full breadth of Peter’s message here.
The prophet Isaiah had written these words about 700 years before Jesus arrived on earth. The message of God foretold a coming of the Lord, a time in which there would be good news delivered to his people. Peter is helping his Jewish audience understand the fulfillment of these words through Jesus. “That Good News Isaiah told us about??! This is it!!” Everything else in the world will die. Even grass (as my lawn will testify…). But Jesus’ message will remain. This is the never-ending life God has been talking about since the beginning. It’s the return to Eden.
Here’s your freedom for today: you were made to live forever. Illness and disorder of every kind are not how your body is supposed to work. Life was not supposed to be hard. Eden is the status quo to which God is returning us. And notice that Peter does not say, “You will be born again.” He says, “You have been born again.” Your eternal life has already started. Yet another reminder for us to live with eternity in mind. Clinging to Jesus’ eternal reality is the only way to escape the death and destruction we see everyday in our flowers and grass. This world is going down. Grab the Life Preserver and don’t let go.