²⁰For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you ²¹who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

In this immensely practical letter, we find deep theology. Unlike the apostle Paul in the book of Romans, the present writer Peter does not give a detailed exposition of truth but simply asserts the eternality of Jesus Christ: He always existed; He is not a created being. The phrase “before the foundation of the world” literally refers to the cosmos, the sum total of all creation. God foreknew Christ “before” creation came into being. Since God’s knowledge of Christ is juxtaposed with the cosmos, it is clear that in Peter’s mind Christ existed before creation came into being.

While the above does not prove conclusively that Christ has always existed as a non-created being (remember Peter’s intention is not to give a detailed theological study of the matter), we correlate this passage to others like John 1:1 where Jesus Christ, as the Word, coexisted with God “in the beginning” and was in fact identified with God Himself. To write of Jesus on such a level with God would be blasphemy if Jesus were not God. Peter’s point, though, is that in suffering for our faith in Jesus Christ, we are rooted in Him who is eternal.

Further, this eternal One has now appeared “in these last times.” For God, terms like “future” and “past” are not useful since both are present realities to Him who is the Creator of time and sees it all. But we finite human creatures need these terms to understand life as we pass through time. We might illustrate this by thinking of time as stacking up an infinite number of photographic slides that depict every moment in time. God looks through this stack from start to finish all at one time, while we humans are limited to seeing only one slide at a time as we progress through them in sequence. Yes, this is difficult for us to fully comprehend, because He is God and we are not.

However, we are encouraged that in our suffering, God already knows our future, and therefore we can be strengthened in our faith and hope despite our present circumstances. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the linchpin in this. It is not our faith that encourages us, but what we believe in. We believe as a historical fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is now with God the Father in glory. In this we continue to believe, and in this we have hope for our future—no matter what suffering we face now.

Lord, I place my hope for eternity on the historical fact of Jesus’ resurrection.