#DailyDevotion You Are Born Of Imperishable Seed, The Word Of God
1 Peter 123You were born again, not by a seed that perishes but by one that cannot perish, God’s ever-living Word. 24 All people are like grass, and all their glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and the flower drops off, 25 but the Lord’s Word lives forever. This Word is the good news you have been told.
You were born again, born from above, if you have been born from above not by a seed that perished but by one that cannot perish. That seed is “God’s ever-living Word.” John tells us, 113 “They have been born, not of the blood of parents, nor of a sexual desire, nor of a man’s desire, but of God.” Now Jesus also tells us in John, 34“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered him, “if anyone isn’t born of water and the Spirit, he can’t get into God’s kingdom. 6Anything born of the flesh is flesh, but anything born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Don’t be surprised when I tell you you must all be born from above.” And Paul tells us, Christ makes us holy “by washing it[us] clean with water by the Word by washing it clean with water by the Word.”
Now the Word Peter tells us is the “good news you have been told.” It is the revealed name of God Jesus gives us in Matthew, “the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That name tells us the salvation of our God. It originates with the Father who sends the Son, Jesus. Jesus by his blood redeems us. The Spirit by the water and Word, the name of God, makes us born from above, gives us faith in Jesus, his work and his name. The Spirit and the Word are always together. It is through the Word the Spirit acts in giving us faith, life and salvation.
The seed cannot perish because it is the Word. People and their ideas perish. People and their glory fades away. The Lord’s Word lives forever. This is because the LORD and the Word are one LORD. John tells us in chapter one, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” How does God, the LORD, fade, wither or perish. The Word is eternal. In baptism, as God’s name is placed on us and we in God, the Word, Jesus Christ is put into our hearts by the Spirit. It is the Word, Jesus Christ himself, our ransom and our redemption, who is the Life and Light of the world who gives us his Life and Light in baptism. Which is why Peter says a few chapters later, “baptism now saves us… by guaranteeing us a good conscience before God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ”(3:21)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees us a good conscience. Our hearts, minds, and spirit is resurrected by the baptism we are baptized into and he who makes us his dwelling. Such resurrection also affects our bodily resurrection to eternal life on the Last Day. The Word of the Lord, Jesus Christ makes us born from above, born of God. The Word reveals us to be children of God on the Last Day. Because Jesus, the Word, does not whither, fade or perish, neither does his promise, nor his effects, nor his salvation given unto you. You can always depend upon him to do what he has said and what he has promised. So the certainty and assurance of our salvation is only and solely based on him and not what we do or don’t do. And that is good news.
O merciful and kind Father, you have given us birth from above not of perishable seed but by the imperishable seed your Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that we may remain in this Word and receive the outcome of our faith in Christ, the salvation of our souls and the resurrection of our bodies. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.