4. and so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for his people. He keeps them for you in heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away.
5. They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time.
6. Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer.
7. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honour on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8. You love him, although you have not seen him, and you believe in him, although you do not now see him. So you rejoice with a great and glorious joy which words cannot express,
9. because you are receiving the salvation of your souls, which is the purpose of your faith in him.
10. It was concerning this salvation that the prophets made careful search and investigation, and they prophesied about this gift which God would give you.
11. They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come. This was the time to which Christ's Spirit in them was pointing, in predicting the sufferings that Christ would have to endure and the glory that would follow.