10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. ~ 1 Peter 1:10-12
Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter where we are being equipped with the tools that enable us to navigate a faithful walk with the Lord amid this perilous world. In today's passage the Apostle Peter gives us a twofold view of our salvation; one from the vantage point of the Old Testament prophets and one from the vantage point of the angels in heaven. While the god of this world wants to use the trials and troubles in our lives to turn us away from the God of the Bible, God desires to use those very same trials and troubles to deepen our heart's ability to see Him.
In v.10-11 of today's passage we read, "10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow."
In order to help us to see God with our hearts, the Apostle Peter highlights God's incredible plan of salvation which has been in the making for centuries. God, over thousands of years, moved the Old Testament prophets to describe this mystery that they at the time didn't understand. The Old Testament prophets wrote specifically of the sufferings of the promised Messiah. In Isaiah 53 we read in detail of the Lord Jesus while He hung on the cross. Isaiah gave us this description of the suffering servant some 700 years before the the Lord Jesus came as the Lamb who took away the sin of the world. In Psalm 22 David wrote of the Lord Jesus hanging on His cross 1,000 years before His first coming.
According to Luke 24:44-46 before the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, He told His disciples that afterwards He would open their minds and they would be enabled to see what the prophets had to say about God's plan of salvation. One would have to be blind to not recognize the 300 plus prophecies in the Old Testament of the coming Lamb of God who would be punished on the behalf of all who would be humble enough to believe in Him. In John 3:19, the Lord Jesus described the reason why man would not be willing to receive the free gift of salvation when He said, "The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light."
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things."
Today's passage underscores the fact that there is a tapestry in all of our lives. Like the first century Christians, believers in Christ are involved in the sovereign plan of God that even the angels of heaven do not understand. We should take courage in knowing that the sovereign God of the Bible is bringing to perfect fruition His incredible and intricate plan to rescue all who are willing of heart enough to receive His free gift of salvation. We can trust God even when we do not understand what we are going through, because, one day, we will see and we will know as He.
In John 20:29 we read, "Then Jesus told Thomas, 'You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.'"
One of the twelve disciples of the Lord Jesus,Thomas, had to go through eight days of utter anguish before he was positioned to believe that the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead. As believers in Christ, we will, until our dying day, have within us the believer and the unbeliever which will be engaged in a civil war. This war is helpful in our discovery of the truth. Doubt is the shadow cast by faith. Doubt is the desire of our hearts crying out for more certainty.
It is doubt that creates the questions with which we wrestle. So, not all doubt is bad; it is just the flip side of faith. There is a difference between honest and dishonest doubters. The honest want to know the truth, whereas, the dishonest do not want to know the truth. Thomas had lived in his disbelief for eight days which was strategic, for in those eight days Thomas was forced to entertain the right questions.
We believe in the Lord Jesus, having not seen Him. We believe because of His spoken word which we hear with our hearts. We believe the Bible, because the Spirit of God has given us not only faith in Christ, but also faith in His word. We weren’t argued into believing in the God of the Bible; we were led by the Holy Spirit into believing. We do not need to see the risen Lord Jesus to believe in Him and to love Him. And, our changed lives are only explained by a supernatural experience called the new birth.
