The Prophets were Ministering to Us
10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things which angels desire to look into.
REVIEW: In the last lesson, we ended with Peter’s perspective, stated in verse 9, receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls. I said last week that it would be worth it all when we see Jesus. I am so glad to know that there is an ending of our faith in the complete working out of our salvation. We are saved, we are being saved, and we will yet be saved. We have received eternal life, but day by day, we receive His life which sustains us in the journey of faith as we move forward toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Our faith leads to the salvation of our souls when the end comes at the last day when we shall see Him face to face.
As I said last time, “we must understand that what lies ahead is not an event, but it is a process. We are moving into greater and greater maturity as the Son of God is formed in us, which is the full purpose of the Father. I am reminded of what Paul taught us in his letter to the Ephesian believers when he said,
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13
Okay, look at 1 Peter 1:10-11, “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”
Consider how the prophets of old inquired and searched carefully about this grace we have received. They did not know in the fullness of it, but they knew enough to desire what they were seeing as “seers” to want to know more and they wanted to be a part of what the future held! They knew by the Spirit of God things that the Father was planning to do.
The time these things would be, the Spirit of Christ in them indicates the sufferings and the glories that would follow. Some of the prophets even received dates, such as Daniel. Daniel received the timing of God right to Messiah’s anointing at His baptism until His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead bringing forth a “new creation man” in the earth.
Peter identifies what was in them as “the Spirit of Christ.” This is what Revelation 19 is speaking about when John writes
In verse 10, “And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
The Old Testament Prophets were “searching” for the “what” and for the “time.” The Spirit of Christ that was in them was “prophesying” or indicating that it would be a time of “suffering,” Messiah’s suffering. See Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 as examples of the suffering of the Messiah in redeeming humankind. But they also prophesied the “glories” that would follow. David’s psalms are full of the “glories” of our great God and King.
12 To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things which angels desire to look into.
Verse 12 continues speaking of the “revelations” those Prophets of old had received. Included was that what they were receiving was not for their time, but for another time and another people. Amazing! Peter says. “It was for us that they were ministering.” To be clear, Peter says it was about what He and the other apostles were ministering. Those reports were now being given all over Israel and throughout the Roman Empire. How was it being reported by preaching?” It was time to declare what the Prophets of old had seen and heard. God purposed it to be done by preaching. Listen to Paul and his apostolic declaration:
“God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, 3 but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior.”
Titus 1:1-3
And again in Romans:
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:
“Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.”
Romans: 10:14-15
What those Old Testament Prophets saw and expected has now come and is being preached everywhere the “good news of redemption,” the rejection by the world’s systems, and the glory that continues to increase to the coming back of Christ at the close of time, as the gospel of John records in John 11:24 “on the last day.”
How is the gospel preached? It is preached by “the Holy Ghost.” Yes, the same Spirit of God that was in the Prophets of Old has been sent from heaven to preach the message through those first apostles and then through the “fivefold ministry gifts” outlined in Ephesians 4:11, beginning with the “ascension gift” apostles given by Jesus to His church and through all those ministry gifts listed.
Consider what Peter finishes verse 12 with, “things which angels desire to look into.” Not only did the Prophets of Old want to know more of what they were seeing and hearing from the Spirit of God, but the angels are looking into these matters that affect us and cause us to be born again and become sons and daughters of God.
The angels did not know that God would become human and then be killed and raised from the dead in the act of “regeneration” and then be seated as a man at the right of the “Majesty on High.
I can only imagine what they must think!
