Preached Sunday, February 3, 2013 from 1 Peter 1:10-12
Theme: In this passage, the apostle Peter encourages us to be true to our faith by showing us the great value that others have placed on our salvation.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
In the New Testament letter of 1 Peter, the apostle was writing to a group of Christians who were suffering for their faith in Jesus. And in the first half of the first chapter, he writes to them about their salvation.
He wrote in such wonderful detail about their salvation for a very good and very practical reason. He wanted to display the wonders of their salvation to these suffering Christians, in order to encourage them that the end of their faith is the eternal glory in heaven—and is therefore worth whatever it may cause them to suffer while on earth.
And in verses 10-12; he writes;
Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 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. 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 (1 Peter 1:10-12).
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In my family, a long-time favorite television program has been Antiques Roadshow. And we’re not alone. This program has become an amazingly popular over the years—apparently watched by over a million viewers regularly each week.
Each episode of Antiques Roadshow is taped in various locations around the country. People bring their antiques or rare collectible items to the show; and they meet up with professionals in the antique field who carefully look the item over and ask questions of the owners about where they got the item and what they know about it. Then, these professionals tell them the actual history of the item that they brought in, and give them an estimated dollar value that they might reasonably expect to fetch for it if it were sold at auction.
Pretty simple idea. A big part of the show’s popularity has to do with the interesting history that lies behind the items that are brought in. The stories that the professional antique evaluators tell are fascinating. But I think the greatest reason people love to watch it is because they enjoy seeing the reactions of the owners of the various items when a qualified expert tells them the real value of the thing they brought it. It may have been something that they have had in their family for years and never thought much about. Or, it may be something that they had picked up at a second-hand store for only a few dollars. People often bring items without having a single clue what in the world the items are. But it’s fun to join in on the anticipation as they listen to what the expert is telling them about their item. And then, they become stunned—and quite often even brought to tears—when they are told how rare and precious and valuable that thing really is and how much it’s worth. They had no idea of how precious the thing that they owned was—until, of course, they were told its value by someone who knew far more about it than they did.
In a way, dear brothers and sisters, that’s how I feel about this morning’s passage. You and I have been given a precious treasure. It’s salvation through faith in Christ. But even though this marvelous salvation is fully ours by God’s grace, we may not appreciate the true value of it as we should. And that’s not a good thing. When we don’t know what a marvelously precious thing our salvation really is, we might easily grow indifferent toward it during the trials that come our way in life because of it.
That, I believe, was a very big problem that the apostle Peter was trying to deal with in his letter. These were Jewish Christians that he was writing to—Christians who were suffering greatly for their faith in Jesus. Because of their faith, some of them had lost their jobs, and their homes, and their friends, and their reputations. Some had to flee from their homeland and dwell in Gentile lands (which is why Peter began his letter by calling them “pilgrims of the Dispersion”). And what’s more, the ungodly cultures and communities to which they fled were also often hostile to their faith. In all of the pressure, they might easily have been tempted to call it quits, abandon their commitment to Jesus Christ, and just go with the flow.
That’s a problem today too, by the way. We also live in a cultural environment that is growing increasingly hostile to our faith. Every day—and in every way—it seems that it is getting harder and harder to be a follower of Jesus. We feel pressured to keep our faith to ourselves. We feel pressured to be silent about what the Bible says about the major cultural issues of the day. We feel pressure from our culture to act, or believe, or live in ways that are contrary to our conscience and to our commitment to God’s word. What’s more, we sometimes feel the opposition to our faith from those dearest to us—family members or friends. It can feel like a constant battle. And just like those Christians of old, we can easily feel tempted to call it quits, abandon our commitment to Jesus, and just go with the flow.
Peter was seeking to deal with that temptation; and to urge his brothers and sisters to stay true to the faith. Look at what he urges them to do in verse 13;
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ . . . (v. 13).
He wanted to encourage them—and us—not to give up; but rather to ‘roll up our sleeves’ in our thinking, be serious and sound-minded in our faith, and keep our hopes fixed firmly on the glorious outcome of that faith!
And that’s why this morning’s passage is so important! It helps us to appreciate the immeasurable value of our faith by letting us hear from those who knew more about it than we do. He calls in ‘the experts’ who—as it were—have examined our salvation in Christ, who have expressed great excitement about it, and who say to us, “Do you realize what a precious thing it is that you have? Do you have any idea how valuable it is? Don’t ever give it up! Hang on to it! Grow in it! You have been given something gloriously valuable! Your salvation in Jesus Christ has made you very rich indeed!”
In this passage, Peter calls forth three experts: the Old Testament prophets, the New Testament apostles, and even the holy angels of heaven. And he encourages us to be true to our faith by showing us the value these others placed on our salvation.
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Now; the first set of ‘experts’ that Peter calls forth to tell us about our salvation are . . .
1. THE PROPHETS WHO SPOKE BY GOD
ABOUT IT FROM AFAR (vv. 10-12a).
In verse ten, we’re told, “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you . . .” Peter described something of that grace for us in verses 3-5. He wrote;
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (vv. 3-5).
The prophets of the Old Testament era wrote about that grace from afar—centuries before our Savior walked upon the earth. Their prophecies are recorded for us in the Old Testament scriptures. And here, we’re being told that they inquired and searched it carefully about the things that God was telling them that He was going to do for us in our salvation through Christ!
You see; those Old Testament prophets didn’t simply sit in a room somewhere during a creative burst of energy, and write down the imaginative insights that they created in their own minds. The story of our salvation isn’t simply the product of human creative thought. They were given a specific message from God Himself; and were told to write it down and declare the things that He would later do for us through Christ. The apostle Peter tells us about this in 2 Peter 1:19-21;
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21).
God used their unique personalities and experiences to give that message to us. And they wrote that message in their own words, through their own personalities, and in the context of their own times. But they didn’t do so as a product of their own private imaginations. God the Holy Spirit guided them and “moved” them along in their writing, so that what they wrote was what He wanted written.
In fact, what they wrote down was so objective to them, and kept so distinct from being merely a product of their own imaginations, that they too wanted to inquire more into it, and to search out carefully what it was that God told them about the grace that would come to you and me through Christ. They were fascinated by it. God gave them truths about our salvation in Christ in mere ‘bits’ and ‘pieces’; and they faithfully declared the truths that God gave them. But they longed to dig into it deeper and to put the pieces together.
Oh how they would have envied you and me with a very godly ‘envy’! We have so much more of a clearer picture of what it is that they could only know in part; because for us, it is a fulfilled experience! And dear brothers and sisters; if they were so thrilled by it all that they longed to investigate it and search it out in a deeper way, then shouldn’t we be even more thrilled? Shouldn’t we—with our full understanding of experience—value what they valued so much with just partial knowledge?
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Another way that we can see how much those Old Testament prophets valued our salvation is by Who it was that was telling them about it. They valued the glories of our salvation because they knew the Holy Spirit was revealing it to them. Verse 11 tells us that they were “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” (v. 11).
Now; the things that the Spirit testified to them concerned our Lord Jesus Christ—both with respect to the things He suffered for us, and the glories that were brought about by His death and His resurrection. Those Old Testament prophets were given a very reliable picture of these things; because, as we’re told, they were given to them by “the Spirit of Christ who was in them”; and the Spirit of Christ would, of course, indicate accurately the sufferings and the glories of Christ that were to come. But those things must have been—if I may say it reverently—very confusing to them at times. It would have seemed that, on the one hand, they were given indications of the glories of the Messiah’s reign on earth; and of all the glories that He would bring about for His people as their Redeemer. But then, it would have seemed that the same Messiah would also suffer and be cut down in death. How could those two things go together? I wish we had some time to look at some of those passages. One of the greatest, perhaps, is Isaiah 53; where Jesus’ sufferings and glories are described in just one chapter. Another great passage would be Psalm 22; where our Lord’s crucifixion is clearly pictured—but along with the glories that would follow. Psalm 16 is yet another.
These things must have greatly perplexed the Old Testament prophets. Peter tells us that they “searched what, or what manner of time” these things would happen. How would these things come about? What would be the nature of them? How would the sufferings and the glories go together? What would be the timing of them? The prophets studied them and investigated them—looking at our salvation from afar; and they tried to understand the things that the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating to them would happen in the age in which we’re living.
But they studied them diligently; because it was—indeed—the Spirit of Christ who was indicating these things to them! They knew that this was no mere man-made message! They were speaking forth a true and reliable revelation from God about something marvelous that God was going to do—something that would involve remarkable ‘sufferings’; but that would lead to wonderful and eternal ‘glories’ afterward!
Dear brothers and sisters; these great Old Testament prophets were so convinced that the message of our salvation was, indeed, an authoritative message from God Himself that they sought diligently to understand the nature and the time of the things the Spirit was telling them about it. In fact, many of them laid down their lives in the declaration of this message from God! And if they valued it so much, how can we—who are the beneficiaries of it all—be indifferent to it?
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And yet another way that our hearts can be moved by the great value of our salvation is by something else that the Holy Spirit told the Old Testament prophets about it. They were told that they were ministering to us in the things that they prophesied. In verse 12, Peter writes; “To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you” (v. 12a).
I believe we should interpret this carefully. It wasn’t as if the things that the Holy Spirit told the Old Testament prophets had nothing to do with them or with their circumstances. They spoke as God’s spokesmen to their time. But the point is that they also—and perhaps in an even greater way—spoke as God’s spokesmen to our time today! They must have been surprised and thrilled to know that the things that the Spirit was revealing to them about Jesus’ sufferings and glories back then had to do with us—we, who live in the privileged age of the fulfillment of these things many centuries after they were spoken. As Peter himself preached, in one of his great sermons to his own people;
“Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities” (Acts 3:24-26).
Look at how our salvation was valued by those ‘experts’ from the Old Testament age—the prophets of old! They knew that it was God who was revealing these truths to them about Christ. They diligently investigated studied the truths they were being given about our salvation. They gloried in them; because they were made to understand that the things being told to them were intended by God to minister to us today!
Dear brothers and sisters; if that’s how greatly they valued our salvation; how can we be indifferent to it?
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And as if that wasn’t enough, Peter brings out two more experts to show us how greatly we should value our salvation. We next hear from . . .
2. THE APOSTLES WHO WERE EMPOWERED BY GOD TO PROCLAIM IT TO US (v. 12b).
In verse 12, we’re told that the prophets long ago “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” (v. 12b).
Just as the Holy Spirit guided and empowered the prophets of old, the same Holy Spirit guided and empowered the apostles of our Lord. Shortly before He went to the cross, He told them that He would send the Holy Spirit to be their divine Helper. He told them;
“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:25-26).
The Holy Spirit did indeed come; and He guided the apostles of our Lord in the things that they preached and wrote; so that an accurate testimony of our Lord’s ministry—and of the great salvation that He brought about for us—was proclaimed in this world. And they too—the apostles of our Lord; who walked with Him, and talked with Him, and ate with Him, and learned personally from Him—have communicated to us the glorious value of our salvation in Christ! They did so under the full authority of the Holy Spirit—the very Spirit “sent from heaven”.
The apostle Peter was one of those apostles. He once even had the privilege—along with the apostles John and John’s brother James—of being up on the mountain with the Lord Jesus when He was transfigured before their very eyes. They saw Him, as it were, ‘pull back the veil’ for a moment and reveal something of His heavenly glory. They saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Him. And they heard the voice of God the Father say, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” That remarkable event changed Peter forever. He knew the value of our salvation! In 2 Peter 1:16-19, he wrote concerning himself and the other apostles;
For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts . . . (2 Peter 1:16-19).
The great value that these apostles placed on the salvation that they preached to us—who were themselves eyewitness of our Lord and His glory—should encourage us to value it as something very precious, and to stay true to it come what may.
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Now; the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles—these are great ‘experts’ about our salvation. But Peter draws forth yet more set of witnesses to testify of the value of our salvation. Peter finally points to . . .
3. THE ANGELIC BEINGS WHO LONG TO LOOK INTO IT MORE DEEPLY (v. 12c).
He writes that the apostles “preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.”
I believe that Peter is primarily talking about the angels of God—the elect angels who did not fall with Satan in His rebellion. They constantly adore God our Savior and behold Him in the glories of heaven. And what a marvel and wonder of His grace it is to them!—that He would look down in mercy upon us, who are far lower than angels in present glory; fallen and sinful as we are; and to send His own precious Son to become one of us, to redeem us by His blood, to secure our future glorification by His resurrection, tl sit at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us, and to destine us to become sharers of His glory in heaven forever!
The Bible tells us that we shall one day ‘judge’ the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3). We are destined to exceed them in glory. And there’s no jealousy in God’s holy, elect angels with regard to our destiny. They rejoice in wonder at the grace of God, and will worship Him forever because of what He has done for us in our salvation. He did this, as the Bible tells us,
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).
The angels of heaven are certainly great experts in the value of our salvation! They gaze in wonder at it. They “desire to look into it”.
But I don’t think that the holy and elect angels are the only ones who desire to look into it. Our enemy Satan, and the evil angels that fell from heavenly glory with him, also look into it with great interest—not in wonder at God’s mercy, but in horror over their destiny. The devil wars against our salvation, because we are destined to exceed even him in glory—and will be his judges! The apostle Paul once wrote to encourage the Christians at Rome to stay true to their faith; saying,
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly (Romans 16:20).
No wonder the devil and his angels would look into our salvation with great interest! They know what it means far more clearly than we do! Even Satan and his angels—because of the dread they feel over their impending judgment; by the warfare they wage against the saints; through the hostility and opposition they show to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ—even they testify of the great value of our salvation!
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Now; stop and think back again to the folks who appeared on that television show I mentioned at the beginning. Think of how they must have felt after having an expert come along and tell them the remarkable value of the thing they possessed. Think of how much more dearly they would value that thing! Think of how much more care they would show toward it—knowing so much more of its value than they did before.
Well, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; the apostle Paul has just given you an assessment of the value of your salvation in Christ from three groups of remarkable experts—the Old Testament prophets who spoke by the power of God regarding your salvation; the New Testament apostles who preached it to you by the power of the Holy Spirit; and the very angels of heaven who long to look deeply into the things God has done in and for you through Christ!
What a precious and valuable thing your salvation is! Don’t let go of it! Don’t neglect it! Give it your all!