PETER’S EPISTLES: PREPARING FOR ETERNITY

IV. Prizing Our Salvation Due To Its Value By Prophets And Angels

(1 Peter 1:10-12)

I. Introduction

A. Before the Apostle Peter began to minister for the Lord in the Church, his outlook was impacted by Christ’s prophecy in John 21:18-19 that he would be crucified for Christ. Eternity was thus always on Peter’s mind.

B. We view Peter’s epistles that highlight preparing for eternity, and in 1 Peter 1:10-12, Peter taught us believers to prize our salvation due to its value by prophets and angels. We study it for our insight and edification:

II. Prizing Our Salvation Due To Its Value By Prophets And Angels, 1 Peter 1:10-12.

A. Peter sought to lead his Hebrew Christian readers to prize their salvation that they might rejoice regardless of the persecution they faced. To that end, he told them of the importance of their salvation to the Old Testament prophets and to God’s holy angels, two groups that the Hebrew people in Peter’s day greatly respected.

B. Accordingly, Peter wrote that the prophets who spoke of the grace that would come to Peter’s readers searched intently and with great care to discover the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them pointed when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories to follow, 1 Peter 1:10-11 NIV. We have evidence in Scripture elsewhere of such searching by these prophets (as follows):

1. After Jesus gave the parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-9, His disciples asked Him why He spoke to the crowds in parables that they did not understand, Matthew 13:10. Jesus replied that it was given to the disciples to understand, but not to the unbelieving crowd, and that many prophets and righteous people had longed to see and hear what Jesus’ disciples saw and heard of the Messiah but did not experience it, Matthew 13:11-17. Jesus then explained the parable of the Sower to His disciples, Matthew 13:18.

2. In Daniel 12:1-7 when a powerful angel of God revealed to Daniel the Great Tribulation Period to come, Daniel asked what the outcome of it all would be, Daniel 12:8. The angel answered that Daniel was to go his way and not be concerned about it since these words were sealed until the time of the end when the wise would understand them, Daniel 12:9-10. Daniel was told that in the end, he would be raised from the dead and stand in his inherited plot back in Israel, what would have been a great blessing to Daniel since he had been in captivity in Gentile territory for decades, Daniel 12:11-13 with 1:1-21; 10:1.

3. We know from John 8:56 that Abraham was also prophetically shown Christ’s “day,” and when he saw it apparently in a prophetic vision, he rejoiced and was glad!

4. We also know from Hebrews 11:8-16 that Abraham, Sarah and a number of their descendants like Isaac and Jacob saw the fulfillment of God’s promises to them only from afar, looking for the city God would provide them on the earth in Christ’s future kingdom instead of returning to their former city of Ur!

C. Peter added that God revealed to these Old Testament saints that it was not for themselves, but for Peter’s readers that they ministered their prophecies that had been reported to Peter’s readers by those who preached the Gospel to them by the power of the Holy Spirit Who had been sent down from heaven, 1 Peter 1:12a.

D. Furthermore, Peter wrote that even God’s holy angels are greatly fascinated by the salvation that occurs for believers in the Church era, 1 Peter 1:12b. We explain this truth from the Greek text (as follows):

1. Peter’s claim that the angels “desire” to look into the salvation of Christian believers translates the Greek verb, epithumousin, the third person plural present indicative of epithumeo, and here it means “are earnestly desiring” (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 792; The Analytical Greek Lexicon, 1972, p. 157, 156).

2. The verb “look into” renders the aorist infinitive parakupsai from the root, parakupto, and here it means “to bestow a close and attentive look” (op. cit., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; op. cit., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 304). It was used in one writing of “a slave, anxious to catch a glimpse of castanet-players in the court below,” and its use “suggests primarily looking at something not immediately in the line of vision, which may be seen e. g. by stretching or stooping” (Moulton & Milligan, The Vocab. of the Grk. N. T., 1972, p. 486).

3. Thus, even God’s holy angels figuratively earnestly stretch their necks, desiring to take a close, attentive look at the salvation of believers in the Church, indicating the great value of their salvation!

Lesson: We should highly value the salvation that we believers in the Church era possess, for the great Old Testament prophets and even the holy angels of God have been earnestly desirous of investigating it. For this reason, we should be greatly encouraged always to rejoice in our salvation even amid persecution for our faith.

Application: May we so value God’s gracious salvation of us that even amid persecution, we always rejoice over it.