1 Peter 1:10-12
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Introduction
Introduction
Imagine I come to visit you in the hospital.
You were going in to have x-ray on your herniated disc, but you fell on the way in and broke your left wrist.
Then in preparing you for surgery on your wrist, they discovered you have blood pressure.
The medication they gave you for the blood pressure gave you hives, but once they changed the medication and the hives and high blood pressure went away, the finally fixed your right wrist…
…but it was your left wrist that was broken!
In the midst of all this, everyone at work keeps calling to ask you things they could figure out themselves if they had half a brain cell.
Your neighbor phoned to gripe about your dog rooting through her flower bed again.
And your youngest child only came by the hospital to visit you so he could ask for money.
But don’t worry, I, your pastor, have arrived to bring you comfort and peace in your season of travail.
I begin by saying, “You know, you’re very fortunate, very blessed, very privileged to be in the position you’re in. In fact, let’s sing a bit of Count Your Blessings...
Count your blessings name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!
Now, at this point you’re pretty upset with me.
Your back is still hurt.
Both your wrists are now broken—one accidentally and one surgically.
No one seems to care about what you’re going through.
And here I am telling you how blessed you are.
You ask, “How do you figure that I’m so blessed?”
Then I say, “Well, you’ve been born again to a living hope in Jesus Christ. You have an inheritance in heaven imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. You are protected for salvation by the power of God. And your faithfulness in all this suffering just goes to show how genuine your faith in Christ is. You know, a lot of people, would love to be right where you are.”
That is essentially the message that Peter brought to his suffering brothers and sisters in 1 Peter 1.
They were suffering, but they were born again.
They were suffering, but they had an inheritance in heaven.
They were suffering, but they were protected by the power of God.
They were suffering, but their faith in Jesus was proving true.
They were suffering, but they had many blessings to count and their were many who have loved to be right where they were.
Listen to what Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:10-12…
10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.
Discussion
Discussion
Q. Verse 10 begins with “As to this salvation,” which Peter talked about in vv. 8-9. How is that salvation described as a salvation by faith rather than sight in vv. 8-9?
Peter’s readers haven’t seen Christ.
They do not presently see Christ.
But they love Christ.
But they believe on Christ.
But they rejoice in Christ.
As they wait for what they have yet to see—the outcome of their faith, which is the salvation of their souls.
So, these people were walking by faith rather than sight as they suffered.
Q. What temptations might come our way because of suffering?
The temptation to give up.
The temptation to get sinfully angry.
The temptation to get sinful relief.
The temptation to disbelieve or conclude that God isn’t good if He’s there at all.
Q. How would seeing Jesus be an advantage in suffering? How would seeing Jesus help us resist the temptations that come along with suffering?
Consider how seeing helped Stephen remain faithful in His suffering.
54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. 58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
Consider how seeing helped Paul remain faithful in his suffering.
3 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. 5 On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.
Consider how seeing helped Peter remain faithful in his suffering.
4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
1 As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.
All these guys could say, “I’ve seen who I’m suffering for.”
But Peter’s readers couldn’t say that, and Peter knew it.
The reality was that these people were suffering for Jesus without having seen Jesus.
But Peter encourages them in 1 Peter 1:10-12 with some other realities.
Realities #1 and #2: The Prophets’ Searching (1 Pet. 1:10)
Realities #1 and #2: The Prophets’ Searching (1 Pet. 1:10)
10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries,
Q. Can you think of any OT prophecies which spoke of the grace that would come through the Messiah?
1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
The prophets knew this promise of grace was to come in the Messiah.
17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.
13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.
So, the prophets made careful searches and inquiries seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating.
Q. How do you think the prophets made these careful searches and inquiries?
By examining their own writings.
By examining the writings of others.
And by prayer.
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. 3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
But…
13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
But Peter says in 1 Peter 1:12 that the prophets were really serving Peter’s readers (i.e., they were serving the church).
Q. Look at v. 11 again. What were the prophets looking for?
What person or time that was indicated by the Spirit of Christ.
Some translations say…
“what (time), or manner of time” (KJV/NKJV)
“what time or what circumstances” (CSB)
The details weren’t clear but they knew what the Messiah was supposed to be like and what He was supposed to do when He came.
Q. How would that information help the Apostles as they preached Jesus as the Christ?
About sixteen times in Matthew’s gospel, he says that what the prophets prophesied concerning the Messiah was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
The prophets were looking for who and when; the Apostles preaching Jesus as the Christ, saying, “Him and now.”
The Spirit-indicated time the prophets looked for was announced to Peter’s readers in the Spirit-empowered preaching of the Apostles.
Q. How do we hear the preaching of the Apostles today?
In the NT.
Q. How do the prophets and apostles serve as good examples of faithfulness in suffering?
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Reality #3: The Angels’ Looking (1 Peter 1:12)
Reality #3: The Angels’ Looking (1 Peter 1:12)
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.
The word for look at the end of v. 12 means to “stoop over and look” or “examine closely.”
Q. Why do you think angels long to look into this gospel grace that we have in Jesus Christ?
When angels rebelled, they were cast out.
So far as we know, there was no means of grace for them.
When humans rebelled, God promised grace.
The angels marvel at the grace of God we experience in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Peter’s readers, despite their various trials, are a privileged people.
They were suffering, but they were born again.
They were suffering, but they had an inheritance in heaven.
They were suffering, but they were protected by the power of God.
They were suffering, but their faith in Jesus was proving true.
They were suffering, but what the prophets searched for had been announced to them in Jesus Christ.
They were suffering, but what they had experienced the grace into which angels long to look.
They were suffering, but the prophets and the angels would have loved to have been were they were.
But there is one final reality…
Reality #4: The Christ’s Sufferings and Glories (1 Pet. 1:11)
Reality #4: The Christ’s Sufferings and Glories (1 Pet. 1:11)
11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
For Jesus it was the sufferings then the glories.
So it was for the prophets and the Apostles.
So it would be for Peter’s first readers.
So it will be for you and me.
When upon life’s billows, you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
