1 Peter 1:10-12 (Salvation Promised & Delivered

Introduction

Last week, many Americans watched yet another peaceful transfer of power from one presidential administration to another in Washington, D.C. Whatever you think of our two political parties and the politicians among them… the ceremony, the pageantry, and the grandeur of the inauguration is (I think) compelling.

There is certainly a real sense of changing winds in America at the moment (both political and cultural), and the last week made this highly visible in all sorts of ways. This change is significant, but it’s not directly connected to what we’re considering from Scripture today. Our passage and our focus today are more on lasting and long-developing realities, and not the constantly changing sort.

I did think it was interesting (though) to see a lot of historic symbolism and ceremony in the presidential inauguration and all the events around it. Many features of American government and our civil rituals come from our English roots, and especially from the pervasive Christianity that dominated the culture of those Americans who lived during and after the founding of our nation.

It may be that many of America’s founding fathers and her early citizens were not genuine Christians, but it is an overwhelmingly evident fact that Christianity (particularly Protestant – and I would even say largely Baptist – Christianity) gave 18th- and 19th-century Americans their societal ambitions, their civil instincts, and their sense of what is often called “manifest destiny.”

Then as now, Americans believed themselves to be at the center of God’s unfolding providence. They believed God (the God of the Bible) was especially interested in America’s success, her advancement on the world stage, and her strength in the world order.

And in a sense, that was and is absolutely true. God is well aware of all that America is and does, and He is quite purposeful in the outworking of His providence for this nation.

However, it is also true that many (maybe most?) humans and societies think of themselves as the main character in the story of the world. All that has happened up to now has led to their moment on the world stage… and all that is happening right now is either their victory or their defeat… and all that will happen tomorrow is what they strategize and plan today.

The pages of human history ought to prevent us from thinking this way. The rise and fall of many civilizations before us ought to remove any illusions we have about the permanence of our present society.

Of course, this is no knock against doing what we can to build an orderly and prosperous and strong nation. I think we should endeavor to build better for our children and grandchildren than what we have enjoyed for ourselves.

But the reality is that no worldly nation and no earthly civilization stands at the center of world history forever. Oh sure, one nation may be central for a time, but sooner or later, another rises to take its place… This is inevitable.

And yet, there is a people on earth right now who can truly know that they are (and forever will be) the center of God’s attention and activity. Not only now, but since the beginning. And not only back then, but indefinitely into the future.

We started studying through this letter from the Apostle Peter to Christians scattered about in the ancient world a few Sundays ago, and the emphasis so far has been on God’s present and future salvation, the people God has decided to bring into that salvation, and the endurance they must have through this life of hardship and affliction.

In our short passage today, Peter turns from emphasizing what is to come in order to remind his readers of what has led up to their present moment. Peter wants Christians to know that God has always intended to make them the object of His mercy. And Peter reminds them that the Holy Spirit has been and is now at work in revealing to them what amazes and astonishes even the angels in heaven.

Let’s consider this passage today, and let’s try to think about how the stuff we’re reading here applies to Christians of all times and geography… including us today.

Scripture Reading

1 Peter 1:10–12 (ESV)

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Main Idea:

Because salvation was prophesied and delivered by the Holy Spirit, Christians can know that they are central to God’s purposes in the world.

Sermon

1. Salvation Defined (v10)

As we read any part of the Bible, we always have to remember that we are jumping into an ongoing story. We cannot read Genesis without keeping in mind that the NT is where this whole story culminates; and we can’t read Revelation without keeping the backdrop in view of Genesis, Exodus, and all the OT prophets.

This is true of the whole Bible, and it’s also true of individual books of the Bible. First Peter is a small part of Scripture, and it uniquely contributes to the overall story. But 1 Peter is also one organized volume itself – it’s a letter (a relatively short one) with its own logic, argument, teaching, and exhortation.

As we pick it up here in v10, we immediately see that what Peter is writing about here is connected to what he’s written about already. He wants to say more “Concerning” or “about” “this salvation” (1 Pet. 1:10).

Let’s remember what Peter means by “salvation” here.

Salvation is that to which Christians have been "born again" (1 Pet. 1:3-5).

Salvation is that which was and is assured by the "resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (v3).

Salvation is that which was and is the promised “inheritance” being “kept in heaven” by God (v4-5).

Salvation is that which will be “revealed” in the "last time" (v5).

Salvation is that in which Christians now "rejoice" (v6).

And salvation is that which is the "outcome" of the "faith" of those believers who persevere (v9).

As I’ve argued and explained over the past couple of Sundays, “salvation” is the big word that includes all that God has promised, all that God is doing, and all that He will do for those who turn from their sin and trust in Christ.

Salvation is the work that Christ accomplished on the cross.

Salvation is the forgiveness of sins, the experience of God’s gracious love, and the possession of God’s blessings.

Salvation is the spiritual life God creates from spiritual death in the lives of those He loves.

And salvation is the culmination of

the Father’s election,

the Son’s life and death and resurrection,

and the Spirit’s application of it all to those He sanctifies or sets apart as God’s beloved people in the world.

There is a real sense in which we might say that salvation is the story of the whole Bible. From the very beginning (since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden), God has been promising, revealing, working out, applying, and moving all of human history toward “this salvation” (1 Peter 1:10).

And this getting at what Peter wants to say that is more about “this salvation” (v10). He wants to say what is particularly relevant to his readers (and other Christians like them).

He not only wants them to be assured of “this salvation” and to look forward to it (which is what he’s been emphasizing so far), but he also wants them to know that God has always intended to make THEM the objects of His salvation… And they can know this because God the Spirit “predicted” this salvation for them through “prophets who prophesied” long ago (v10-11).

2. Salvation Promised (v10-11)

The first thing Peter says further about “this salvation” is that “the prophets… prophesied about [it]” (1 Pet. 1:10). Here Peter is referring to the OT “prophets,” who spoke and wrote the word of God before Christ came.

God spoke and revealed Himself here and there before the time of Moses, but Moses was the first official prophet of the Bible. Moses was commissioned by God to speak on His behalf (God revealed things to Moses that he would never have known otherwise). And one of the words God gave Moses to say was a prophesy about a “person” who would come to exceed even Moses as a better and supreme “prophet” for all time (Deut. 18:15-19).

Other prophets came and went, but none that were as great as Moses. Those OT prophets said and wrote quite a lot from God, but one of the main features of their prophecies is the repeated prediction of a prophet to come… one who would also be a priest unlike any other and a truly righteous and eternal king. This coming one is often called the Messiah or Christ – and it was revealed that He would be one to suffer as God’s servant and also to share in God’s unique glory.

There is so much we might draw from our short passage today, but I want to make three observations about what Peter says (1) the OT “prophets” did, (2) what they knew, and (3) who it was “in them” that was actually “indicating” and “predicting” the “sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.”

Q: What did “the prophets” do?

A: They “prophesied” and “inquired.”

Specifically, Peter says, they “prophesied about… grace” (v10).

Here Peter uses the word “grace” as a synonym for “salvation” (v10).

The “salvation” predicted by the OT prophets was one of God’s “grace.”

There has never been another way that God promised or performed salvation for His people – God’s “salvation” is always and forever by or because of or an extension of His “grace.”

This was just as true during the OT times as it is in the NT and today.

And this isn’t the only time Peter spoke of the OT prophets as “predicting” the outpouring of God’s “grace” in salvation.

On the day of Pentecost (in Acts 2), Peter himself stood to address the crowd, saying, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you… this [that you are seeing and hearing today (namely the giving of God’s Spirit to those who received God’s grace)] is what was uttered through the prophet Joel…’” (Acts 2:14-16).

Friends, the OT prophets “prophesied” about “the grace” of God that would ultimately come to all those who look to God’s Messiah or Christ for “salvation.”

And that’s why they “inquired [about] the sufferings of [the] Christ and the subsequent glories” (1 Pet. 1:11).

It seems obvious to me that the OT prophets spoke and wrote of more than they knew in detail.

They knew the “Christ” would come (v11).

They knew that He would “suffer” (v11).

They knew that He would share in “subsequent glories” (v11).

But they did not know the specific “person” He would be or the particular “time” He would come (v11).

So, they “searched and inquired carefully” about Him.

Friends, there is ample evidence in the OT to expect the arrival of the Christ, and there is a lot we can learn from the OT about what the Christ would do.

This is why at least some who knew the OT were expecting the Christ to come when Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

And this is why the resurrected Jesus was able to say to His disciples (on the famous road to Emmaus), “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And then the Scripture tells us, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the [OT] Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk. 24:25-27).

Friends, when Jesus came on the scene at that pivotal moment in human history, He was most definitely doing something new. But Jesus did not enter human history from nowhere.

Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies about the Christ who would come – so many that it is impossible to deny that Jesus was the Christ!

The OT prophets prophesied much about the coming Christ, and they themselves inquired carefully about Him.

Q: What did “the prophets” know?

A: They knew that “they were serving not themselves but you.”

We already talked about what “the prophets” knew about the Christ or the Messiah.

But Peter tells us here that “the prophets” also knew that “they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached… by the Holy Spirit” (1 Pet. 1:12).

This is yet another reality of the unfolding plan of God’s salvation – it was promised throughout the OT, and it was delivered in the NT.

There were many people who believed the promises of God during the OT times, and they looked forward to God’s salvation that would ultimately come.

But it was NT believers who would be able to look back upon all that God had promised and see the fulfillment of those promises in real time.

Friends, the NT gospel cannot be separated or unhitched from the OT prophecies.

The NT gospel is grounded in the OT, it springs from the deep reservoir of the OT, and it draws together all of the images and themes and prophecies that so hopefully and powerfully “predicted” the coming of a savior for all those who would look to God as both righteous and merciful, as both the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Him.

Peter says that the OT prophets knew that they would not see the Christ in their own day, but they also knew that others would see Him… and they would all (both OT believers and NT believers) rejoice at His appearing.

Q: Who “revealed” and “predicted” what “the prophets… prophesied”?

A: “the Spirit of Christ in them… predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories” (1 Pet. 1:11); and the Holy Spirit “revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you” (1 Pet. 1:12).

In keeping with Peter’s emphasis on the triune God (from v1-2), he makes sure here to tell his reader that the merciful Father (v3) and the resurrected Jesus Christ (v3) are joined by the revealing and predicting Holy Spirit in the overall plan of God’s salvation.

Of course, revealing and predicting the Christ (and His salvation) is not all that the Holy Spirit does, but He has done this.

It was “the Spirit of Christ” in the prophets that “predicted” the arrival and the work of the “Christ” (v11).

And it was the “Spirit… in them” that “revealed to them” that believers yet to come would experience “the grace” of God being “announced” to them “through those” who “preached the good news” (v12; cf. v10-11).

Friends, because salvation was predicted long ago (by those prophets who were carried along by the Holy Spirit to speak and write the very words of God), anyone who looks to Christ for salvation can know for certain that what they are experiencing is not something that is merely personal and new (it is personal and new, but that’s not all it is)… Salvation is something God has been doing for a whole community or kingdom or assembly of people and for a very long time.

The grace of God in the salvation of sinners was promised in ancient times. God Himself (by His Spirit) spoke through various prophets throughout the ages in order to reveal what He was doing for all who would believe. And those who hear the gospel proclaimed today can find great confidence and assurance in the fact that the same Spirit who animated the word of the prophets of old also empowers the good news as it was delivered and preached in the NT… and as it is today.

3. Salvation Delivered (v12)

Here’s where Peter begins to make the application of what he’s been going on about.

Why does he make such a big deal out of the fact that “this salvation” was “prophesied” by “the prophets” (v10)?

Why does Peter want his reader to know that those OT “prophets… searched and inquired” about the “Christ” who was to come (v10)?

And why does Peter want them to understand that it was “the Spirit of Christ” who ultimately did the “predicting” and “revealing” (v11-12)?

I believe Peter emphasized all of this in order to bring home the point that all of it was to “serve” or “minister to” “them” (v12)!

I’d like to highlight two points here: (1) Peter wants believers in Christ to know that they are the blessed ones who get to live during the time when the OT prophecies have come to pass, and (2) Peter wants believers to know that the OT prophecies about the Christ don’t merely apply to them (as some secondary application), those prophecies were and are intended for them.

And, friends, because we live on this side of the first advent of Christ, we too may hear these words as a great confidence-builder for our own trust in Christ as we endure whatever afflictions and troubles this world has for us.

Like those NT Christians living in Peter’s day, we are also living after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ… and this is a huge blessing! We get to look back on God’s promises kept, and we get to point to all of them as evidence that God will complete what He has started (Phil. 1:6).

And like those Christians back then, we also may receive the promised salvation that God the Spirit has predicted and God the Son has achieved… we may receive God’s salvation as intended for us.

So often, Christians can sometimes think and talk like God’s plan has always centered on the ethnic descendants of Abraham. Christians can make it sound like believers in Christ are a sort of parenthesis in God’s plan of salvation – that God was and is dealing primarily with Israel, and only secondarily bringing salvation to those who are Gentiles. But (with all do respect to those who may disagree with me) this simply is not so.

God never (not in the OT or the NT)… God never intended His salvation for an ethnic or national people (not even primarily for Jews).

God’s promise of a “New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:9-27), God’s promise of an inheritance that is “imperishable, undefined, and unfading” (1 Pet. 1:4), God’s promise to “build up” an assembly of sinners into a “spiritual house… a holy priesthood… [and] a holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:5-9)… these promises were always intended to center on everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I mentioned a while back in my introduction, it is common for people and nations to think of themselves as the center of human history.

When a strong man arises, he is prone to think that everyone who has come before him was too weak to take and too inept to build what he is capable of doing. And he is likely to think that everyone who will come after him will only be a footnote in the storybook about him.

When a strong and wealthy and expansive nation arises, its leaders and citizens are prone to think that all the nations before them were flawed in some way that prevented them from creating what they alone can do. And they are likely to think that all other nations (present and future) must respect their culture and customs.

And friends, Christians are not immune from thinking just like this. And that’s why the recipients of Peter’s letter needed to hear that there is a salvation that has been long in the making, there is a kingdom that stands at the center of human history, and there is a people who truly are the apple of God’s eye… even though they are not usually the ones sitting in the halls of worldly power.

Think about it with me for a moment…

Peter’s whole letter was written to a people who were living in exile. They were not yet in their eternal home. They were not yet experiencing the glory that they’d been promised in the gospel. And they were still subject to all sorts of evil rulers, persecuting citizens, and wicked temptations to give up on following Christ and to join in with others around them in the pleasures of this world.

And Peter’s message to them was simple and profound.

He urged them to remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead… so that they too might hold on to the hope that they would one day join Him.

He urged them to remember that God’s mercy and grace were the only reason that they could rest assured that they are included in the promises of the gospel… so that they would cling to Christ as their only hope in life and death.

And he urged them to remember that there actually is a people who are the center of God’s attention and affection… so that they would not be fooled into chasing after the riches and power and prestige of worldly people and worldly kingdoms.

Peter wanted Christians to realize that the “angels” of heaven “look” with amazement on the salvation God has intended and announced to them… so that they would have a heavenly perspective… one that would sustain them through the trials and afflictions of this life.

Friends, in every age and in every place, Christians can be tempted to think that they are the losers of society. So often, Christians can look around them and see all sorts of sinners excelling in ways that can make the Christians feel like they are the ones missing out. And the antidote to this temptation (at least as our passage provides it here) is for Christians to have a kind of faith that is built upon an understanding that goes deeper than superficial slogans.

When times are full of trouble, when circumstances are bleak, and when the suffering for Christ’s sake gets ratcheted up… the kind of Christians who persevere are those who not only know what they believe, but also why they believe it.

Even as far back as Charles Spurgeon’s day (during the 1800s), there were many who professed faith in Christ who had little substance to their faith. And Spurgeon warned, “You who have a hope of salvation should know the reason for the hope that is in you. Study the Scriptures much,” he said. “In the Puritan days,” said Spurgeon, “there used to be a number of contemplative Christians who… studied the Word of the Lord and so became masters of theology. Perhaps some were ot so practical in wining souls as they ought to have been, but now we are getting the opposite pole of the compass. We have many who are rushing about and professing to feed the people, but what do they give them?”

Spurgeon went on, “Where is your bread, sir? [You say,] ‘I could not let these poor people wait.’ But why do you not go and fill your basket? You have nothing in it. [You say,] ‘I did not have time to do that; I wanted to go and give them [something]’— [But] give them what? Give them half of the nothing that you have brought? That will do them no good at all. There is nothing like having good seed in the basket when you go out to sow, and when you go to feed the hungry, there is nothing like having good bread to give them. [But, dear friends,] that cannot be the case spiritually unless we are diligent students of the Word, unless we search the deep things of God.”

Then he said, “By all means let us advance our forces into the recesses of the enemy’s country, but let us secure our [message]. And let us have a good firm basis of scriptural knowledge, otherwise mischief will come to our scattered powers.” Then he concluded, “By all means be enthusiastic; by all means be intense. But you cannot keep a fire burning without fuel, and you cannot keep up real intensity and enthusiasm without a knowledge of Christ and an understanding of the things of God, ‘things into which angels desire to look.’”

Brothers and sisters, if we want a faith of our own that can endure the trials of this world… if we want a message to share with other sinners around us that is able to convince them to join us on this difficult road to glory… then we must ground our understanding of the gospel in the deep soil of that word which the Holy Spirit has been revealing for thousands of years.

It is true that salvation is assured by the resurrection of Christ, and it is secured by God in heaven (v3-5). And it is true that salvation is the outcome of genuine faith that perseveres (v6-9).

And it is also true that salvation was prophesied of old and delivered by the Holy Spirit… and this is why those who repent and believe can know that they (from every tribe and tongue)… they are central to God’s purposes in the world.

May God help us to believe this is true, may He help us to know why we believe it, and may He help us to persevere through to the end and to bear witness of this same salvation.