The Prophets of Old Serving Holy Believers

1 Peter 1:10-16 “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 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. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””

Salvation is not limited to the New Testament age. God saved those of the OT as well. The prophets of old looked toward the cross, we look back on the cross, but all of us in our lives keep our foreward gaze on Christ. Of course the prophets are living in glory now with our Master, but we will be joining them before we know it. The prophets spent their time handing out prophesies to people of their time that they would never see, but we now get to read about and study. They also spent their time preaching against the sins of the world and imploring people to repent and turn back to God.

These prophets who prophesied about things that they would never see, about people they would never know this side of heaven. They sought to understand who it was they were talking about seeings how they had never met Christ, and they were being saved through their faith and sacrifices. They would search their writings trying to know more about who the Messiah would be, what exactly His sacrifice would in-tell. They could not understand what was involved in the life and death of Christ. They also wanted to know who the prophesies spoke of, and when they would take place. Try to think about it from the prophets perspective. You are prophesying about the world and its people coming to Christ, and Him freeing all the inhabitants, but how does that happen? All you know about it your people, the Egyptians, a few warring tribes in the desert and a few far off races. You have no idea what is on the other side of the world. You don’t even know that there is another side of the world. And how will the people of the world come to the knowledge of the Messiah? Right now all they seem to care about is pagan gods. Also, the prophets were having a hard enough time getting the people of God to follow Him. How were gentiles going to come? They had more questions than answers roaming around their minds when God gave them a prophecy.

Prophets spoke for God, but they only spoke what God told them to say. One thing that God revealed to them was that they not only served those around them, but that they would minister to those who would later receive the revelations of Christ. One of the major benefits of getting people to follow Christ in the NT was that the preachers could speak of the prophecies of old, an explain how Christ fulfilled them. Nowadays we have full view of what was happening within the Bible, which gives us an even deeper well to pull from when we do our preaching, teaching, and studying.