Grace to You
30 Days in 1st Peter - day 5
These three verses pull back the curtain on something remarkable. The Old Testament prophets were not detached announcers of divine messages. They were deeply invested in what they proclaimed. What they spoke came by divine inspiration, yet they only partly understood what they were announcing.
These prophets didn’t just write and set it aside because the prophecies wouldn’t be fulfilled in their day. They tried to understand what and when these things pointed to. But it wasn’t just the prophets; angels wanted to know as well.
That is all very interesting information. But the question we should ask ourselves is why did Peter include it here? He wasn’t just merely writing to make the readers think, “Well, that’s interesting.” He is writing to a people who are going through a fiery trial. So, the question is “how does this help them with that?” Because that is Peter’s purpose.
What Peter is doing is showing them how privileged a position they find themselves in. They are seeing and experiencing what was promised and predicted unfold in real time. What prophets and angels saw only dimly, they see clearly. They looked forward to a promised grace. Peter’s readers were living in it.
When we go through suffering and trials because of our faith, when obedience costs us something, when we feel out of step with the world; we are tempted to wonder if it is really worth it. Peter is reminding us that we stand in the unique position of being able to understand and experience the gospel in ways that prophets and angels only hoped for.
Whatever price we pay for following Jesus, we can never say it isn’t worth it. We are living in the very grace that prophets searched for and angels longed to see.
