4  Salvation’s Greatness  (1 Peter 1:10–12)

As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 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. 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. (1:10–12)

The story began one summer’s day toward the end of the nineteenth century when an English city boy was on a visit to rural Scotland. That afternoon the boy went swimming in a small countryside lake. After swimming quite a distance from shore, a severe cramp seized him so that he could not continue swimming. He was in great pain and soon cried out at the top of his voice for help. A farm boy working in a nearby field heard the city boy’s screams and ran as fast as he could to the lake. There the farm boy threw off his shirt, dived into the water, swam to the imperiled city boy, and brought him safely to the shore.

Several years later the two boys met again. The city boy, still filled with gratitude that the other boy had saved his life, was thrilled to see the farm boy again and asked him what career the boy had decided to pursue. The farm boy said he had chosen a career in medicine. Since the city boy’s parents were quite wealthy and were greatly indebted to the other boy for saving their son’s life, upon hearing of the farm boy’s career choice they immediately promised to pay for his medical education. They followed through on their promise and the young man went on to have a brilliant career in scientific investigation.

In 1928 that farm boy, then both a physician and bacteriologist, discovered the famous wonder drug penicillin. In 1945 he shared the Nobel prize with two other scientists for the discovery and development of that antibiotic. That Scottish farm boy turned scientific researcher, who died in 1955, was Alexander Fleming.

The rescued city boy also gained great renown. During World War II he contracted a life-threatening case of pneumonia. He recovered at a hospital after receiving penicillin, which meant that indirectly the one-time farm boy Alexander Fleming had saved his life twice. The city boy’s name was Winston Churchill, the famous wartime British prime minister and world statesman. Interestingly, just like Fleming, Churchill won a Nobel prize. But in his instance, he won the 1953 award in literature for his incisive writings on the history of the Second World War.

It is wonderful to save a life, and even more wonderful to save someone’s life twice, especially when the one saved was such an influential person as Winston Churchill. But the hard-working, selfless contributions of Alexander Fleming are nothing compared to the greatness of saving people’s eternal souls. That great salvation is the heart of the apostle Peter’s concern in this passage. He wanted his believing audience to focus on that full, final rescue from sin, Satan, death, and hell that God so graciously chose to give them through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Peter celebrates salvation’s greatness by reminding his readers that no matter how difficult the circumstances or how severe the persecution, they can confidently hold to the hope of eternal salvation.

There is hardly another word as blessed, hopeful, comforting, or assuring as salvation. The message of the Bible is that even though man cannot save himself from the eternal, damning consequences of his sin (Gen. 2:17; Jer. 2:22; 18:12; John 3:19; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1–3; Col. 2:13; 2 Tim. 2:25–26), God can and will rescue from condemnation all those who trust in Him and believe His Word (Matt. 11:28–30; Luke 19:10; John 1:12–13, 29; 3:14–17; Acts 10:43; Eph. 1:7; 1 Thess. 5:9; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 7:25; James 1:18). The apostle Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Not only does God love sinners, but He alone is able to rescue them since “salvation belongs to the Lord” (Ps. 3:8). Furthermore, God is willing to rescue sinners; He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).

Above all, salvation is according to God’s sovereign plan and purpose (Rom. 8:28–30; 2 Thess. 2:13–14; Rev. 13:8). Paul reminded Timothy that God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim. 1:9). That statement also indicates that God designated His Son to be the means of salvation (cf. 2:6; Isa. 53:6, 10; Matt. 20:18–19; John 1:17; Acts 2:22–24; 13:23–32). Paul earlier declared to the Roman believers, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). And God was faithful to ordain preachers to announce that the work of Jesus Christ is the only means of rescuing sinners (cf. Acts 13:1–3; Rom. 10:14–17; 1 Cor. 1:21–25). As discussed in the previous chapter of this volume, Peter noted the joy of the church in the glorious gift of salvation (1:6–9). No matter how adverse their circumstances, Christians should never stop rejoicing over the greatness of their salvation: “Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day” (Ps. 96:2; cf. Pss. 9:14; 21:1; 40:16; 71:23; 1 Chron. 16:23; Isa. 25:9; 35:10; 1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Thess. 5:16; Rev. 5:9).

Peter’s theme in the opening chapter of this letter is the blessedness or greatness of salvation. Here he examines it from the viewpoint of four divine agents who were involved with the message of salvation: the Old Testament prophets who studied it, the Holy Spirit who inspired it, the New Testament apostles who preached it, and the angels who examined it.

SALVATION WAS THE THEME OF THE PROPHETS’ STUDY

As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time (1:10–11a)

The apostle first draws attention to the salvation referred to in verse 9 from the viewpoint of the prophets. They were God’s Old Testament spokesmen who prophesied of the grace that would come. They then pursued the meaning of their own prophetic writings to know all they could about God’s promised salvation. Of all the truth the prophets received through divine revelation (cf. Hos. 12:10; Amos 3:7; Heb. 1:1; James 5:10), the truth of salvation was their greatest passion. From Moses to Malachi, all of the Old Testament prophets were fascinated by the promises of salvation. However, they did not merely wish to receive that salvation; they actually obtained it. But they received the gift of God’s salvation without seeing its full accomplishment (cf. Heb. 11:39–40), without seeing Jesus Christ or having a relationship with Him. Though the prophets wrote of Messiah, they never fully comprehended all that was involved in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

The focus of the prophets’ intense study in trying to comprehend the person and work of Christ was centered on the grace that would come to sinners through Him. Salvation concerns primarily the divine act of saving sinners (cf. Matt. 20:28; Luke 24:46–47; John 12:32–33; Titus 3:7; Heb. 9:24–28), whereas grace encompasses the entire motive behind God’s saving work (cf. Acts 20:32; Rom. 5:15; Eph. 2:5, 8–10; 2 Thess. 1:11–12). The prophets sought to understand God’s grace and mercy in Christ, His forgiveness, goodness, unmerited favor, and blessing lavished on undeserving sinners. They knew that God’s promise of a salvation by the grace that would come extended far beyond Israel to include people from every nation on earth (Isa. 45:22; 49:6; 52:10; cf. John 10:16; Rom. 15:9–12; 1 John 2:2; Rev. 4:8–10; 7:9).

It is crucial to emphasize that the phrase prophesied of the grace that would come does not indicate that the prophets looked forward to a saving grace that did not exist at all in Old Testament times. By nature God has always been an unchangeably gracious God (Ex. 34:6; Pss. 102:26–27; 116:5; James 1:17). In the Old Testament, He was gracious to those who believed before Christ came (cf. Ps. 84:11), and since then He is gracious to all who believe (John 1:14).

Noah received grace from the Lord (Gen. 6:8). Moses was fully aware of that grace when he first recorded the moral and property right principles of God’s law, as Exodus 22:26–27 demonstrates: “If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious” (cf. 33:19; Gen. 43:29). The prophet Jonah, even as he struggled to accept the Ninevites’ repentance, acknowledged God’s grace: “He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity’” (Jonah 4:2).

Salvation has always been available to sinners (Deut. 32:15; Pss. 3:8; 27:1; Isa. 55:1–2, 6–7; Jonah 2:9) and always and only by grace. So there was never any question during the Old Testament whether or not God was gracious, but the great manifestation of His grace would come with the arrival of His Son. Isaiah prophesied of it:

The prophet reveals God’s provision of salvation for all the nations. Isaiah and the other prophets did not see that Gentile salvation realized (cf. Rom. 15:8–12; Eph. 3:4–7), but they knew Messiah would effect it (Isa. 53:4–5). They wrote about a salvation grace that was far more extensive than anything they had observed (cf. Deut. 32:43; 2 Sam. 22:50; Pss. 18:49; 117:1; 118:22; Isa. 8:14; 11:1–5, 10; 28:16; 65:1–2; Jer. 17:7; Hos. 1:10; 2:23), and those prophecies contained several basic facts, some of which were later quoted by New Testament writers such as the apostle Paul (e.g., Rom. 9:25–26, 33; 10:11–13, 20; 15:8–12, 20–21). First, the prophecies declared that Messiah would suffer. Psalm 22 describes His crucifixion, and Isaiah 53 describes other details of His suffering. Second, the Old Testament writers prophesied that Messiah would triumph. The psalmist says God will set His King, Jesus Christ, on His holy hill, where Christ will then rule with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:6–9). Psalm 16:10 says God will not allow His Holy One to undergo decay—and Christ did rise from the grave and ascend to heaven forty days later (Luke 24:1–12; Acts 1:2–9). The prophet Isaiah wrote that the government would be on Messiah’s shoulders and He would be a mighty God, reigning from the throne of David (Isa. 9:6–7). Third, the prophets foresaw a Messiah who would save. Isaiah gave the Messiah’s mandate: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Isa. 61:1–2). Jesus read those words to the congregation in His hometown synagogue and proclaimed Himself the fulfillment of them (Luke 4:16–21).

Though the Old Testament prophets knew that their writings described a future manifestation of salvation grace, their desire to understand those prophecies was still so compelling and pervasive that they made careful searches and inquiries into their own writings. Those two terms emphasize the intensity with which the prophets had delved into their prophecies and the diligence with which they had investigated them to better understand the magnitude of salvation grace.

As Jesus told His disciples, “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matt. 13:17; cf. Isa. 6:11; Hab. 1:2). Because the Old Testament prophets, including the last one, John the Baptist, were limited, they were all the more intent on studying their own writings to see the Messiah and comprehend the salvation He would bring.

Some commentators have suggested that Peter here reflects upon the prophets’ attitude before God gave them any prophecies. According to this view, the prophets desired so strongly to comprehend salvation’s full significance that they carefully looked into truth that was as yet unrevealed. As a result, God gave them prophecies about Messiah so they would better understand His salvation. However, that makes no sense because the prophets first needed divine revelation about salvation, otherwise they would have had no basis upon which to make their careful searches and inquiries. If the prophets had had no revelation about a future grace brought by Messiah, they would not have sought further information about it, because one does not ask questions about something he is unaware of. Furthermore, God did not give revelation to men simply because they begged for it, were curious about it, or had an intense desire to know something—He sovereignly chose His prophets and spokesmen and the message He would inspire them to write (cf. Ex. 3:1–10; 1 Sam. 3; Isa. 6; Jer. 1:4–5).

Peter further indicates that the Old Testament prophets were not interested in just the general doctrine of salvation or the general teaching about Messiah. They sought to know more precisely what person would come as savior, judge, prophet, priest, and king, and during what season or era (time) that coming would occur. The queries were about who and when. (It should be noted here that today’s believers regularly face the same questions regarding New Testament prophecies of the future. They can know the events revealed in Scripture, but the exact identities of key persons involved and when precisely certain events will occur is an ongoing course of study for all interested in eschatology.) John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet and forerunner of Christ, provides a classic illustration of this searching inquisitiveness among the prophets. John’s disciples already knew about Jesus’ ministry (cf. Matt. 9:14) and had reported to him about it (Luke 7:18). Yet John wanted to know for sure if Jesus was the predicted Messiah:

In response, Jesus gave His credentials—all of which fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (cf. Isa. 29:18–19; 35:5–10; 61:1) about Messiah: “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them’” (vv. 4–5). John had earlier pointed to Jesus and prophesied, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Even though the Holy Spirit inspired him to declare that, he still pondered its meaning and wanted to ascertain if indeed Jesus was the Messiah (Luke 7:18–23).

If the greatness of the salvation yet to come was the intense, preoccupying study of all the prophets, then it ought to be just as precious, if not more so, to those believers today who have the full revelation.

SALVATION WAS THE THEME OF THE SPIRIT’S INSPIRATION

the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, (1:11b–12a)

The prophecies the Holy Spirit revealed to the prophets were divinely inspired and recorded under His superintendence (cf. Jer. 1:9; 23:28; Ezek. 2:7; Amos 3:7–8). And the overall theme of those prophecies was twofold: the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. The Old Testament refers to the sufferings of Christ in such passages as Psalm 22:1–31; Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Daniel 9:24–26; and Zechariah 12:10; 13:7 (cf. Ps. 89:24–37; Luke 24:25–27; Rev. 19:10). The glories to follow, including such truths as the resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Christ, appear in passages like Isaiah 9:6–7; Daniel 2:44; 7:13–14; and Zechariah 2:10–13; 14:16–17.

That Peter used the phrase Spirit of Christ within them (cf. Rom. 8:9) demonstrates that the eternal Christ, inseparable from the Holy Spirit, worked from within the Old Testament writers to record God’s infallible revelation. Hence the apostle wrote in his second letter that “no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16). The Spirit was indicating (edēlou, “making plain”) to them as He predicted (promarturomenon, “witnessed beforehand”) what was coming. He was plainly testifying to the prophets about God’s salvation that would be fully accomplished through Jesus Christ (cf. the KJV and NKJV rendering, “testified beforehand”).

The Spirit also made it clear that the prophets’ searching would never be fully satisfied because the complete gospel message could not be revealed during that time. Peter indicated this reality when he wrote: it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves. In the Pentateuch, Moses prophesies about the coming Prophet, who actually was the Messiah: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him” (Deut. 18:15; cf. Num. 24:17). Moses and the other prophets were looking ahead to the culmination of Christ’s saving work in a future segment of redemptive history (cf. Heb. 1:1–2). The writer of Hebrews provides additional insight, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance” (Heb. 11:13; cf. vv. 39–40).

Still the prophecies had immense value (cf. Luke 1:70; Acts 3:18; 1 Thess. 5:20; 2 Peter 1:19), though their fulfillment was not for the Old Testament prophets to witness. They instead looked ahead to a time when Messiah’s saving work would embrace believers from all nations in new covenant blessings (Pss. 22:27–28; 72:8–17; cf. Isa. 42:6; 60:1–3; 62:1–3, 11–12; 66:12–13). They lived in hope, just as Christians do who anticipate their Lord’s Second Coming. Old Testament saints were saved by faith in God based on the fact that Messiah Jesus would in the future bear the full judgment of God for their sins (Isa. 53:4–6). God was always applying the new covenant, always by grace offering forgiveness of sins to those who repented and believed, although the new covenant was not ratified until the cross. Old Testament believers were saved by a future grace, New Testament ones by a past grace—the Cross is the pinnacle of redemption.

SALVATION WAS THE THEME OF THE APOSTLES’ PREACHING

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 (1:12b)

The Holy Spirit inspired not only the Old Testament prophets, but also the New Testament apostles, who took the fully revealed gospel as the theme of their preaching. These things again refers to the salvation grace that was to come, specifically to the person of Christ and the present proclamation of the gospel. Years earlier Peter announced these truths in the first recorded apostolic sermon, delivered on Pentecost, “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:38–39; cf. 2 Cor. 6:2). In addition to Peter, those who preached the gospel included the remainder of the Twelve, Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Philip, James the half-brother of Jesus, Jude the half-brother of Jesus, Stephen, and others unnamed. Not all were apostles of Christ in the same sense as Paul and the Twelve (they had not all seen the risen Lord), but they were sent by the church as messengers of the gospel empowered by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

Paul illustrates well the singular devotion such preachers had to the greatness of the salvation message. He wrote to the Corinthian believers,

SALVATION IS THE THEME OF THE ANGELS’ EXAMINATION

—things into which angels long to look. (1:12c)

Believers wonder what the angels know and experience in the spiritual and invisible realm. Scripture indicates some of the things angels do (oppose demons, Dan. 10:13; Jude 9; carry messages from God, Dan. 8:16–17; 9:21–23; 10:11; 12:6–7; Matt. 2:13; Luke 1:19, 28; 2:10–14; and perform other divine service, 1 Kings 19:5; Ps. 91:11–12; Matt. 4:11; 13:39–42; Acts 12:7–11; Heb. 1:14). Christians desire to have eternal holiness and experience glory and fellowship with the Trinity as the elect angels do. But conversely the angels wonder what it is like to experience the grace and glory of salvation and God’s forgiveness from sin. In fact, Peter says, they are continually looking with fascination into salvation’s greatness.

Things denotes the many features of salvation into which angels long to look. Long translates epithumousin, which describes having a strong desire or overpowering impulse that is not easily satisfied. The term indicates that the angels’ interest in salvation is not merely whimsical or an incidental curiosity but a strong passion with them. Look (parakupsai) literally means to stretch one’s head forward or to bend down. Another form of the same word denotes what the apostle John did at Jesus’ tomb, “and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there” (John 20:5; cf. v. 11). The angels, as it were, want to get down close and look deeply into the matters related to salvation. They have a holy curiosity to understand the kind of grace they will never experience. The holy angels do not need to be saved, and the fallen angels cannot be saved. But the holy ones seek to understand salvation so that they might glorify God more fully, which is their primary reason for existence (Job 38:7; Ps. 148:2; Isa. 6:3; Luke 2:13–14; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:11–12; 7:11–12; cf. Neh. 9:6; Phil. 2:9–11).

It is not that the angels have been uninvolved in God’s plan of salvation. They announced Christ’s birth (Luke 1:26–35; 2:10–14), ministered to Him during His times of testing (Matt. 4:11; Luke 22:43), stood by the grave when He arose from the dead (Matt. 28:5–7; Mark 16:4–7; Luke 24:4–7), attended His ascension into heaven (Acts 1:10–11), and now serve Him by ministering to all believers (3:22; Heb. 1:14). God has made His angels witnesses to what occurs in the body of Christ. They rejoice and praise God whenever He saves a sinner (Luke 15:7, 10). They were watching the apostle Paul and the other apostles (1 Cor. 4:9). God continues to put His saving grace on display before the angels “that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:10).

Though the angels will never experience redemption, the book of Revelation contains a fascinating portrayal of their interest in it:

The holy angels will join the song of redemption even though they have not experienced salvation. They have been witnesses to the greatness of God’s salvation, and they long to look further into it so they might praise and glorify Him more.

No matter how difficult life’s trials are, Christians can face them triumphantly because of the greatness of God’s grace in giving them a salvation the prophets studied, the Holy Spirit inspired, the apostles preached, and the angels continue to investigate.