1 Peter 1:10, commentary and pictures

The prophets searched diligently into the salvation and grace they themselves foretold for believers who would come after them. They sought to understand what the Spirit of Christ within them meant, including the time and manner of His sufferings and the glory that would follow, whose full meaning was not grasped at once but would open as later ages needed it. Christ Himself was speaking through them, so their words form one harmonious testimony fulfilled exactly in His humble life, rejection, death, resurrection and ascension. That salvation is the redemption of the human race through His voluntary sacrifice, and that grace transforms sinners into children and heirs of heaven, restores the divine image, imputes His righteousness and leaves no excuse to remain in sin. These mysteries, which even angels desire to look into, are now entrusted to the church, which must study prophecy diligently with humble prayer and carry them to the world in earnest work for souls.

Prophets' Diligent Inquiry

The prophets inquired and searched diligently into the salvation and the grace to come that they themselves had prophesied for believers who would come after them. They were seeking to understand what was to come to God's people, what they were prophesying about the grace that would come to those addressed in the gospel. Their searching concerned the salvation and coming grace they had foretold, and the gospel now preached with the Holy Spirit sent down makes that same message known, with this generation seeing prophecy fulfilled especially clearly. They diligently investigated the salvation and grace promised to believers, learning that these things served later believers rather than themselves alone.

What they sought to understand was what the Spirit of Christ in them signified, including its meaning, time, and manner. The Spirit of Christ in them testified beforehand to Christ's sufferings and the glory that would follow, and they searched to know when and how this would occur. They did not at once understand Christ's mission, His humiliation in taking human nature, or the treatment He would receive from His people. Their eager searching concerned the full meaning and timing of the salvation and grace foretold, which belong to God's plan in which human beings have a part and which interests all heaven.

They did not fully grasp the meaning at once, and the revelations given to them were not fully understood by them. Their words concerned events whose complete significance lay beyond their own time, to become clear as God's people needed it and to unfold in later ages. They foretold the salvation and grace now carried to the world, yet they were not given the privilege of seeing and hearing what can now be seen and heard. They will fully know the deliverance wrought by Christ's sacrifice only when He comes the second time and, surrounded by a multitude no man can number, explains it.

Their inquiring and testifying stretched over many centuries, from Adam onward, pointing beforehand to the time and manner of Christ's coming. The gospel of grace was known to the patriarchs and prophets from the beginning, given as early as Adam in Eden and then through Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Abraham and Lot onward through faithful messengers proclaiming the Coming One. Their prophecies testified to Christ's mission and foretold that the Messiah would come in humility and poverty, be rejected and despised, and be slain. Joined with the New Testament fulfillment, that Old Testament testimony pointing to a Saviour to come forms a full and complete chain of evidence.

Salvation and Grace Foretold

The salvation spoken of is the redemption of the human race through the Prince of life, made possible by Christ's earthly mission, His voluntary infinite sacrifice, and His resurrection. It is a mysterious and wonderful theme with ever greater depths that are never fully reached, which the mightiest powers of man cannot reach. Through that sacrifice God has provided all things that pertain to life and godliness, so that Christ is the source of the believer's strength. His perfect character makes it possible to reach the highest standard of glory and virtue and of Christian character, even perfection. Coming into close relationship with Christ brings extensive privileges and advantages, and the one entirely surrendered to Him bears testimony in life and character that God loves the obedient human agent as He loves His Son. Provision is made that, being delivered out of the hand of enemies, he may serve without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of his life, and looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith he is delivered from the devices of evil men and evil angels and breaks the bonds of sin and Satan. Therefore the hope of the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ calls for girding up the loins of the mind, being sober, and hoping to the end, with no one unemployed but each surrendering soul and body and spirit and possessions to Christ as Head of the church and working daily for the conversion of souls after His example, with all power in heaven and earth and divine sympathy and angelic instrumentalities combined with the living human agent.

It centers on the sufferings of Christ testified beforehand and the glory that should follow. That includes His mission and His humiliation in taking human nature, and the treatment He would receive from His people. The Messiah was to come in humility and poverty, to be rejected and despised, and to be slain. These prophecies concerning Christ, spoken through the prophets and patriarchs, are opened by Christ Himself, for He is the key to the Old Testament, its ceremonies and its symbols, including the Passover and the lifted-up serpent. They were fulfilled exactly through His life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, which this generation has seen especially clearly as the gospel now preached through the Holy Spirit makes that message known.

The grace to come transforms sinful people into God's children and heirs of heaven. Jesus reveals how this is done: He restores people to connection with Himself and recreates them in the divine image. He takes away sins and imputes His righteousness in their place, so that the believer is complete in Him, not having his own righteousness but the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ. In this way the highest standard is made possible, and there is no excuse to continue in sin and disobedience. This grace calls for constantly exercising faith, pressing from light to greater light and from strength to greater strength until more than conqueror through Him who loved and gave Himself. This world is an educating school to prepare to graduate to the higher school above, where eternal destiny is decided by personal course of action, and such a character must be formed here as can be welcomed in the mansions prepared above by applying great truths to little things, because little things constitute the discipline of life and train the soul and develop character for the courts above.

It is the end of faith, given through a living, risen and exalted Saviour and not a dead Saviour in the tomb. Because Christ suffered self-denial and self-sacrifice to redeem from the slavery of sin, believers who lay hold on the merits of the blood of their crucified and risen Saviour have a source of rejoicing in trials. They need never fall under the temptations and deceptive wiles of the evil one. That grace was told by those inspired to look down from age to age and from century to century and see every trial that would come upon every human being created.

Given for Later Generations

It was revealed to the prophets that the salvation and grace they foretold were ministered not for themselves alone but for later believers, to whom the same things are now reported in the gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. They had eagerly enquired and searched diligently to understand the full meaning, time and manner of what the Spirit of Christ in them signified in testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow, and they learned that the complete significance of those events lay beyond their own time and would serve generations to come. This generation has especially clearly seen prophecy fulfilled, for the gospel now preached through the Holy Spirit makes that long-ministered message known.

These prophecies concern the future deliverance and glory that God's people have long awaited, and their fulfillment is near for those living on its verge. That instruction from the first and second chapters of 1 Peter exhorting believers to a godly life is to be presented now to impress all that the time has come to work intelligently and earnestly for salvation, as the world is being prepared for the closing work of the third angel's message. The great salvation wrought out for each soul through Jesus Christ is near to come, meaning the Lord is soon to come in mercy and compassion and love, and people must go forth to receive Him as a welcome guest.

These revealed things are of such importance that even angels desire to look into them. That salvation is the redemption of the human race through the glory of the Prince of life, a mysterious and wonderful theme with ever greater depths that are not fully reached, which the mightiest powers of man cannot reach. The mysteries the prophets searched into are the same mysteries angels long to understand, now entrusted to the church of God to make known.

Prophets, kings, and righteous men desired to see and hear what can now be seen and heard, yet they did not understand what they foretold and were not given the privilege of seeing and hearing it. Those who now see and hear these truths possess what the prophets longed for, and the church that has been blessed with the truth must carry God's messages about redemption to the world. Patriarchs and prophets longed to understand divine mysteries hidden from mortal eyes, though people who could not discern plainly stated truths were not ready to understand them. The prophets themselves will fully know the deliverance wrought by Christ's great sacrifice only when He comes the second time and, surrounded by a multitude no man can number, explains it.

Christ Speaking Through Prophets

The prophets were inspired by the Spirit of Christ within them, and Christ Himself spoke to His people through them when they prophesied of the grace to come. Through Christ God has revealed Himself to man in all ages, which is why He is called the Word of God, and every declaration of God's word through the ages came through Him. The One who spoke the law and called Moses into the mount and talked with him was Christ, revealed to the prophets as the Angel of Jehovah, the Captain of the Lord's host, Michael the archangel. They searched into what and what manner of time that Spirit signified when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, and their work proves that the voice speaking through the Old Testament is the voice of Christ. Their prophecies form a harmony across Scripture and become clear through diligent study and comparison with other passages on the same subject.

The Old Testament Scriptures are not to be cut out or left behind, for Christ was speaking there as well as in the New. He was as much man's Redeemer in the beginning of the world as He is today, and the gospel message was given from Adam in Eden, through Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, and from Abraham and Lot onward through faithful messengers proclaiming the Coming One. Christ as revealed by the prophets, as manifested to the patriarchs, as symbolized in the sacrificial service, and as portrayed in the law is the riches of the Old Testament, and its truths are as valuable as those of the New. People of faith in ancient times were instructed about the coming Redeemer through the sacrifices and priesthood which pointed to Christ, and they believed in Him, having as favorable an opportunity as those who heard Him in person. The sacrificial system could not itself save anyone but represented His voluntary infinite sacrifice and mediating work which opened access to God for guilty sinners, a divine mystery angels cannot fully comprehend. Their writings are rich food from the living Oracles that strengthens, blesses and comforts feeble and afflicted believers and shines the light of truth for unbelievers to walk in.

The Old Testament pointing to a Saviour to come joined with the New Testament fulfilling those conditions forms a full and complete chain of evidence that directly proves Christ. The prophecies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled exactly in Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension, giving those who were not eyewitnesses of His miracles sufficient ground to believe by receiving the testimony of eyewitness disciples. Christ is the key to the Old Testament, its ceremonies and its symbols, including the Passover and the lifted-up bronze serpent, and the light of the cross reveals the true meaning of the priesthood, sacrifices and types. The Old Testament reveals the gospel through types and symbols, and its records of Israel's history remain lessons and truths for later generations which Christ brings into clearer light. The apostles were to go forth as witnesses of what the prophets had foretold, presenting the Saviour not only as revealed in His life and teachings but as foretold by the prophets and symbolized by the sacrificial service.

As the disciples yielded to the Holy Spirit they saw the Old Testament prophecies applied to Christ and His atoning work with clearer understanding, and read those Scriptures as a fresh revelation from God, surpassing even the prophets' own grasp of those spiritual truths. A careful search of the prophecies would have enlightened the Jews so they recognized Jesus as the predicted Messiah, but they interpreted the predictions to meet their own perverted ideas and ambitious aspirations and so rejected Him. That failure to discern Christ in the prophets by distorting the predictions to fit their own expectations is still shared by many professing Christians today.

The Spirit of God was in the prophets as they spoke, but the Spirit was not poured out in power until Jesus was glorified. From Pentecost onward it would be poured out on sons and daughters, servants and handmaids.

The prophets and holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and bore witness to the faith once delivered, ministering not to themselves alone but to later believers. Those things are now reported by those preaching the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. Those who will not be led into false paths hold to that testimony and must not deny it.

Study and Proclaim Today

The earnest searching of the prophets teaches present believers to study prophecy diligently rather than dismiss it as unknowable. Prophecies that look dark at first reading become clear when diligently studied and compared with other Scripture on the same subject, showing a beautiful harmony running through the Old and New Testaments. Searching Scripture with humble, contrite hearts and praying for wisdom brings deeper understanding, for angels desire to look into these truths of salvation and redemption, including important truths in prophecies about the last days. A careful search of the prophecies would have enlightened the Jews so they recognized Jesus as the predicted Messiah exactly fulfilled in His life and death, but they interpreted the predictions to meet their own perverted ideas and ambitious aspirations and so rejected Him, a failure to discern Christ in the prophets still shared by many professing Christians today.

The mysteries the prophets searched into and angels desire to look into are now entrusted to the church of God to make known. The church that has been blessed with the truth possesses what prophets and kings and righteous men desired to see and hear but were not given the privilege of seeing and hearing, and it must give that knowledge to those who know it not by carrying God's messages about redemption to the world. It must proclaim from one end of the world to the other the message of Christ's soon coming and the third angel's last message of mercy to a perishing world, letting the truth go forth as a lamp that burneth, unfolding the mysteries through the proclamation of Christ's righteousness and the last message of mercy. That instruction in the first and second chapters of 1 Peter exhorting believers to a godly life is to be presented to the people now to impress all that the time has come when all should work intelligently and earnestly for the accomplishment of the work of salvation, as the world is being prepared for the closing work of the third angel's message. The prophets themselves will fully know the deliverance wrought by Christ's great sacrifice only when He comes the second time and, surrounded by a multitude no man can number, explains it.

The verse defines the Christian calling to gird up the loins of the mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ, which means constantly exercising faith in the educating school of this world that prepares to graduate to the higher school above where eternal destiny is decided by personal course of action. No Christian may be unemployed but each must surrender soul and body and spirit and possessions to Christ as Head of the church and work daily for the conversion of souls after Christ's example, with all power in heaven and earth and divine sympathy and angelic instrumentalities combined with the living human agent. Every soul is held responsible for the proper exercise of the talents entrusted to him, for 1 Peter 1:1-11 contains the very instruction and admonitions needed now and directs believing, commandment-keeping people to their special work as faithful laborers together with God in the salvation of sinners with an extensive and important mission to fulfill. Such a character must be formed in this life as can be welcomed in the mansions Christ has gone to prepare, by applying great truths to little things, because little things constitute the discipline of life and train the soul and develop character for the courts above. The source of believers' strength is Christ's sacrifice, which provides all things that pertain to life and godliness, and God calls believers to the highest standard of glory and virtue while Christ's perfect character makes their perfection possible, so that the grace of Christ works in and with every child of God pressing from light to greater light and from strength to greater strength until he is more than conqueror through Him who loved him and gave Himself for him, complete in Him, not having his own righteousness but the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ.

Christ unveiled these truths, including mysteries the prophets desired to see, and restored truth to its original clarity and beauty so it could bring salvation to humanity. He was the source of the truth spoken through the patriarchs and prophets; He came not to originate or discard it, but to restore its true meaning and reveal the Father accurately. He is the key to the Old Testament, its ceremonies and its symbols, and their meaning is opened by Him, including the Passover and the lifted-up serpent and the bronze serpent that reveal Him and His saving and atoning work. The words about making calling and election sure through diligence, with the assurance of never falling and receiving an abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom, belong to 2 Peter 1:10-11, not to 1 Peter 1:10, which speaks of prophets diligently searching into the salvation and grace they prophesied.