1 Peter 1:11, commentary and pictures

The prophets were earnestly seeking to learn at what time and under what circumstances the predictions given them about Christ would be fulfilled. The Spirit within them was Christ Himself speaking through them and looking down through the ages to come. What was shown beforehand was His humiliation, rejection, suffering and death, and the triumph that would follow in His resurrection and ascension. It was revealed that they were ministering not for themselves but for those who would later hear the gospel, truths into which even angels desire to look. Their diligent searching teaches believers to treasure prophecy and study it prayerfully rather than set it aside as unable to be understood.

Prophets' Diligent Search

The prophets searched diligently to learn what time and what manner of time or circumstances was signified when the Spirit testified beforehand. The Spirit of Christ was in them, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. They searched to learn what that testimony meant and when those events of His coming would take place. Their prophecies were not for their own time alone but were communicated before fulfillment to serve later generations who would hear the gospel preached with the Holy Spirit. Later generations, especially the present one, have seen their meaning become clear and fulfilled more plainly in the grace and salvation afterward announced.

They did not at first fully understand the revelations given to them, and their meaning was to become clear in later ages. This included Christ's mission, His humiliation in taking humanity, and how His chosen people would treat Him. The mysteries they longed to understand were beyond mortal sight, needing Christ to unveil them. They were not given the privilege of seeing and hearing what the church sees and hears, and the full explanation of deliverance through His great sacrifice will come when He returns.

The verse belongs to the chapter's teaching about Christ's earthly mission, His sacrifice and the glory that follows, where His resurrection gives believers a living hope and an inheritance kept in heaven. The Spirit was not then poured out in fullness of power because Jesus had not yet been glorified. From Pentecost onward the Spirit was to be poured out on sons and daughters, servants and handmaidens. The searching of the time and circumstances belongs to prophetic truths revealed in Scripture, which call for humble, prayerful study. Such study may yield important discoveries, especially in prophecies about the last days.

Spirit of Christ Speaking

The Spirit of Christ in the prophets was Jesus Christ Himself inspiring them, causing them to look down from age to age and century to century. He caused them to see every trial that would come upon every human being God created, and testified beforehand through them of His own sufferings and the glory that should follow. God gave His revelations to man in all ages through Christ, which is why Christ is called the Word of God.

It was Christ who spoke to His people through the prophets, and the voice that speaks through the Old Testament is the voice of Christ, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Since the sin of the first parents there has been no direct communication between God and man, but all communion between heaven and the fallen race has been through Christ as mediator and redeemer. The promise of redemption and the gospel were understood by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, who looked for salvation through man's Substitute and Surety, and Christ was leader in the cloudy pillar and giver of the ten precepts at Sinai, and spoke through the prophets. The one who spoke the law and called Moses into the mount and talked with him was the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed to the prophets as the Angel of Jehovah, the Captain of the Lord's host, Michael the archangel. The truth they received came from Christ, though later placed in false settings, and Christ came to restore it to its true meaning and reveal the Father's character, so that the instruction given in the Old Testament Scriptures is verily the word of Christ just as the instruction in the New Testament is. Christ was man's Redeemer in the days when the Old Testament was written just as when He appeared in the form of humanity, and He gave ancient Israel just as favorable an opportunity of working out salvation as those who listened to His words in person.

Every ray of divine light that ever reached the fallen world came through Christ, for He Himself spoke through everyone throughout the ages who declared God's word to man. All the excellences manifest in earth's greatest and noblest souls were only reflections of Him and gleams from the shining of His glory, in whom is found the perfect ideal. The purity and beneficence of Joseph, the faith and meekness and long-suffering of Moses, the steadfastness of Elisha, the noble integrity and firmness of Daniel, and the ardor and self-sacrifice of Paul, with the mental and spiritual power in all others who ever lived, were reflections of His glory.

The Spirit of Christ was present in God's faithful people in every age, making them lights to the people of their generation. Through their lives God was revealed to those around them, and their good works and Christlike character made God's mercy, goodness and worthiness of praise visible and gave the world a glimpse of heaven. Joseph showed Christlike purity, benevolence and filial love in Egypt, and faithful Israelites, Daniel and his companions, Mordecai, and Christ's disciples shone amid surrounding darkness.

The verse teaches the importance and sacredness of prophecy and shows that Christ spoke in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, as the Spirit of Christ spoke through the prophets testifying beforehand to Christ's sufferings and the glory that would follow while the prophets searched to understand the time and circumstances.

Sufferings and Following Glory

The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets and testified beforehand through them about Christ, and their messages concerned His sufferings and the glory that should follow, including the time in which those events would occur. They searched to learn what the Spirit signified and when it would take place, and what they prophesied was grace and salvation communicated before fulfillment for later generations, including those who hear the gospel preached. That prophecy has been seen more plainly as later generations, especially the present one, have watched its fulfillment become clear.

The foretold sufferings included His humiliation in taking humanity, and the prophets did not at once understand His mission, that humiliation, or how His chosen people would treat Him. They foretold that He would come in humility and poverty, be rejected, despised and slain, and then enter glory through resurrection and ascension. His mission, suffering and death, and the glory that followed in His resurrection and ascension were pointed to by Old Testament prophecies and symbols, with the Passover and the bronze serpent and other ceremonies and religious services representing Him. He fulfilled prophecy by coming in humility and suffering rather than in the worldly power expected, and He is the key to understanding the Old Testament and its ceremonies, without whom those ceremonies would be without value.

The prophets foretold His life and death and intercession, His humiliation, purity and holiness, and matchless love. He was manifested to the patriarchs, symbolized in the sacrificial service, portrayed in the law and revealed by the prophets, being as much humanity's Redeemer at the beginning of the world as now. The gospel of the Coming One was given by Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah and Noah, by Abraham in Canaan and Lot in Sodom, and by faithful messengers from generation to generation. The rites were instituted by Christ Himself as foundation and great antitype, with shed blood pointing to the Lamb of God and all typical offerings fulfilled in Him, so that the Old is not complete without the New and the Saviour must be presented both as foretold and symbolized and as revealed in His life and teachings.

He caused the prophets to look down through age after age and century after century and to see every trial that would come upon every human being, testifying beforehand through them of His own sufferings and the glory that should follow. After such self-denial and self-sacrifice to work out redemption from slavery to sin, without complaint though many would still follow His bitterest foe, there is no excuse to continue in sin and disobedience but reason to lay hold on the merits of the blood of the crucified and risen Saviour and to rejoice in trials in the victory He wrought. Redemption of the human race is a mysterious and wonderful theme, the glory of the Prince of life, with depths the mightiest human powers cannot reach. Those truths of redemption, including the Son's humiliation in becoming human and the Father's love in giving Him, are wonder to angels and will remain a study for the redeemed throughout eternity.

The transfiguration gave the disciples great light and clearer insight into the Redeemer's work, for they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears things beyond human comprehension. There they realized Jesus was indeed the Messiah, acknowledged by the heavenly universe, and years afterward Peter wrote these words concerning Christ and His work. That heavenly conversation with Jesus could have taught more about His sufferings and following glory, but the disciples missed that blessing because they were overcome with sleep and had failed to watch and pray.

Ministry for Later Generations

It was revealed to the prophets that in searching what and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them signified when testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, they were ministering not to themselves but to those who now hear the gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Their messages about salvation and the grace to come were given not only for people in their own time but also for later generations, to whom the promised events are now reported by those who preach the gospel. These are things angels desire to look into, while believers who have not seen Christ love Him and believing rejoice with joy too deep for words and full of glory, receiving the end of faith in the salvation of souls. That calling declares believers are to gird up the mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ, so that no Christian is unemployed but each follows Christ's example by surrendering soul and body and spirit and possessions to work daily for the conversion of souls, with all power in heaven and earth and divine sympathy and angelic agencies combined with the living human agent.

The prophecy was communicated to people before its fulfillment to serve generations beyond the prophets themselves, and later generations, especially the present one, have seen prophecy fulfilled and its meaning become clear more plainly. The prophets, though moved by the Spirit of Christ, did not at first fully understand the revelations given to them about Christ's mission, His humiliation in taking humanity, or how His people would treat Him, and their meaning was to become clear in later ages. They searched diligently to learn what their prophecies meant and when and in what circumstances they would take place, especially the prophecies of Christ's sufferings and the glory that followed. Their earnest searching teaches Christians to value and study prophecy rather than dismiss it as impossible to understand or unknowable.

The prophets longed to understand and witness what they had foretold, including mysteries hidden from human sight that Christ could unveil, but that privilege was not given to them. It is given to the church that sees and hears, which has been blessed with the truth, while the full explanation of deliverance accomplished through His great sacrifice will come when He returns. Those who could not discern plain truths were not ready to understand mysteries hidden from human sight, yet patriarchs and prophets longed to look into the mysteries Christ could unveil. The remnant church now carries these truths to the world.

Their message concerned events beyond their own time, especially the generations living near the end of the world, and joined their witness with that of the apostles. In this way Christ and the gospel were revealed to people in former times through the prophets and through types and symbols. Prophetic messages were given not only for those who spoke them but also for people living as those prophecies are fulfilled, and understanding the prophets' words requires the influence of the Holy Spirit. Their prophecies about Christ, including spiritual truths about Christ and His work of atonement, could be understood and recognized as fulfilled in His mission. The disciples, as the Spirit illuminated their minds, came to understand those prophetic truths more clearly than the original writers had understood them.

All the great events and solemn transactions of Old Testament history have been and are repeating themselves now, and their testifying still continues with force in the church in these last days. The whole accumulated truth of the prophets is presented in force to this last generation that people may profit by their teachings and live under the influence of the whole. Concentrating all the influence of the past with new and increased light in the present gives accrued power to all who will follow the light, increasing faith and bringing it into exercise, awakening energy and intensely increased earnestness, and working through dependence on God for His power to replenish the world and send light to the ends of the earth, so those given this rich inheritance ought to be a certain manner of persons.

The mysteries into which angels desire to look and which prophets and kings and righteous men desired to know are now known by the church that has been blessed with the truth. That church must make them known to those who know them not and must now unfold them, proclaiming from one end of the world to the other Christ's righteousness, His soon coming, and the sacred last message of mercy and the third angel's message as a lamp that burneth. The great salvation they inquired and searched diligently for, wrought out for each soul through Jesus Christ, is near to come, with the Lord coming soon in mercy and compassion and love to be received as a welcome guest.

Christ Throughout Scripture

The Old Testament points forward to a Saviour to come while the New Testament records the fulfillment, and the apostolic testimony supplies evidence for faith by showing that He came at the appointed time and in the manner foretold. Diligent study and comparison of Scripture would have shown that Jesus is the predicted Messiah, but the Jews missed this because they interpreted the prophecies to fit their own ambitions and mistaken expectations, while careful comparison makes seemingly dark passages clear and shows their harmony across both Testaments.

Christ is the key to understanding the Old Testament and its ceremonies, for its prophecies, the Passover, the bronze serpent and the religious services point to Him, and rejecting Him would leave those ceremonies without value. The ancient people of God were taught about the coming Redeemer through sacrificial offerings and priesthood pointing to Christ and His mediatorial work, representing the separation sin caused between God and humanity and the need for a mediator. Those ceremonies had no saving power in themselves and were to continue only until Christ the perfect offering came, through whose sacrifice and mediation sinners again have access to God, and the ancient worthies saw Christ in these symbols and believed in Him.

The prophets understood salvation to be carried out by the coming Messiah, and His death fulfilled the typical sacrifices and revealed their true meaning, so the light of the cross shines back on the Jewish age and gives character and significance to its whole system of worship. On this side of the cross there is in a special manner present truth in Jesus, truth communicated through the Redeemer, with the light from Calvary reflecting back upon the Jewish economy and the old truth in the typical service revealed more clearly after Christ came and died as man's sacrifice and the type met antitype. The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ, and the instruction in the Old Testament is verily the word of Christ just as in the New Testament, for He was humanity's Redeemer when the Old Testament was written just as when He appeared in human form, giving ancient Israel as favorable an opportunity to work out salvation as those who heard Him in person.

Christ was manifested to the patriarchs, symbolized in the sacrificial service, portrayed in the law and revealed by the prophets, and He was as much man's Redeemer in the beginning of the world as He is today. The gospel message was given by Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah and Noah, by Abraham in Canaan and Lot in Sodom, and by faithful messengers from generation to generation who proclaimed the Coming One, with its precious truths preached even to Adam in Eden. The rites of the Jewish economy were instituted by Christ Himself, who is the foundation of the system of sacrificial offerings and the great antitype of all its religious service, with blood shed in sacrifice pointing to the Lamb of God and all the typical offerings fulfilled in Him. Christ so revealed is the riches of the Old Testament, while Christ in His life, death and resurrection as manifested by the Holy Spirit is the treasure of the New Testament, so the Old is not complete without the New, and the apostles must present the Saviour both as foretold by the prophets and as symbolized by the sacrificial service and as revealed in His life and teachings.

The truth the patriarchs and prophets received came from Christ though later placed in false settings, and Christ came to restore it to its true meaning and reveal the Father's character. The verse proves the continuing authority of the Old Testament Scriptures and that they are not done away with the law of God, providing rich food from the living oracles that comforts, strengthens and blesses feeble and afflicted believers, displays God's abundant love bestowed upon His chosen ones, and shines truth on the pathway to call others to walk in it.

Study and Living Application

The earnest searching of the prophets teaches that prophecy is to be valued and studied rather than dismissed as impossible to understand or unknowable. The faith once delivered to them is to be held fast, and like Daniel believers are not to rest with a few surface truths but to sink the shaft deep with earnest prayer until truth is stamped on the heart. Their diligence in inquiring what the Spirit signified about the time and circumstances of Christ's coming, His sufferings and the glory to follow, becomes the pattern for later generations to whom those revelations minister.

The verse declares the calling of believers to gird up the mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ. No Christian is to be unemployed, but each is to follow Christ's example by surrendering soul and body and spirit and possessions to work daily for the conversion of souls. In that work all power in heaven and earth, all divine sympathy, and angelic agencies are combined with the living human agent.

The instruction of the first and second chapters exhorting to a godly life is to be presented to the people now. All are to be impressed that the time has come to work intelligently and earnestly for the accomplishment of salvation in preparation for the closing work of the third angel's message and the loud cry. The verse points out the source of strength for that life, for by the sacrifice of Christ every provision has been made to receive all things pertaining to life and godliness.

God calls believers to the highest standard of glory and virtue, to perfection without spot or wrinkle through sanctification of soul, body, and spirit. That perfection is possible because the perfection of Christ's character makes it possible, and it is gained by knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ and by learning of Christ His meekness and lowliness. The Spirit testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow directs believers to look unto Jesus as author and finisher of faith. By that looking they are delivered from the devices of evil men and evil angels and seek to break the bonds of sin, that being delivered from enemies they may serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness.

The instruction is to be read, contemplated, and prayed over by those afflicted by the wrong course of others and passing through trial and temptation. It shows that Jesus knows it all, that becoming exasperated and letting natural feeling control does not help present distress, and that no spirit of retaliation is to be cherished. The afflicted one is to commit the case wholly to Jesus who died for them, whose hand is always stretched out in pitying tenderness, who has never failed, who loves, and who is sufficient for the present hour.

The chapter shows how God's workers are to labor, with medical missionary work bound up with the gospel ministry rather than made the body. God's chosen people are to live in the world but not of it, kept free from contaminating influences, not binding with worldlings in counsel nor bringing worldly principles into connection with God's work. Medical workers are to be molded after the similitude of Christ, standing on the platform of truth, respecting the pure living principles of the gospel, laboring disinterestedly to save sinners, and united with the church and ministers in soul-saving work in perfect unity.

The truths into which angels desire to look come to those who search the Word with contrite hearts and pray for wisdom. Those truths are the plan of redemption, designed to come as the latter rain, and the deep things of God to be known in greater length and breadth and height through the knowledge God alone can give. They are needed instead of losing connection with God by trusting in man and glorifying man.