1 Peter 1:12
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
It was revealed to the prophets that they were ministering not for themselves but for later believers who would hear the things now reported in the gospel. What they foretold was the grace and salvation to come through Christ's sufferings and the glory to follow, and though the Spirit of Christ was in them testifying beforehand, they did not fully understand the timing and meaning but searched diligently to understand it. Those same things are now reported to believers by those who preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. They are the things of salvation which the angels desire to look into and long to understand. Redemption is a mysterious and wonderful theme of ever greater depths that neither men nor angels can fully fathom, yet it is worthy of careful study now and will be the science and song of the redeemed throughout eternity.
Prophets Served Later Generations
It was revealed to the prophets that they were ministering not for themselves but for later believers who would hear the things now reported in the gospel. What was shown to them was for people beyond their own time, spiritual truths with messages and counsels and warnings for the church in future times, now proclaimed through those preaching the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. They foretold the grace and salvation to come, including Christ's suffering and the glory to follow, and even angels desire to look into and long to understand these things. This defines the calling every Christian must understand, to surrender soul and body and spirit and possessions to the Lord and work daily for the conversion of souls following Christ as Head of the church, with all power in heaven and earth and divine sympathy and angelic agencies combined with the living human agent, so that no Christian may ever feel unemployed.
Each of the ancient prophets spoke less for his own time than for ours, for those now living upon whom the ends of the world are come. They spoke especially for later generations, including those living in the last scenes of earth's history when the foretold events are being fulfilled. Their prophesying therefore remains in force, and the Bible is the study-book and true counsel of God carrying all holy influences since creation, giving courage to walk with God with the mind of Christ uncontaminated amid corrupting influences as Enoch did in the degenerate age before the Flood. Understanding their words requires the Holy Spirit's influence, and as prophecy is fulfilled, accepting the Spirit's light through God's servants brings clearer understanding.
What they foretold was grace and salvation through Christ, His sufferings and the glory to follow, great future events and the future glory for which God's people have waited. Their revelations concerned salvation through Christ's sufferings and the glory to follow, now reported to believers through the preaching of the gospel with the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. The Spirit of Christ in them testified beforehand of these things, yet they did not fully understand the meaning or the timing of what was revealed. They searched diligently and longed to understand the full meaning, seeking to grasp the great scenes shown them, which were mysteries of salvation and grace later revealed through Christ.
Over many centuries they pointed to a Saviour to come and did not live to receive what they announced. They ministered not for themselves but for those living after Christ came, and the apostles accepted Jesus upon that testimony and then reported its fulfillment as eyewitnesses of His miracles attesting His divinity. Their message about Christ's sufferings and coming glory was communicated to people by angels, but the angels did not witness its fulfillment as it is now seen. The present generation has seen the fulfillment of prophecy with particular clarity.
Gospel Preached with Spirit
What the prophets ministered for a later time is now reported to believers by those who preach the gospel. It was revealed to them that they ministered not for themselves but for those who would afterward hear these things, for they taught spiritual truths and gave messages, counsels and warnings for the church in future times. They foretold the grace to come and the salvation to come, Christ's sufferings and the glory that would follow, and that message is now proclaimed through the gospel to a later age.
That reporting is done with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The good news they foretold is now proclaimed through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven to later believers who hear those things. When Christ's servants preach in this way with the Holy Spirit and work for people's good as He did, they bring blessings and uplift that human power alone cannot accomplish.
The apostles accepted Jesus upon the prophets' testimony over many centuries pointing to a Saviour to come, and then reported its fulfillment as eyewitnesses of His miracles attesting His divinity. Those who did not see Christ can see by faith through the disciples' eyes and hear through their ears, joining their faith to the apostles' faith in the evidence given. The full and complete chain of evidence running through the Old Testament in promise and the New Testament in fulfillment is among the strongest proofs of the Christian faith, sufficient to establish the faith of all who are willing to believe. God's design in this was to leave the human race a fair opportunity to develop faith in the power of God and of His Son and in the work of the Holy Spirit.
Later believers illumined by the Holy Spirit understand the prophets' spiritual truths more clearly than the prophets who first wrote them, though the Spirit of Christ in them testified beforehand and they did not live to receive what they announced. The disciples saw the Old Testament Scriptures applied to Christ and His work of atonement as the Spirit revealed their meaning, and that experience gave them clearer insight into Christ's work. That clearer insight confirmed that Jesus was the Messiah witnessed to by the prophets and recognized by the heavenly universe.
Angels Desire to Look
The salvation first revealed through the prophets and now proclaimed in the gospel is the thing angels desire to look into and long to understand. It was revealed to the prophets that they ministered not for themselves but for later believers who would hear the things now reported by those preaching the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. What they foretold was the grace to come and the salvation to come, Christ's sufferings and the glory to follow, meant not only for their own time but for a later age. That salvation revealed through Christ is so profound that even angels desire to examine it, and this defines the calling every Christian must understand to surrender soul and body and spirit and possessions to the Lord and work daily for souls following Christ as Head of the church, with all power in heaven and earth and divine sympathy and angelic agencies combined with the living human agent so that no Christian may feel unemployed.
Heavenly angels are deeply interested in the plan of redemption and in the salvation of fallen human beings, seeking to understand it and engaged with heaven in carrying it forward. They visit this world and oversee the Lord's work in the hands of His stewards, ministering in every time of necessity to those laboring with God as co-workers striving to carry His work forward and guarding those who work according to God's Word. The angelic hosts rejoice whenever any part of God's work prospers and when a sinner repents and by faith accepts Christ's merits as Saviour. Though invisible they cooperate with visible human agencies, forming a relief association with men for the salvation of human beings perishing in sin, using human hands in practical unselfish service to relieve the oppressed and distressed, restore the moral image of God in man, and relieve the harm sin has caused, including in healing institutions where the physician stands between the living and the dead. The very angels who fought on God's side when Satan was seeking the supremacy, who shouted for joy over the creation of the world and of the first parents, and who witnessed the fall of man and his expulsion from Eden, are most intensely interested to work in union with the fallen, redeemed race.
Their desire to look into the things revealed through the gospel does not mean they were allowed to share the secret counsels between the Father and the Son when the plan of salvation was laid. Believers on earth and unfallen beings in heaven constitute one church with heaven near to earth. Every heavenly intelligence is interested in the assemblies of the saints on earth to worship God, listening in the inner court of heaven to testimony, songs, and prayers from witnesses for Christ in the outer court below, taking up praise and thanksgiving into the heavenly anthem with praise and rejoicing through the heavenly courts because Christ has not died in vain for the fallen sons of Adam. While angels drink from the fountain-head, saints on earth drink of the pure streams flowing from the throne, and when earth-born children know it not they have angels of light as companions, with a silent witness guarding every soul that lives seeking to draw that soul to Christ, and as long as there is hope until men resist the Holy Spirit to eternal ruin they are guarded by heavenly intelligences.
The commission given to human beings and to the church to convey God's saving mercy to the world without delay is a trust that angels desire to look into and might envy. That commission includes medical missionary work moved by God's compassion for thousands upon thousands of human beings perishing in sin, and all heaven looks on with intense interest to see what character this work will assume under human supervision and whether men will carry out God's ordained plan for reaching the dark parts of the earth with a manifestation of His benevolence or cover mercy with selfishness. Humanity was created in God's image for high and noble purposes that engage the attention of angels.
Mystery of Redemption Revealed
Redemption is the glory of the Prince of life, a mysterious and wonderful theme of ever greater depths that study keeps finding yet never fully reaches and that the mightiest powers of man cannot reach, received by faith with joy unspeakable and full of glory by those who love Christ though not having seen Him. It is worthy of careful thought and study now, and it will be the science and song of the redeemed throughout eternity. Reflecting on Jesus' mercy, love, sacrifice, character as Redeemer and Intercessor, and mission to save from sin strengthens faith and love, makes prayer fervent and trusting, and deepens confidence in His saving power.
It will remain a subject of study for the redeemed and unfallen beings through endless ages as understanding of God's wisdom, love, and power grows. The humiliation of the Son and the Father's love in giving Him up continually amaze angels, and the cross reveals God's purpose of grace and redeeming love, making God known to humanity and to angels. The cross shows self-giving, self-sacrificing love as the law of life in heaven and earth and as a revelation of God's character, a lesson for the whole universe. The redeemed can testify to unfallen beings from experience of conflict with sin and sharing Christ's sufferings as angels could not.
The mystery of mercy into which angels desire to look is the union of justice and mercy in human redemption, devised by infinite wisdom alone and accomplished by infinite power alone, filling all heaven with wonder and adoration. It is that God can be just while justifying the repenting sinner and renewing fellowship with the fallen race. Christ stoops to raise unnumbered multitudes from the abyss of ruin, clothes them with the spotless garments of His own righteousness, unites them with angels who never fell, and brings them to dwell forever in the presence of God. The cherubim of the earthly sanctuary gazing reverently down toward the mercy seat represent the interest with which the heavenly host contemplate this work.
Angels contemplate with wonder the Son humbling Himself to become humanity's substitute and surety, confronting the powers of darkness and winning victory on humanity's behalf. They look with awe and amazement at Christ's mission and marvel at the love that led Him to give Himself as sacrifice for sin, giving His Son to die for humanity. At Calvary they behold the Father's love in Christ suffering and dying for sinners, and watch in wonder how those who receive this great salvation respond. God's gift to earth was beyond all computation with nothing withheld, shown in Christ's life from manger to cross, the mystery of His divinity veiled in humanity, and bright beams of righteousness in His words and works. This deep love beyond human comprehension amazes angels and is worthy of contemplation and admiration by church and world.
Yet at His advent corrupted hearts resisted this boundless love, cherished hatred against God, and received Him not, with wakeful impiety and widespread injustice under a master-power seeking to eclipse God's love and control minds, so the light shining in darkness was not comprehended and the healing flood of life and heavenly grace was disregarded. This love provides immortality to those who could never merit it, takes every son and daughter of Adam from the lowest degradation, purifies and ennobles, transforms by beholding Jesus, elevates to a seat with Christ upon His throne, and seats them forever. At Calvary the sinless Son endured the Father's wrath and suffered in body and heart the transgressor's penalty, the Innocent in place of the guilty, with a great, full, entire, broad, deep, increasingly intense love embracing and filling the whole world. This story must be meditated upon, appreciated, repeated, and acted in daily life, since mere theoretical knowledge increases condemnation unless lived and practiced.
Though He hated sin intensely, He lived and worked in a sinful world with tender sympathy for sinners, His divine glory veiled in humanity so divinity could reach humanity. Angels watched this unfolding with wonder yet could not fully comprehend it, for the plan and Christ's sacrifice are so vast and sublime that neither humans nor angels can fully fathom them. Even angels found it difficult to grasp that heaven's Commander, the Son equal with God, must die for guilty man. When Abraham was commanded to offer Isaac all heavenly beings watched each step with intense earnestness as witnesses of Abraham's faith and Isaac's submission, and when Abraham said God would provide Himself a lamb and the ram God provided was offered in place of Isaac, light shed upon redemption gave angels clearer understanding of God's wonderful provision for salvation. That required sacrifice was for instruction of sinless intelligences in heaven and other worlds, since the field where redemption is wrought is the lesson-book of the universe.
The sacrificial offerings, priesthood, types, symbols, and ceremonies pointed to Christ's death and mediatorial work, were the burden of prophecy and foreshadowed Him, yet had no saving power apart from Him. Through these symbols the ancient faithful saw Christ and believed in Him, while the sacrifices kept before the people the separation sin made between God and humanity and the need for a Mediator whom guilty sinners cannot approach by own merit. The offerings were to continue until His perfect, sinless, undefiled offering of infinite value replaced them, meeting the demand of the divine law. Ordained before the foundation of the world to redeem and save, His voluntary work delivers captives from Satan, demonstrates obedience possible through Christ, and reopened access to God closed by Adam's sin, revealing sin's terrible consequences and salvation's immense cost in Heaven's Majesty dying for the rebellious race.
Jesus came as the world's light to reveal these divine truths and patiently explain how sinful people in moral darkness and suffering are brought into connection with Himself, transformed into God's children and heirs of heaven, and recreated in the divine image. Christ took adopted human nature through a life of humiliation and carried it to God's throne, presenting His people as sons and daughters with honor exceeding that conferred upon angels. By mercy and grace those once children of wrath are transformed into characters like God's, prepared for heavenly life and service, which angels watch with astonishment and joy. God loves the obedient human agent who keeps His commands as He loves His Son, and greatly values one entirely surrendered to Him. Provision is made to be delivered from enemies to serve without fear in holiness and righteousness all life, breaking sin and Satan's bonds and escaping evil men and angels by always looking to Jesus as author and finisher of faith.
The mystery angels earnestly long to understand is that fallen people deceived by Satan can be made like God's Son through Christ's righteousness and that God loves the redeemed as He loves His Son. Their amazed watching proves how terrible it is to neglect a salvation providing for every emergency and want of the soul through pardoning sin and imputing Christ's righteousness for eternal life, leaving the neglecter without excuse in the final judgment. Those receiving grace are to share it through unselfish service, reflecting Christ and helping others find life's water. Angels' willingness to give their own lives could not pay sin's debt; only the death and intercession of God's Son could save humanity from ruin. Angels and archangels admire and love the Father and Son as they see mercy and love, beholding the redeemed renewed in Christ's image gathered around God's throne.
Study Scripture and Prophecy
Prophecies about salvation through Christ's sufferings and the glory to follow were revealed to the prophets not for their own generation alone but to minister to later generations, including those who would hear the gospel. The prophets did not fully grasp the meaning or timing of what the Spirit of Christ testified through them, yet they searched diligently to understand it. Their prophecies were given to benefit people in later ages, with meaning to unfold as God's people needed its instruction. Their earnest searching rebukes indifference toward prophecy and the claim that it cannot be understood, calling instead for diligent searching rather than assuming obscurity.
The Holy Spirit moved the prophets, and understanding their words requires the Holy Spirit's influence. As prophecy is fulfilled in the time when foretold events occur, accepting the Spirit's light through God's servants brings clearer understanding of it. The Old Testament Scriptures carry continuing importance and sacred value and are not to be cut out on the claim that they were done away with God's law. Christ spoke in the Old Testament as well as in the New, and the prophets and holy men of old spoke as moved by the Holy Spirit, so their message belongs to the faith that must not be denied. From those living oracles comes rich food that comforts, strengthens, and blesses feeble and afflicted believers and hungry souls who seldom have preaching, bestowing God's love in large measure upon His chosen.
Each ancient prophet spoke less for his own time than for the present time, for those upon whom the ends of the world are come, so that their prophesying remains in force. The Bible is therefore the study-book and the true counsel of God, carrying all holy influences since creation. It gives courage to walk with God with the mind of Christ uncontaminated amid corrupting influences, as Enoch did in the degenerate age before the Flood. The profound truths revealed through the prophets concern realities beyond the prophets' own time, into which even angels desire to look. They are opened through the gospel and the plan of redemption, which unlock the meaning of the Jewish rites and symbols, and those who humbly search Scripture and pray for greater knowledge have the privilege of understanding them.
The deep things of God, including redemption and the prophecies about the last days, are found by those who search His Word with humble and contrite hearts and pray for the wisdom and fuller knowledge that only God can give. God intends this knowledge of the plan of redemption to come to His people as the latter rain. These truths of redemption and last-day prophecy call for careful study, and those who so study will make important discoveries. Because the truths of salvation revealed through the prophets and preached in the gospel are so deep that angels long to understand them, Christians are called to take an interested, attentive view of history so they do not miss the instruction they need.
Studying and meditating on these themes of redemption, into which angels desire to look, brings people into companionship with heaven and with the angels. Through God's Word they learn to love the voices of the holy ones and draw nearer to God. Those who live in fellowship with heaven will find themselves at home there. Reflecting on Jesus' mercy, love, and sacrifice, His character as Redeemer and Intercessor, and His mission to save people from sin is worthy of careful thought now and will be the science and song of the redeemed through eternity. Such meditation strengthens faith and love, makes prayer more fervent and trusting, deepens daily confidence in His power to save, and leads to desire for transformation into His likeness and to speaking of Him to others.
The depths of truth are so wondrous that angels desire to look into them, and those moved by Christ's love search these hidden treasures. By doing so they form characters like God's, so their lives bear convincing witness that God sent His Son. These truths have been freely opened and are worthy of deep reverence, and serving faithfully in the field is as truly right service as opening the Scriptures to others.
Church Mission and Holy Living
Truths prophets longed to know and angels desired to look into are now entrusted to the church to unfold to the world. They are the mysteries of redemption the prophets foretold without being privileged to see fully, especially the message of Christ's righteousness and His soon coming and the third angel's message as the last message of mercy to a perishing world. The church blessed with this truth must make it known from one end of the world to the other, letting it go forth as a lamp that burneth and as sacred light and a burning lamp. When Christ comes the second time surrounded by the redeemed, He will fully explain the deliverance accomplished through His great sacrifice.
This defines the calling every Christian must understand: each one is to surrender soul and body and spirit and possessions to the Lord and work daily for the conversion of souls, following Christ as Head of the church with all power and divine sympathy. Heaven is engaged in this plan of salvation in which angels are deeply interested and seek to understand, with angelic agencies combined with the living human agent and angels guarding those who work according to God's Word. People too have a definite part, so no Christian may ever feel unemployed. The light thus given is to be shared with those still in darkness, as those who receive it communicate their experience of faith and represent Christ to the world. It is rich food from the living oracles that comforts, strengthens, and blesses feeble and afflicted believers and hungry souls who seldom have preaching, bestowing the love of God in large measure upon His chosen ones.
The chapter's precious promises and godly-life instruction in 1 Peter 1 and 2 are to be presented to the people now to impress all that the time has come to work intelligently and earnestly for the accomplishment of salvation in preparation for the loud cry of the third angel's message. Its chapter is to be read carefully and understood for its important lessons, with those who preach the Word studying the Bible faithfully and ministering with meekness and lowliness as learners dependent on God rather than on human agency or self-importance. The verse is a most precious representation of what Christians may be if they hear and obey, holding up the high standard to be attained and warning those lifting up their souls unto vanity. It must be read and practiced with watchfulness and prayer, studied with all powers of intelligence by fathers and mothers, and expressed in words and actions.
It points out the source of strength for reaching Christian perfection, for by Christ's sacrifice every provision has been made to receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. God calls believers to reach the highest standard of glory and virtue, and the perfection of Christ's meek and lowly character makes it possible to gain perfection by learning of Him. Multiplied grace and peace belong to the elect, meaning repenting and believing sinners covered with Christ's righteousness and standing justified, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit constituted by obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. The first chapter is to be read, contemplated, and prayed over by one in distress from the wrong course of others who ought to have helped, teaching that Jesus knows it all, that exasperation and control by natural feeling do no good, that no spirit of retaliation is to be cherished and no one must be another's sin-bearer, but the tried one is to commit the case wholly to Jesus who died and loves and never fails, whose hand is stretched in pitying tenderness to every sufferer and who is sufficient for every trial.
Those receiving God's grace, whose spiritual changes angels behold with astonishment and joy, are to share it through unselfish service, reflecting Christ and helping others find the water of life. God's workers are to labor as His chosen people living in the world without being of it, forever separate and kept free from contaminating influences. Medical missionary work is not to be the body but is to be bound up with gospel ministry, with physicians and ministers united in disinterested soul-saving in harmony with the church, standing on the platform of truth, molded after Christ, and uninfluenced by false theories, worldly counsels, and human authority. Truths concerning salvation were mysteries patriarchs and prophets long desired to understand, and Christ could have opened what was hidden from mortal sight, but those failing plain truths were not ready for it; He restored truths lost, misinterpreted, or joined to error, setting them in proper place and revealing their original beauty.