Even Angels Stand in Awe - I Peter 1:12

I Peter 1:12 – Even Angels Stand in Awe

They were told that these things would not happen during their lifetime, but many years later, during yours. And now this Good News has been announced by those who preached to you in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen . (NLT)

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. (NIV)

The one thing the prophets did know is that it would not happen in their life time. They knew it was a future event. Peter says it was an event which happened during the life time of his readers (the Christian communities, mostly Gentiles living in Pontius, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia, and Bythinia.) The Good News/Gospel of Jesus Christ was announced and preached to these believers. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets to foretell the events of Christ's life has now prompted Peter and Paul and many others to proclaim that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has made it possible for everyone alike (Jews and Gentiles) to have eternal life in heaven with Jesus. Even the angels stand amazed as they watch these events unfold. Like a heavenly choir watching the drama unfold, and then lifting their voices in praise and adoration to God. (CDC)

In this verse Peter continues to refer to the prophets. They knew that the coming of the Messiah would not happen in their life time, but they were faithful to speak forth the messages that were given to them by God's Holy Spirit. The messages they spoke never became outdated, like our news of today. They foretold of the good news that would make an eternal difference. It was a message for all generations...the salvation of God.

Peter reminds us in this verse that even the heavenly hosts...the angels themselves are not able to experience the results of the messages that the prophets spoke. The angels want to gain insight into salvation, for they stand in awe at the wonder of God's redemptive purpose.

I guess the best way to describe what this verse is saying to us is to listen to the words and music of the song, “A Song Holy Angels Cannot Sing.” I posted it on my blog before I actually began blogging about the individual verses. I was studying these first 12 verses of I Peter, and that song came to mind, but I couldn't recall the exact words, nor the title. Then somehow my husband was able to research it on the web and found it recorded by the North Valley Baptist Church (I don't know where the church is located). So with delight I again post the web site for you to listen to the song. I will write the words below so you can sing along:

“Angels never knew the joy that is mine,
For the blood has never washed their sins away;
Though they sing in heaven, there will come a time
When silently they'll listen to me sing "Amazing Grace".

Chorus:
It's a song holy angels cannot sing,
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!
It's a song holy angels cannot sing,
I once was lost, but now I'm found!

Holy is the LORD, the angels sing,
All around the throne of GOD continually;
For me to join their song will be a natural thing,
But they just won't know the words to "Love Lifted Me".

Chorus:
It's a song holy angels cannot sing,
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!
It's a song holy angels cannot sing,
I once was lost, but now I'm found!”


There's a button here to listen to it...http://north-valley-baptist-church-a-song-holy--mp3-download.kohit.net/_/417713/mp3player.php?single=1&tellafriend=http://North-Valley-Baptist-Church-A-Song-Holy--mp3-download.kohit.net/_/417713&id=417713.  

The Prophets Didn't Understand

I Peter 1: 10-11 – The Prophets Didn't Understand

This salvation was something the prophets wanted to know more about. They prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you, even though they had many questions as to what it all could mean. They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ's suffering and his great glory afterward. They wondered when and to whom all this would happen. (NLT)

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. (NIV)

Even the prophets who foretold of God's salvation didn't understand what it meant. They wanted to know more...they spoke as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit, but they didn't have all the answers. They foretold of the great sorrow and suffering the Son of God would go through...and His victory over sin and death...but they didn't know when it would happen, how it would happen, and to whom it would happen. (CDC)

The prophets of the Old Testament were inspired by the same Spirit of Christ that Peter refers to in these verses. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead who was also present at creation. He prompted the prophets to write of the sufferings that Jesus would go through, and the ultimate glory that Christ would receive. They didn't understand all that they predicted, but they were faithful to deliver God's message. God spoke through His Spirit in their day, but it wasn't until the death of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit would actually dwell within man...the Gift that Jesus sent on the day of Pentecost...the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Although the prophets spoke about the salvation of Christ, it was not for them to witness the life and death of Jesus. This is sometimes too mysterious for us to understand, even though we live on this side of the cross, and the prophets lived before the cross. Isaiah wrote “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Isaiah 53:3-5 predicts the suffering of Jesus Christ:

He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. (NLT)

The prophets were very diligent in their search to understand the message of the grace of God. However, they lived in the day of predictions, not the day of fulfillment. The sufferings of Christ which Isaiah foretold climaxed at the cross, but His glories climaxed at His resurrection. What seems to be true is that neither Jesus, nor His followers, receive a crown of glory without first wearing the crown of thorns.

What the prophets foretold in the Old Testament became the message of the Gospels in the New Testament. The preachers of the New Testament had the power of the Holy Spirit within them...the same Spirit who inspired the prophets of the Old Testament. Therefore the preachers of the New Testament understood the Old Testament teachings of Jesus Christ, such as Isaiah 53, because of the witness of the same Spirit dwelling in them. No doubt the prophets would have aspired to be the apostles if they had understood everything clearly. How they would have loved to have walked with God's Son and seen the miracles that He performed. However, God had a time and a place and a purpose for the prophets; and He had a time and a place and a purpose for the apostles...the preachers of the New Testament.

God also has a reason for our existence and the times we are living in. We have been born for such a time as this. We must be like the prophets of old, having faith in God, even when we don't understand the outcome. All He asks is that we trust Him. I plan to do just that...how about you? There are a lot of things I don't understand...why evil seems to prevail, why the saints of God have to suffer, and innocent children are abused. We are living in vile times...but we are not out of God's control. He is sovereign, and one day He will reveal Himself to the whole world, and He will reign forever and ever. I plan to join Him...so I am content to allow Him to be in charge. I wait on Him, and trust Him all the while. Join me.

Our Final Salvation - Verse 9

I Peter 1:9 – Our Final Salvation

Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. (NLT)

...for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (NIV)

Our prize, our great reward, for trusting and believing in One we have not seen or touched is the final salvation of our souls...the final glorification into perfection...the end result of a perfect life that will last forever and will never face another trial, will never experience another rejection, will never feel another pain, will never shed another tear. (CDC)

“All is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore, What a day, glorious day that will be.” (“What A Day That Will Be”)

We can rejoice because we know that one day we will be delivered from limitations of this life. We have a guaranteed deliverance which will result in the perfection and glorification of our bodies. Our salvation is a very present reality, but the fullness of that salvation...the goal of our faith...will occur when we are set free from this earth and these bodies.

Our trials here will all be ended as our souls are transported to the great reward ceremony in heaven. The Hebraic meaning of “souls” includes the whole person. We will join our loved ones at the greatest banquet of them all.

Paul was referring to the final salvation...the glorification of our souls when he reminded the Romans:

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. (Rom 5:3-4)

No matter what we are going through in this body, on this earth, if we will allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and develop endurance and strength of character, we will build our confidence and our faith in knowing what is sure, what is to come...our final salvation, our glorification, our entrance into our heavenly home. And this is not the end, but only the beginning of a perfect life, an eternal life, a life without strife. We will see our Hope revealed.

“Hold on my child, joy comes in the morning!” (Bill Gaither)

Joy in the Midst of Trials - I Peter 1:8

I Peter 1:8 – Joy in the Midst of Trials

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. (NLT)

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, (NIV)

Faith is believing in things not seen. It is because of our faith, our belief in Jesus Christ, that we love Him, even though we have never seen Him. Faith...Belief...Trust...they all bring us into a relationship that fills us with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (CDC)

Peter was with Jesus for three intense years. He remembers many things that Jesus said, things he could not always understand. Some of the words recorded by John have made their way into this letter by Peter: Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29 NLT) We don't see Jesus, but our faith tells us He is with us. He stands with us in our fiery trials just as He did for the three Hebrew boys when they were thrown in the furnace. (see Daniel 3:19-27)

This letter was written to believers who had not been eyewitnesses to the miracles and ministry of Jesus Christ. Even though they had not see Him, they still believed in Jesus and loved Him deeply. They were living in a right relationship with Him, and therefore they were able to find joy even in the middle of their sufferings.

The “joy” Peter talks about in this verse is a fruit of the Spirit. It doesn't come from having everything we want, or everything going well in our lives...it comes from being in a right relationship with Jesus and having His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, guiding us, encouraging us.

Purified by Trials - I Peter 1:7

I Peter 1:7 – Purified by Trials

These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold -- and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. (NLT)

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (NIV)

In order for our faith to grow, we must face trials. Only as we trust God to see us through our tribulations is our faith made stronger. Through fiery trials we are purified, becoming more and more like the Son of God, Jesus Christ. (CDC)

There are three reasons we go through trials: 1) to keep us humble; 2) to help our faith grow; and 3) to teach us compassion. We are being refined as we go through the firey trials of life, for God is in the business of purifying us. The purpose of purification is so we begin to have a glowing likeness to Jesus Christ.

Sometimes in our times of troubles we feel like we are being pulled downstream by a rapid current. However, God knows exactly where we are. When He delivers us out of the raging waters, in His timing, we are turned back around to face the river. As we see others going through their distresses and disappointments, God gives us compassion to reach out to them. When we do, we bring glory and honor to Him.  Somehow He uses these experiences to make us stronger...to make us more in the image of His Son.

Other New Testament authors have written letters that reinforce what Peter has written:

• Paul writes in Romans 5:3: We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. (NIV)

• James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (NLT)

Our faith is much more precious to God than gold. Gold is purified by fire, but our faith is refined and made pure by going through fiery trials and tests. When we come through those times in our our lives, we are made stronger in our faith, and our character is shaped more into the character of Christ. God loves us so much He wants to make us in the image of His Son...He wants to perfect us.

I don't know about you, but I am one who needs perfecting. God is the only One I can trust with that process. I don't need to fear, because He is going through this process of life with me. Meanwhile, He is preparing a place for me in heaven where there will be no more testing, no more trials, no tears, no heartaches, no sorrow. All will be peace forever more! (John 14:1-3).