Served By the Prophets
Peter’s going to teach his original readers (and us) how to live faithfully in a hostile world, but first he wants us to understand something that will change our perspective. Even though they were exiles, these Christians were blessed with unimaginable privilege.
One Bible scholar says this about our text this week: “[Peter] shows his readers, who were suffering a loss of status in their society because of Christ, that in fact they were more privileged in the perspective of redemptive history than they could have known—more privileged than either the great prophets of old or the angels above.”[i]
If you’re a Christian reading this, you enjoy a privileged status above and beyond most people who have ever lived. It doesn’t matter if you’re white or black, rich or poor, male or female, educated or illiterate, old or young, white collar or blue collar, if you’re a Christian you are unimaginably privileged.
1 Peter 1:10-12 reveals four reasons why we are unimaginably privileged.
We Have Been Served by the Prophets.
We see that in verses 10-12—Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, (11) inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. (12) It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you.
The prophets Peter is talking about are those men used by God to write the books of the Bible that we call the Old Testament. Peter says they were “serving not themselves, but you.” But how did they serve us? By writing “concerning this salvation.” What does Peter mean by salvation? We could reexamine the verses we’ve already covered in 1 Peter, but instead let’s look ahead in this letter and let me show you three pictures of this salvation that Peter’s talking about.
Why we discuss these, I want to encourage you to ask yourself, “do I need to be saved”? I want you to ask yourself this because the privilege we’re talking about doesn’t apply to everyone. It applies to those who have received the salvation prophesied by these prophets.
I’m not asking you if you feel like you need to be saved, but if you need to be saved. It’s possible to need saving even if you don’t realize it. On August 4, 2020, Imad Khalil and Lena Allama were on their apartment balcony about 650 yards away from the port in Beirut, Lebanon. They noticed a large fire at the port and began recording the fire on their cell phones. They had no idea the fire was about to ignite a stockpile of over 2000 tons of ammonium nitrate, causing one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in human history, an explosion that killed hundreds, injured thousands, and has left 300,000 people homeless. Imad and Lena needed to be saved, they just didn’t realize it yet.
That might be you as you read this article. You might feel fine. You might not feel like you need to be saved. But ask yourself if there’s an unseen explosion coming your way. Ask yourself if the salvation Peter describes is the salvation you need.
One picture of this salvation is in 1 Peter 2:24—"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” What is this salvation? Notice our problem. Peter says we have a disease that needs to be healed. That disease is called sin.
About 750 years before this letter was written, Isaiah the prophet served you and I by writing about the same salvation: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). Peter says that Jesus is the one that Isaiah was writing about. He took our disease upon Himself and died on a cross in our place to heal us.
Ask yourself, do you need to be saved? Do you find yourself affected by this disease called sin? Do you find yourself trapped by attitudes and actions that you cannot escape, no matter how hard you try? Do you find yourself needing healing from the disease of sin?
Another picture of this salvation is in 1 Peter 3:18—"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” What is this salvation? Notice our problem. Peter says that Jesus suffered to “bring us to God.” the implication being that if Jesus did not die than we would remain separated from God.
That’s exactly what the prophet Micah wrote, around 800 years before Peter’s letter. Micah 3:4 says, “Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; He will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.” Our sin isn’t just a deadly disease, it’s a deadly disease that separates us from the most important Being in the universe. It’s the worst possible type of social distancing. Not distancing from other potential disease-carriers, but distancing from the Healer.
Do you need to be saved? Has your sin separated you from God?
A final picture of this salvation is in 1 Peter 4:17—"For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” What is this salvation? Notice our problem. Peter says that an inescapable judgment is coming.
Once again, his words agree with the message of the Old Testament. About 1000 years before this letter was written, King Solomon wrote this in Ecclesiastes 12:14—For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Peter says there are two types of people who will face that judgment. Those who “obey the Gospel of God” and those who don’t. Or, if you like, those who have been saved and those who haven’t. So we have a disease problem, a separation from God problem, and a judgment problem.
Do you need to be saved? Are you ready for judgment day? Have you trusted in Jesus’ death on the cross, or are you hoping that your good works can somehow outweigh the bad?
That message is the message of salvation. We are all infected with the disease of sin, a disease which separates us from God and dooms us to certain and horrible judgment. Back in 1 Peter 1:10, we learn this message of salvation is a message of grace. These prophets prophesied “about the grace that was to be yours.” This is a salvation that cannot be worked for or earned, but one that must be received as a gift of grace. The Bible teaches that God sent His Son, Jesus, to live the sinless life we couldn’t live and die the sinner’s death we should’ve died. And three days later this same Jesus rose from the dead so that whoever repents and believes in Him could be saved.
If you answered that question (do I need to be saved?) in the affirmative, you can be saved today. I invite you to “obey the gospel of God” by turning from your sins and trusting in the work of Jesus in your place. You can do it right where you are, right in your seat. We only ask that if you do that you’ll tell us what you’ve done so we can help you follow Jesus.
To the Christians reading this, allow this reality to sink in. For a thousand years, the prophets were serving not themselves, but you. Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, all of them serving you by writing and prophesying about a salvation that they would not fully see. This is unimaginable privilege!
Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 13:16-17—blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. (17) For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
We see the whole story! We’ve heard and read about His virgin birth, His faithfulness in temptation, boundless compassion for the sick and hurting, His limitless power, His sinless life, His patience with His bungling disciples—including the author of this letter, His sacrificial death, His resurrection, His ascension, His sending of the Spirit, and His promised return. Even though we are exiles, all Christians are blessed with unimaginable privilege because we have been served by the prophets.
[i] Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 105.