#50. Prophets Longed, and Angels Still Long to Better Understand the Things Preached to Us!

1 Peter 1:1012 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaventhings into which angels long to look. What do we know about the prophets? They were holy men of God, shaped for a life of ministry and called by God to declare His words to His chosen people. They were given these messages from God in various ways (by spoken word, by dreams and by other forms of revelation) through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within them (Scripture says the Spirit "carried them along"). They did not always understand the full significance of the messages that God gave them to proclaim. According to our text (and as we know by reading the pages of our Bibles), they predicted the sufferings of Jesus and the glory that would follow but they didn't have a complete understanding of Who this person would be, or when He would come. They gave themselves to careful searches and inquiries so that they might understand these things more clearly, but they were told that they were serving God's children of the future, and not those in their own time. What do we know about angels? They are perhaps the highest and most powerful of the beings God created. They are spiritual creatures, having (and needing) no material bodies. They were created perfect by God but some fell away along with Satan. Those who remain faithful to God are sinless, immortal beings, and although they are higher in rank than man, they serve the elect of God as ministering spirits. Ultimately, when God's children are finally and fully saved, they will be exalted above the angels and will even take part in their judgment. Since the angels, who never fell, have never sinned, they marvel at God's plan of salvation that was declared through the prophets and they long to investigate this Gospel and to admire God's handiwork and His grace as they are displayed in its planning and above all in its execution. Peter talks of prophets and angels in our text, and that is why we began this entry by reflecting on them. But consider this point in the light of what we have just been reviewing. The holy prophets loved the Gospel, dedicated their lives to proclaiming it and spent their time researching it and trying to understand it more adequately. The holy angels of God are filled with admiration, and long to explore this work of God, which reveals His love, His grace, His mercy, His patience, kindness and goodness like no other. If prophets and angels hold the message of God's Word in such reverence, awe and wonder, and if the prophets spent their time in careful study of it and the angels spend theirs in longing to look into it further, shouldn't we examine our own hearts in the light of their example? Shouldn't we let them motivate us to sit under the preaching of this message and to pay very close attention to it?

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