First Peter 1:3-25 is concerned with the full salvation of the Triune God and its issues. Verses 3 through 9 cover the Father’s regeneration unto a living hope; verses 10 through 12, the Spirit’s application; and verses 13 through 25, Christ’s redemption. In this message we shall consider the Spirit’s application through the prophets’ prophesying and the apostles’ preaching.
According to Peter’s word in 1:10-12, the first means of the Spirit’s application was the prophesying of the Old Testament prophets, and the second means was the preaching of the New Testament apostles. By this we see that two groups of persons were used by the applying Spirit to apply God’s full salvation to His chosen people.
Once again we see that the scope of Peter’s writing is wide. Furthermore, all the contents included within this scope are rich and all-inclusive. Although Peter wrote only eight chapters, not much in comparison with Paul, he put into these chapters the divine riches. It may be that Peter’s skill in using the Greek language could not match that of Paul. However, I admire Peter’s boldness. Not caring for grammar, language, or composition, Peter found a way to express the divine riches in his writings.
When we first read 1:10-12, we may not think that these verses are very deep. But the more we read them and pray-read them and in so doing touch the depth of these verses, we shall realize that Peter’s word here is quite deep. One example of Peter’s depth is what he says in verse 11 about the prophets searching into the manner of time Christ would suffer.
First Peter 1:10 says, “Concerning which salvation the prophets, who prophesied concerning the grace unto you, sought out and searched out.” Here Peter uses the Old Testament prophets to confirm his teaching concerning the New Testament salvation. The Lord Jesus did the same thing (Luke 24:25-27, 44-46).
In verse 10 Peter points out that the prophets prophesied concerning “the grace unto you.” In this verse “grace” is a synonym for “salvation.” In 1:13 grace also refers to God’s salvation. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace. This grace is God in the Son as our enjoyment. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” The grace to which Paul refers three times in this verse is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit to bring the processed God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply that we may live in resurrection. Therefore, grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us.
In 1:11 Peter goes on to say, referring to the prophets, “Searching into what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them made clear, witnessing beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these.” The searching of the prophets was the Spirit’s preapplication of God’s salvation in the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets were searching into what time and what manner of time the Spirit in them made clear concerning Christ’s marvelous accomplishment through His sufferings and glories. Eventually it was revealed that those marvelous things were ministered not to them, but to the New Testament believers (v. 12).