The Revelation of Our Salvation
1 Peter 1:10-12
"(10) Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, (11) 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. (12) 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."
If you've ever read through the Bible, you probably came to realize divine revelation is progressive. It was over the course of hundreds of years that God provided man with indications of His plan for reconciliation. That's why, as today's passage indicates, the Old Testament prophets could speak of the salvation we have in Christ even though they didn't understand how everything fit together. It was as if they were looking at a distant mountain range but had no idea how far it was from one peak to the next.
Isaiah is a good example of this. He wrote of Israel's Messiah as a king who would rule over a restored world (Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-10) yet in chapter 53 described Him as a suffering servant who would die.
Though Isaiah wouldn't have been able to grasp the full meaning behind the words God's Spirit moved him to record, later revelation gives us a more complete picture. We know Jesus came the first time to sacrifice Himself for our sins, and one day He'll return in glory to rule the entire world as King of Kings.
What’s even more amazing is that angels long to look into this salvation, which we so often take for granted and see merely as the doorway by which we enter heaven. Such simplistic thinking reveals we truly don’t understand the scope of what transpired at the cross and how it effected our salvation.
We should be curious like the prophets, who sought to know more about Christ and the sacrifice He lovingly made on our behalf. When we make that a priority, we’ll learn more about our Savior and salvation, and our awe and love for Him will increase.