1 Peter 1:12 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

1 Peter 1:12

Comments

The reasoning is very powerful here. The gospel has been preached by the apostles, by Peter himself, by Paul, that apostle born out of due time. What did they preach? They preached everything that the Old Testament prophets predicted. One of the marvels of the New Testament, is the constant quotation of the Old. In Matthew’s Gospel, in all the Gospels, in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans; there are so many Old Testament quotations. You could almost go through any chapter spotting the quotations, looking up the references. Most of those references in the reference column in your Bibles, in Paul’s letter to the Romans, are not referring you back to Old Testament passages that just bear some similarity to what you find in Romans, or happen to use the same word. They are quotations, or references. The New Testament preachers didn’t preach a new thing; they grounded everything in the prophecies. Of course, they had New Testament light. The first preachers were inspired of God and yet God saw to it that every sentiment, every truth was connected with and established from Old Testament prophecy. The Bible is a miracle and a wonder; it is so consistent and so perfect.‘Which things the angels desire to look into.’ Not only are you gospel age Christians far better off than the Old Testament saints; you’re better off than the angels. A literal translation of the Greek could be, ‘for which the angels crane their necks, stoop and bend forward to see.’ Now you are living in the gospel age and the angels in heaven constantly look in wonder and amazement to see the fulfilment and the outworking of Old Testament prophecy and the methods of God in the present age. In fact, in Ephesians 3: 10 we are told that what happens in the church today is teaching the angels, showing them the manifest grace of God. The angels cannot tell the future. In heaven they know the theory of the way of salvation, but they gaze down on the earth to look at the Christian church and the conversion of millions and the changing of their hearts, to really understand the ways of grace and to marvel at them. They wait for it to happen. But if the good angels, the holy angels, cannot tell the future, the fallen angels, even less so. They cannot tell the future. Don't think that the devil and the demons of darkness, in their tempting of you, know your future and what will happen; they cannot.

Application

If it astonishes, amazes, moves and causes rejoicing in those wonderful, highly intelligent beings on high, so it should do for us. Here I am, maybe gloomy and down, bowed down by many, many cares. Somebody says to me, ‘Well, you know that lad over there, or that older lady over there … they have just been saved and come to Christ.’ ‘Oh, really?’ And it doesn’t lift my mood or touch my heart? That is a terrible thing, Peter is saying here. Don’t you know the angels are craning their heads to see these things and they have been looking at it for centuries now? You have only been looking at it for a few years and you have lost your amazement and your wonder and your joy. Reflect on things and to view them with thanksgiving – the eye of faith; that is the source of our joy and happiness in the walk of the gospel.

Questions

Does that mean that the angels are in ignorance, that the angels didn’t really understand what was going on when Christ came, didn’t understand the message of the gospel? Some people think so. Some great divines and teachers say the angels also were kept largely in the dark. Others say, No, it doesn’t mean that. The angels knew, the angels understood but they just wanted to see the out-working of this: ‘We understand about Christ, we understand that he must come and redeem and then the gospel will go out and people will be converted – we know it well enough – but this theme is so astonishing, we never lose our desire to watch it.’ Every conversion, there is joy in heaven among the angels over one sinner – still, they never lose that fresh sense of astonishment at the wonder of God’s grace working in lives.

Why was the fall allowed? Heaven itself does not have more wonderful evidence of the grace of God than what God does on earth in redeeming sinful men and women. Mercy and grace are God’s highest attributes and they are seen pre-eminently in the atoning work of Christ. In heaven the angels can see the holiness of God very clearly, but the fall gives a unique opportunity for God’s grace which is not required by heaven’s perfection. For this reason the fall has been allowed, for without it many aspects of the character of God would have remained hidden for ever. The Lord has allowed evil to exist and to influence the course of history so that this revelation of his mercy may be possible. God’s character is revealed not in theory but in action so that it is proven to every creature. His character could never be fully known in a world in which the fall had not taken place. The angels are therefore enthralled with what takes place on earth.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

1 Peter 1:12 Commentary and Bible Study