The Angelic Audience Text: 1 Peter 1:10-12
Introduction: The Integrated Bible
We live in an age of disintegration. Our secularists want a world of disconnected facts, a cosmos with no story, and a humanity with no anchor. But sadly, this fragmentation has seeped into the church. Many Christians treat the Bible like a loose collection of inspirational quotes. They treat the Old Testament like a dusty, embarrassing attic filled with strange artifacts, and the New Testament like the clean, modern living room where all the real action happens. They have, in effect, a Marcionite Bible, where the God of the Old Testament is a wrathful landlord and the God of the New is a gentle therapist. This is not just a misunderstanding; it is a profound theological error that cuts the hamstrings of our faith.
The Bible is not two books; it is one book. It is one story, with one author, one hero, and one glorious conclusion. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. To sever the two is to create a monster. You cannot understand the fruit if you despise the root. You cannot appreciate the fulfillment if you are ignorant of the promise.
Peter, in our text today, will have none of this nonsense. He pulls back the curtain of time and shows us the inner workings of divine revelation. He reveals a stunning unity across the Testaments, a unity energized by the Spirit of Christ Himself. He shows us the Old Testament prophets, not as primitive soothsayers, but as diligent, Spirit-filled scholars leaning forward, peering into the future, knowing that the story they were writing was not ultimately for themselves. And he shows us the gospel, not as a small, private affair for individual souls, but as the central drama of cosmic history, a story so profound that the holy angels are on the edge of their celestial seats, craning their necks to get a better look.
This passage is a potent corrective to our fragmented faith. It teaches us how to read our Bibles, how to understand our place in salvation history, and how to value the gospel we have received. It reminds us that our salvation is no small thing; it is the culmination of millennia of prophecy and the fascination of heaven itself.
The Text
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, made careful searches and inquiries,
inquiring to know what time or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He was predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been declared to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
(1 Peter 1:10-12 LSB)
The Prophetic Search Engine (v. 10)
Peter begins by connecting the "salvation" he has just described to the diligent work of the Old Testament prophets.
"Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, made careful searches and inquiries," (1 Peter 1:10)
Notice the verbs: "made careful searches and inquiries." The prophets were not simply passive vessels, taking dictation in a trance. They were active, engaged, thoughtful men. They received revelation from God, and then they studied the revelation they had received. They poured over their own writings and the writings of the prophets who came before them, trying to understand the details. Think of Daniel, reading the prophet Jeremiah to understand the timing of the exile's end (Daniel 9:2). They were the first systematic theologians, the first biblical scholars, wrestling with the meaning of the unfolding plan of God.
And what was the subject of their intense study? "The grace that would come to you." They knew they were writing about a future grace. They saw, from a distance, the coming of a better covenant, a greater salvation. They prophesied about the forgiveness of sins, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the ingathering of the Gentiles. They knew that the animal sacrifices were shadows, pointing to a final, perfect sacrifice. They were writing checks that only the Messiah could cash, and they were studying the fine print on those checks with reverent diligence.
This demolishes the idea that the Old Testament is a book of law and the New Testament is a book of grace. No, the Old Testament is a book saturated with prophecies of grace. The entire sacrificial system was a gracious provision from God. The covenants were gracious condescensions. And the prophets were heralds of the ultimate grace that was to be revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of Christ in the Old Testament (v. 11)
In verse 11, Peter reveals the divine author who was inspiring and directing this prophetic inquiry.
"inquiring to know what time or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He was predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." (1 Peter 1:11)
This is a remarkable statement. Who was the Spirit at work in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and David? Peter says it was the "Spirit of Christ." The pre-incarnate Logos, the eternal Son of God, was the one speaking through them. This means that the Old Testament is Christ's book. He is not just the subject of its prophecies; He is the author of them. This is why Jesus could say that the entire Old Testament was written about Him (Luke 24:27). The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10). From Genesis 3:15 onward, the entire story is about Him.
The prophets were trying to understand the "what time or what kind of time." They had the general outline, but they were trying to figure out the specifics. They had these two massive, seemingly contradictory themes: the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. How could these two things fit together? They saw a suffering servant in Isaiah 53 and a conquering king in Psalm 2. They saw a man of sorrows, and they saw a glorious ruler whose kingdom would have no end. They were trying to reconcile these two streams of prophecy. They were asking, "How can the Messiah be both crushed for our iniquities and also reign forever and ever?"
We, on this side of the cross and the empty tomb, know the answer. We know that the path to the crown was through the cross. The suffering came first, then the glory. The humiliation preceded the exaltation. But the prophets were peering through the mists of time, trying to make out the shape of God's plan. And the Spirit of Christ within them was giving them the pieces of the puzzle, predicting both the cross and the crown, the suffering and the glory.
Serving a Future Congregation (v. 12a)
Verse 12 contains a staggering revelation that God gave to these prophets about their own ministry.
"It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been declared to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven..." (1 Peter 1:12a)
Imagine this. God tells Isaiah, "This glorious vision of the new heavens and new earth, this prophecy of the virgin birth, it's not primarily for your generation. You are serving a people who will live thousands of years from now." The prophets were ministers, not to their own age first and foremost, but to us. They were planting trees whose fruit they would never taste in this life. They were laying a foundation for a building they would never see completed. This is a profound lesson in faithful, long-term service.
And now, Peter says, that which they predicted has "been declared to you." The mystery they sought to understand has now been plainly preached. The apostles, the evangelists, those who proclaimed the gospel, are the ones who announced that the prophecies have been fulfilled. The future grace the prophets saw has become present grace for us.
And notice the Trinitarian structure of revelation. The Spirit of Christ spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament. Now, the gospel is proclaimed by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven at Pentecost. The Father planned our salvation, the Son accomplished it, and the Spirit applies it and illuminates it, both in the Old Testament prophecies and the New Testament proclamation. It is one God, one plan, one salvation, revealed progressively throughout one unified book.
The Angelic Audience (v. 12b)
Peter concludes with a stunning statement that puts our salvation in its proper cosmic context.
", things into which angels long to look." (1 Peter 1:12b)
The gospel of our salvation is not a trivial matter. It is the central theme of history, the main event. It is the curriculum that the angels are studying. The word for "long to look" is the Greek word parakuptó. It means to stoop down, to crane your neck to get a better look at something fascinating. It’s the same word used for John stooping down to look into the empty tomb (John 20:5).
Think about what this means. Angels have seen the glories of God's throne room. They witnessed the creation of the universe. They have seen power and majesty that would cause any mortal man to fall on his face as though dead. And yet, what is it that captivates their attention? It is the gospel. It is the story of the grace of God shown to rebellious sinners like us. They see the Son of God taking on flesh, living a perfect life, dying a criminal's death, and rising in glory. They see God's perfect justice and His unfathomable mercy meeting at the cross. And they are awestruck. They cannot get enough of it.
This tells us that our salvation is the greatest story ever told. It is the manifold wisdom of God being put on display for the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10). When we gather for worship, when we hear the gospel preached, when we come to the Lord's Table, we have an angelic audience, peering over our shoulders, marveling at the grace that we so often take for granted.
Conclusion: Heirs of the Prophets, Spectacle for the Angels
So what are we to do with this? First, we must read our Bibles as one integrated book. We must see Christ on every page. We must honor the Old Testament prophets by recognizing that they were writing for us, and we must diligently study what they diligently studied.
Second, we must recognize the immense privilege that is ours. We are the ones the prophets served. We live in the age of fulfillment. We know the solution to the riddle that perplexed them: the suffering servant and the glorious king are one and the same. We have the completed revelation. We have the Spirit sent from heaven. To whom much is given, much is required. We must not treat this inheritance lightly.
Finally, we must stop thinking of our salvation in small, sentimental, individualistic terms. The gospel is the main event in the cosmos. It is the story that has captivated the prophets and holds the angels in rapt attention. If angels, who have no need of salvation, are fascinated by the gospel, how much more should we be, who are the undeserving beneficiaries of it? Let us, therefore, approach this salvation with the awe and reverence it deserves, knowing that in our redemption, God is putting His glory on display for all of heaven to see.