Gaining Encouragement From a Great Cloud of Witnesses--1 Peter 1:10-12 (1 Peter Series)

            A few years ago, Nike ran a rather ridiculous and over-the-top ad campaign featuring Lebron James that had the tagline, “We Are All Witnesses.” The idea was that we should all celebrate the fact that we are alive at such a glorious time – the reign of King James! – when we get to witness Lebron’s greatness on the basketball court. (And of course, what better way to celebrate our good fortunes than to buy Nike shoes and T-shirts!)

            Well, I don’t know if we need to feel all that special about the fact that we are alive to see Lebron James play a game, but according to Peter in our passage for today, we should feel very privileged to be living during this stage of the history of God’s plan of salvation. There were God-fearing men in the past who longed to understand and know about the things that we are now experiencing as children of God, and as we’ll see, there are also supernatural beings who testify in their own ways to the greatness of our salvation. So today, we can draw encouragement from the fact that:

A great cloud of witnesses testifies to the greatness of our salvation.

Let’s read 1 Peter 1:10-12, and then we’ll take a closer look at these various witnesses [READ].

The First Witness: The Holy Spirit

            The first and greatest witness concerning our salvation is the Holy Spirit. He is the witness who has revealed the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about our salvation. He revealed this truth first of all to the Old Testament prophets, and he continues to reveal it today through the preaching of the Gospel.

            Let us make no mistake about his revelation – although it most definitely was written down and proclaimed in this world by human beings, the source of the message is none other than the Holy Spirit himself. Notice how Peter emphasizes this fact in verse 11, where he writes about how the Old Testament prophets were, “inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.” Peter did not say that “they” (meaning the prophets) predicted these things, he said that “he” (meaning the Holy Spirit) predicted them.

            Let us never forget that this book we hold in our hands, the Holy Bible, is a message from none other than God himself. People have promoted many other ideas about the Bible over the years. Some people have said that the human authors of the Bible were religious geniuses in the same way that Mozart was a musical genius and Shakespeare was a literary genius; and so, they have given us a religious work of art that is exquisite, but nevertheless utterly human.

            Other people have said that the Bible is a record of human beings recording their experiences with God; and so, the really significant thing about the Bible, it is said, is not what the words of the Bible might say or mean, but how they could potentially lead us to have our own unique experiences with God.

            But Peter reminds us that the true significance of the Bible is that it is in fact a message from God himself. The only reason that the prophets could make predictions about the Messiah was because the Holy Spirit was speaking through them.

            According to Peter, the Holy Spirit bore witness about two broad categories of truth concerning the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ – his sufferings and the glories that would follow them. These two seemingly opposite realities would both be experienced by the Lord Jesus.

            The tension between these two ideas created no end of confusion for students of the Old Testament in ancient times. According to Christian scholar Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, some Jewish rabbis in ancient times concocted a “Two Messiah” theory, which taught that one Messiah would come to fulfill the predictions of suffering, and then another Messiah would come after him to fulfill the predictions of glory and exaltation.

            This tension between suffering and glory also caused great confusion for the 12 disciples during the ministry of Christ. What was Peter’s own reaction when Jesus first began to announce to them that he would have to suffer many things, be killed, and rise from the dead? Matthew 16 says that Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him! And how did Jesus respond? “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

            In God’s plan, the Messiah’s glories would come because of his sufferings; he would be exalted because he was willing to endure the sufferings for what they would accomplish. It is the same today for us! God asks us to patiently endure suffering today in the form of persecution and other difficulties, and if we will, he promises us that our future with Christ will be all the more glorious because of those sufferings.

            The Holy Spirit announced the plan of salvation through the Old Testament prophets as predictions, and now, since New Testament times all the way until the present day, he announces the great truths of salvation as accomplished realities through the preaching of the Gospel. The Old Testament prophets understood that they were being used to proclaim truths that were very significant and profound, and their keen desire to understand these things makes them the second witness to the greatness of our salvation.

The Second Witness: The Old Testament Prophets

            There’s a trend going around social media these days that makes fun of “first-world problems” – like when the barista at Starbucks accidentally puts soymilk in your skinny, half-caff latte. This trend reminds us that even though we do have our problems and inconveniences in this country, there are millions of people around the world who would be happy to trade places with us.

            If we could speak to the Old Testament prophets today, I imagine they might tell us that they would have loved to trade places with us. We might tell them about the trials and persecutions that we face as followers of Christ, but they might say, “Yeah, but those are just “New Testament problems.” You still get to live through some of the amazing realities that we only got to hear about!”

            It’s humbling to read Peter’s description of the prophets’ keen interest in the things that they were announcing and then to realize, as he says in verse 12, that they were not serving themselves but us. Today, we can look back on some of the things that they announced and see them as accomplished facts, and we are living through this great and glorious day in which our ultimate salvation has already begun. They were dying to know the facts that we learn as children in Sunday School and then spend the rest of our lives reminding ourselves not to take them for granted! They were carefully searching the Scriptures they had at that time to try to discover the very truths that are sometimes just like old hat to us today.

            Their zeal and passion to understand all they could about God’s plan is a testimony to us of just how great the salvation realities are that we live with and experience every day. All that Peter has just described to us with our new birth, our inheritance in heaven, our protection in God, the joy that can be ours as God molds us and shapes us through testing so that he might praise us and honor us at the revelation of Jesus Christ – all of these realities were so greatly longed for by the Old Testament prophets, and now they are ours to enjoy.

            Have you ever imagined that if you could speak to one of the Old Testament prophets right now, he might want you to do all the talking? If you could speak to Daniel right now, he might say, “Wow! Have you got it good!” Or if you could speak to Ezekiel, you might want to ask him about his amazing visions, but he might say, “Enough about me! Tell me what it’s like to have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Tell me what it’s like to have the Holy Spirit testifying to your own spirit that you are a child of God. Tell me what it’s like to hear the words of Jesus echo down through the years – it is finished!”

            What a great time we live in, that even the prophets might be envious of us if they could see us now! And they’re not the only ones—there is a third witness to the greatness of our salvation.

The Third Witness: God’s Holy Angels

            Peter states at the end of verse 12 that the realities of our salvation are “things into which angels long to look.” When I read those words earlier this week, I thought to myself, “Aww-- come on, Peter!” That’s a fascinating claim! It deserves more than just a passing comment, but alas – a passing comment is all we get here in this verse.

            Why might the angels be so fascinated by the salvation realities that we get to experience? Well, we don’t often think of ourselves this way, but we actually occupy a greater and more significant role in God’s plan than the angels do. I believe we tend to think of angels as being greater than ourselves because they are apparently mightier and more powerful than we are, just in terms of brute strength.

            But in terms of our role in God’s plan for the ages, we are actually more significant than the angels. Remember – it was not to angels that God gave the right and authority to rule over this world, but to humans. And as Hebrews 2:5-8 tells us, it is not to angels that God will give authority over the new heaven and new earth, but to mankind. The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:3 that in the age to come we will actually judge angels!

            So, since angels actually occupy a lower position in God’s plan than we do, the Bible tells us that God has not put in place a plan of salvation for the angels. Please remember that the beings we call demons are angels who sinned against God by joining in Satan’s rebellion. God has not chosen to provide a plan of salvation for those angels who sinned. And even for the holy angels who remained faithful to God, the Lord has not given them the blessings that he is given to us – like adoption into his family or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

            We receive some clarity on all of this in Hebrews 2:14-18. Why don’t you please turn there with me and follow along with me as I read it [READ]. Notice the great lengths to which the Lord was willing to go for our benefit. He took on flesh and blood – a physical body – like we have, and he was willing to die so that we might be freed from the power of death and the fear of it. He was willing to endure temptation so he could experience what that is like in order to help us when we are tempted and serve as a merciful and faithful high priest before God the father.

            The angels look on at all of these things and they marvel at them! They must be in awe of the love that the Creator has for us that would lead him to do such things! And as Peter seems to suggest – in my opinion – they wonder what it must be like to be the recipient of such love and such great blessings.

            Can you see it, Christian? Can you see it, child of God? Can you see the greatness of your salvation? The Holy Spirit testifies to it by telling us about the sufferings that Jesus endured so that we might hear good news from God. The Old Testament prophets testified to it by carefully and passionately seeking to understand the things that we now know in detail and get to experience as realities. The holy angels testify to it by marveling at all that the Creator has done for us – sufferings that were accomplished not for them, but for us.

            So in any trial or persecution that we might face because of our faith, we can acknowledge that it’s not pleasant, but we had better acknowledge that it’s worth it! To receive the blessings that we have, to be on the path to the glorious destiny that awaits us – boy, is it worth it! When the heat is on, and the hatred directed at you because of your faith is white-hot, don’t forget that the prophets would still be glad to trade places with you. The holy angels still look at you with awe and wonder. Let us stand up with courage under our “New Testament problems” and rejoice that we have received so great a salvation!