I am taking a little break from the series on how Pop Evangelicals Undermine God, so as to be challenged to find ourselves impressed by the grace that comes to us in Christ.
In the book of 1 Peter the apostle fires out of the gate to express the glorious reality of having been sovereignly converted by the powerful grace of God (v.3) and what’s more, it is this same powerful grace that keeps us (vv. 4-5).
When we are reminded of this fact we too, like the original readers, greatly rejoice (v.6) even in the face of the trials that our sovereign God has brought to us, knowing that trials produce perseverance and praise (v.7).
Jumping down a bit I am struck by the following phrase:
As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesized of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquires seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow (v.10-11).
I am struck here that these prophets of God were so impacted by the reality of what they were speaking of, that in their doxological befuddlement they scoured the Scriptures, the very words that they and their peers were proclaiming, so as to discern and learn as to when this glorious Christ would come and redeem.
And what would come? Grace. It is all of grace. The communication of God’s deliverance is grace, the incarnation of God’s deliverance is grace, and the accomplishment of God’s deliverance is grace, in fact Jesus Christ himself, is the very embodiment of grace. He comes to reach out to those who are opposed and to call them to himself; he gives riches to those who have squandered their father’s inheritance, he gives comfort to those who afflict, he gives life to the dead, he gives hope to the hopeless and he gives grace to the needy.
Notice also the marvelous connection between the Spirit of Christ predicting the sufferings of Christ. Do you see how utterly Christ-centered these prophets were? They were compelled and moved by Christ to speak of the glories of Christ and were then stooping as it were over the book in effort to understand this Christ.
Let me ask you what type of stewards might you and I be of this grace? For if Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and the others studied with great anticipation of Christ, how much more should we, with eyes opened being privy of the post-cross vista, how much more ought we to study with great appreciation?! These prophets could not get over their ever increasing level of Christological anticipation, a pity indeed that those who have the book of Romans, Galatians, the Gospels, and Ephesians, come to be less impressed and to a degree almost indifferent and familiar with this same Christ.
Friends, Jesus is no less glorious than he ever was. The fact is that many of us have sunk to that posture that resulted in the driving of nails through his sinless hands:
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53.3
Resolve then with me today to intentionally dwell upon the Savior and the grace that he brought to you. Study the word of God for it points to him, meditate upon its Christological richness for it stirs our affections and shreds our consciousness. And above all, esteem Jesus as the glorious King who is worthy of our highest devotion.