Things Into Which Angels Long To Look (part2/2) 1 Peter 1:10-12 Sermon Transcript

Peter tells us that prophets spoke of the grace we have received in our salvation by and through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The first part of thisarticle considered how this story of salvation may be seen in the themes andpatterns of the stories of the exile, the liberation from Egypt, the Flood, andeven Creation. This second half will look at several prophesies of the Hebrew Scripture (what Christians call the Old Testament), and how they also point to Jesus.

1 Peter 1:10-12 (ESVUK)

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and enquired carefully, enquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Our story is all about Jesus. Our sin separated us from God, who loved us so much that he paid the penalty himself, in Jesus. His death for our sin and his resurrection made available to us his life so that by grace, through faith, we could be restored to God.

Peter is reminding his readers that people have been waiting a very long time for this.

 The full audio of this message, parts 1 and 2.

In The Garden

In the beginning, our first story is of humanity in a garden, God’s place, ruled by God’s good word. Adam and Eve, God’s first priests to Creation, disobeyed God’s word. Though God said “let there be light” and light was, humanity dared say no to the word of God. We were cursed, made mortal, given death in our own bodies, cast from God’s presence, but given this hope:

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

    and you shall bruise his heel.

The offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. And from that day on, we looked.

Could it be our son, Abel? Will he be the one to defeat the deceiver, the death that now reigns in us? Is it Seth? Who will be the Chosen One to suffer, yet ultimately defeat this curse?

Hebrews 2:14-15 (ESV)

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

The writer of Hebrews identified Jesus as the seed of the woman, the true human who would defeat death, the curse for the sin that followed us after our rebellion. In Romans, Paul tells us that the defeat of the accuser will be accomplished by being crushed under our feet. We share in the victory of our older brother, Jesus.

Romans 16:20 (ESV)

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

In The Wilderness

Moses told the people in the wilderness even before they entered the Promised Land that they would rebel. But he also said that God would give them a redeemer that would set them free again, bring them into the new Promised Land. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” Moses says in Deuteronomy 18:15. And this was fulfilled in Joshua, who shares his name with Jesus in the original language. But just as Moses said, the people rebelled, and were scattered into exile. Under the authority of Assyria, and Babylon, and Persia, and Rome, the people asked, “Where is this prophet that will come, the one like Moses, who will set us free?”

Just as in the days of Moses, Jesus was born as many children were being destroyed by the King. Like Moses, he was kept safe in Egypt. Like Moses, whose face shone for being in God’s presence, Jesus would be the very presence of god among his people. Like Moses, miracles would follow him. He is the new Moses, the new Joshua, our deliverer from slavery.

In Canaan

In Genesis, Jacob, the man named Israel by God, prophesied over his son Judah, that his descendants would have a throne and kingdom that would last forever (Genesis 49:10). The people of Israel watched the tribe of Judah. “Which one will be our king?” From Judah came David, who became Israel’s ideal king, a shepherd, a poet, a worshipper, whom God called “after my own heart”. To David God said:

1 Chronicles 17:11 (ESV)

When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

God said David’s son would build his temple, and that the throne would never, ever end in his family. And then his son, Solomon, built the temple. And then he rebelled, and Israel and the kings followed after him in rebellion, and in the exile, the throne of David ended.

In exile, the people asked, “Where is our new Moses, the king from the tribe of Judah, the Son of David whose throne will never end?”

Luke 1:26-33 (ESV)

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Joseph and Mary, descendants of David, in Galilee of the Gentiles, are promised a king as a son, whose reign will never end.

In The Kingdom Of David

God promised David that his body would never see corruption (Psalm 16:10). He fulfilled this again and again as he miraculously protected him from death. But then, of course, he did die eventually, as Peter pointed out in his sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2). But in Jesus’ resurrection he defeated death once for all, and reigns forever.

In Psalm 22, David prophesied the crucifixion, writing a near script for Matthew’s account of Jesus’ death, beginning the Psalm with Jesus’ words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In The Rebellion And Exile

Isaiah 7:14 (ESV)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Like Joshua fulfilled Moses’ prophecy, and Solomon fulfilled David’s prophecy, this prophecy of Jesus was also fulfilled in its’ day. A woman who was once a virgin, was married ceased to be one, and had a child. In that time, Isaiah’s prophecy over Israel’s present king was fulfilled. But Jesus was not only named Immanuel, God-with-us. Jesus was God, with us, born of Mary, a virgin.

Isaiah 50:6 (ESV)

I gave my back to those who strike,

    and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;

I hid not my face

    from disgrace and spitting.

Jesus could have stopped those who were beating him. He created them, their arms with which they held the whip, the wood and leather from which the wood was made, the breath they took between each strike, he gave them. Jesus gave them his back. Jesus gave us his back.

In Matthew (26:27), Jesus held up the cup of wine at the last supper, and said, “this is my blood, poured out for you.” He broke bread, and said “this is my body, broken for you.”

Isaiah 53:4 (ESV)

Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

He took our sorrows.

He gave his back.

And the prophets searched diligently. Who will it be?

Micah 5:2 (ESV)

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

    who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

    one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

    from ancient days.

In Matthew 5, the priests are asked where Jesus will be born. They don’t even need to look. They know it will be in Bethlehem, David’s city, from the line of David, because they were searching, looking, waiting. They knew.

Zechariah 12:10 (ESV)

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Revelation 1:7(ESV)

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

In Every Story

Every story in the Bible whispers the name of Jesus.

The serpent lifted up in the wilderness by Moses in Numbers so that people could be healed from snake venom is Jesus lifted up on a cross so that we may look to him and be healed of our sin, as jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3.

In the book of Ruth Jesus is the kinsmen redeemer.

At the end of Malachi, Jesus is the sun of righteousness who will rise with healing in his wings. The woman with issue of blood took this literally, and was healed when she touched his robe’s tassels, his “wings” (Malachi 4).

Abraham’s son, Isaac, was saved from being sacrificed on mount Moriah when God provided Abraham a ram to take his son’s place (Genesis 22). In Jesus, God would offer all of us salvation from death by providing the Son of God in our place.

On this very same mountain, King David threw himself down before God, begging for mercy on the nation that was being cursed for his sin. From the same mountain that God provided a ram in Isaac’s place, David offered himself to God to be cursed instead of his people (2 Samuel 24:17). Our High King places himself between us and the death we’ve earned by our sin, saving us by his willing death.

David’s son, Solomon, would build a temple to God on this same mountain. In that temple would the people of God make sacrifices of innocent animals before God for their sins, according to the Law of Moses as recorded in the Torah. In these laws were sacrifices, festivals, and family traditions that all reminded God’s people of redemption, of liberation, of forgiveness, and of God’s love for all the world, for whom they were chosen to bless. Jesus became the perfect expression of this law for God’s people. By his willing sacrifice, he delivered all of Creation from the curse of death because of sin. He became God’s temple, and the sacrifice, and God’s place, and God’s word, so that through him all the world could be blessed (Romans 8).

And there are many, many more stories.

Adam longed to know Jesus.

Moses longed to know Jesus.

David longed to know Jesus.

Isaiah longed to know Jesus.

1 Peter 1:10-12 (ESVUK)

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and enquired carefully, enquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Isaiah was writing for us.

What do angels see that they have never yet seen? When angels see Peter, the early church, and us, they see grace. Angels see sinners like us that God loves. They know by experience God the Creator. But before Christ, they had never known God the Saviour. For God so loves the world that he gave in a way the angels have never experienced (John 3:16). The Son of God loves you and gave himself for you, personally.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53). Though your sins are like scarlet, Jesus will make them white as snow (Isaiah 1).

He gave us his back. He gave us his body. He gave us his blood. Let us always praise God together for our salvation, a privilege so great that generations wish they could join us, and angels watch amazed as we share.

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Following Jesus in Suffering (part 4/4)

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The path of discipleship leads to the cross. We follow after Jesus, whose life was lived in direct course toward shameful execution as an insurrectionist by the Roman empire. Though we often seek to avoid it, to give our lives to the gospel includes an embrace of that same path in which Jesus walked. Our hope and our comfort is that we do not walk alone in our pain. Even when lonely or grieving, rejected or misunderstood, Jesus walks beside us, leading the way through the storm and toward our ultimate salvation.

With Peter's testimony as his source, John Mark sought to pen an account of Jesus' life that would be an encouragement to the persecuted church, and a support to Peter's teachings that they should endure through suffering and hope for God's final justice. His book, the gospel of Mark, would serve to inspire two more accounts, Matthew and Luke, and become a central document of the early Christian movement. He likely drew upon his own experiences with rejection, as well as his and Peter's own personal failures as they had succumbed to the temptation to compromise in the face of persecution.

Mark's style is matter-of-fact, to the point, and fast-paced. His account of the life of Jesus makes generous use of the word "immediately", sometimes several times in one chapter. Jesus is seen in action more than teaching, especially when compared to the other three gospel accounts.

Just as Peter emphasized in his letters, Mark reminds his reader that the life of discipleship comes at a steep price. Jesus himself is rejected, threatened, or persecuted throughout the narrative. More of the gospel is spent describing Jesus' suffering at the cross than any other. The foil to the message in Mark's book is Peter himself, whose character is more frequently foolish in Mark than any other gospel.

Mark 8:31-38 (ESV)
    31  And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Peter himself misunderstood the cost of following Jesus at the beginning. He desired, as many of those oppressed by the Romans also desired, for Jesus to lead a revolt and establish a new order. Talk of suffering and rejection was antithetical to the point of Jesus' ministry, as far as Peter was concerned. Jesus says Peter's desire to escape suffering reveals that his mind is not on the things of God. He is more interested in his comfort than in God's eternal plan. In this and other accounts of his own failure, Peter humbly admits his own ignorance as an example to the reader of the truly upside-down nature of God's Kingdom and its citizens.

In Mark, the early Christians were presented with Jesus as they would best be encouraged by him. Jesus is an enigma in Mark, often running away to be alone, entering cities quietly, and asking those he healed to keep his ministry secret. Jesus lives under the same oppressive Roman authority as the early Christians. His message was of a new Kingdom, a new order. He lived in the generation after hundreds of Jews had been crucified for insurrection. He couldn't afford to be too public, just as the early Christians after him also had to learn to be discreet. Jesus as the rejected, lonely, and suffering Messiah, running and hiding from the public eye would have resonated strongly with his scattered and misunderstood followers. They were not alone. They were joining their King in the same life he now shares with them. As he had endured and conquered, so would they.

Still, on this side of eternity, the disciples were going to suffer great pain. They would be lonely, rejected, and abused. There would be times when they would question their faith and the cost of their discipleship. The promise if Mark's gospel was that Jesus had entered their pain, that they never were alone, that even if they walked to their execution, Jesus had been there, too. There was no darkness they would ever face that their Saviour did not also know. Our promise is the same.

Miracle by Dave Von Bieker, on Christ's presence in our suffering.

Mark 13:9-11
9  “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

Hardship in true and active discipleship was certain. The hope they shared was that victory in the power of the Holy Spirit was even more certain. They were not alone. They carried the resurrection life of Jesus inside them. They didn't need to fear the authorities. They followed the true King of kings, and his will would be accomplished in them no matter how bad the temporary circumstances may have otherwise appeared.

Jesus portrayed as the suffering servant in Mark was right in the stream of how he had been foretold by the prophets.

Isaiah 53:1-6 (ESV)
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² For he grew up before him like a young plant,
     and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
³  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.
⁴  Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
     smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵  But he was wounded for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
     and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶  All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

This prophesy was the good news that saved both Peter and John Mark. It was by Peter that he had been despised and rejected. It was John Mark who had gone his own way, like a lost sheep. It was for the sorrows of both men that Jesus went to the cross. It was for the joy of giving the gift of grace, a second chance, that he willingly endured the shame of crucifixion. Like Peter and John, we also have gone astray, choosing our own easier paths over the ultimate surrender of following after the ultimate servant. Despite our many failures, Jesus made us worthy to be called his disciples by his own sacrifice. Jesus carried the iniquity of every one of us, the oppressor and the oppressed.  Our iniquity, our selfishness and oppression and hedonism, has been traded for the true life of Jesus. With his life planted in us, he is working his will in the world through us. Our hope is for the future Kingdom of justice and truth not only for our own sake, but for the entire world.

To Be Alone With You by Sufjan Stevens

Finally, it would be irresponsible (and offensive) to suggest that all Christians today face the same kind of persecution and difficulty as the early Christians who were first reading Mark's gospel or Peter's letters. Far from being a persecuted minority, the evangelical church of North America experiences a very privileged culture. The Christian mainstream is a dominant cultural force, and even Christians that don't feel they identify strongly with that mainstream culture (including myself), do still reap the benefits of that culture every day. Mark and Peter remind us not to forget our brothers and sisters around the world who do not have the same privilege we do. The stories of the persecuted church in China and Vietnam and Palestine are part of our story as well. It does no good to our brothers and sisters who face real persecution for us to create a story of persecution for ourselves in the privileged west. Let us humbly remember and pray for those in the church who daily face some of the same horrors as the scattered church of the first century. Also, let the reminder of our privilege be an opportunity for us to be humbled. We have immigrant families in our neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces, and churches. Let us not become to them as the Roman Empire was to us. Let's be willing to set aside our privilege as Christ did his to humbly hear the stories of the truly oppressed, and learn to walk with them in their struggle for freedom and justice.

When we begin to live in this humble solidarity with the most vulnerable around us, we will truly be following in the footsteps of our Rabbi, Jesus. As we raise our voices with theirs, we will begin to find ourselves beginning to walk out of step with the mainstream, a necessary part of our struggle of resistance against the principalities and powers of the empire in which we live. Just as with the early Christians, persecution and difficulty will be part of the experience of our faith if we follow after Jesus in this way. Many of us may experience this suffering far less than the early Christians, or the Christians today who live in countries with greater physical persecution. Or you may be a Jesus Follower reading this and truly be facing the kind of suffering described in this introduction. Either way, pain is real, and our Saviour promises to lift our burden.

Nobody knows the personal pain that you carry. No matter how close our loved ones may be, there are pieces of our hearts, lonely places that can never be truly known. Our struggles with sin are our own, and there are dark places in all of our hearts that could never be truly understood by any other person, failures, temptations, or regrets that we alone know. But we are not alone in suffering. We can all be encouraged when we know that our King and Saviour is not a severe or distant deity with whom we have no common ground. Jesus our Lord experienced the deepest of human torment, abuse, loneliness, rejection, and pain. He knows our weaknesses and temptations, because they were his as well. He was misunderstood, falsely accused, and betrayed. He shares the same hand that was dealt to us. It is through him and for him that we live contrary to the wickedness of the world. As we do, he walks with us every step of the way. When no one else understands, he does. He is faithful. He will see us through.

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Read part 1 - John Mark's Story

Read part 2 - Peter's Story

Read part 3 - The Church's Story 

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Next Week:
Monday: Isaiah 1 - To Hell With Religion. We Need Justice. 
Thursday: 1 Peter 1 - Salvation and the End of Suffering