“This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.”
1 Peter 1:10 NLT
Peter reminded his readers that they were in a privileged place because their whole experience and knowledge of salvation was denied to the Old Testament prophets. They wrote down some prophesies that looked forward to the coming Messiah, but they lacked the knowledge of when this would happen, who the Messiah would be, and how it would happen. They of course had some incredible insights but lacked the detail made available to the believers in the early Church many years later, and after Christ’s death and resurrection. Those old prophets felt the stirring of the Holy Spirit within them and they wrote down what they believed they heard. Prophets such as Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel all looked forward to the day of the Lord without experiencing the clarity they so wanted. Jesus Himself told His disciples “I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it” (Matthew 13:17).
The Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah are amazing, considering most were written hundreds of years before Jesus came. Snippets of what the old prophets saw through the promptings of the Holy Spirit even started to appear in Genesis. But let’s look at Isaiah’s writings. He wrote down what he heard God say about the Messiah, “He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth”” (Isaiah 49:6). The early believers in the five provinces were the fulfilment of that prophecy. Psalm 22 builds a prophetic picture of how the Messiah’s life was to end. But Jesus Himself repeated the prophecy of Isaiah 61, in Luke 4:18-21, ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come. ” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!””
Fast forward to the first century AD and all became clear. The violent death of the Son of Man ushered in the age of opportunity – mankind’s salvation by grace. Those old prophets died without ever experiencing the salvation they could see coming. We pilgrims are also in a privileged position because we too have experienced God’s love and grace. The old Apostle John wrote, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:9-10). How can we reject God’s grace? How can we say that this is not for us, and we’ll work out our own salvation instead? But most people in our Western societies do. They have chosen the broad way that leads to destruction. But we pilgrims have grasped God’s grace with both hands and will never let go. Ever. And one day we’ll cross the threshold into His presence, saved by grace.
Dear Father God. We worship You with grateful hearts today and every day. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 