“This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.”
1 Peter 1:10-11 NLT
Those prophets in Old Testament times wrote down some stuff that they thought must have been very strange. They heard what the Holy Spirit was saying to them and they faithfully recorded His words, but they couldn’t make the connection with a real event either then or yet to happen. Take Psalm 22 for example. If we look hard enough there appear to be about nine or so predictions of Christ’s death embedded in this Psalm, written by David. Take Psalm 22:18 for example, “They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing”. That happened as Jesus was crucified, as we can read in John 19:24, “So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.” So that is what they did”. Those Roman soldiers would never have read Psalm 22, and even if they had, would it have made any difference? When David wrote Psalm 22 it was almost as though he went through the crucifixion experience in his Holy Spirit inspired imagination. Perhaps it happened as a dream and we can almost imagine him waking up and quickly writing down what must have been a vivid sleep experience.
In Psalm 22 the tone changes after verse 19. He is back down to earth and looks around again at the difficult time he was having. He turns from writing and praying about his current predicament to look upward into Heavenly places. And a warm glow starts to build in his spirit as he looks to God. In verses 25 and 27 he wrote, “I will praise you in the great assembly. I will fulfil my vows in the presence of those who worship you. … The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him”. David couldn’t wait to experience again the joy of worshipping and praising God along with his fellow people, and he even had a glimpse that perhaps one day all the nations of the world, Jews and Gentiles together, would join together in a wonderful praise event like never before seen.
The old prophets could dimly see an event in the future in which the Messiah, the Christ, would experience great suffering and death. We pilgrims, with the benefit of hindsight, know what happened on that fateful “Good Friday”. That day the prophets could “see” coming but without the full knowledge that it would change the world forever, and usher in a new age, one where the Saviour’s legacy was the continual presence of the Holy Spirit. And as the times get more and more wicked, the Holy Spirit within us can shine brighter and brighter in the darkness around us. God declared that light is good – Genesis 1:4, “And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness“. In John 8:12 we read, “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”” The light we display to those around us makes a difference, and God has said it is good. The world might not think so, but, then, what does that matter?
Dear Father God. We thank You for giving us Your light to shine in our generation, in our families and communities. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 