A Purpose to Suffering – 1 Peter 1:10-12
The task of knowing salvation requires a great deal of searching and inquiring. The prophets of old searched and inquired carefully. To whom the prophets made inquiry, or in what manner they searched, the passage does not say. One could assume their searching channels primarily through prayer or perhaps through the revealed Word they had at the time, but that hardly finds any conclusive evidence in the text. Peter doesn’t say which prophets he writes about. Presumably, the prophets mentioned account for the whole collection of OT prophets. Peter does however note the identity of the prophets as those who spoke about the grace later to come to believers.
The result of the prophets searching was an understanding of their audience. The prophets knew they were speaking to an audience coming in the future. The kings of the ancients were not the King of kings. They also knew the content of salvation, not in dynasty and succession, nor in land and loyalty, but in divine action. Therefore, the imaginations of an earthly inheritance never carried any true fulfillment. God did not prepare an earthly messiah to lead a nation to rebel, but rather a heavenly Messiah that would end all opposition to God. God’s purposes march forward through history in spite of the evil surrounding the present days.
When believers face suffering, they often think God has forgotten something, that he left something out of his plan or that the believer strayed far enough to thwart God’s redemptive work. The trials believers face are hardly an oversight of God. Peter points out that the prophets knew the salvation coming to believers… and the sufferings. Christians are the evidence that they were right. The fact that Christians suffer means that God continues to control the matters of this earth. He is with you. Though you struggle, His plan flows from that struggle. See the opportunity for God’s glory in all sufferings. Rejoice, redemption is at hand!
-Pastor Kevin Jordan
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