Firsts in all of history

I Peter 1:11 says, “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”

“This is not the mystery salvation, it’s the salvation of the prophetic program,” explains Richard Jordan (shorewoodbiblechurch.org). “Notice there’s two things they didn’t understand: what they were saying (‘What does it mean when I write these verses down?’) and when does it occur?

“ ‘Glory that should follow.’ They were confused about two things—one, when it talks about the sufferings of the Messiah and the glory of the Messiah, what were those two things and how did they fit together?

“You go back through the Old Testament prophets; just start reading through Isaiah, for example, and you’ll read passages about the suffering servant of Jehovah, and in the same verse, or two verses afterward, you’ll read about the glory of the Messiah. And then two verses later you’ll read about the suffering again and it’s like it’s all jumbled up back there.

“These prophets are reading this and trying to figure out one, what it is, and two, how does it fit together timewise. If they just had that dispensational chart!

“What he says in verse 12 is, ‘Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.’

“There’s things back there in time past those prophets wrote down that they couldn’t figure out, and when they asked God to explain it to them He said, ‘No, it’s not for you to know. It’s for people over here to know.’

“There were some more things that needed to be revealed before the whole thing could be laid out.

“You and I as members of the Body of Christ are the first people in all of history who have ever had the COMPLETE revelation from God about His mind, will, purpose and counsels. We’re the first people who ever had a complete book. It’s all revealed. But until the Book was complete there were things back there they couldn’t know because it wasn’t revealed yet.”

(new article tomorrow)