|
"As
to this salvation, the Prophets who prophesied of the
grace that would come to you made careful searches and
inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the
Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He
predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to
follow. It was revealed to them that they were not
serving themselves, but you, in these things which now
have been announced to you through those who preached
the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven -
things into which angels long to look." 1 Peter 1:10-12
My aren’t we privileged?! Things which
never entered into the minds of generations past are now
revealed to the Church by the Holy Spirit which gives us
the very Mind of God, -"Things
which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which
have not entered the heart of man. . .For to us God
revealed them through the Spirit. . .Even so, the
thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. .
.But we have the Mind of Christ." (1 Cor.2)
It’s amazing to know that the holy
Prophets of old did not understand their prophecies
pertaining to the Church age and the dispensation of the
Spirit.
Oh, but how they yearned for the revelation. Our
text reveals that even the angels were left out of the
information loop and longed to look into the mysteries
freely given to the Church. "By
revelation there was made known to me the mystery. .
.which in other generations was not made known to the
sons of men. . .to bring to light. . .the mystery of the
ages which has been hidden in God. . .so that the
manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through
the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
places." (Eph.3) Wow!
Even the angelic hosts of heaven are learning the
mystery of God from the Church.
There is a common belief in Christianity that to
understand the New Testament writings you must first
understand the Old Testament writings. But is this
really the case? Perhaps the key word here is
"understand." If the Spirit-filled Prophets of old could
not truly understand what they were writing and why, but
were "serving" a future generation to which the
revelation would come, then we could not understand much
of the Old Testament without looking through the
Spiritual eyes of the Church -remember, the mysteries of
God are revealed through the Church.
I believe the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures
are revealed in the New Testament. Let’s look at a few
examples: Without the NT writings, would we understand
that the Passover lamb was a shadow of Jesus and was
pointing to the true Lamb of God? Would we understand
that the manna which God sent from above in the Sinai
wilderness really represented Jesus, the true bread of
life which would be sent later? The OT says to not
muzzle your ox while it is working, but the NT says, -"For
it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle
the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned
about oxen is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our
sake? Yes, for our sake it was written." (1 Cor.9) Meaning
that those who are in ministry should be paid.
The OT forbade yoking two animals together which were
not equal, but the NT reveals the true meaning - that
the saints should not marry unbelievers. In the NT we
learn that hatred breaks the sixth Commandment and that
lust breaks the seventh. "The
mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and
generations, but has now been manifested to His saints."
(Col.1)
The OT helps us better understand the NT, but without
the NT we cannot understand the OT. Let us look back
through the Spiritual eyes of the New, for to us alone
has revelation been given. WHAT AN HONOR! PRAISE HIM IN
THE HIGHEST!
|
