SUBJ: The salvation that was prophesied and experienced by faithful men who foresaw Christ and the revelation of the Gospel which included His sufferings and the glory that followed.

AIM: That we might receive and rest in that which was determined in eternity, prophesied in the past, and brought to fruition in the coming of Christ into the world.

INTR: In writing to a troubled people, Peter would have them to know more of Him who they trusted, be more assured of their interest in Him, and that it had been certified by His prophesied suffering and glory.
1. They would thereby have their faith solidified and encouraged as they reflected on the outpouring of the love of Christ as is registered in His suffering.
2. They (we) gain new insights into the things of Christ in tracing the anticipation of His coming back through the ages.
3. It was not a new thing they were hearing, nor will it ever change; it is the stuff of the faith of Abraham.

THESIS: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). In that He changes not we are forever assured as we come unto God by Him.

I. The work of the prophets (v. 10)
1. Who were they? 2 pet 2: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21.
2. Diligence was their manner as they literally mined for the promises found in Scripture and given them by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
3. They found it in the Word of God (Genesis 3:15); the promise to Abraham, and the types and shadows from the Law and other places.
4. They understood and prophesied of necessary grace and realized that the unspeakable gift of God was a person – so they prayed, they read, they observed, and waited for the revelations of the Spirit of Christ in them.
5. They spoke of justification: Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4.
6. Ezekiel spoke of regeneration and a new heart: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26, and Jeremiah wrote of writing the law in the hearts of men.
7. They knew of the grace of God and waited for Christ to appear.

II. The focus of the prophets (v. 11)
1. They were inspired by the Spirit of Christ to write and were so filled with the desire to know and worship.
2. At least one of them had some revelation of the timing. We learn from Daniel’s seventy weeks.
3. It seemed that the Jews of Christ’s day had lost sight of the words of the prophets that Peter speaks of here.
1) Despite all the miracles they witnessed – faith was absent!
2) Despite all the suffering they both saw and inflicted on Christ they rejected Him.
3) These men knew of His sufferings: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10.
4) And we see further: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? Psalms 22:1.
4. And the glory to follow: For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Psalms 16:10. AND see again Isaiah 53:10.

III. The revelation to the prophets about us (v. 12)
1. That they were still in the unfolding process of all that God would reveal in the salvation of His people.
2. These men understood sufficiently and by faith like Abraham believed God.
1) They thus are witnesses to us of the eternal reality of truth as it is in Jesus.
2) They continued to search and acted in submission to God in all they learned.
3. But they knew that it would be for another people in another time that would witness the resurrection of Christ from the dead and His ascension back to glory there to await the consummation of it all to the glory of God.
4. The Gospel they knew is now fulfilled by the preaching of a risen Christ.
5. The coming of Christ into the world, this salvation they prophesied, is the witness of those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ and are partakers of His divine nature.
6. Christ and all that pertains to Him is the reason of a diligent search by the prophets and the curiosity of the Angels.