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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - 1 Peter 1:9 - 1:9
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Observe, 1. The end, that is, the reward, of a Christian's faith; it is the salvation of his soul; of his soul eminently, but not exclusively, of body and soul both. The complete salvation of soul and body both with Christ in heaven, shall be the end and reward of the believer's faith.
Observe, 2. The diligent search into, and enquiry after, the nature of this salvation, which was made by the prophets of the Old Testament: Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently; that is, by prayer, meditation, and study, they searched after the farther and clearer knowledge of this great salvation, and the kingdom of the Messiah, when should be the time of his sufferings and humiliation, which were to precede his glory and exaltation.
Observe, 3. The success of this their enquiry and search: they were answered by God, and received this revelation from him, that they themselves were not the men that should see the Messiah, and his special kingdom; and that the things which they prophesied of, were not to be fulfilled in their own times, but in after-times; and accordingly the things foretold by the prophets, he assures them, were clearly manifested to them by the apostles, who were endowed with an extraordinary measure of the Holy Spirit, sent down upon them at the day of Pentecost: Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things now reported unto you.
Observe, lastly, The sublimity and transcendant excellency of those gospel mysteries which are now revealed; they are so ravishing and transporting, that the holy angels desire to pry into them: Which things the angels desire to look into.
Learn thence, That the glorious mystery of man's redemption and salvation, by the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, is an object worthy of the adoring angels. They admire the person of the Redeemer, they admire the author and contriver of the work of redeemption, they admire the subjects redeemed, the admire the manner and method of our redemption, they admire the finally glorious state which the redeemed are brought into, and possessed of, and they pry into these things, as the cherubims looked upon the ark, with a curious and accurate inspection, with an earnest and affectionate inspection; they holily admire the wisdom of this glorious contrivance, though even their raised and enlarged capacities can never be able fully to comprehend it.