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1 Peter 1:10-11
10 Of [peri] which [hos] salvation [soteria] the prophets [prophetes] have enquired [ekzeteo] and [kai] searched diligently [exereunao], who [ho] prophesied [propheteuo] of [peri] the grace [charis] that should come unto [eis] you [humas]:
11 Searching [ereunao] what [eis] [tis], or [e] what manner [poios] of time [kairos] the Spirit [pneuma] of Christ [Christos] which [ho] was in [en] them [autos] did signify [deloo], when it testified beforehand [promarturomai] the sufferings [pathema] of [eis] Christ [Christos], and [kai] the glory [doxa] that should follow [meta] [tauta]. KJV-Interlinear
10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, 11 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. NASB
The salvation, mentioned at the beginning of verse ten, and the glories to follow, mentioned at the end of verse eleven, refer to the entire scope of Gods plan.
The prophets, refers to all of the Old Testament people who were involved in the writing, study, review, and dissemination of the scriptures whether written or spoken orally, as handed down from generation to generation, from the time of Adam to the time of Christ.
All of these folks, and all of the folks who were intensely interested in God and the stories of the gospel as they knew it, studied intensely, questioned intensely, examined intensely, the time, the place, the who, what, when, where, and how’s of Gods plan.
Search diligently, means to search as a prospector searches intensely through soil and sand, for the tiniest grains of gold.
From history we know of those who searched intensely for gold. Many were thought to be fools as they dedicated their lives in the search for gold.
But here the intenseness of that search is in view. The prophets searched and examined the scriptures for clues as to the dates and times and the who’s of history, with regard to the Savior, His coming and His sacrifice.
And more than this, they searched to know and understand the glories that would follow the Saviors’ sacrifice, namely the glories of the Savior (death, burial, resurrection, ascension, session) as well as the promises for those who would be saved and bound for heaven (our eternal blessings).
This teaches us that from the time of Adam, and throughout the many thousands of years of the Old Testament times, people knew of and understood the plan of God. They may not have known the dates, or the who’s in history, just as we do not know the date of the Rapture, nor the who’s of the anti-christ, which will not be revealed until the Tribulation begins, but we do know that there is a plan and that it will occur sometime in the near future.
Whether it is a day away, a year away, or a century away, makes no difference, because our priority is to grow up in our individual spiritual life. God will take care of the details of the overall human history timeline.
The spirit of Christ in them, means just that. Those folks in the Old Testament days, were saved by their faith in a promised Messiah, a promised Savior. They may not have known His name, although in the Hebrew, the word for Jesus is the same as the word Joshua, and the word for Messiah, is the same word as Christ.
Jesus Christ being from the Greek, and Joshua Messiah being Hebrew words. Both of these sets of words mean ‘The anointed one from God, is God.’
The subject of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is Jesus Christ, Himself, the doctrines of God, the plan of God, the spiritual realm from God. And, the entire Bible, from beginning to end, is consistent throughout with regard to Christ, doctrine, His plan, and our individual spiritual lives.
The only differences between them and us, is that we look back historically to the Cross, which has occurred, and they looked forward to the promise of the Sacrifice. In every other case, the function of their daily spiritual lives and our daily spiritual lives are the same, in how we think.
They held offerings and sacrifices, which were teaching aids for learning doctrine as doctrine was taught during the sacrifice process, just as we hold our daily offerings and sacrifices (so to speak) by means of our daily Bible study.
The details of our respective lives may be different but the subject matter is exactly the same. Salvation by faith, fellowship by confession, spiritual growth by the application of doctrine, spiritual power by faith.
