“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.
1 Peter 1:3-12 (NIV)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith– of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
The prophets, who prophesied about the grace that was intended for us, prophesied about Jesus and His sacrifice. They prophesied about the glories that would follow His birth, life, death and resurrection. They prophesied about salvation, redemption, forgiveness from sin, clean hands, a new heart, God being our Father, us being God’s children, restoration of fellowship with God, and all nations worshipping Him. They longed for the relationship with God, which has now been offered to us. They longed to experience peace with God. They could only look forward to the coming Messiah. Jesus has already fulfilled those things that were prophesied. They were only counted righteous by their faith, but we are righteous by our faith.
We need to realize exactly what we have in and through Jesus Christ. Because of the lies of religion and the devil, we have been led to believe that God’s people of the Old Covenant had it better than we do. We think that they had some special relationship and position with God that we don’t have. But we are the privileged ones. Because Jesus was the firstborn from the dead — Old Covenant saints could not be born-again we can.
We have been told that miracles, signs and wonders were only for those who lived before us, but we have been given the Name of Jesus and He has commissioned us to do just what He did. We have more and can do more than those who went before us. Let’s face it — serving God with a brand-new heart is a lot easier than serving Him with an unrenewed heart.
We have been led to believe that the angels are better than we are, but they were created to be servants, not sons. We were created to be family of God the Father. What a privilege we have to experience redemption.
We are the redeemed of the Lord! Even angels long to look into the things that we can look into. They long to experience the intimate relationship with God that we have. We have not yet experienced the complete salvation of our minds and bodies. We will when we see Jesus, face to face, but we still have more than the Old Covenant saints and the angels. How blessed we are!
Never, ever take your salvation for granted. Be thankful always. Appreciate what God has done for you and be faithful to do the works of Jesus.
