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1 Peter 1:12 "It was revealed to [the prophets] that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look."

 

Peter is writing to "the exiles of the Dispersion", early Christians who had been forced from their homes due to persecution of the new faith. He reminds them that the prophets of the Old Testament had prophesied the coming, the sufferings, and the glory of Christ without getting to see any of those things in their lifetimes. These new Christians, though, are the beneficiaries of the coming of the Messiah of whom the prophets spoke. The reason these exiles know Jesus is Messiah is in large part due to Him being the fulfillment of what the prophets said of Him. They are able to receive the grace of things into which angels long to look because Christ came and died for them, and because the prophets prepared them.

 

It is hard for me to fathom how both difficult and awesome it must have been as an early Christian. I have the benefit of 2,000 years of the Church being a reality in the world, and I live in a country that (most of the time😕) lets me practice my faith without interference, so I do not share in many of their same difficulties. At the same time, I often lack that sense of wonder that this all happened for us, for me; that everything the prophets went through, spoke of, and waited for has come to pass, and I am a beneficiary of it.

 

I should try to tap into that wonder more often. It is still true, we just can become separated from it by time and comfort. We are, just as much as the early Christians, the beneficiaries of things the prophets proclaimed without seeing; things into which the angels long to look, and that is wonderful, indeed!