“The prophets... prophesied of the grace that should come unto you”―1 Peter 1:10.
TO the prophets of old it was given to predict that Christ was first to suffer and then to reign, but the time to elapse between these events was not revealed to them. They searched their own Scriptures as they sought to understand this (1 Peter 1:10-12). It is now that God has shown what would take place in the long interval, namely, the proclamation of the gospel among all nations and the gathering out of the Church, the Body of Christ.
When the angels announced the birth of Jesus, they spoke of peace on earth (Luke 2:14). When the children welcomed Him as He rode into Jerusalem they sang of peace in heaven (Luke 19:38). The change indicates what took place in the interval between these two proclamations. There can be no peace for the earth while the Prince of Peace is rejected.
“Oh, wonder of the love of God,
The which the soul o’erpowers!
This mortal track Thy feet hath trod
To make all heaven ours.
We did not seek Thy grace to find:
We would not heed Thy call:
The unregenerate heart and mind
Fast held us in their thrall.
We knew instinctively our need;
Our helplessness we knew,
And craving for the Life Indeed,
That was our spirit’s due:
Yet did Thy gentle patience wait
On our rebellious ways
That made the misery of our state,
The darkness of our days.”
—Lewis H. Court.