Commentary on First Peter (19)
Third, the prophets also knew "the time and circumstances" in which the sufferings and the glories of Christ would come about. Now, if we are not careful, we might misunderstand 1 Peter 1:11 as if it says that the prophets knew about the sufferings and the glories of Christ, but that they did not know about the time when these things would happen and the circumstances surrounding their occurrence. But Peter is saying the opposite of this, since what he says in verse 11 really leads to verse 12. This latter verse says, "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."
So they received revelation on top of revelation, and revelation that explained and extended previous revelation. Verses 10 and 11 say that when God revealed to the prophets things concerning the sufferings and the glories of Christ, they researched and investigated further concerning the "time and circumstances" of these events, so that these were revealed to them also (v. 12).
The verse literally says, "what, or what manner of time" (KJV, NKJV), and some argue for the translation, "what person or time" (RSV, NASB). I favor "time and circumstances" (NIV) or "time and situation" (God's Word Translation), but the point remains the same either way, since whatever the prophets were curious about, whether "time or circumstances" or "person or time," verse 12 says that it was revealed to them that they were speaking about a future period.
We will offer Daniel as an example, although we cannot take time to reproduce all the relevant verses. In 8:27, he says that a vision that he saw was "beyond understanding." But he was one who searched the Scripture for answers and pleaded in prayer for insights (9:2-3, 22-23, 10:12; 1 Peter 1:10-11).
So God gave him additional revelations: "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble" (9:24-25).
We need not examine the details of this passage to realize that it has something to do with the time and the circumstances surrounding the coming of Christ (see also 12:5-13). This is sufficient to illustrate our point. Another example is Isaiah, who foretold the birth of Christ, and the circumstances surrounding his birth, including his lineage (7:14, 9:6, 11:1). There is also Micah, who predicted the birthplace of Christ (5:2).
May 14 2006 | Expositions