Our Daily Bread

1 Peter 1:3-12 

Praise to God for a Living Hope

3Praise 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, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though 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, 9for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12It 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. 

 

Devotional

Rubberneck

- Dennis Fisher
Have you ever watched people at a tourist spot? At places like the Coliseum in Rome, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, or the Grand Canyon in Arizona, visitors strain their necks to get a better view. Some call this “rubbernecking,” which means “to observe with curiosity.”
The Bible tells us that such fascination also goes on in the heavenly places. The apostle Peter pulls back the curtain of heaven to let us see angels gazing at God’s plan of redemption—“things which angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12). The Greek word translated “look into” means “to stoop and look at carefully with curiosity.”
But why are angels so fascinated by man’s salvation? The most likely explanation is that they are amazed at the astonishing way God solved the problem of sin (Eph. 3:8-12). The cross was the means by which God provided His Son as the righteous substitute to pay the penalty for sin while upholding His holy standard (Rom. 3:19- 31). God now provides redemption to any human being who will repent, believe, and receive it.
Are you thankful for your salvation? The angels are! They rejoice every time a sinner repents and puts his faith in Christ (Luke 15:10).
I look at the cross upon Calvary,
And O what a wonder divine!
To think of the wealth it holds for me—
The riches of heaven are mine. —Christiansen
The cross of Christ is the bridge between God and man.