I recently had a conversation with a man who wanted me to read a book that was given to him. The book was written by a man who claimed to have died and gone to heaven and come back again. I told the man I was not interested in reading the book. I quoted Hebrews 9:27 to this man. I do not need to read someone’s deceptions of what he claims to have witnessed. The devil is very good at giving people dreams and visions. No one can have a legitimate story of dying and going to heaven and coming back again. It just does not happen.
This same man also told me that the man who gave him this book had prayed over him many times and at the end, declared the man saved. I explained to this man that salvation is something he needs to seek for himself. The Bible declares that salvation is a gift of God that is provided to those who will turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. The man thanked me for this information. Hopefully we can meet again and continue this conversation. This man is curious, but not yet ready to follow the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. He is not ready to be saved at this point. It would not have helped me to lead this man in a prayer. He needs to yield to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. He already has a false sense of security, which he admitted is not very secure. He needs to trust in the true God for his salvation. The multitude of false teaching is clearly evidence in this man’s life. This false teaching is designed by the devil to keep people from knowing the truth.
In our text, Peter was directed by God to speak about true salvation. The “strangers” he was addressing had received this wonderful gift of God. In verse 10 Peter stated that the prophets had enquired and searched diligently of this salvation. The Old Testament prophets did not have the understanding that Peter had. However, they had enough understanding to trust in God’s promises. The prophets trusted in the promises of God and they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. These prophets are saved the same way that anyone else is saved. They trusted in God’s promise and when Jesus Christ came, He shed His blood and died for all. He made it possible for those prophets of old to be released from “Abraham’s bosom” and to be brought into heaven. One day their bodies will be resurrected and reunited with their souls.
The Old Testament prophets prophesied about something they did not fully understand. They know the fulness of that promise now. They lived by faith. Their faith was in the God Who cannot lie and He has rewarded them for trusting in Him.
In verse 11 Peter continued to speak of the limited understanding that the Old Testament saints had. Men like Zacharias had difficulty accepting all that God told him. He was a faithful man, but some of the things that were going to happen seemed impossible. Zacharias was shown that it was wrong for him to doubt what he could not understand, when the message came from God. Jews like Peter had difficulty accepting that Jesus needed to suffer and die for mankind. How can salvation come through death? Peter too, needed to learn to accept the facts and set aside his doubts. Certainly what he and others were told, was strange. However it was true. In Acts 2 we see that things changed drastically for the apostles. They now had the necessary help to accept God’s truths in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was and is the fulfilment of the Old Testament sacrifices. No longer would bulls and goats be required to atone for man’s sins. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. However Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God ,would take away the sins of the world. What the Old Testament saints did not see was that Jesus Christ not only died, but He rose again.
In verse 12 we see further that the Old Testament prophets were a unique people. They did not have all the details that Peter now had. Men like Daniel were told things to come, but they did not understand what they were given. Daniel was told to trust God and to seal the matter until the time of the end. God was not being mean to him or others. God unfolded His plan according to His timetable. Today, we have been given more information, but we still need to trust God for things we can understand as well as for things we do not fully understand.
There are many people who have adopted a false belief of salvation because they refuse to accept what the Bible says. They like a more humanistic approach to the matter. Many people are missing out on God’s salvation because they will not trust in the true God.
Men like Daniel prophesied of things that have since been fulfilled. He also prophesied of things that are yet going to be fulfilled. Isaiah also prophesied of things to come. He prophesied of a virgin that should have a son. He prophesied of the blessed nature of the promised Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah wrote these words down. God gave him these words. Yet they were not fulfilled in his time. They were fulfilled several hundred years later. We have the privilege of knowing that this child is Jesus Christ. He is Wonderful. He is so much greater than we can fully know. He is the Counsellor. We do not need secular counsellors. They mess with people’s minds but they have nothing to offer. They spend years studying things from an evolutionary perspective and from the perspective that there is no such a thing as one true God. They struggle to find answers to the many questions that people have. They come up empty every time.
Jesus Christ is the Counsellor that understands the need of man and He has and He is the answer to man’s need. He is the mighty God. If He were not God, He could not save us. The cults deny the deity of Jesus Christ and they rob themselves of God’s salvation. He is also the everlasting Father. There is a unity in the Godhead that is unique to the Godhead. They cannot be divided. They are one.
Jesus Christ is also the Prince of Peace. Isaiah lived in a time when Israel was not at peace. There was much turmoil in his day. Daniel also did not live in a time of peace. However, these men and other God-fearing men, could be at peace with God, in the midst of a very troubled world. The same is true for us today. We can be at peace with God in the midst of a very troubled world.
Peter stated that the Holy Ghost had helped them to understand and speak of things that were hidden from Old Testament saints. Peter’s understanding was opened in Acts 2. The same is true for all the apostles. They were different men after that. They could speak with confidence of things that were a mystery before.
Peter also stated that the angels desire to look into this salvation, but it is not given them to understand it. Angels cannot be saved. Angels were created by God and they were created without sin. Satan and 1/3 of the angels fell and they cannot be saved. They cannot repent and be forgiven. Jesus Christ did not come to die for angels. He came to die for mankind. He shed His blood so that any man (person) can be forgiven and saved. The true angels do not understand salvation. They can observe what they see in born again Christians, but they will never be able to experience what a true child of God receives as a gift of God.
Salvation is not complicated to receive. However, the blessings of salvation are so bountiful that we cannot grasp all there is in salvation now. We will grasp it when we meet the Lord and are with Him in eternity. The lost today still reject the truth, because the “natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:

I Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.