1:2 "the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures"
Believers are set aside for the gospel of God. This good news is the fulfillment on a promise God proclaimed through the prophets. We are a part of something big! God has been preparing His people for this promise for a long time.
We sit in sight of this promise fulfilled and we are set aside to proclaim its fulfillment to those who do not yet know. The torch the prophets once carried has been passed on to us. We are God’s voice proclaiming the good news that God’s keeps His word and loves His people! We should count it as a gift to be entrusted with such good news so long in the making.
Why did God take so long to fulfill His promise? I believe it is all about God’s glory. God promises and prophets proclaim and those words are passed on from generation to generation each watching and waiting for God to do what He promised. Then when we finally see what we have been so eagerly waiting for we give glory to God and rejoice in the good news that God keeps His promises!
If God promised His grace and brought it shortly thereafter, a few would take note. Those who received this gift would surely be grateful. They would be as grateful much like children are to find presents under the tree on Christmas morning. They are happy, but the timing is expected and the gesture is soon overshadowed by something else. Instead the promise is made and shared. Many people believe and wait but they do not even live to see the promise fulfilled. Yet still they believe and they pass on news of the promise to future generations. More people wait. More people believe and hope and look to God. Then one day the faithfulness of this growing collective of believers is validated. God’s good news is proclaimed by those who believed He would do as he promised. Still others missed the gift because they (expecting things to be done their way) were looking for gifts under a tree, but the gift God had for humanity would be found on a cross.
Tye Parks 