Aloha brother Forrest,
You keep asking excellent questions and making some very good points.
Please consider these verses in regards to your Post #49.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
I couldn't post the following verses without including the prior verses - I'm trying to keep the issue in "context".
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently , who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12 Unto whom it was revealed, that NOT unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are NOW reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
These verses are simply saying that although "
the sufferings of Christ" and
"the glory that should follow" were "prophesied" by the prophets - they (the prophets) did NOT "understand" what in the world "the Spirit of Christ" ("which was
in them" when they did prophesy) was saying! They "prophesied", but they didn't understand their own prophesies! {And although they "searched diligently" - they could not figure it out!
The prophets surely prophesied about "salvation"; God's "grace"; and "what manner of time" these things would happen, but it wasn't until
AFTER the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ did He
reveal the true application and import of these prophesies to His disciples and then, even more fully, to the Apostle Paul.
The verses are clear. The prophets prophesied the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The "problem" they had was they couldn't understand or distinguish the "difference" between his "First" Coming {the suffering & death}; and the Second Coming {The Glory}. and the reason for that was the "MYSTERY" {the church of God} that no one in the Old Testament (All of the Jewish Prophets, Kings, etc.) knew anything about
:
[Ephesians 3:6 That the
Gentiles should be
fellowheirs, and of the
same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
]
I still have to answer the rest of your original questions, but I thought I would give you a little bit more "to chew on".
