Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

 Good morning. We ended last time talking about praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. Remember that Jesus told Thomas "because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." You believed without seeing. If a lawyer told you that you had inherited $1 million, you would be overjoyed even though you did not see it. The Bible tells us of things to come, and we are overjoyed, even though we cannot see them. Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glorious to follow. That must've driven them crazy. They knew what was to happen, but they did not know how it would come about. It also went counter to the belief that was at that time and in the time to follow. People were expecting the reigning Christ, not the suffering Messiah. But they had to say and write what the Spirit of God was telling them to. People were probably even wanting to kill them for what they said. When you believe something for a long time, you get upset when somebody says something different will happen. That can happen today, especially concerning the end times. Father thank You that the reader believes even though he/she has not seen. He/she rejoices greatly at the things that will come.