"This is the salvation which the prophets were looking for". In linking the prophets with the salvation which we, baptized Christians, receive in hope, the First Letter of Peter affirms the unity of the Old and New Testaments. The new covenant made in the blood of Jesus sublimates and perfects the several covenants which God made with the people of Israel.

In reflecting on the mystery of Christian baptism, this Letter applies to Christians words originally addressed to Israel, such as the command: "Be holy, for I am holy."

The Psalm affirms that God has remembered his kindness and faithfulness towards Israel, but also holds out the hope that the ends of the earth, all the nations of the earth, would see the salvation which God desired us to receive in Christ.

For hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, Israel was without a prophet and it seemed that God had forgotten them. When Jesus was baptized, he saw the heavens opening: a symbol that God would once again speak to Israel. Now, however, God would speak to all nations through Jesus, for his salvation would reach to the ends of the earth.