BLOG # 9 WHAT ANGELS LONG TO KNOW BUT NEVER WILL

Did you know that believers in Christ are the object of the attention of angels?

The Apostle Peter, in his letter to believers throughout the world of his day, said this: 

I Peter 1:10-12

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.  Even angels long to look into these things.”

What is it that makes us the object of angelic attention?  

What can we know that angels never can?  Keep reading!

One major difference between us and the good angels is that they still are what they were created to be – but you and I are not.  

Adam and Eve were beautiful beings, created by God to reflect His image and to live in a perfect environment where they lived in perfect harmony with Him – walking and talking together.

But then, sin entered the picture when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - and with sin came death – the death of the once intimate relationship Adam and Eve had with a holy God, and physical death – to a man and woman made to live forever.

Sin has been with us ever since – it’s in our genes, it’s part of our DNA.

It has infected all of us, enslaved all of us and cursed all of us with death and the fear of death.

Nobody escapes it.

BUT THEN GOD (three of my favorite words in the Bible!) provided a solution to the sin problem.

He sent His Son Jesus to be born as one of us – human. 

Angels participated in the announcement of His birth –

Gabriel appeared to the priest Zacharias telling him that he would have a son who would be the one to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah – that son was John the Baptist.

Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her should would have a child by the Holy Spirit and she was to name Him Jesus because He would save His people from their sins.

Then he appeared to Joseph, who was wavering about whether to marry Mary because she was pregnant with a child which was not his.  He told Joseph to go ahead and marry Mary because she would have a child of the Holy Spirit – He would be the long awaited Messiah.

When Jesus was born, a host of angels appeared to the shepherds announcing the birth of the child.

Jesus grew up to become a man, tempted as we are, yet without sin, and so able to become the perfect sacrifice, and to take upon HIMSELF the curse of sin, and die the death that was OURS.  He was the perfect sacrifice, the Only sacrifice which could once and for all forgive sin.  

In power Jesus rose again – proving Himself victorious over sin and death and the Only One able to save us.

When you and I grasp that truth BY FAITH (cause it’s only way we can grasp it), we are finally FREE – free from the penalty of death because Jesus took it for us, free from the power sin used to have over us, free to love God wholehearted and obey Him.  

Without Jesus, we found it impossible NOT to sin, but through faith in Jesus, we are finally free NOT TO SIN.

God’s provision for our salvation from sin is amazing, joy producing and wonderful – because it’s completely undeserved!

SO WHAT DO THE ANGELS THINK OF IT?

o   I Peter 1:12 “Even angels long to look into these things.”  What things?

o   The things pertaining to OUR salvation.

Do they long to look into them because they lack knowledge about God’s great plan of salvation?  NO.  

Being citizens of heaven itself, being present when the Lord Jesus descended and became one of us – they would have known all about God’s plan to save man from sin.

No, they long to look into the things pertaining to our salvation not because they lack the intellectual knowledge– but because they have never FELT salvation, never experienced it for themselves.  Our salvation, which they can never experience, makes them curious observers of US.

In I Peter 1, the Apostle mentions some things that are outside the range of what angels personally experience.

·         In verse 2, Peter addresses his letter to the “elect”, believers in Jesus scattered throughout the world of his day, who have been sanctified – set apart for God – through the sprinkling of Christ’s blood.

o   Because the holy angels don’t sin - they have never known, and never needed to know, the cleansing available to us constantly through the blood of Christ.  

·         In verse 3, he says:  “In His great mercy He has given us the new birth”.  When we trust in Christ, we are born again spiritually into a new life. Angels have remained the same since they were created, while God has changed us completely, from the inside, out.

o   Our new birth comes thru God’s great mercy – MERCY is an attribute God expresses toward us when He withholds from us the just punishment for sin that we deserve.  Since the angels have not sinned, they have never needed God’s mercy.

In verse 4, Peter says: “We have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for us”.   Angels already have what is theirs.  The treasures being stored in heaven now are for OUR benefit.

In verses 3 and 7: We read that we have a “living hope”,  - that our faith “will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  This is not a cross your fingers, pie in the sky hope, rather it is a CONFIDENT ASSURANCE!

o   The angels have no need of hope - because Christ’s glory is something they already see first hand.

In verse 8 Peter says:  “Even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him”.  

o   We believe – we have to walk by faith in a God we cannot SEE with our eyes.  The angels have no need of belief.  They know the Lord by sight, not by faith.

When Peter says angels long to look into these things – the Greek word meaning “look into”  doesn’t mean a casual peek.  It’s an intense term – it means not a quick glimpse, but a close up, detailed analysis.

o   Our salvation makes the angels intensely curious!

o   They wish they could see and feel and especially experience, the blessings of our salvation firsthand.

o   But what they can only LONG to experience, we CAN experience through faith in Christ.

The chorus of the hymn:  “Holy, Holy, Is What the Angels Sing”, expresses this well.  It says:

• o   Holy, Holy, is what the angels sing.
• o   And I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring.
• o   But when I sing redemption’s story, they will fold their wings,
• o   For angels never felt the joy that our salvation brings.

Even though angels can never experience the joy of our salvation – they rejoice over it.   Jesus said, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Angels can participate in the announcement of salvation. They can testify to God’s provision of salvation for sinners.   They can have joy over the repentance and salvation of sinners, but they can never experience it themselves.

Are you still looking at believers in Christ and wondering what it is they have that you don’t? 

 Put your faith in Jesus and wonder no more.  Your salvation will set the angels of heaven to rejoicing!