Looking like an angel

Last night at our church Bible Study several phrases struck me forcibly. One is where Peter tells us that angels long to look into the things of salvation (1 Peter 1:12).

This is obviously more than trivial knowledge. After all, God’s salvation is not for angels. But at the same time it is not of no concern to them. They minister to the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). So as God’s servants and agents they will have a desire to be fully informed about their charges and duties, and God’s purposes for them.

But, more than that, God’s purpose for the Church is to display his manifold wisdom to them (Ephesians 3:10). Little wonder that what happens to us is of intense interest to them. Daniel gives a tantalizing glimpse of those angelic discussions (Daniel 8:13; 12:5-7).

What struck me about this angelic longing was not that it happened, but that if they had no personal stake in salvation, as do we who are the heirs, how deep is our longing to look into the things of Christ?

How embarrassing could it be one day to bump into Gabriel and Michael discussing some aspect of salvation as they walk down the golden street. They turn to us and ask us to explain just what that passage in Jeremiah, or Ezekiel or wherever, means. And we have to admit that we haven’t studied that Bible passage ever! Perhaps we might have to admit that we never knew it was in Scripture.

If that isn’t an incentive to serious study of Scripture, I don’t know what is.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.