The following devotional for this week is an excerpt from the Twelve Days of Christmas Outreach Project. As Christmas approaches, we know that many churches are seeking fresh and effective ways of sharing the Gospel. This year, SermonAudio is partnering with Great Writing Publications in this new outreach project. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is a 112 page book of 24 morning and evening devotional readings on the incarnation of Christ. It is our hope that the book will be an encouragement to Christians as well as a tool to introduce friends to the Gospel. Learn more and order here..Evening – Day 1: The Christmas Curiosity of the Angels
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. – 1 Peter 1:12
Why Angels Are Interested...
Why are the angels so interested in the salvation of sinners? We are not surprised to read that the prophets of the Old Testament “enquired and searched diligently” (v.10) regarding this matter of salvation. We can well understand them desiring to understand better those truths which they were prophesying. But what is this about the angels? Why do they marvel at the mercy of God?
We are out of our element here. Perhaps they study salvation out of amazement that God could love those who had so grievously sinned against Him and were, therefore, deserving of nothing but His wrath. The book of Jude tells us that there were also angels who fell into sin. These “kept not their first estate” because they rebelled against God, but there was no salvation provided for them. They have rather been “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day…” (Jude 6, see also 2 Peter 2:4). The fact there was no salvation offered for the fallen angels must have made salvation for fallen men and women even more amazing to the angels in heaven.
Perhaps the unfallen angels study salvation out of amazement that the Prince of Glory, the eternal Son of God, would stoop so low as to take to Himself the humanity of sinners, and in that humanity would suffer the hostility of sinners and die on a Roman cross.
Perhaps they study salvation out of amazement at the peace and joy of those who have received it. Could it be that there is among the angels a bit of envy (sinless envy, of course) for those of us who have been saved? Do the angels in heaven, who have not sinned and never needed mercy, find themselves wishing that they could experience the joy that such mercy brings? The author of this verse seemed to think along these lines:
When I sing redemption’s story,
The angels will fold their wings;
For angels never knew the joy
That my salvation brings.There is yet another reason the angels are so keenly interested in salvation. The angels are interested in anything that brings glory to God, and nothing so glorifies God as His wonderful work of salvation. This work displays His grace, His justice and His wisdom in such a way that the angels, who delight in His glory, cannot help but be fascinated by it.
In all likelihood the angels marvel at our salvation for all of these reasons and perhaps for reasons that have never even occurred to us.
The Challenge to Us
It is all well and good to know that the angels are interested in salvation, but what does it have to do with us? The fact is their interest in our redemption speaks a very powerful word to us.
The angels are God’s mighty ones who “excel in strength” (Ps. 103:20). The angels are God’s immortal ones who are beyond the reach of death. The angels are God’s faithful ones who ceaselessly and perfectly serve the God who made them (Heb. 1:7). And they stand in awe of redemption.
If God’s mighty, immortal and faithful ones stand in awe of redemption, how much more should those who are weak, dying, and sinful. If angels, who have never experienced salvation, are so keenly interested in it, how keen an interest should those have who have experienced it!
Is this the case? Is this characteristic of people who profess to know the Lord? Are we keenly interested in our Christ and the salvation He has provided? Is it evident to others that this is the main thing in our lives? Is there among us a keen interest in learning more about our salvation? Do we seize opportunities to study the Word of God? Do we have a keen interest in expressing gratitude to God for our salvation? Are we anxious to join in public worship and sing praises to His name? Are we eager to do whatever we can to advance His kingdom?
Can we take the following words and truthfully say them to ourselves:
Pause, my soul! adore and wonder!
Ask, “O why such love to me?”
Grace has put me in the number
Of the Savior’s family;
Hallelujah!
Thanks, Eternal Love, to thee!