14 — Wonder of Angels

Chapter 14 CHRIST’S GLORY THE WONDER OF ANGLES From the fact that God has chosen this world to be the theater of the great Redemption, the inference cannot be fairly drawn, that all the benefits of this stupendous work are confined to this world. We have our own special concern in it as fallen creatures; but others observe it as well as we, and may, peradventure, learn more from it than we ourselves learn, Men are not the only race of intelligences in the universe; some there may be that are lower; that there are those who are higher is distinctly revealed to us. We have frequent notices of the existence of a class of intelligences existing in another state of being, and constituting a celestial family, or hierarchy, over which God immediately presides. They are of different orders, and, it would seem, form a chain of beings which fill up the chasm between the infinite Creator and the creature man. We know nothing of them except from the Bible; while from this source our knowledge is collected from hints and fragments, rather than from any historic or dogmatic statement. They are spiritual beings, of intelligent and holy character; and in those instances in which they have appeared to men they have appeared in human forms, in robes of purity, and with emblems of power. When sent on errands of mercy, their countenances are full of light and love; full of terror when bearing messages of judgment. They are described in the New Testament as young men whose countenance is like lightning, and whose raiment is white as snow. They stand in the presence of God; are ministering spirits to them that shall be the heirs of salvation; and in the execution of this office are sometimes clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow about their head.

We probably have very inadequate views of the number of these holy and heavenly intelligences. They are represented as a "host," and as "the host of heaven," standing on the right and the left of the celestial throne; as "thousands of angels;" as " thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand;" as " more than twelve legions;" as " a great multitude of the heavenly host," and as an innumerable company of angels." It is said of them that they " excel in strength;" that they are " great in power and might," and that their activity and power are such that they fly from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven, with a swiftness that is inconceivable to men. The object of the present chapter is to speak of the fact, itself that angels take a deep interest in the Person of Christ; to show why they feel this interest; and to advert to impressions which their views of his glory make upon their own minds.

We will, in the first place, advert to the fact ITSELF, THAT ANGELIC EXISTENCES FEEL A DEEP INTEREST IN THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST.

Although these celestial messengers have no personal interest in the redemption of Christ, because they are not sinners; yet are they represented as " desiring to look into it." One of the great truths enumerated by the Apostle Paul as connected with the history of God manifest in the flesh, is that he was " seen of angels." The same apostle, in addressing the church of Ephesus, distinctly informs us, that it was " the intent" of this redemption, that " now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places "might be known the manifold wisdom of God." It is a curious fact, also, that in the great epoch of the Saviour’s history, we find these angel ministrations; ever and anon the angels of God are about his path, and hovering over him. There is an intercourse kept up between them, as though the association were mutually expected and delightful.

Men " see through a glass darkly," both from the imperfection of their intellectual powers, the sinfulness of their character, and the remoteness of their position from celestial objects. Angels possess thought and intelligence far above that which is human; while their proximity to heavenly things enables them to behold them without any intervening obstruction. We are ignorant of the laws of their intercourse with one another, and with the great and glorious objects around them; yet in those instances in which they have appeared among men, the medium of their perceptions seems to have been not unlike our own. Their views and emotions were communicated just as we communicate ours; and their perceptions, though more extensively intuitive, are derived from sources of knowledge more proximate and more clear, indeed, but such as are revealed to men. When the revelation was first made known in heaven that he was to take upon him "not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham," there is no doubt they regarded the intelligence with astonishment; and when he assumed man’s nature, and made known the great objects he had in view by this assumption, while a part of their number revolted from this service as an indignity to their exalted rank, those who remained loyal held themselves ready to promote this glorious design in all the ways by which their loyalty to the Son of God and their love for man could be expressed. They regarded him with high interest as their Maker and Lord; but when he veiled his divine glory, and was made of a woman and made under the law, they regarded him with new interest, and with an admiration still more profound. Some of them had, from time to time, attended on their adorable Master when he made a transient appearance to the patriarchs as a prelude and earnest of his actual coming in the flesh; and now they saw the whole import of that incarnation. Centuries before, it had been predicted that his " name shall be called Wonderful;" and now the wonder was realized. They beheld his glory; it was a rapturous view to them of those councils of peace which had been made known in heaven. They had seen that there was no hope for the apostate rebels of their own race; and they waited with eager expectation to see the problem solved, how God could be "just, and the justifier of the ungodly;" how Satan could be baffled in his mischievous and successful device of man’s apostasy; how snail’s restoration and happiness could be rendered consistent with the support of the divine government and the authority of the divine law, and the whole enterprise be so conducted as to save the Deity, harmless, and even augment the lustre of his throne. When the eternal Word bowed his heavens, and they beheld the child that was born, they saw the mystery of godliness thus far explained. They were expecting this event; and Gabriel was sent to foretell it to his virgin mother. And when she brought forth her first-born and laid him in the manger, one of them was commissioned to make it known to the shepherds, while " suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will to men!" They even indicated the place of his birth to the astonished shepherds; and it was in obedience to their angelic directions that these men went to Bethlehem and "found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." This was but the beginning of their admiration. When the eastern sages worshiped him, angels beheld the sight; and they saw how and why it was, that "Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled." They saw his flight into Egypt, wondering why men should take the alarm, because the God of love had come to dwell on the earth. They saw his return to Nazareth, and witnessed the purity and devotion of his private life, and marked how this remarkable Personage " grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man." Night and day did they observe him, for they had never seen such a sight before; " a sinless child, a sinless youth, a sinless man," among the descendants of Adam! It was a wondrous object they thus beheld in humble retirement, and before he launched upon more troubled scenes and agitated seas. It was not in his true glory that he even then appeared to them; but they thought not the less of him for appearing in this strange disguise. He was not disguised to them; they knew him well; and they joyfully discerned in his person and conduct, that greatness and goodness, that beauty of holiness, which outshone all their own, and made them veil their faces in his presence. A palace and a throne would have added nothing to him in their estimation; nor the riches of the world, even though for our sakes he became poor. Nor would it have increased his glory in their view, if, instead of the reproaches that were cast upon him, his name had been always mingled with the hosannas of the people. For thirty years of his short life, he remained thus in comparative retirement; and they saw him all the while. But when he came forth to the world, and published the errand on which he came, they also published and confirmed it. He was seen of them when John baptized him in Jordan; and when he came up from the river, they heard the voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!" In his forty days dwelling in the wilderness they watched him, solitary and alone among beasts and devils; they saw his conflicts, and when "the Devil leaveth him, behold angels came and ministered unto him." They saw his miracles; and were held in astonishment at the power of the Great Healer. They heard the contradiction of sinners against him; and were the witnesses of his patience and. meekness under it all. When he was transfigured on the Mount, they saw him; and rejoiced at this prelibation of his coming glory. In Gethsemane they, beheld him, burdened and distressed; and they heard the cry, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" They were the witnesses of that deep distress; and, strange and wondrous errand, so abject was his condition, and so high their privilege, that " an angel appeared strengthening him!" They saw him betrayed and apprehended; and legions of them stood ready to rescue him at his Father’s bidding. They saw him arraigned, accused, insulted, blindfolded, spit upon, dragged from hall to hall, scourged, crowned with thorns, and at last condemned as a malefactor. They saw him led out to Calvary; they stood still, because heaven stood still; and this commandment they received from their Lord, while the high and holy and harmless One was laid on the cross, transfixed with nails, raised up in agony to be a gazing-stock to the infuriate populace, and inhumanly derided in his agonies. He was seen and heard of angels, when he cast that look of pity on the dying thief; and when he uttered those words of filial love and duty on behalf of his weeping mother. They heard that prayer for his enemies, and that final sentence, " It is finished!" They saw him expire, taken down, and laid in the tomb of Joseph. Where the soldiers watched, they kept watch also over his lifeless body. And as soon as the third day began to dawn, one of them appeared and rolled away the rock that was upon the mouth of the sepulcher, and for " fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men." They saw him rise from the dead, and were in waiting in shining apparel, to announce the joyful tidings to his disciples, " He is not here, he is risen!" And when forty days afterward, he was received up into glory, they stood by and saw him go up. Nay, they tarried awhile to console his mourning disciples, with the assurance of his coming again a second time, without sin unto salvation. They conducted him to his throne in triumph; shouted his return in joyous praises, and though they have not learned the notes of the redeemed, they cried with a loud voice, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in." After he ascended, also, they saw and honored him. They beheld his glory in the "ministration of the Spirit." And if " there is joy in heaven among the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth," what a jubilee was the day of Pentecost to angels! And how often has that jubilee been repeated; and those angelic triumphs, how sweetly have they reverberated, and how are they destined to prolong their echo! Nor does their admiration stop here. In the future and final administration of the Mediator’s government on the earth, they still bear a part. They are commissioned by him to sound one trumpet and one woe after another, in order to prepare the way for his Last Advent. Nay more, at his command " the angels come forth to sever the wicked from among the just," and to "gather his saints together who have made a covenant with him by sacrifice." And when he shall come to judge the world in righteousness, they shall be his glorious attendants; "the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him." They are now, they shall be ever, enveloped with his glory; his glory, from first to last, is their wonder and admiration.

Thus true is it that the glory of Christ is the admiration of angels. Men admire other things. They are intent on the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, and fame. They gaze with admiration on the beauty and majesty of the outstretched earth, and the splendor of the starry heavens. Its princes and its palaces, its proud cities and gorgeous temples, and the solemnity and pomp of their religious worship, these excite their wonder. Angels look at Christ and admire his great glory. This world did not contain such another Personage, nor present a scene half so glorious in their eyes. The splendid court of princes had no charms for them, compared with Mary’s Son. The wealth and honors, the learning and splendor of earth they could not look at, so long as their eye might be fixed on Jesus. Its men, its virtues, were lost sight of, while they might behold him, and be conversant with one so holy and harmless, so undefiled and separate from sinners. Jerusalem with its gorgeous Temple made with hands, they cared not for, so long as they could see him within its sacred courts, and hear him disputing with its learned masters. Its sacred ark and vestal fires were of little moment to them. The ark was gone, the primitive fires on its altars were extinguished. The Temple needed them not, for he filled it who was its glory, and who made the glory of the latter greater than the glory of the former house. This earth did not contain such another Personage, nor present a scene half so glorious in their eyes, as this ever-blessed and adorable Redeemer.

We proceed in the next place, to THE REASON OF THEIR DEVOUT ADMIRATION.

Here we remark, in the first place, angels were made the spectators of these things, that they might he the witnesses of them. It is well for Christianity, that its Author is thus glorious in the eyes of angels. They are his witnesses as well as men. In every view, their testimony to the great facts in the history of Christ, is of weight in the argument in favor of the truth of Christianity. These facts, as we have had occasion frequently to remark, lie at the basis of that religion that is revealed from heaven. He who believes these facts to be true, and treats them as true, is a Christian. He who rejects them, or gives his cold and bald assent to them, without trusting in them, is an infidel. We say nothing of other evidence; God himself summons his angels from heaven to bear witness to these great and glorious realities. They were eye-witnesses of them; and they have more than once come down from their high abodes to give their testimony. In bright array they stand before men as the Saviour’s witnesses. Men may think little of this testimony; but it will be found to have either a justifying or condemning power. We may, or may not give credence to such testimony, but it is given to us. And it will be given at another day, when the universe shall hear it, and shall know that the witness they bear is true. In the next place, He whom they thus saw and admired is worthy of their intense regard. He was manifested in the flesh, but he is their Creator; he is that eternal Word without whom not one of them was made. He was in low attire, but more exalted than they; " for to which of the angels saith God at any time. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?" God requires of them this respectful, this venerating, this devotional regard, to his well-beloved and only-begotten Son. When he bringeth his only-begotten into the world, he saith, " Let all the angels of God worship him." In his human nature, he is the " head of the creation of God." It is his purpose, "in the dispensation of the fulness of time, to gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him." It is but taking their place and giving him his, to watch him at every step? of his career; and never are they so exalted as when thus observing and thus ministering to their Creator and Lord. God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of " things in heaven, as well as things upon the earth." Believers on the earth, in the homage they pay to the Incarnate God, are only " come to" and sympathize with, an " innumerable company of angels." We know not all the relations which exist between Christ and these unfallen spirits; but they well understand that his assumption of human nature, and his official capacity and subordination to the Father, abate nothing of his essential claims as " over all God blessed forever." Angels celebrate the glory with which he is invested, because all power is given to him in heaven and on earth; boundless resources are his; to him belongs the homage of the universe. In their admiring views of Christ, there is also a beautiful exhibition of the angelic character. They are not of the moral temperament which allows them to be indifferent to any of God’s works, or to any of the manifestations of his excellence; much less to this great impersonation of the Deity; or to his redemption, which is the greatest, the brightest, of all his works. They were filled with wonder, because he was manifested for the purpose of destroying the works of the Devil, and establishing and perpetuating on the earth, the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost. God has taken occasion thus to turn the apostasy of man to good account, and thereby to illustrate his own wisdom and all-sufficiency, and to express at once the glory of his justice and the riches of his grace. Angels would do violence to their own nature, not to worship at his cross, and bow at his throne. Here is the showing forth of his glory, and the exact representation of his essence. On the wondrous facts of his mediation, these lofty intelligences delight to meditate, because they are benevolent beings; this greatest expression of benevolence and love that was ever made, must necessarily attract their attention. They are holy beings; and it cannot but be delightful to their holy minds, to see the multitudes once totally defiled with sin, now, and hereafter, to be washed, and sanctified, and restored to perfect purity. They the friends of God, of order, of law, and of good government; and in this Deity Incarnate, and his triumph on the cross, there is a sure and certain pledge of the happy issue of all the events of time, and the everlasting security of the divine empire. Nor may the thought be overlooked, that angels themselves are the gainers by this great redemption. Though not the objects of it, it consults their character, their honor, their joys. Though they form no part of Christ’s redeemed kingdom, yet are they brought under the same rule, and authority, and Prince. It is the object of his incarnation, to bring the whole unfallen and redeemed creation into one family, and into closer union with himself Through this great work they are expecting to see the terrible breach repaired, that was made by the rebellion and fall of so many of their own once holy society; and as those vacant mansions are thus replenished, to unite with the restored millions of our race in the sacred joys of their obedience and praise. There is, and there will be forever, a heartfelt union between the saved of our race and angels, which never would have been known, but for Christ.

It is natural to ask, as the last topic of our illustration, what are some of the impressions which their view of the Redeemer’s glory must make on these angelic minds? We know nothing what these impressions are, except as they are revealed to us in the Scriptures, and from what we know of angels themselves. Their impressions must be worthy of their holy natures, and of the vast intellect with which their Master has gifted them. They are, and ever have been, disposed to look with a friendly, gratified eye, on all that God has done. They are capable of very strong and intense impressions, and there is nothing more fitted to produce them than this Incarnate Deity, and the objects and purposes for which he came into the world. Their views of Christ must, therefore. In the first place, greatly augment their love and admiration of God himself. Every new view of God increases their obligations to love and admire him; and here they have the clearest and most enlarged views. There is every reason to believe that even their intellectual and moral powers become invigorated by this service; and that in this contemplation of the Deity their minds become greatly expanded, and their hearts greatly enlarged. Their love of him must be inflamed, and their confidence in him greatly strengthened, by their views of him as manifested in the flesh. It must fill them with unbounded admiration of his manifold wisdom, his strange condescension, his matchless love and grace, his equal justice, his inviolable truth, and all his glowing excellencies and unfolding purposes, as they thus shine in the face of his Son. It is altogether a new view of God, and such as they never had before; and it is a most delightful view. The prophet Isaiah once had a remarkable vision of the angels, as they themselves fixed their minds upon the Incarnate Deity. "I saw the Lord," says he, "high and lifted up; and his train filled the Temple. Above it stood the seraphim, each one had six wings; with twain he covered his feet, with twain he covered his face, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" These were very deep and strong impressions. They were heartfelt and thrilling impressions, whenever those pure and lofty spirits caught a view of Jesus. There is no object which they looked upon with half the admiration of the Deity, with which they looked upon him. This wide universe they had explored, but nowhere saw so much of God, and so much to admire, as in the Person of his Son. For ages and ages have they traveled over the vast empire of Jehovah, to observe and mark where and what could give them the most admiring views of God; but they always came back to gaze upon the manger and the cross.

It is quite obvious, in the next place, that their views of the glory of Christ, communicate to their mind deep impressions of the sovereignty of God in providing a Saviour for men and not for the fallen of their own race. Those of their own race who fell, once stood upon as solid and lofty an eminence as the unfallen; but God suffered them to fall, and now they are "reserved in chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the Great Day." God kept these holy and favored ones, else they would have fallen too. And deep must be their sense of dependence, and most deep their gratitude. When a portion of their own once holy and happy race thus fell, they fell without remedy and without hope. There was no helper — no mystery of godliness — no God manifest in the flesh, preached to them, or to be received by them. When angels beheld him as the appointed Saviour for men it was an impressive, an amazing view, of his amiable and awful sovereignty, who "has a right to do what he will with his own." It was an instructive and memorable view; it was a test of their submission to God’s supremacy; it proved their submission, and that instead of finding fault with God because he thus " had mercy on whom he would have mercy," they rejoiced in his government, and even became ministering spirits to them who should be heirs of salvation, in preference to the fallen of their own race. Their views of Jesus must also, in the next place, give them strong impressions of the evil of sinning against God. The time was when they had the knowledge of good, but no knowledge of evil. Until a part of their own race fell, they had no conception of what it was to do wrong; there never had been an act of wrong in the universe; nor had they any conception of what it was to be tempted to such an act. When Lucifer fell, they saw what it was; and it was a terrible view when they saw him and his guilty confederates forever banished down to hell. When Adam fell, they saw what it was, and what a fearful curse rested upon all the successive generations of men! But when the Son of God, their Lord and Maker, stooped so low; when he descended lower than the nature of angels, and condescended to abject men; and when he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross — and all because he took the sinners’ place — then they saw what it was to sin. Not Lucifer’s expulsion from heaven, nor Adam’s exile from Paradise, nor the flood that swept away the antediluvian world, nor the fires that rained on Sodom and Gomorrah taught them what the death of Jesus taught them. If they had never seen Jesus suffer, never would they have had so deep impressions of the evil of sin. They do not wonder now, at the justice that condemns the sinner. No marvel that God spared not the angels who fell, when he spared not his Son; no marvel that he spares not sinners of our guilty race, if he spares not his well-beloved Son. In their views of this glorious Saviour they also have new views of all the works and ways of God. From the time of their creation to the fall of Adam and the announcement of the method of redemption by Christ, they must have been a mystery to themselves, and known comparatively little of the high and great work for which they were brought into existence. But when Christ was revealed, they saw themselves, and all things in a new and splendid light. New glory was given to the Deity; a new face was put upon all his creation and works; upon angels and upon men; upon time and eternity; upon the church and the world; upon the method of God’s grace and the method of his justice; upon everything in the universe of God; and especially upon that great and glorious end which Christ came to accomplish. God manifest in the flesh is the luminous truth that pours light upon every other and all other mysteries. Where sin abounds, it makes grace much more abound; where darkness covers the earth, it chases the darkness away; it swallows up death in victory. We ourselves are babes in knowledge; and the more so for want of clear and impressive views of the work of Christ. Angels do not see all that is to be seen; but they see most when they see most of the Person, purposes, and work of Christ. New light is every day pouring in upon their astonished minds; the glory of Christ is still the subject of their new and more engaging, and rapturous contemplations; and their knowledge, holiness, and happiness still find their aliment in him who is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his Person.

Such are the views of angels of the glory of Christ; such some of the thoughts which arrest their attention in their contemplations of his glory; and such some of the impressions which a view of his glory makes on their holy minds. Does not this conduct of angels rebuke the thoughtlessness and indifference of wicked men? What shall we say of those who take no notice of that which angels stoop down to look into! Is Jesus thus admired of angels, and shall he be despised and rejected of men? Do angels veil their faces with adoring reverence before him, and will men turn away their faces from him through shame? This is strange delusion, else is it sin beyond the sin of devils. O foul ingratitude! blackest crime! thus to contemn him whom all heaven adores! Men have an interest in beholding this Lamb of God which angels cannot have; yet they practically say unto him, " Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." Ye who refuse to give your hearts and your confidence to this incarnate Deity, and will not come to him that you might have life, ye are they of whom we speak. Your heart is waxed gross, and your ears are dull of hearing, and your eyes have you closed: lest at any time ye should see with " your eyes, and hear with your ears, and understand with your heart, and should be converted." O that your eyes and ears were opened, and your consciences awake, and your fears alarmed, and your hopes excited toward this all-sufficient and all-glorious Saviour. Go not forward, I pray you, thus blindfold and careless in the broad road to destruction, when that Saviour, whose glory dazzles seraphs, presents himself before your eyes. You know not at what you stumble, and little think that this crucified Saviour rejected, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. That there should be any Saviour for lost and ruined sinners, is marvellous mercy; but that there should be such a Saviour is still more marvellous. Well does he say, "Ye have hated me without a cause." And glorious truth that he also says, " Blessed is he that shall not be offended in me!" And what thoughts does this conduct of angels address to the people of God? Christian! behold what angels see, and love, and admire. Though you have not seen him with your bodily eyes, you may yet know more of him even than angels know. If God has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, and shined in your hearts to give you the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ; is it not wonderful that you know so little of him and love him so little? The world is blind; but why? Christian, should you be so blind to the glories of your Saviour? See him as he forgets himself and thinks of you. See him on the cross; and when you learn that it was your sins that nailed him there, O look upon him whom you have pierced and mourn. Repentance is never so deep and bitter as when the penitent sinner gets a sight of Christ crucified. Come see him, and let the tears flow. Come see him, O my soul, that thou mayest repent and mayest be forgiven, and mayest be saved. See him on the throne and ask why it is that he is thus exalted? And when you learn that it was that you might live and reign with him, learn also more steadfastly to set your affections on things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. If you have beheld his glory; if you now behold it, look at him more intensely. Still look, look continually, never lose sight of him. All your darkness, doubts, discomforts arise from losing sight of Christ. Look to him whose glory is the wonder of angels. His love never grows cold; his resources never fail. Witness, ye who have been washed in his blood and presented faultless before his throne; witness ye angels who excel in strength, swift to do his will, harkening to the voice of his word, if there be any sense of want he cannot relieve, any fear he cannot quell, any guilt he cannot wash away, any sinner so vile that he cannot save and save to the uttermost!