December 11th, 2011 
admin 1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
It all began with a simple command. For eternity past, and we have no idea for how long, God had dwelt alone. We have no idea if he had ever created other worlds or other universes. Our story, however, begins with His existence, the fact that He just is. He dwelt in the Spirit world, in neither light nor darkness – the Bible teaches us that He created both:
Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness…I the LORD do all these things.
The Bible tells us at times that He dwells in darkness, and other times in light:
Exodus 20:21 …Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
Yet 1 John 1:5 says God is light; light and darkness have meaning only to us. To God, light and darkness are meaningless, since He created both. With a word, He spoke heaven and earth into existence. We can only assume that He created the angelic beings at the same time He created the heavens. How long ago, we may never know. When the Bible says, “in the beginning,” it does not tell us when that was; it may have been thousands of years, millions, or billions of years ago. We simply know that God spoke a word and a great angel was formed. As the angel took shape, God said “you will be my messenger,” and He named him Gabriel. He spoke again, and this time a great and powerful warrior came into being. God declared that he (the new angel) will be His archangel, the leader, the warlord, the supreme commander over all of His angelic forces, and that his name would be Michael.
At God’s word a mist came up out of the bottomless pit and began to take shape. It was a fearsome creature, a loathsome and terrifying figure, an angel that God named Apollyon, the angel of the bottomless pit. God spoke again, and this time it was not the horrible and terrifying shape of Apollyon that appeared, but a magnificent and beautiful being, one that was, amazingly, full of wisdom. The Bible says he was perfect in beauty. God had never created anything as magnificent. How could something be better than perfect in beauty? There is no more ”full” than full of wisdom. He was adorned in every precious stone, and from the very first day of his creation he was perfect in His ways. Incredibly, he was without sin. This could have been for thousands, maybe millions or billions of years, but one day his beauty and wisdom and perfection went to his head and the scriptures tell us that iniquity was found in the heart of this heretofore perfect creature we know as Lucifer.
All of these angels were created by God and were present when the earth was created. Job 38:1-7 says the sons of God (the angels) shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid. In other words, they were present at the creation of the earth. When the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and God said, “let there be light,” the angels were there. Now imagine, if you will, as the angels peer into the throne of God; put yourself in their shoes for a moment, cognizant of the fact that the scriptures declare that no man can see God:
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time…
1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time.
Colossians 1:15 Jesus is the image of the invisible God….
1 Timothy 1:17 …invisible…
Hebrews 11:27 …invisible.
Exodus 33:20 …there shall no man see me, and live.
1 Timothy 6:16 He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see:
God is the source of all energy, so all the energy of the sun and solar system comes from Him. All the energy of every atomic or nuclear explosion is in Him. A mortal could not draw near a single nuclear explosion, how much less to the source of all energy in the universe? And so, when the angels peer towards the source of their being, what they see is not a shape, or a form, but rather pure energy. We can imagine that they see pulsating light, since God is a spirit (John 4:24) and a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). Imagine what you see when you look in the direction of the sun: you don’t see a clearly defined shape, but instead you see light. It is intense at its center, but it spreads out over all the earth and solar system. Thousands and possibly millions or billions of years ago, as the angels look into the direction of God’s throne, they see this same light, multiplied a billion times over. Gabriel doesn’t see God, he sees light; Michael doesn’t see God, he sees light; Lucifer, the angel of light, with all of his glory and majesty, looks into the throne of God and sees nothing but blinding, searing light. It’s no wonder that the angel of light gets a little jealous as he compares his glory to that of the Creator.
When the Bible speaks of His hands, His feet, His ears, His eyes it does not literally mean physical hands and feet, but it instead defines God in terms we can understand. One place says his hand spans the heavens, while another says even the heavens cannot contain Him. For centuries, possibly thousands, millions, or billions of years, this is all the angels see: pure energy. Yes, there is the occasional manifestation: the burning bush, the cloud, the pillar of fire. But they never see the essence of God in any other form – they never see God as He wishes to reveal Himself. They never see Him in a form that can be comprehended by finite minds, even those of angels.
Now we jump ahead in time four thousand years, and God sends Gabriel on a mission. He is instructed to go to Mary of Nazareth with a message:
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, and you’re going to be with child, and you’re going to bring forth a son, and his name is going to be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
The angels are very interested in this message, and there is fascination in heaven among the angels. There is a “buzz” all over heaven, because this “power”, this energy, this shapeless source of light is to come down and hover over Mary. One night while Mary sleeps, the angels watch in fascination as the blaze of energy they know as God moves over her tiny home. They stand in rapt attention and amazement as it covers her.
If there was great wonderment and fascination in heaven over the conception of baby Jesus, imagine what it was like nine months later. Every angel was on pins and needles, and there is yet another another buzz all over heaven. We must not forget that the Bible said in our text he was finally “seen of angels”. The angels of heaven ask, “What will God look like? Will He look like a normal man? Will He have red hair, or black? Will He have freckles?” Mary goes into labor, and every angel in heaven is gathered around the stable. Eyes are wide around the manger, as some angels try to peek over the others. After all, this is God about to be born; this is the source of all energy, the wisdom of the ages.
Finally, after eons of waiting, they see the birth of the saviour, and cannot contain themselves. As they are gathered around the manger, one angel says to another, “I need to go tell someone.” Haver you ever seen the excitement of a man who is a father for the first time? There is an overwhelming urge on the part of the new father to tell someone, anyone. Likewise, the angels fly off in excitement. Who will they tell? They may not know, but they’ll find someone. Their excitement is so great, for after all, they have seen God. After centuries of waiting, they’ve seen God. After millenia of hoping, they’ve seen God. They had seen the universe, but they’ve never seen God before now. They had seen miracles, but they’ve never seen God, until now.
They fly off and the first people they see are some shepherds in a field. Have you ever wondered why the shepherds were told? Perhaps they just happened to be the first ones the angel found.
Luke 2:8-9 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
The angel said, “don’t worry, I’m not here with a message of judgement or doom and gloom…I just had to tell somebody what I’ve just seen”
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
The angel was, in essence, saying, “do you realize what is going on in Bethlehem?”
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
At this point, the angels had a shouting spell. After all, they had just seen God. What a glorious day it was when God, after millenia of time, was finally seen by the angels!
But there are still some things angels cannot see:
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Mark 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
Angels cannot see the kingdom of God, because an angel cannot be born again. An angel will never know the righteousness, peace, and joy that is the Holy Ghost. They have never been born of water and of spirit. They do not know what it is to be redeemed.
Hebrews 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Hebrews 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
We have a redemption the angels desire to look into:
1 Peter 1:12 …the gospel…with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
We have access into things that angels desire. The angels would love to have the Holy Ghost, but they can’t have it. The angels would love to take on the name of Jesus Christ in baptism; they would love to be part of the bride, they would love to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb, but it is not for them.
Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou…hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
So, as we celebrate this Christmas season and the coming of the Messiah two thousand years ago, let’s not forget that He came in an even greater way, one that even the angels envy, when He promised to return as the Holy Ghost that we can all experience today.
