Angels long to look into these things
"Angels are dope, but that don't impress me much" (Jason Cook, Sept 17, 2023)
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 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 the Messiah 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 (1 Peter 1:8-12, NIV).
I wanted to play around with Photoshop’s new AI generative fill, and since the morning sermon included Hebrews 1, wherein the author differentiates between Jesus and the angels, I thought I might create something about angels as warriors and messengers. AI disappointed because the angels it tried out were either cherubs or mangled manga versions. So I hunted down better images. It turns out tattoo artists have better depictions of angels than Photoshop. The central image in the piece I created had a Crusader cross on the shield, which I successfully replaced with AI and some tweaking. The angel was also a white dude, as are 90% of the images I found. But angels are not humanoid, nor are they defined by human ethnicity, so I told the AI to swap out the face for an African face with a serious expression. After a few regenerations, I was satisfied.
I pulled wings from several images, basing my thinking on Isaiah 6:1, where the seraphs had “six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” Nowhere does it say that all the wings looked the same. I avoided Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 10) of cherubim because they are way too scary. Even my pastor said, “I don’t know what the dude was smoking that day.”
While I was working on the image, I had time to consider angels. Angels have been part of human imagination since forever. Artists have created images as angels looking like anything from frightening warriors to chubby babies holding harps. Because angels are primarily spirit beings, it’s impossible to truly capture their exact representation. They are created beings, superior in the heavenly realms whose roles range from messengers (like Gabriel) to warriors (like Michael) to ministers who serve those who are to inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14). With all their power, however, angels are limited in their experience with the relationship with God. Billy Graham wrote, “How can the angels who have never sinned fully understand what it means to be delivered from sin? How can they understand how precious Jesus is to those for whom His death on Calvary brings light, life, and immortality?” (p. 42)
Peter put it this way,
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 the Messiah 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. (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Angels serve us at God’s direction, but they cannot testify to His great salvation because they do not experience it. They cannot know the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit because they are eternally obedient to God without a sin nature. They know God, but they do not experience relationship with Him. Only people who have submitted to the salvific grace of Jesus, who, being in very nature God, made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Because the law was useful to show the nature of sin, but could not save us from it, Jesus became the perfect offering to fulfill the requirements of the law on our behalf. We can be justified fully by the grace of God through the redemption in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2, Romans 3, Romans 8). Indeed, angels long to look into these things because they can only look at the external evidence of our changed lives resulting from a restored fellowship with God in Christ, something impossible for them.
For all their impressive attributes, angels are workers and worshippers. God wants to know us as children. Angels have not changed since they were created, and they will not change in the eternal future, but God has plans for his people, things we can neither ask nor imagine (Ephesians 3). And it is written in 1 Corinthians , "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him." Angels do long to look into these things, things promised only to those who call Jesus, Lord.
Resources
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Billy Graham (1994) Angels: God’s Secret Angels. Word. Original publication, 1975
Jason Cook, (9/17/2023). Hebrews: Stamped and Sealed, part Two. Fellowship Bible Church, Roswell, GA