A Mystery: Even the Angels Wait

Even angels long to look into these things.
1 Peter 1:12b

Who are the angels? They are not Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life. Angels are supernaturally strong. One angel of God destroyed an army of 185,000 men in one night. They appear at almost every major event in Bible history. And most importantly, they were created to glorify God by serving. And yet, as powerful and knowledgeable as angels are, they are presented more like children, standing in wonder at what God is doing.

If they were not perfect, it might have seemed all backward to the angels in heaven. They lived to serve Jesus. You would have thought they might be a little perturbed about trading the choir loft in heaven for the dung-filled air of Bethlehem’s field. Yet they cried out their praise with so much excitement that the sky ripped open! And there, together with Mary and Joseph, was Jesus, the only one to ever trade heaven for earth. “How wonderful!” they thought. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests!” they exclaimed. “What will he do next?” they wondered. Or as the apostle Peter put it, “Even angels long to look into these things.”

As the mystery of God’s plan of salvation was unfolding, the angels longed to know what came next. At each step they attended Jesus, from the cradle all the way to the cross, where the 12 legions Jesus could have called in the Garden of Gethsemane could only stand idle, the Father’s hand holding them back. How wonderful!

Think about this. The angels longed to look into God’s plan for humanity. And they did not even need the salvation they longed to look into! Friends, how much more will we! We are the beneficiaries of this wonderful mystery. Stand in awe with the angels at what he has done. He entered into history to save you. This Advent, imitate the childlike wonder of the angels as God reveals the mystery of your salvation in the cradle of Bethlehem.

O Jesus Christ, your manger is
my paradise at which I am reclining.
For there, O Lord, we find the Word
made flesh for us—
your grace is brightly shining. [CW 342:1]

O Jesus, work in me the wonder of the angels at your gift to me this Christmas season. Let each day be another day that I marvel at your grace. Amen.

Rev. Dave Scharf serves Martin Luther College
as a professor of theology.