Angels Still Sing (Advent 22, 2023)

The world is in turmoil on this Christmas Eve,
but there is hope. 
For the Christian there is hope…from the Jews for the world.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith– of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire– may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

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.

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming. (1 Peter 1:6-13)

Angels marvel at the mystery.  We are the beneficiaries of something the angels never had access to—salvation in Jesus Christ who was a baby over Whom they sang at His birth. The apostle John writes, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.  In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:11-12)

Angels still sing
because it is marvelous that the entire point of His birth at Christmas
would be for His atoning death on Good Friday. 
Worthy is the Lamb!

Questions for further thought:

Why didn’t Jesus’ death save angels?

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;  if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;  if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly … if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.” (2 Peter 2:4-9)

Why do the good angels sing?  What did Jesus do that makes them sing?

Prayer:  Thank You, Lord Jesus, for bringing Your peace upon those whom Your favor rests!  We worship You!  Thank You for rescuing us from the time of judgment.  We praise You for setting aside all that was Yours in heaven to become the Word made flesh and making Your dwelling with us.  We know that in the end, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that You are Lord to the glory of God the Father.  May the words of our testimony resonate with those who are yet to be the full Gentile or remnant Jewish number so that they will believe before it is too late.  We love You, Jesus.  Amen.