Let us turn once again to God's
Word and turning to 1 Timothy, the first epistle of the Apostle
Paul to Timothy in chapter 3 and verse 16. This remarkable word
that we have in the compass of a few words, we have a great
compendium of theology really. 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. Here we have of course a declaration
concerning that great mystery of the Incarnation. We know the
greatest of all the mysteries that we have in the Word of God
is the doctrine of God himself, the truth of the Trinity, that
there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but there
is but one God. The three are one, the one is
three and there is a second mystery that is like unto it and it's
that that he's spoken of in these words of course the mystery of
the incarnation and the the person of the Lord Jesus that in that
one person there are two natures he is God and he is man. And there's no mixing or mingling
of the of the natures. They're distinct natures. He's
God and yet at the same time he's man. It's referred to often
as the hypostatic union. He is one person. In every action
he's God-man. And so we read here, 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. And Augustus Toplady has sermons
on the verse And interestingly, he comments on the significance
of the word mystery. What does it mean? And he says
the mystery does not arise from the nature of the objects themselves,
but our inability to comprehend them. It's not the objects that
are the mystery. It's the doctrine. It's the doctrine
of God. It's the doctrine of Christ. It's a mystery because
our poor minds are unable to comprehend these wondrous truths
that are set before us here in Scripture. And Toplady has at
least two sermons on the subject of the angels, seeing of angels.
And it's that part of the verse that I really want to concentrate
on tonight. concerning the mystery of godliness,
the Lord Jesus, and it says seen of angels. In some ways we might say there's
a sort of descending scale in what we have in the words of
this text. God was manifest in the flesh,
and then we read he was justified in the spirit, there's the ministry
of the spirits that we can read of in the Gospels concerning
the life of Jesus. And then he speaks of the ministry
of the angels. He was seen of angels. And then
last of all, he speaks of the ministry of Mezh. He's preached on, unto the Gentiles. And the outcome of that ministry
is that there are those who come to believe the truth of the Gospel. There's a sort of descending
scale when we think of these different ministries, the ministry
of the Spirit. And we see that so evidently
in the Gospel when we think even of the Incarnation itself. How
is it that God becomes man? Well, we have the ministry, don't
we? The miracle. of the virgin birth. The angel of the Lord comes to
Mary and declares those words. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee. Mark that, it's the Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee. The power of the highest shall
overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing
that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. She's
with child. The virgin womb bears a child. How can this be? Well, she's
the child of the Holy Ghost. And so, what is conceived in
the womb of a sinner, she was a sinful woman rejoicing in God
her Saviour. Yet what is conceived by the
Holy Ghost is that holy thing. The human nature, the body, the
soul of Christ. or so impeccable, impossible
that he should ever see. And there we see the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. And then when the Lord comes
to begin his public ministry and he's baptized by John in
the river Jordan. We're familiar with these things. There we see all the persons
of the Godhead. the Son manifest in the flesh,
submitting to baptism, the baptism of repentance, the Father speaking
words from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased, and the Spirit descending upon Him in the form of a dove.
And now He's then led of the Spirit into the wilderness and
tempted there of Satan. And then He returns in the power
of the Spirit and goes into Nazareth where he was brought up and goes
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and reads those words of
Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord is upon them because He
has anointed me to preach the Gospel or the ministry of the
Spirit repeatedly there in the life of the Lord Jesus. And how
we see Him performing miracles, how does He perform miracles
if I through the Spirit he says cast out demons then is the Spirit
of God amongst you he works everything by that gracious ministry of
the Spirit and when he comes to the end of his life Peter
speaks of him being put to death in the flesh but quickened by
the Spirit or the Spirit is there there in his resurrection declared
to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness by
the resurrection from the dead. There's a ministry of the Spirit
justified in the Spirit. And then there's this ministry
of the angels, this scene of angels, fallen angels, fallen
angels. What do they say? Let us alone,
the fallen angels, the demons, let us alone. What have we to
do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. Why, unclean spirits, when they
saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the
Son of God. Are we seen of the angels? There's a great deal of satanic
activity at the time of the Incarnation. There's much opposition to him. Satan is there to tempt him,
the archangel, the archdemon. He tempts him. He leaves him
after those initial temptations, but only for a season. And when
the Lord comes to the end of his ministry, he turns to his
disciples and says, ye are they that have continued with me in
my temptations. Now he's continually being assaulted
then by fallen angels. But then, not only the angels,
but we read of man. Oh, it's man who preach, isn't it? The Lord gave the word, says
the Psalmist. Great was the company of them
that published it. It's the privilege of sinful
men saved by the grace of God to proclaim this message, to
preach this great gospel. And Paul says, we preach not
ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. I determine not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, he is that one who is the
subject matter of all real preaching. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellence of the power might be of God
and not of man. There is any sort of descending
scale. The Holy Spirit, the angels,
the men. But as I said I really want to
concentrate on what is said here with regards to in being seen
of angels and to consider more specifically the elect angels,
the elect angels and the way in which they minister to the Lord Jesus Christ. When in chapter 5 we find Paul giving
charge to Timothy he says I charge thee there in verse 21 I charge
thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels there are elect angels and it's
that ministry of such angels that I really want to try to
concentrate on for a little while tonight and really just dealing
with two things first of all to say something with regards
to their service, the way in which they serve the Lord. And
then secondly to speak of their sight, what it is that they see.
He is seen of angels, but first of all their service, because
really in this expression more than sight is really being suggested. Remember the language that we
have back in the book of Psalms, and there in the 123rd Psalm,
we read these words in the second verse of that Psalm, Behold,
as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,
and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so
our eyes wait upon the Lord our God. until that he have mercy
upon us. So here we have an illustration,
as it were. The eyes of a servant, they're
continually looking to their masters, to the master's hand,
to do the master's bidding, and so too the maiden is looking
to the hand of her mistress, to do what the mistress requires
of her. And the psalmist says, so our
eyes wait upon God. We're looking to God. for His
instruction, His direction. Now isn't that true with regards
to the angels? They're there in the presence
of God. We read of them in Revelation 7.15, they are before the throne
of God and they do His bidding day and night in His temple.
Their eyes are upon Him. They want to understand what
His will is and what his work is for them and when Isaiah in
that familiar language of the sixth chapter where he recants
something of his call by God he speaks of the Seraphim who
are about the throne of God, these burning ones these angelic
beings and remember how they have six wings and with two they
are covering their feet and with two they are They're covering
their eyes, the sight is so glorious, so they're burning in all their
purity and holiness, yet they cannot bear the presence of that
uncreated light which is God himself. But they have two wings
with which they fly, they fly at the bidding of God. They're
doing the work of God continually. And we see that these angels
that are spoken of in the text who see God incarnate. They see the Lord Jesus Christ
and what do they do? They serve Him. They serve the
God-man. And we read that familiar passage
of course in Luke chapter 2 with regards to the angels and those
out there at the very birth of the Lord Jesus. Here are the
shepherds watching over their flocks in the 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. All the angel comes
and he announces the birth of the Savior and he shall be a
sign unto you you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward
men. Oh, how they are there rejoicing
in the birth of Him who has come, not to save fallen angels, but
come to save the sinners of lost mankind. Oh, they are there and
they are They are witnessing these things. They witness His
birth. And of course they are there
when we come to the end of the life of the Lord Jesus. They are there, aren't they,
in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is the Lord wrestling now
in prayer with His Father. He's no stoic, you see. He's
no stoic. He's a man. He's a real man.
And he has his tremendous work to accomplish, he is to make
the great sin-atoning sacrifice. And there he is, so submissive
to the Father's will, wrestling with him in his prayers. And
Luke tells us there appeared an angel from heaven, strengthening
him. Oh, how that angel strengthened
him. And dear Rabbi Duncan, that's God's divine was wont to say
that was his favourite angel. For the angelic host he said,
oh I love that angel. That one who came to minister
to my Lord in all his sufferings there in the garden of Gethsemane. How the Lord is there wrestling in prayer and yet knowing
something of that gracious ministry of the angels. in the words of
Joseph Hart dispatched from heaven an angel stood amazed to find
him bathed in blood adored by angels and obeyed but lower now
than angels may or they witness his sufferings in the garden they witness and they proclaim
his His resurrection, don't they? When the women come to the tomb
on the first day of the week, there's the angel telling them
that the Lord is not there, He's risen. He's gone before them
into Galilee. They're to go and tell the disciples
that He will meet them there. They're witnesses proclaiming
the truth of His resurrection. And likewise, they're there at
the ascension, aren't they also? as we have it recorded in the
opening chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Remember the words
there in verse 9 of that chapter. When the Lord had spoken these
things, while they beheld, it says, he was taken up, and a
cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked
steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood
by them in white apparel. which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. They not only proclaim the truth
of his ascension, but also the promise of his coming again,
and he will return, of course, with all his angels, Oh, this ministry then of the
angels. They're there to receive him,
aren't they? As he ascends into heaven itself. He was received
up into glory, it says at the end of this text. And we read
of it, don't we, there in the 24th Psalm and the language of
David. who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord, who shall stand in his presence, he that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity. Who is this one? Oh, it's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so the word goes on, lift
up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. all the angels,
they receive him there into heaven. Throughout his life then here
upon the earth, as he accomplishes that work that the Father has
given him in all his humiliation, in his ministry, in his death,
in his resurrection, in his ascension, there's the ministry of angels.
And in this Surely we see something of the humility of the Lord Jesus. What are these angels? What are
these angels? Well, Paul answers the question
for us there in Hebrews 1.14, Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be the heirs
of salvation? Oh, there are ministering angels.
They minister to the body of Christ, His Church. Do we believe
that? Do we believe there's a ministering
of angels to you and to me? Just as the angels ministered
to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is so identified with His
people. They made us Him a little lower
than the angels. We read those words there in
Hebrews 2. We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death. He doesn't take upon Him the
form of the angels. He takes upon Him the seed of
Abram. And because the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, He likewise takes part of the
same. And so He's ministered to by
these angelic beings who minister to all the heirs of salvation
just as they ministered to the Lord himself. And so when we read of him being
seen of the angels it's more than that they see him, their
eyes are upon him, they watch over him. And when we think of
him in his deity, of course, they're doing his bidding, because
although he's a man, he's also God. This is that great mystery.
He's ever in all things the God-man. But turning in the second place
to their sight, because surely this is what is really emphasized
here, he is seen of angels. And doesn't this accord in a
remarkable manner with the words that we find in the first chapter
of Peter's first epistle. There in verse 10 of that chapter,
Peter writes, of which salvation the prophets have inquired. and
searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow."
He's speaking of the prophets of the Old Testament. And their ministry isn't Christ
the Spirit of Prophecy. They all prophesy of Christ. It's the Spirit of Christ in
them that testified beforehand His sufferings and the glory
that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, says
Peter, that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister
the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
And then he adds this, which things the angels desire to look
into. All this great salvation prophesied
in the Old Testament and they were accomplished with the coming
of Christ and preached by his apostles. This is what the angels
desire to look into. And observe those words then,
there at the end of that twelfth verse. Although they're in heaven,
these angels. This is the elect angels. They're
in heaven. They're in the presence of God.
But what do they do? They look down into this world,
into the earth, in order that they might discover something
more of the wonder of God in that great work of salvation. That's what Peter is saying there.
They desire to look into this salvation, what God is doing
on this little planet, which we call Earth. Although, they're before the
throne of God, it's amazing. The Hymn writer says, Angels
here may gaze and wonder, what the God of love could mean when
he tore the heart asunder, never once defiled by sin. This is a wonder, you see, this
is a mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ, the person of this Jesus,
the God-man. And that remarkable work that
he did here upon the earth. And what Peter says, Paul also
basically says the same thing, doesn't he? In Ephesians 3 and
verse 10. We have these words, "...to the
intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God."
What are the principalities and powers in heavenly places? Well,
it's the angelic beings. when we read of believers in
their conflict with sin and Satan. Remember how in Ephesians 6 Paul
speaks of the armor that God has provided. We wrestle not
against flesh and blood, he says, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. That's the fallen angels,
principalities, powers. But there are elect angels, and
they're powerful creatures. And these elect angels are serving
God. But look at what Paul says there
in Ephesians 3. They want to see something of the
wonder of what God is doing. And these principalities and
powers in heavenly places they come to know and to understand
God's wisdom in what he's doing in the church all that church
that Jesus Christ came to save it's quite amazing, quite remarkable
again there's so much good theology in some of the hymns isn't there?
I know sometimes we might think it's dangerous to quote the hymns. What I like about the hymns,
of course, it's poetry. In a sense, it's easier to recollect
if we can memorize it. And it's good when it's based
on the word of God. But I think of that hymn 39,
the last two verses. See what different thoughts arise
in our and angels' breasts to hail His birth, they left the
skies, we lodged Him with the beasts. Yet let believers cease
their fears, nor envy heavenly powers, if sinless innocence
is theirs, redemption all is ours. Oh, I do like that last
verse. These sinless beings, these holy
angels, we're not to envy them. Sinless innocence is theirs,
redemption. All redemption is all ours. Made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Who
did he die for? He died for the sinners of mankind. That's the wonder of it. or which
things the angels desire to look into." He's seen of angels. He's
seen of angels. And isn't there, in a sense,
some allusion here to the mercy suite? The worship
of the Old Testament, that's worship that was very much in
type and in figure. And of course at the center of
the worship was the Holy of Holies. And what was housed there behind
the second veil was the Ark of the Covenant. It was that chest
containing the two tables of the Law and covered by the Mercy
Seat. And on each end of the Mercy
Seat a cherubim. the instruction and direction
is given to Moses there in Exodus 25 as to how to make that mercy
seat that covers the ark containing the two tables of the Lord. You
can read it there in Exodus 25 verse 17 following and of course
the measurements are exact, it's a perfect covering. And it's
all symbolic. It's all type. It shows that
the mercy seat is a complete covering for all that is in the
law of God. All that ministration of the
law, condemnation, death. Every mouth stopped. The world
guilty before God. But there's a mercy seat that
covers all of that. And on each end of the mercy
seat there's an angel or a figure of an angel with their wings
outspread and they're looking upon the mercy seat. What happens
there at the mercy seat? Well, in Leviticus 16 of course
we read of the great day of atonement. Yom Kippur, the one day in the
year when the high priest was permitted to go beyond that second
veil, he could enter into the Holy of Holies. And he was to
take the blood of sacrifice and he was to sprinkle the blood.
Where did he sprinkle it? Before the mercy seat, upon the
mercy seat. Or it's the very scene that the
angels are looking into. The blood sprinkled mercy seat. And it's all a type. It's a type
of the Lord Jesus. Oh, it's a type of the Lord Jesus.
The wonder of it. There they are looking. And what's happening, of course,
is that the High Priest is offering a sacrifice for the sins of the
people. It's the Great Day of Atonement. The Great Day of Atonement
is making a sacrifice, a propitiation. Here is God. He's angry. God's
angry with the wicked. Every day, says the Psalmist.
There's always that aspect of sin. It's such an offence to
God. Of course, the sinner himself
is guilty before God and worthy of condemnation as a sinner. And that blood of Christ, it
expiates, it removes all the guilt of the sinner's sin from
him. But there's also that other Godward
aspect, propitiation. God's justice satisfied. And
that's what's being demonstrated on the Day of Atonement with
the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. And it's interesting, and I know
I've said this, I've said it so many times. but I do want
to hammer the point home. There's a word in the Jews just
two times in the New Testament Scriptures. It's used in Hebrews chapter
9 and verse 5 where the apostle is speaking of the various furnishings
of the Old Testament tabernacle and he makes mention of the mercy
seat. That's the word that's used. It's used there And then
it's used once more. And we find it then in Romans
3.25, speaking of the Lord Jesus, whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood. It's the same words
that's rendered mercy seat in our authorized version in Hebrews
9, verse 5, The mercy seat, the place where
propitiation is made, the blood is sprinkled there, the blood
of the sacrifice, to satisfy the wrath of God. But you see,
the significance is this, that we could really just as well
use the word mercy seat in Romans 3, concerning Jesus. The Lord Jesus, whom God hath
set forth to be a mercy seat. What is it that these angels
are looking at? They want to look into all that
Christ is accomplishing. All God was manifest in the flesh
he was seen of angels. The angels are there beholding
the wonder of these things. Such a revelation of God that
though they are in the presence of God yet they see so much more
in all that is transacting here in this sinful world. And then Further we can say that the scene of angels is to be linked with what Peter
does when he goes to the empty tomb. Remember those words in 1 Peter
chapter 1 and verse 12, which things the angels desire to look
into. They desire to look into these
things. Well again, it's the same word
that's used in reference to Peter there in John 20 and verse 5,
where when the women come and report that the tomb is empty,
Peter and John, they race to the tomb. And John outruns Peter,
but John stands back. But then comes bold, impetuous
Peter, and he's straight in. And what does it say? He's stooping
down and looking in. Stooping down and looking in.
And it's the same word that Peter uses in reference to those angels
there in that opening chapter of his first epistle. That's
how the angels look in. They want to look into this thing.
They want to look carefully, closely. They want to examine
all that is happening. There's an intensity in the look. And that's the wonder of it,
isn't it? Oh, and they want to look into
that great work of redemption that the Lord God has accomplished. And what we see there, of course,
this is the Word of God, the wonder of the Word of God. When
Mary is there first at the tomb, what does she witness? Two angels
in white, sitting, the one at the head and the other at the
feet, where the body of Jesus had lay. One at the head, another at the
feet where the body of Jesus had lain, just like the cherubim
on each end of the mercy seat. Here they are, they're witnessing
the wonder of the resurrection. There's no body. Or the angels,
you see. They see these things, they behold
these things. Christ seen of angels. Or that
we might be like these angels. Is that true of us? Do we want
to look into these things? Not just as an interesting subject
for us to study with our minds, but we want to enter into the
spiritual significance of all this great work. These angels,
they have no personal interest in salvation. They don't need
salvation. They're sinless angels. They
never fell. Or yet they They look into these
things. What are we to do? We're to look.
Oh, look unto me, says Christ. Be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. Oh, where
do we obtain faith that we might really begin to comprehend these
things? It's all a matter, isn't it,
of faith? It's by faith that we see anything
of the invisible God. We have to look unto Jesus, looking
unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our
faith. Taking our eye off every other object, one object, alone. Or looking away, looking only
unto Jesus. Or do we desire to learn of these
remarkable creatures that God himself has in his very presence,
the mighty angels. We read of them so much in the
scriptures, but do we really believe, believe in the angels
and desire to learn of the angels, that we might see things as they
see them? And yet, more than that, as I
said, they have no interest, personal interest but all to
be favored with such a sight of faith that we might be those who do
behold that great mystery of godliness that God was manifest
in the flesh that he was justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
preached, preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world and
received up into glory. Oh the Lord be pleased then to
bless us with that sight and then to follow that blessed service
that we might watch his hand that we might delight to search
his word to find out his precepts to walk after all his holy statutes
to live as those who are true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, the Lord bless to us His Word. Amen.