Let us turn to God's Word and
the verse that we were considering on the last Lord's Day in 1 Timothy
3.16 1 Timothy 3.16 And without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness, that 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 we were thinking more particularly
of the opening words, the first clause in the verse, and without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. What are we to
understand by the mystery of godliness? Well, remember how
Paul goes on in the next chapter, chapter 4 and verse 7, To speak
of godliness, exercise thyself rather unto godliness, he says,
for bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable
unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation. Here is one of those faithful
and true sayings concerning that godliness that Paul says as promise
both of the life that now is and of that which is to come,
this godliness. And this mystery of godliness
is surely to be identified with that religion that is real, it
is that that is wrought of God in the soul of man, it is the
life of God in the soul of a man. And so we did endeavor to say
something last Lord's Day concerning the mystery of faith, the mystery
of believing. Here is that that is, Paul says,
believed on in the world, preached on to the Gentiles, believed
on in the world. What is that faith? It is the
faith of the operation of God, through faith the life of God.
Deep in the heart it lies, it lives, and labors under loads,
though damped it never dies. And so we thought of faith in
that subjective fashion. faith that is wrought in a man's
heart, faith that will be evidenced by those exercises that are spoken
of there in chapter 4 and verse 7. But then we also said that
here in this 16th verse we have the sum and the substance of
the gospel in just a few words. What a remarkable statement this
is. 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. Isn't it a summary? of the great
truths of the gospel. And in the context, of course,
in the previous part of the chapter, Paul has been speaking concerning
church officers, the bishop or the overseer, and also he makes
mention of the deacon. And there at verse 9, one of
the qualifications of these men, they are to be such as are holding
the mystery of the faith. In verse 16 we have the mystery
of godliness, and there in verse 9 holding the mystery of the
faith in a pure conscience. What is that mystery of the faith? Well, we're not to think in terms
of that subjective faith, exercise when a person believes,
the grace of faith. No, there we see in verse 9 how
the definite article is placed before the word faith. The mystery
of the faith is clearly a reference to that body of truth that is
to be believed. As Jude says, we are to contend
earnestly for the faith, once and for all delivered unto the
saints. And so besides considering faith
subjectively, last Lord's Day, we also sought to say something
with regards to faith objectively, And when we think of faith in
that sense, it all of course centers in the person and the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great object of faith,
looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And here we have it, 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." Throughout the verse, the Apostle is clearly speaking
of a person, the person of Christ and the work of Christ. We preach
Christ, he says, to the Corinthians and him crucified. He is the
object. He is the one that faith looks
to, the one that faith sees. Well, I thought that tonight
we might simply consider this tremendous statement that we
have in the middle of the verse concerning Christ where he says
of him that he is seen of angels. Seen of angels. And my attention was first drawn
to this particular statement some verses ago, I remember coming
across a sermon in the works of Augustus Toplader with that
particular title. scene of angels and so that faithful
minister of Christ sought to expound the truth that is couched
in such an expression as this. And so I want us just for a little
while tonight to think about what is meant when Paul says
concerning Christ without controversy great is the mystery of godliness
God was manifest in the flesh seen of angels. But first of all, let us consider
something of the service of the angels. More than seeing, we
see from the scriptures that the angels also serve. Are they not the servants of
God? in Revelation chapter 7 and verse
15, "...therefore are they before the throne of God and serve Him
day and night in His temple." That's what we're told concerning
the angels. They are before God's throne
and they are constantly serving Him. And remember in Isaiah chapter
6 the prophet tells us of that remarkable vision that he beheld
when Uzziah the king died and he saw the throne of God and
about the throne he saw the Seraphim. These are angels, the burning
ones, that's what the word Seraphim means, they are pure creatures,
they're burning ones and we're told how they have six wings.
and with two wings they cover their feet, and with two wings
they cover their faces, and with two wings they fly. They are
before the throne of God and they have two wings with which
they fly. They fly at His command. They
constantly do the bidding of God. The psalmist speaks, does
he not, of the duty of servants and of maidens
there in the 123rd 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. How we are to wait upon
God, our eyes are to be fixed upon Him. And of course, as we
come together tonight On such an occasion as this, it's principally
a meeting for prayer. Our eyes are to be unto the Lord,
we wait upon Him. But as we wait upon Him in prayer,
we should wait upon Him that we might do His bidding, that
we might hear His commandments, that we might understand what
His holy precepts are, and that we might walk in obedience. But if this is to be true of
us, how much more is it the case with those holy creatures, the
angels, the eyes of servants looking to the hands of their
masters, the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress. And so the angels, they look
upon God and they wait to do the service of God. They are
servants of God, the angels. But not only so, The remarkable
thing is, in Scripture we discover also that the angels serve man. The angels serve man. We read in Hebrews chapter 2,
but if we'd have read also in the opening chapter, we're told
there at verse 14 in Hebrews 1, concerning these creatures,
are they not all ministering spirits? sent forth to minister
unto them who shall be the heirs of salvation." They are ministers,
and they minister to those who are to be saved. They not only
serve God, they serve the people of God. And we have the language,
of course, of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He warns,
He says, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones,
Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones, for
I sound to you that in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven." Oh, there is, friends,
a ministry of the angels, not only serving God, but serving
those who are the people of God. There are, of course, a multitude
of fallen angels, We were looking recently at those words at the
end of Ephesians chapter 6. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Oh, there are those various principalities
and powers then, the fallen angels, they're mighty creatures, they
hate God, they despise the people of God, they seek the destruction
of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are also those
good angels, the elect angels, who are given charge concerning
those who are the heirs of salvation. The angels serve, they serve
God, and they serve man. And so, not surprisingly, we
see that they serve Christ. They serve Him who is God, man. That's the remarkable thing,
is it not? We read then in that second chapter of Hebrews, thou
hast made him a little lower than the angels. We see Jesus
who was made a little lower than the angels. He thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men, lower than the angels. Going there in Hebrews 2 and
verse 16, Verily he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham. And forasmuch as the
children were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise took part
of the same. And so, not only as gods, but
as man. in the state of his humiliation,
how he is served by the angels of God. The angels, of course,
are there proclaiming the very birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel comes to Zacharias
and speaks to him, the father of John the Baptist, who is Christ's
forerunner. And then we're told how the angel
comes to Mary, that one, that virgin who was chosen to be the
mother of Jesus Christ. The angel Gabriel is sent to
Mary. We can read of these things in
Luke chapter 1. And then, of course, we are familiar
with those events associated with the actual birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ as we have it recorded in that second chapter
of the gospel according to Luke and verse 8 following 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 And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David the Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising
God and saying, Glory to God, in the highest and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men." Here are the angels who have no interest
in that great work of redemption that Christ came to accomplish. Thou mayest Him a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, it says. He comes to
die and the angels have no personal interest in that great work of
redemption. Of course the elect angels needed
no redemption and there was no provision of salvation made for
fallen angels and yet there we see the angels rejoicing and
glorifying God at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now
they minister to him after his 40 days in the wilderness where
he's tempted of the devil We read in Matthew's account, Matthew
4 and verse 11, the devil liveth him and behold angels came and
ministered unto him. At the end of that period of
the most intense of temptations, he was tempted as no other man
was tempted. And yet at the end of that time, Behold, angels
came and ministered unto him." Again, when we see Christ in
all the agonies of the Garden of Gethsemane, as He comes to
the end of His earthly ministry, and He is so aware of that that
lies before Him, He knows the great purpose of His coming into
the world, to make that great sacrifice for sins, and He is
pleading there with His Father, in Gethsemane, and we're told,
there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening
him. There appeared an angel unto
him from heaven. As he comes to die, there is
that ministry of the angels. And of course, there's also the
ministry of the angels at his rising again. when they come
to the tomb on that first day of the week. What do we read?
For example, in Luke's account, Luke 24 and verse 4, women are much perplexed
It came to pass, as they were much perplexed, there about,
behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. And as they
were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said unto
them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here,
but he is risen. Remember how he spake unto you
when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
unto the into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the
third day rise again." Oh, it's the angels there, you see, bearing
testimony to the great truth of His rising again from the
dead. They're there in the garden of
Gethsemane, or that angel comes to strengthen him, but they're
there on the resurrection morn, and they're there again, are
they not, at the ascension, when Christ returns to heaven after
He had shown Himself those 40 days to His disciples by many
infallible proofs, as Luke recorded. They're in the opening chapter
of the Acts, we read of his ascension when he had spoken these things
while they beheld he was taken up and the cloud received him
out of their sight that is out of the sight of his disciples
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."
And there we have it. In this great psalm of the Gospel
he was received up into glory, it says, at the end of this 16th
verse. He has ascended, he has entered
now into heaven, and there, in heaven, of course, he is reigning
in his kingdom, his mediatorial kingdom, and the psalmist, remember
how the psalmist speaks of his entrance there in triumph and
great glory, in the 24th Psalm. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, And the King of Glory shall come in, who is this King
of Glory, the Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. how the heavenly hosts then have
received him again into the highest heavens, how they serve him now,
they serve him yet as the one who is God and man, those two
natures in that one glorious person, even Jesus Christ the
Lord. But here in the text tonight. We read more particularly of
the sight of the angels, seen of angels it says. And recently,
a few weeks ago now, we were considering those words of Peter's
in his first epistle where he speaks of Christ in terms of
the ministry of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament
apostles and also of the angels remember in first Peter 1 verse 10 following of which salvation
the prophets 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 he testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed
that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister. This
is the ministry of prophets in the Old Testament. Unto us they
did minister the things, he says, which are now reported unto you
by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven. So he goes on to speak there
in verse 12 of that ministry of the apostles. how the Spirit
descended there upon them on the day of Pentecost, and how
they preached with such authority the Gospel in the New Testament. And then he says at the end of
verse 12, which things the angels desire to look into. And we remark on the significance
of that word. You see, he's seen of angels.
The Lord Jesus is seen of angels. These are the things that the
angels desire to look into. We sometimes sing that hymn of
Joseph Hart 105. When I by faith my maker see
in weakness and distress brought down to that sad state for me
which angels can't express. These are the things the angels
desire to look into, things that they cannot express, remarkable
things. Those angels who are in the very
presence of God, who are constantly about the throne of God as they
descend, they desire to look into these things, but they can't
understand these things. What a mystery, without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. The angels want to look into
these things. Here is that full and final revealing
of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, something
that even the angels cannot see in heaven itself. It's remarkable,
is it not? And when we were looking at those
words in 1 Peter, we remarked on the significance, of course,
of what we have typified in the Old Testament. In Exodus 25,
where we read of the Ark of the Covenant, and atop the Ark, the
Mercy Seat, which was a covering in the Ark, which contained the
tables of the Law, the tables of the covenant that God had
made with Israel. And above it, the mercy seat, and on each end
of the mercy seat, the cherubim overshadowing the mercy seat.
And now God said that there he would meet with the children
of Israel. There he would commune with the
children of Israel. But now we see those cherubim
with their faces towards the mercy seat, as it were, desiring
to look into these things. How significant was that mercy
seat? A remarkable type we see there. It's a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The mercy seat was the place
where propitiation was to be made on the great day of atonement
as we have it recorded in Leviticus chapter 16. The high priest on
that one day in the year would venture beyond the second veil
into the Holy of Holies and there he would take the blood of sacrifice
and sprinkle it before the mercy seat and upon the mercy seat
he would make atonement for the sins of the people. He would make propitiation. God's
holy justice was to be satisfied, and was satisfied only by sacrifice,
without the shedding of blood. There is no remission of sins. And as we've said many a time,
It is interesting to see how that word, the word hilasterius,
is used just twice in the New Testament, in Romans 3.25, "...whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation." Speaking of Christ, "...whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood."
And then again the same words, is found in Hebrews 9.5 where
he trended mercy seat as Paul is describing the furnishings
in the tabernacle. The mercy seat is the place of
propitiation. Christ is that one who has made
propitiation. The word is used again or The
word derived from that particular word, we should say, used also
in John's first epistle, that Christ is the propitiation for
our sins. In his love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation. Words from the same root as that
that we find in Romans 3.25 and Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 5. Or the significance then of that
Mercy Saint. the place where God is satisfied,
where the blood is taken and to be sprinkled, and how the
angels, one upon each end of the mercy seat, the angels desire
to look into these things. We're told there at the end of
that 12th verse in 1st Peter, Chapter 1. Now, again, the particular
verb that's used there, to look into, is quite an intensive verb. It means to stoop, to look, to
stoop, to look, and it's used in reference to Peter when he
goes to the empty tomb. Remember how he runs with John,
and John outruns him. But John waits outside and then
Peter bolts, impulsive, impetuous Peter comes and he's straight
into the tomb. And we read in John 20 verse
5, he's stooping down and looking in. It indicates a close examination
That's how he is looking into these things. And that's how
the angels desire to look into these things. They want to study
these things. They want to consider these things in some depth. They
want to understand these things. Oh, they're in the presence of
God and they're about the throne of God there in heaven, yet they
want to look into these things concerning the great work of
salvation that God has provided for sinners of humankind. And I think those are very striking
words. Again, by Joseph Hart, in the
hymn 39, when he speaks of the birth of Christ and the circumstances
surrounding his coming into the world, he says, but see what
different thoughts arise in ours and angels' breasts. To hail
his birth they leave the skies. We lodge him with the beasts. Men lodge him with the beasts. And yet, the angels, before they
descend, they want to look into these things. They see something. And still the angels, still the
angels take an interest in the outworking of this great work
of redemption. Still, in that sense, Christ
is seen of angels. Again, look at the words that
we have in Ephesians 3 and verse 10. Paul writes there to the
intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God."
Now, what is he saying? He speaks of the principalities
and powers in heavenly places. That is the angels. That is the
angels. Might be known by the church.
It's as they are there beholding what God is doing here in this
world amongst His church. That little flock, fear not little
flock, says Christ it is your Father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. All that people who are despised
upon the earth I will leave in the midst of afflicted and poor
people. says Ephaniah, or God says it through the prophet,
I will leave in the midst an afflicted and poor people and
they shall trust in the name of the Lord. It's amongst his
people. It's in the church that the angels
are present. They want yet to look into the
wonders of God's great redemption. or they witness salvation, you
see, as it is yet being worked out here upon the earth, as that
great salvation is being brought into the lives of sinners and
made a blessed reality in the hearts of elect sinners present
in the church. Isn't that one of the reasons
why Paul speaks of the importance of the woman's head covering
in 1 Corinthians 11? Women, he says, or the woman
is to have power on her head because of the angels. What a
statement, because of the angels. All angels are present, you see,
amongst the people of God. There is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. How the
Lord Jesus was seen and is yet being seen of the angels. Here is part of that great mystery,
or the mystery of godliness, the mystery of real religion. But what do we know of these
things? Do we have a desire to look into these things? To consider
these things? Or are we those who are, alas,
so careless and so indifferent too often? How the Lord must
come and have mercy upon us, open our eyes and move our wills
and warm our hearts that we might be those who would truly delight
in this great mystery of godliness of which the Apostle is speaking.
Let the Lord help us that we might learn of the angels. The Lord bless his word to us.