Where Angels Long to Look
A study through Peter June 11th 2023
I’ve been praying and reading for a while about where to journey next in the scriptures as we continue on our mission to know Christ and make Christ known.
All of this (the bible) is good, and ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ (1 Tim 3:16,17)
It would be ok, would it not, to simply open up the scriptures to anywhere and take from that whatever God would have us glean from whatever portion we happen to read, yes? But that might be a bit confusing perhaps, jumping from place to place, time to time, circumstance to circumstance. I prefer, and I trust you don’t mind, that we go through entire books in a series, so as to understand the context of a message given to us, be it the Gospels, the prophets, the Epistles or wisdom literature – though a series through all the Proverbs or Psalms would be a LONG journey…
Where I felt led to go was to the writings of one of the men from history that I tend to resonate with quite a bit, and perhaps you do too. Peter was a very ordinary man in his day. He was a fisherman by trade, a husband, a family man…an uneducated, common man. (Acts 4:13). There is one thing that is quite unique about Peter when compared to most other people of his day; he had been with Jesus throughout the 3 years of Christ’s ministry on earth.
In that time, he heard Jesus teach, he witnessed miracles of healing and resurrection power. Peter was there with James and John at the transfiguration of Jesus when the Lord had a conversation with Moses and Elijah. And he was there at Gethsemane. He cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. He heard Jesus mock trial. He was the one who denied he even knew Jesus when the pressure was on.
He was at the cross, and he was at the tomb on the morning of Jesus’ resurrection. He was in the upper room when Jesus appeared to the disciples and he received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them.
Peter often stuck his foot in his mouth and spoke out of turn or without thinking. He also preached a sermon that led 3000 to believe and be added to the church in one day. Peter was a regular person that God has done great things through – the greatest of which was to save Peter’s soul and commission him to go and bring that message of hope to the world!
If God can work in the life of a guy like Peter, then surely God can work in any of us, even me, amen?
Turn to the first book of Peter with me and let’s begin our journey through this timely encouragement to followers of Jesus, and discover ‘things that angels long to look into…’
That statement made me think that if this is stuff ANGELS want to know about, then perhaps all of humanity should want to discover it too???
1 PETER
Greeting
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
• What a great start to a letter! It’s Peter here, the follower of Jesus, the witness to His life, death and resurrection, commissioned by the Lord to share the gospel to all the world – the Apostle.
• And who is he writing to? Elect exiles. Not people literally living in exile from the Holy Land, but believers who know that this world is not their eternal home! Their real Promised Land is eternal life with Jesus in heaven.
• Their values and the way they understand the world are not those of the world. Rather it is the change in their hearts brought about by their salvation that they align themselves with God
• And note that all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned right here in the opening of Peter’s address to them – God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ Who shed His blood for their sin – and for ours.
• God the Father knows them
• The Holy Spirit purifies them
• And they live in obedience to Jesus Christ
• He blesses them with a prayer for grace and peace to grow in their midst
• What if we started every message to others that way??!!!
• Hi, it’s me, follower of Jesus, writing to you that God knows, wants to cleanse and follow Jesus too – grace and peace be yours in abundance…
• That would get people’s attention wouldn’t it!?
• Whether its Christians living in the area we know today as Turkey (where this letter was sent originally by Peter’s compatriot, Silvanus) or to people we converse with on a regular basis – should they not know where we stand when it comes to Jesus and the way of salvation?
• For a couple years now I have my personal emails signed with John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
• Perhaps I should START my emails with that?
• Peter Continues with a message of hope…
Born Again to a Living Hope
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
• Our hope is not just something that we are waiting for in the future after we DIE! No, it is a LIVING HOPE that we have been reborn into NOW!
• We have come to know new life, real life, life that is worth living – because Jesus lives – He lives in us!
• But wait, there’s MORE…
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
• What we have is an inheritance that God IS waiting to give us when this old world and these old bodies are done – and having faith that reminds us that there is an eternity in the glory of heaven awaiting those who know Jesus as Lord – it’s almost TOO good! But that’s God isn’t it?
6 In this you rejoice (NO KIDDING!), though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
• Yes, we struggle in this life. If anyone thinks they won’t, simply because they know Jesus, they don’t really know Him or the scriptures that tell us over and over that we will face trouble, trials, tribulations, scorn, hate, persecution and more – all to refine our faith, to produce a more Jesus-like character in us
• Like James put it in his letter: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
• When we face trials, and we all do, we need to realize that God allows these things in order for us to grow in our faith in Him, our trust, and our understanding that nothing, not even gold, is worth anything compared to knowing that we will be with Christ in the resurrection!
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
• Peter got to see Jesus in the flesh – these believers in Asia minor had not – and we have not – yet they loved Jesus and we can too, because we believe
• All this joy he talks about starts with faith. And if you don’t have faith my friend, you don’t know real joy.
• If your joy is found in anything or anyone other than the Lord, then it will not last, especially beyond this life.
• We are saved by His grace, not that we deserve it, but because God loves us so much
• Now’s here’s something really cool!
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
• Angels aren’t saved
• Angels don’t know the depth of God’s grace
• Angels do not have the opportunity to understand what it means to have the Son of God die for their sin and to be reborn to eternal life
• The prophets and the disciples and every follower of Jesus who has proclaimed the good news to others did so in order that others might come to know Jesus and put their faith in Him.
• Angels never have and never will know that
• They are created beings, who KNOW God, who SEE God, who serve Him and have been able to come to us with messages from the Father, to do spiritual battle with us, to be present in our churches, to be uplifters when we need strength
• But they never had Jesus die for them
• They cannot be blessed by the gospel
• Angels who are with God always will be, unless they rebel and follow Satan – and 1/3 of them did – they will be cast into the lake of fire along with the Devil.
• There’s no room for grace for them in any way that we understand.
• This is why Peter makes this statement – these are things into which angles long to look
• Can you picture one day sitting down with one of God’s angels and explaining how you got to be in the presence of the Almighty because Jesus, the Son, was willing to take your punishment for you?
• No one did that for the fallen angels
• No one had to do that for faithful angels
• But Jesus did it for you…
• That is something angels simply don’t understand
• And yet – we are called to bring this message to people who are destined for eternity either in heaven or hell. We are called to explain this glorious, joyous, inexpressibly marvellous message of the Good News to the world
• Whether its people in parts of the world where its dangerous to do so, or in our own community, where the worst that could happen is someone may call you a Jesus freak, a bible thumper, a homophobe, a narrow-minded person, a brainwashed believer, a fool – or maybe someone who cares enough to share the Truth?
• Truth that angels long to understand – and maybe a person you know wants to know too?
• Let’s dedicate ourselves to sharing this amazing message of hope to those who need it – before its too late.
"Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
