Seen by Angels

The great mystery of the Son of God appearing in the flesh and vindicated in the spirit has only ever come home with saving power to those whose eyes have been opened by the Spirit. But such glory that we cannot now fully grasp or bear has never ceased to be the subject of the stunned gaze of angels. In our day to be 'Touched by an angel' may intrigue and entertain the imagination of many but to the angels their intrigue lies elsewhere. That this sinful world should be 'touched by Christ' – taken hold of by the Son of God – our humanity grasped and redeemed and lifted to share in Christ's Lordship over all creation is what fills astonished angels with adoration and awe.

If we struggle to contemplate the reality of supernatural angelic powers at work in a creation that has been reduced to what can be explored through an electron microscope or a radio telescope or by the Large Hadron particle Collider how much more must angels be gobsmacked at the thought of a new creation in which redeemed sinners are admitted as true sons and daughters of God - as joint heirs of the enfleshed Son of God into the eternal joy and glory of the Triune life of God.