my small group wrapped up our study of daniel last night. what an awesome study it's been! i could write at legnth about it with no problem... and maybe i'll take that up another time. but in my prep study through chapter 12, the final chapter, i was really struck by one thing in particular. its kindof a rabbit trail off the main course of the chapter (or actually three chapters, as 10-12 are one conversation). so the setting is daniel standing on the Tigris riverbank and an angel appears and hovers over the river. daniel 5-6 -- obviously angelic... body like crystal, face like lightning, eyes like flaming torches, arms and legs gleaming like burnished bronze, and whose single voice echoed as a multitude of voices (notice the similies here... it was too outside of daniel's box for definition, so all of his descriptions are comparisons to things he does understand). so daniel responded probably like most of us would -- vs 8-9, he freaked and passed out! the angel raises him up, he regains conciousness, and they begin a conversation... and that's chapters 10-12.
ever watch a movie where the camera perspective keeps changing back and forth, so you see things from different perspectives? 'vantage point' is one i can think of - great flick! (unless you're my friend amy, who just kept getting pissed off at having to watch the same events over and over... lol!) well, daniel seems to have this perspective shift from natural to supernatural and back again... and at times they collide, and you see that they actually have tangible interaction. daniel granted interpretation of visions and dreams (ch 2, 3, 5)... the fourth figure in the furnace (ch 3)... the closing of the lions mouths (ch 6)... visions and angels showing up to interpret them to daniel (7-12)... a demon assigned to Persia delaying the angel's response to daniel's request and connected implication that conflicts on earth reveal ongoing spiritual warfare in heavens (ch 10). anyway... all that to say that i've been intrigued by the ongoing collision of natural and supernatural in the book of daniel. so yeah... all that to preface... 8)
in chapter 12, as this conversation at the riverbank continues... daniel notices (apparently for the first time during this convo) that there are two other angels standing there... one next to him and one on the other side of the river. one of them then asks the angel hovering over the river, 'how long shall it be till the end of these wonders?' so now we have an angel, standing there with daniel, obviously curious about this whole drama unfolding.
that got me thinking... two things. first, there are angels watching the events on earth. second, they don't know what's coming and they're curious about it. so i started looking up some stuff about angels watching events on earth and what stokes their fires. if you're not curious about angels for the sake of angels... i'm with you... angels don't really get me that excited and i'm not trying to too make much of them. but stick with me here...
there are 5 things in Scripture that made the angels in heaven rejoice. by themselves, they're interesting. but to ovserve the theme when you look at them in sequence is awesome!!
1. job 38.4-7 :: '...the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.' -- this is an account of creation. 'morning stars sang together' references the creation of light, and 'sons of God' here represent the pre-humanity host of heaven before God's throne. so the angels rejoiced over the creation of the earth.
2. luke 2.13-14 :: 'and suddenly there was with the angel [announcing Christ's birth to the shephards] a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying, 'glory to God in the highest...' here, the angels rejoiced over the arrival of Jesus as man on the earth.
3. luke 15.7-10 :: '... just so, i tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.' here, we have the angels getting stoked over the salvation of sinners! noticing the trend yet?
4. revleation 5.9-12 :: '...and they [living creatures and elders] sang a new song, saying, worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood you ransomed people for God frome very tribe and language and people and nation ... and i heard around the throne... the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'worthy is the Lamb who was slain...'' so here, we have thousands of thousands of angels rejoicing in the arrival of the ransomed Church of God in heaven!
5. revelation 19.1-7 :: '...i heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, 'hallelujah! salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for His judgements are true and just; for He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of His servants. ... then i heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude... crying out... 'hallelujah! for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns...'' lastly, here, we have the angels in heaven rejoicing as God accomplishes the final judgement of Satan and returns to reign!
progression :: creation of the earth --> the arrival of Christ as man to be the ransom for sinners --> the actual salvation of sinners --> the arrival of the ransomed church in heaven --> the final judgement of evil and Christ's return to reign, victorious, forever!
1 peter 1.12 says, about the things of God's salvation of sinners... 'thing into which angels long to look.'
what stokes the angels? what gets these heavenly beings, who've never sinned and enjoy the physical presence and glory of God even right now, absolutely rivited with suspense? its exactly what we should be getting stoked about! the story of redemption!
let us not think that when this life is over, we'll be done with the gospel! revelation 5.11-12... even HEAVEN never gets over the gospel! the angels and the saints around the throne are worshiping right now in the SAME reality our worship should be founded in!!
'WORTHY is the LAMB who was SLAIN!'
3 comments:
"Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain." With shouts of joy we sing...Hallelujah! (so be it)
GREAT post, Son! Makes me want to read MORE of the Word. Thank you!
Good post, Josh! It's neat to see how you enjoy studying the Word and digging into it. Inspiring. You have a teacher bent and want others to understand. And you teach in a very sequential way, so they can follow your thought process. Excellent! :) Thanks for taking the time to write this down.
Amen! Great post! Like Cindy said, you do have a gift for teaching..Thanks for the exposition!
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