I have been a Christian for most of my life. The longer I walk on this journey of learning who God is, the more I realize I will never know everything there is to know about God. I believe we will be learning more about who God is for all eternity. It won’t matter how long we live in Heaven, we will always be learning more of who God is. We will be continually learning to have a more intimate relationship with God. 

Angles Are Students

We humans aren’t the only creatures who continually learn more about who God is. The angels are also students, learning more about who their creator is. They constantly learn new aspects of God’s character. Their job is to carry out the plans of God. However, they don’t generally know what God is about to do before he does it. Yes, they have the privilege of already living in Heaven with God. Yes, they are able to speak to God in their physical realm. However, they still don’t know everything there is to know about God. They are lifelong students of God, just like we are. 

One of the ways they learn about the character of God is through watching how humans and God relate to each other. Remember humans are the only beings created in the image of God. Angels are not created in the image of God. Furthermore, Jesus died to reconcile humans to the Father, not angels. It is humans who are called children of God. Humans are co-heirs with Jesus, not angels. 

A Great Mystery

To the angels, there is a great mystery when it comes to the relationship God has with us, his children. The angels learn more about who God is through watching us live our lives. They learn about grace by watching God pour out grace on us. They also learn about grace by watching you pour grace on other people. When we are given favor by God in those times we don’t deserve it, the angels learn more about the character of God. To understand this more, let’s look at Ephesians 3:9-12 in the Passion translation. 

“My passion is to enlighten every person to this divine mystery. It was hidden for ages past until now, and kept a secret in the heart of God, the Creator of all. The purpose of this was to unveil before every throne and rank of angelic orders in the heavenly realm God’s full and diverse wisdom revealed through the church. This perfectly wise plan was destined from eternal ages and fulfilled completely in our Lord Jesus Christ, so that now we have boldness through him, and free access as kings before the Father because of our complete confidence in Christ’s faithfulness.”

The Role Of The Church

Let’s explore verse 10 from this passage a little more. It says, “The purpose of this was to unveil before every throne and rank of angelic orders in the heavenly realm God’s full and diverse wisdom revealed through the church” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭(TPT).‬‬ We are given more information from the Passion translation regarding the role of the church in this verse. It says, “The church is the “university of the angels” and every believer is a “professor” teaching the heavenly realm the mysteries and wonders of the grace of God. The angels investigate through our lives the treasures of grace, like the cherubim who gaze upon the mercy seat.” 

Remember the church IS NOT a building, rather it is you. You are the church. You are a part of the body of Christ, which means you are a reflection of Jesus himself. 

The word for ‘church’ means a reflection of the king. Back in the days of Jesus, a king or emperor would conquer lands and send one of his ambassadors to set up the government in this new territory. The ambassador was expected to make everything in this new territory look and feel just like the capital of the kingdom. This way when the king or the emperor came to visit, he felt at home. The land no longer felt foreign; instead, it felt just like the rest of the kingdom. The people of this newly conquered territory lost their unique identity. They took on the identity of the kingdom, be it Rome, Greece, or any other kingdom. 

The same goes with us. We are ambassadors for Jesus in this world. We are the reflection of Jesus to a lost world. When people look at us, they see who Jesus is. Jesus is at home living inside us because we have taken on his identity, and have given up our old, false identity. 

Now, when the angels look at us, they see Jesus. They learn more about the character of Jesus by watching us interact with each other and with Jesus. 

We Have Boldness

Ephesians 3:12 TPT says, “we have boldness through him, and free access as kings before the Father because of our complete confidence in Christ’s faithfulness.” Again, the Passion translation gives us a note regarding what it means to have boldness to go before the Father. It says, “The Greek word used here (for boldness) can be translated, ‘freedom of speech to say whatever you want with boldness.’” We have the freedom to say whatever is on our mind. In fact we can say those things with boldness, knowing our Father loves us because we are his children. 

Honestly I don’t know how much freedom the angels have to say whatever they want to God the Father. I’m guessing they may not have as much freedom as a child of God has. I can imagine some of our laments and requests seem outlandish and shocking to the angels who hear us when we talk to God. I can imagine them thinking, “Oh, now they’ve crossed the line.” Only to find out our Father responds as a good father. He explains things to his children much like an earthly father explains things to his young child. The Father never loses patience with his children. He has unending patience for us. While I have no doubt he also has unlimited patience for the angels as well, he may not allow them to speak as freely as he allows us to speak. 

We are the most unique beings in all creation, both in this world and in all other realms. We have the privilege of showing both the lost people in this world and the angels who move between our world and other realms who God is. Let’s remember to live a life filled with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is when these fruits are evident that we show all attentive creatures more of the character of God. 

Note: All definitions came from https://www.merriam-webster.com/.