Every Christmas, we encounter the familiar stories of the archangel Gabriel delivering his message to Mary, choirs of angels singing, and the angel of the Lord warning Joseph to flee to Egypt. These stories are so familiar that we don’t often stop to think about their strangeness. Why are angels so involved in the Christmas story? After all, we encounter angels throughout the Bible, but they are usually in the background. They are not the main characters on the stage of biblical history. And yet, with the coming of Christ, the prominence of angels tells us that something significant is happening. To understand all this, we have to consider the biblical storyline from the angel’s perspective.
The Fall of the Angels
Of course, not all angels celebrated the coming of Christ. We don’t know much about the fall of Satan and his demons, but it appears that this fall had something to do with pride. Paul warns of elders not being recent converts, or they might be “puffed up with conceit” and fall into the condemnation of the devil (1 Timothy 3:6). Jude speaks not only of a singular angel but of the angels who did not “stay within their position of authority but left their proper dwelling” (Jude 6). Most famously, many theologians see in the condemnation of the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 a picture of the fall of Satan, an anointed guardian cherub who became corrupted by pride.
So Satan and his demons rebelled because of their pride. And surely, the creation of humanity must have been galling to them. After all, here were creatures lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5). They did not blaze with fire like the seraphim—they were made from the dust of the earth. They could not fly like the cherubim—no, they had to walk around on two feet. And yet, God crowned man and woman with glory and honor. They were made in his image and given dominion over all things . . . which apparently includes the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)!
The Fall of Mankind
Well, Satan would not stand by without a fight. And so, in the form of a beast, Satan, the serpent deceived the man and woman. He appealed to their pride (“You will be like God!” Genesis 3:5), something that he knew well. The irony, of course, is that they were already made in the image of God. But in listening to the serpent’s deceptive words, the man and the woman forfeited their position of glory. Rather than exercising dominion, they submitted to a beast of the field. They disobeyed God’s command, incurring his just judgment and plunging themselves (and their descendants) into spiritual death.
All this was shocking for the unfallen angels to see. What was once very good, Satan had destroyed. How would God make things right? And who would be the seed of the woman who would eventually crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15)? In the coming centuries, the angels would continue to serve as God’s messengers, delivering his messages, carrying out his judgment, defending God’s people, and patrolling the earth. They would have a front-row seat to witness the devastation of sin, along with observing God’s ongoing promises and faithfulness to his people. The angels waited to see what God would do to bring ultimate resolution to that chasm between mankind and himself.
The Glory Restored
And then the day came. The eternal Word, the Son of God, the Lord of the heavenly armies, would do the unthinkable. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This was a stupendous, unfathomable turn of events for the angels. No matter how much they thought about it, they could not comprehend it. The incarnation! God united with those lower than the angels! What amazing grace! What a wondrous mystery!
For proud Satan, of course, this only filled him with more rage. Such an act of humility was infuriating, repulsive. And so, he and his demons would do their worst, bringing their temptations and afflictions, filling the hearts of men with hatred and treachery against this Jesus. Until finally, they nailed him to a cross.
Of course, Jesus could have destroyed Satan with a blast from the word of his mouth. He could have called down legions of angels to wipe out his enemies. But he chose not to triumph that way. Instead, he chose to defeat Satan as a man, by suffering and dying. He would defeat Satan as a man, by suffering and dying.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14–15 ESV)
This was particularly humiliating to Satan in two ways. First, Jesus would defeat Satan as one who was “lower than the angels.” Satan had deceived man, plunging humanity into death. But now it is as a man that God will humiliate Satan and avenge humanity. Second, through his death, Jesus defeats Satan with his own weapon. For too long, Satan had enslaved humanity with the fear of death. But like the shepherd boy David cutting off Goliath’s head with his own sword, Jesus destroyed “the one who has the power of death” through death. And so, humanity is set free.
A Wondrous Mystery
As these events unfolded, the angels could only look with awe. And they long to look even more into these things (1 Peter 1:12). They cannot get enough. As those who marveled at God’s glory in the creation of the universe, they thought they had seen it all. But these events in the plan of redemption unveiled new galaxies of glory that they had never imagined, the glory of God’s redeeming grace. Look as they may, these angels can never exhaust their wonder. They look, and they look, and they long to look some more. To them, it is a wondrous mystery.
The angels marvel because they understand the wonder of what has taken place. Where do you go looking for wonder in the Christmas season? In lights and decorations? In friends and family? In gifts and parties? The angels would appreciate those traditions only insofar as they point us to the true wonder of Christmas. This year, return to the heart of Christmas, that the Son of God has united himself to our humanity for our salvation.
A Wondrous Mystery
Be filled with the wonder of Christmas with thirty days of devotionals from the sermons of Charles H. Spurgeon, reminding us of the incarnation to be marveled at all year round. Compiled by Geoffrey Chang, curator of the Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
