To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Ephesians 3:10
Who is watching you right now? If there is anybody in the room with you, you have a small human audience. As a Christian indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you always have a divine audience. But there are two other audiences that we have – the angels and the demons. We don’t know enough about them to know whether they are always watching us, but we know from the Word of God that they do pay attention to Christians. In particular, they pay attention to us when we assemble as the people of God according to the Word of God. The angels watch us to preserve us; the demons watch us to discourage us. The angels watch because of God’s love; the demons watch because of the devil’s hate. The angels watch in delight at the grace of God toward sinners; the demons watch in rage at the glory that our testimonies bring to God. But they both watch that they might learn valuable lessons from us.
The expression in our text ‘principalities and powers in heavenly places’ is a reference to the spirit world. In that world, the angels and demons are just as real as we are in our physical world. We can’t see them, but they can see us and each other. Like us, they are all created beings. In creation’s order, the angels actually outrank us, and are vastly superior to us in wisdom and power. But with all their wisdom and knowledge, angels don’t know everything. In fact, one of the things that the angels don’t know affects us. That is why they watch us, as our text declares, to learn from the church the manifold wisdom of God.
The world is in disarray and disorder, of that there can be no doubt. There is nothing of God that the angels can relate to there. But when Christians are gathered together in church, or Assembly, capacity, in obedience to God’s Word, there the angels can learn something of God’s order. It must amaze those heavenly beings to see creatures obeying God of their own free will. Angels obey God because they must, so when they see us deliberately choosing to obey God, that is a marvel to them. So is the sight of Christians following God’s order in relation to the roles of men and women in the Assembly. Amid the confusion and disorder among religious circles, the angels can behold God’s order in companies where women display our submission and where men display Christ’s lordship. Angels are also fascinated at our obedience to the Scriptures in meeting on the first day of the week to break bread, in meeting regularly to pray and study the Word of God, and in fulfilling Christ’s great commission to preach the Gospel. The angels know the Bible better than we do, and when they see the Scriptures being lived out in the lives and gatherings of God’s people, they discover more of the wisdom of God in planning it all.
To the angels, we are amazing. But only when we faithfully follow the Word of God. To us, it is simple obedience. To angels, it is the manifold wisdom of God. -Jim MacIntosh