DO ANGELS REALLY WATCH US?
by Shawn Brasseaux
Yes, the Bible confirms that angelic beings watch us Christians as we carry out our day-to-day activities. We will look at these verses in this study.
The Apostle Paul and Sosthenes wrote to the Corinthian church: “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men” (1 Corinthians 4:9). Angels watched Paul and his companions conduct their ministries. The idea of “spectacle” is one of an arena or a theater: we are center-stage and the angels are sitting in the stands! Angels observe our activities—they see our sufferings for the Gospel’s sake, they hear our voices when we read God’s Word aloud, they see our sinful acts, they see us do the work of the ministry, and so on. We cannot see them but they can see us. By watching us and listening to us, the angels better understand God’s Word, especially how this the Dispensation of Grace operates (or, if our lives are inconsistent with grace living, they become confused). They are watching me write this and they are watching you read this!
When Paul gave Timothy a strict command in his first epistle to the young man, he wrote: “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality” (1 Timothy 5:21). The angels watched as Paul wrote this epistle to Timothy. They witnessed him giving Timothy instruction.
Concerning one of the many problems in Corinth (this problem being women usurping places of authority in the local church), Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:10: “For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.” Female Christians are to behave with the doctrine of headship in mind. They should not be behaving like men with respect to church leadership. Why? The angels are watching and they need to see God’s order of the sexes being followed instead of ignored. (For more information, you can see our study linked at the end of this article, “Must Christian women wear head coverings?”)
We read in 1 Timothy 3:16: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” While it is common to view this verse as referring to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ being God was no “mystery” (for example, see Isaiah 9:6-7). The “mystery of godliness,” or secret of godliness, is that God would manifest Himself in human form with respect to the Church the Body of Christ. The Church the Body of Christ is the visible manifestation of Jesus Christ, the one true God. By means of Christians (the members, body-parts), the thoughts of the Head (Jesus Christ) are carried out. This doctrine was unheard of prior to Paul’s apostleship and epistles. We will discuss this more fully in a few moments.
Finally, Ephesians 3:8-10: “[8] Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; [9] And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: [10] To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” This passage will take some explaining.
In the Old Testament, the Four Gospels, and the first eight chapters of Acts, God spoke of His purpose and plan for the earth. That prophetic program focused on the nation Israel and an earthly kingdom (Matthew 25:34) “which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). But, during that time, God kept a secret, “the mystery,” “the hidden wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). When the ascended Lord Jesus Christ saved Saul of Tarsus and made him Paul the Apostle in Acts chapter 9, the Lord revealed that information to Paul: “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest…” (Romans 16:25,26a). Paul’s epistles alone reveal this mystery (secret) program (Ephesians 3:1-9; Colossians 1:24-27). Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon speak of God’s purpose and program for the heaven, which encompasses our present-day Dispensation of Grace, a heavenly kingdom, and the Church the Body of Christ (Ephesians 2:6-7).
According to Ephesians 3:9, we members of the Body of Christ share the goal of the Apostle Paul: “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery….” Our goal is not only to proclaim to people this now-revealed information in Paul’s epistles, but also to make it known to the angels, “the principalities and powers in heavenly places.” We do so not only by preaching and teaching the Holy Bible rightly divided, but by letting Jesus Christ live His life in and through us. The angels and people will thus see that grace doctrine on display in our lives.
CONCLUSION
Angels observe us Christians in order to gain God’s wisdom. They understand what God is doing today by listening to us teach and preach God’s Word rightly divided. While most church members care not to listen to the rightly divided King James Bible, and the denominationalists dislike us for exposing their church tradition, at least the angels are watching us and they are listening to us. This knowledge will certainly cause us to think differently about committing sin—not only God and people, but angels, are watching us too! 🙂
Also see:
» What is “the Dispensation of Grace?”
» What is “the fellowship of the mystery?”
» Must Christian women wear head coverings?
