What Must the Angels Think?

Word from the Center
Written By Peter Scaer

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You may consider the world to be a spectacle, a theater in which the greatest of dramas is playing itself out. As we battle the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh, the angels come to our aid and are watching every minute of it. Following in our Lord's holy train, the angels especially love the little children. Gabriel himself announced the Son of God's coming as a baby within Mary's womb. And yet our abortion clinics continue to do their work, children's bodies dismembered and thrown into the trash, angels weeping. Children confused and groomed are led to think that somehow they are in the wrong body, and a game of dress-up soon leads to puberty blockers, hormone treatment, and mutilating surgery, leaving the angels to weep. Such a treasure it is to be created in God's image, but what of it? To think that God's Son has become one of us, in the flesh, sanctifying and redeeming a bodily life at which the angels wonder.

And so, we may ask, are the angels asleep? Far from it. The Mighty Ones continue to watch over us, continue to ward of the worst of the demons, and yet know that evil must run its course. But not forever. With their Lord Jesus, the angels will soon fill the sky, the host arrayed in white, strong and true, to deliver God's children. The right side of history talk has been exposed as nonsense, a way to demoralize those who know or should know better. Much better to be on the side of the angels, God's angels, who love us as He does.

The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is professor and chairman of the Exegetical Department at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

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