Reality of being 'seen of angels'

The greatness of this secret is that God is manifesting Himself, His life, His truth, through this new agency of people called the “church the body of Christ.” People are justified in the Spirit, seen of angels.

I Timothy 3: [15] But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
[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.

Angels watch what we’re doing. Understand that a ministry like this isn’t just observed by the people around you.

Ephesians 3: [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,

They’re looking down here and seeing things about the wisdom of God they could have never otherwise known. They watched creation and still we instruct them. They watch you carefully. That’s an awesome thought.

You go singing in the shower in the morning, sing to the angels. Think about the reality of it--“seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

That’s the totality of what He’s doing as He forms the body of Christ. You know what we do? We’re putting on display in visible terms that demonstrate the reality of what God’s doing today. That’s some calling.

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After writing about one of the greatest hymn writers of all time, Isaac Watts (Dec. 29, entitled “Songs change history”), I’ve found myself singing his hymns to myself as I go through lonely days, fostering a deeper kinship with Watts.  

Here’s another article I put together on him years ago:

One of the great hymns of faith, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", written by Isaac Watts and published in 1707, "is significant for being an innovative departure from the early English hymn style of only using paraphrased biblical texts," according to Wikipedia, "although the first couplet of the second verse paraphrases Galatians 6:14a and the second couplet of the fourth verse paraphrases Gal.6:14b.

"The poetry of 'When I survey . . . ' may be seen as English literary baroque.^[1]"

According to Barry's Hymns blog, "It is said that as a teenager Watts complained to his father about the monotonous way Christians in England sang the Old Testament Psalms. His father, a leading deacon, snapped back, 'All right young man, you give us something better.' "

Wikipedia: "The second line of the first stanza originally read, 'Where the young Prince of Glory dy'd'. Watts himself altered that line in the 1709 edition of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, to prevent it from being mistaken as an allusion to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, the heir to the throne who died at age 11.^[2]

"The hymn's fourth stanza ('His dying crimson . . .') is commonly omitted in printed versions, a practice that began with George Whitefield in 1757.

4. His dying Crimson, like a Robe,
    Spreads o'er his Body on the Tree;
    Then I am dead to all the Globe,
    And all the Globe is dead to me.

"In the final stanza, some modern variations substitute the word 'offering' for 'present'."  

5. Were the whole Realm of Nature mine,
    That were a Present far too small;
    Love so amazing, so divine,
    Demands my Soul, my Life, my All.

Of the hymn's critical acclaim, Barry's blog notes, "Tedd Smith is quoted as saying, 'It seems to me that Isaac Watts wrote this text as if he were standing at the foot of Christ's cross.' Charles Wesley reportedly said he would give up all his other hymns to have written this one. Concerning the hymn's creation, there is no special story that makes it stand out from others that he wrote.  But what makes this hymn unique is the particular beauty of its language and imagery, and the power with which it highlights the most significant event in human and personal history - the Cross of Jesus Christ."

A biographical passage on him: “A very unusual man, Watts served as minister of the English Congregational Church, preaching his first sermon at 24. History says that though he was a charming man, his stature was small and his physical appearance hard to believe. Only five feet in height, his face was sallow with a hooked nose, small beady eyes and a deathlike pallor. One lady, a Miss Elizabeth Singer, who had fallen in love with his poetry and thought she had met her soulmate at last, refused his hand in marriage when she finally saw him, with the remark, ‘I admired the jewel but not the casket!’ However, his hymns have been jewels admired by all generations of Christians.”