What Makes The Angels Gasp

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.   Ephesians 3:10-11

God’s purpose has always been to display his wisdom to a vast audience in heaven, and the way he’s doing this is through the church. The church was not tacked on to God’s plan; it has always been in God’s heart.

When God created Eve and brought her to Adam, it was the beginning of human community. But sin separated us from God and from each other. It has brought conflict and division at every level of society, from the first relationship, through the first family, to the scattering at Babel (see Genesis 11) and the hostility of nations. History is the story of our alienation from God and from one another.

At the same time, God has been advancing a plan to reconcile people to himself and to each other. He had told Abraham, “All the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). The mystery of how God would accomplish this was revealed when God sent his Son into the world (see Ephesians 3:4-6).

After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, and the church was established. God had now gathered together the groups that had been scattered at Babel from all over the known world (see Acts 2:5-12).

God was drawing people to faith in Christ, gathering them into a community called the church. From the very first day, it crossed barriers of race, language, and culture. Humanity is always trying to achieve this kind of unity, and it will never succeed. But God is making people from every culture and generation one in Christ.

The distinctions of culture, race, education, social standing, income, gender, and generation exist only for a time; the unity of God’s people is for eternity. It makes the angels gasp, and that’s what Paul is talking about when he says God is putting his wisdom on display for a vast audience in heaven through the church.

For further reading, see Ephesians 3