Even before the Good News was announced at Bethlehem’s manger and authenticated at Calvary’s cross, rumors were spreading in heaven’s court that something big was about to happen. The Triune God had kept his plans for the salvation of mankind a secret from all creation—and it was really bugging the heavenly hosts. They were itching to know!

Little by little, as the time drew near, God began to release bits and pieces of the Good News, but never in completed form. The angels periodically announced to humans that something really big was coming, and the prophets prophesied the birth, suffering and redemptive work of Christ long before it happened, but always as if seeing “through a glass darkly.”

Then it came! Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died as God’s perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind, and rose again as Lord of life, Savior of the world, and Ruler of the universe. But even then, the Good News was still a bit of a mystery to the heavenly beings (as it still is to the unsaved world), because the only beings who could truly grasp this mystery were the one’s who had been redeemed by it.

You see, only undeserving sinners who have been redeemed from sin and death can truly appreciate salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Angels can’t—they can’t be redeemed because they can’t sin. Only humans have the free will to choose this amazing gift of God—and when they do, the mystery is grasped.

All the angels could do was witness it longingly from afar. They witnessed it when Jesus was born, when he died, when he rose, and when you received Jesus as your Lord. They know it is glorious beyond comprehension. But they can’t quite get their angel brains around it—and they envy!

How great a salvation you and I enjoy! No other creature can experience the greatest gift that God has made available in his entire universe. No other being but mankind can take part in the most powerful miracle of all—bigger than the creation of the worlds, bigger than the parting of the Red Sea, bigger than any other sensational miracle in the Bible—and that is the miracle of the new birth. God’s best miracle took place when you were born again!

Don’t take for granted this great gift God has bestowed upon you! Every heavenly being longs to understand what is now yours. On this day, take some time to appreciate God for “so great a salvation, so rich and so free.”

“There is no mystery in heaven or earth so great as this—a suffering Deity, an almighty Saviour nailed to a Cross.” ~Samuel Zwermer

Reflect and Apply: Perhaps you might offer this prayer in response to so great a salvation: “Father God, forgive me for neglecting so great a salvation—for taking it, and you, for granted. Thank you for this indescribable gift. How privileged I am, above all your created beings, to be the recipient of this undeserved miracle.”