In 1 Peter 1, Peter talks about the Gospel that has saved us—“the grace that would come to you,” “the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow,” “the things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”
It’s that last line that gives me goose bumps—“things into which angels long to look.” I know what it means to “long to look” into something. As a single woman, there’s a certain awe and wonder I experience when I see families that’s difficult to describe, and I’ve always thought that phrase captured what I felt better than anything else I’ve ever come across.
I’ve been able to relate to that phrase for quite some time, but last week when I read the passage again, I realized something that blew me away. I “long to look” into marriage and family, but marriage is merely a temporary shadow meant to point to the marriage between Christ and His church. The fulfillment of that shadow, the real and glorious thing that marriage can only hint at, is mine. I have it. I know the undeserved grace of Christ saving me through His sufferings. I am “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.” I am “protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” I have been “born again not of seed which is perishable”—that is, not through my weak and failing efforts—“but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” Since God Himself has chosen me and protected me for the salvation He has “reserved” for me, and since it is He who “caused us to be born again,” all of these past, present, and future promises are certain. Astoundingly, all of this is mine, and the angels are looking at what I have with wonder, awed by my “imperishable and undefiled” marriage with Christ through His Gospel.
Perhaps you are single and have also experienced the longing I’ve described. Does this not amaze you?