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Observe here, 1. The title given to the holy angels; they are styled principalities and powers, because God makes us of their powerful ministry in governing the kingdoms and principalities of this world: and they are said to be in heavenly places; not as if they were never here upon earth below, but because the ordinary place of their residence is heaven above.
Observe, 2. That the angels are not omniscient and all knowing. The wisdom of God in the work of redemption was a secret unknown to the glorious angels; they did not know it until God made it known unto them.
Observe, 3. That God did not make the mystery of the gospel, or the glorious work of redemption, known unto the angels immediately, but occasionally, by the revelation of it first to the church, and by the church to them: as if the apostles had said, "Had it not been for the light given to, and spread abroad in, the church, the angels had been in the dark about the mysteries of the gospel to this day. By the church is made known unto the angels the manifold wisdom of God."
Quest. But how could the church communicate this knowledge to angels?
Ans. Either the angels did gather up their knowledge of these mysteries, by the ministry of the apostles preaching them to the world in a way of information; or else they saw, as in a glass, the manifold wisdom of God, and the dispensations of his mercy, grace, and goodness, towards his church, in a way of contemplation.
Observe, 4. The title here given to the work of redemption, it is styled, the maniflod wisdom of God.
O, how full of variety was the wisdom of God in man's recovery! It is of many folds and plaits, manifold in kind, manifold in degree, manifold in its administration. There are manifold secrets in this wisdom: some less perfectly seen, some more perfectly understood, and some that will never perhaps be thoroughly understood. Doubtless, there are some secrets in the wisdom of God, which it belongs only to God to understand and know. Blessed be God that so much of the manifold wisdom of God, in the glorious work of redemption, is made known unto us, as will eternally ravish and delight us.