I Wish I'd Been a Bug on the Wall…

Would be possible to eavesdrop in heaven?

I have a love/hate relationship with those little cubicles that pass for work space. There's this wall that really isn't a wall, separating one space from another. But it's impossible to keep any conversations secret from those who occupy the cubicles around you. Those fake walls are bad for keeping secrets, but great for listening in on the conversations of others.

I imagine myself in heaven before the creation of the universe, around the time God is discussing his plan for rescuing us from the mess he knows we are going to make. I think Paul sometimes wished he's been a bug on the wall eavesdropping on that conversation. "…we speak of God's secret wisdom," he writes in 1 Corinthians 2:7, "a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began."

Minus the bugs on the walls of heaven, that wonderful plan of redemption was prophesied, but remained basically a secret during all the centuries that followed creation. If it had been understood Paul says: "…they [the rulers] would not have crucified the Lord of glory" —1 Corinthians 2:8.

Now there's a conundrum for you. If they HAD known, would they not have still crucified the Lord? How can you kill God when you know that he really IS God? But if the Lord had not gone to the cross, God's justice would not have been satisfied and our salvation would not have been secured.

Perhaps it's just as well that they didn't know.

That leads to Paul's classic statement: "However, as it written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him'" —1 Corinthians 2:9.

The thought occurs to me that even if I had been that impossible bug on that improbable wall, I might still not have believed what I heard. The truth is, I still grapple with the eternal truth that a loving Father could sacrifice his only Son to save a sinner like me.

But I'm sure glad he did.