Jupiter Ascending

No, this isn’t an explanation of this week’s horoscope. It’s the title of a 2015 film I watched this weekend. Although it received mixed reviews from the critics, I found the story and screenplay fascinating. I’ll not give away the plot, but I will say it involved a young woman whose profession was a toilet cleaner being proclaimed as cosmic royalty, the queen of an alien dynasty, whose inheritance included the Earth. Powerful alien beings, closely resembling humans, offered her service and obeisance.

I found myself wondering about the saints’ relationship with angels when we enter heaven. Angels of course are not ‘aliens’ in the sense of Hollywood, but they are superior beings in terms of dignity, intelligence, power and beauty. In this respect, we are a little lower than them.

Scripture doesn’t dwell on angels- it is aware of humans’ propensity to worship anyone other than God. The early Colossian Christians may have been falling into this trap, and even the apostle John almost succumbs whilst receiving the Revelation. Nevertheless, we are told in Hebrews 1:14 ‘Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?’. Many a Christian has an account of receiving divine aid or protection from some mysterious person whose identity could not be traced. But will this status of service continue after the resurrection? We don’t know. But I cannot help but wonder that angels hold us in high regard because God does. Indeed, ‘Even angels long to look into these things’, that is, the salvation of humans.

God seems to value humans more than, or perhaps differently to, angels. Although both races fell, it was a human that Christ became, in order to save humans, never angels. Humans are made in God’s image according to Genesis. I believe that this accounts for our creativity. We are artists, composers, architects and designers. The imagination and vision that these occupations require comes from our God-given inheritance from being His children. There seems to be no record of angelic creativity. Satan, a fallen angel, can counterfeit God’s work but he doesn’t seem able to make anything of his own. There is no doubt that an able forger can be described as a good painter. But you’d not, I think call him a good artist. His painting’s creative genius lies not in himself, but in the artist whose work he seeks to imitate. Likewise, angels can sing beautifully and far better than humans, but I suspect that only humans can imagine those notes before they come into being. This is of course conjecture. I know very little of angels or of life in heaven, and I’m as likely to be proved wrong as right. Of this much though, I think we can be sure: the angels of heaven will treat us as royalty, for we are the sons and daughters of God.

Jupiter Ascending: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1617661/