“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?” Heb. 1:14, R. V. Just what office the “thousands of angels” who were at Sinai had to perform, we can not know; but we do know that they have a close and deep interest in everything that concerns man, although the preaching of the Gospel is necessarily not committed to them. When the foundations of the earth were laid, “all the sons of God shouted for joy;” and a multitude of the heavenly host sang praises when the birth of the Saviour of mankind was announced. They are attendants upon the King of kings, waiting to “do His pleasure, harkening unto the voice of His word.” It would not be otherwise than that they should attend as a royal body-guard when the law was proclaimed, and, of course, they were not there merely for pomp and parade. Stephen said to the murderous Sanhedrim: “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers; who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.” Acts 7:51-53. Of him who is now the adversary, the devil, it was said, “Thou sealest up the sum,” measure, or pattern. Eze. 28:12. The French of Segond has it, “Thou puttest the seal to perfection,” and the Danish, “Thou stampest the seal upon the fit ordinance,” indicating that before his fall he was what might be termed the keeper of the seal, and that it was his duty to affix it to every ordinance passed. Angels “excel in strength,” and the fact that they were all present at the giving of the law shows that it was an event of the greatest magnitude and importance. [Sidenote: In the Hand of a Mediator.] For the present we may pass by the question of time involved in the phrase, “till the Seed should come, to whom the promise was made,” since our present study is the relation of the law to the promise. The law was given to the people from Sinai “in the hand of a Mediator.” Who was this Mediator?—There can be only one answer: “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 2:5. “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.” God is one, the people are the other, and Christ Jesus is the Mediator. Just as surely as God is one party to the transaction, Christ must be the Mediator, for there is no other mediator between God and men. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. [Sidenote: Christ’s Work as Mediator.]