Angels

Angels

 Have you ever just stood in awe of God’s creation? So often I just stand and look in wonder of what God has created for us. A few days ago I was looking at a most beautiful bird on our property, a Rainbow Bee-eater. Its colours so beautiful, its form exquisite and its call so characteristic. The creation of God. The creation of God which is all around us is for our pleasure and it points us to the heart of God, His amazing love for us and His incomparable might and authority. I remember standing at the foot of a towering mountain range whose craggy cliffs soared into the clouds. Wow the power and beauty of what God has made. What about when we look into the heavens on a cloudless night, far away from the city lights and we see the myriad of stars and we feel we can almost touch the Milky Way. Awesome is not a word that even comes close to describing God’s creation.  But there is another part of God’s creation that is equally amazing and wonderful that we sometimes tend to overlook and that is the presence of Angels. In 2004 there was a Gallup poll in the UK where it was found only about a third of Britons believed in Angels. I am not surprised because in a survey of the clergy of the Church of England in 2002 published by the Daily Telegraph, a quarter did not believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus! It’s scary to see how fast we are moving away from the word of God.

But today we are going to talk about angels.  There is a story of a man talking to a friend in a pub one day and he says to the man, “My mother-in-law” is an angel” And the friend replies and says” You’re lucky mine is still alive!”

 It’s a joke- we love our mother in laws! We can laugh at our stereotypes!

But let us try and understand the role of angels and what they do because it is inspiring and encouraging. And just as all of creation does, angels point us to the Creator. It’s said that angels are mentioned about 300 times in the bible, from Genesis all the way to Revelation, so they are an important part of what happens in the bible.

Before we look a bit deeper into their role on earth, let’s just clarify what angels are.

A good place to start is at the very beginning.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

So in the beginning God created a spiritual realm and a physical realm.  We also know from Job that the Angels were created before the creation of the physical realm

Job 38:4-7

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

    Tell me, if you understand.

5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

    Who stretched a measuring line across it?

6 On what were its footings set,

    or who laid its cornerstone—

7 while the morning stars sang together

    and all the angels shouted for joy?

 So we know that the Lord created the angels and the spiritual realm first. But the fact of the matter is that angels are created beings.  And as such, and as awesome as they may be, they should not be worshipped. 

They are sometimes called the heavenly host, remember that hymn-“Praise him above, ye heavenly host.”  We read in Nehemiah

Nehemiah 9:6

 6 You alone are the Lord;

You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host,

The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them,

And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You

One of God’s names is “LORD of hosts,” which occurs often in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word used is Yahweh Sabaoth, meaning “Lord of the heavenly armies” or “God of the heavenly hosts.”

 Psalm 24:10 (NKJV)  10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.

 The NIV translates the name as “LORD Almighty.” We see this throughout the NIV

Psalm 24:10 (NIV)10 Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty— he is the King of glory.

(I think something is lost in that translation?)

But we know that they are also individuals and have names e.g. Michael, Gabriel. So angels are created, they are individual and they are of course, spirit beings.

There are three ranks of angelic beings in the bible.

1.  At the top of the list are the Cherubim who are creatures that guard God’s glory and serve Him in various ways including at His throne. Before his fall, Lucifer (Satan) was the highest cherub and therefore the most power angelic being of all.

2. Then we have the Seraphim who worship God before the throne and possess unique characteristics including six wings. This where we get the idea that all angels have wings.

3. Then we have the angels which have the appearance of man. Not woman or of a child and don’t seem to have wings e.g. Michael and Gabriel

So God created this amazing universe and all the animals and all the plants and He put man into this incredibly beautiful and integrated environment so that we can walk with Him, commune with Him and fellowship with Him. So should we be surprised that angels are part of His creation, so that we can draw closer and fellowship with Him even more. For as we look into the heart of creation we see the love of God, His awesome power and His perfect plan for us. And angels are all part of this.

So where do angels fit in with this plan. No better place to look than 

Hebrews 1:14 (Amplified Bible)

14 Are not all the angels ministering spirits sent out [by God] to serve (accompany, protect) those who will inherit salvation? [Of course they are!]

 So angels are messengers of God in the bible, in fact the word angel means messenger of God.  We see this in many parts of the bible remember Gabriel came with a message from God to tell Mary that she was to conceive and give birth to Jesus (Luke 1:26-38)? 

Or

Matthew 28:1-7

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

There are a few learning points here, not least of which the fact that angels are God’s messengers not our messengers. So we don’t pray to them as some do.

Why would we – we have Jesus interceding for us!

Romans 8:34

34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us

Furthermore we have the gift of the Holy Spirit that also intercedes for us (Rom 8:26-27), who convicts us (John 16:7-8), who teaches us (John 14:26), who reveals things to us (1 Corr 2:10-11).  So why would we ever pray to angels! 

In fact the role of angels as messengers to me seems to have changed since Pentecost, because we now have the Holy Spirit.  I am not saying that God does not use angels as messengers anymore, but if and when it does happen it will be a very special and extraordinary event. 

Angels though have many other roles. Let’s have a look at some of them

1. For me one of the most noticeable roles of angels is as protectors. We saw that in Hebrews 1:14 but also in

Psalm 91:9-11 ………………(DIAL 911!)

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”

    and you make the Most High your dwelling,

10 no harm will overtake you,

    no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

    to guard you in all your ways; 

What about in Daniel 6:22 where and angel shuts the mouth of a lion.

I believe this is happening today, in fact I have no doubt about it. God’s hand of protection is on our lives. Let me tell you about one such case in our lives.

 My daughter was travelling from Bridgetown to Manjimup one day for work. As you know the road is one lane in each direction with not much of an edge. Without warning she was faced with one log truck overtaking another log trucks coming towards her. The two log trucks were next to each other coming towards her and she had no time to brake to avoid a head on collision.  If she swerved off the road she would go into trees. So for some reason she went straight down the middle of the road, one log truck moving slightly to the left and the other slightly to the right. She did not brake and stop but threaded the needle between the two oncoming trucks. For me this is divine intervention, and I have no reason to doubt that God’s protection and probably angels ensured she survived that day. So angels protect us in more ways that we can imagine to God’s glory.

2. Angels are God’s warriors. We see that one of the names of God in Hebrew is Yahweh Sabaoth, meaning “Lord of the heavenly armies” or “God of the heavenly hosts.”

Remember when Sennacherib threatened to attack Hezekiah

2 Kings 19:35

35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!

We too are in a spiritual battle and we know that 

Ephesians 6:12 (NASB)

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

And so we are in a battle and there is a war ranging around us and we can wander through this battle with our sunnies, board shorts, thongs and deckchair in one hand wondering what all these explosions are around us, sometimes knocking us off our feet, or we can recognize we are in a battle and put on the armour of God and chooses a route that our Father in heaven has chosen. A route where He says to you

Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

10 So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

We know the enemy and those whose father is the Devil that they come only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10)

1 Peter 5:8 Living Bible

8 Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart.

I watched a movie the other night called “The impossible” A family that was at a beachfront resort on Boxing Day 2004 when a 30m tsunami hit their hotel with no warning.  Miraculously they all survived but about 230,000 people died in this disaster! If only these people had been warned they could have prepared and done something- gone to higher ground- but there was no warning

Forewarned is forearmed in every battle. So we need to know Satan’s tactics

1. Deception- Satan is the father of lies, he will twist the truth (look what happened to Adam) and makes you feel that you will be happier if you sin. He does this by twisting words e.g. sodomy now become gay, fornication now becomes cohabitation, or simply everyone does it so it must be ok. Marriage becomes marriage equality.

2. Division:  So the many challenges, difficulties and disappointments we face in everyday life aren’t always what they may appear to be. We see this in marriage and families. Our past hurts, fears, misunderstandings, pride are all used to pull us apart, because it takes the focus off God and onto ourselves. It saps our energy, drains our love and turns us away from God. How often do we see in families this turmoil, substance abuse, or even on Sundays getting to church can be tumultuous. 

3. Diversion: Satan’s prime role is to divert us way from God. Sometimes by getting us so involved in the things of this world, through anxiety, fears, frustrations or health concerns

4. Discouragement: Satan’s tactic of using personal failings, or past failings pulls us down. Even using comparisons with others can make you feel left out or inadequate

All these things pull us down, so that we are blinded to the abundant life that God has prepared for us.

There is one way that I know that we can do right now to temper this attack and that is to immerse yourself in the Word of God and memorise a few scriptures. And then pray them into your life! For instance

Psalm 73:25-26 (NIV)

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart

    and my portion forever.

But there is another weapon in the armoury in this fight.  God has also provided angels to fight the battle in the heavenly realm for you.

Remember when Daniel prays and an angel says to Daniel—

Daniel 10:12–14

I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, so I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia and came to make you understand what is to befall your people in the latter days.”

So in conclusion God has created this amazing universe, part of which was the creation of angels. All of this to our benefit and pleasure. One day when you die, you will not be alone because it will be angels with you at the time that carry you to heaven. In one of His parables, Jesus told about a poor man who had suffered much during his time on earth. When he died, Jesus said, “the angels carried him to Abraham’s side” (i.e. for us to heaven) (Luke 16:22). So there need be no fear when you die, there is a paper thin veil between the physical and the spiritual realm and an angel will be with you. Then you can ask them all the questions you want about angels!