Angels...and not the kind from Anaheim

This is a Vladimir Guerrero signed baseball. When my family and I were planting churches in Montreal, Guerrero played for the Expos. While in Montreal went to lots of Expos games, I won't say the crowds were small at the Expos but...instead of announcing the game attendance they just listed all our names on the score board,when I called to ask what time the game started they ask what time we could be there, the only way not to be on the jumbo screen was to hide behind your seat..OK somebody stop me...

At any rate, my son Trenton who traveled with the Minn. Twins for a summer or two (as a bat boy and club house kid, not a player or I would have retired by now) collected some 30 or more signed baseballs, including Ken Griffey Jr. and Eddie Murray just to drop a few names. I have in my home proudly displayed all of these balls, including the now Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim number 27 in right field Valdimir Guerrero, whose signed ball is proudly displayed in my "man cave".

My son who graduated from KState this past May and works at the Missouri Baptist Children's home is about ready to move into his new apartment here in KC. He foolishly thinks these baseball are going with him, but I have decided to keep them safe for him until all student loans and college expenses are repaid...so as you can see they will be in my possession until I die or Christ returns, which ever comes first.

My point in all of this is to show off this cool baseball, and to demonstrate that a baseball signed by an "Angel" has no more to do with the real angels than do all the little angel statues, precious moments angles (sorry mom I know you love all 47 you have in your house) or the angels in movies, pictures and cultural images.

Angels are real...and powerful...and nothing like the image that most people have concerning them.

The first Sunday night of each month at 6PM I have an awesome time sharing some of the deeper things of God with our Church@Brookside family. This past Sunday Night we took an in depth look at Angels, and what God's word tells us about Angels.

If you have the time (OK it is a little long...but hey the Bible says a lot about Angels!)

Listen to All About Angels

Here are a few of the basic and foundational Biblical facts concerning angels gleaned from Billy Graham's classic book "Angels, God's Secret Agents" published back in the 1970's. Great little book, pretty lame title...some how I doubt the title was Graham's idea. Anyway, you can find it on Amazon (click here)

The Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:16, says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible.” Angels indeed are among the invisible things made by God, for “all things were created by him, and for him.” This Creator, Jesus, “is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17), so that even angels would cease to exist if Jesus, who is Almighty God, did not sustain them by His power.

It seems that angels have the ability to change their appearance and shuttle in a flash from the capital glory of heaven to earth and back again. Although some interpreters have said that the phrase “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 refers to angels, the Bible frequently makes it clear that angels are non-material; Hebrews 1:14 calls them ministering “spirits.” Intrinsically, they do not possess physical bodies, although they may take on physical bodies when God appoints them to special tasks. Further, God has given them no ability to reproduce, and they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mark 12:25).

The empire of angels is as vast as God’s creation. If you believe the Bible, you will believe in their ministry. They crisscross the Old and New Testaments, being mentioned directly or indirectly nearly three hundred times. As to their number, David recorded 20,000 coursing through the skyways of the stars.

“The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels” (Psalm 68:17). Matthew Henry says of this passage, “angels are ‘the chariots of God,’ his chariots of war, which he makes use of against his enemies, his chariots of conveyance, which he sends for his friends, as he did for Elijah..., his chariots of state, in the midst of which he shows his glory and power. They are vastly numerous: “Twenty thousands,” even thousands multiplied.”

Ten thousand angels came down on Mount Sinai to confirm the holy presence of God as He gave the Law to Moses (Deuteronomy 33:2). An earthquake shook the mountain. New Testament John tells us of having seen ten thousand times ten thousand angels ministering to the Lamb of God in the throne room of the universe (Revelation 5:11). The book of Revelation also says that armies of angles will appear with Jesus at the Battle of Armageddon when God’s foes gather for their final defeat. Paul in II Thessalonians says, “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels” (1:7)

Hebrews 12:22 speaks of “an innumerable [myriads-a great but indefinite number] company of angels.” More amazingly, even one angel is indescribably might, as though an extension of the arm of God.

The Bible is clear that we are not to pray to angels in any fashion. (Colossians 2:18) Nor are we to engage in “a voluntary humility and worshiping” of them. Only the Triune God is the object of our worship and of our prayers.

Angels are aware of what is taking place in this world. One of the single most amazing Biblical statements about angels Jesus revealing that “there is joy in the presence of the angles of God when one sinner repents” (Luke 15:10 Living Bible).

Not angels, but the Holy Spirit convicts men of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:7). He reveals and interprets Jesus Christ to men, while angles remain messengers of God who serve men as ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14).

The Biblical record is clear that angels have played an important role in history. In Daniel 6:22 we read, “My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the lions’ mouths.” In the den, Daniel’s sight evidently perceived the angelic presence, and the lions’ strength more than met its match in the power of the angel. In most instances, angels, when appearing visibly, are so glorious and impressively beautiful as to stun and amaze men who witness their presence.

Who can measure the brilliance of the lightning flash that illuminates the countryside for miles around? The angel who rolled away the stone from the tomb of Jesus was not only dressed in white, but shone as a flash of lightning with dazzling brilliance (Matthew 28:3). The keepers of the tomb shook and became as dead men. Incidentally, that stone weighted several times more than a single man could move, yet the physical power of the angel was not taxed in rolling it aside.

Abraham, Lot, Jacob and others had no difficulty recognizing angels when God allowed them to manifest themselves in physical form. Note, for example, Jacob’s instant recognition of angels in Genesis 32:1, 2. “And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.”

Further, both Daniel and John described the glories of the angels (Daniel 10:6 and Revelation 10:1) visibly descending from heaven with unmeasurable beauty and brilliance, shining like the sun.

“I see four men...in the midst of the fire” (Daniel 3:25).

On the other hand, the Bible indicates angels are more often invisible to human eyes.

Angles are sexless. Jesus said that in heaven men “neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30)

The Bible shares a great deal of information about the types of angles and the task they preform.

The Bible tells us that God has made man “a little lower than the angles.” Yet it also says angels are “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 2:5-7; 1:13, 14). This sounds like a contradiction: man lower-but eventually higher through redemption. How can we explain this?

First we must remember that this Scripture is speaking both of Jesus Christ and men. Jesus did “stoop” when He became man. And as man He was a little lower than the angles in His humanity. But it also speaks about men other than Jesus. God has made men head over all the creatures of our earth world; but they are lower than angles with respect to their bodies and to their place while here on earth. Yet God commands angels to help men since they will be made higher than the angels at the resurrection. So says Jesus in Luke 20:36. God will alter the temporary lower position of man when the kingdom of God has come in its fullness.

Although angels are glorious beings, the Scriptures make it clear that they differ from regenerated men in significant ways. How can the angels who have never sinned fully understand what it means to be delivered from sin? How can they understand how precious Jesus is to those for who His death on Calvary brings light, life, and immortality? Is it not stranger still that angels themselves will be judged by believers who were once sinners? Such judgment, however, apparently applies only to those fallen angels who followed Lucifer. Thus Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:3, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” But even the holy angels have limitations, though the Bible speaks of them as being superior to men in many ways.

God is not called “Father” by the holy angels because, not having sinned, they need not be redeemed. And the fallen angels cannot call God “Father” because they cannot be redeemed. The latter case is one of the mysteries of Scripture:
Christians are joint heirs with Jesus Christ through redemption (Romans 8:17), which is made theirs by faith in Him based on His death as Calvary. The holy angels, however, who are ministering spirits, have never lost their original glory and spiritual relationship with God.

Paul in II Thessalonians 1:7 refers to the “mighty angels of God.” From the word translated “mighty,” here we get the English word “dynamite!
In Peter we read, “angels who are greater in might and power [than men] do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord” (II Peter 2:11 NASB). Peter’s testimony here reinforces Paul’s/ We should also note that it took only one angel to slay the first born of Egypt in Moses’ day, and one to shut the lions’ mouths for Daniel

Archangel

While Scripture designates only Michael as an archangel (Jude9), we have biblical grounds for believing that before his fall Lucifer was also an archangel, equal or perhaps superior to Michael. The prefix “arch” suggests a chief, principal or great angel. Thus, Michael is now the angel above all angels, recognized in rank to be the first prince of heaven. He is, as it were, the Prime Minister in God’s administration of the universe.

Gabriel, God’s Messenger

“Gabriel,” in Hebrew means “God’s hero,” or the mighty one,” or “god is great.” Scripture frequently refers to him as “the messenger of Jehovah” or “the Lord’s messenger.” However, contrary to popular opinion and to the poet John Milton, it never calls him an archangel. Yet it refers to his work more often than to Michael’s.

Gabriel is primarily God’s messenger of mercy and promise. He appears four times in the Bible, always bearing good news (Daniel 8:16, 9:21; Luke 1:9, 26). We may question whether he blows a silver trumpet, since this idea arises from folk music and finds only indirect support in Scripture. But the announcements of Gabriel in unfolding the plans, purposes and verdicts of God are of monumental importance.

In Scripture we gain our first glimpse of Gabriel in Daniel 8:15, 16. There he announces the vision of God for the “end time.” God has charged him to convey the message from the “situation room” of heaven that reveals God’s plan in history. In verse 17 Gabriel says,” Understand

Gabriel in the New Testament

Gabriel first appears in the New Testament in Luke 1. He identifies himself to Zacharias (verse 19), announces the birth of John the Baptist, and describes his life and ministry as the forerunner of Jesus.

But in his most important appearance, Gabriel informs the Virgin Mary about Jesus, the incarnate God. What a message to deliver to the world through a teen-age girl! What a wonderfully holy girl she must have been, to be visited by the mighty Gabriel. He declares:

Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus...And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:30-33).

Throughout all time, this divine declaration of Gabriel shall be the Magna Charta of the incarnation and the foundation stone of the world to come: God became flesh to redeem us.

Seraphim

It would appear from the Bible that celestial and extraterrestrial beings differ in rank and authority. The seraphim and cherubim follow in order after the archangel and angels. These may possibly define the angelic authority to which Peter refers when he speaks of Jesus, “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him” (I Peter 3:22)

The word “seraphim” may come from the Hebrew root meaning “love” (though some think the word means “burning ones” or “nobles”). We find the seraphim only in Isaiah 6:1-6. It is an awe-inspiring sight as the worshiping prophet beholds the sic-winged seraphim above the throne of the Lord. We can assume that there were several seraphim since Isaiah speaks about “each one” and “one cried unto another.”

Cherubim

The cherubim have to do with the glory of God. This chapter is one of the most mysterious and yet descriptive passages of the glory of God to be found in the Bible.

They constantly glorify God. “He sitteth between the cherubim” (Psalm 99:1). God’s glory will not be denied, and every heavenly being gives silent or vocal testimony to the splendor of God.

Those who had no right of access to God. They also assured the right of the high priest to enter the holy place with blood as the mediator with God on behalf of the people. He, and he alone, was permitted to enter into the inner sanctuary of the Lord.

Few people realize the profound part angelic forces play in human events. It is Daniel who most dramatically reveals the constant and bitter conflict between the holy angles faithful to God and the angels of darkness allied with Satan (Daniel 10:11-14). This Satan, or the devil, was once called “Lucifer, the son of the morning.” Along with Michael he may have been one of the two archangels, but he was cast from heaven with his rebel forces, and continues to fight. Satan may appear to be winning the war because sometimes he wins important battles, but the final outcome is certain. One day he will be defeated and stripped of his powers eternally. God will shatter the powers of darkness.

Perhaps the most mind blowing truth about angels is the angel of darkness, and the truth of his existance.

The Apostle Paul understood and spoke of the war of rebellion in the heavens when he referred to the former Lucifer, no Satan, as “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). He also says that in fighting the organized kingdom of satanic darkness, we struggle against “the world-forces of this darkness... the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NASB).

We can describe all unrighteousness and transgression against God as “self-will” against the will of God. This definition applies to human beings today as well as to angels.

Lucifer’s Five “I Wills”

Lucifer, the son of the morning, was created, as were all angels, for the purpose of glorifying God. However, instead of serving God and praising Him forever, Satan desired to rule over heaven and creation in the place of God. He wanted supreme authority! Lucifer said (Isaiah 14), I will ascend into heaven.” I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation.” “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.” “I will be like the most high.” I...I...I...I...I...I.

Lucifer was not satisfied with being subordinated to his creator. He wanted to usurp God’s throne.

Lucifer became Satan, the devil, the author of sin; and it is sin that has always deceived, disturbed, betrayed, depraved and destroyed all that it has touched.

Will there never be an end to this Battle of the Ages, this war against God lustfully conceived in Lucifer and perpetrated on earth?

Not only does the battle rage on earth, but it rages in heaven. “And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels...and the great dragon was cast out” (Revelation 12:7, 9).

Satan and his demons are known by the discord they promote, the wars they start, the hatred they engender, the murders they initiate, the opposition to God and His commandments. They are dedicated to the spirit of destruction. On the other hand the holy angels obey their Creator. No discordant note sounds among the angels of heaven. They are committed to fulfill the purpose for which al true children of God pry, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done...as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10)

The Bible refers to Lucifer and the fallen angels as those who sinned and did not keep their first position (Jude 6). They committed the sins of consummate pride and covetousness. The sin of pride particularly has caused the downfall of many men. If pride could bring about the downfall of Lucifer in heaven, most certainly it can bring mortal man down too. We must be on guard against pride, or we are headed for a fall patterned after the fall of Lucifer and his angels, who turned into demons.

Revelation 12:10 speaks of Satan as “the accuser of the brethren” and Ephesians 6:12 (RSB) describes the “principalitieis...powers...thedarkness of this world...the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Although Satan and his evil followers press their warfare in the heavens, it seems that their primary endeavor is to destroy faith in the world.

Isaiah 13:12-14 clearly points up Satan’s objectives: he works to bring about the downfall of nations, to corrupt moral standards and to waste human resources. Corrupting society’s order, he wants to prevent the attainment of order, and to shake the kingdoms of our God. He uses his destructive power to create havoc, fire, flood, earthquake, storm, pestilence, disease, and devastation of people and nations. The description of Satan’s great power ends with the words, “who opened not the house of his prisoners” (Isaiah 13:17), This undoubtedly refers to the prison house of Satan, Hades or the abode of the dead so clearly pictured in Luke 16:19-31. Satan has great power. He is cunning and clever, having set himself against God and His people. He will do everything in his power to hold people captive in sin and to drag them down to the prison of eternal separation from God.

God’s angels often protect His servants from potential enemies. Consider II kings 6:14-17. The king of Syria

Find another outstanding illustration of this in Acts 27:23-25. Paul on his way to Rome faced shipwreck with more than two hundred others on board. Speaking to the fear-ridden crew he said, “there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar; and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee”

The most important characteristic of angels is not that they have power to exercise control over our lives, or that they are beautiful, but that they work on our behalf. They are motivated by an inexhaustible love for God and are jealous to see that the will of God in Jesus Christ is fulfilled in us.

Angels Will Gather God’s Elect

Linked to this idea Jesus says that “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory” (Matthew 25:31). In other words, when Jesus returns, He will be accompanied by the hosts of heaven. The holy angels will be with Him! As He says in Matthew 13:41-42, “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Earlier in this same chapter, Jesus has related a significant little story commonly called the Parable of the Tares and Wheat (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). Both had been allowed to grow together until the harvest but the reapers were to gather them up in bundles. The tares were to be burned; the wheat gathered. We often wonder why God permits so much sin in the world, why He withholds His right arm of judgment. Whey doesn’t God put an end to sin now? We can give an answer from this text where Jesus said, “Let both grow together, “the evil with the good (verse30). If we were to try to wipe all evil form the face of the earth, who could count on justice? Pure justice does not exist here. They are guilty of sin. Man must do his best in meting out justice, but his best is not complete justice. To angels will be delegated the ministry of separating the good from the bad, discerning even attitudes. God’s judgment will be so pure that even hose that are condemned will bow their knee and confess, “Thou art just.” As someone has said,” When I die I do not want justice- I want mercy!” That mercy has been provided by the Lord Jesus Christ.

So angels will not only accompany Christ when He returns, but will be assigned the responsibility of gathering out of His kingdom all things that offend and work iniquity, that they might be judged (Matthew 13:47-50).

In telling the story in Luke 16 Jesus says that the beggar was “carried by the angels.” He was not only escorted; he was carried. What an experience that must have been for Lazarus! He had lain begging at the gate of the rich man until his death, but then suddenly he found himself carried by the mighty angels of God!

Pretty cool to think that when I close my eyes in death I will feel the strong arms of God's angel carry in me to my Lord and King....wow....I mean really wow!

Now if you are still with me (I think this maybe the longest blog post in history) but if you are still with me you must really be interested in Angels...so this week as you read some of the above text, think about the power of God and the mighty power He has given to angels. Be reminded of the awesome greatness of God and how the angels reflect His glory. Consider your sinful condition and the holiness of God...this will make your salvation even more amazing!

For application try this, listen for ways to bring up the topic of angles to co workers, family or friends who are not converted. Many of them would love to talk about angels, after all angels are everywhere in our culture, movies, books ,TV etc...You can use this topic as an entry point to express the true nature of angels and the awesome power of God.

I will be praying for you this week that God would blow you away with thoughts of His power, might and glory. I will also pray that you discover ways to enteract with your network concerning the true nature of Angels and the true nature of God.



Be sure to check out the audio from Jerry's message today as well as some tools to help you apply the message to your life this week, you can find it along with other Sunday sermons and notes in the archives of this blog.