p>Psalm 91:1-12
1- He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 – I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Whom I trust.”
3 – Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
4 – He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 – You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6- nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 – A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 – You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 – If you make the Most High your dwelling-even the LORD, Who is my refuge-
10 – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
11 – For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12 – they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Psalm 103:20-21
20 – Praise the LORD, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His bidding, who obey His word.
21 – Praise the LORD, all His heavenly hosts, you His servants who do His will.
Family tradition can be a wonderful thing. And-at the Adams’ household we have several such traditions-especially when it comes to holidays. But one of my favorite is our annual custom to read a book together each summer as we travel to and from the condo we rent just north of Myrtle Beach. As we drive along, one family member reads out loud while the rest of us listen. Then between chapters we talk about the book-discussing the characters and the issues the book raises. Over the years we’ve read some great books in this way: Marjorie Rawlings’ The Yearling, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Jack London’s The Sea Wolf. I’m sure your family has some great traditions that you enjoy as well. Perhaps it would be a good crowd-breaker at our next church picnic to share these traditions around the tables as we eat.
And-I mention this because here at Redland we are a FAMILY and we have certain traditions as well. In fact, this morning we are observing one of them.
You see, tonight our two older children’s choirs are presenting their spring musical. It’s tradition for them to do so each year at this time. We all look forward to it. I’m sure we’ll have a packed house. And when possible, it is also tradition for me to take the morning sermon time and use my message to address the same topic that will be raised tonight in song. For example, one year our kids did a musical about GIDEON-and that morning my sermon focused on that TIMID Old Testament judge that God used in such a BOLD way. Another Spring the musical was on JONAH and we did an entire sermon series on that reluctant prophet leading up to the night the kids sang.
I started this Redland tradition years ago because in my mind it’s a good way to take maximum advantage of a teachable moment-not just for our children, but for us adults as well!
Now, tonight’s presentation is called Angels Unaware-so this morning we’re following this well-established Redland custom by looking to the Bible for a deeper understanding of these heavenly beings. This is a good thing for us to do-not just to faithfully observe RBC tradition-but also because angels are very popular in our culture at the moment. I mean, these days angels are admired by millions of people-and many of them are not Christians. Perhaps this is due to baby boomers’s and buster’s hunger for spiritual meaning in life-I don’t know-but interest in ANGELS is seen literally everywhere-and not just at Christmas. For example:
- These days entire STORES are devoted to selling angelic nicknacks.
- Dozens of books like Ask Your Angel and A Book of Angels have been on best seller lists.
- TV shows like Angel and Touched By An Angel were popular a few years back. Their re-runs still receive high ratings.
- Over the years, movies like Angels in the Outfield and City of Angels and Michael scored big bucks at the box office.
- This is not to mention the continuing popularity of old classics like It’s a Wonderful Life and Heaven Can Wait.
I mean angels have been and still are a big deal. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reports that “with angel catalogs, angel seminars, angel pins, angel newsletters and angels sightings, it looks like the winged ones have left the cosmic back lot for the forefront of popular consciousness.”
And-I think it is interesting to note that although our CULTURE has a growing fascination with angels, THE CHURCH has remained oddly silent about them. In his best-selling book on angels, Billy Graham wrote that he had never heard a sermon on angels despite having read of “literally thousands” of personal accounts of people seeing these amazing beings. And he’s right. In fact, the truth is FALLEN angels-Satan and his minions-seem to excite more curiosity in church pulpits and Sunday School class rooms than do those of the heavenly variety.
Well, the silence of Christians on this topic is not a good thing because, without a SCRIPTURALLY-based understanding of angels, there is a great danger. You see, if we are not careful, we can become susceptible to the influence of the FALLEN ANGEL. I mean, the devil can ensnare us as easily through “angelism” as he can through materialism or sensualism or any of the other deadly sins we have studied together recently. Remember Scripture warns that “satan himself MASQUERADES as an ANGEL of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) And he has used this deceptive tactic well. Down through the ages the Devil has scored some of his greatest triumphs in the guise of angels. For example: In 610A.D. The oppressive religion of Islam was born when Muhammad received the contents of the Koran in a series of visions from someone he believed to be the angel Gabriel. Twelve centuries later the false faith system known as Mormonism began when a supposed angel called “Moroni” led Joseph Smith to write the Book of Mormon. I think the potential of angelic deception like this is what motivated Paul to caution the Galatian believers against “even an angel from heaven” coming to preach another “gospel.” (1:8)
You see, not all that purports to be angelic is necessarily Christian. Secular books like Ask Your Angels are immersed in the occult and New Age thinking. “Angelic” movies and TV shows usually portray angels in very unbiblical ways. So-our culture’s stronger belief in angels is no guarantee of greater understanding of God’s truth-in fact if we are not very careful just the opposite will be true.
Well, since there IS danger associated with a preoccupation with angels…let’s pause to consider some warnings should heed if we pursue and interest in them.
1. First, we must not ignore SCRIPTURE and reshape angels according to our own fancy.
I say this because most of the angelic representations we see today-in everything from feature films to lapel pins-are merely the product of human IMAGINATION. They are not at all in line with what God’s Word says about angels-and the Bible DOES have a great deal to say about angels-these “servants who do God’s will.” In fact these amazing beings are mentioned 273 times in Scripture-from Genesis to Revelation. With that in mind, here’s some BIBLICAL facts to help correct some common angelic misinformation.
- Whenever GENDER is indicated in reference to angels in the Bible, it is always MASCULINE. Don’t ask me why-but there are no FEMALE angels mentioned in Scripture.
- The Biblical record shows that angels can shuttle in a flash from the capital glory of heaven to earth and back again-faster than Star Trek’s transporters.
- God’s Word makes it clear that angels are non-material. Hebrews 1:14 calls them “ministering SPIRITS.” So, angels don’t possess physical bodies although they may take them on when God appoints them to special tasks-as He did when He sent the three angels to speak with Abraham in Genesis 18.
- The Bible also says that angels have no ability to reproduce and neither marry-nor are given in marriage-which would make sense if they are all male.
- The Scriptural record teaches us that angels are very powerful beings which is why, “Fear not” is what they usually say when they reveal themselves to people. And I can understand this fear-because in the Bible angels exert fearful power. Three angels had the God-given ability to blind ALL the men of Sodom. One was strong enough to move a four-ton stone from the entrance to the tomb of Jesus. Exodus 14 records that another angel held of the entire army of the Pharaoh of Egypt at bay. Another killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. They are incredibly powerful beings!
- Another thing. angels never appear in the Bible as animals or birds, as we sometimes see in angelic folklore these days.
- And-according to the Bible, angels are a CREATED class of beings-not spiritually progressed humans. In other words, people don’t “evolve” into angels when they die. One popular children’s book on angels includes this quote: “Heaven is a place where girls get turned into angels…and then God tries to do the best He can with the boys.” Well, that’s cute but the Bible never says anything like that. Human girls have no more chance of becoming angels than human boys do. In fact, the Bible teaches that from God’s perspective we are a higher level of creation than angels. Psalm 8:5 says that we are created only a little lower than our Heavenly Father. As Romans 8:29 says, it is the destiny of Christians to turn-not into angels-but rather to be “conformed to the likeness of God’s Son.” (Romans 8:29) The fact is, when we enter eternity, we will have powers and responsibilities denied these amazing beings. For example, 1 Corinthians 6:3 says we will judge the angels.
- Another thing…there isn’t any verse in Scripture that teaches that angels have halos or spend time earning their wings like that beloved old angel Clarence did in, It’s A Wonderful Life. In fact in the Bible only two classes of angels are mentioned as having wings: cherubim and seraphim. As far as we know the rest are wingless.
- We should also note that there is no indication in Scripture that angels AGE. So there are no “littlest angels” going through their growing up years in the clouds. God’s angels exist eternally. The angel Gabriel who appeared to Daniel was the same unchanged angel Gabriel who appeared more than five hundred years later to Mary and Zechariah.
- One final misconception we need to correct is this. God sent His Son to die for the sins of humans-not angels. I mean, for some inexplicable reason God has chosen to invest the future of His kingdom not in ANGELIC beings but in frail HUMAN beings like you and me. And we ARE frail-subject to sickness and death….prone to temptation and rebellion…careless and forgetful in worship. As Paschal put it, we are, “…the scum and glory of the universe…” because in spite of our many shortcomings God loves us enough to send His only Son to die in our place. I mean, there’s no clear indication in the Bible as to how God feels about angels but it is VERY clear when it comes to how He feels about us. And the Scriptures tell us that angels are curious about this. As 1 Peter 1:12 puts it, when it comes to the salvation, “…even angels long to look into these things…” But suffice it to say that salvation is for people, not angels. Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those [US] who WILL inherit salvation?”
So, the first thing anyone must do if they are interested in angels is steer clear of modern make-believe and trust only the Bible’s teachings on the subject. And then, a second warning that we should heed is this…
2. …we must never let angels REPLACE God in our lives.
This is a trap that people who do not know God personally can easily fall into because so often God is pictured as only punitive, judgmental, and demanding and in contemporary literature angels are almost never these things. As an article in Time magazine once said, people these days see angels as “all fluff and meringue-kind, nonjudgmental and available to everyone-like aspirin.” You see, for many people, it is more appealing to relate to a FRIENDLY angel than a DEMANDING God. They want help from an angelic COMPANION when they are pinned behind the wheel in an auto accident but they get uneasy at the thought of opening up their entire lives to the Sovereign GOD, Who drew near in the Incarnation. No-many Americans prefer tamer divinities. And your own personal angel ready to answer to your every beck and call more than fits the bill.
But, we must understand that this preference for angels over our Creator is an insult to God. Do you remember His command in Exodus 20:3-5? God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything IN HEAVEN ABOVE or on the earth beneath…” Even something as holy as an angel in heaven is never to be turned into an idol.
And this leads directly to the third warning principle we must heed when it comes to studying angels….
3. …they must never receive our WORSHIP.
In Colossians 2:18 Paul speaks against “anyone who delights in…the worship of angels.” In the next verse he warned that people who do this are no longer spiritually whole for they have “…lost connection with [Christ, Who is] the Head.” (Colossians 2:19) Now, I can tell you from personal experience that the sight of angels IS awe-inspiring. And because of this-it is very easy for our admiration of the power they possess to lead us down the road to worshiping them. Maybe this is one reason angels are almost always invisible-so we won’t be led into this form of temptation.
Even the Apostle John stumbled in this area. Late in his life, while in exile on the island of Patmos, he was given the visions recorded in the book of Revelation-visions filled with angels.
After one ecstatic scene of heavenly worship at the wedding supper of the Lamb-recorded in Revelation 19-an angel turned to John and asked him to write these words: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” The angel then added, “These are the true words of God.” At once, John “fell at his feet to worship” this angel and the angel’s rebuke was quick. In Rev. 19:10 he says, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus…do not worship me. Worship God!” (Rev. 22:9)
Karl Barth once wrote, “It is inappropriate for people to talk of ANGELS independent of their experience of GOD in CHRIST. While God may send angels, gratitude must always be directed to God, the God we know in Christ.” He is right, for angel worship is no more acceptable to God than the worship of money or power or self-indulgence.
Now-as I said earlier, these days, people definitely BELIEVE in angels so our challenge then is to guide them to believe the RIGHT things-and this is important for us to do because, as you’ll see in a moment, our conversations with people about angels can help them to come to understand more about God. In fact, I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say that angelic dialogues could provide us with a chance to lead people to faith in Jesus.
With that in mind I’d like to use the rest of my time to share with you five basic facts about angels that we need to know to prepare for these potential witnessing encounters. I want to mention five things that angels do-that help us to gain a more complete understanding of our Heavenly Father.
1. First-the Bible teaches that angels deliver, protect, and defend God’s PEOPLE.
Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.” Biblical examples of this aspect of angelic activity is seen when Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den and God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions or the time Peter was in prison and God sent an angel to free him.
A more current instance though is seen in the story told by Corrie ten Boom of rebels advancing on a school in Africa where 200 children and missionaries lived. The rebels planned to kill both children and the missionary teachers. In the school they knew of the approaching danger and so they went to their knees in prayer asking for God’s intervention. Their only physical protection was a fence and a couple of government soldiers-whereas the rebels had hundreds of troops.
But, when the rebels drew close to the school, they suddenly turned around and ran away. The next day they came back and the same thing happened and it happened again on the third day. A few days later, one of the rebels was wounded and was brought to the mission hospital. When the doctor dressed his wounds, he asked him: “Why did you not attack the school as you planned?” He replied, “We could not do it. Each time we attacked, we saw hundreds of soldiers in white uniforms and we became scared.” Corrie reports that in Africa soldiers never wear white uniforms, but we know Whose army does! So, one thing God’s angels DO is protect us. As we read in our text from Psalm 91. God commands His angels, “…concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”
2. And then the Bible teaches that angels also provide GUIDANCE from God.
The word, “angel” literally means, “messenger” and the more we study angels the more we realize that this is one of the MAIN tasks assigned to angels because the Bible contains hundreds of examples of these “celestial mailmen” conveying God’s specific verbal guidance like some sort of liaison officers. For example, in Genesis 16:7-9 the angel God sent to Hagar after she had run away from Abraham and Sarah directed her saying, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” Angels were also delivering God’s message when they told the wife of Manoah that she would have a son named SAMSON and when they told Lot and his family it was time to leave Sodom. Another angel told Jacob it was time to leave the lands of his father-in-law, Laban, and return home.
As our children will remind us tonight, angels were particularly busy when it came time for Jesus to be born. They told Elizabeth she would have a child named JOHN. Then they told the virgin Mary that she would be with child-and that child would be Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. The same angel delivered God’s message to Joseph-explaining what had happened and what he was to do. Thirty-three years later angels delivered a message from God when the women came to the tomb of Jesus saying, “He is not here. He has risen just as He said.”
Angels were delivering God’s message when they appeared to Paul on a ship in the middle of the storm-tossed Mediterranean Sea and said, “Don’t be afraid, you must stand trial before Caesar;
and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.” (Acts 27:13-26)
As God’s messengers, angels had a special part in giving us the Bible. Both Stephen and Paul speak of the Old Testament Law as being “put into effect through angels.”
Acts 7:53, Galatians 3:19. And the writer of Hebrews calls his epistle, “the message spoken by angels.” (2:2) When Moses remembered how God came to Mount Sinai to give him the law, he said God arrived “with myriads of holy ones”— a phrase that of course describes angels. (Deuteronomy 33:2)
3. Another thing we need to know about angels is this. They provide COMFORT and ENCOURAGEMENT.
Remember the angel that came to Elijah as he was running through the desert trying to get away from Jezebel? That angel provided food and water for this weary prophet of God. Angels ministered to Jesus after His temptation in the desert and in the Garden of Gesthemane before His arrest and crucifixion. (Luke 22:43) And then, how about the time when Daniel was an old man and an angel appeared to him? The angel had come to tell him what would happen to the people of Israel in the future. But Daniel was too weary to hear the message. He said, “My strength is gone. I can barely breathe.” The angel touched him and said, “Do not be afraid, Oh man highly esteemed. Peace! Be strong now. Be strong!” And Daniel said, “Speak now…since you have given me strength.” (Daniel 10:4-19) As Hebrews 1:14 says, Angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve Christians.”
John Calvin once wrote, “In creating angels, God must have had our interests in mind. [for] God employees [them] simply as a help to our weakness in order to elevate our hopes or strengthen our confidence.” Angels do provide us with comfort and strength…
4. And then, angels often also serve as God’s agents of JUDGEMENT.
The Bible repeatedly shows that throughout history angels have worked to carry out God’s verdicts, directing the destinies of nations and individuals who were disobedient to Him. For example God used angels in scattering the people of Israel because of their sins. He also used angels in bringing judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah and eventually on Babylon and Nineveh. It was an angel that God sent to kill the first born of Egypt…to force stubborn Pharaoh to free the people of Israel. Acts 12 says that an angel of the Lord killed the wicked King Herod Agrippa because he did not give God the glory when his people praised him by saying that he spoke as a god.
So-Angels protect and defend God’s people. They provide us with His guidance and comfort. They serve as His agents of judgement.
And at this point in our conversations with angel-loving seekers, I think we point out that…the ministry of the angels is indeed a reflection of the CHARACTER of God Himself.
As we read earlier, Psalm 103:20 says, “Praise the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do HIS bidding, who obey HIS word.” You see, apart from God, angels can do nothing and are nothing. Their very “food and drink” is to do God’s will and accomplish His work. So, that means when angels give us strength or enlightenment, it is God’s strength or enlightenment. Their encouragement is God’s encouragement. Their guidance is God’s guidance. Their protection is God’s protection. When they bring comfort, it is God’s comfort they offer. When they bring judgement it is God’s judgement they execute-judgement that often pushes us away from our sin and back to God.
So, you see, as I said a moment ago-a Biblically-based study of angels can indeed teach us more about our Heavenly Father. And the most important thing they can teach us about God is this….
6. ….He is actively INVOLVED in our world.
A study of angels shows that God didn’t just create the world and then sit back in His celestial rocking chair to watch what would happen. No-God is actively involved in our world. We may not SEE it for, as Hebrews 13:2 says we often “entertain angels unaware…” But, even though we can’t perceive it God’s angels are always busy doing His will. So…God IS active in our world. Many times it is behind the scenes-doing things we can’t see-but things that always work out for our eternal good and His eternal glory. But God is involved!
When theologian and author Thomas Carlyle was well along in years, he became seriously ill and experienced deep depression. A friend was visiting with him one day and the subject of religion came up. The friend said: “I can only believe in a God Who DOES something.” Carlyle reportedly winced as if in physical pain, and said with a sigh: “But that is just the problem. He DOES nothing….nothing at all!” To those who have read his works, it is obvious that this statement is by no means typical of the true depth of Carlyle’s faith. It simply represented the way he honestly felt at that moment as the clouds of depression totally engulfed him. And many people feel the same way at some time in their lives. When a nightmarish problem persists and it seems that God did “…nothing, absolutely nothing at all,” they honestly felt that as H. G. Wells once bitterly put it, GOD was-“…an ever ABSENT help in time of trouble.”
And across the centuries, this is a charge that has often been leveled against God, yet the Bible claims exactly the opposite. The Bible declares over and over again the truth that God has been actively involved in history. As we learned last Christmas, God is sovereignly in control of everything-from the sub-atomic level on out. In fact, if God stopped DOING what He does even for a second this whole universe would fall apart. For as it says in Colossians 1:17 “…the universe as a whole in Him holds together.” I could not show up for work one day and things would move right along but if God ceased His involvement in this universe for even an instant everything would come to a grinding halt. God IS involved in our world-and a Biblically-based study of angels affirms this comforting fact. Our study of their actions gives us a glimpse into this truth-and as many of you know, I was given a personal glimpse of this as a child.
When I was about six years old, my family lived in Seaford, Delaware-where my father pastored Grace Baptist Church. The parsonage they provided for us was actually a farm house owned by a church member. We Adams’ children were permitted to go anywhere on the farm we wished-except inside the BARN because the farmer stored his equipment there and he was afraid we would be injured on it if we were to play there. But of course, we went in the barn anyway-several times my brother and I would sneak off to explore and play in there. One day some friends from out of town came to visit. They had two sons the approximate age of my brother Jon and I and we thought it would be a great adventure to show these guys the inside of THE FORBIDDEN BARN. Without telling our parents where we were going, we headed off and had great fun showing our peers around all the tractors and harvesting equipment. One piece of equipment that was stored there was what I believe is called a ROTARY HOE. I may have the name wrong but this “ROTARY HOE” was made up of several rectangles-each of which has dozens of 10″ curved steel spikes protruding out. When dragged behind a tractor all these curved spikes do a great job of tearing up hard ground to get it ready to plow and plant.
When this HOE was stored as it was that day each of these rectangles of spikes would be folded up. The spikes on the front then protruded out-horizontal to the ground with their steel fingers curved upward toward the sky. Well, I was showing off-walking along the “hitch” in the front, like on a tight-rope or balance beam, when for some reason, it suddenly sprang upward, throwing me through the air like a projectile from a catapult. I came to rest impaled on one of these spikes with my feet dangling about 6 feet above the ground. The spike pierced my left side just below the rib cage. If we ever have a church swim party I’ll show you the scar.
Well, my brother and our visiting friends immediately ran into the house to get help leaving me hanging there alone. And I distinctly remember what happened next. I hung there disoriented and trapped and scared for a few moments. And then I remember a “person” who suddenly appeared and hovered in mid air to my right. I believe this “person” was an angel sent by God to help me and he did just that. First he calmed me such that all fear left. I remember feeling instant peace. But then he GUIDED me. He told me exactly how to get down from the rotary hoe. You see, I was stuck in the middle of this web of steel fingers and I remember wanting to get down to my left-closest to the exit. But he would not let me do that-for some reason he told me this would not work. So, instead he helped lift me off the spike and then guided each step, helping me wind my way through all the spikes to my right without further injury and then down to the ground. I could not have gotten down by myself. Well, as I stumbled out of the barn I met my dad coming from the house. He picked me up and rushed me to the hospital in our guest’s car. This too was part of God’s active intervention-because you see our family car was in the shop that day. We would certainly have been delayed in getting to the hospital if this family had not been visiting.
My father related to me that when the doctors examined me they were amazed. My chest had been punctured by this 10″ spike missing my heart by a quarter of an inch but somehow my lung had not been pierced. It had inexplicably “moved over.” I was home in about a week-as good as new. But I wouldn’t have been if it weren’t for the help God provided me when He sent that angel to my aid. Thinking of this event over the years and hearing my parent’s side of the story has been a constant reminder to me of God’s providential care in my life. This incident has always been proof to me of God’s love and the fact that He is not some distant Creator but is intimately involved in my life.
If you’re here this morning-I pray that our study of angels has helped you to get a better grasp on the character of God. I hope it’s helped you realize how very much He loves you. I hope it’s opened your eyes so that you can now see that God IS involved in our world. And as our children will remind us tonight-the most wonderful example of God’s involvement is when, as angels foretold, He actually became one of us…when in Jesus Christ, God became flesh-and physically experienced everything you and I experience….enduring every struggle and temptation-yet without sin. And then when He literally took the punishment for our sin-and for the sins of all mankind on Himself as He hung on Calvary’s cross. You can’t GET more involved than that! But because of that one sacrificial act-heralded by angels-God can and will come into your heart and life. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you can experience His day to day involvement in your work, marriage, parenting-everything! All you need to is pray-asking Him to forgive your sin and committing to follow Jesus as Lord. If you’ve never done that, I invite you to right now…and then to come and share that decision with me. You may have other commitments that you need to make-such as joining our church family and becoming apart of all the traditions that make Redland …. Redland. As we stand and sing, won’t you come as God leads?