Angels
John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see their attackers leave. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ. Remembering what had happened, Paton asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, "Who were all those men with you there?" Paton knew no men were present--but the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station.
Today we’ve heard about a Man and a Woman being visited by an angel
Who told them some powerful, world changing news!
The story that I’ve just read about the missionaries talks about hundreds of men in shining garments that sound very much like Angels surrounding a couple who were about to be killed
Protecting them from hostile natives
So these beings, that we call Angels, seem to protect people and bring messages from God,
However is that all we know about these spiritual heralds?
Many theologians are cautious in their study of angels and yet we can see in recent years an increasing interest in angels and ghosts by many New Zealanders; what could easily be called Spirit or Angelmania.
In fact, the latter,is the title of an article by Dr. Kenneth Gangel in “Kindred Spirit” on the widespread discussion and fascination with angels in our time by the secular world.
Closer to home a recent Nielsen survey showed 63% of Australians believed in miracles, 51% in angels, and 34% in UFOs.
In the United States, 79% of Americans believed in miracles, 68% in angels and demons, and 36% in alien visitations.
A recent Massey University survey also found 39% of New Zealand adults believed fortune-tellers could predict the future, 28% that good luck charms worked and 25% that star signs affected an individual's future.
Many TV programmes such as ‘Ghost Hunter’ and ‘Touched by an Angel’ have or are becoming more popular by the day
Some frequently asked questions about angels that I found on an interesting website called
‘I believe in Angels.com’ are:
Are Angels Ever Afraid?
Do Angels Really Exist?
What do angels look like?
Are there bad angels?
What do Angels do?
And lastly ‘Do Angels sing?’
I’m not going to try and answer all of these questions but we can at least explore some
Angel or in the Greek ‘Angelos’, basically means ‘Messenger’
Scripture doesn’t explicitly state that angels were created
Nor are they mentioned in the creation story in Genesis 1-2
That they were created is, however, clearly implied in Psalm 148
“Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts...Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.”
Apparently the angels were all created directly at one time, since they presumably do not have the power to propagate themselves in the normal fashion (Matthew 22:30)
And we are told of no new direct creations by God after the original creative effort was completed
Angles are spiritual beings; they do not have physical or material bodies
Should we worship Angels was one of the questions?
Some second century theologians seem to have given the angels a status verging on divinity
For example, in replying to a charge of atheism brought against the Christians, Justin Martyr listed the beings that Christians reverence and worship; he included not only the Son, but the host of angels that follow and resemble him.
There have at times been tendencies to exalt angels unduly, giving them worship and reverence due only to God
The letter to the Hebrews makes it clear that Christ is superior to the angels
And although they are superior to human beings in many of their abilities and qualities, they are part of creation and thus finite beings
What do angels look like?
Well in most cases they are not seen
Although there are a number of people who claim they have seen Angels
And movies and programmes that share stories of people’s visitation by Angels
The Lord had to open the eyes of Balaam before he could see the angel standing in his way.
Elisha prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of his servant; then the young man saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha
When angels are seen, they ordinarily have a humanlike appearance, so they may well be mistaken for humans
Sometimes, the glory of the Lord shines from them
However there is no indication that angels appear in female form
And although parts of the bible speak of angels flying there is no mention of wings
What do angels do?
I’ve already mentioned that they are messengers from God and that they protect people
But one of the main things that Angels do is to continually praise and glorify God
This mostly takes place takes place in God’s presence
However on one occasion it took place on earth
When the angels sang “Glory to God in the Highest” at Jesus’ birth
This obviously answers the question “do angels sing?”
Angels it seems also minister to believers. This includes protecting believers from harm,
Which is what we see happen in our first story, i.e. the Patons were protected from those intent on killing them
In the early church it was an angel that delivered the apostles and later Peter from prison
The major ministry is to spiritual needs, however. Angels take great interest in the spiritual welfare of believers, rejoicing at their conversions (Luke 15:10) and serving them in their needs (Heb 1:14).
Angels are spectators of our lives
And are present within the church
Angels also execute judgement on the enemies of God
It was the angel of the Lord who stood between the people of Israel and the Egyptians
Lastly angels will be involved in the second coming of Christ. They will accompany the Lord at his return, just as they were present at other significant events of Jesus’ life, including his birth, temptation, and resurrection.
Therefore going by this list Angels are pretty busy!!
The last question we will look at today is
Are there bad angels?
In his book which provides a statistical analysis of religious beliefs in America George Barna cites a fascinating statistic which is based on a national survey.
In chapter four he states, "The Devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." Then asking that segment of his survey respondents who have identified themselves at being Born Again, he states, "Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with that statement?"
The Born Again population reply with 32 percent agreeing strongly, 11 percent agreeing somewhat and 5 percent did not know. Thus, of the total number responding, 48 percent either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or did not know!
Even within the church there are many who do not know if there are really bad angels, which Satan is the chief.
The bible has little to say about how evil angels came to have their current moral character and even less about their origin
However we may learn something about their origin from what is said about their moral character
Two closely related passages inform us regarding the fall of the evil angels
2 Peter 2:4 says
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,putting them in chains of darknessto be held for judgment;
Jude 1: 6 says
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
The beings described in these verses are clearly identified as angels who sinned and came under judgment. They must, like all others angels, be created beings
Although these angels are cast into darkness the fallen angels have sufficient freedom to carry on their evil activities
Demons, then, are angels created by God and thus were originally good; but they sinned and thus became evil
Conclusion
What can we learn from Angels this Advent?
We can be comforted and encouraged that there are powerful and numerous unseen agents available to help us in our need.
The angels praise and service of God give us an example of how we are to conduct ourselves now and what our activity will be in the life beyond in God’s presence
It sobers us to realise that even angels who were close to God succumbed to temptation and sinned. This is a reminder to us to “be careful of temptation ourselves”
Knowledge about evil agnels serves to alert us to the danger and the subtlety of temptation that can be expected to come from satanic forces, and gives us insight into some of the devils’ way of working
Finally we receive confidence from the realization that powerful though Satan and his accomplices are, there are definite limits on what they can do. We can, therefore, by the grace of God, resist him successfully. And we can know that his ultimate defeat is certain.
This Advent, let’s proclaim with the angels
Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests
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