ANGELS 6

I’m sure you’ve heard someone (maybe it was you!) say this at one time or another when someone has avoided a serious accident:  “Your guardian angel was watching out for you.”

It begs the question, “Do each of us really have a guardian angel?”  What does the Bible have to say on the subject?

There is only one verse in the Bible that says anything that could refer to guardian angels.  It’s Matthew 18, verse 10, where Jesus says in reference to children:

·         “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”

Jesus’s words still leave us wondering:

·         The verse doesn’t directly say that angels do any guarding of the little ones.

·         It also doesn’t specifically say that each little one is matched with an angel of his or her own.

·         The angels mentioned don’t seem to be at the “little ones” sides, but always in heaven where they look on the face of the Father.

John Calvin, in reference to the subject of guardian angels, said: 

·         “Whether or not each believer has a single angel assigned to him for his defense, I dare not positively affirm. . .this indeed, I hold for certain, that each of us is cared for NOT BY ONE ANGEL MERELY, but that ALL, with one consent, watch for our safety.”

David Jeremiah, who currently pastors a church in California, says in his book: “What the Bible Says About Angels”:

·         “God condescends to be concerned about such as us, and will even dispatch one angel, or an army of them, for our service and protection.”

So, while the Bible doesn't make it clear that one angel guardian angel is assigned specifically to us, we can be confident that when we need their help, God sends as many angels as we need.

In a previous blog, I mentioned that the word angel means “messenger” and that angelic messages go only one way.  God sent angels to man with His message, or He sent them with a specific task in service to God’s people, and the angels carried out His ministry at His command.

So what kinds of messages and ministries have they carried out for God?  

Messages of Comfort and Encouragement:

·         In Genesis 21:14-19   After the birth of Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac, Abraham sent her servant Hagar, and the son he had by her (Ishmael) away, and Hagar finds herself in the wilderness.  With her water gone, Hagar is crying in despair.  We read:  

o   “God heard the boy crying and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said:  ‘What is the matter Hagar?  Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

·         The Arab nations today trace their ancestry back to Abraham’s son Ishmael.

·         In Luke’s gospel, chapter 22:39-43  Jesus is in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane right before His betrayal and arrest and He says:  

o   “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done”.  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

o   For other examples of angelic messages of comfort and encouragement, you might look up I Kings 19:3-7 and Daniel 10:4-19.

Messages of Guidance

·         In Genesis 19:1; 12; 16-17  we read that two angels arrived at the gate of the city of Sodom and Abraham’s nephew Lot, who long ago had moved into the city, was sitting at the gate.  The angels urged Lot to get his family members out of the city, because the Lord was about to destroy it.  

o   V. 16-17 When Lot hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, ‘Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!  Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!’

o   Those detailed instructions of guidance were so specific they couldn’t be mistaken!

·         Matthew’s gospel, chapter 1:18-21 is a familiar part of the Christmas story read every year at this time. 

o    Joseph has discovered that his fiancé Mary is pregnant and he is not the father. While he was considering how he could divorce her quietly, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 

o   “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

o   Additional angelic messages of guidance can be found in Genesis 31:10-13; Exodus 23:20-21; Numbers 22:22-35; 2 Kings 1; Acts 10:3-33; and Revelation 1:1-10.

Messages of Deliverance and the Ministry of Protection

·         In the Old Testament book of Daniel 6:7; 10-13; 16; 19-22 we read the familiar account of Daniel in the lion’s den.

·         Daniel’s habit was to pray three times a day to the living God.  The King of Babylon had decreed that no one in his kingdom could pray to anyone but him.  When Daniel’s enemies discovered that Daniel had continued his practice of prayer, they reported him to the king and he was thrown into the lion’s den.

·         We read:

o   “The next day, the King got up, hurried to the lion’s den, and said:  Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?  Daniel answered:  “My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions”

o   Additional accounts like this can be found in Daniel 3:13-30 and Acts 12:5-11  

Messages and Ministries of Judgment 

·         In the Old Testament book of 2 Kings 19:32-36 we read that the Assyrian army is threatening the city of Jerusalem.  

o   V. 35 “That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.  When the people got up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies.  So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and  withdrew.”

·         In the New Testament book of Acts, chapter 12:19b-22, King Herod, wearing his royal robes, and sitting on his throne, delivered an address to his people.  Their reaction is to shout:  “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.”

o   v. 23 says:  “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died.”

·         Additional passages that speak of the ministry of angels in administering God’s justice can be found in Genesis 3:24; 2 Samuel 24:15-17; 2 Kings 19:35; and Revelation 12:7.

So hey, how are you doing on the angel quiz that I gave you back in the first blog?  

Are you taking a closer look at those angels you’re putting out for Christmas?  Write down some of their characteristics and those you always think of when you think of angels, especially cherubs, and watch for the blog:  “Rank on Rank the Host of Heaven”.  Your thinking about angels is in for a shock!