[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's words you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to Him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Every year when it gets to November and around Veterans Day, I always think about the special people that you know enter into the veterans and enter into the armed services and serve our country. They enlist themselves and I think it's amazing that they will choose to do that, make those sacrifices and stand between us and our enemies, whether it be abroad or whether it be here in this country. And I'm always appreciative of that. I come to the MKC program and I'm always moved to tears thinking about those men who are among us who have done that, how much we appreciate them and love them. Growing up though, one of the things that I wanted to kind of get to know a little bit more about was like the Special Forces and stuff. And I know these military guys probably love this and get into it quite a bit and maybe some of you have researched it more than I have, but, but I was always fascinated by the Navy seals. And when I look at these guys and you look at that picture up there, you're thinking, man, those are cool cats.
They're hot. They're the thing, man. And I look at them and I think that is such a cool thing to be able to do.
But in reality, what they go through to get to that point is pretty awful.
In reality, one, you have to be in armed services already. And then as you go to apply for this, there are certain prerequisites you have to get before you can even go into their training. And one of those things is you have to be able to do 70 pushups in less than two minutes. You have to be able to do 10 pull ups, you have to do 60 sit ups in less than two minutes and you have to run a mile in less than, yeah, four miles. I'm sorry, four miles in less than 31 minutes. I mean, that in and of itself is ridiculous. Just to get into the level of training that gets you through the next five and a half, six months as you train deeper and deeper. They have five levels of that training, and it gets more and more intense. And one of the weeks that they go through, it's five and a half days of nonstop physical training. They get four hours total for the whole five and a half days. They are physically exhausted and mentally tried and challenged, all of that. So they can be this elite force to help us and to be covert in operations.
And one of the things that I love about them, as I think about them, is that they are often in the worst of circumstances, and they're so stealthy and so covert that they find their way behind enemy lines completely undetected. And they do these things in the background of our lives. We don't even see it or know what's happening. But these guys serve quietly in the background doing unbelievable and amazing things. And I think that kind of reminds me of what we're talking about in this study. I want you to transition your mind from the physical things that you just thought about and maybe even imagined in your mind what they might do. And I want you to transition your thought to what angels do for us, because in some ways, they're on that battlefield with us. In some ways they are God's warriors. And so when I think about what they do, it's kind of undetected, maybe unrealized, maybe things that we can't see. It reminds me of what we do know. And so this study has been kind of a challenge. As Andrew mentioned last week, we're both taxed on some level as you go through these things, because there's so many things that you want an answer to. And you dig and you dig and you dig, and you're not always going to be able to find the exact answer you're looking for. But there are some things in scripture that we can be reminded of that help us understand the spiritual realm and help us to maybe see things from a biblical perspective that allow us maybe to understand kind of how God works behind the scenes in these heavenly places. Let's get started here. In Revelation, we do know this, that a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels took on the devil and his angels. And of course, what happened is the devil and his angels were banished out of heaven and sent down to earth. And they're evil, and they are here among us. And they are, you know, throwing temptation at us. They're throwing all kinds of things at us that cause us to stumble and to struggle through this life.
And that's why, when we get to Ephesians chapter six, it says, hey, we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against darkness and rulers of this wickedness, evil things, okay? And it says that all of this is happening in the heavenly places. And so in reality, what it's saying is, while there are physical things that you and I can see, there's another aspect of life that is happening without our full recognition of what's going on. But there are things happening in that spiritual world, and we may not be able to tangibly put our hands on those things. As Andrew said last week, there are just some things that we're not seeing, but those things are still happening. And the fact that we don't see those spiritual realities does not lessen their reality. We have to be mindful of this as we think about what God is telling us here. So I want to remind us that because we battle while we can't see things, sometimes we can acknowledge that there are some things that we can take note of as we watch and observe people around us. You may not know where those evil spiritual forces are, but what you can do is detect what those spiritual influences have done to someone's life and how that has shaped their character and bent them in a direction that's taken them away from God of their own choosing, their own volition, their own decision making. But those influences have pulled them away because in Ephesians 2, it tells us that, you know, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which when you used to walk in these things. And the point is, he's saying, hey, you were lost. You were separated from God.
And when was that time? Well, when you were conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler, of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work, and the sons of disobedience. Do you understand when there were times where you followed those influences, when you allowed yourself that opportunity to do something that you know was contrary to what God wanted you to do when you stepped in that world, your life and the consequences that we see out of those things bring us back to an awareness of how those influences can be made. But there's good news, because in Colossians chapter two, though we were in that situation, though we were separated from God, though we were lost and abandoned in that situation.
Look at what it says here.
Jesus, when he went to the cross, he put away the things that cause us such difficulty.
And it says that he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to Open shame by triumphing over them in him. Now, last week Andrew mentioned that we don't fight from a posture of hoping to win. We fight from the posture of we have won the victory. We have the victory. God has promised that to us. And so in a sense, what we're saying is that Jesus paved the way. He took away all those things that could trip us up. He gave us an avenue to have those things put away from our lives. And that victory only comes through the saving blood of Jesus Christ. And so that's the spiritual realm that we talk about. And I want to encourage us with these verses that we see in Psalms. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. Catch this. And delivers them.
Now how does all of this take place? That's the beauty of this study is we're gonna wrestle with it a little bit. We're gonna try to go in and understand it. And I loved how Andrew said this last week. He said, I'm gonna talk about who angels are. Brandon's gonna tell you what they do. I was sitting in my pew going, I appreciate that very much, Andrew. I'll just get up here and tell them what they do, you know. And so I'm gonna throw another thing his direction here in just a little bit. He'll love that and appreciate it. But as I think about the angel of God encamping around and supporting us and being there for us, I can't help but think about Daniel in that line's den, right? He's serving God with all of his God. He's without a flaw. He's just a good man doing good things and constantly putting God first in his life. And when he's told that he cannot pray to God, instead he knows that God is more important, that God will save him and that he goes and he offers those prayers. And of course, what happens because of penalty of the law, he's thrown into the lions den. You know the story.
But it's Daniel himself who says, it was an angel of the Lord who came in and closed the mouths of those lines.
How amazing is that for Daniel to recognize God's angels were there to help protect him. So we look at that and that helps us, right? Because the angel of the Lord encamps around us. So let's talk about them as our warriors.
This passage in Psalm 91 says, he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. And he says, on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Now you may Remember this text, because this is one of the ones that the devil used against Jesus when he was tempting him in the wilderness, right? And Jesus says, hey, you should not tempt the Lord your God. And so he's telling them, hey, I know this temptation is there, and you're using this passage against me to call these angels out, to surrender and to come and help me in this moment and to be there for my aid. But again, I like how Mike put it in his thoughts about the communion is Jesus, with his own volition, was there to make that decision, to answer through that struggle. Those angels came later. But here, I love the text that the devil used against us, but the reality is that we have hope in this passage. He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.
I think about in Exodus, chapter 23 another one of those things where God's angel was a warrior.
They're going into the land, and God gives them this assurance. He says, I'll send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. He says, pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Don't rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression. Why? For my name is in him. Do you catch that? The angel didn't have authority on his own. He was only there by the authority of God. But he was given the authority in this moment. So what would happen if they disobey? Well, they would have some problems. But if they did choose to obey, the Bible says that they were that God would make their enemy his enemy and their adversary his adversary.
And I love that what he's saying is, the angel of the Lord is here. But understand this. It's up to you guys on whether or not you're going to obey. It's up to you guys on whether you're going to keep me as the focal point of your support. And so this angel goes out and he goes before them and they enter into this land. And when they're obedient, they have success. When they're not obedient, then there are also punishments that come with that. But then I also think about this story, and I can't get into all of these stories too deep, but there are some things about these that are just really interesting. You may remember the Assyrians were terrible. They were awful people. And they took over lots of nations. And when they did, they would completely obliterate them and embarrass them. We talked about that a little bit with regard to Jonah and the Assyrians there.
But King Sennacherib was especially rough. And as he went through all of that Middle Eastern area, and as he's going and taking nation after nation after nation, he goes and he destroys them and he embarrasses them by taking their gods and putting them on full display and destroying them in front of everybody. And so he does this and he comes to Israel and literally it's somewhere close to 200,000 people are gathered around the city of Israel and they're shouting insults up to the people. Men are standing on the wall of Jerusalem and they're looking down and they're watching the impending attack that's going to happen. And they're shouting all kinds of things, saying, this is a futile effort. You know what we've done, we've gone through and we've taken every nation. You can say you stand there, you can sit up on your wall, but ultimately it's futile for you to fight against us. Ultimately, you're going to end up drinking your own urine and eating your own dung. That's what's going to happen to you. And they just cast all kinds of terrible insults in their direction. But what really got Hezekiah, who was the king of Israel at the time, what really got his attention was when one of them shouted up and said, you've seen what happens when you trust in a God.
You can look at all of these other nations that we took and we obliterated. They trusted in their gods too, and your God will do the same to him. We will remove any influence of him in your life. And so as they're saying these things, it gets back to Hezekiah. And Hezekiah then goes to God and he appeals to him. He says, hey, these people are threatening to do away with the name of God that we trust in. Lord, we need you to stand up to let all of these nations know that you alone are the one and only God.
And so God hears that prayer and it says, that very night the angel of the Lord went out in the camp of the Assyrian army and he killed 185.
The Israelites woke up to find all of them scattered everywhere in their encampment, gone. 185,000.
When we see these stories in the Bible about these angels appearing, and Andrew did a great job of explaining to us, like, they're not like Cupid with his bow, right? They're vicious, they're massive, they're threatening, they're awe inspiring.
And in this case, one of them wiped out 185,000. That's amazing to me. But also it made me think about something as I was thinking about Hezekiah in his place. There they are. They're surrounded by all of this threat. And it just made me ask the question, because God gave the victory, right? And it just made me ask the question, could it be that in our lives that God is just waiting for us to call on him for victory?
I mean, are there things in your life that you're facing that are difficult, that are challenging, and you don't know how the victory's gonna come? And you're sitting there and you just finally have to realize that you can't do it by yourself.
Maybe it's time for us to call out to God and to claim that victory that he promises for us.
But then angels are messengers, and probably this is the one that we're all the most familiar with.
You know, when you think about it, all the times that. And Mike mentioned them in the communion remarks, but all the different times that the angels came and deliver delivered messages. But I want to share with you, there are several that are very familiar to you, but I want you to make a connection that as we look at these, there's something that is revealed about these angels and what their real purpose is. Their purpose, their desire, their ambition, their mission is to point everything to Jesus Christ and the work that he did on the cross. Literally, every one of these things have some significance to what God is doing through Jesus Christ. And so these angels, when they come, they're not just messengers, so to speak. They're coming with more information. For example, in Genesis 22, and we know the connections that are made right, between Abraham offering up Isaac and God offering up his one and only son. We know about going up to that Mount Moriah and how that name of that place the Lord will provide would be a place where God would ultimately bring Jesus to the hill of Golgotha and and offer him there in our stead that the Lord would provide for us the same way that he did for Abraham and for Isaac. There we see those connections. But when Abraham shows there, he says, the Lord will provide. And again, that is the place that is the same mountain range where Jesus would come and be offered up on the cross for our sins. Judges, Chapter six. Gideon, one of the things that said over and over, the Lord is with you. He says, you're a mighty man of valor. You're a mighty man of valor. But Gideon doesn't believe that. And ultimately what God is trying to say to him is, you'll Understand? If I'm here with you, you are a mighty man of valor. I just need you to be my instrument in this. And the power is going to be in God. Luke, chapter one. Zechariah, he's there. He's the high priest. He's in there doing his priestly duties. And an angel of God comes to him right there in front of the altar of incense. And it scares him to death. And in the middle of all that, what the angel says to him is delivers to him news that you're going to have a son. And that son is going to be the forerunner. He's going to be the one that let everybody know that Jesus is coming. He's the one that will go before him. But then in Luke chapter one, when Mary hears from an angel of God, it's a scary time because she's not yet married. She's betrothed to a man named Joseph, but she's not married to him yet. And yet God has said her, you're going to have the Son of God. The Lord is with you. Indeed, the Lord is going to be with you. But then in Luke chapter two, the shepherds, as they come and they announce that, that Jesus is here, they're saying to everyone, the Savior has been born. He is right here among us. In the Gospels, when you see the empty tomb, in every one of those instances, an angel of the Lord rolled that stone away and then stood there as people came to look into that open tomb to find Jesus body. And they said, hey, he's risen. He's gone. He's not here. Why are you looking for the dead among. Or why are you looking for the living among the dead? And so you see all of these things, every one of these are kind of pointing to Jesus. Even in Acts, chapter 5, as the apostles are in prison, angel of God comes and releases them from prison to remind them, hey, you still have a task to do, and that's to go out and to speak the words of life. And then finally, Cornelius, that first Gentile convert, where he is told to go find Peter. Why? Because that message of the Gospel is going to be shared with him and salvation would be brought to everyone. Do you see how all of these things have as their place part of that mission and that perspective of what God is trying to do? So we have to be reminded that angels are not just messengers and that they come and say a few things. No, they're actually here. And they're proactively a part of the engagement, the purpose and the providence of God. And that should remind us that God is working in all kinds of ways in this spiritual realm. But then I think about Balaam, and you want to talk about a crazy story, this is a great one in numbers 22, to try to shrink it up a little bit. Balaam is a guy who is kind of a soothsayer. He's a sorcerer, some people would say. And he wasn't necessarily, you know, a close friend of the Israelites, but he was a person who believed in God and kind of was curious about God. But he had the ability, or at least they thought he had the ability, to either place a blessing on someone or a curse on him. So the Midianites and the Moabites believed him to be a person who could do that. So they asked him to come and saw how big the Israelites were getting, and they wanted him to cast a curse on the Israelites, and they asked him to do that. And of course, God tells Balaam, do not do that. You're not going to go out there and issue a curse on my people.
But the Moabites come back and they kind of sweeten the deal a little bit, and they say, hey, we'll make you a very wealthy man if you'll come and help us put a curse on them. Then we'll go take them over and those kinds of things. So Balaam gets on his donkey and he rides off with these Moabites. He's going to go and place a curse on the Israelites. But along the way, what happens is as he's riding that donkey, the donkey sees an angel of the Lord in the road, and it kind of paralyzes him a little bit, and he kind of veers off the road a little bit. And so, you know, Balaam going, what in the world is going on? Does what? So I guess you do to donkeys. In fact, when I was growing up, my grandfather told me that he had a little donkey that he helped use to plow, like his little garden that he had. And he said there were times where that donkey would be so stubborn, you couldn't get him to do anything. And I said, well, what did you do about that? He said, well, I put the donkey in a headlock and I just pound him.
And then once he shook the cobwebs out, he would get back to plowing again.
Well, I guess that's what you do with donkeys. I don't know. But what Balaam did in this moment in his aggravation is he pounded on the donkey. The donkey got back on the road. Then he comes across the angel of God again. And when he sees the angel of God this time, he's kind of pressing him up against. Pressing Balaam up against the side of the road here. And he kind of hurts him a little bit and he gets pinched a little bit and he starts smacking him again.
And so the donkey moves on a little bit further. And then at some point, he sees the angel of God and he just stops, just drops right there with Balaam on him, just right on his body, and he doesn't go any further. Well, you would think Balaam would. Thought this is a bad donkey, but what he does is he starts beating that donkey again. And what is amazing about this story is that God gives a voice to this donkey. And the donkey says, hey, haven't I been with you all these years?
Why are you whooping up on me? Type thing.
And if that doesn't sound ridiculous, then Balaam turns around and talks to the donkey and says, hey, I tell you what, if I had a sword, I would run you through so fast. I mean, it's kind of a hilarious story. But then in the middle of all that, what happens is the Lord then opens up Balaam's eyes, okay? And now he sees the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn.
And this had an impact on Balaam, because now what he couldn't see, he can now.
And he hits the ground in reverence.
The angel then asked him, why have you beaten this donkey?
He says, I've come here to oppose you because the path that you're on is reckless.
The donkey saw me turned away from these three times, and if it had not turned away, I would have certainly killed you by now. Wow. It's funny because the angel is saying, you know, you're more stubborn than that donkey, and I think maybe we're that way sometimes, too. Can you think of times in your life where you keep doing the same things over and over and you keep being met with frustration after frustration after frustration, and you don't know why that is, but you don't ever change anything. You just keep doing the same things and you find yourself hitting these dead ends and these roadblocks. Could it be that our dead ends in life, our roadblocks, have been angels actively redirecting us? You ever thought about that?
It's hard for us to know, isn't it, exactly how they function and how they do what they do. We have these biblical examples, and we can look back to them and say, hey, they definitely did those things then. But do you find yourself sometimes feeling like, man, why is it that things are not just falling into place at times, but you don't change anything that you're doing? Could it be that we're getting this?
So I want to share with you something, because I think I am very much like you.
I think you and I can relate on some level in that we all have curiosities. And as I said, like, one of the things that Andrew and I have been trying to do very hard is just to stay in scripture and try to see what we can see in the scripture and try to, you know, open up some things that maybe help us understand things deeply. But then when there are things in our lives, and I hope that you can identify with this, we all have things that happen to us that we're just curious about. Maybe we don't understand how it is. And, you know, I know that the Bible says there are secret things that belong to God, and I acknowledge that. But there are times where I just wish I had a better understanding. I want to share with you something that happened to me years and years ago, and I'm not telling you. Okay? Just. So just for the record that this for sure was an angel. Okay? But I want to share with you my curiosities about it, because I don't know that I can explain this. I was 10 years old, and I had a horrible dream one night. A nightmare. Woke up. I mean, sweat popping all over me, like, heart pounding. Just one of those, like, really traumatic experiences that wakes you up in the middle of the night. And you can't really get back to sleep just yet because it takes you a while to catch your breath and to calm back down and to cool down a little bit. Well, I had one of those moments where I was in a dream. In. In the dream, I'm driving down the road. I'm only 10 years old, so I don't drive yet, but I'm driving down the road, and this car pulls out in front of me, and I veer off of the road, turn and flip a few times, get ejected from the car. And I'm laying there, and as someone runs over to say, sir, are you okay? Everything gets dark.
And that's when I woke up.
I mean, absolutely heart pounding.
And so I thought, wow, that was awful, you know? Well, it was 10 years later that I was driving back to Fulton University. Driven that road probably thousand times. It feels like it.
Same routine. Always. Got on the interstate and started heading. But all of a sudden, things got really familiar. To me, really familiar, like frightening familiar.
And I could see what I saw in that dream 10 years before.
I can't explain this. I understand that we're on this linear date, timestamp and all those kinds of things. And I know that God is eternal and I don't know that I can wrap my brain around that necessarily. And I know that he's above time and all those kinds of things. It's hard for us to understand. Eternal, right?
But I don't know exactly why, but in the moment I'm driving down that road, I see everything that I saw in my dream. Everything. And I look to get turn my blinker on to get in the left lane to avoid what I see up ahead. Cars are just lined up. There's no way to get over. And I slow down big time. I'm sure people behind me got really upset and that car pulled out in front just as it had in my dream.
Why am I telling you this?
I want to be real with you.
There are things that happen in life that are curious. Can I tell you that was an angel that gave me a heads up about what's coming down the road? Can I understand and explain deja vu's? No, I cannot.
But what I want you to recognize is that in all of this there are things that happen to us that are in that realm that maybe we can't grasp or understand, but God is still at work. And what I can tell you is whether or not that was an angel coming to me in the night and giving me a heads up about something later, or whether it was God himself that gave me some kind of heads up about what might happen down the road. What I do want you to understand is angels did come to people while they were slow. And we know this. There's four examples here that I can find in the scriptures where we know that those type of things happen. Jacob, when he saw those angels descending and ascending on the ladder, you know, and he said to him, surely the presence of the Lord is in this place. Matthew, chapter one, verse 20:20. Joseph is awakened. By the way, it's okay. Take that woman that is now pregnant to be your wife. Don't be afraid to marry her. That's crazy. If you can just imagine that scene and what that would have been like. And then Joseph later is warned in a dream to get up and to take his family and go to Egypt. Why? Because Herod is going to have all those baby boys killed, right? And so he's told to flee and to go into safety. Acts chapter 12. We know the situation here. Peter is in prison. All the church is gathered in a room somewhere, and they're all praying earnestly for him to be delivered. You know, it's crazy for us to think that we would pray that earnestly and that God wouldn't find a way to act. But an angel of the Lord comes to him, releases him from prison and sends him back. He goes and knocks on the door, and there's a little servant girl that comes to the door and says, hello, good to see you. Closes the door, goes back in and says, I don't know. It looked a lot like Peter. Maybe it's his angel. I don't know. This is a fascinating story, but God came to them through their dreams. Now, I don't understand that, right? But I know he did it. And it's something for us to understand that God has powers in ways that we can't understand. But also, angels are ministering spirits. We've mentioned this a time or two. This passage in Hebrews chapter one, the context is that Jesus is greater than the angels, okay? That he's more powerful. He's the one we worship. We don't worship angels.
But he does say that. Are there not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Think about that for just a second.
Angels are sent to minister to those who are to inherit salvation. I think that's amazing that there are spirits out there that we can't necessarily see or touch, but that are coming to our aid in different ways. A couple of examples of this in First Kings 19, after the big, you know, showdown there on Mount Carmel, as Elijah has defeated the prophets of Baal, you know, he got famished and angels came to attend to him, to provide sustenance for him. We already talked about Jesus being in that wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And after he finishes that and after he is successful in navigating all of those temptations, immediately on the scene are those angels to take care of his needs.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Mike brought us a beautiful illustration of that. The angel there strengthening and comforting him in that moment where he's struggling.
And Jesus, the Son of God, is battling with that humanity in the moment.
And an angel came and strengthened him. I just would love to know what that scene was like. Acts, chapter 27, there's a story about Paul being on the sea and it being really bad and the storm is terrible and him being afraid for his life. And it says an angel of the Lord came and calmed him down and assured him that things were going to be okay.
So I look at these things and I see to myself that there are things that we all know that we have right. God is ever present and ever aware of everything that's going on in your life. There's nothing hidden from his sight. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter four, he literally sees everything, knows everything about you. He feels the things that you're feeling. He feels the concerns, the worries, the scares, all the things that we struggle with in this life. God is fully aware of those things. He knows you intimately.
And when we're baptized into Christ, what does it say? We are clothed with him. What a beautiful thought. To realize that I have clothed myself with the Savior, that he's there with me. And I think about what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit, that it's our seal, it's the promise of our salvation, but it's also the comfort that we get from it. And as we read God's word and how God's the spiritual sword of God, how it touches us and moves us and challenges us to be what we need to be, we have all of these things, and they're spiritually internal in the sense that God is working on us from the internals. But then here you have angels who are there to minister to us in those crisis.
How does it happen? I'm not sure that I can tell you a concrete truth on that. But I can tell you there have been times where I've been struggling, stressed out.
There have been times where I've been grieving, where I can't tell you how or why. But in the middle of that, where I didn't feel like I could climb out of it, somehow God helped me through that. Was it his spirit? Was it God himself? Was it an angel?
I'm not quite sure.
But I know I have all of these things that God has put out there to be a help to me, and I'm so very thankful for it. Also, angels are worshipers of God. This is where I turn it back on Andrew. I'm not gonna get into this too deeply. Andrew's gonna tell you about this worship stuff next week. It'll be awesome. Can't wait for it. But I am gonna share with you just a few things as I look at this. Revelation, chapter 5 and also Revelation chapter 12 talks about the thousands and thousands, the heaps of angels that are in heaven and that they're worshiping. And part of that cry is worthy is the Lamb. Like they Rejoice and celebrate and worship Jesus. And in Isaiah, chapter six, you know, Andrew talked about this last week, how there's six wings, there's three pairs of wings, and one is covering the feet because they're around holy ground. And then they're covering their eyes because their face can't look directly into the brilliance and the brightness and the godliness and the holiness of God. And so they're there and they can't really access it in the same way that maybe they would like to, because that brilliance is so great. But then you look at Luke chapter two, and all of a sudden the Son of God, God in the flesh, is there as a child. And the angels rush to the scene and they say, glory to God in the highest.
Wow, what a celebration of Christ's arrival. Because now I read some commentaries that connected these two things that they couldn't see God face to face, but they could see God in the face of Jesus Christ. And they rushed to that moment so they could offer their praises to him and look square at his face.
Just a question for all of us. When was the last time that we brought that kind of excitement, energy and joy to our worship? When we come on Sunday mornings, I like to challenge all of us that when you walk into these, you don't just enjoy the buzz of the people and the friends, although that's in. That's great, right? We love the relationships that we have here. But I want you to come in with your heart's focus on worshiping God with all that you got. When the main event in your heart is the worship of God, just think about this. You have joined in the angels in that worship. That's a beautiful thought, isn't it? But angels do a couple of other things that I think are powerful as well. I love this passage where it talks about the joy that angels have when someone repents or comes back to God, when someone is saved. Says In Luke, chapter 15, verse 10, I tell you, there's rejoicing in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents. Think about that. I remember Mike Winkler, he would stand back in the back, love that man.
And I remember him talking to some young child who had just given their life to God and were baptized. And back in the back, we would have a prayer before they ever came out. And he would say to them, do you know what you did today affected the angels in heaven?
And I would watch the face of that child light up like, wow.
But it's true, is it not? Whether it's A person who has been rebellious and has come back or whether it's a person who gives their life. All of a sudden, now they are heirs of God. And where do angels attend? They attend the needs of those who are going to be heirs of God. Wow.
The excitement they must have as they have new assignments when people give their lives to God. But then also this one is one that is especially personal for me and maybe to some of you as well. In Luke 16, there's a story about the rich man in Lazarus. And you guys have heard this, and there are some people who say it's an actual story. There are some people who say it's Jesus giving us a parable. I don't know which one. You fall out on those kinds of things and. And how you see that necessarily. But I think either way it gives such insight because as it's talking about one of them, the rich man is cast off into Hades. The poor man is taken to another place. And I want you to hear what it says. Lazarus, the poor man was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
Now, you gotta kind of make this personal a little bit.
Have you lost someone dear to you that you knew was faithful to God in all of their life?
And when they pass from this life and they breathe their last breath and you're there with them and it hurts to see that they have left this life, isn't it of comfort to know that an angel was there to take them. Catch this. To Abraham's side. Wow.
Wow.
We're still sorting through this grieving process of losing my dad. I think all of us are having our moments for sure.
But I gotta tell you, this week, as I looked at that and really digested it, because it's personal now, that means something to me, that I hope it means a lot to you that God's angels are there to receive them.
What a beautiful thing to take them to Abraham's side. Man, I would love to see that.
I would love to hear what that conversation is like.
But also, the Lord is going to bring his angels when time here ends this passage is. And you notice the last words are highlighted because it is therefore encourage one another with these words.
There's coming a time when we'll hear the sound of the archangel. And I wonder what that will sound like. But I just imagine that the whole world will hear that sound. And then the trumpet blast and then it says that Jesus will return and the dead in Christ will rise first. And those of us who are those who are dead in Christ will rise first, then those who are alive will be joined up with him in the air. And we'll be with him forever at that point.
And I love that the angels are going to be there to announce all of these things. And again, if you're an heir of God, if you're a child of God, that day is way less frightening.
That day is actually a day where all your sorrows, all your sickness, all your diseases, all your hurts, all your temptations, all your grief and all your guilt, all of those things are passed away forevermore. And it happens in the twinkling of an eye. That's why it's so important for us to be ready every day for when that angel shouts, therefore encourage one another with these words.
So we know our physical body is going to decay.
And yet somehow, for some reason, we hold on to the physical things here in this life, right? Says our body is wearing away. But our inner person, that spiritual part, is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.
We're not looking at what can be seen, but what is unseen. For what can be seen is temporary. But the things that are unseen, those are the things that are eternal.
Why is it, I think, that we hold on so much to this life and the things of this life? We spend so much of our energy pouring out all we've got to accomplish certain things and to grab hold and lay hold of things here in this life. And we hold onto that as if that's heaven here.
But the reality is we're made for more than that.
Our physical eyes often hinder us from seeing things spiritually, don't they?
But in reality, we were all made to live eternally.
We're all meant to make decisions based on that spiritual life, that eternity that we will enjoy someday.
So the angels, they fulfill a lot of things in our lives, right? They're warriors, they're messengers, they're worshipers, they're ministers, they're heavenly escorts. They have these special operations sent by God to be of help to us. Can we see all those things? I don't know.
Can I tell you for sure about some of those things? I don't think so.
But what I do know is that it's incredibly faith building because of what I know. God has provided for us. So the fact that we don't see spiritual realities does not lessen their reality.
And in closing, let me just encourage you with this one passage. We read it for scripture reading.
But I hope after we've heard these things. Maybe it sounds a little different to you. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all. Do you catch that? God is sovereign.
He's in control of everything.
He's in control of the physical world. He's in control of the spiritual world. And while those things exist, there's a reminder for us to put first things first.
Bless the Lord, O you angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word. Bless the Lord all His hosts, his ministers, who do his will. Bless the Lord all His works and all the places of his dominion, which is everywhere. And I just find myself touched as we get to the end of this. And David has written this to the angels to make sure that they are continuing to praise God and to do his work and those kinds of things. But finally he turns to his own heart and he says, bless the Lord, O my soul.
When you think about the provisions of God, they're unbelievable.
And I am so thankful for the angels, whether I know exactly what they're doing or not. But I've seen what they've done in the past and I have confidence that they're here with us, helping us through this life.
This morning, I hope that you have decided in your heart that you're going to be an heir of God, where not only we receive the blood of Jesus Christ and forgiveness of our sins, and we have the Holy Spirit that seals that promise and our salvation, but we also have those angels coming to our aid in whatever way God chooses to help us along the way.
I hope you make that choice this morning. If you need anything at all, please come while we stand and sing.
