New Salem Baptist Church

Angels

December 17, 2023

Scripture reading: Luke 2:8-14.

An angel announced to working men in the field the birth of our Lord and Savior.  They described this event as “good news of great joy!” The birth of our Savior is indeed an affair of joy! Not just joy, but great joy!

Who ought to have joy about our Lord’s birth? The angel says it is “for all people!”

Since an angel brought joy to those shepherds over 2000 years ago, we may wonder if they still appear in the modern age. We may wonder about their purpose. This morning I would like for us to consider angels and, as we do, I believe that you will be encouraged. You will be uplifted.

Before we learn about how angels support us and give us confidence, let us review some facts about angels.

[1.] Angels have other designations in the Bible. They are called “sons of God” (Job 1:6; 2:1), “holy ones” (Psalm 89:5, 7), “spirits” (Hebrews 1:14), “watchers” (Daniel 4:13, 17, 23), “mighty ones” (Psalm 103:20), “rulers” (Col. 1:16), “authorities” (Col. 1:16), and “princes” (Daniel 10:13, 20).

[2.] There are other created beings in the heavenly places besides angels. They could be a type of angel or they could be different beings altogether. The Bible does not tell us. They are never called angels. But they, too, were created in the presence of God, unlike us.  There are three kinds mentioned in Scripture: cherubim, seraphim, and just “living creatures” (Ezekiel 1:5-14; Rev. 4:6-8).

We know less about these other created beings than we do about angels. We don’t know anything about seraphim because they are only mentioned in one passage of the Bible (Isaiah 6:2-7). Likewise, with the simply-named “living creatures;” they are only mentioned twice and their main purpose appears to be to worship God.

Cherubim guarded the entrance to the garden of Eden and God Himself travels with them sometimes (Psalm 18:10; Ezekiel 10:1-22).

[3.] There are only two angels named in the Bible: Gabriel and Michael.

[4.] The number of angels that serve God are said to ne innumerable (Hebrews 12:22). In Revelation 5:11 they are said to be numbered as “myriads of myriads.” Most scholars think that a myriad is 10,000. If so, myriads of myriads would be 100 million angels!

[5.] Angels are very powerful. As was mentioned, they are designated as “mighty ones” by David in Psalm103:2. Only two angels were able to make a large number of the men of Sodom blind (Genesis 19:11). That is power! Peter says that they are “greater in might and power” than we are (2 Peter 2:11).

[6.] They were created before the earth was created because they sang for joy when it happened (Job 38:4-7). However, we do not know how long ago their creation was.

The knowledge of the existence and purpose of angels will lift your spirit and make you happy! The reason it will is because we are granted greater love and privileges than angels. Angels are moral beings who are highly intelligent, as we are. Yet, God has done much more for us than he has done for them.

[A.] God has greater love for you than he does for angels. Although many angels sinned, God made no provision for their salvation. But he not only made a provision for your salvation (if you belong to Christ), he even predestined you for salvation (Eph. 1:3-6). He didn’t just leave it up to you to sink or swim, but he assured your salvation by regenerating you. He saved you by regenerating you! (Titus 3:5) Your faith wasn’t worked up by your innate goodness (because you didn’t have any), but your faith was given to you as a gift by God (Eph. 2:8). No provision was made for the angels and no gift was given to them to restore them. Rather, those who fell are kept in chains in gloomy darkness until the day of Judgment (Jude 6).

[B.] God helps you but he does not help angels:

¹⁶ For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.^[1]

Someone may wonder why he doesn’t help angels. The Bible doesn’t tell us why, but he doesn’t.  Yet you have experienced his help all your life, even when you were not aware of it. And the Lord will continue to help you!

[C.] Angels remind us that the unseen world is real:

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” ¹⁶ He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ^[2]

We can become so accustomed to the world around us that we may forget the reality of the invisible realm that surrounds us. Angels remind us that it is there.

[D.] Angels are examples to us. “In both their obedience and their worship angels provide helpful examples for us to imitate.”[3] Jesus taught us to pray:

¹⁰    Your kingdom come,

       your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven. ^[4]

Angels in heaven are doing the will of God! We can be like them in this regard. “Their delight is to be God’s humble servants, each faithfully and joyfully performing their assigned tasks, whether great or small.”[5] They delight in doing God’s will and so can we! We ought also to delight in worshipping God as do the angels! (Rev. 5:11-12)

[E.] One of the main purposes of angles is that they are ministering spirits to us! According to Hebrews 1:14, they are sent by God to serve those who will inherit salvation. We see them doing this even under the old covenant.

• It was angels that shut the mouths of the lions so Daniel would not be harmed (Dan. 6:22).
• Angels brought judgments upon the Egyptians, killing the firstborn throughout the land.
• Just one angel helped the Israelites defeat the ungodly, wicked people of Canaan (Exodus 23:23; 32:34; 33:2).
• Just one angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers! (2 Kings 19:35)
• Angels came and encouraged Jacob face to face when he was about to meet his brother Esau (Gen. 32:1).
• Angels guarded the ways of God’s people in many other ways (Psalm 91:10-13).

In the NT we see that an angel delivered the apostles from prison (Acts 5:19-20) and ministered to Jesus after his temptation (Mat. 4:11).

This last point, that angels are here to minister to us, ought to cheer us in a great way!

Are angels still here, helping us? Well, have we inherited salvation yet? Our spirits were saved if we have come to Christ in faith, but we have not yet inherited our full salvation. Therefore, angels are still, now, ministering spirits to you and to me.

They are still here. The author of Hebrews writes:

² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.^[6]

This verse also shows that, when angels come to earth in physical form, they appear just like human beings. They do not have wings. They do not wear bizarre, other-worldly clothing. They look just like ordinary people.

They are here to help us and protect us.

True stories: One of my best friends, who had given me great encouragement when I lived in Hawaii, told of an encounter that he had when he was only nine or ten years old. He was riding his bicycle and was crossing a street. He had failed to look before crossing. It is such a common mistake that has taken the lives of so many children (My aunt died running into the street when she was six years old). He was in the exact middle of the street and looked to his right and saw a car approaching at a very high rate of speed. In fact it was almost upon him when he saw it! Jon, my friend, knew that there was nothing he could do and that he was going to be hit and probably die. Suddenly, a split second after that thought, he felt a force push his bicycle forward to the other side of the street in a fast and powerful way, faster than he could have ever peddled, which he wasn’t doing anyway. His life was saved and it is obvious that it was an angel that saved him!

Sam and Jackie Blankenship took their daughters, Autumn and Emerald, to a park in Hendersonville, Tennessee where there was a lake with ducks. Jackie’s mother accompanied them. The girls used to love feeding the ducks with pieces of bread. The only concern that Jackie had was that she observed that the lakeshore was somewhat treacherous. The depth of the lake was not gradual but became deep rather quickly. Not only that, but there were sharp rocks just beneath the water which you could see.

Autumn, five years old, kept getting too close to the water and her mom had to keep telling her to step back. Sam noticed how worried Jackie was so he told her to join her mom at the picnic table and he would keep a close eye on the girls. She hadn’t even gotten to the picnic table up the slope when she heard a loud splash! She turned around and ran back to the lake.

Autumn was standing there soaking wet and she heard her say, “Daddy, why did you push me when I started falling into the lake?” Her dad responded, “Honey, I didn’t push you. I was standing next to Emerald and I saw you leap into the lake. Then I jumped into the lake and grabbed your arm and the man that was standing there grabbed your other arm and we pulled you out together because the rocks were slippery and treacherous.” But there was no man there. Jackie saw no one. And, when they got back to the picnic table, Jackie’s mom said she saw the whole thing. There was no man. Sam insisted there was. It was clear what happened. An angel pushed Autumn so she would not injure herself on the rocks. She fell further in, past the rocks. Then, he helped retrieve her.

Lisa Romeo, from New Jersey, went to the park on a beautiful, sunny April morning with her three week old son and his four year old brother. Her three-week old baby had to be in intensive care after birth, but was now doing so much better. After the park they went home and rested a short time. Her mother, who was visiting took the four year old to the back yard and pushed him on the swing set. Lisa felt like the baby could use some more sunshine so she got him ready to join her mom and brother in the back yard. She picked him up and she heard a voice say,  “Put down the baby. Put him in the bassinet. Do not take him outside.” She didn’t fully understand, but she obeyed. She put the baby in the bassinet and then went out the back door and promptly fell down the porch stairs, breaking five bones in her foot! Whose voice did she hear? It may have been the Holy Spirit or it may have been an angel. Why did she fall in the first place? Couldn’t an angel have prevented that? Of course it could. But maybe there was a purpose (of course there was) for her injury. But the baby was protected!

A teacher by the name of Jeff Hill was looking for work. An application came in the mail from the largest school district in the state, although the position was in a smaller community within the district. He had heard that this school district was very particular and that there were hundreds of applicants for every position. He also heard that the first thing that they checked was the applicants’ GPA from their college of graduation. His wasn’t good. He did have good letters of recommendation, but because his GPA was low he was just going to throw the application away. But his wife said, “You have nothing to lose. Just fill it out and send it in.” He listened to his wife.

Two weeks later he was invited for an interview at 1:00 pm on a particular day. He arrived a few minutes early but, when he walked in the building, the hallway lights were off and the admin office was empty. He thought he was in the wrong building. He waited and waited all the way until 1:25 pm. He assumed he either got the date wrong , the time wrong, or the wrong building. He started to leave. He heard a voice say, “Don’t go.” He turned around and saw a thin man with pepper gray hair, wearing a blue shirt with the school logo on the pocket and the name, “Bill,” embroidered right above his pocket. He had a wrench in one pant pocket and a rag hanging out of the other.

He said, “Everyone’s out to lunch. That’s why the place is empty. You must be the new guy they are hiring.” They shook hands. Bill was smiling and friendly. Jeff replied, “I haven’t been hired yet. I haven’t even had the interview.”

Bill said, “I know the job is yours if you want it. John, the boss, isn’t planning on interviewing anyone else unless you turn the job down.” Jeff thought that what he was saying was weird. How would a custodian know what the principal of the school was going to do about hiring a teacher? Almost as if Bill knew his thoughts, he said, “The thing is that sometimes John doesn’t have anyone to talk to so he confides in me. I know what is going on around here.”

Bill offered him a seat and said, “I’d better get back to work.” And off he went.

The principal eventually showed up and was very amiable. The interview was nothing that he expected. He gave him a tour of the entire building, showed him where his room would be and how they thought he would fir into their plans. The interview was nothing but some informal talk and then he was offered a contract which he signed. As Jeff was leaving the parking lot he saw Bill working on an outdoor faucet. Bill smiled and waved as he left.

One month later school started. He was looking for Bill to thank him for not letting him leave, but didn’t see him that first week so he thought he must be on vacation. After two weeks he said to the principal, “I’ve been trying to find Bill.”

“Bill who?”

Jeff answered, “The custodian.” And described him in detail. A puzzled look came over John’s face. “The only custodians we have here are Tony, Ray, and Lisa and they are all young. Plus, I never talk about hiring with them. There has never been a custodian named Bill here.”

Jeff told him in detail everything Bill said and a look of fear came over John’s face. I was thinking those very thoughts but never told them to anyone. Jeff worked there for thirty-one years and the job was a great blessing to him and his family.

On May 22, 2011 one of the worst tornadoes in our country’s history, an EF5, hit Joplin, Missouri killing 161 people, injuring more than 1,100 and destroying 8,000 structures. Billy Skelley’s house was severely damaged but her parent’s home, who were in their 80’s, was decimated. The roof was completely gone and the roof of the nearby school crashed into their front wall, collapsing it, and took up much of the front yard.

Even though the roof was gone, it had deposited huge amounts of fiberglass from the attic all over the inside of the house. Billy realized that, because of the fiberglass spread everwhere there was no hope for any furniture or clothing. All she hoped for was to save the photo albums and some of her parents’ favorite books. But she felt like the fiberglass was choking her. Then it started to rain. She thought, “It’s hopeless. The rain is going to ruin all the photo albums before I can get them out.”

She went out to the yard to cry in the rain. She was standing there when a man appeared right next to her. She hadn’t seen him walk up. He was just standing next to her. Startled, she said, “Where did you come from?” He answered, “I’m from Arizona. I heard about the disaster and came to help.”

“I lived in Arizona before,” she replied. He smiled at her as if he knew that. “You need to get a tarp over that roof, otherwise nothing can be saved.”

“ I can’t get up there in the rain, I have no ladder. And, I have no tarp,” she replied.

“Would you like me to fix it?” is all he said.

“How can you?” she asked. “I can,” he said.

He was short, thin, and elderly. She doubted him. But she watched in amazement as he quickly climbed the outside of the house to get up to the roof area. She thought to herself, “Maybe he was an acrobat in his younger years.” Then he came back down and pulled a sharp tool out of his pocket and cut white rubbery material from the school roof that was laying in the front yard. To her continued amazement, he dragged the rubbery material up to the roof of the house and fasted it rather quickly to the beams and rafters so that the whole roof was nearly covered. Then she realized she was supposed to be saving the photo albums and books. She went back inside and the tarp kept out all the rain. She gathered all the things that could be salvaged and went out side to thank the man. He was nowhere to be found.

She walked up and down the streets looking for him but couldn’t find him. She asked the neighbors. No one saw him. When she told them the story people were skeptical. A strong man couldn’t climb the side of the house without a ladder and neither could he carry a heavy tarp up to the top of the house. Plus, they said, the tornado just happened. How could he get here so fast from Arizona? A neighbor said, “It had to have been an angel.” Billy believed she was right.

Christine Brown was driving her car on the freeway in the month of July and was run off the road by another driver. She hit a concrete divider at a high rate of speed and nearly died. Her left eye came out of its socket, her neck was fractured, and her face was crushed. While she lay there, a man came to her wearing white clothes and held her hand. All he said was, “It will be Ok.” He just held her hand for a while.

When the paramedics arrived, she asked them where the man was. They said no one was there when they arrived.  If this was just a passing stranger, why would he leave her alone before the paramedics arrived. It seems as if no one would do that.

It took her months to recover. But then in November her father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In December, her 24-year old sister was killed by a drunk driver. She was sitting in her dining room full of despair, feeling hopeless, drinking a cup of coffee. All of a sudden a woman, also dressed in white, walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder and said, “It’s going to be OK.” Nearly the same words that she heard five months earlier in the car. How did this woman get in her house? She turned to get a better look at her but she was gone. But she still felt her hand on her shoulder for a while! She felt love and care flow into her.

Christine is certain she was visited by angels.

These accounts inform us that angels are not beings that look like Dwayne Johnson or Michael Landon. They can be diminutive, even frail looking, elderly. But they have the power to grant help that you need.

I want you to be encouraged by angels.

• God did not redeem angels, but he redeemed you.
• They are examples to us. We can emulate them in obedience and worship.
• They are here to help you and minister to you!

God loves you enough to send angels!