Transcription
Well, this morning we continue our series on angels and demons. Let me just start by saying as a reminder, we live in a supernatural world. A world that is populated not only by human beings, but by supernatural beings who for our purposes we've generically called angels and demons. Prior to this morning's message, we've been looking, we had an introduction where we laid out a framework for understanding the supernatural world, understanding God's counsel and angelic beings and different classifications of beings. We looked at Satan, where he came from, where evil came from, what Satan's work is in the world, where Satan is headed. Last week we looked at evil beings extensively especially in the New Testament and talked about the ramifications of evil beings and then also talked about giants and talked about how Pentecost is the reverse of of really God's it's God reclaiming the world. It's the reverse of the Tower of Babel.
Now this morning we come to a message where we focus on angels. This message reminds us and in fact the whole series reminds us that the Christian life is not a boring life. That God has given us a supernatural existence that he's called us to. That our life is designed to not only take into account the things we can see but the things we cannot see. That God has equipped us with supernatural power that you and I through the power of the Holy Spirit can pray with great effect and miracles can happen in Jesus' name. It's exciting to see that happen to watch things happen that would not have happened any other way. It's supernatural really. And then to think in terms of angelic beings and to understand that throughout the Bible, not just in one book, not just in one section of the Bible, but throughout the Bible from the beginning to the end, you have angelic beings. You have them interacting with human beings. What does this tell us? It tells us that this is what God intends life to be like in many respects. That this is the norm that you and I live a supernatural life and that angels regularly interact with human beings.
On May 22nd, 2011, cousins Mason Lillard and Leage Griggsby were at the Home Depot with their grandparents when a category 5 tornado bore down on Joplain. As the storm approached, their grandmother urged them to pray just before the tornado hit. Mason felt a touch on her shoulder. She says, and I quote, "I thought it was leage, but then I turned and saw two angels in robes, one with brown hair and one with blonde hair. It was kind of calming. I knew God was with us." End quote. Mason and Leage survived the vehicle they were in being thrown more than 300 ft. Many young survivors of the Joplain tornado described what they called butterfly people who protected them during the tornado. Which is why if you go to Joplain, and I hope that in the coming months, you will take time to go down there and to see the building when it's completed. But you'll notice in the city of Joplain, there are butterfly murals throughout the city. And it's in response to these testimonies of angel people or butterfly people. Mason who grew up in church said there's no mistaking what she saw angels alongside her and her cousin.
Now, let me just say this. As we talk about angels, we're going to learn a great deal about them, be reminded of some things perhaps you already have known. But because of the awesomeness of who angelic beings are and what they are like and because of the stories that the Bible gives us, the insight the Bible gives us, we could be tempted when we read what's in the Bible and when we hear stories like the Joplain tornado and other stories to worship angels, to pray to angels, to become come enamored with angels. And this is something scripture cautions against. Paul writing in Colossians chapter 2 says, "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize." Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idol notions. He's lost connection with the head. We have to be careful when you have somebody who's constantly telling you about all their angelic interaction. What Paul is saying is time out. Be careful. Don't believe it. Don't get caught up in that because that person really has lost their connection with Jesus. So on the one hand, while we need to know about angels, while it's important for us to understand the supernatural world, we also have to understand that there are many things we need to know about. And we have to focus on the main things. Angels then are not the main thing. Angels are simply, as we're going to see, ministering spirits, in the words of Hebrews 1:14, who are sent to help those who have been called to inherit salvation. At the same time, angels are very active, active in heaven, active in our lives. And it's important for us to know what the Bible says about them because the Bible says a lot about them.
So in the next few moments, I want to take us through 11 things the Bible tells us about angels, what they do. Number one, angels worship God. In Revelation 5 and verse 11, we read, "Then I looked again and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings, another kind of angel, and the elders, another kind of angel." There you have classifications, categories of angels. If we go back to Revelation 4, we learn more about this scene. The setting is the throne of God. In the verses preceding this passage, we have one of the greatest descriptions of God the Father in the Bible. And yet still very mysterious. But you come to verse six and in the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes front and back. You say, "Okay, what do you mean they're covered with eyes?" I don't know. They're covered with eyes. You say, "What's the purpose of the eyes?" Well, let me ask you this. What's the purpose of your eyes? It's to see. Why do they need eyes all around? Because these are guardian cherubam. They guard the throne. And as guardians, they see absolutely everything. They see more than your mom. She had eyes in back of her head. They got eyes everywhere. Right? Look at this. The first of these living beings was like a lion. The second was like an ox. The third had a human face. And the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings. Remember in Isaiah chapter 6, we referenced the seraraphim. These angelic beings who antipal voice cried back and forth worship to the Lord. Right here you have it. Are they cherubam? Are they seraraphim? There's a bit of a of an ambiguity in scripture that that doesn't allow us to completely separate the two categories. They are guardians of the throne of God. And as they are there around the throne, it says, "And their wings were covered all over with eyes inside and out." So, not only their body, but their wings. So that they're seeing every single thing. No, no one and nothing approaches the throne without their notice. Day after day, night after night, they keep on saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, the one who always was, who is, and who's who is still to come." Day after day, night after night, you say, "Don't they ever get tired?" No. Because they know the they know God in all of his glory. And from the moment of their creation, they are so in awe of who he is, of what he is, of what he does, that they cry out in worship to him. It says something about us and our lack of understanding regarding the greatness, the the grandeur, the majesty of our God that we would in any way question that a being could spend eternity worshiping God. To ask that question betrays on our part and I'm in that group a a a failure to understand the enormity of his majesty and his greatness. That not only deserves but merits in every single way unending praise.
And whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne and when do when whenever do they do it? They do it night and day. So all the time they do it. The the 24 elders, another classification, a ruling class, elite class of angelic beings, fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever. And they lay their crowns down before the throne. And they say, "You are worthy, oh Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and they exist because you created what you pleased." angels worshiping around the throne. And honestly, think of this. Anytime you and I are worshiping, anytime you and I are singing praise to God, we are joining in with heaven. We're we're are we are emulating, if you will, that scene around the throne. Think of it as innumerable angels are worshiping the Lord and we are worshiping with them.
Well, second, angels are warriors. They are warriors. They are fighters. Psalm 103 says this, "Praise the Lord, you angels, you mighty ones." Gibborim in the Hebrew, it it's like you valiant warrior. They're they've distinguished themsel in battle who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands. Yes. Praise the Lord. You armies of angels who serve him and do his will. Why do you need armies? You only need armies if you're what? fighting battles if there are wars. You say, "How do angelic beings fight? What is it that they do? What does it look like?" Scripture isn't clear. We know that when Jacob wrestled with an angel and it was wrestling and Jacob was hanging on, the angel said, "Let go of me." And Jacob said, "I won't until you bless me." we get some sense of of that some of the combat is indeed handtoh hand and yet we know that there are times there are swords that are mentioned. So so we know that that there are also weapons that are involved. We can only speculate. I did have one life group that the leader told me this week. Yeah, we spent most of our time speculating or thinking about how angels fight one another. I said oh. I said interesting. What'd you come up with? Well, we decided it was like the Avengers like times 10 or 100. And I was like, "Huh, great. Not in the Bible, but nice idea." It's It's interesting. Revelation 12 7. Then there was a war in heaven. Michael, he's one of the archangels, one of two archangels mentioned in the Bible, and his angels fought against the dragon. That's Satan and his angels. What an interesting thing. A war in heaven. Angel armies fighting demonic armies. Daniel 12 verse one. At that time, Michael, there he is again, the archangel who stands guard over your nation. He stands guard over the Jewish people. He stands guard over the nation of Israel. You can imagine he's very, very busy. And then in Daniel chapter 10, Daniel is speaking with an angel and the angel says, "I was way laid by the angel prince of the kingdom of Persia, a demon over the land of Persia, modern day Iran. And I was delayed for a good three weeks. Whatever the battle is, whatever that war is like is lasting three weeks." Very interesting. But then Michael, there he is again. one of the chief angel princes intervened and helped me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. So, while this angel's coming to talk to Daniel, Michael's there battling this demonic being who governs Persia. We read this later in verse 20. He said, "You know why I've come here now? I have to go back and fight against the angel prince of Persia. And when I get him out of the way, the angel prince of Greece will arrive. I'm going to fight this battle. When that battle's over there, I know there's going to be another battle. Angels are warriors. And I would suggest as well that not only are angels involved in spiritual wars we cannot see, but angels are involved in wars we can see, offering spiritual help. For example, in Judges chapter 5, you have an example of this from heaven. This is Deborah singing after the victory over Cisora. Deborah and Bareric achieved a victory with the Lord's help. She sings and says this, "From heaven the stars fought." We know stars is a term for angels. From their courses they fought against Cisra. He was the commander of the enemy army. What's interesting is he had all of these iron chariots. I think he had 800 chariots. It's a lot of chariots, which would be like tanks in our modern day warfare. And if you read the story, you find out he gets off of his chariot and runs for his life, which would be like, which which would be faster, a chariot or your feet? A chariot unless it's broke. Angel warfare, breaking chariots. Remember in when the Egyptians chased Moses and the Israelites across the Red Sea as there was water on each side, the wheels came off the chariots. Angels fighting for Israel. Angel warriors.
Number three, angels protect us. One of the great Psalms, Psalm 91, says this, "For he, that's God, will order his angels to protect you." God will say, "I need you to protect him, her, I need you, hey, hey, I need an angel to protect." And the the scene here in Psalm 91 is war. Because it's like, if you read in the verse, it's like a thousand will fall at your left side and 10,000 at your right side. I mean, people get mowed down everywhere, but you're protected. Why? Because angels are protecting you wherever you go. They will uphold you with their hands. So, they're actually shielding you. They're helping you. They're watching over you. Psalm 34:7, we won't we don't have for the screen, but it says this, David writing this psalm says, "The angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear him." Amen. That there's angels protecting. There's angels watching over. One of the things that Debbie and I do whenever we move into a a new home, whether we're renting it, whether we bought the home, we pray over the home. One of the things we pray over the home is is we anoint the doorpost with oil and then we pray over each room and we pray asking God to position angels around that home and we believe he does it that there are angels that are watching over us.
In second Kings chapter 6 when the servant of the man of God got up early. This is during the ministry of Elisha. So his servant gets up early the next morning, goes outside. There were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. So he looks and and the city where they're staying is surrounded by the armies of Aram or Syria. And the servant runs in the house because the king of Syria's trying to capture Elisha. Oh sir, what will we do now? The young man cried to Elisha. Don't be afraid, Elisha told him, for there are more on our side than on theirs. Then Elisha prayed, "Oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see." And the Lord opened the young man's eyes. And when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. Billy Graham said, "If our eyes could be opened and we could see, we would see the heavenlies ablaze with angels and demons locked in warfare, angels protecting, angels fighting." Some have asked about guardian angels. It appears from the word of God that the elect have them. Beyond that we cannot say Matthew chapter 18 and verse 10 Jesus says this the context here is is this uh the disciples are asking Jesus some questions and Jesus says to them listen unless you become like a little child you can't enter the kingdom of heaven and the little child becomes a metaphor for Christians you know don't don't cause a Christian to stumble is is part of what he's saying and then he says see that you do not look down on one of these little ones. He's not talking about just looking down on little kids. He's saying don't look down on other believers. Treat other love other believers. Treat other believers with respect. Then he says, "For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my father in heaven." In other words, the idea is not that you and I would have one angel watching over us, but we would have many angels watching over us. And for some of us, that's really great news. We need it. Angels watching over you, looking out for you. Say, why are they looking at the face of the father? Because the father, I'd rather have him looking at the face of the father because he knows what's going to happen next. And he can tell them, listen, this is happening next. Keep an eye, watch out. This is what's next. And I think all of us have had encounters that were very, very odd, very, very unusual and we knew that somehow an angel was involved protecting us either because we heard somebody who prayed afterwards for us during a time we were up against it and God miraculously delivered us or we encountered something that that just was very, you know, one day I was driving down a country road uh to our house and and it was the wind was calm, that it was sunny, it was about 9:00 in the morning as I was driving down the road, a tree about this big fell over on my truck and and I saw the the bra the tree. I could see it coming and I couldn't slam on my brakes and I punched the accelerator, but I it looked like the whole tree was going to come right through my windshield. Instead, what happened is it crushed the club cab and the bed of the truck. I mean, that will give you an adrenaline rush. You know, it reminded me of what Winston Churchill said. There's nothing more exhilarating than being shot at without success. So, you know, you have that sense of but Debbie and I both felt angels watching over us, protecting us.
Number four, angels observe us, angels watching us. You say, for what purpose? Well, in 1 Peter 1 and:e 12, uh, here it's talking about prophets talking about the gospel and the Holy Spirit sent from heaven and angels long to look into these things. So, angels are very curious about salvation. How is it that a person who is a sinner is able to be redeemed? Because as far as we know, angels cannot be redeemed. How is it that God can accomplish the evangelization of the world through fallen people? How is it that God can work through the weakness of people to accomplish his will? Angels, they're they're like blown away by this by the different facets of salvation. Or to learn about the wisdom of God in Ephesians 3:10, his intent was that now through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers. That's a category of of celestial being and authorities, another category of celestial being in the heavenly realms. In other words, when when they look at the church and they see this church that Jesus said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." And they're watching the church, they're seeing the wisdom of God. Because they're saying, "There's no way that little tiny group is going to be able to change the world." And then, wow, look what happened. God's chosen the weak things, the foolish things, the despised things to to show his power. God delights in taking ordinary people and doing extraordinary things with them. And that speaks of his wisdom to angels that it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. All these things speak to angels about the way God works.
And then angels are watching. And do you realize that angels as they're watching, they do form opinions on people. In fact, Daniel chapter 10 and verse 11, watch this. The angel says to to Daniel, "Daniel, you are who are highly esteemed." Daniel, we know about you in heaven. We've heard about you. We know you pray three times a day. We know you honor God. We know you've been faithful. We know you've stood up to pagan kings. We know you've honored the Lord. Daniel, we esteem you. We honor you. Angels watching not only righteous people, but unrighteous people. We saw that in Daniel chapter 4 with King Nebuchadnezzar, this pagan wicked king, I saw visions in my head. This is the king telling this to Daniel. As I lay in bed and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. A watcher, that's what they're called. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers. In other words, there is a category of angelic being that is not only watching and observing but is active in carrying out the will of God uh by by bringing consequence and judgment into the lives of people. It's very interesting.
And because of this, the king saw a watcher again a a type of angelic being. Paul was very aware in the New Testament that angelic beings were watching. He writes to the Corinthians these words 1 Corinthians 4:9. Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display like prisoners of war at the end of a victor's parade, condemned to die. What Paul is saying is, you know, when when the Roman army would go in and conquer a land, they'd take the generals and they would take the king and they would take the nobility and and they would bring all the spoils from that land in a big victory parade through the streets of Rome. And last of all would be all of these mighty people in chains and they would kill them, destined to die. Paul says, "I feel like I'm at the end of that victor's parade, headed for death, for martyrdom." We have become a spectacle to the entire world, to people and angels alike. Angels are watching us. Angels are observing what we do. They're observing where we're whether we're faithful or not. We know they do that. You remember in the book of Job, Job chapter 1, you've got you've got all of the sons of God come before the throne of God and and God says to Satan, "What what have you been doing?" And he says, "I've been going through to and fro throughout the earth." He said, "Have you have you watched and seen? There's no one like Job who honors me like Job." And Satan was says, "Well, yeah." Satan gives God the ultimate insult. Well, of course. He only loves you because you've bought his affection with everything you've given him. As if to say, he'd never love you just for who you are. The only people the only friends you can have, God, and the only people who love you are people you pay to love you. Oh, dirty devil. But watching angels watching. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 10. for this reason and because the angels are watching. And some scholars have speculated that Paul is giving an instruction to women based upon a concern uh that the angels would again sin like they did with the Nephilim. But at the very least, Paul is saying angels are watching human behavior and there is in some sense a responsibility we have to live righteous. as an example, they're watching.
Well, number five, angels give us directions from God in in Acts chapter 5. And again, I want to use uh several New Testament scriptures because I think when what it does for us when I use an Old Testament scripture, some people are like, well, you know, that's the Old Testament. But we live in New Testament times. And what I want you to see is it's all over the Bible. You're not going to see this just in Daniel or in Revelation. You're going to see it everywhere. And when you see it in the book of acts, then it becomes something of a pattern in the early church or a pattern in church life which tells us it is normative for you and I that it shouldn't surprise us if this happens in our own life. An angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail and brought them out and he told them, "Go to the temple and give the people this message of life." And that's what they did. The angel gave them direction in Acts 8 26. But as for Philillip, an angel of the Lord said to him, "Go south down to the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza. Hey, there's a highway there. And Philip, I want you to go get on that highway." Now, think of this. Does the Holy Spirit speak to people in the book of Acts? Yes. Does Jesus speak to people in the book of Acts? Yes. Do angels speak to people in the book of Acts? Yes. In other words, we heir because sometimes here's here's what traps a lot of Christians up. They get this idea like, you know, here's how I hear from God. I I feel a certain way in my heart and then I know it's God. Well, good. But maybe that was for one time, but that doesn't mean it's going to be like that every time. So true. Well, God I always know it's God speaking to me when it happens this way. Whenever I hear somebody say that, I say, "You're putting God in the box and you're going to miss what God wants to do or you're going to think it's God and it's not because you've created this sense of how God works in your life." And God works in a variety of ways. And sometimes God sends an angel and sometimes God speaks by his spirit. And sometimes he speaks through the word, sometimes he speaks through a friend, and sometimes the voice of the Lord shows up. Amen. But God speaks in a variety of ways, and angels can bring messages from God.
Number six, angels deliver God's people. They they rescue God's people. And obviously, you could look at Daniel chapter 6 where Daniel says God sent angels to shut the mouths of the lions as Daniel was in the lion's den. But look at this in Acts 12. Peter is in prison. The church is praying in response to the church's prayers. That's the point. When you and I pray, God works. And one of the ways God works is he sends angels. That night, before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Two others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. And the angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, "Quick, get up." And the ang and the chains fell off his wrist. And the angel told him, "Get dressed. Put on your sandals." He did. "Now put on your coat. Follow me." The angel ordered. So Peter left the cell following the angel. And they go out of the prison. And the big gates to the prison open up and he's out in the street and the angel leaves. Angels delivering in response to prayers. Listen, you and I can pray. And when we pray, one of the ways God will choose to deliver people and help people is by sending angels.
Here's something unique maybe you haven't thought of. Number seven, angels take us to heaven when we die. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus tells this story. And Luke doesn't preface it as he does in other places with parables by saying, "And in order to illustrate a point, he told them a parable." Nor does Jesus say, "Let me illustrate something for you by way of parable." Jesus tells a story and he tells it as factual because it is. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. So here is a righteous beggar. He dies and angels carry him to paradise. In that day and prior to the resurrection of Christ, let me explain this because I'll help you understand a couple things we're going to talk about. There was a place of the dead called Shield. It was divided into Hades, which was the place for the wicked dead, and paradise or Abraham's bosom is one translation says, which was where the righteous dead went. King David and Abraham and the righteous dead were there. When Jesus died on the cross, he took capt he took captivity captive. He took all of the righteous dead and took them to heaven. Hades on the other hand is the place where wicked people still go. It is a temporary hell until they are cast into a permanent hell following the great judgment. So what he sees here Jesus is talking about the angels carried him to Abraham's side to paradise. The rich man who was wicked also died and was buried in hell where he was in torment. He looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus. So apparently it the the two places could be aware of one another. But the point is the angels carried him to Abraham's side. You say, "Well, is that the only place you're getting that?" No. If you look at Luke chapter 24, Jesus will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect, that's all believers, from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. He will gather the believers up to take them to heaven. We've looked at 1 Thessalonians 4, so we won't look at it on this occasion. You just write it down. But when Jesus comes back for the rapture of the church, that gathering up of people, he comes with his holy ones. He comes with the saints, people who have died in Christ. He resurrects their body. The Lord himself will descend with a cry of command, with the shout of the archangel and the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the air. You say, why do we need angels? Because you have to understand it is a rescue operation. It is a military evacuation. Now, think of it for just a moment. Life's a spiritual battle. There are angels battling. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. Do you really think that that demonic beings would let you leave this earth and go to heaven without a fight? Why do you think that that we we are redeemed in the twinkling of an eye? I mean, in a millisecond gone. Why do you think nobody knows the day nor the hour, not even the son of man, but the father? Because in a moment, we're going to be taken out. And I'm just simply suggesting to you that if before that time you die, there are angels who will guide you to heaven shore. You see an example of this and the necessity of it in Jude 9. But even the archangel Michael, there he is again, a very busy individual, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." You say, "What in the world is that about?" Essentially, what you have going on there is Moses dies. God has buried his body, but Moses is going to go to paradise. He's going to go to Abraham's bosom. But you have to remember a couple of things about Moses. On the one hand, he is the most notable person, maybe the most important human being in the Old Testament, right? He is the giver of the law. He's the one whose face glowed. He he wrote the first five books of the Bible. Here's Moses. At the same time, Moses is not a perfect person. He was a murderer. He he was volatile, hottempered. The most common thing that's said about Moses that is in in some way derogatory is he is red-hot when it comes to a temper. Very fiery person. So here is Satan and Satan is saying he can't go to the right the place of the righteous dead. The guy's a murderer and he he's a guy with a hot head, a hot temper, and he does not get to go. And Michael the archangel comes and says, "No, he's going." And there is a standoff. And Michael says to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you. God rebuke you." And there must have been some kind of power in that that allowed Moses passage to the realm of the righteous dead. I'm just simply saying that when you die, there's going to come a day if the Lord carries that you'll die. And I believe scripture indicates that at the very least, and who knows, some might have Jesus personally escort you. That would be wonderful. But an angel escort isn't too bad either because they take you to be with Jesus.
Number eight, angels are agents of divine judgment. You see an example of it in Acts 12. Here you have the story of Herod. This is not Herod of the of you know who tried to kill Jesus as an infant. This is the grandson of that Herod. But he's as wicked as his grandfather. He beheaded James, the brother of John the Apostle. He's the one who imprisoned Peter and was going to behead him. And he got into it with some people up around Siden. And they were going to try to resolve things. And so they were buttering him up. and he starts speaking and the people start saying this is the voice of a God not a man and immediately because Herod did not give praise to God an angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten with worms and died. You see angels again in judgment in Matthew 13 it says the angels will come at the end of the age and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. So, some will get an angelic escort to heaven, others an angelic escort to hell. And of course, the book of Revelation is filled with angelic judgments. One example being Revelation 16:8, the fourth angel poured out his bull on the sun and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. The sun, the temperatures turned up and people will curse God. The next verse says, because they were seared with the heat from the sun.
Number nine, angels bring messages from God. And we see that obviously and at the Christmas in the Christmas season. You see it with Gabriel going to Zachchariah, godly priest, the father of John the Baptist, and going to Joseph and saying, "Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife." And going to Mary and saying, "Guess what? You're going to have you're going to give birth to the Messiah." But you also see it in Daniel chapter 8 where an angel comes and and as he stands there I heard a human voice calling out from the Uli River, Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision. There's Gabriel, the same we believe Gabriel of Luke 1 fame. You have Paul the Apostle again in Acts chapter 27. He's on a boat that has been out in a storm now at sea for two weeks. They've gotten rid of all of the cargo. They've given all hope given up all hope of living. And Paul says, "Last night, an angel of God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said,"Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar." But just again say to you, I mean, what's so amazing about this in in 1 Corinthia or in um uh Acts chapter 18 while Paul's at Corenth, Jesus comes and stands beside him and says, "Don't be afraid. I've got many people in this city. Don't be afraid." Here an angel comes. Same apostle Paul. I'm just simply saying God speaks in a variety of ways. One of the ways God speaks is through angelic beings. It shouldn't surprise us if that happens.
Number 10, angels strengthen us. An angel obviously strengthened Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. We read this in Luke 22 and verse 43. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. You say, "How do you strengthen him?" I touched him, infused him with divine strength. We get an idea of that in Daniel 10 and verse 17. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone. I can hardly breathe. So, you know, here's Daniel and he sees this mighty vision and this angelic being. He actually sees pre-incarnate Jesus. And that just does the same thing as it does to John in Revelation 1. He passes out and now he's lost all strength. And the angel's talking to him and he's like, I I can't carry on any kind of conversation. I'm just I am just shattered physically. And the angel again, the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. So angels can give you strength. In fact, let me just say this to you. Angels can appear to you and look like an angel. And angels can appear to you and look like a person. I think it's reasonable to assume anytime the saints of God gather, this place is packed with angels. And there are angels you cannot see and very likely angels that you can. I mean, that person sitting next to you might be an angel. Some of you are like, "Uh, no." I Some of you guys put your arm around her and said, "Come on. Right on. I got my angel." If you didn't, you missed your chance, guys. Angels encouraging, strengthening. appearing to us is a man I won't say his name because if I said his name many of you would know him and he told me this he said I went through a season of such depression that he said I I I just did not know what to do and he said I was at a bookstore and while I was at a bookstore here in town there was a man in the aisle and he described the man he was dressed and he said he was dressed uniquely, but he walked up and started a conversation and said, "Let's sit down." And the man said to this individual, "I'm an angel." And the guy who told me the story had the same response I would have. I'm so sure. Prove it. You know, I mean, like, what? I You don't You know, where's your wings? you know. And so the man said, "I know this. I saw this. I saw this. I saw things only an angel would know about him." And he proceeded to talk to him. And he could tell while he was talking to him that he was being strengthened spiritually. He asked the angel, "Will I can I see you again?" He said, 'You'll see me one more time. And he asked the angel, 'When?' And the angel said, 'd don't worry about that.' Two weeks later, the angel appeared again. The angel had another conversation with him, and the man's depression has been gone ever since. It was years ago. I'm just simply saying angels can come and strengthen. It's not unreasonable they would appear to you.
Number 11, angels can appear to us without us knowing it. You say, "Why?" Well, it could be for and many of the reasons we've talked about direction, protection, deliverance, a message from God to strengthen us, to encourage us. Sometimes God pulls the curtain back and lets us see the other side simply to remind us of the realities that are a part of our life. I can remember when Debbie and I were in Kansas City and I've talked about that before as a very difficult time. And there was one night in the middle of the night, it's never it never happened to us before since, but in the middle of the night I was awake, which would be unusual in itself, especially when I was younger. But I said to Debbie just in the middle of the night, "Do you see what I see?" Not, "Do you sense what I sense? Do you see what I see?" She said, "Yes." [Music] The foot of our bed was a being that was massive, was dark, and was evil like I have never experience the presence of evil. [Music] You say, 'Well, you know, why didn't you just rebuke it? And you know, I'd have loved to have had you there with me and had you say that. Sometimes, I mean, we began to pray and we prayed at the top of our voice for an hour and a half and then it left. You say, "What was the purpose of that?" It was frightening. It was it was terrifying. I knew the Lord would deliver us, but it was it was evil like I've never known evil and and evil power like I've never known evil power before since. And I looking back on that and even at the time understood that it was as if the Lord pulled back the curtain to say, "Listen, you're going through all these things and you don't understand. and you've forgotten that that that's not just what you see, but there's a battle around you that is happening and it's very very fierce. And I'm letting you simply see what you're up against. And honestly, I believe much of what we went through there was preparing us for what we what we would experience here. That all of that was part of that battle. So, you can have an angel appear that way, or you can have an angel appear in a way where you never knew it was an angel and might not know until you reach heaven's shore. Hebrews 13 says this, so interesting. Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers. Don't forget to be kind. Don't forget to host them. Don't forget to reach out to people. Why? For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. That there might be somebody you meet at church that you take out for a meal that proves to be an angel. And the blessing will have been yours to be sure.
And all of this being said, we we remember as well Hebrews 1 and verse 14. Therefore, angels are only servants. Spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation. They're they're sent to minister to us by God. I close with this story. I I shared it a couple years ago, but it's from a couple in the church who I've known since 1993, but it it gives an example of of what I believe is angelic ministry even here at the church. [Music] This person writes, "In the fall of 2008, we were in a very desperate financial situation. Our restaurant was losing money and we were headed into the winter. I always had to borrow money to get us through the winter and didn't feel like the bank was going to help us this year. I was working at Canakook and that left the burden of the restaurant on my wife's shoulders and she was trying to raise the kids and work full-time. We had vehicle issues. Our building was falling apart. We had multiple problems with the plumbing, etc. We didn't have the money to do anything. We were on our franchis's financial audit list, which is not good. We were not sure what we were going to do. In fact, we felt we probably wouldn't make it through the winter. And we'd been doing this for almost 10 years. One Sunday around October, November, we had just finished serving visitors upstairs at James River Church, and we're headed down toward the atrium to the car. When we were at the door to your office in the hallway, I looked to the right and I noticed a gentleman sitting alone on a bench outside the auditorium. He began to talk to me about where he was from. And something he said made me begin to tell him about our business and the situation we were in. I'm not sure why I did that, but anyway, at one point as I finished speaking, he said that he had been sent there to tell me that we were going we were not going to struggle much longer and that everything would be okay. He said it very matter of fact and not like he was saying it to sound good. He said it like he knew what he was talking about. I was stunned and wasn't sure what to say. We talked a little longer. I said I would try to find a pastor who could visit with him and walked into the sanctuary to see if there was one. And I was in there for only a few seconds, walked back out and he was gone. I walked up both directions of the hallway, could not find him anywhere. He had vanished. A few weeks later, my wife and I had gotten away for a couple of days and we were at the height of not knowing what to do. I told her I didn't care what happened. I was going to start tithing even though we didn't have the money. That very evening, the ice storm of 2010 hit the town in which we live. And everyone in the town lost power except our restaurant and the gas station below us. The town was pitch dark, but we were not. We had people lined up outside for days to eat with us. A week or so later, the restaurant caught on fire and burned to the ground for a total loss. We were able to rebuild with insurance. Here's here's one of the things about the insurance took the previous month's receipts which included that ice storm and based their pay during the rebuild on the best months they'd ever had. They rebuilt their building. Their sales more than tripled within the franchise out of 2200 restaurants in the world. They're in the top 40.
Listen, I don't know what you need from the Lord. I know the Lord will provide it. You don't have to ask for him to send you an angel. I'm just saying he might choose to do that. He might send a friend. He might send your life group. He might speak to you with his own voice. He might speak to you through the word. Or he might send an angel to strengthen you, to comfort you, to protect you, to direct you, to encourage you. The point is this. The supernatural world is real. Angels are real. The Bible is real. and what the Bible says about angels and what the Bible says about demons and what the Bible says about heaven and what the Bible says about hell. It's all very, very real. We live in a supernatural world. Let's pray.