Angels Ascending And Descending

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ANGELS ASCENDING AND DESCENDING (REV 10)

One Avenger I did not admire is Doctor Strange, but in the Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame he used his powers to look into the future to see how the Avengers could triumph over Thanos. The Galaxy Guardian Star Lord asked a transfixed Doctor Strange: “What was that?” Strange replied, “I went forward in time... to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict.”

Star Lord questioned, “How many did you see?” Strange answered, “Fourteen million six hundred and five.”

Iron Man Tony Stark chipped in, “How many did we win?” Strange concluded, “One.”

In a question and answer session, directors Joe and Anthony Russo explained, “Strange has took an immensely long time to actually review all these scenarios. He has to physically live them and then die in each of them, and right before he dies, he has to reset it, as we saw at the end of Doctor Strange, and do it again. And take copious notes each time he does it."

https://www.looper.com/117010/untold-truth-doctor-strange/?utm_campaign=clip

The context to chapter 10 is the damage brought by the fallen star and his army of locusts (Rev 9:3), horses (Rev 9:7) and scorpions (Rev 9:10), followed by the destruction of a third part of men killed by the fire, smoke and brimstone (Rev 9:18). The devastation was so tragic, thorough and troubling that seems be no redemption, restoration or rest for creature or creation. Enter the angels in chapter 10. The noun “angel” (aggelos) occurs 179 times in the Bible, of which 69 times are in Revelation, more than a third of the Bible. Revelation chapters 1-3 are angels over churches. Chapters 4-10 in creation and chapters 11 onwards are angels at combat.

This angel is prelude to the seventh angel in the next chapter (11:15). The last chapter tells us the presence of (Rev 9:3). Has God lost his battle?

What assurance do we have in this troubled life? How is God our strength and comfort? Why are we weak human beings special in God’s plan?

Leave to God the Battle

1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."

I was introduced to the long-running TV series “Touched by an Angel” by my wife, who made it a point to watch the show every Sunday evening, so this week I watched the first year episode 1 again. Angel Monica was an angel who was recently promoted from the "search and rescue" division to the “case work” division under the scrutiny and surveillance of the older angel Tess.

Monica’s first case was taking care of a young boy whose mother could not cope with the death of an infant and left the family. Instead of helping the boy to heal, Monica decided to look for the boy’s lost mother. She found the mother in a small town but mistaken the mother’s coworker instead for her because the coworker loved wearing the mother’s locket. The coworker did not have a social life but went to a bar at Monica’s persuasion, only to run for her life when they she was recognized by a cop who wanted to arrest her for her fugitive past.

The senior Tess was furious at her and said, “Did we learn a little something here

today? Did you hear what she said - she wasn't ready? Timing is everything in

this business you go off looking for somebody's mother and all of a sudden

you got the FBI tracking down a fugitive from the seventies.”

Monica asked, “What's going to happen to her, Tess?”

Tess replied, “That's still her decision. There are angels for every job, Monica, and this one wasn't yours!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMClvcXQkbc

The noun “angel” appears an astonishing 179 times in the Bible, but 69 times in Revelation, more than double the next highest count at less than half in Luke’s 26 times. It appears six times in chapter 10 (vv 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) – the most repeated word in the chapter, from the mighty angel (vv 1, 2, 5, 8, 9) to the seventh angel (v 7). There is no safer, stronger, sturdier, steadier and surer help than angels and the label “mighty angel” (5:2, 10:1, 18:21) is exclusive to Revelation. The mighty angel’s presence is eye-opening, earth-moving and ego-crushing to us, intimidating, impacting and interrupting heaven, cloud, and rainbow, sun and fire in verse 1 to sea and land/earth in verse 2.