Angels Part 1

This is from a transcript of a sermon preached by Dr. Jack Graham on June 5, 2016

Hebrews, chapter 1, verses 6 through 9:

6) And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7) Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers (again, angels) a flame of fire.” 8) But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9) You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness (more than your companions or) beyond your companions.”

That’s speaking of Christ who was full of joy. The “oil of gladness” means leaping for joy. Jesus was full of life and joy. Never think that Jesus was a pale, sanctimonious recluse. He was a Man among men, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And the focus always is upon Him. “Of You, O God, Your throne is forever.” So before I even start this little two part series on angels, I want to remind you that angels exist, as we exist, to exalt our God, to worship our God. For any of us it’s not about us. Angels… these are not about us. They’re always about Him!

Now I’ve been telling you for a number of years that there is an unseen, invisible world all around us. The physical world, the tangible world is temporal and is passing away. Sometimes we look at what we have around us and we say this is the real world. And when we talk about spiritual things, you know, “Oh, tell me something real. Don’t tell me something spiritual!” Well, the spiritual world the unseen, invisible world is more real than what we see. And the unseen world dramatically, dynamically influences the seen world. And all around us is a realm… a supernatural dimension, the kingdom of God. And in this realm in this environment this spiritual environment there are angels, there are demon spirits who are fallen angels, and certainly there is Satan, but above all and over all is God Himself who governs the universe.

You might ask the question I even asked it when I was asked to write this book by my publisher, why would I write a book about angels? Why would I study angels? It may seem like a kind of fringe topic and there’s a lot of craziness and bazaar things said about the supernatural and angels and all the rest. But what I wanted to do was to study what does the Bible say? And while I resisted initially in doing this study and preparing this book, I came to absolutely love it. I found that there are nearly 300 references in the Bible to angels.

Last night I just I had a list in my study of all the angel references in the Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament. And I just began to review them. It took me well over an hour to review the angel announcements and appearances and activity that we see throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. So this is not a fringe subject. It is a faith subject and this unseen world is very, very real.

But the reason we do it is because when we understand the mission of angels, we understand better God’s… (listen to this) God’s sovereign control of the universe and of our lives. When we study angels and who they really are and what they do and why it matters, we… we grow in our depth and understanding of who God is; His greatness, His majesty, His glory! Because angels are worshipers, angels are witnesses and angels are warriors, mighty warriors; weapons in the hands of Mighty God.

Now if you want a theological definition of angels, and for all the theological types, which should include all of us, we all should study theology, that’s the Bible. But there’s a great theologian by the name of John Calvin of yesteryear and here’s what Calvin said if you want a theological definition of angels and who they are. “The angels are dispensers and administrators of divine blessing toward us. They regard our safety, undertake our defense, direct our ways and exercise a constant… (here’s a word)… solicitude that no evil befall us.”

Angels. Who are they? What do they do? Are they here right now? Well, I’m going to take a couple of weeks to draw from this study that I did in the angel book some of the lessons that we all need to learn. Just the basic truths, if you will, regarding these angels. I said they are worshipers, they are witnesses, they are warriors. Let’s look at angels as worshipers.