The Angels Minister to us
“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.” - Psalm 34:7
Last week we meditated on the role of the Angels in the heavenly realm. They create an example for us of how we should worship the Lord. But there is another way that angels minister to us as believers. The scriptures teach us that the angels encamp around us. When we think of the word encamp, we imagine a boundary, or a protective hedge.
The Rev. John G. Paton, a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, told a story involving the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see the attackers unaccountably leave.
A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ, and Paton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men you had there with you?” The missionary answered, “There were no men there; just my wife and I.” The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard—hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station, so the natives were afraid to attack. Only then the Rev. Paton realized that God had sent his angels to protect them.
Dear brothers & sisters, today let us meditate on how the angels encamp us, and protect us in the time of need.
I. Invisible Reality
The angels are invisible. Turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 6 where, in the middle of the night, the King of Syria sent an army of horses and chariots to surround the city where the prophet Elisha lived. Their instructions were to capture Elisha and bring him back to the king. When morning came, Elisha’s servant went outside and saw this vast army. He was terrified, and he said to Elisha, “What should we do?"
The prophet said to the servant, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and he said, “Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see” (2 Kings 6:16–17).
Now, the servant was not blind. He could see, but he could only see with his natural eyes, his mortal eyes. He could only see the earthly visible and physical army that was surrounding them. Elisha was praying, “Lord, open his spiritual eyes so that he can get a glimpse of what You have been doing all along. Let him see the invisible reality that is around us.” When the Lord opened the servant’s eyes. The servant looked and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire, all around Elisha.
The enemy that had surrounded the city could not get to Elisha. Even though it did not look like there was an obstacle in their way, there was a supernatural obstacle in their way that they could not go past. Elisha was surrounded by the angels of God who had formed a protective barrier around him.
As humans, we tend to look at the visible realities and obstacles around us, like troubling people at work, arguments in your family life, a dangerous neighborhood, or worries in your children’s life. When we see these visible dangers, we easily become fearful and upset, and we begin to worry because we only have our eyes on the things we can see. The visible realities.
If we would only stop and realize how close His ministering angels are to us and how they encamp around us and around those who believe, we would have nothing to fear. Think about our children. When we send them out into this world, there is no way you can be with them everywhere. Even if you are with them everywhere, you cannot protect them from every evil thing in this world. But if your children have faith in Christ, God will protect those children by sending His angels to come and encamp around them.
We should never be afraid, and we should face every circumstance in our lives with peace and with faith. Stop and remember our invisible reality, an invisible host of angels will always surround those who believe and trust in God. The enemy that is very real cannot get to us without getting through an army of angels that encamp around us.
II. Invincible Protection
This is another way angels minister to believers. Angels protect us from harm. In the book of Genesis, Jacob, towards the end of his life, speaks about “The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them” (Gen. 48:16). When he looked back on his life, he was conscious that God had sent an angel to deliver him from all harm.
Psalm 91 speaks about the angels who protect us. “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so you will not strike your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11–12). They protect us, and they lift us up in times of harm or danger.
Isaiah chapter 63 tells us that “In all their afflictions [the afflictions of the children of Israel], He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63: 9). God cares for His people. He felt their pain, and what did He do? He sent the angel of His presence to save them, to deliver them, to protect them from harm.
Angels are sent not only to protect us from harm, but also to rescue us from impossible situations. We have a number of illustrations of this in the Scripture. God sends His angels to rescue His people from impossible situations. Two examples take place in the life of the early church in the book of Acts.
In Acts chapter 5, many of you may have read about the apostles who were arrested for preaching the gospel. They were thrown into jail. It was an impossible situation for them. They were bound; they were imprisoned; they could not get out of that situation. But the Scripture says that “But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out” (Acts 5:19). They were God’s mighty servants. “They opened the doors of the jail and brought the apostles out. And they said to the apostles, ‘Go, stand in the temple courts and speak to the people all the Words of this life’” (Acts 5:20). God sent an angel to rescue His apostles in their impossible situation.
Now, a few chapters later in Acts chapter 12, a similar situation occurs again. King Herod arrested the apostle Peter and put him in prison. But the night before his trial, “Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains and between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison” (Acts 12: 6). There was no way of Peter getting out of his situation, if you only saw through your human eyes. But God had a plan to create a divine intervention.
Then the Scripture says, “ Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” (Acts 12: 7–8).
Poor Peter had no idea what was happening. In his sleepy state, he thought he was seeing a vision. “When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.” (Acts 12: 10-11). Peter recognized that this was God’s doing and that an angel had been God’s instrument to help bring him to rescue.
But understand, Angels do not always rescue God’s children. They do not rescue us from every problem or from every difficult situation. They are God’s servants, and they can only do what God tells them to do. They cannot go on their own and do their own will. They exist for God’s will.
III. Incredible Timing
During the time of Jesus' arrest, He said in Matthew 26:53 “Do you think that I can’t now pray to my Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels?
Sometimes in our lives, we wonder when God will send the angels to come and save us. There was a story last week that was published by a lot of magazines and daily newspapers. Father Stan Swamy, a 84 year old priest and human rights activist spent five decades fighting for the rights of the tribal community in the state of Jharkhand, India. He was arrested in October 2020 and held in judicial custody. The US Commission for International Religious Freedom noted that Stan Swamy was an elderly priest and human rights activist imprisoned on "false terrorism charges".
Despite Swamy’s weak condition from advanced Parkinson’s disease, the courts repeatedly denied him pre-trial bail. He asked for a small zipper cup to drink water from because he could not hold a regular cup. The prison authority refused to give a zipper cup. With court orders, Swamy was eventually moved to a hospital and put on a ventilator, but he died of a cardiac arrest on Monday, July 5, 2021. He was a champion of the poor and the voiceless.
Remember the moment at the cross when the Son of God was dying for the sins of the world. Even though we are not told this in the Scriptures, we can imagine that the angels were longing to come and rescue Jesus from that cross. But God forbade them from intervening. It was not God’s perfect timing. Yes, Jesus could have been rescued. But had He rescued Himself or if the angels rescued Him prematurely, we could not have been rescued from our sins. So God allowed His Son to go through the full course of suffering, not allowing the angels to step in and intervene.
It was not long after until the early Christians began to also experience persecution for the preaching of the Gospel. I believe that even then, the entire time, the angels were watching, wanting to rush in as armies of deliverance. At times, God did send them forth to intervene; to stop the mouths of lions and to rescue His servants from some of those impossible situations. But at other times, for reasons only known to God, the angels were not allowed to do so. They are not free to deliver, to rescue until God gives them the order to do so.
Some of you may say, “In my impossible situation will God send an angel to rescue me?” There is no way to be 100 percent certain. You see, that is the mystery with God. We need to learn to be content in His mystery and say, “Lord, if it pleases You in this moment to rescue me from this situation, I know that You can, and I know that You will. And You may use angels as Your instruments to help affect that deliverance. But if you don’t, then I know that You have purposes that are greater than my immediate comfort and deliverance.”
Can you trust God to make the decision, to make the choice? Say, “Lord, I leave it in Your hands.” And when the rescue comes, remember to look up and thank God.
Conclusion:
Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ, all angels are ministering spirits sent to attend, to serve, to wait on, not just Jesus, but those who will inherit salvation and the kingdom of God, His children. God at key moments in your lives, maybe even unbeknown to you, sends His angels to strengthen you, to encourage you, to minister to you and meet your needs.
The angel of the Lord encamps around you invisibly, to keep you from your enemies. But unless you see through the eyes of faith, you will not be able to see the invisible reality of God’s mighty hand protecting you. There is invincible protection in the hand of God, for He will send His angels to protect you from your bondage. But most importantly, trust in the Lord. For His timings are always perfect. We may not understand His mystery completely, but ask Him. and He will send forth your angel to deliver you. Amen.
