As you may have noticed, today’s theme is all about angels. I want to thank Elsie for the wonderful work she did in gathering all that angel artwork for the bulletin. And I also want to thank everyone who brought in angels to grace the fellowship hall. The angel spirit is alive & well at Trinity!
While we especially think about them at Christmas time, angels really are everywhere in our culture – in art & literature, songs & movies – especially movies. And, as with so many other things, we tend to see angels as reflections of ourselves: we assign human characteristics to them. For example, Cary Grant as the angel Dudley becomes too fond of The Bishop’s Wife. Nickolas Cage even falls from heaven to be with the woman he loves in City of Angels. Then there’s John Travolta as the beer-drinking, chain-smoking, sugar guzzling angel in the movie Michael. And who can forget “Angels in the Outfield”? And then there’s my personal favorite, Clarence the bumbling clockmaker, trying to “earn his wings” in It’s a Wonderful Life.
There’s no end to the variety of ways we depict angels. But what do we really know about them, from a biblical perspective? Let’s go back to the source material – let’s look at what the scriptures have to say about angels.
It’s important to remember here that Christianity is built on a foundation of Judaism. It’s why the Old Testament takes up so much room in the Bible. It’s where we spiritually came from. And much of our familiarity with angels comes from Jewish writings and tradition. In fact, the names of the two best-known “types” of angels – the Cherubim and Seraphim – those are Hebrew names. We’ll come back to them a little later on.
But before I go any further, I have to thank Laura for all the work she did on this. I asked her to research angels in the Bible, and boy, did she do that: she produced stacks and stacks of biblical references to angels, far more information than I could ever cover here. So, in a very real sense, in helping me prepare for this discussion, she really was my angel.
I have to say that, since this is the anniversary of the night we met 30 years ago. So I really do have to say she’s my angel… I better if I know what's good for me...
But what do we really know about angels? The word angel is derived from Latin, Greek & Hebrew, and it means “messenger.” But that doesn’t equate to just being a celestial mailman – as we shall see, they’re much more than God’s postal service. Angels are spiritual beings of immense power, as we shall see - they exist solely for the purpose of praising God and carrying out His will.
A question one might ask is: “When were angels created?” After all, God created all things, so when did He create the angels?
The creation story in Genesis does not mention angels. This is not an oversight – the creation story deals primarily with the physical world, and God’s relationship with us. The origin of angels is not really germane to that story.
But we do know that when Adam & Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:24 tells us “… he placed at the east of the garden of Eden, Cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” So angels were already in existence then.
Moreover, when Job questions God’s actions in Job 38, God has some questions of his own for Job. God asks him, “Where were you when I created the earth?...How was its foundation poured, and who set the cornerstone, while the morning stars sang …, and all the angels shouted praise?”
So from Job we can conclude that the angels were already there, when the earth was created. So angels have been with us for a very long time. They first appear very early in the Bible. And they appear often.
I’ve read that there the word “angel” appears 500 times in the Bible. Now, some of these references are metaphorical, as in 1st Corinthians 13:1, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love…” And Jesus himself referred to them at his arrest in Gethsemane. In Matthew 26:53, Jesus said “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” But beyond the references to angels, there are 79 actual stories of interactions with angels in the Bible, so angels are clearly an important part of the Scriptures, and mentioned too often to ignore.
So what do angels really look like? Apparently, in their natural, spiritual form, they can be terrifying. Why else would they routinely say, “Fear not - Be not afraid”? Those were their words to Zacharias, and to the shepherds in the fields at Christ’s birth. And also to Mary and Joseph. As a matter of fact, angels seem to spend a fair amount of time telling people not to be afraid. So their appearance, at times, can be quite unsettling. But they seem to be really good at getting your attention when they want to.
We do have some interesting biblical descriptions of the angels.
In Isaiah chapter 6, he relates seeing God seated on His throne, and “Above Him stood Seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they called out to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; His glory fills all the earth.”
In Ezekiel 1:6, the angels surrounding the throne in his vision each have 4 faces and 4 wings. This is a description often given to Cherubim. In Revelation chapter 4, the angels resemble creatures – a lion, a calf, a man and an eagle – each with six wings and covered with eyes all around and within. ‘Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”
Remember that the wings and other described features are symbolic: the wings symbolize that angels come from above. If you do see an angel, you’re probably not going to be counting the wings…
In short, angels can be revealed to us in many forms, but their primary function is the ceaseless praising of God, and the doing of His will. To that end, they have a second role to play: that of guardian and messenger to us. To repeat our Scripture reading: “Are not all angels ministering spirits, sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
So it’s really not surprising that the vast majority of angel stories in the Bible have to do with coming to our aid in one way or another.
There are too many instances to cover them all here, but we have angels aiding the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt – and the Angel of Death striking the final blow for their freedom from Pharaoh – the angel aiding Daniel in the lions’ den, an angel stopping Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac, the angels announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, the angel warning the Wise Men to return home another way, the angel telling Joseph to flee to Egypt to escape Herod, angels ministering to Jesus after the forty days in the wilderness, the angels who appeared at the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection, the angels who miraculously freed Peter from prison, and so on and so on and so on. There’s a whole lotta angels going on…
I should point out that all angel stories have one thing in common. I cannot find a single instance in the Bible, where someone had an encounter with an angel, and said “I want to speak to your supervisor…”
There is one angel story that stands out from most of the others: the angels who visited Lot in Sodom. They didn’t come in heavenly glory – they came disguised as ordinary men, and Lot showed them hospitality and sought to protect them, even at great risk to his family. These angels did not reveal their power until the time came for action. When the men of Sodom threatened harm to Lot, the angels blinded the whole mob, and they told Lot it was time to “get out of Dodge…”
And that is an important point to remember about angels: you may not recognize an angel if you see one – yes, they can appear in heavenly glory & majesty, but they can also come in disguise to carry out their mission.
There are many, many stories of people being rescued by an angel in disguise, but I wanted you to hear this one, from a soldier who served in WW II. This is him, telling his story…
[AUDIO CLIP - Relevant portion begins at 2:13]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTQoBR_KBEE
Yes, there are still angels among us, and if you do encounter one, you probably won’t know it at the time. But they’ll come to you in the manner that best suits their purpose. Whether we know it or not, we’re walking with angels.
There’s so much more about angels than we could ever cover here – we’ve just scratched the surface. I encourage you to do your own research & find your own answers.
Just remember this: there are angels watching over us all. And if you ever do encounter an angel, listen to what he says. And thank God for the angels among us. Amen.
