ANGELS WATCHING OVER YOU
Psalm 91:11 For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go.12 They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.
Psalm 34:7 For the angel of the LORD guards all who fear him, and he rescues them.
My first Pastor said to me that if something was mentioned once in the Bible it was important, twice very important and more than three times extremely important and we ignore at our peril!
Angels are mentioned 375 times in the Bible, more than Love, Gospel, or Peace.
33% in the Old Testament 67% in the new.
So when I was questioned the other day about the biblical basis for talking with Angels or seeing Angels I did a little study, to help us understand why in this Age we need to more than ever look for the assistance of the Angelic host.
My friend was a little concerned because of a couple of Scriptures
Gal 1:8 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other message than the one we told you about. Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed. 9 I will say it again: If anyone preaches any other gospel than the one you welcomed, let God’s curse fall upon that person.
2 Cor 11:14
Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no wonder his servants can also do it by pretending to be godly ministers. In the end they will get every bit of punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
Because also the likes of Mohammad and Joseph Smith had been deceived by an Angel of Light.
Firstly It should be said that any Angel that preaches any message outside that which was preached by the Apostles is False.
Any Angel that seeks worship is false, The true Angels of God will rebuke the moment we ever try.
Any Angel that won’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and is mans only hope of salvation is false.
So there are plenty of ways to test the Spirits.
The Angel that came to Mohammad said that Jesus was just one in a long line of Prophets but that Mohammad was the last and true prophet, That should tell you something.
The Angel that came to Joseph Smith was introducing a new Gospel of salvation, where Jesus was just a man. That should tell you something.
The Angels that come to New Age worshipers will not accept that Jesus is the only way of Salvation! that should tell you something.
The only danger in talking to Angels is our own pride, its not so hard to spot the deception if we walk in humility. Remember there is one Gospel and only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ, who in fact is God. No Angel will receive worship if they are from God.
In the Scripture there is a long list of interventions by Angels, and also a lot of two way conversations with Angels in many cases the course of human history has changed forever because of these interventions. However never has the spotlight been taken off The Father, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, by any of these interventions.
Some of them are quite different experiences, like Balams Donkey, but in all cases there is a victory for the true and living God.
A list of those who spoke to Angels or to whom Angels spoke. Do your own study sometimes it will surprise you!
Hagar, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Lot ,Moses, Balams Donkey, Balam, Joshua, All the Children of Israel in Judges 2:1-6, Gideon, Elijah , Elisha Angels & Horsemen, David, Daniel, Zechariah the Prophet, Elizabeth, Zechariah Father of John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Shepherds, Wise men, Peter , John, Phillip, Stephen, Paul, The Women at the tomb, Cornelius
All the Disciples when Jesus ascended.
I have had a number of experiences with Angels and there are thousands of stories of Angelic activity in the Church right through the Ages and ever more so in this final hour of history.
There was an evangelist in NZ many years ago called Bob Kingi, he had lots of Angel stories, but the one I loved the most was when he was ministering in Australia, the Lord moved powerfully in the morning service and there were many miracles, signs and wonders, but Bob was very late finishing, in fact there was no way he would make it to the night meeting several hours drive away. Bob thought to cancel the night meeting but the Holy Spirit compelled him to set out in his car. About 30 mins into his journey Bob saw a hitch hiker and decided to pick him up. When he took his back pack to put in the boot Bob noticed it was very light in fact it seemed empty, but he thought nothing of it. On the journey the man started to talk to Bob about the wonders of the Lord. And all track of time was lost. Suddenly the man said this is where I get out Bob said, there’s nothing here we are in the middle of nowhere, but the man insisted, so Bob let him out, the man blessed bob in the name of the Lord and Bob drove off, looking in his rear view mirror there was no sign of his passenger, within five minutes Bob arrived in the town he was due to speak at in the evening, he looked at his watch and realised he had fifteen minutes to spare before the meeting began, The five hour journey had only taken one & a half hours to complete, His passenger had to be an Angel, Bob and his car had been translated in time. Did Bob become deceived by this experience? Not at all up until the time of his death, he preached the Gospel of Jesus.
I once knew a Christian Traffic officer who found himself in a very difficult situation one nigh with a group of thugs; the ugly men were coming toward him with pipes and knives and meant to do a lot of damage to him. Suddenly they just turned and ran. Latter the men were arrested on another matter and the traffic officer was curious to know why the men had run. They told him it was because of the five big men who stepped out of his car and started moving toward them. Angels! Did this situation deceive my friend, not at all, it encouraged his faith and he became a Pastor.
I was ministering in Melbourne Australia and the meeting had gone well but I felt a little discouraged and said to the Lord when I got into my room. Did that meeting make a difference in the Spirit? Very soon an Angel appeared to me and encouraged me, telling me some of the results, I needed that, did it deceive me, not at all, in fact he encouraged me to push on through in my ministry, and caused me to worship Jesus for caring enough about my feelings to send a messenger.
If we close our lives to the work of Angels we miss a big part of what God wants to do with us!
So what are some of the Biblical basis for Angels and what are some of the things we know about them because of the Scripture?
1) There are lots of them Revelation 5:11 says 10,000 x 10,000 and thousands of thousands. Well 10,000 x 10,000 is a Billion So with that description we can figure there are several Billion! Jesus said he could have asked for 12 legion of Angels to come to his aid if he desired, A legion is 6000, so Jesus had 72,000 Angels immediately at his call.
2) The Greek word translated Angels simply means Messengers
3) Angels are created beings and were created before the creation of the world Job 38:4-7 Col 1:16
4) They are Spirits Heb 1:14 Psalm 104:4
5) They are subject to Jesus Heb 1:4-6
6) They have powers of discernment 2 Sam 14:17 &20
7) They were created Holy Mark 8:38
8) They have a high level of wisdom Heb 2:7 but much lower than God Heb 1:4
9) They can have an awesome appearance Luke 1:11 Several times when an Angel appeared his first words were “Fear not”
10) They are attentive to the Father for instruction Matt 18:10
11) There are Angels assigned to individuals Matt 18:10
12) They are generally invisible but can become visible and eat food Luke 2:9
13) Angels are strong. One killed 185,000 Assyrians (2 Kings 19:35) one slew 70,000 Israelites (2 Sam 24:15-16)
14) Angels never die Luke 20:35-36
15) They have various names. Watchers, Holy ones, Holy Angels, Hosts, Sons of God, Sons of the mighty, Elect of God, ministering Spirits, Messengers, Angel of the Church, Guardians, Guardian Angels, Warriors and flaming fire.
What do they do?
1) Called to worship God Rev 5:11-12 , Rev 8:3-4
2) Called to protect the saints Matt 4:11, Dan 6:22
3) They lead Christians to the unsaved and unsaved to Christians Acts 8:26 , Acts 10:30-32
4) Look after Children Matt 18:10
5) Protect people Dan 6:22
6) Announce God’s plans Luke 2:13
7) Look into the affairs of men 1 Pet 1:12
8) Help to see the will of God performed in the earth Num 22:22 Balam, Herods demise Acts 12:23
9) Take the Lords people home at death Luke 16:22
10) Encamp around those that fear the Lord Psalm 34:7
11) Form the Lords army Mat 16:22-27
12) Help reap the end time harvest Matt 13:39
The Bible says we should entertain strangers because we never know when we are entertaining Angels unaware Hebrews 13:2
This tells us that God expects us to expect Angels in our life.
They are there to help us, and when someone gets saved the Angels rejoice, Luke 15:7
My feeling is, that if we want to see the results that the early Church saw, and we want to see multitudes saved, if our desire is to see the will of God fulfilled in the world, and we want to remain safe doing it, then we are going to have to work with the Angels to see the work done!
Each one of you have at least one Angel who works on your behalf, If you are in Ministry you will have several. Each Church that is ordained of God will have an Angel assigned to it. Don’t be afraid of the Angelic realm. Don’t fall into the trap of blocking out the Angelic help available to you and your ministry.
The Father wont give you a stone if you ask for bread, or he wont give you a scorpion if you ask for a fish. Sure there are bad Angels around who work for the Devil, but the good news is that there are two thirds of all the Angels on your side. As we enter the last days we are going to see an outpouring of the Supernatural. The enemy will become more blatant as the world accepts their approach. The new age folk are more used to seeing into the Supernatural than the Church, and that’s not how its meant to be.
Remember there are Angels watching over you!
Ian Johnson
www.papelim.org.nz
