Psalm 91:11-12
11 For he will command his angels
concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
We believe in angels. Unseen to us for the most part,
nevertheless we believe in them. As we say in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in
one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things
visible and invisible.” God made all that we see. God also made much that we
cannot see, including the host of heaven, armies of angels.
Now the skeptics will think it’s silly to believe in what is
unseen, invisible and cannot be proven scientifically. But it’s not good to be
a skeptic all the time. It’s not silly to trust what someone tells you, to take
someone at their word. Imagine if a mother were to tell her child, “I love you.”
What an impudent child it would be who would answer, “I’ll believe it when I
see it. Prove it to me, and then I’ll believe that you love me.” No! that’s not
how children of a loving mother think. A child hears his mother say, “I love
you,” and he trusts his mom, he takes her at her word and goes about the day
with the certainty that he is loved and cared for.
How much more so can you take the Lord at His word! He who
loved you, chose you, died for you, lives for you and is even now thinking about
you and making room for you in the heavenly kingdom. You trust Him that He won’t
lie. In fact, our Lord has shown that all His promises come true, when He rose
from the dead on the first day of the week.
Don’t ever let anyone make you feel silly for believing in
angels or anything else that God says, because your Lord and God is trustworthy,
reliable, and it’s important to hear what He says and take it as true.
So the Lord, in His word tells us about angels:
·
They serve God around His throne in heaven.
·
They praise the Lord for Holiness and His goodness toward
creation.
·
They guard and protect believers here on earth,
especially children.
·
There are many angels, in the order of tens of thousands,
at least.
·
They are various kinds of angels, and they hold
various positions, Michael for example is said to be archangel, that is a ruler
of angels.
All these are pleasant notions to think about. But the Lord
also gives warning at this point, that we should also hear. Apart from the
angels, there are also evil forces at work in the unseen realms. The Devil and
his demons are working:
·
To tempt you to sin
·
To sow doubts in your hearts
·
To lead people to despair
But the word of God defeats each of these attacks.
·
Against temptations, The word of God promises
forgiveness and righteousness
·
Against doubts, the word of God is the means the Holy
Spirit uses to build and maintain faith
·
Against all despair, the word of God brings hope and
peace.
In Luke chapter 10, Jesus had sent out 72 men, two by two, to
go ahead to the towns and villages where Jesus would be going next. These 72
went preaching about the Kingdom of God and healing people. The spiritual
turmoil in those years Jesus’ bodily presence on earth, was so great that the
manifestations of the work of demons became unusually noticeable, visible. These
72, by preaching the name of Jesus, were able to cast the demons out. They return
to Jesus all excited by they had seen and experienced.
Then Jesus tells them something interesting, “I saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven.” The 72 preachers participated in action on
earth that had heavenly results. Their preaching and their healing and their
casting out of demons had good results on earth, and alongside the work of
angels in heaven, there was spiritual victory in the invisible realms.
So for us even now. When the word of God is preached, Satan
falls, his armies of demons are disarmed. When you hear and believe the Gospel
of Jesus, it is as though you are putting on armor to defend against the demonic
attacks aimed at you – temptations, doubt, despair.
·
So, have you any temptations? Recognize that it’s not
just flesh and blood, not just some physical phenomenon, it is spiritual, and
remember you have spiritual help.
·
Have you any doubts? That’s coming from Satan’s teams,
but you have spiritual help. Hear the Lord’s word again and believe it. And the
angels are on your side, and rejoice in heaven every time you repent and
believe.
·
Are the troubles of this earthly life enough to make
you feel like giving up, in despair? The Lord invites you to trust that there
is more than what you see and experience in this world. There are angels and
archangels and all the company of heaven, with you to laud and magnify the Lord
and God.
That’s one of the most comforting doctrines that the Bible
has to tell us about angels. They are worshipping in heaven, while we are
worshipping here on earth. Angels and those believers who have gone to heaven
before us are sharing with us now in heavenly praise and worship. It’s why we
sing so much in our worship, because we are told that’s what the worship in
heaven is like, they’re singing things like “Holy, holy, holy.” That’s why are
worship service is designed to be reverent and holy, different than our ordinary
daily activities. We are getting in practice for our eternity with all the
saints and angels.
Amen.