“Angels”

One fine Spring Sunday morning, an elder was gazing out the building window at a nearby Trout Stream. "Today would be a good day to sneak off and go fishing", he thought. The weather was perfect, his fly rod had new string, he had very recently heard reports of a good Trout run, and anyway one of the other elders was going to conduct service. So, within minutes, the service was underway and the elder was quietly sneaking out the backdoor, picking up rod, net and creel, heading upstream.

But he didn’t go unobserved. An Angel was watching his every move and went straight to God. "The elder left worship so he could sneak away and go fishing", the Angel reported to God.

Smiling, God said, "So he finally gave in to temptation."

The Angel nodded, "Should I alert the congregation, Sir, and allow him to be caught?"

"No, give him complete privacy," God said.

"Should I command the fishes to avoid him, so he gets skunked and catches nothing?", the Angel asked.

"No", God said, calmly, "We want the elder to catch something. In fact, command the largest Trout in the stream to take the bait and give the elder the fight of his life."

Confused, but loyal, the Angel did as God instructed and within minutes, the elder had hooked a massive Trout. The fight was spectacular. The elder was using every trick in the book to successfully land the fish. He loosened the drag so the giant fish could run and not snap the line. He slowly walked the bank, up one end and down the other, allowing the huge fish freedom and time to tire out. Finally, after an exhausting ten-minute ordeal, the massive Trout cruised into the shore and the elder proudly scooped him up in the waiting net.

The Angel quickly turned to God, "Should I make a hole in the net so the fish is released?"

"No", God said, calmly, "The elder will release the fish."

"What?" the Angel said, shocked, "He lands the biggest fish in the stream, by far the biggest catch of his life and, forgive me God, but you actually expect him to release it?"

Smiling knowingly, God assures the Angel, "The elder is supposed to be in worship, being a Sheppard, an example. He can’t carry that giant fish into the building and he certainly can’t talk about it to anyone."

INTRO: I like humor. I’m no good at it myself but I enjoy the reading or the hearing of a good story. Certainly the one I just read had a point, several probably but my mind wondered to one of the characters, the Angel:

I – What about angels

I started thinking about angels and what we are told of them in scripture. I started with Hebrews chapter one and two. There is a good deal of information on angels there. The book of Hebrews itself has had an interesting life. It was excluded and then included in the list of New Testament scripture for some time. Then when you read it you wonder... Is it a letter? Is it a sermon? Is it a thesis? It begins like a thesis. It continues like a sermon. It ends like a letter.

1. The introduction of the subject of angels is very early in the letter and is very impressive. The writer has no sooner spoken of the superiority of Christ over previous messengers, and you remember how the passage begins, Hebrews 1:1 - “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past of the Father by the prophets hath in his last days spoken to us by His Son.” He goes on to talk about the Son with whom He created the worlds, who being the express image of His person, the very imprint of His person and holding all things by His powerful word, when He had by Himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. That’s how the letter begins.

a. Then immediately, in verse 4 he says, “Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” It’s rather surprising that the writer spent so much time talking about angels.
b. That’s a second interesting point. He dispenses with talk about the prophets, the former dispensations, the ones that were sent to the fathers of the Jewish nation in just two verses. Verses 2 and 3. Then we have a passage of 28 verses in which he talks about angels. The amount of space is rather amazing.

2. First of all what strikes me is the abruptness with which the topic is introduced. Then secondly the amount of space the writer uses in talking about angels. I wonder, “Why should it be like that?” Now, I believe that I can give you a very probable reason for this, but before I do that I want to make one or two general comments on the subject of angels.

3. It seems to me that this is a topic on which a good many Christians and quite a few preachers are not very happy to talk about. I have heard expressed, “What, do you believe about angels? Do you actually believe in angels?” I suspect a large number of our brethren, including preachers would hesitate to give an answer. They might even be reluctant to answer at all.
a. I wonder why that is. I wonder why it is that this subject is seldom discussed these days among members of the church. Why is it ignored? I use the word ignored advisedly. I choose to use that word rather than to say “overlooked” because I really believe the topic of angels is indeed ignored.

b. Do you suppose it’s because we think that angels are old fashioned, or that it’s old fashioned to believe in angels? Is it because we’re reluctant to be thought of being behind the times theologically if we talk about angels?

c. That may be part of the answer. Because if you look into some of the text books which are studied in theological colleges and universities today, this is the kind of thing that you would get and I quote, “It might seem, though there be little profit in any discussion of the angels, those higher beings that have been traditionally recognized in Christian faith and theology, as they have been usually recognized and represented, they belong to the mythology and poetry of religion rather than theology. In the Bible itself it would be hard to know whether to know the mention of angels to be understood as implying the activities of some higher order of beings or whether it simply a picturesque way of representing the action of God or His self-communication to the world.“ That is in a textbook on theology that is used in universities today. {John Macquarrie: Principles of Christian Theology}

d. If you examine other works, you will find the same kind of thing. They talk about God and they talk about Christ. They talk about man and talk about the devil, but when it comes to talking about angels they just stop short. Why is it? Can it be that in this sophisticated world of ours angels just don’t fit in? Do we think of them as country cousins who live back in the hills? When they come down to town; they’re such an embarrassment to the citizens of the cities and the towns, they want them to go back into the hills again. You know, get out of the way.

e. Don’t you find it strange that living in an age when people will talk alien visitors from outer space and they’ll talk about UFOs? They’ll believe in the occult and astrological forecasts that some people seem to depend upon. They’ll talk in a way that suggests to you that it really matters under which star sign you’re born. They listen eagerly to anyone who will talk about someone having had an out-of-the-body experience. The list is almost endless, but you talk about angels and you’ll become almost like some kind of religious fanatic. That’s the kind of world we live in today.

f. It doesn’t surprise me that liberal theology dismisses belief in angels as out of date and old fashioned because they are little more than the Sadducees of the time of Jesus brought up to date. You remember that in the days of Jesus the Sadducees were the ones who didn’t believe in angels. They didn’t believe in spirits. They didn’t believe in a future life. Why Christians today should hesitate to confess to a belief in angels is something of a mystery to me.

4. Of course, there are some people who tell us that angels are mysterious beings about whom we know very little. They say, “Very little has been revealed about the nature and function of angels and for that reason we should not attempt to be wise beyond that which is written.”

a. How often has that statement been abused? How often has it been used to cover a great deal of ignorance on a whole lot of subjects? Don’t attempt to be wise beyond that which is written. How mistaken people are when they take that view.

b. How anyone can say that the Bible is silent on the subject of angels when you find angels mentioned in the Old Testament 213 times. The word for angel in the Hebrew is the word “mal’akh” for angel. You remember Malachi meant My messenger. That is based on the word mal’akh the word for angel. Angel is used 188 times in the New Testament. In other words a total of just over 400 times in your Bible are angels mentioned. People have the audacity to turn around and say there’s very little said in the Bible about angels.

c. Let me point out to you that the Bible never attempts to prove the existence of God. Have you ever noticed that in your study? The Bible does not attempt to prove the existence of God. It does not present you with evidence explaining things that are designed to convince you that God exists. The existence of God is taken very much for granted. By the same token nothing in the Bible is there to try to convince you of the existence of angels.

d. They are there almost as soon as you open the Bible. In Genesis 3:24 and they stay there until the very last chapter of the Bible in the Revelation chapter 22 and verse 8. If you’re a serious student of the Word of God, you can’t avoid seeing them. You might want to avoid seeing them. You might be embarrassed by their presence, but they’re still there.

e. That reminds me of a story. In some parts of the United States and in Canada there are valleys that have dinosaur bones in them. It seems that at some time dinosaurs had crowded there and some tremendous event overtook them and their bones are there as evidence to their previous existence. A young man once said to his father, “Father, come along. We’ll go to the valley and have a look at the dinosaur bones.” His father said, “I don’t believe in dinosaurs and I don’t want to see any.” I don’t believe in dinosaurs and I don’t want to see any. You may treat angels like that, but they’re not going to go away. You can decide to let sleeping angels lie, but they’re still going to be there in the Word of God, in the Bible.

f. There are some people who will say, “You know angels actually belong to a former dispensation. There was a time when angels were active, but since the Lord Jesus Christ became a mediator, the ministry of angels is no longer necessary. Consequently they think they have neatly side-stepped the need for any other discussion. With a single stroke they have taken angels out of circulation. They put them into moth balls. To some people that sounds like a very profound and solid explanation.
i. I happen to think it is not scholarly at all. There’s no logic in the argument that says that because the Lord Jesus Christ has become our mediator there is no need for the ministry of angels. After all, the letter we’re talking about, the letter to the Hebrews, was written about 35 years after the Lord became our mediator. I turn to Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14 and I find the writer saying, “Are they (he’s talking about angels) are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to do service for those who will be heirs of salvation?” Are they not all ministering spirits? Sent forth to do service? For those who will be heirs of salvation. There’s no reason to suppose that the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is our intercessor or our mediator means that there’s no need for angels.
ii. What about Matthew chapter 18 verse 10 where Jesus talks about the little children? He says, “Their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”
iii. I’m not saying that a belief in angels is necessary for salvation. I’m not going to say that you can’t go to heaven if you don’t believe in angels, but I’ll tell you what I do think. I think it’s sad for any Christian to deny the existence of angels. It seems to me that in that denial we deny ourselves a great deal of the blessing and the benefits comes from a knowledge of doctrine.

g. The passage I just quoted, Hebrews 1:14, is significant because it indicates that angels have a duel ministry, a two-fold ministry. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” The word that is used here which is translated in the King James as “ministering” is the word “lleitourgia”, is the word that gives us the word “liturgy” which has to do with worship.) Their function as far as God is concerned is that of worship and they are sent forth to minister. The word that is used for minister there is the word “diakonia” which gives you the word “deacon”. He says they are worshiping spirits whom God sends forth to minister or to do service.

h. Ah, and for whom? For you and me because it says they are there for the heirs of salvation. Those who shall inherit salvation. Somebody says to me, “Does that mean, Tom, that you believe in ministering angels?” and I give you a resounding, “Yes, I do.” I do believe in ministering angels. The next question then inevitably comes, “How do you recognize an angel?” I answer, “That’s not my problem.” It’s not my job to recognize the angel. His job is to recognize me. He’s looking after me. I’m not looking after him. Are they not all worshiping spirits sent forth to serve those who shall be heirs of salvation? That’s me.

i. I’d like to point out to whoever would reject belief in angels, that the apostle Peter certainly didn’t. In Acts 12 1:11 there’s that lovely story when Peter had been arrested and thrown into prison by Herod Antipas. He’s intending to execute Peter when the feast is over. It’s an amazing scene, really, when you read that passage. Here’s Peter asleep in prison, chained to two guards. How he could sleep is beyond me because he knows what’s going to happen very soon if things don’t change. He’s asleep in prison, chained to two guards and an angel comes and kicks him in the ribs. If you don’t think that’s what it says, you look at it. He smote him in the side, that’s putting it politely. He said, “Get up, Peter. Put on your sandals.” See how leisurely it all goes? “Put on your cloak.” Out they go past the first ward, the guards are there, past the second ward, the iron gate opens of its own accord. Peter in bewilderment and amazement finds himself outside in the cold morning air. Then in verse 11 Peter says, “Now I know that God has sent His angel and delivered me...”

j. Peter believed in angels and so did Paul. If you read Acts 27, in that great storm when Paul is on his way to Rome on was shipwrecked. Paul says in Acts 27 and verse 23, “For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,” That angel gave Paul reassurance that there should be no loss of life on that voyage.

k. In fact, all of the apostles would have believed in angels because back in the book of Acts 5:19, you’ll find that an angel of the Lord opened the prison door and brought them out. That’s when the Jews had arrested all the apostles. If you turn to your New Testament you’ll find that people there had no difficulty believing in the ministry of angels for the people of God.

5. Let me double back a little bit here. The word “mal’akh” and the word “ángelos”, the Old Testament word and the New Testament word, both essentially mean messenger. Whether a human messenger is intended or whether it’s a spirit being has to be determined by the context.
a. For example, in James 2:25, James comments on the fact that Rahab received the angels sent by Joshua. Those were two men who Joshua sent to spy out the Promised Land.
b. In Matthew 11:10 John the Baptist is described as my “angelos” my messenger.
c. In Luke 7:19 John himself sent two messengers to Jesus (two angelos).
d. In Luke 9:52 Jesus sent messengers or angelos into a Samarian village to make preparation for Himself. Whether the angel or the messenger is human or spirit is determined by the context.
e. When you go to Hebrews chapters one and two, the passage that I mentioned right at the beginning, it’s pretty obvious that spirit beings are intended. Let’s think about this. These spirit beings who are angels (Never forget there’s a world beyond our world that’s vaster than this world, much more complex and complicated than this world as a study of the Word of God will reveal to you.)
6. All right, these messengers are spirits or humans, determined by the context, and sometimes we discover that these spirit beings have aspects in common with human beings. Let’s put it like this, essentially different in nature but similar in some respects. This has lead to problems for some folks in their understanding.

a. For example, you never were an angel and you never will be. There’s a children’s hymn which is thoroughly unscriptural. It says I want to be an angel where the angels play my part. You will never be an angel. Angels are not glorified human beings. In fact, I think this is made quite evident in Hebrews 2:16 where we read, “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” You see the distinction that is made between angels and the descendants of Abraham who are human beings.
b. It’s an interesting statement there. It is not with angels that he is concerned about. He’s not really concerned with angels; He’s concerned with the sons of Abraham. While there are fundamental differences between angels and human beings there are points of similarity.
i. Angels, like men are moral beings. They’re moral beings. They’re not robots without choice. They’re not programmed to do what God wants them to do. They don’t function without a will of their own. They’re capable of choosing, just like you and me and they’re capable of choosing wrongly.
ii. In 2 Peter 2:4 Peter says, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned...”. So angels are capable of sinning.
iii. In Jude verse 6 you have almost a parallel passage. Jude says; “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” So angels are capable of sinning. They’re capable of doing wrong.
iv. Secondly, angels are limited beings. They’re not deity. They’re not gods. They’re fallible. They’re not omniscient. They’re not omnipotent. Why? Because they are created beings. They don’t possess these qualities of deity.
v. Third they don’t know everything. Peter says in 1 Peter 1:12, “...which things the angels desire to look into.” In Ephesians 3:10, “...that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places” that would include the angels “might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God”, The wisdom of God is manifested through the church, by means of the church, what God has wrought in the church is revealed to principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Heavenly beings look on in wonder at what God has accomplished in the church.
c. Like men, as I say, angels are servants, ministering spirits sent forth to do service. If you turn to the New Testament you will find, for example, 1 Timothy 5:21 “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things...” Timothy is told to exercise his ministry with care in the sight of Christ Jesus and the holy angels.
d. Then you remember that Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, that same will I confess before (Matthew says, “My Father, who is in heaven.”) Luke’s version says in Luke 12:8 says, “him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:” That’s in the New Testament.
e. If you go to the Old Testament, the range of activity of these angelic beings is amazing. Psalms 148 in common with many of the other Psalms reveals that they’re involved in the praise of God.
f. Zachariah 1:10-11 describes the angels patrolling the earth and reporting to God.
g. Coming back to the New Testament, Matthew 13:41, Jesus says, “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;”
h. I showed you last Lord’s Day morning that Lazarus was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. Right at the beginning of the Bible angels warned Lot of the destruction of Sodom. They brought a promise of a son to Abraham. You remember that, don’t you? They met Jacob on his way home from his father-in-law’s place in Mesopotamia at Haran. Apparently, according to Revelation 21, they stand guard at the gates of heaven. The range of activity is absolutely stupendous.
7. If I may sum up this little bit on the theme of angels:
a. They’re seen throughout the scriptures.
b. Their existence is taken for granted without the need for proof.
c. Their existence is not even a manner of gradual revelation. It’s not as if God hints at the possible existence of angels, and shows you a little bit about the angel and draws aside the curtain and keeps on drawing it a bit aside until the angel is revealed to you. Not that at all. Open your Bible and they are there and they stay there until you come to the close of the Word of God.
d. They are created beings.
e. They are not deity.
f. They are moral beings. They are capable of volition. They have a will of their own.
g. Their double function is worship and service. Where God is concerned it is worship. Where the saints are concerned it is service.
h. A point that I should have mentioned, and I didn’t, unlike men because they are spirit beings they don’t possess material bodies, but it is quite evident that there are times when they can appear in physical form.
i. Remember the time when Abraham, way back in Genesis 18 sees three men who come to Abraham and they talk to him. They make the promise of a son and Sarah in the tent laughs.
ii. Then two of these men (angels) go on to Sodom. They leave one behind. The amazing thing about the one left behind is more than an angel. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” (v22) Way back then you have the Lord appearing before Abraham, an amazing thing.
iii. We find in several places in the Old Testament where Angels can assume human form. When these two men came down to Lot in Sodom so far as Lot was concerned, they were human beings.
i. They have an interest in God’s plan for mankind. They have an interest in what God does with man. That is proved by their joy when a sinner repents. Among their duties is the task of caring for and ministering to the children of God. Worshiping spirits sent forth to serve.
8. Let me go back to Hebrews chapters one and two because there we see angels in relation to the Lord Jesus Himself.
a. You know very well that Jesus’ ministry was intimately concerned with angels. It was angels that had foretold His birth to both Mary and Joseph. They announced His birth to the shepherds.
b. They called Mary and Joseph from Egypt.
c. They ministered to Jesus after His temptation. It says that angels came and ministered to Him.
d. They strengthened Jesus in Gethsemane after that period of exhausting prayer.
e. They rolled the stone from the tomb to make the tomb accessible to the witnesses.
f. They met the disciples who came to the tomb. They were present at the ascension of Jesus and they will accompany Him when He returns because the Lord will appear from heaven with His mighty angels, 2 Thessalonians 1:7.
9. For that matter, Satan believes in angels. Didn’t he believe in angels at the temptation? You remember the temptation when He said in Luke 4:9-11, “And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:. And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”. Satan quotes Psalms 91:11-12.
10. Examine all of the scriptures. The evidence is so abundant it would be tedious to present it all to you this morning. In both Old and New Testaments and you’ll see that the range of services rendered by the angels is absolutely staggering. The Hebrew Christians to whom this letter was written had no difficulty believing in them.
a. That leads to the reason that I mentioned right at the beginning, the reason why they are mentioned so suddenly, so abruptly in this letter. Over the centuries the Jews have developed a very complicated angelology. I have to smile every time I use that word because it sounds so ridiculous. It’s as if someone wants to give us another “ology” and so it became angelology. How we say they have a complicated doctrine of angels, a system of angels?
b. In Hebrews we have come to place in time where they have a very exaggerated importance on the ministry of angels. Some of the things that are believed about angels are true because they’re authenticated and verified by the Word of God. For example, they believed in millions of angels. That’s what you’ll find in Hebrews 12:22: “...innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn.”
c. Unfortunately by the end of New Testament times the Jews had begun to ascribe incredible authority, incredible influence to the angels. They taught, for example, that angels are the intermediaries between God and man. They taught that angels control the destiny of both men and nations. In other words, they manipulate human destiny. They control the movement of the stars, that they have power over the elements, that they execute judgments on behalf of God.
i. Once you begin to credit angels with a vast array of authority, I think you can understand that it’s a very short step to the worship of angels.
ii. That’s what happened in New Testament times. You can understand that angels very soon began to take the place of the Lord Jesus as mediator, in much the same way as Mary has been allowed by the Church of Rome to become the mediatrix in place of Jesus. At the least, you begin to regard Jesus as one of the angels, no different than the rest.
d. That is why at the beginning of his letter the writer concentrates on correcting this heresy that was current at that time. It’s why he spends so much time emphasizing the different between the Lord Jesus, our Savior, and the angels. He is determined at the very outset to prove the superiority of Jesus over all servants of God, human or angelic.
e. People at that time were actually denigrating the Lord even to the point of denying His deity. That heresy is still around and that’s a point of my message this morning. We need to understand that there are religious groups in so called Christendom today who teach the same heresy.
i. The Watch Tower origination says that Jesus was and archangel called Michael, the first created being. Mormonism or Brigham Young said Adam is our god and the only god with whom we have to deal.
ii. The original authorities of Mormonism (they’ve decided to Christianize it since then.) said that the father of all fathers’ lives on a planet called Kolob, spelled K-O-L-O-B which has never been identified by our astronomers, and the other gods live on other planets where they have wives and children. When the children grow up, other planets are created for them to inhabit. Since they are virtually untested and unproved, the earth was created as a testing ground for these angels. And they came to earth.
iii. Adam came to earth and he brought along (this is Brigham Young’s doctrine) brought one of his wives, Mary, with him. On the plains of Bethlehem the marriage was consummated and Jesus was born. That is old fashioned Mormon doctrine.
iv. The Christadelphian movement started by Dr. John Thomas, who was a coworker with Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott, said that Jesus had no prior existence before His birth in Bethlehem. He was simply an idea in the mind of God. This heresy is not dead.
f. Now what reply does the writer of Hebrews make in chapters one and two? How does he deal with angels and the Lord Jesus? Well, he does it by pointing our seven respects by which Jesus is superior to the angels. Now don’t shrink back in horror when I mention seven. I’m not going to take a lot of time dealing with them. I’ll just touch on them briefly and I am closer to the end than you realize which will probably be of some relief to you. Here are the seven points that he makes in chapters one and two.
i. First he says that by inheritance Jesus obtained a more excellent name than the angels. And he tells you what that name is, twice, the Son of God. He says to “which of the angels said God at any time, Thou art my Son”?
ii. Secondly, angels are called to worship Him. Verse 6 – “...And let all the angels of God worship him.”
iii. Third, their function is to serve while he is destined to reign. Verses 7 and 8. “And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” Angels are created and limited beings. Listen starting in verse 10 how the Son is addressed: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:” They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. Jesus as the Son of God is eternal.
iv. Then He is exalted above the angels. “...to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?”
v. Jesus has authority beyond anything ascribed to the angels. God has crowned Him (that is the Son) with glory and honor and has put all things under His feet.
g. If you summarize all of these arguments they show that Jesus is certainly not an angel. He is far about angels in both nature and authority. Different in nature, different in relationship, different in status, different in dignity, different in title, different in power, different in function, different in authority.
h. Look at chapter two verse 9 you will see that while in every way Jesus is above the angels He became for a little time lower than the angels. Why? He became for a little time lower than the angels for the suffering of death. In order to suffer death. As deity, as the Son of God He could not die. He had to become man in order to die. In order to suffer physical death. He became flesh.
i. John Chapter 1. John speaks of the word. He says; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. He dwelt among us. He became a flesh, put on a tabernacle of flesh, for a temporary stay.
11. And why was that? That He by the grace of God became a living sacrifice. The Lord has done something that no angel could ever do. Though He was higher than angels He stooped to the level of fallen man, below the level of angels, for the purpose of raising man above the angels. That is something we can not overemphasize.
12. Any religious group no matter how sincere, no matter how devout, no matter how dedicated which denies the deity of Christ is a dangerous heresy, and cannot be condoned. Jesus said in John 17 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
13. A couple of things in passing.
a. Do they have wings, these angels? We have many representations of angels we see every day don’t we? Aren’t they shown with wings? Do angels really have wings? Well the ones that visited Abraham did not seem to. Why then do we have this idea? It could be from the images called cherubim mentioned in the Old Testament, or from the symbolic mentions of God gathering His people under His wing. Or it could be based on an erroneous translation from the Latin vulgate of Daniel chapter 9: 21 which says in part “even the man Gabriel, ... being caused to fly swiftly,” And of course if you are going to fly you are going to have wings! From the time the translation was made to English angels had wings.
b. If you look at the verse you will see Daniel says “the man Gabriel”. Evidently Gabriel had the appearance of a human being. Abraham speaks of three men. When the term angel is used and we have a description it is often as a man. Wings are not mentioned.
c. By the way angels and not male or female. We often speak of angels as he but that is the he of convenience. Jesus tells us that in heaven they neither marry or are given in marriage but are as the angels of God. The angels are sexless because there is no need for them to procreate to increase their numbers.
14. I am glad the bible tells us about angels because it convinces me and consoles me with the knowledge that when God looks down upon mankind for the purpose of redemption He did not send an angel, but He sent His Son. The significance of that is that if God had sent an angel how could He raise us higher than the level of angels? But because God’s own Son stooped, and took upon himself the temporary form of a servant humbling Himself even unto death. He came below the level of angels to the level of fallen man that He might by His redemptive sacrifice raise man to the level of son ship with God. That is the glorious gospel of Christianity. It is a gospel that no other religion has. I’ve just touched on the topic of angels. There is so much more that could be said but that is enough for now.

The song we are about to sing is “??” ... XX. You have heard in these two Lord’s day lessons something about our destination. Perhaps there are those that can use the singing of this song as an opportunity to start planning for their departure and to give their life meaning. Perhaps they have come to realize just how short this life is. The person who has never been baptized into Christ, needs to hear and understand the word of God, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, repent of their sins, confess their belief in Jesus Christ and then be buried with Christ in baptism. It is all in the word. Or perhaps there is someone who realizes that they have not been living as they should for God but instead living for the world and need to seek the prayers of brothers and sisters in Christ. We stand ready to help you and invite you to come as we stand and sing.

Taken from sermon by Frank Worgan