Showers, Renald: Angels 01 ~ Matthew 18:10

He says, verse thirty, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. They shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Jesus indicated that there will be holy angels that will accompany him. from heaven back to planet earth and his glorious second coming after the end of the tribulation look again please at chapter twenty six and verse fifty three chapter twenty six verse fifty three where jesus said thinkest thou that i cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels each are just a few samples of the Lord Jesus referring to these unique beings. You know, there have been over the years some who are totally secular and humanistic in their viewpoint who have scoffed at the idea of the existence of angels and said that that's just some weird mythology that people back in the Dark Ages when they didn't know any better made up as a figment of their imagination. But the Word of God makes it very clear there are such beings. And the very fact that the Lord Jesus believed in their existence and made statements about them means we'd better believe in their existence as well. Because if Jesus were in error on that, then how could we trust him on other things that he taught? So there's a tremendous amount of revelation about angels in the Bible and in spite of the fact that, Lord willing, we shall have ten sessions this week to look at major things the Word of God tells us about these beings. we shall not be able to exhaust everything that were told about them in the Scriptures. We shall be looking at such things as the nature of angels and different ranks of angels, their relationship to human beings, their relationship to Jesus Christ, some incredible things that the Bible tells us about the relationship to Jesus Christ. We'll see things that the Bible teaches about the fall of angels and the judgment of angels. And then what are the activities of the holy angels? What are some of the activities of the evil angels? And how do holy angels relate to you and me who are believers in Jesus Christ today? These are a number of the things that we'll be examining, Lord willing, from the Word of God during the course of this week. But the first major thing I'd like for us to begin addressing here this morning is the number of angels, the number of angels. How many angels are there? Interesting, you could go through the Bible from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, and you will never find an exact total figure given to us from the Word of God. For example, you'll never find a statement to the effect that there are thirty billion, seven hundred and sixty-nine million, four hundred and fifty-six thousand, two hundred ninety-two angels. No clear-cut specific statement such as that. But having said that, the Word of God makes it very clear that they exist in great numbers. Turn with me, if you would please, to the book of Revelation, chapter five and verse eleven, where the apostle John was privileged to see a great host of angelic beings around the throne of God in heaven. And notice what John says, Revelation chapter five and verse eleven. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the elders, And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Interestingly, the Greek text says ten thousandths plural times ten thousandths plural plus thousands times thousands more. If you take this one ten thousand and you multiply times one other ten thousand, you end up with one hundred million that John said he saw ten-thousands plural times ten-thousands plural plus thousands times thousands more. The implication is they exist literally in the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions, perhaps several billion holy angelic beings that God created to serve him primarily in the heavenly realm of his universal kingdom. Interestingly, the prophet Daniel In Daniel chapter seven, verse ten, saw a very similar thing that he records for us there in that very significant passage. So although the Word of God does not give us an exact total figure, it does make it very clear that together they constitute an enormous host of beings. Second major thing we'd like to see this morning about angels is the nature of angels. Alright, they exist and they exist in great numbers, but what kind of being are these creatures that the Bible calls angels? Well, first, concerning their nature, the scriptures indicate that angels are spirit beings by nature. They are spirit beings by nature. Turn with me, please, to the book of Hebrews chapter one and verse fourteen. Hebrews chapter one, verse fourteen. In the context, the writer of Hebrews is indicating the superiority of Jesus Christ as God's Son over the angels. And speaking of the angels, he says in verse fourteen of chapter one, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? The writer makes it very clear that angels are spirit beings by nature. Now the fact that they are spirit beings by nature. It tells us several things then about them. For example, since they are spirit beings by nature, that tells us that angels by nature do not have physical bodies. If you would please turn to the book of Ephesians, chapter six, and verse twelve, where the apostle Paul is exhorting Christians to put on the whole armor of God. And in verse twelve, he tells us as believers why? we should put on the whole armor of God. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. In other words, our ultimate struggle spiritually in life is not against human beings who have physical bodies of flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Now notice, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Paul's using terms here for angels, in this instance, evil angels, and notice he makes it very clear that they are spiritual beings. They are spirit beings by nature. Turn again, please, to a fascinating statement that Jesus made to his apostles in Luke chapter twenty-four and verse thirty-nine. Luke chapter twenty-four and verse thirty-nine. made one of his post-resurrection appearances to his apostles. They'd been gathered together without the Lord, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he appeared in their midst. And of course, they were frightened at first and were troubled. And to get the context, Jesus in verse thirty-eight said unto them, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your heart? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have Jesus making it very clear it's not the nature of a spirit being to have a physical body that can be touched that can have wounds in it such as his body had his resurrection body had it's not the nature of spirit being pure spirit being to have a physical body of flesh and bones as he had in his resurrection body. So all these things indicate to us that since angels by nature are spirit beings, they do not have by nature physical bodies of their own. Now having said that, the Bible does indicate to us that at least in Bible times there were instances in which angelic beings temporarily took to themselves literal physical bodies when it was necessary to have such a body in order to carry out a function or a ministry. And I want to take you to an example of this from the Old Testament. But let me just state this. All the Bible does, it records that there have been such instances. It doesn't tell us from where they derived those bodies, how they obtained them, or what happened to those bodies when they were done with them. I believe that is a mystery to us. But it does record the fact that there were instances in Bible time when angels appeared in literal physical bodies that could be touched, that could eat food, could be seen by human beings. A classic example of that is back in the book of Genesis, chapters eighteen and nineteen, and I'd invite you please to turn with me. to Genesis, chapters eighteen and nineteen. Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were living on the plains of Mamre. And we're told in the verse one, And the Lord appeared unto him the plains of Mamre. And he, Abraham, sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three what? Three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, bowed himself toward the ground, and said, My Lord, if now I found favor in thy sight, pass not away. I pray thee from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched and wash your what? Wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. Notice these men, quote unquote, had literal physical feet that could be washed with water. And then, verse five, I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort you, your heart. And after that ye shall pass on. For therefore are you come to your servant. And they said, So do as thou hastened into the tent unto Sarah and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal and knead it. Make cakes upon the heart. And Abraham ran unto the herd and fetched the calf, tender and good, and gave it unto a young man. And he hastened to dress it. And he took butter and milk in the calf, which he had dressed, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. They could eat literal, physical foods. Now, if you read on to the rest of chapter eighteen, it becomes obvious that one of those men, quote-unquote, was the Lord Jesus. making one of his pre-incarnate appearances, but noticed temporarily he had a literal physical body with feet that could be washed with water and that could eat food. Then you find out that the Lord sent the other two men, quote unquote, over to Sodom, where Abraham's nephew Lot and his family were living. And so look, if you would please, at chapter nineteen verse one. And there came two what? Angels. The other two men that appeared to Abraham with the Lord are sent over to Sodom. Now Moses clearly identifies them as angels. There came two angels to Sodom and Eve, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot seen them, rose up to meet them. And he bound himself with his face toward the ground, and he said, Behold now, my Lord, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and carry all night, and wash your feet. They still have physical feet. They can be washed with water. And you shall rise up early and go on your ways. And they said, nay, but we will abide in the street all night. And Lot knew that would be a fatal mistake in that city because of the evil practice for which that city was notorious. And so verse three, he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house, and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. Now they get a second meal to eat. These two, quote, men who are angels, they get a second meal. They could eat it, literal physical food. But before they lay down... The men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, and they called on the lot and sent unto him, Where are the what? The men. Where are the men which came into thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them. As far as the men of Sodom were concerned, these were two men. They didn't recognize they were angels. They had the full appearance of male human beings. this occasion, and yet here they are as angels, sent there by the Lord to rescue Lot and his family out of that city before God would destroy that city through those angels. Well, as you know, Lot went out and pled with them not to make him turn over these gifts to them, to be abused by this vile practice of the men of Sodom. And then... The men of Sodom rebelled against Lot's plea. Verse nine, they said to Lot, stand back. They said again, this one fellow came into sojourn, and we will need to be a judge. He will need to be a judge. Now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. Verse ten, but the men, the two guests inside Lot's house, put forth their hands. a literal physical hand, pulled Lot into the house to them, shut to the door. So now Lot's safely inside the house. The perverted men of Sodom are outside the door of his house. Lot's inside with the two angels who appear to be men. And notice what those two guests of Lot did, verse eleven. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they weary themselves to find the door. Notice, those two are inside the house behind the door. The men of Sodom are outside the house, outside the door. Without those two guests of Lot putting their hands to that door to physically touch the eyes of the men of Sodom, they were able to stricken them with total blindness, which says, these are not mere men. They have supernatural power. they could inflict blindness upon the men of Sodom without even touching them physically. And then as you read the rest of chapter nineteen, they say to Lot, we've got to get you and your family out of here because we cannot destroy this city as long as you're here. God has sent us to destroy this city. So here we have an instance where two angels made appearances to mortal human beings And in those appearances, they had literal physical bodies with literal physical feet that could be washed with water, and they could eat literal physical food. They had literal physical hands with which they could grab hold of Lot and pull them back into the house and slam the door shut. But they're not human beings. They are supernatural beings with supernatural powers. Turn with me, if you would please, to Hebrews chapter thirteen in verse two. I'm convinced the writer of Hebrews had at least in mind the instances of these two angels in relationship to Abraham and Lot, Hebrews chapter thirteen, verse two. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. Apparently Abraham was not aware that these two who were with the Lord were angels. And it appears from Lot's statements to them that he was not aware, at least at first, that these two men who came to his city were angels. So that, again, I have to say to you, the Bible doesn't tell us from where they derived those bodies, how they obtained them, nor what happened to those bodies when they were done with them. It simply records this actually happened back in ancient times And so, although by nature, angels as spirit beings do not have physical bodies, there were instances in Bible times where temporarily they took upon themselves literal physical bodies to carry out a particular task. Now, there's the second thing that's true of angels and lie the fact that they are spirit beings by nature. And that's the fact that angels by nature do not have sexuality. Angels by nature do not have sexuality. And there are at least two things that indicate that to us. First, the fact that they don't have physical bodies by nature would indicate they do not have sexuality. Our sexuality is part and parcel of our physical bodies. And so since by nature, as spirit beings, they do not have physical bodies, that would indicate they do not have sexuality. But secondly, turn with me please to an interesting statement that Jesus made in Mark chapter twelve and verse twenty five. The Gospel of Mark chapter twelve and verse twenty five. Jesus is drawing a comparison between angels in heaven on the one hand and resurrected human beings on the other hand. Mark chapter twelve verse twenty five. Refering to human beings, Jesus said, For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are where? In heaven. Jesus is saying here, the angels who exist in the heavenly realm. In other words, the holy angels do not marry. That implies that they do not have sexuality by nature. You say, well, how does it imply that? Remember when Jesus was responding to the Pharisees' question, is it legitimate for a man to divorce a woman for any cause and then marry a second woman? Jesus said, do you not remember how in the beginning God created them, referring to human beings, male and female? In other words, God created humans being with sexuality. and said for this cause, because God created human beings with sexuality, here's how they are to use their sexuality. A man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife. But the Greek word translated cleave, one of its meanings is, shall join himself sexually to the woman who is his wife. Jesus indicating that God instituted marriage for human beings as a result of creating them with sexuality. And so the implication is, if there is no marriage for the angels, therefore they must not have sexuality. And again, that would fit with the fact that by nature a spirit being, they do not have physical bodies. But then there's another thing that's true about angels and lie the fact that they are spirit beings by nature without physical bodies. And that's the fact that angels do not die. You and I experience physical, we experience death because we have a physical body that breaks down and degenerates under the curse of sin that's been on nature ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. But angels do not have physical bodies. Therefore, they do not experience death, certainly not physical death. But in addition, look at this other statement that Jesus made about angels in Luke chapter twenty. Luke chapter twenty, verse thirty-six. Luke chapter twenty, verse thirty-six. Once again the Lord Jesus is drawing a comparison between resurrected human beings on the one hand and angels on the other hand. Luke twenty, verse thirty-six, referring to resurrected human beings, neither can they die anymore. Once we as human beings receive our resurrected physical body, will never experience death again. Never. That'll be a permanent existence in an immortal body from that time on throughout eternity. So neither can they, resurrected human beings, die anymore, for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection. He's indicating here, angels do not die. Word willing, later on this week, we shall see indications in the Bible to the effect that there is tremendous spiritual war that goes on between holy angels on the one hand and evil angels on the other. And although they can wage war against each other, they cannot kill one another. It is impossible to kill an angel because the Word of God indicates they do not die since they are spirit beings without physical bodies. But then there's a forcing that's true of them since they are spirit beings by nature. And that's the fact that angels are invisible by nature to mortal human beings. They are invisible by nature to mortal human beings. Paul in Colossians chapter one. We're going to look at that passage, Lord Willie, later on as we look at the relationship of angels to the Lord Jesus. We point out the things that Jesus Christ created as the Creator. He says that He has created all things, whether visible or invisible, in the heavenly realm or here on earth. He's connecting invisible with the heavenly realm. And talking about these invisible things in the heavenly realm that Christ created, he goes on to say, what are principalities, thrones, powers, dominions, references to angels. Paul's making it very clear there that by nature, angels are invisible to mortal human beings. But now, having said that, again, that is the norm. But there are two exceptions to that norm, at least in Bible times. And that is, except when they took upon themselves temporarily human form, as we just saw in Genesis eighteen and nineteen, when two angels appeared in human form, first to Abraham and then to Lot, the second exception to the rule of their being invisible to us while we're in our present world of faith, is that when God would give a special vision of angels to human beings, But they weren't there in actual literal physical bodies, but that God gave a special vision of invisible human beings, I'm sorry, of angels to human beings. I want to take you to an Old Testament example of God giving a vision of angels to mortal human beings. Turn to Second Kings, please, chapter six. Second Kings, chapter six. And we're going to look specifically at verses fifteen through seventeen. Let me give you the background of what was happening here. It actually begins in verse eight, where we're told that the king of Syria was waging war against the kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel. We might say, so what else is new? It's still a conflict there between Syria and Israel today in the Middle East. And the king of Syria would plan a strategy with his military counselors. Their goal was, if they could, to capture the king of Israel and hold him as a prisoner and then required the northern king of Israel to surrender to them if they want their king back. And so he would plan his strategy and apparently they were able to find out what the king of Israel's itinerary, his traveling plans were from time to time. And so when they knew that he'd be traveling down a certain road on a certain day, they'd move down a military force of Syrian soldiers first and lie there in ambush. waiting for the Israelite king to come down the road that day. But no matter how many times they did that, the Israelite king didn't follow the announced plan. He never would travel down that road. And as a result, the king of Syria began to suspect that one of his military advisors was a traitor, that after they would draw up their plans of the next place as they'd lie in ambush to capture the Israelite king, that one of his men would send word down. secretly to the Israelite king, don't come down such and such a road and such and such a day because if you do, the Syrians will be there to kidnap you. And so, as you read from verse eight down to verse fourteen, the king of Syria demanded, which of you is for the king of Israel? But this way of saying, which one of you is a traitor that is tipping off the Israelite king of all of our secret plans? And they all insisted none of us was a traitor. So the question was, well then, how is the King of Israel knowing about our secret plans? And one of his men said, there's a prophet down there in Israel by the name of Elisha. Do you know what's happening? The God of Israel listens in, not only to our secret plans, but everything you say in your own bedchamber. And then the God of Israel tells that prophet what our plans are. And that prophet Elisha warned the king of Israel, don't follow your normal travel plan. Don't go down this road on this particular day because if you do, you'll be kidnapped by the Syrians. So the king of Syria said, where is that prophet Elisha? Go find out where he is. And they found out he was living down in the city of Dothan. And so in the secret of night, a large Syrian armed force came down. and completely surrounded the city of Dothan, where Elisha and his servant were located. But that is background. Look at verse fifteen. What happened to Elisha's servant the next morning? And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, apparently Elisha's servant got up early this one morning and decided to go off for a morning walk. And he walked out to the wall of Dothan. When he looked out over the wall, he couldn't believe his eyes. Behold, a host compassed the city, both with horses and chariots. This large Syrian military force had them surrounded. And his servant, apparently, came running back to Lyshen, said to him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? What are we going to do? There's a large military force out there. They're after us. Notice Elisha's response. Verse sixteen, he answered, Fear not. And I kind of surmised Elisha's servant thinking to himself, you've got to be kidding. I'm not supposed to fear. When all this huge number of horses and chariots and soldiers out there and you and I are the targets, we're the ones that they're after, and you're telling me fear not. Elisha said, Fear not, here's why. For they that be with us, are more than they that be with them. And although the text doesn't tell us this, I strongly suspect Elisha's servant must have gone out to the wall a second time to look and see what did I miss the first time. Where are those more numerous than those Syrian soldiers that are out there on our behalf? Elisha prayed, verse seventeen, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Apparently, in between the Syrian soldiers and the wall of the city of Dothan, these fiery creatures in the form of horses and chariots, When you look at everything the Bible tells us about angels, it becomes obvious that they have the ability to take upon themselves any shape or form necessary to carry out a task. And ever since this event, students of the Word of God have been convinced that those fiery chariots and horses that were there were holy angels, that God had placed there. between the Syrian force and his prophet spokesman Elisha in order to protect his prophet. They were there. But notice, by nature, they were invisible to the Syrians, and they were invisible to Elisha's servant until Elisha asked the Lord to give his servant a vision of these creatures that were there, and God did it. So by nature, angels are invisible the mortal human beings except on those occasions in Bible times at least when they took upon themselves either a literal physical body temporarily to carry out a task or when God would give a vision of angels to human beings back in the nineteen fifties when there was a tremendous mamma uprising in eastern Africa one of their targets of attack were the African Christians and the Christian missionaries who were located in that area of Eastern Africa. I was a student in Bible school at the time, and one of the other students there was a young lady whose parents were African-led missionaries there in that area of East Africa. And she related to us an incident that happened at that time, that the Christian missionaries in that part were forewarned to the effect that there would be a large force of the Mao Mao rebels who were going to come through that area and kill all the Christian missionaries and their wives, their children, and all the African Christians. In light of that, the missionaries and the African Christians went to a centralized compound where they could all be together. They erected barbed wire fencing all around the outer perimeter of their compound, even put up floodlights, and they gathered together any weapons that would be available to them to try to hold off an attack. They weren't there very long until they'd been forewarned again that on a certain night, a large force of the Ma Ma Rebels would come and completely surround their compound and would rush them from all sides and massacre everybody inside that compound. So in that particular night, as the hours of darkness were coming in, the African Christian men and the missionary men got their wives and children in the most centralized building of the compound and said to them, you pray, and we as men will man the barricades and try by God's grace to hold off the attackers. Well, they waited all night, and they were pleasantly surprised by the effect that the attack never came. Several months later, one of those missionaries had the privilege of leading one of the Maumau's to the saving knowledge of Christ. And the Maumau said to the missionary, are you aware of the fact that we had a large force completely surrounding you folks in your compound on such and such a night, the very night that the missionaries and African Christians had been forewarned, they would come. And the missionary said, well, we were told if you were going to come, but if you were out there, Why did you not attack us as you had planned? And the Mamma said, just before our leader gave the command, or was going to give the command for us to attack you from all sides, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there appeared between us and you, you're out of perimeter of your compound, huge fiery creatures, and every one of us, without exception, saw them. But we never seen anything like that before in all of our lives. And he said, all of us just took off, and we scattered every direction off into the woods. And he said, we were scared to death to come back to that area again because of those creatures that were there. And the missionaries were convinced that these fiery creatures, that they and the African Christians did not see at all, or the Mamaw saw them, that those were holy angels. that God had sent there to protect his people in that particular situation. But God gave a vision of those holy angels at the right time to the enemies of the believers who were there in order to preserve the lives of his saints. Angels by nature are invisible to mortal human beings. But there had been specifically and particularly in Bible times particularly instances where God would give a vision of them, but it was necessary for human beings to see them for a particular sovereign purpose that God had in mind on that occasion. We're going to see later on this week, Lord willing, that one of the ministries of holy angels to believers is to protect them from harm. And apparently, even protect them from premature physical death until it's time from the Lord's time before us to go to be with him. And as we saw there from Second Kings, God sent holy angels there to protect Elisha, his servant, his prophet servant, on that particular occasion. Father, we thank you for revelation that you've given in your word concerning these unique, holy, heavenly beings that the Bible calls angels. And Lord, the very fact that you've given a tremendous amount of revelation about them in your word indicates that you want us to know about them. Obviously, you don't tell us everything about them, but just what you want us as your children to know now. And we thank you that as we read this morning in Hebrews one fourteen that holy angels are sent forth to minister to those who inherit salvation. And Lord, in light of that, it's our conviction that many of us will be get the glory. will be amazed to find out how many times during our earthly life in this present existence we narrowly missed premature physical death or bodily harm and the reason we did was because you had at least one maybe more than one holy angel present to guard us and protect us we thank you Lord for this ministry the holy angels that we regard this as simply another manifestation of your grace toward us as your children, that you watch over us and care for us and preserve us and keep us when it is your sovereign will to do so. And so as your human believers and servants, we bow before you in adoration and worship and thanksgiving for this another manifestation of your grace towards your people. And we do this in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Savior, who created these holy beings that we call angels for your purpose.