The Ministry Of Angels

by Prasher, C, Lindsay | Category: General | Sept 1977

Perhaps you, like me, have felt angels to be rather remote from present reality.

These myriad beings that hover in the presence of God, David tells us in Psalm 103:20, are mighty in strength and fulfil His word. The fulfilling of His word has involved appearance to human beings only on special occasions over history. We may think of Daniel's deliverance from the lion's den and Hezekiah's salvation from Senacherib after prayer in which Isaiah joined (2 Chron. 32:20,21). In these and similar circumstances, angels have been God's agents on earth. Never were their appearances so prolific, however, as when the God-man was on earth. His coming was specially marked by an angelic choir which you and I would have loved to have heard, and will one day. His departing was similarly marked: "He is not here, but is risen, said two in dazzling' apparel.

By contrast, or so it seems to me, how few since then have had an experience like Peter of release from prison by angelic assistance (Acts 12:8), or have found a man of God, like Cornelius in Acts 10, by similar means.

Yet when the Scriptures are examined, the evidence for the reality and presence of angels in the experience of present-day Christians cannot be denied, and seven facets are discussed.

(1)Interest in Human Activity

It is Peter in his first letter (1:12) who indicates that the angels are intensely interested in what the prophets foretold and presumably in its accomplishment. Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:9 shows he was quite assured that angels were witnesses to all that the apostles said and did in their gospel testimony and the same must be true of God's servants today. Whatever may have been the angelic comment in respect of this testimony, we know that they do not remain silent when any single person accepts the gospel message, for they speak out their joy to the whole of heaven - so Luke tells us (15:10). Such is the interaction between heaven and earth through the watchfulness of these specially created servants of the Lord. Despite the far-reaching knowledge implied in the above, it must be emphasized that it is only God who is omniscient.

(2)Help in Time of Need

Angelic activity is not confined to heaven, for Hebrews 1:14 reveals that God's ministering spirits are sent forth to do service for the sake of them that inherit salvation. Reverting to the time when the Lord was on earth, we can sympathetically visualize them crowding round their Lord after His temptation in the wilderness, and can see by faith that single angel upholding Him in the garden of Gethsemane after the intense experience of the foretaste of Calvary. No human eye saw on either occasion, we would judge. Similarly we can be assured of unseen support in our lesser hour of need: but it is the power of God Himself that is transmitted through His agents.

(3)Protection

Beaten on the anvil of experience and resounding down the centuries come David's words expressed in Psalm 34:7. "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them". This is exactly in tune with the statement of Psalm 91:11 that "He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways". We must note that this applies to those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, a condition corresponding with "them that fear Him" of Psalm 34. The Lord certainly fulfilled these conditions and hence the angelic protection was available to Him. Elisha was another who satisfied the conditions and he was able to demonstrate to his servant the reality of the protection, for the mountain was "full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17). Today angels are available to protect the Lord's own who respect Him. Peter Marshall, the Scottish preacher who became Chaplain to the United States Senate, tells of a voice that saved him from certain death as he neared the edge of a quarry when crossing a lonely moor one dark night. Can we not all multiply examples from our own lives? The angels are but shields in the divine hand, and operate under His guidance. Sometimes, however, it is God's will that we suffer.

(4)Examples of Reverence in Worship

The concept of the passive presence of angels at our church gatherings is perhaps suggested by Paul in his first letter to Corinth, because in the eleventh chapter he declares the reason that women should have their heads covered is "because of the angels". While many have seen in this phrase an analogy to the subjection of angels in the divine presence, could it not also imply that they directly surround the gathering of the church and look on with interest and reverence? In either case, we should not be less reverent than they.

(5)Carrying Souls to Heaven

It was the angels who carried the soul of Lazarus to Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22) and angels will be given the task of gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth at the end of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:31). This suggests a transporting duty for them: that of carrying souls to the Redeemer who saved those precious souls. Let it be clearly stated that it is only Christ and never angels that do the work of salvation.

(6)Effecting the Judgement of God

Apart from the pleasant duties outlined so far, angels have some dreadful assignments. When David sinned and God had to punish Israel, He did so through the agency of angels, just as He did to the Egyptians on the Passover night. Looking to the future, it is clear that again angels will be called on to execute what has been described as God's strange work. In the parable of the tares (Matt. 13:24), it is the angels who gather them and put them into the fire, the tares being representative of those who oppose the truth of God. It is to be emphasized that God alone is the Judge, and the righteous Judge. He makes the just and right decisions. The angels only carry out His will: they can never be the judges themselves.

(7)God's Announcers

The book of Revelation cites many instances of angels in the future pronouncing doom and destruction on the world. However, their announcements may also be glad, and Christians today can look forward with delight and satisfaction to the voice of the archangel which will resound through the skies at the rapture, calling God's own to meet His Christ "in the air". This mighty sound and the trumpet of God shall be heard, but it is not angelic power that will raise and change bodies, both dead and alive, to be like His own glorious body. That is a divine work alone.

It is clear that angels are not so remote after all. Their work is very much entwined with that of the saints on earth. In this review, at each stage emphasis has been placed on the status of angels as being subordinate to God. Their power and knowledge are limited. Both they and we are fellow-servants of the same Lord and Master, but may it be that, as a result of this study shared together, we may be enabled to serve Him better because we are more conscious than formerly of the part played by angels.

Prasher, C, Lindsay | Sept 1977
General