“His Angels Will Guard You”

(Hebrews 1:14)

I. Introduction.

A. Orientation.

This morning,

John showed us that God in His mercy

Sent an angel from time to time

To stir the water at the pool of Bethesda

To grant the gift of healing to the first who got into that pool.

The author to the Hebrews tells us

That angels are ministering spirits –

Spiritual beings that serve the Lord

By ministering to those who will inherit salvation –

That is, who minister to you and me

As we travel through this world on our way to heaven.

They are another great blessing the Lord provides

To safeguard us on our way.

B. Preview.

This evening, let’s consider:

What the angels are,

And what blessings He provides through them.

II. Sermon.

A. First, what are the angels?

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The author to the Hebrews tells us they are spiritual beings.

“Are they not all ministering spirits.”

They are called spiritual

First because they are spirits –

They don’t have physical bodies.

They are purely immaterial

Which means they don’t have any extension in the physical universe –

Another way of putting this is,

They don’t take up any space.

There was a supposed medieval debate

Between Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas in the 13th

Century

Over how many angels could sit or dance on the head of a pin.

It wasn’t a meaningless question as many suppose:

It really had to do with the nature of angels –

What it means that they are spirits.

Aquinas believed the answer was an infinite number

For the simple reason they are immaterial –

They don’t take up any space!

This may be hard to understand or accept

Because we often read about angels appearing as men.

They can take this form,

But it doesn’t change their nature:

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They are spirits, not physical beings.

There’s another sense in which angels can be said to be spiritual –

In that they are filled with the Spirit.

The difference between a spiritual man and a natural man is simply this:

One has the Spirit

While the other has nothing of the Spirit.

Paul writes to the Corinthians,

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,

so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also

speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit,

combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not

accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he

cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is

spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO

HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT

HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. And I, brethren, could not speak to you

as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ” (1 Cor. 2:12-

3:1).

The difference between the holy angels and the demons is the same:

One has the Spirit, the other does not.

Evil is the absence of good,

Even as cold is the absence of heat.

The Spirit is the love or goodness of God.

Without Him, there is only evil.

Man was made good,

But when he sinned in the garden, he lost the Spirit –

He lost his original righteousness,

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His desire to love and serve God –

And he became evil,

Which is why he felt naked and hid from God.

When the angels sinned, they lost their goodness –

The lost the Spirit – as well.

Those that didn’t sin still have Him,

Which is why they’re still good.

As to when God made them, we’re not told precisely,

But we can figure it out from the creation account.

They appear to have been made on the first day.

Moses writes in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the

earth.”

This implies that in the beginning

Only God existed,

And being the only Being present,

He acted to bring into being everything there is.

God spoke, “Let there be,”

And whatever He commanded leaped into existence.

Meredith Kline believed that Genesis 1:1 speaks of the creation of the angels.

When Moses says that God created the heavens,

Kline believes the heavens here refers to the place God would dwell

Along with the heavenly host itself,

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Because he then goes on to tell us that the earth was formless and void

And what God did to organize it over the next six days (v. 2).

That organization included the celestial bodies

Or what we call the starry heavens.

When God made the angels, He made them in His image.

He doesn’t say this explicitly in His Word,

But He does tell us that He made man in His image,

And what that image is:

It doesn’t have to do with our bodies,

But with our souls –

With the fact that we’re rational, moral and immortal beings:

We can think,

We have the capacity to be moral,

And we will never cease to exist.

More specifically, it has to do with our moral likeness to God –

Righteousness, holiness and truth –

Which really amounts to a love for what is good –

Something that was true of us when God created us,

Which we lost in the Fall,

But that we regained through the work of Jesus Christ.

Can angels think? Are they moral? Are they immortal?

Do they love what is good and hate evil?

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Then who’s to say they aren’t made in God’s image?

We see in Scripture that there are different kinds of angels.

There are the Cherubim that guard the holiness of God.

These are the angels that God placed at the entrance to the Garden

To keep Adam and Eve from returning (Gen. 3:24);

And those that God commanded to be fashioned for the ark of the covenant

That stretched their wings over the mercy seat to guard it (Ex. 25:22).

There are also the Seraphim:

Those that stand in the presence of God

Ready at all times to minister to Him (Isa. 6),

Or to deal out judgment at His command,

As their name signifies, “Fiery ones.”

There may be others as well.

Lucifer appears to have been the greatest angel before he fell.

Certainly, there were none higher.

Since his fall, Michael appears to be singled out as the greatest,

Or at least, one of the greatest.

He is called the archangel –

Which means the chief angel,

Or a leader among the angels.

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Jude writes, “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and

argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing

judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (1:9).

We also read in Daniel 10:13, where Gabriel explains why it took him so long to

come in answer to Daniel’s prayer, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was

withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief

princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”

When God made the angels, He made them all at the same time –

Something that isn’t true of us.

As human beings, we were made to procreate.

That’s why if we were to be put on trial,

We had to be put on trial all at once in one man: Adam.

If that wasn’t the case,

We would be living in a world where there were the fallen,

And those who were yet to fall –

Assuming that we would all make the same choice as Adam.

Angels, on the other hand, don’t get married and have children (Matt. 22:30).

They were all created at the same time.

And so the Lord was able to try them all at the same time –

He didn’t have to do so through a representative, but personally.

Edwards, as I’ve said before,

Believed their test was whether they would continue to follow God

Once they learned they were created to be the servants of mankind –

Particularly of those who would inherit salvation.

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Lucifer couldn’t stomach it – he became prideful –

And so he fell and became the devil.

A third of the angels fell with him and became the demons (Rev. 12:4).

But the Lord reserved two-thirds of the angels

To be His servants of mankind.

These are called in Scripture the holy angels.

But they are also called the elect/chosen angels –

Showing that God has His election/choice among the angels

As He does among mankind.

Paul writes to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 5:21, “I solemnly charge you in the presence

of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these

principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.”

That’s something of what the angels are.

B. Second, what do the angels do?

The unholy angels, taking their orders from the devil,

Continually fight against God and His people.

We saw this morning that they are involved in afflicting mankind with different

kinds of diseases.

They are undoubtedly behind much of the evil in this world.

And yet they are always on a chain.

They can only do what God allows them to do.

Just as we see in the case of Job,

Whom the devil could only touch when he had God’s permission (Job 1:12),

Or as in the case of the angel that wanted to be

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A deceiving spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets.

It’s believed that he must have been a fallen angel,

Since holy angels don’t deceive.

The angels we’re more interested in are the chosen angels –

Those that didn’t fall,

Those that are holy –

Like the one sent to stir the waters of Bethesda.

In some way, they all appear to be involved

In ministering to the saints.

The author to the Hebrews writes, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to

render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (v. 14).

What do they do?

It’s likely that they’re involved –

At least at some level –

In the lives of those who won’t inherit salvation.

Jesus said, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in

return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for

He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men” (Luke 6:35).

The psalmist writes, “The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His

works” (Ps. 145:9).

Since He gives unbelievers many of the same mercies as He does His own people,

It shouldn’t surprise us if He might sometimes send His angels

To minister to them –

How many stories have you heard of miraculous deliverances

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In the lives of those who clearly aren’t believers?

One thing we know for certain,

They are involved in our lives.

That’s what our passage tells us –

They are “sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit

salvation.”

They were ministering to us before we came to Christ,

They are ministering to us now,

And they will minister to us in the future.

How did we make it as far as we did before Christ?

Certainly the Lord had planned to preserve us

Until He brought the Gospel to us

And sent His Spirit to save us.

But can we say He didn’t use His angels

To bring this about?

What about those close calls we’ve faced?

I think about the times in my own life

When it looked as though my life was at risk:

The time my dad and I were walking down a mountain path –

When I was very young –

And I walked within two or three feet of a coiled rattle snake;

Or the time I was walking on a path that pitched about 45 degrees

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That sloped down towards a fifty foot drop;

Or the time I was sick with scarlet fever.

We’ve all had times like this

Where we’ve been close to death.

God says His angels are ministering spirits

Sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation.

His angels have ministered to us since we’ve come to Christ.

When we first came to Jesus,

They rejoiced over us in heaven.

Jesus says in Luke 15:8-10, “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses

one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until

she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and

neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’

In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over

one sinner who repents.”

Since we’ve been His, they’ve protected us.

We have plenty of examples of how angels

Protected God’s people in Scripture.

They went down to Sodom to bring Lot, his wife and daughters out

Before the Lord destroyed that city (Gen. 19).

Jacob had a dream as he was on his way to Paddan-Aram

Of angels ascending and descending on a ladder

Showing that the Lord was sending His angels to watch over him (Gen. 28:12).

When he was returning to Canaan

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And the angels of God met him,

He named that place Mahanaim or “two camps” (32:2),

Because of the angels were camping alongside of him.

Can you think of times when the Lord protected you?

I’m continually amazed at how the wheel on the delivery truck I was driving

Fell off, hit the guard rail in the middle of the highway,

And then came back under the front of the truck

And cradled the front axle, giving me control

Until I was able to bring it to a stop over a bridge.

Angels likely fight against demons continually

To keep them from injuring or destroying us.

They may even bring answers to our prayers

As Gabriel did for Daniel,

Though not in verbal form.

The Bible tells us that after death

The angels will convey our souls to heaven –

Apparently, God doesn’t just transport us.

Maybe the journey will increase our love and admiration of Him.

Jesus, in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, says, “Now there was a rich

man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in

splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate,

covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling

from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his

sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s

bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried” (Luke 16:19-22).

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And once you’re in heaven,

The angels will still minister to you

In the fellowship and worship you’ll enjoy with them in heaven.

We read in Hebrews 12:22-24, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city

of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the

general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to

God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to

Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks

better than the blood of Abel.”

How are we going to be able to see them if they’re spirits?

We’ll likely be spirits as well for a while

Until the Lord returns to raise our bodies.

They can see each other,

And so we shouldn’t have any difficult seeing them.

Tonight, let’s be thankful the Lord has made angels

And has sent them to help us.

Let’s not use them as an excuse –

As some who believe in their existence do –

To do crazy things.

Jesus was unwilling to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple

Because there was a promise of their help.

He said to Satan, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matt. 4:7).

Let’s also be careful to live as the Lord calls us to live

Because the angels are also watching us

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To make sure that we stay on the path

The Lord has called us to walk on.

Remember, it’s the only safe path,

And the angels are here for our safety. Amen.

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