Had a knock on the door recently and two men and one lady wanted to talk to me about ANGELS - I was gobsmacked to say the least because Angels were far and away from my thoughts at that moment.
They chatted about this amazing new world that was coming and the mighty part that Angels will have on that day - I was taken aback a tad and struggled a lot in what they were saying.
Right at the outset of this blog I must admit that I don't know a lot about angels - all I do know is that they are heavenly beings created by God and worship Him constantly - also they are there for specific reasons such as announcing very special events such as the birth of Jesus and many more events recorded in the Word of God.
Getting back to my visitors that Saturday morning, and I must add here that they did sweep me away with their knowledge of angels and their purpose.
I had nowhere to go really except to say that I did indeed believe in Angels and their purpose specifically granted to them by God almighty.
I did say however, and I suppose this was the reason they left my home shaking their heads, convinced I was way out of line and utterly wrong, was that I truly believed that Jesus was higher than the Angels and in fact he was equal with God and part of the triune Godhead being the Father, Son and Spirit. I quoted John 10:30 when Jesus spoke to His disciples saying "I and the Father are one".
Before they left, they told me that "Jesus is like God - He's close to God BUT he is not God". It was at this point that I said to them "Jesus is Jehovah to me" - and that's when they left me.
In Isaiah 6:1-7 we find angels in the vision of Isaiah touching his lips with burning coals in an act of consecration. In this vision we see the primary acts of these amazing creations of God standing or flying around and above God's very throne continually declaring God's holiness. They exist simply to attribute worth to God. announcing the perfection of His character. These powerful, majestic beings are perfectly fulfilled doing nothing other than worshiping God.
It's amazing, when we think of it, that the very act of worship and praise that we offer to God is resoundingly upheld by the angels in God's presence doing exactly the same thing. We are not alone in our worship, Angels are continually before God's throne.
Throughout the scriptures, as already mentioned there have been a lot of recorded instances when we see angels visiting. Sodom and Gomorrah is a prime example - appearing in human form these heavenly creatures rescued Lot and his family from the destruction that befell those cities.
Another example is when an Angel appeared to Elijah suffering from an acute bout of depression and hunger when Jezebel was out to execute him. Angels appeared to Abram and Sarai announcing the impending birth of Isaac in their old age. And so it goes on many times recorded for us.
There doesn't appear to be in the Bible a mention of personal or guardian angels mentioned in the Bible but there have been recorded plenty of instances when people have actually seen angels guiding them and in all sorts of situations.
In her book Tramp for the Lord, Corrie Ten Boom that amazing woman arrested by the Nazi's for protecting and hiding Jewish people during the holocaust was convinced that angels protected her when she was openly on a bus smuggling bibles. Apparently guards boarded the bus she was on and searched everyone looking for contraband of any description.
If she had been caught she would have been arrested, imprisoned and even death was a possibility. As the soldiers approached searching everyone seated there, she closed her eyes and literally felt a presence guarding and protecting her - the searching soldiers went straight past her and continued the search.
Hard to explain but surely if our powerful God sent angels to protect and guide people thousands of years ago the same can be said of today.
Esther Mass, well known to dozens of missionary kids around the world, was on her way to church on April 13, 1988. A short distance from home she was involved in a car accident. Almost immediately a man approached at her van door. He took Esther's hand and at his touch a comforting peace spread over her. The man was in his thirties, he wore tan work clothes and needed a shave. He asked one bystander to call 911.
When Esther asked his name, he said he couldn't tell her his name but that she would be fine. He stayed until the emergencies crew arrived and then was gone. He may not have been an angel but his ministry fits with what we know from the Bible about what angelic care is like.
Then of course we see hundreds of times when no matter how hard we may pray we are not spared the trials and tribulations we may be going through.
All I know is that our God is awesome, holy and so mighty - How can we puny humans put our mind into the mind of God - of course we can't.
We just have to have faith knowing that our mighty God is the mighty God who saved us and that there are tens of thousands of angels surrounding his throne glorifying His holy name and that one day we will know for certain just why and how these amazing events take place.
As Christians we live in a world of crisis and security alerts - every day we seem to face some new threat. Even spiritual enemies are out to deceive us. We should take heart because our strength is in the protection of the Lord no matter in what form it takes.
They chatted about this amazing new world that was coming and the mighty part that Angels will have on that day - I was taken aback a tad and struggled a lot in what they were saying.
Right at the outset of this blog I must admit that I don't know a lot about angels - all I do know is that they are heavenly beings created by God and worship Him constantly - also they are there for specific reasons such as announcing very special events such as the birth of Jesus and many more events recorded in the Word of God.Getting back to my visitors that Saturday morning, and I must add here that they did sweep me away with their knowledge of angels and their purpose.
I had nowhere to go really except to say that I did indeed believe in Angels and their purpose specifically granted to them by God almighty.
I did say however, and I suppose this was the reason they left my home shaking their heads, convinced I was way out of line and utterly wrong, was that I truly believed that Jesus was higher than the Angels and in fact he was equal with God and part of the triune Godhead being the Father, Son and Spirit. I quoted John 10:30 when Jesus spoke to His disciples saying "I and the Father are one".
Before they left, they told me that "Jesus is like God - He's close to God BUT he is not God". It was at this point that I said to them "Jesus is Jehovah to me" - and that's when they left me.
In Isaiah 6:1-7 we find angels in the vision of Isaiah touching his lips with burning coals in an act of consecration. In this vision we see the primary acts of these amazing creations of God standing or flying around and above God's very throne continually declaring God's holiness. They exist simply to attribute worth to God. announcing the perfection of His character. These powerful, majestic beings are perfectly fulfilled doing nothing other than worshiping God.
It's amazing, when we think of it, that the very act of worship and praise that we offer to God is resoundingly upheld by the angels in God's presence doing exactly the same thing. We are not alone in our worship, Angels are continually before God's throne.
Throughout the scriptures, as already mentioned there have been a lot of recorded instances when we see angels visiting. Sodom and Gomorrah is a prime example - appearing in human form these heavenly creatures rescued Lot and his family from the destruction that befell those cities.
Another example is when an Angel appeared to Elijah suffering from an acute bout of depression and hunger when Jezebel was out to execute him. Angels appeared to Abram and Sarai announcing the impending birth of Isaac in their old age. And so it goes on many times recorded for us.
There doesn't appear to be in the Bible a mention of personal or guardian angels mentioned in the Bible but there have been recorded plenty of instances when people have actually seen angels guiding them and in all sorts of situations.
In her book Tramp for the Lord, Corrie Ten Boom that amazing woman arrested by the Nazi's for protecting and hiding Jewish people during the holocaust was convinced that angels protected her when she was openly on a bus smuggling bibles. Apparently guards boarded the bus she was on and searched everyone looking for contraband of any description.
If she had been caught she would have been arrested, imprisoned and even death was a possibility. As the soldiers approached searching everyone seated there, she closed her eyes and literally felt a presence guarding and protecting her - the searching soldiers went straight past her and continued the search.
Hard to explain but surely if our powerful God sent angels to protect and guide people thousands of years ago the same can be said of today.
Esther Mass, well known to dozens of missionary kids around the world, was on her way to church on April 13, 1988. A short distance from home she was involved in a car accident. Almost immediately a man approached at her van door. He took Esther's hand and at his touch a comforting peace spread over her. The man was in his thirties, he wore tan work clothes and needed a shave. He asked one bystander to call 911.
When Esther asked his name, he said he couldn't tell her his name but that she would be fine. He stayed until the emergencies crew arrived and then was gone. He may not have been an angel but his ministry fits with what we know from the Bible about what angelic care is like.
Then of course we see hundreds of times when no matter how hard we may pray we are not spared the trials and tribulations we may be going through.
All I know is that our God is awesome, holy and so mighty - How can we puny humans put our mind into the mind of God - of course we can't.
We just have to have faith knowing that our mighty God is the mighty God who saved us and that there are tens of thousands of angels surrounding his throne glorifying His holy name and that one day we will know for certain just why and how these amazing events take place.
As Christians we live in a world of crisis and security alerts - every day we seem to face some new threat. Even spiritual enemies are out to deceive us. We should take heart because our strength is in the protection of the Lord no matter in what form it takes.
Thanks Brother, another uplifting blog.
ReplyDeleteSo true what you say about our uncertainty concerning angles. However one must also accept that God will use Hid army of soldiers, as angels, in His time and space.
I believe your post is inspired by God and you are the angle!
Go with God today. Michael
Hi Bruce,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post. Angels are an intriguing study & there is a lot we can know about who they are and what they do from the words of the Bible.
I believe I met an angel one day many years ago similar to the Esther Mass occurrence. It was when Colleen was in hospital having surgery (heart surgery I think). I walked out the back of the hospital and prayed that she would pull through.
Some random stranger walked up to me out of the blue and told me that Colleen would be fine. I think he said the Lord had said so, but can't recall exactly. Anyway, I was oddly at peace and comforted by his words, but when I looked around a moment later he had gone...just disappeared!
And of course Colleen was fine & to this day I believe it was an angelic visitation.
So yes, I believe angels are out there and they have a work that the Lord wants and gets them to perform.
All the best...John