As a child of God, we are being watched, and we are being guarded and protected, much more than we probably realize.
Have you ever noticed how much the candidates for president are being watched? It’s not always obvious when you see them on TV, but every where they go, they are guarded and protected by heavily armed men in suits and trench coats. Who are these armed men? They are the United States Secret Service, and their goal is to protect people who hold high offices in our country. Everywhere they go, the Secret Service is there, watching them, guarding them, and protecting them.
Would you like to be followed around like that – no privacy? As a Christian, you already are. We are being closely watched and guarded and protected, but not by heavily armed men in suits – that’s not good enough, in God’s eyes. We are being guarded and protected by something bigger and better – angels. They follow us everywhere we go. They watch us and protect us – there are probably some of them right here in this room right now, and we are not aware of it.
Do you know about these angels? Most people really don’t get the concept of angels. Lots of people believe that when we die, we go to heaven, we grow wings, and we’re given a harp, and then we become an angel. That’s not how it works. When we die, we’re not going to become an angel. People don’t turn into angels. In heaven, we’re going to continue to exist as a human being, but in a different way. Angels are a completely separate classification of living beings, according to the Bible, and we’ll see thousands of them in heaven.
So - do you believe in the
existence of angels? We should because the Bible says that there ARE
angels. Did you know that angels are
mentioned either directly or indirectly nearly 300 times in the Old and New
Testaments?
Angels
appeared or spoke to Abraham many times in Genesis. As Abraham was on the mountain about to
sacrifice his son, Isaac, an Angel spoke to him twice: 11 At that
moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven,
“Abraham!
Abraham!” ….. “Don’t
lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I
know that you truly fear God.” (Genesis 22:11-12) And then still on the
mountain, “Then the angel of the Lord called
again to Abraham from heaven. “This is what the Lord says:
Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son,
I swear by my own name that I will
certainly bless you.” (Genesis
22:15-17)
And we all should remember
that an Angel appeared to Joseph and Mary – after Joseph found out Mary was
pregnant, an angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a dream. “Joseph….” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your
wife.” (Matthew 1:20) And in Matthew 2:13 an angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel
said.”
And to Mary: “Gabriel
appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
(Luke 1:28) And Gabriel goes on to tell her about being chosen to be mother of
Jesus in Luke 1:29-38)
And after Jesus prayed so hard on the Mount of
Olives in the garden of Gethsemane “… an angel from heaven appeared and
strengthened him.” (Luke 22:43) And on Easter Sunday “an
angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on
it.” (Matthew 28:2)
These are only a very few places Angels appear or
are mentioned in the Bible.
There is a high probability that millions of
angels are at God’s command and at our service. The hosts of Heaven stand at
attention ready to do God’s will at any moment of any hour of any day.
His angels are on call at all times. They don’t take vacation days. They don’t take sick days. They don’t take off for holidays. They never age and they are always ready and available to carry out God’s plans!
These angels of God are here to help us and they are prepared for any emergency, and Satan has no firepower that can match the heavy artillery of God!
The Bible teaches us that God created angels. At one time no angels existed; there was nothing but the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:16 that “God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see Angels are indeed among the invisible things made by God, for “all things were created by Him, and for Him.”
The Bible tells us that angels have the ability to change their appearance and to travel instantly back and forth between the glory of Heaven above and the earth below.
Hebrews 1:14 says “angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” They do not possess physical bodies, although they may take on the form of physical bodies when God appoints them to special tasks. God has given them no ability to reproduce, and they neither marry nor are given in marriage. (see Mark 12:25)
And we don’t need to picture them as cute and harmless little creatures. Sometimes we see little angel dolls – they look like red-cheeked toddlers with wings and diapers – cupid or tinkerbell – lovable, cuddly creatures. The Bible pictures angels as quite the opposite. In our Old Testament, one of the angels named Michael is described – a chief prince among the angels, a powerful and intimidating warrior. In Revelation, the Apostle John was so overwhelmed by the angel that had been talking to him that he fell down to worship him. But notice what the angel said to John, in Revelation 22:9: “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!” Do you see how the angel describes himself? As a “servant.” Angels are powerful beings created by God, to serve God with us!
His angels are on call at all times. They don’t take vacation days. They don’t take sick days. They don’t take off for holidays. They never age and they are always ready and available to carry out God’s plans!
These angels of God are here to help us and they are prepared for any emergency, and Satan has no firepower that can match the heavy artillery of God!
The Bible teaches us that God created angels. At one time no angels existed; there was nothing but the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:16 that “God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see Angels are indeed among the invisible things made by God, for “all things were created by Him, and for Him.”
The Bible tells us that angels have the ability to change their appearance and to travel instantly back and forth between the glory of Heaven above and the earth below.
Hebrews 1:14 says “angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” They do not possess physical bodies, although they may take on the form of physical bodies when God appoints them to special tasks. God has given them no ability to reproduce, and they neither marry nor are given in marriage. (see Mark 12:25)
And we don’t need to picture them as cute and harmless little creatures. Sometimes we see little angel dolls – they look like red-cheeked toddlers with wings and diapers – cupid or tinkerbell – lovable, cuddly creatures. The Bible pictures angels as quite the opposite. In our Old Testament, one of the angels named Michael is described – a chief prince among the angels, a powerful and intimidating warrior. In Revelation, the Apostle John was so overwhelmed by the angel that had been talking to him that he fell down to worship him. But notice what the angel said to John, in Revelation 22:9: “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!” Do you see how the angel describes himself? As a “servant.” Angels are powerful beings created by God, to serve God with us!
And angels serve God in
different ways. Sometimes they are messengers – they conveyed the message that
Jesus had risen. Sometimes they are protectors, God’s secret service for
Christians. We see an example of that in Acts 12. King Herod was persecuting
the Christians. He executed the Apostle James, and he was planning to execute
the Apostle Peter too, but not for awhile. Peter was put into a high security
prison, and notice what the Christians were doing in verse 5: “…
while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.”
God answered those prayers by sending an angel. The night before Peter’s trial,
an angel appeared in Peter’s jail cell. He woke Peter up, caused Peter’s chains
to fall off his wrists, and led Peter out of the jail. The whole thing seemed
like a dream to Peter, as he walked with the angel right past the guards and
out the front door. Verse 11 is a key verse: “ Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!”
he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me…….” Later, an angel
struck down King Herod while he was giving a speech. That’s God’s secret
service. Angels are sent to protect God’s people.
This teaches us how God works. When we pray for something, when we are in trouble, when we need something, God often responds by sending angels. They are powerful beings whose purpose is to whatever God asks, and often that means helping us. Our best friends are not who we socialize with. Our best friends are actually angels. We’ve never met any of them before, but they are with us everywhere we go. They especially watch over us during our childhood. They stand guard over us every night at the foot of our bed. If it weren’t for God’s secret service watching over us, the Devil and his evil demons would cause so many bad things to happen to us that would make our life unlivable!
Our problem, as sinful human beings, is that we underestimate God this way. We underestimate God when we’re in trouble, and we pray. We underestimate how closely God is watching over our lives, and how much he cares about us and wants to help us. We forget that God has millions of angels at his disposal, to send to our aid the moment we come to him in prayer. We underestimate God. We think that we’re on our own down here. “I’m by myself. It’s up to me to figure things out. It’s up to me to be strong. I’m down here on this planet, and I’m on my own.”
But God reminds us today, through his Word, that we’re not on our own down here. There are such creatures as angels, and God sends them into our life for all kinds of reasons, to do all kinds of things for us. As the angel reminded the Apostle John, they are our “fellow servants.” And if you ever wonder to yourself, “Why would God do this all for me? I am just an ordinary human being, an ordinary sinner. Why would God go through all this, and set up a special, “secret service,” just for me?”
Do you know what makes us so valuable in the eyes of God? It’s the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. The moment Jesus died for our sins and paid for our soul, we became incredibly valuable in the eyes of God. This is why God goes through so much trouble for us. That’s why God sends angels into our life who watch us very closely, who protect us, who do whatever God says in answer to our prayers. That’s why God saved the Apostle Peter. And that’s why God has set up a special secret service for us.
This teaches us how God works. When we pray for something, when we are in trouble, when we need something, God often responds by sending angels. They are powerful beings whose purpose is to whatever God asks, and often that means helping us. Our best friends are not who we socialize with. Our best friends are actually angels. We’ve never met any of them before, but they are with us everywhere we go. They especially watch over us during our childhood. They stand guard over us every night at the foot of our bed. If it weren’t for God’s secret service watching over us, the Devil and his evil demons would cause so many bad things to happen to us that would make our life unlivable!
Our problem, as sinful human beings, is that we underestimate God this way. We underestimate God when we’re in trouble, and we pray. We underestimate how closely God is watching over our lives, and how much he cares about us and wants to help us. We forget that God has millions of angels at his disposal, to send to our aid the moment we come to him in prayer. We underestimate God. We think that we’re on our own down here. “I’m by myself. It’s up to me to figure things out. It’s up to me to be strong. I’m down here on this planet, and I’m on my own.”
But God reminds us today, through his Word, that we’re not on our own down here. There are such creatures as angels, and God sends them into our life for all kinds of reasons, to do all kinds of things for us. As the angel reminded the Apostle John, they are our “fellow servants.” And if you ever wonder to yourself, “Why would God do this all for me? I am just an ordinary human being, an ordinary sinner. Why would God go through all this, and set up a special, “secret service,” just for me?”
Do you know what makes us so valuable in the eyes of God? It’s the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. The moment Jesus died for our sins and paid for our soul, we became incredibly valuable in the eyes of God. This is why God goes through so much trouble for us. That’s why God sends angels into our life who watch us very closely, who protect us, who do whatever God says in answer to our prayers. That’s why God saved the Apostle Peter. And that’s why God has set up a special secret service for us.
In closing, remember that the Bible says in Hebrews 13:2:
“Don’t forget to show hospitality to
strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without
realizing it!” Hmmm!
