WHEN ANGELS COME CALLING
Ouida Garrett

Our ladies class is studying angels. We are delighted and awed by the glimpse we get of these heavenly beings. They are always before the Father’s throne; they are ministering servants; they are our protectors; they will judge us; we will judge them; on occasion they lead us; they make wonderous announcements; they are intensely interested in us. Aren’t these exciting ideas!

If I had to chose a favorite verse about angels it would be Heb. 1:14: “What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation.” When we are tempted, could it be that the angels assist by providing a way of escape? Billy Graham suggests that the devil is so fiercely after each of us that if we didn’t have angels to help rebuff the evil angels none of us would have a chance. How reassuring it is to have angels on our side!

Another comforting verse is Ps. 91:11, “For He shall give His angels charge over you. To keep you in all your ways.” A parallel passage is Ps. 34:7: “His angel guards those who have reverence for the Lord and rescues them from danger.” Doesn’t that come close to saying that we have a guardian angel? Some of the ladies have had fun speculating that the angels vie for certain ones. Can’t you just hear one of them say, “You got the one I wanted; the one I got keeps me so busy I never get a moment’s rest!”

Jesus taught that we are not to despise any of these little ones because their angels in heaven are always in the presence of my Father in heaven. Those who have no voice (children, rejected ones) have an advocate that always has access to the Father. You may not get justice in this world, but there will be a righting of all wrongs in the next.

That beautiful story in the Old Testament about Daniel in the lion’s den telling the anxious king “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me!” And the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace and Nebuchadnezzar being astonished when he looked into the furnace and saw four people in the furnace and one looked like an angel! We have good reason to think that God cares about the trials we are going through, and that he provides answers for us also.

Jesus believed in angels. When the Sadducees asked Jesus whose wife would the woman be in the resurrection who had been married to seven brothers on earth, he answered, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” And as an aside he added, “and they never die!”

The devil tempted Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple by quoting the Scripture: “He shall give His angels charge concerning you. They shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus successfully rebuffed all the temptations; angels then came and ministered to him.

Judas came with a great multitude to take Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said he could have called down twelve legions of angels (60,000 to 72,000) for his defense, but he chose to drink that bitter cup. Jesus received great comfort from angels, but they were not provided when he was on the cross. It seemed he had to suffered alone.

There are Scriptures that indicate that angels are intensely interested in our world. It is as though our earth were a vast arena, and the Father is making known his great wisdom to the angels as they watch God’s plan unfold for the church.

Paul says God gave him the privilege of making all people see how God’s secret plan was to be put into effect. “God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages, in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms.” (Eph. 3:9b-10 TEV). Peter reveals that not only the prophets wanted to understand the salvation that they prophesied about, but that the angels longed to know also. They appear to have a great concern for the church.

Doesn’t 1 Cor. 11:10 seem to confirm this idea? “On account of the angels, then, a woman should have a covering over her head to show that she is under authority.” In 1 Cor. 4:9 Paul says, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.”

“Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15:10). Would you live life any differently if you knew angels were observing you with great interest and rejoicing when you resolved to do better? Angels are watching!

While angel appearances were terrifying to Daniel, Zechariah and others, they sometime made their appearance as ordinary men. When the three angels appeared to Abraham to tell him that he and Sarah would have a son in about nine months, Abraham did not seem to realize that he was talking to angels, at least at first. Have you ever talked to an angel? Maybe so! The Bible says, “Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it” (Heb 13:2 TEV).

An amazing verse is 1 Cor. 6:3. Paul is shaming the church because they were going to law with each other, and not before the saints. He says: “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” Do angels have free will? Do they have rules and regulations which they must obey? Will we have the wisdom to judge angels? What mystery!

Angels were also used to make important announcements. Gabriel was used especially for these momentous occasions. Daniel wrote in Dan. 8:15: “Gabriel came and stood beside me, and I was so terrified that I fell to the ground. He said to me, ‘Mortal man, understand the meaning.”

The vision had to do with the end of the world and the result of God’s anger. Daniel continued in chapter 9:21f to say: “While I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came flying down to where I was. It was the time for the evening sacrifice to be offered. He explained, ‘Daniel, I have come here to help you understand the prophecy. When you began to plead with God, he answered you. He loves you, and so I have come to tell you the answer. Now pay attention while I explain the vision.’”

Then in Lk 1:30-33 Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would conceive and bring forth a Son and should call his name Jesus; that he would be great, and would be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God would give Him the throne of His father David; and of his throne there would be no end. This was the greatest announcement that Gabriel ever made.

The other great announcement that Gabriel made was to Zacharias. He was told that he would, indeed, have a son in his old age who would be called John. These are the four references to Gabriel, and they all have to do with revealing a message from God.

Angels are also agents of judgment. They were sent to warn and execute judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. The psalmist speaks of God’s wrath toward the Egyptians in Ps. 78:49: “He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.” Matthew tells us in chapter 1:41-42, “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. The book of Revelation also tells of dire judgments that will be meted out on the wicked angels.

It is comforting to believe that as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death there will be an angel dispatched to carry us to Abraham’s bosom as Lazarus was. It has been suggested that “thy rod and thy staff” in Psalms 23 may very well be angels. I like to think so.