Ministries (2)

We're talking about the ministry of angels, the things they do. And there are lots of things the angels do. Very extensive ministries to say the least. And we began last week by looking at the ministries they have in relation to God. And we saw that they are ministers of worship. They lead worship in heaven. They are involved in worship. They observe worship in heaven, in the book of Revelation chapter 7. They are also ministers of service. They serve God. They serve Him in heaven. And they serve Him as messengers to earth. And then we saw that they are agents of God's government. As God governs the world, governs the universe. He uses them as agents to accomplish various tasks in those realms. And we saw in controlling nature and also in controlling nations that they are used by God as his agents to accomplish his will. That's where we left off. So let's begin tonight with the fourth thing they do in relationship to God. They are protectors of God's people. That also obviously is a ministry to us. And we'll talk more about that as we get into their ministry to us. I want to read the verses I have for you on the outline, Psalm 34, verses 4 through 7, where the Psalmist says, I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Those who looked to Him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called and the Lord heard Him. He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and He delivers them. So speaking of God's protection and there are lots of other passages like this of angels protecting God's people from attacks of the enemy, protecting us physically, protecting us spiritually. I am confident that angels are involved in protecting us in ways that we never know, protecting us from things that ultimately do not happen and thus we never know that we were protected from those things. Many of you would have stories I'm sure that you could share about things like that in your own life. So they serve as protectors of God's people and so doing they serve God, they're also serving us in that way as well. And then they are the executors or executors of God's judgment. They do often in the Bible carry out God's judgment. I've listed three passages for you. Genesis 19. What story is that and what does that involve angels doing? Do you remember? Chase him out of the garden that was a little earlier in Genesis. Yeah, but they did that. The angels did that. Genesis 19, I don't want to take the time to turn to all these passages, but that's the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, isn't it? And the angels calling for God to rain down fire. The angels deliver lot in His family and so forth. Then Exodus 12, do you remember that story? It's the last plague in Egypt before the children of Israel are delivered out. It's the death of the firstborn and God sent an angel to administer that punishment to execute that punishment. Then Revelation 6 through 18. Obviously, we've looked at this several times. The angels are involved in carrying out God's judgments on the world and the tribulation time. There are three series of seven judgments each. 21 judgments and all. Seal judgments. Trumpet judgments and bold judgments and angels introduce each of those. And so they're very active in the book of Revelation carrying out God's judgment. But there are other examples in the scriptures as well. When David numbered the army of Israel, what he wasn't supposed to did it out of pride. It was an angel that was sent to carry out the plague that God sent as judgment. An angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. Remember that story? An angel also struck King Herod with a disease that he died quickly up in Acts 12. So you often find angels being God's agents of judgment and carrying out his judgment on this world and on individuals, on nations and armies and so forth. So at least in those five ways, the minister in relation to God, they serve God himself. Many questions or comments about any of those. Okay, let's look at their service in relation to Christ, how they minister and serve as it regards Christ. And obviously, again, a lot of angel activity in the life of Christ. First of all, at his birth, this is obviously what we're thinking a lot about, singing a lot about at this time of year. Only three things, I've actually preached a message before on angel's announcements. There are six of them related to the birth of Christ, but some of them overlap. There are basically three things they do. They predict the birth of Jesus with Mary. They explain the birth of Jesus to Joseph and they announce the birth of Jesus to Shepherds. There are other things they're doing with Joseph and Mary later on and so forth, but basically as regards his birth, they predict it, they explain it, they announce it to different people. But they're also active, and this is what we may not be as aware of or as knowledgeable about. They're also active during the life of Christ in several different ways. They first of all protected Jesus as an infant. Do you remember that story? What was that about? Herod. Herod has discovered from the wise men the timing of his birth, so he sends soldiers to Bethlehem in Matthew chapter 2, and this verse will be on the screen for you, verse 13, when they had gone and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph. This is after the wise men had left, the soldiers had done things, or were getting ready to kill the babies. So the angel of the Lord and angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, take the child of his mother and escape the Egypt. Stay there until I tell you for herod is going to search for the child to kill him. And then after they are in Egypt for a while, in verse 19 and 20, the angel again warns or gives communication to Joseph. After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and Egypt said, get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead. And they went not back to Bethlehem, but this time to Nazareth, very far away from Herod, by the way. So they protected the Lord as an infant. They also, angels also strengthened the Lord on a couple of different occasions, very interesting in Matthew chapter 4, verse 11, then the devil left him and angels came and attended him. This is right after the 40 days in the wilderness where Jesus is tempted by Satan. Of course, he successfully resists those temptations and then the devil leaves him and angels came and attended him. Now exactly what they did, we're not sure, but Jesus must have been weak. He had fasted for 40 days. He had not eaten anything and so he must have been weak. They strengthened him, maybe even brought him food. We're not sure about that. But there was another time when they strengthened Jesus. Do you remember when that would be? Moving all the way, fast forward, all the way to the end of his life, Garden of Gethsemane. Remember that? When he prayed three times, he went back and prayed very earnestly and in Matthew, excuse me, Luke 22 and verse 43, an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. That was actually before he went back to pray for the last time and that gave him the strength to go back and pray very fervently and then that's when it said that he sweat as it were, great drops of blood. So the angels strengthened him after the temptation and strengthened him in the Garden of Gethsemane and then there were angels that stood ready to defend him when he was arrested in the Garden. In Matthew chapter 26, verse 53, when Peter cuts off the ear of high priest servant, Jesus says, put up your sword, do you think I cannot call my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels, 72,000 angels ready at a moment's notice at the call of Christ to come and defend him. I think they could have done a pretty good job. If one angel can kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, I don't think 600 palace guards are any match for 72,000 angels. So they were ready to rescue Jesus if he had called for them. Aren't you glad he didn't? And he went on to the cross. So they're very active at his birth. They're active during his life. Any comments? Questions there? Before we move to the resurrection. Okay. We know that angels are very much a part of the resurrection story too. Obviously they announced his resurrection. Look at these verses in Matthew 28, verses 1 and 2, after the Sabbath dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord had come down from heaven and going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on it. So an angel rolled away the stone, waited for the women to come when they came and angel announced that Jesus had been raised from the dead in verses 5 and 6. The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid. She recalled the announcement of the resurrection. So angels rolled away the stone where an angel did announced the resurrection to the ladies. And then they're tied to his resurrection. In another way, angels are, the scriptures say, subjected to Christ. They are in submission to him because of his resurrection and ascension. With the ascension, Jesus is given a position above the angels. Remember for a little while because he is made man, he takes a place lower than the angels. He ascends back to heaven and assumes his place of authority and prominence over the angels. Couple of passages on that, 1st Peter 3.22, and we're looking at so many verses who just throw it most of them on the screen here for you to save time. Who has gone into heaven, speaking of Jesus, and is it God's right hand with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. In Ephesians 1, 20 and 21, same idea, he is talking about the power of God which he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power, dominion, every name that is invoked, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. All of these spiritual beings, these powers, authorities, so forth, angels, Jesus is in a position higher than them. They are submissive to him. What they do now, so they announce his resurrection, they are part of his ascension and exaltation in heaven, but what are they doing now in relation to Christ in heaven? They are worshiping him, obviously, Revelation 5, but there is something else. The Bible says they do in 1 Peter 1 and 1 verse 12. It was revealed to them, speaking of Old Testament prophets, that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, even angels long to look into these things. Angels are fascinated by the gospel. They are fascinated by the plan of salvation and what God is doing in saving us. So they have an intense interest in what God is doing in carrying out his plan of salvation. When one person gets saved, of course there is rejoicing in heaven, the Bible teaches among the angels. So they are very much involved in the resurrection of Christ and afterwards what is happening in heaven. Comments or questions? Pretty straightforward. Okay, these are all things we are pretty familiar with. They are also going to be involved with Christ in his second coming. So they serve Christ not only at his birth during his life and after his resurrection, but they will also serve him and minister him and with him at his second coming. Back up a little bit, they predicted his second coming when he ascended into heaven. Acts 1 verse 11. Remember the men in white apparel that are speaking to the disciples as they are watching Jesus ascend into heaven? Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. So they are speaking of the second coming there, not the rapture. At the rapture Jesus doesn't come back like he did when he ascended. When he ascended, he ascended slowly and they watched him ascends slowly. That is the way he is going to come back in the second coming because the Bible says everybody will see him when he comes. At the rapture it is described as in the blink of an eye, in the twinkling of an eye. In an instant it happens and so this is describing the second coming of Christ. But angels will also accompany Jesus at his second coming. They will actually come back with him at his second coming. Look at these verses in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1. This will happen, it is talking about the judgment that will be poured out on unbelievers. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire. That is his glorious coming, the second coming with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God, do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. So the mighty angels come with Jesus and what they do at the second coming, they are actually involved in some of what Christ will do in the second coming. What they do is they actually are sent out to gather groups that will be gathered to be judged at the second coming. A couple of groups that they are involved in gathering at the second coming, first is the nation of Israel, Matthew chapter 24, verse 31, again on the screen. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. In the Olivet discourse, Matthew 24 and 25, which is all about the second coming, not the rapture, again, it's all about the second coming because it deals with Israel and the trouble Israel goes through in the tribulation time and then the glorious appearing of Christ, the changing of the heavenly bodies at the coming of Christ. And when that happens, which is described in verses 29 and 30, at the second coming, the angels gather his elect. Now again, Olivet discourse dealing with Israel, the elect is Israel, is chosen people. Not church-age saints, it's the nation of Israel. And so they gather the nation of Israel and that's when Israel is judged. But they also gather the nations, the Gentile nations, to be judged. That's in chapter 25, verses 31 and 32. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, second coming, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people one from another because the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. This is that famous sheep and goat judgment where Jesus evaluates people on the evidence of their salvation, their works, what has shown whether or not they're true believers. But the angels come with him and evidently are also involved in gathering the nations for Jesus to judge. That is also described in one of the parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13, where the angels gather the wheat and the tares at the second coming and they're separated out in judgment. So angels are very, very much involved in the life of Christ, announcing his birth during his life after the resurrection and even at his second coming. Any comments or questions there about the angels ministry and relationship to Christ? Yes, sir, Bill. It will be on an individual level, I believe. And again, it's difficult to know exactly how those judgments take place because it would appear that it would take a long time for that to happen on an individual level. So we don't really know how it will happen. I know Tim Lehigh in his books, Tim Lehigh and Jerry Jenkins in the left behind series. They have an interesting theory about how it might happen and that is that everyone is judged at the same time. But it is though they have a personal interview with Christ. It is though they're the only one they are looking at Christ and he is judging them, but that happens with everybody at the same time. Whether or not that's the way it happens, I don't know. But it does appear to be an individual judgment because remember he separates them sheep from goats and it's depending on how you treated the Jewish people in the tribulation time, which is really an evidence of whether or not you were genuinely saved. So it's got to be an individual heart judgment. Remember that's where Jesus says, you know, you saw me sick and tended to me. You saw me in prison and visited me in as much as you do the least of these. You've done it to me. That has to do with how Gentile nations have treated the Jews in the tribulation time. Only by way of application does that apply to us today. It's not really talking about us. It's talking about Gentile nations in the tribulation time. But all the nations will be gathered. There will be individual judgments for people at that time. Yes, sir John? Right? The actual second coming when he's coming to destroy the armies of the Antichrist. It's hard to know what they will do. I mean, we'll be with him too. In Revelation 19, describes it, we're coming with him too. And you know, you kind of wonder, are we going to be a part of this battle, but really we're not. And I don't think the angels are either. The Bible says that Jesus slays Antichrist and his armies with the word of his mouth. He speaks and they are slaughtered. And so I think we will witness that. I think the angels will too. But then the angels, I think, immediately go into work gathering the people for judgment. And we observe, I don't know what we'll be doing, but the first thing we're involved in is when the kingdom is set up at the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's the first thing that we were involved in at the second coming. But Daniel says there's a 75 day window between the second coming and the beginning of the millennium. 75 day mop up time, all the mess from the Battle of Armageddon, all of that, and setting up the earth for Christ's kingdom. Daniel talks about 75 days in between those. So what all will happen during those days? What will be doing? Fascinating to imagine, but we don't really know. Okay, you were asked about angels. I kind of went all over the place with that, but good question. Any other questions? Okay, let's talk about the last few minutes that we have. Let's talk about the relationship of angels in their ministry to believers. And that's what maybe we're most interested in. What do they do for me? What do they do in relationship to us as believers? Well, there is really a wide range of ministries if we can take their ministry to people in the Bible as a model for what they do today. And not all of it is transferable, as we'll see here immediately. Because one of the things they do is revealing. They reveal truth. Now we're going to read the Christmas stories because it's just important that we do that this time of year. And it is a great evidence of their revealing truth to people. Look at Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. Now by revealing things, what I'm talking about is angels are actually communicating, God's will, God's word, God's plan, what he's going to do. They're actually communicating God's truth to people. Seeing what God is saying to them. That's obviously true in the case of Mary in Luke chapter one, verse 26, in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, the town, and Galilee to a virgin pledge to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David, the virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you. So he just begins by greeting her, nothing by way of information yet. No communication of God's truth yet. He just greets her. But verse 29 says, she was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God. Now here's where the revelation of truth begins in verse 31. You will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. So there's a lot of communication of truth here to Mary. She's going to conceive, she's going to have a son. She's told what to name him and she is told who he will be. He's going to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. The Son of God coming to earth, ruling on the throne of his father David, forever. His kingdom will never end. Never end. So Mary says, how will this be? Mary asked the angel since I am a virgin, the angel answered and here again is more communication of truth. The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born would be called the Son of God. So by a miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, she becomes pregnant with the Son of God and that is described by the angel. So the angel is revealing truth to Mary about the birth of Christ. Same thing is true of Joseph in Matthew chapter 1, the other main player in the Christmas story, Matthew 1 verse 20. And after he had considered this, considering actually divorcing Mary, see they were, while they were engaged, engagement was as binding as marriages today in our culture. And so in order to break the engagement, he would have had to go through a formal divorce proceeding, which he was considering doing. She had been in his mind found unfaithful. And that's the only way he could explain what's happened, obviously. It's what everybody would think. And actually under the mosaic law, she could have been stoned to death. But unwilling to do that, he's considering a formal divorce proceeding. This 20 says, but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Moving on through verse 25, the angels communicating what's happening to Joseph so that he understands and commands him to make the right choice to go ahead and take her as his wife, because this is a supernatural work of God. So the Christmas story is all about God revealing truth about the coming of his son to Mary and Joseph and he does it through angels. There are obviously many other places in the Bible where angels communicate God's truth, particularly in the book of Daniel. They explain some of the prophecies to Daniel in chapters 7 and 8. They give Daniel prophecies in chapters 9 and 10 and 11. So angels are very active in communicating God's truth to Daniel. Anything is true with Zachariah and some of the visions that he was given. So God's angels are very active in revealing his truth. Now we believe that the Bible teaches that God is no longer revealing new truth. God's revelation of truth was completed with the ending of Scripture. And Scripture was completed, then God was done revealing new truth. The reason why that's so important, during Bible times when the Bible had not been completed, he did use angels to reveal truth that was just as authoritative as his word. But once his word was completed, Jude refers to it in Jude 3 as the faith once for all delivered to the saints. It's done, it's complete, this is it, this is God's final revelation. And so God is not using angels to reveal new truth. And here's the reason why that's so important. If God is still revealing truth, then what happens with, often with some theology, charismatic theology for instance, is that that revelation becomes just as authoritative to them as the Bible, or to anyone who claims to be getting revelation from God, thus really nullifying the Bible. The Bible is our authority, but there are lots of people who say, well, I know the Bible says this, but God showed me this. God revealed this to me in a dream. And sometimes it's exactly the opposite of the Bible, or against what God says in the Bible. So that just leads to confusion. The Bible makes it clear that once God revealed all of his word, that's the last revelation we get. It is the Holy Spirit's job to help us understand this revelation. That's called illumination. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand the Bible, but God is not revealing new truth through angels today. In fact, you have to be very careful about any supposed messages you get from what you think are angels for this very reason. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 13 and 14. He's talking about false teachers and false apostles who claim to have truth from God. He says, for such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ, and no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. That is dangerous. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that everybody that claims to receive a vision or a dream or a message from an angel is being attacked by Satan or is demon possessed. I'm not saying that, but that is a possibility. That is a distinct possibility. I think some people who claim to have revelation from God are just confused about the terminology. Sure, we all have dreams. We all think maybe at times God may be leading us or speaking to us through dreams, but God is not communicating his truth as authority of the Bible through any means today. The Bible is God's final revelation. And so be careful about claims that God is revealing new truth today because that becomes the basis for me saying, basically, I can do whatever I want to, or I'll start my own little cult. The every cult is started by someone who claims to get a fresh new revelation from God. Right? Mormons. Joseph Smith finds these tablets. New revelation from God starts a whole new religion with that. That's typically what happens with those kinds of things. So be very careful. Yes, in Bible times before God's revelation was complete, angels were used by God to communicate his messages to people and communicate a authoritative truth. This is our authoritative truth now. And God's going to help us understand it through his spirit. Angels have a lot of other things they do for us. I think that particular ministry is done. It was finished after the Bible was completed. Okay? Now, surely I'll raise some questions with that. Okay? Well, what I would say, that's a very interesting observation. And I want to parse it out in two directions. One is that I would say some people feel like they're receiving information from God. But it's information they already know. It's already found in the Bible. They may have heard it. So they dreamed it or they thought they saw something. And that's just a factor of the mind recalling what has already been read or heard or studied. The other thing is do angels communicate truth that has already been revealed or remind us of truth that has already been revealed? That's possible. I don't know for sure. I don't know of any instances in the Bible that I think of right off hand that that happened. But certainly in some of the other ministries that we see them doing like guiding or strengthening and so forth. That might be a part of it. Helping us to recall scripture, for instance, something that's already been revealed. So in that sense, yeah, maybe, maybe so. Okay? Tommy? One of the Holy Spirit's ministries is to illuminate the scripture, to open up the scripture, to help us understand it. First Corinthians 2 talks about that that the truths of the Bible that God has already revealed are a mystery to their foolishness to unsafe people, but they can be discerned and understood by believers because we have Holy Spirit. So that's part of the ministry of the Spirit. Not necessarily. Although, again, God can use angels to do things that He Himself does or that He might have the Holy Spirit do. Angels are sent to do other things that God sometimes does. He does them through His agents, the angels. So it's possible that He might use an angel to remind us of scripture to help us remember something, but the Holy Spirit is also involved in that. It's kind of hard to know who's doing it because we can't see them. Yeah, that is primarily a ministry of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Okay? Very good. Anything else? Yes, sir. Well. Yes, sir. The Jehovah's Witness translation of the Bible is an example of that. Christian science founder, Ellen G. White, the key to science in the scriptures. Her book, she claims that it is as authoritative as scripture. Also going back to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Judge Rutherford, who was the second leader of Jehovah's Witnesses wrote 55 books and those are revered by Jehovah's Witnesses as being authoritative, just like the scriptures. So there are lots of examples of that in the cultic world. If you really study them out, almost every cult would have some document that it looks to as being as authoritative or at least as the official interpreter of the scriptures. Okay? All right, before we get into the next one, we're going to go ahead and stop. There's several things I would want to say about the next one, about the Holy Spirit guiding or the angels guiding. But there are several instances of that in the Bible. We'll come back to that next week. Any other question or comment before we close, John? She may have said something like I told you so. I don't know. Yeah. Oh, it's amazing. And we're going to see a lot more, particularly in relationship to how angels minister to us. It really is amazing. I think typical view of angels is they sit on cloud strumming harps. They really don't do anything. They do a lot. God has them involved in lots of different ways in his work. And we didn't get to it tonight. We will next week. But you know, probably my favorite all time movie. It's a wonderful life, which I will watch again sometime this Christmas season. Clarence is not all that far off, really. As far as what angels may do. We're going to see that sometimes angels do protect us. Sometimes they do deliver us. Sometimes they are involved in reminding us of things. We're going to see all of that. I don't think angels are quite as kooky as Clarence. But you know, anyway, they do some of the same things. Lot of activity. Yes, Jean. There are many people who end up in cults who come out of churches and some out of good Bible believing churches. For whatever reason, they've been deceived or they've been disillusioned with the church and were easy prey for someone else. But cults typically do not win people to their cause like we would win an unsafe person Christ. They don't go after unbelievers. They go after church people pretty much. And so a lot of people in churches get deceived by cults. Interesting you would ask that. We went to the ABC Music Concert on Sunday afternoon. And one of our dear friends up there was telling us about one of their children and their spouse who has just joined a cult. I mean, this is a couple that grew up in a fine Christian family, graduated from Appalachian Bible College. So it happens with people who, for whatever reason, get disillusioned or deceived, it's very tragic. Our time is up. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, thank you for your goodness to us and the way you provide for us and so many things you do. Lord, we're probably more familiar with what you yourself, through your spirit, through your son, and through your own power do for us. We're more familiar with what the Scriptures teach about that. But we thank you that you also send these ministering spirits, the angels, to serve you in helping us in so many ways. Thank you for every provision you've made for our well-being and for our growth in you and conformity to you. We pray and thank you in Jesus' name, amen.