Every year, certain dates are festivals that commemorate important people and events in the church. Sunday 29th September was the one day in the year when the work of God’s angels is commemorated. Only two angels are given names in the Bible – Gabriel and Michael. That’s why last Sunday is called St Michael and All Angels Day. So what better time to think about God’s servants, the angels?
I don’t imagine you think of angels often, but when you do, no doubt the image that rises in your mind is one of people in white robes with wings singing ‘Glory to God in the highest.’ There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s so much more to the angels than singing God’s praises to the shepherds on Christmas morning!
The word ‘angel’ literally means ‘messenger’ and there are many examples in the Bible of angels serving as messengers of God. The angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her she would become the mother of Christ. But who of us has ever received such a visit? I certainly haven’t. Have you? I imagine not!
So what do angels do for us right now? It would be a bit pointless for God to have a whole host of angel messengers only to send a message once every couple of hundred years!
Rather, angels are active for you and me right now! They are God’s servants; they do His will – and they do His will for us. Have you heard the phrase ‘the heavenly host’ or something like it? That’s the Bible’s way of speaking about angels. They are God’s host – His heavenly army. And what does an army do? It guards and fights. That’s what angels do for us. They are God’s servants to defend us against any evil forces that would harm us. Martin Luther put it in this way in his morning and evening prayers: ‘Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil one may have no power over me.’
We know that sin, death and evil have no power over Christians, because Jesus already destroyed their power by His death and resurrection. The thing is, until He comes again, we still live in a broken world and we’re still in danger from all sorts of powers that wish to do us harm. It’s these forces from which the angels protect us – just as the Bible says, that God ‘will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways, so that you will not strike your foot on a stone’ (Psalm 91:11, 12).
We can’t see the angels, but thanks be to God, we know they are there, serving God and protecting His people until we see the Lord face to face and protection is no longer necessary.
‘Lord God, to Thee we all give praise
Our thankful hearts to Thee we raise,
For countless hosts of angels bright
Who serve Thy Son in cloudless light.’