“Our Angels”

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Sometimes God gives us hints.  For example, he told Abraham, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Ge 12.3).  With the benefit of hindsight, we can say that this refers to Jesus, but there’s no way Abraham could have figured this out when God first made the promise!  God has given some of these hints to us, too, and we’re still left speculating as to what exactly they mean.  To be clear, he’s revealed to us far more than to Abraham, or anyone in the Old Testament era.  “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” and this is more than the understanding, but the actual substance of those things!  They come “through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2Pe 1.3), meaning Jesus.  But there are still some mysteries remaining. 

One of these topics concerns the nature and involvement of angels in the world today.  From the hints and tidbits God has shared with us, mankind has built a detailed and often amusing set of conclusions.  Examples include guardian angels, longs lists of angels by name, a hierarchy of different types of angel (cherub, seraph, archangel, etc.), elaborate stories about Satan’s angelic origins, and more.  It’s not fair to say that all of this is complete nonsense, but much of it is the equivalent of attempting to recreate an elaborate work of architecture based on observations of two or three tiny bricks that may have come from the original building.  It’s a foolish pursuit; but there’s a kernel of truth at the center, a small hint God has shared with us, and while we ought to toss out the whole set of man-made ideas and stories about angels, we also ought to hold on to what God has actually told us.  Angels appear far too often in the Bible for us to consider each instance here, but a few are worth mentioning and examining.

When Elisha was surrounded by an army dedicated to killing or capturing him, God sent an army of angels to assist him, but they remained invisible.  His servant was afraid, but Elisha reassured him,

“those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6.16-17)

We could easily dismiss that as the product of another time, under a different covenant, and far different from our own situation today.  Yet, in one of the most contentious and confusing passages of the New Testament, Paul strongly implies there were unseen angels around in his day, too!  He says that “a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels” (1Co 11.10).  What exactly this means will be debated until Christ returns; but Paul had been talking about worship, and especially the worship of the assembled saints, and here he says that angels are at least somehow involved in that worship.  Are they actually present?  We don’t know—but Jesus tells us in Matthew 18.20 that he most certainly is, and angelic participation is no great leap from there.

In that same chapter Jesus says something about angels that should get our attention:

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18.10)

Their angels?  Does each child have his own angel?  Does each adult?  What’s going on here?  Again, we don’t know, but when Peter was supposed to be in jail and yet showed up outside the house of Mark’s mother (in Acts 12.12-17), the Christians inside “kept saying, ‘It is his angel!’” In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, letters to the churches of Asia begin, “to the angel of the church in” each city.  Perhaps these are all unrelated, and in Peter’s case the story could reflect a misconception among early Christians, not so different from when they insisted Gentiles converts be circumcised.  But in any case, it’s easy to see how, through the centuries, people turned this sort of hint into the concept of the guardian angel.

The author of Hebrews throws us another curve: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (He 13.2).  This reason doesn’t matter much, unless it’s still possible to encounter angels in the New Testament era.  It’s worth noting that during the life of Christ and the early church there was also tremendous demonic activity on earth, some of which left little doubt something both evil and supernatural was going on.  It’s understandable that God may have loosened their chains, so to speak, in order to more clearly demonstrate the power and goodness of his Son.  Perhaps he also increased angelic activity on earth at the same time, and both have since stopped.  But that’s speculation, just like the elaborate catalogue of angels’ names and jobs—we really just don’t know.

But although we don’t see obvious angelic activity around us today, God has at least hinted that they are still here, doing his bidding on earth, and generally going unnoticed.  We shouldn’t assume we’ll get—or have already gotten—angelic assistance with our battles and struggles in this life.  Even if they’re right next to us, we’ll be like Elisha’s servant, completely blind to their presence.  But it is good to ponder the hints God has given us, and to appreciate that he would consider sending his agents to help us.  Then, we should trust him all the more as we seek to do his will in this world.

Jeremy Nettles

Share