Sunday Sermon

"Angels"
[Mark 16:1-8]
December 17, 2006 Second Reformed Church

Do you believe in angels? The Bible tells us throughout its sixty-six books that there are angels. Do you believe in angels? Perhaps I should ask, "what do you believe about angels?" In recent years, Americans have become obsessed with angels. Our culture has gotten its understanding of angels from television, in programs like "Highway to Heaven" and "Touched by an Angel." Despite how nice and encouraging and "moral" these program are, they have led to confusion; they have led to people embracing wrong ideas about angels. And my guess would be that, no matter what the Bible says, some will respond, "Well, it may not be in the Bible, but I believe its true." Here's the problem with that kind of "logic" -- we end up relating to angels incorrectly, and we misunderstand and diminish their true purpose.

Let me offend some of you right off the bat by denouncing three popular understandings:

First, angels are not gods; they are not equal to God; they do not advise God. Angels are creatures, created by God, just like squirrels and humans and cows and dolphins and bats. In the order of creatures -- in their relation to God, humans are a little lower than the angels, and all other creatures are lower than humans (Psalm 8:5).

Second, humans do not become angels when they die. Humans remain humans when they die. Angels are angels and humans are humans. We are different species.

Third, there is no such thing as a "guardian angel." We do have contact with the angels and work with the angels, but the Bible knows nothing of each person being assigned one particular angel to watch over him or her.

Those are Hollywood non-realities.

Now let us turn back to this morning's Scripture:

Israel celebrated the Sabbath, and early on the morning of the first day of the week, just as the sun was beginning to rise, at least four women, went to the tomb of Jesus to embalm His Body according to Jewish custom. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses, Salome, and Joanna (Luke 24:10), perhaps with other women, went to the tomb of Jesus, where they had seen Him buried, and they went they to embalm His dead Body. They carried myrrh with them to embalm Him; they had no expectation that He was risen.

No one had understood, with all the times Jesus explained to them that He would die and then rise, that He would rise from the dead. Well, that's not entirely true, none of Jesus' disciples understood, but the Pharisees understood what He said: remember last week we saw them go to Pilate to have the tomb sealed and guarded, so the disciples would not be able to steal Jesus' Body and make it look as though He had risen from the dead.

And they brought myrrh, the embalming spice. And we may remember that the Baby Jesus was present with a gift of myrrh by the magi from the East (Matthew 2:11). Is it any wonder that we're told that Mary "pondered these things in her heart"? Have you ever given the mother of a newborn embalming fluid as a gift?

On the way to the tomb, the women wondered how they would get into the tomb: remember, the tomb was covered by a massive stone door that had been rolled down into a gully in front of the tomb's opening, so it would be extremely difficult to enter. And, even so, there were Roman guards making sure no one tried to move the stone.

But before they arrived, we're told, "there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men" (Matthew 28:2-4). The mighty Roman guards fainted.

And the women arrived and "behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground," (Luke 24:4b-5a).

Let us stop here in the text and consider three surprises the Bible tells us about angels:

First, the surprise of their presence. Angels have a habit of just appearing, and we humans find that very disconcerting! So, we see that the angel or angels who appear usually begin by calming down the humans they have just appear in front of.

When Gabriel appeared to Mary, he said, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God" (Luke 1:30). And when the angel appeared to the shepherds, he said, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people" (Luke 2:10). And when the angel appeared to Peter in jail, he just appeared, "And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell" (Acts 12:7). And at the tomb, "the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay'" (Matthew 28:2-6).

We normally do not see angels, so when they appear, their presence is surprising; if they make themselves known. What do I mean? I mean that some of us may have met angels. The writer of Hebrews warns us, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews 13:2). When an angels appears, his presence is a surprise. But we ought to be aware that there are times when an angel comes in disguise, and we will not recognize him.

Second, the surprise of their appearance. What do you think of when you think of an angel? I would guess that most of us picture a man with wings or a baby with wings -- specifically when we think of cherubs, or cherubim. We have three different descriptions of types angels in the Scripture -- well, four, if we include those that we don't recognize to be angels, that we just saw in Hebrews.

In most of the accounts in Scripture, the angels that are described look like men -- like humans -- with one small difference -- (and it's not wings) -- from this morning’s text, "And as they went into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right wearing a brilliant white robe." In most of the accounts, the angel looks exactly like a human being except for the fact that the Glory of God is radiating off of him as visible light. And it is that Glory that the people find terrifying.

We also have descriptions of two particular species of angels: the seraphim and the cherubim. Of the seraphim we are told, "Above [the Lord] stood the seraphim. Each had six wings; with two he covered his face, and two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory'" (Isaiah 6:2-3). The seraphim seem to look like humans, except they have three pairs of wings.

It was the cherubim, however, whom God set at the entrance to the Garden of Eden, so neither Adam, nor Eve, nor anyone else would ever return, "[God] drove out the man, and at the East of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24). Much less cute babies and more like bouncers, Ezekiel describes the cherubim -- don't be confused by the cherubim's use of wheels to do their work -- the wheels are not attached to the cherubim: "The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings. And I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside each cherubim, and one beside each cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling beryl. And as for their appearance, the four had the same likeness, as if a wheel were within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went, but in whatever direction the front wheel faced, the others followed without turning as they went. And their whole body, their backs, their hands, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around -- the wheels that the four of them had. As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing 'the whirling wheels.' And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was a human face, and the third the face of the lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle" (Ezekiel 10:8-14). Rather than being cute, the cherubim are pictured are a terrifying army. These beings have four faces: one that is their natural face, one that looks like a human, one that looks like a lion, and one that looks like an eagle. They have wings, and under each wing, they have a hand. And their entire bodies are covered with eyes. That's not any baby I have ever seen!

Third, the surprise of their message. We could pose the question this way: what is the main point or purpose of these beings? What is the primary reason they exist? Whether they are unrecognizable, or shine the Glory of God, or have wings, or look exceedingly unlike anything we know, like the cherubim, what is their chief end? It may help to know that the word that we translate "angel," aggelos, means "messenger." Angels exist to carry a specific message. What message?

Gabriel's message to Mary was, "And behold, you shall conceive a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:31-33). And the angel told the shepherds, "'For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased'" (Luke 2:11-14). The message of the angels, the purpose of the angels, is to announce that Jesus is God, the Savior, in His Birth, in His Life, in His Resurrection. Jesus is Lord and Christ, receive Him.

The angel at the tomb said, "He is risen; he is not here. Look at the place where he was laid. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he has gone ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you." The message and work of the angels is the same as the message and work of Christians: tell everyone -- the whole creation -- that Jesus is God the Savior, there is Salvation only in Him, repent and believe.

That's why Peter was in jail when the angel came to him, "On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ... [And Peter said,] 'let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead -- by him this man is standing before you well.' ... [And the rulers said,] 'but in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.' So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard'" (Acts 4:5-6, 10, 17-20).

Angels are all around us, and they are our co-workers in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As John found out on Patmos, "I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down and worshiped at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, 'You must not do that! I am your fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and those who keep the words in this book. Worship God'" (Revelation 22:8-9). Angels are not to be worshiped; they are our co-workers in Christ and for the Glory of Christ.

The angels serve with us and minister to us that we might serve all the better. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14).

Do you believe in angels? Do we understand who they are and who they are not better for looking to the Scripture? And do we understand that they exist to Glorify God, just as we do, and to preach the message of Salvation in Jesus Christ, just as we are to do?

After the women heard the message that Jesus was risen, they ran from the tomb, terrified of the angels, and they told no one on the way back what had happened, but we know that they went to the disciples and told them, and the disciples went throughout the world and told others, and now we are charged -- not just ministers -- but all Christians -- to tell the message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Are we too small? Are we too weak? Does it all seem so hopeless?

The servant of the prophet Elisha was discouraged as he saw the armies of the king of Syria approaching: "When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, 'Alas, my master! What shall we do?' He said, 'Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more powerful that those who are with them.' And Elisha prayed and said, 'O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.' So the Lord open the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (II Kings 6:15-17).

Be encouraged: the angels are all around us, working together with us, to see that this Work of God will be done. We and the angels have been sent out with a message: God Incarnate on the first Christmas, He lived under His Own Law perfectly, He was crucified, suffered Hell and the Wrath of God for all our sins, and rose from the dead to save His people, to the Glory of the Father.

May our eyes be opened, like the servant of Elisha. May we be confident of the angels ministering among us, whether we ever see them in this life, and may we, with the angels, fulfill our purpose, to the Glory of Jesus, now and forever.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for raising Jesus from the dead, securing our salvation, and bringing Glory to Yourself. We thank You that we humans are not alone, but we have brothers in the ranks of the angels at work in the ministry with us. Make us faithful servants, steadfast in Your Word. In Jesus' Name, Amen.