Angels are a Spiritual Reality

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who loved you with his very life. Amen.

So were going to do something a little different, we are going to take a little break from our lectionary assigned readings for the day to talk about something else. Angels. Last week there was a church holiday and because it didn’t fall on a Sunday, it’s not in the bulletin, but it’s still worth talking about. That holiday is, “The Festival of St. Michael and All Angels.” Also known by its snappier name, “Michaelmas,” spelled like “Christmas” but with Michael instead of Christ.

Pausing and celebrating this feast day brings t our attention something unseen: that is, there are spiritual beings that we can’t see that exist around us and effect our world and our lives. Angels and demons are real creatures. And just because we can’t see them, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

Michael is one of two-ish angels the Bible names. Michael and Gabriel. Gabriel seems to be God’s messenger and Michael his general. Michael shows up all over the Bible. Presumably he is there at Jericho with Joshua. Daniel, in the text for today’s sermon, has a vision of Michael. John, when he writes Revelation, sees a vision of Michael and this war in heaven, when Satan and his followers are cast out permanently. And there are possibly more instances in the Bible, like, the events leading up to Sodom and Gomorrah, but it’s hard to say for sure.

So what do angels have to do with us? Quite a bit, actually.

I heard an analogy about this from a great preacher that stuck with me, so I want to share that with you.

Have you ever driven past a roadside shrine? I’m guessing you have. There on the side of a road, often times a county highway or back road, you will see a cross at some point marking a tragedy. That there, on the side of the road is a cross, sometimes adorned with flowers and Mylar balloons, perhaps even stuffed animals. You know what I’m talking about.

These signs memorialize a place of danger. Something bad happened there. And as you cruise by it going 60 you are reminded of the dangers of driving that road. The road you travel is not always safe, and these road side shrines remind us of the reality of danger. They remind us to be careful. Or at least they should. Maybe you have become so accustomed to them, that you hardly notice them anymore, which is in itself a tragedy.

The Bible and its description of angels is like one of those road side shrine. It’s there to remind us that this road we travel isn’t always safe. That there is a danger that we are not always thinking about, but it is always present, and it’s better to be prepared for it, put on that seat belt, hands at 10 and 2, keep the eyes off the phone, it’s better to be aware and prepared, then to experience the danger first hand.

So it is with spiritual beings. You need to know that they are a thing, and they are active in this world. And at the same time, have a healthy understanding of them and their impact on your life.

First, what that means for you is that some of the troubles in your life are cause by outside forces, by angels and fallen angels. Some problems are. The apostle Paul talks about this when he says in Ephesians 6, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Some of your struggles, spiritual and otherwise are a result of unseen spiritual forces. These battles are intentional to get you to rely on Christ less, intentionally to shake your faith and lead you away from Jesus. Our enemy, the devil, and his forces don’t want us to trust in Jesus, in fact they want us to trust in literally anything else, as long as it it causes us to lose faith in Jesus.

And our sinful nature is all too happy to go along, to follow the prompting and reject God. When we sin, that’s exactly what we do. We ignore God, we ignore Jesus, and what God’s will is for our lives and we fall into the ancient trap that snared Adam and Eve, “did God really say?”

Our enemy is clever. On top of leading us down the road of temptation, he also plays on our insecurities and doubts. The enemy will cause us to struggle, then to sin, and then nail us with those sins, saying things like, “I can’t believe you did that. You knew it was sinful and you did it anyway. There is no way God could forgive you. Not this time. It was one too many. So you might as well stop trying. God doesn’t care about you any more. He will judge you and condemn you.”

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There is a danger traveling this journey. Seeing the roadside shrine can help us be prepared, to know that there are dangers out there. Lies that seek to destroy us, seek to lead us away from Christ, lies that seek to drag us down to condemnation with them.

But today we celebrate St. Michael and the angels, not our enemy. Today there really is good news! The first piece of good news is this: Satan has been cast out. The text for today from Luke talks about how Jesus saw the devil be cast out from heaven and fall to earth like lightning. IN other words, quickly. And the Revelation of St. John teaches us that it was Michael the archangel who lead the battle that cast him down.

There are some hugely comforting things here to discuss. We are going to talk about two of them. First, The accuser is gone because of Christ. The word “Satan” is a title, not a name. Kind of like how the word “Christ” is a title, not a name. Anyway, the word “Satan” means, “Accuser.”

In the book of Job, we see the devil accuse job before God. But no more. There is no one who can accuse you before God, because you are in Christ. The lies that God will condemn you don’t stand, because you are in Christ.

Those thoughts that God would reject you really hit home, and that’s because they come from the Accuser. But you belong to Jesus. Jesus came to earth and paid the price for your sins. It is finished, he says to you form the cross. Jesus rose from the dead and opened to you the path of everlasting life, that when you believe in him you will live in his new creation forever.

What sins have been forgiven? All of them. All past sins, wiped away. All present sins, gone, all future sins, paid for. Jesus has forgiven you. There is no accusation that can stick, for you belong to Christ and you will dwell with him forever. Satan has been cast out. It’s over. Christ has secured for you, for you the victory.

-pause

Secondly. Michael isn’t the only angel out there. When you think back to confirmation class, perhaps you remember learning Luther’s morning or evening prayers. And there is this line in both of them, “Let your holy angel be with me that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.”

There are holy angels with us. Even right now, probably. I imagine they come with us to church on Sunday, to worship the same God. And they help us fight. They help us resist temptation and the devil. They helps us from falling into the power of the evil foe.

How? By the power of Jesus Christ, the same power that cast out Satan from heaven is at work to protect you, to point you back to Jesus, to the one who saves you from sin, from death, and yes, from the devil. They work and help us think of what Christ has done to save us, by Jesus death and resurrection, and the forgiveness and life he won for us there.

And so while there is always a danger while traveling, the shrines on the side of the road still there. There is danger that we too can fall, that we can fall into temptation, into the traps set for us, that we can believe the lies of the evil foe. It’s good to be aware of this danger.

It is also true that we are not alone in the fight. That God sends his angels to be with us. More than that, we have a greater ally, God himself. Who speaks truth when the devil lies, A God who always forgives you because of what Jesus has done. Amen.