Angels: The Lord's Army

My grandmother had collected many decorative and ceramic angels over the course of her life. She loved angels and said that see them brought her comfort. She would talk about how she thought that it was her guardian angel that helped her live as long as she did. She had a strong belief in guardian angels. because of her, I also believed in guardian angels. Now, I still do, but it is because of the things that I am going to share with you today.

We have talked about in the past few weeks all the ways we can defend ourselves against the enemy and also about the ways we can be open to attacks. Today I want to give you a little comfort and talk about who is also fighting with you and fighting for you.

Pray and read Hebrews 1:5-14

Jesus is the Head of All!

The main point that Paul is making is that Jesus is the King of Heaven and ruler over all things, heaven and earth. Even still, angels are real. Paul doesn’t say anything about them not being real, but instead that they are real and exist lower than Christ on the divine hierarchy. This passage describes a great order of all things in Heaven and on Earth. This chapter and chapter 2 talk in detail regarding the order of Heaven and Earth. This is the order: God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then, are the Angels. Paul wanted us to understand that Jesus is above the Angels even though He became human for a time. Then, there is all of us humans. There is also orders within the orders. Such as all of humanity is sovereign over the created things of this earth. There is also a hierarchy of Angels. Different kinds of angels serve different functions.

All angels, like what all of humanity is designed to do though not all of us do this, are designed to worship and praise God. In our passage today,verse 6 says that the angels are to worship Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, of course is higher than the angels. Jesus reigns over the angels. Yet something else to note in this passage is that all of heaven and earth will be remade, made new. We often times think solely of there being a new earth that will look like Heaven. Yet, the reality is that all of heaven and earth will be made new, Paul states this in verse 11. Even the high places were angels reside will be made new. When I think about it this way, it brings up an interesting point to me. When Jesus makes His final return, which we will hear more about next week, we are going to be counted among the angels. Yet we are not angels. Angels, like demons do exist, and we are going to talk about the different roles of them.

Archangels

There are chief angels that is called Archangels. In reading the Christian Bible, we know of the Archangel Michael who is the Warrior Angel. Then of course there is Gabriel who brings the message of the Lord. There are other archangels named in Jewish Tradition such as Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Remiel, and Sariel. We can read a little about Michael in Daniel and also in Jude 9

Jude 9 NRSV

But when the archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a condemnation of slander against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

We will be hearing about Gabriel again very soon since this angel plays a big part in proclaiming the birth of Jesus.

Cherubim and Seraphim

We we think about Cherubim and Seraphs, we get an image of a baby angel. Some even think about Valentine's Day and the cherubs arrows causing love. Although those notions are sweet and endearing, they are not biblical. Starting back at the beginning of time, after the Fall, God sent cherubim, plural for cherub, to stand guard at the Garden of Eden. We read that in Genesis 3:24

Genesis 3:24 NRSV

He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

In Sandra Richter's study Epic of Eden, she tells us about the historical importance of Cherubim. They are creatures that have the face of a human, wings like eagles, and bodies like lions. They stand guard at the throne of God. The images of Cherubim were carved on the Ark of the Covenant standing guard of the presence of God. You can find this information in Exodus, through Kings and Isaiah.

Isaiah describes Seraphim in Isaiah 6:1-7

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.””

These two groups of angels can be described as though the Cherubim is the defensive guards and the Seraphim is the offensive guards of the King and the Kingdom. The Archangel Michael leads the Lord’s Army.

Servant Angels / Angels of the Lord

But there are other angels that serve God and gives protection to God’s people. Multiple times in the Bible, to many to mention, are times were angels are sent to help those who do the work of the Lord. One example is when Elijah was aided with bread and milk during a time of distress. They bring messages of divine revelations, epiphanies, and prophecy to God’s people. We know they are among us, because Paul tells us so when he says, in Hebrews 13:2-3.

Hebrews 13:2 NRSV

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Does this bring you some comfort to know that God provides such divine protection and guidance for you? We know we have Jesus as our King and the Holy Spirit as our guide, but we also have help from angel armies who are fighting the evil ones and the Enemy in ways that we cannot fight. Although most of the work and understanding of angels is unknown, we do know that they fight for us and alongside us.

Do you believe that you have a guardian angel? Maybe with your life, you feel like you have more than one? God is always with us, and there are angels always around us.

In the Name of The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.