Angels Heb 1:4-14 (part 2)

So far in our study of Hebrews, we have looked at each verse and taken a deep dive into the descriptions of the deity of Christ. In this next section, v 4 to 14, the author of Hebrews compares Jesus to angels. In this comparison, the author is showing us that Jesus is far greater than the angels. To help us better understand this comparison we have paused and studied fallen angels, a couple of weeks ago (If you didn’t hear this sermon, I encourage you to listen on our church website.) Today we will continue to this preparation before getting into the verses in Hebrews by studying the topic of angels.

It is hard to believe that this year is already coming to an end and we are very near Christmas. It is only 13 days away. During this time there are typical things that we see, the Christmas trees, the decorations, the music, the lights, the snow, and pictures of angels. But another thing that is very popular during this time of the year is Christmas movies. Interestingly a lot of these Christmas movies especially Hallmark type movies present different ideas about angels, often the angels are portrayed helping a couple on the brink of divorce or restoring a relationship between a child and parents, or more commonly an angel might help someone find the love of their lives, another common idea is that the angels will restore the Christmas spirit in someone’s life. Our goal today is to see what the Bible tells us about angels and what they do?

As you can imagine we will not cover everything on the topic of angels, just as we did with fallen angels we will be just scratching the surface. It is interesting that even though we often don’t study about angels, we all have beliefs about angels that often have no biblical support. I think the reason is that instead of a careful systematic study of Scripture, we replaced it with the bombarding information the world sends us about angels. I think we have two tendencies as we receive worldly information about angels, one is to just disregard everything, or we very slowly throughout the years accept the ideas and beliefs about angels as they are presented to us without considering what the Bible teaches. To help correct our understanding we will only look at two questions: What are angels? and What do angels do?

What Are Angels?

So what are angels? the first thing that everyone thinks or associates angels with are wings. We all in one way or another assume that angels have wings. But do they all have wings?

Now I’ll need you to interact with me, when you think of angels, what scripture passages do you think of?

There are almost 300 verses that mention angels in Scripture. The next slide shows the references to angels by books of the Bible. From this graph, we can see the most reference to angels is in the book of Revelation with almost 80 references. Looking at the books by order we can see some that stand out: Genesis, Judges, Zechariah, Luke, Acts, Hebrews, and Revelation.

Let’s take only 6 books in order and look at some of these references.

Genesis: Angel appearing to Hagar, Sarah’s servant Gen 16, then angels went to Sodom where Lot invite them to his house in Gen 19, we see also Jacob dreaming of angels ascending and descending on a ladder in Gen 28, later before Jacob meets his brother Esau he is met by angels in Gen 32.

Judges: We see an angel appearing to Gideon in Judges 6, and an angel appearing to Samson’s parents in Judges 13

Zechariah: The prophet Zechariah had different visions and in them often angels are referred to. Zechariah 6 describes angels patrolling the earth and reporting it to God.

Luke: It is the one we are more familiar with during this time of the year: angel appearing to Zechariah, to Mary and Joseph, to the shepherds in Luke 1 and 2.

The book of Acts: Acts 5 we see an angel opening the prison door for the apostles, then in Acts 8 we see an angel directing Philip so he would meet the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 10 an angel appeared to Cornelius instructing him to call for Peter, Acts 12 an angel appeared to Peter in prison and led him out of prison.

Then lastly the book of Revelation, there are almost 80 references to angels in this letter alone. Clearly, I’m not going to mention all of them here. Similarly to the prophet Zechariah, here John sees different visions of heaven and prophetic visions of the future, where we see the angels pouring God’s wrath on earth in Rev 16, and Rev 7 we see angels worshipping God.

As you can see we didn’t mention all the passages that refer to angels, such as Numbers 22 Balaam’s Donkey and the angel or Isaiah 6 and the vision of Isaiah and the angels worshipping God day and night or in Daniel as an angel shut the mouths of the lions.

What Are Angels?

But what we might observe from these references is that what is recurrent between all of them is not the description of wings, most of the references don’t mention wings. What is common is the fact that when people recognize that what they saw were angels, it caused them great fear and they worship God and God’s plans were carried out.

The idea that angels have wings is not completely untrue, because as we will see some types of angels are described with wings. But this association of angels and wings is so common that many unbelievers also make this association. Christmas’ classic It’s a wonderful life: every time you hear a bell ringing an angel gets his wings. Sadly, the topic of angels is an easy “spiritualized” way to dismiss the question of eternal judgment and the fact that there are only two destinations after death: heaven or hell.

Scripture gives plenty of confidence that human beings cannot “become” or transform into angels. Actually, we see in Scripture that human beings are lower than the angels. Psalm 8:4-5 “ what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

And then Paul says in 1 Cor 6:3 “3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” Every time I read this passage in Scripture I want to respond to Paul, no I had no idea Paul that we are to judge angels. But this indicates that even though now we are lower than angels after the resurrection redeemed human beings are going to be placed in higher authority than angels.

The close association we have of angels and wings surprises me because this is not the most common way angels are described in Scripture as we have seen from the verses we look at previously. The bible also indicates that there are different types of heavenly beings or angels: Cherubim, Seraphim, Living Creatures and messengers

Cherubim when we hear the word Cherubim we think it is a singular, one angel, but this word is the plural for Cherub. Gen 3:24 says that God placed cherubim to guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden. In the OT on top of the ark of the covenant, there were two figures of cherubim with their wings stretched above the ark. Also, God’s throne is said to be above the cherubim, Ezekiel 10 and Psalm 18.

The other type of angel is Seraphim, which is also a plural word. The Seraphim are mentioned only in Isaiah 6: 2-7. The Seraphim are in God’s presence continually worshipping God saying: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

There is another type of angel Scripture describes, The Living Creatures: these are around God’s throne and they are referred to as “living creatures” and they like the Seraphim worship God day and night. These are described in Ezekiel 1 and Rev 4.

If we look at the descriptions of these three types of angels you will see that each of them has a different kind of wing. However, there is another type of angel described in Scripture, which I’m naming messengers, that is what the name angel means: messenger. These are described by most of the occurrences in Scripture when God opens people’s eyes to see angels, it seems that they take a bodily form to appear, sometimes they are seen just like strangers. Like in Gen 19 as Lot invited the two angels to his house, it seems that Lot and all the men of the town saw them just like strangers. Other times like in Judges 13 as an angel appeared to Samson’s parents it cause them great fear. Also in the passages that we are familiar with during Christmas, the appearance of the angels to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and to the Shepherds, what is common in these passages is not wings, actually, there is no description of wings at all in Luke, what is common in these appearances is that it cause them to fear and have awe of God, and amazement of the message.

But you might ask: how did people see angels? Scripture teaches that angels are invisible and cannot be seen unless God gives a special ability to see them. Here are some scripture verses, notice what is recurrent between all of them, God opened their eyes.

Num 22:31 “31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face.”

2 Kings 6:17 “17 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.”

And this passage that we are familiar with during Christmas, the shepherds in the field. Luke 2:13 “13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God” then in v.15 as the shepherds talk to each other to go to Bethlehem because the Lord has made known to us”

Have you ever wondered why people in Bethlehem didn’t see the bright light in the fields? or hear all these angels singing praise to God?

PAUSE

It is because only the shepherds' eyes and ears were open to see and hear the angels. Is it amazing that God only opens the eyes and ears of these dirty, smelly, despised shepherds? What a privilege and honor they had, the nobodies to the world are important to God.

We like the shepherds might think of ourselves as nobodies, the world will say to us that we are nobodies. We are undeserving of God’s glory and grace, we haven’t seen the angels announcing Christ’s birth, but we have seen Christ by faith, believing in Him, loving Him. There is no greater privilege and honor than to have our sins carried by Christ, receive His righteousness, know Him in our hearts, and love Him and long for His return. This is a privilege that will last an eternity.

Going back to our study of angels, we also see that angels have a beginning, they were created. Paul tells us in Col 1:16 “16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Here Paul is also saying that angels were created, by saying visible and invisible, and also the phrase “thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” is pointing to angels.

The fact that angels were created can also be seen in the OT, considering that angels are sometimes are referred to as hosts, look at this verse from Neh 9:6 “6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”

You might say: I don’t remember reading anything about angels in the genesis account. If we remember that host is a reference to angels, it says Gen 2:1 “1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” It doesn’t mention specifically in Gen 1 in the account of creation, but there might be a hint of the creation of angels in Gen 1:1 “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” then in v2 it doesn’t mention the heaven just the earth that was without form and void, it is possible that this void on earth is contrasting with heaven where perhaps God had already created angelic beings.

This idea is confirmed by Job (keep in mind that Sons of God is often a reference to angels in the OT) Job 38:6-7 it says that the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy at the time God laid the cornerstone of the earth and sunk its bases. Thus if the angels shouted for joy when God made the earth habitable, this might indicate that God created angels on the first day.

One last observation on what are angels, in Scripture there is a reference to only two names of angels: Gabriel and Michael. Gabriel is described in Dan 8 and 9 as the messenger from God to Daniel, and also in Luke 1 as the messenger to Zechariah and to Mary. While Michael is mentioned in Dan 10, Jude 9 and Rev 12. In these three references, Michael is referred to as “one of the chief princes”, an archangel and a leader in the angelic army. This indicates that there is rank and order among the angels.

In the same way, Scripture does not give us a lot of details about the creation of angels it also doesn’t give us much information about how many archangels there are or if there are other ranks of angels.

As we explored the question of what are angels, it seems that we know very little, Scripture does not give us many details but it gives us exactly what we need to know, and we need to be content with what God has revealed to us through His word.

However, you might ask: if angels are not what often movies portray or even what we see pictured, especially during this time of the year, what does the Bible tell us about what do angels do?

What Do Angels Do?

Some might think that angels play baseball.

PAUSE

Or that angel’s main job description is to minister to humans, to protect us, etc. While this idea of angels serving us is not completely untrue, that is not the only role scripture outlines.

Considering the Scripture passages we looked at earlier, which is an abridged selection for certain about angels it seems that there are three main roles that angels have: they worship, they watch, and they serve.

WORSHIP

One of the most obvious seems to be that of worshipping God. We see this especially with the Cherubim, Seraphim, and living creatures as they worship God day and night.

In addition, the most common type of angel, the messengers is also described as worshipping God. It says in Rev 5:11 the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, were saying with a loud voice: Worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

We also see in Scripture commands to angels to praise God. Psalm 103:20 “20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!” and Psalm 148:2 “2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!” We also see angels praising God when Christ was born in Luke 2:14.

There is also an indication from scripture that when we gather together to worship God, we are joining with angels in the worship of God. Towards the end of Heb chapter 12, it says in v22 that when believers gather together to worship we join “innumerable angels in festal gathering.”

WATCH

The second role of angels we see from Scripture is to watch. We can see this clearly from this passage from the prophet Zechariah where he sees a vision describing angelic beings patrolling the earth and reporting it to the Lord. Zechariah chapter 1, says in v 10 “These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth”, then in v 11 they report to the Lord saying “we have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest”. This idea is repeated in Zech chapt 6, as he sees a vision he sees some angelic beings going out from the Lord to patrol the earth.

This is also supported by what Jesus said in Luke 15:10 “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” This seems to indicate that angels are observing what is happening and they rejoice when people are obedient to God. If they rejoice that likely means that they grieve when we don’t obey God.

Peter also said that angels are watching the unfolding of God’s plans. 1 Peter 1:12 says that “angels long to look”, for what did they long to look?, the context of the passage tells us, the unfolding of God’s plan of grace as it works out in our lives each day.

All these passages indicate that angels do observe what is happening in our world, in our church, and in our lives. This should cause us to recognize that there is no such thing as a hidden sin. There is nothing we can hide from God. And if His omniscience and omnipresence weren’t enough, angels are also observing us in order to see God’s plan unfolding in our lives.

We know that our obedience to God might encourage a believer or an unbeliever to look to God and praise Him. But that’s not all, our obedience, our love to God, our trust in Him through difficult situations will contribute to angels in their worship of God. What a thought to chew on and remember once in a while. Our obedience to God is an encouragement for angels to worship God.

PAUSE

SERVE

Lastly, perhaps just as obvious that angels worship is their role of service. Here is probably where there is the most distortion by movies or TV shows. They are portrayed as having the ultimate purpose of serving us, in a sense to make us happy. However, that is not what Scripture teaches, the truth is angels are God’s servants.

They are sent out by God to bring people to see Him and His glory to bring about His purposes or plans. In the familiar Christmas story alone we see God sending an angel to Zechariah, to Mary and Joseph, and to the shepherds. All with the purpose of bringing about God’s plan. We see that ultimately the angels were serving God, while at the same time we could argue that they also serve the people and encourage them to do what God was calling them to do. But notice that the angels' service is not about us, it tell us about God and the fulfillment of His plans. While at the same time we see God’s care for His people, giving what we need to do what He asks. It also shows God’s love for His people, revealing Himself to unworthy people, ultimately giving Himself to us. Which is what we really should be reminded of every Christmas. The worthy, sinless, mighty savior coming down to save unworthy sinners.

Angels might serve us for God’s glory for His purposes, it is never about our comfort or just to make us happy. God is not going to send his angels so we will be more self-centered and self-focused than we already are. God wants us to focus on Him, to trust Him, and when we do He might send angels to protect us, like Daniel as God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions in Dan 6:22; the apostles were taken out of prison by an angel in Acts 5, then later Peter again was delivered out of prison in Acts 12.

God uses various ways to protect us, we shouldn’t be surprised if God sends angels to protect us, even if we are unaware, listen to what Psalm 91:11-12 says “11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”

Maybe you have been saved miraculously from a car accident that should have killed you, and you wondered maybe it was an angel that protected you. You might be tempted to think that it’s all about you. That is not a good place to be, we don’t need to be more self-centered than we already are. Ultimately we matter because we are God’s servants. It is all about God and His plans and purposes.

The reason we all are alive today is because God has a plan and a purpose for your life, your time is not up until He will accomplish everything He had planned to carry out through your life.

Eph 2:10 “10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

David Livingstone was a missionary in Africa, in the midst of a pandemic he was questioned why he was still doing his ministry work. This is what he said:

"I am immortal till my work is accomplished," David Livingstone

He had high confidence not only in God’s care and provision, but that God will accomplish everything he Had planned to carry out through his life.

May we never forget in the midst of all our obligations in this life that primarily we are servants of God, Christ’s ambassadors, we are God’s servants, serving the King, who was, who is and who is to come.

As we sing the closing hymn, remember that we serve the King as well, like the angels in worshipping Jesus.

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