Angels among US
This is part of the sermon I gave at Altona Baptist Church on the 24 of December, 2017.
I would like to tell you something about the fascination of angels giving us messages from God today. Some Christians today like to emphasize that angels are to do our bidding, but the Word of God says that they do God’s bidding, not ours, Psalm 104:4 – Heb. 1:8.
In some other cases, I’ve heard that angels bring new words of revelation from God. They say to God’s people about a beginning of a “new season”, or “such a time like this”, this second one referring to God making something or someone does something in a specific situation, echoing Esther 4:14. As a matter of fact, these two phrases are found time and time again in charismatic circles. There seems to be a never-ending time for “new seasons” or a never-ending raising of people of “such a time like this”. Some claim that the Lord has told me to say such things, which is bad enough, turning themselves to be false prophets, cf. Deut. 18:14-22, but specifically verses 20-22. But, do angels still bring words from the Lord to his people?
As we saw, God used angels to bring his Word to his people, especially Mary, Lk. 1:26-38. But we did also notice, that Gabriel’s message was heavy on God’s word and not some new revelation. Even the angel that was sent to John to reveal the book of Revelation, cf. Rev. 1:1, was heavy on his use of OT Scripture!! Angels are to keep God’s Word, Psalm. 103:20. So, if you hear someone who has told you that an angel has revealed this or that, check it out with Scripture if what they have said aligns with the Word of God. If not, you know that that wasn’t an angel from God, rather, an angel of darkness, cf. 2 Cor. 11:13-15. There’s a person in the USA, that says that the angel of destruction of the USA has spoken to him regarding the coming destruction of the country for 2018. How many times have we heard this?
There’s the danger that the fascination with angels may lead to angel worship. Paul dealt with this issue before, and we are facing this issue now, Col. 2:18. Fascination with the supernatural may lead some to the wrong path. We see this tendency, to worship angels, in Scripture, Rev. 19:10; 22:8. Each time, John is rebuked.
But, are angels still among us then? YES! Angels worship alongside us, I Cor. 11:10. A very difficult verse indeed but let us suffice here, that they are among us during the service, watching our conduct. But even more amazing, is that we may even be giving an angel hospitality, without realizing it, cf. Heb. 13:2.
To conclude, let us we can see that Mary, Jesus, and the apostles, as well as the other OT people, did not have the reactions that we see today of people who claim to have such experiences. If an angel brings us another message, we are warned not to pay attention to him:
Galatians 1: 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! (NRSV)