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ANGELS
2 Kings 6:11-23
I. Angels are having a popularity boom.
A. Cover story in Time magazine.
1) Now a magazine of their own,
called "Angel Times."
It is said to be "the
first national magazine completely
devoted
and dedicated to the angelic realm."
2) Angel merchandise has been big
at Christmas.
a) Waning already?
b) Angel pins at O.J. Simpson
trial.
B. Angels have it made compared to
humans.
Perhaps they're popular because we
wouldn't mind trading places.
Kids may admire their ability to
scare people whenever they want.
They have the magic of
invisibility and the power of Superman.
Adults may envy angels because
they never get cancer, never lose
their
jobs and go hungry.
They have never fallen, and so
have no apparent need for
salvation.
In contrast, humans seem frail and
vulnerable.
We were created, says Psalm 8,
"a little lower than the angels,"
and
life gives us daily reminders.
Being human is hazardous to your
health.
Perhaps for this reason a steady
stream of "angelism" has flowed
through
church history.
They are especially popular when
evil seems strong and the
Church is weak and drifting.
C. Everybody likes angels.
Society seems to be infatuated
with supernatural things.
It goes for the counterfeits
as well as the real McCoy.
Telephone psychics talk to
angels, and California prophets
become
channels for them.
The Bible condemns this as the
"worship of angels." Col
2:18
Leonard Sweet, president of
United Theological Seminary in
Dayton, Ohio, says:
"People today believe in
miracles, in angels.
We don't have to argue the
case for spiritual realities.
Our challenge is to help
people believe the right thing."
Most people want spiritual junk
food, and angels fill
the
bill.
We need to give them meat.
II. What the Bible really says about
angels.
A. Modern views of angels are too
tame and watered-down.
B. Angels should invoke awe.
1) Actually, they inspire terror.
2) Typical response (John in Rev)
is to fall down and worship
them.
3) Among their most common
statements: "Don't be
afraid."
a) Angel to Zechariah, father
of John the Baptist.
b) Angel to virgin Mary.
c) Angel to shepherds at Christmas.
d) Women at tomb of Jesus.
C. Angels are motivators.
Halford
Luccock once noted that we often hear the
expression,
"the
voice of an angel."
He began wondering what an angel
would sound like.
So he did some research, and
discovered than an angel's voice
sounds
remarkably like a person saying, "Hurry up!"
He says that most people are
under the delusion that the
voice
of an angel is always beautiful.
However, the words "Get
up" are rarely beautiful,
particularly
at 7 a.m.
Yet that's what the angels
always say in the Bible.
An angel comes to Peter in jail
and says, "Quick, get up!"
Then he whacks him on his
side for good measure. Acts 12:7
An angel says to Gideon,
"Go in the strength you have."
Judg 6:14
As Elijah sat under the tree
brooding, an angel of the
Lord came to him and said,
"Get up and eat!" 1 Kg
19:5
No more moping around or feeling
sorry for himself.
An angel appears to Joseph in a
dream, when Herod is
slaughtering
the infants, and says, "Go quickly." Matt 2:13
1) I always thought that I would
like to hear an angel.
2) Now I am not so sure.
III. Angels come
in several varieties.
A. Spiritual creatures associated
with God's throne.
1) Cherubim in Holy of Holies.
2) Seraphim in God's heavenly
temple.
3) Living Creatures near God's
throne in Revelation 4:6.
a) They have wings, but also
multiple heads, eyes and hands.
b) They are not exactly
angels, but give us idea of wings.
B. Angels associated with human
contact.
1) Run-of-the-mill angels.
a) "Angel" means
messenger.
b) They appear as humans but
have special knowledge and
power.
c) Many people don't catch on
to their real identity.
2) Archangels.
a)
Higher up angels, occur only a few times.
b) They are only ones given
names (Gabriel, Michael).
3) The Angel of the Lord.
a) Jacob wrestled with him
and thought he beat God.
b) Appears as a
representation of God Himself.
IV. What angels do.
A. Their job is to look out for
us. Heb 1:14
1) These creatures before whom
great saints fell to the ground
aquiver
are actually our servants.
Even Hollywood seems
captivated by that notion.
In "It's a Wonderful
Life," for example, the apprentice angel
Clarence helps restore hope and
self-worth to Jimmy Stewart,
a
man on the verge of suicide.
2) Angel secret agents - one of
their most fascinating jobs is
to
physically protect and deliver believers.
Some Christians have fantastic stories.
On November 1, 1988, Rusty Lathrop, age 39,
was working out
of a cherry picker bucket
truck on some 7,200-volt power
lines
in Oklahoma.
Suddenly the hydraulics bled off
and dropped him 10 feet
into
another 7,200-volt line.
"It happened so fast I
didn't feel the bucket move," Lathrop
said.
"The electricity hit me at
the base of my neck and the top of
my shoulders, rolled off the
top of my head, and exited
out
of my left leg."
When Lathrop awoke two hours
later, he was in the emergency room
of
Johnston County Memorial Hospital.
He said he had tubes stuck in him
everywhere and was strapped
to a
table.
He could smell his own burned
flesh.
The whole back of his neck was
gone, his spine was in clear view,
and his head had been scalped
about three inches wide from
the base of
his skull to the top of his head.
In addition, Lathrop's head was
swollen to where his ears were
closed
off and he could see out of only one eye.
Before he was given medication to
put him back to sleep and ease
the
pain, Lathrop said he made peace with the Lord.
He also asked God if he would
keep him on earth long enough to
see
his family.
Lathrop said he had seen several
high-voltage electrical burns,
so his next prayer was that the Lord
would take him quickly
so
his family would not have to go through more misery.
In the meantime, Lathrop's family
was keeping vigil in the
waiting
room.
It was a very somber scene
because doctors had told the family
he
was getting worse each hour.
They were surprised when a woman
none of them knew walked into
the
waiting area and asked if anyone knew Rusty Lathrop.
The woman replied, "I know
how he's been hurt," and went to the
nurses'
station to ask to see him.
The nurses told her only
immediate family was allowed in ICU,
and so the woman sat down in
the waiting room, took a Bible
out of her
purse and started reading it.
The woman appeared to be in her
late 30s or early 40s.
She told the family the Lord told
her she had to come and carry
a
message from Him.
The family was further shocked
when the charge nurse came into
the waiting room, walked up to
the woman and said,
"You may see Rusty
Lathrop now."
Rusty reported that when the
woman walked into the room, where
his
wife and sister were visiting, there was a change.
The usually cold room took on a
warm, golden glow and a totally
peaceful
atmosphere filled it.
The woman started telling him
every prayer he had prayed that
day,
word for word.
That surprised him because he had
never prayed out loud.
Lathrop said the woman told him
to quit praying to die, that
the
Lord wasn't going to let that happen.
She said he was in the Lord's
hands, God was taking care of him
and
he wasn't through with him yet.
While the woman was in the room,
Lathrop said he had no pain,
but
when she left, the pain returned.
The room got cold again and the
golden glow disappeared.
Everyone in the room looked at each
other, making sure they had
all
seen and heard the same thing.
Rusty Lathrop had to endure 41
surgeries before he was released
from
the hospital.
The accident brought him closer
to the Lord and to his family.
And what about the
"angel?"
She left the hospital, and no one
has been able to find her
even though she signed the
register for all those entering
the
ICU unit.
The entry reads simply, "Jerri Hargis (the Lord sent me)."
B. We are a little lower than angels,
but only for now. Ps 8
1) The New Testament contains
intriguing hints that being human
has
its advantages, which even an angel must acknowledge.
It seems that inexplicably God
has chosen to invest the
future
not in angels but in us.
We humans are frail and subject
to death, prone to temptation,
notoriously
inconstant, feckless and forgetful at worship.
In Pascal's phrase, we are
"the scum and glory of the
universe."
There is no clear indication
in the Bible how God feels about
angels.
Yet we do know how he feels
about human beings: for some
incomprehensible
reason, he loves us. Rom
8:38f?
2) Angels long to search out
truths of salvation. 1 Pet 1:12
a) They cheer when a human is
saved. Luke 15:10
b) They watch us
struggle. 1 Cor 4:9
3) When we are glorified, we will
have all their attributes and
more. Luke
20:36
a) We will even judge
angels. 1 Cor
6:3
C. Together, a full picture.
1) Angels are born with holiness,
we gain it through salvation.
2) Christians are "angels"
- messengers of Good News.
3) Angels and humans are a
team. Rev 22:9
V. Jesus is greater.
Hebrews 1
A. He commands all the angels.
B. They worship him.
C. Angels are the supporting cast,
Jesus is the star.
D. We need to give him the same
worship and obedience
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