THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS

By Johnny Tatum

TO UNBELIEVERS

 

IV. Angels Minister To Unbelievers

 

Angels have a wonderful ministry to God the Father, to God the Son, and to believers. However, we cannot leave this discussion without mentioning one more ministry [that is an unpleasant one] — Angels have a ministry from God to the unbeliever as executioner.

Consider the following:

In Genesis 19, the angels were involved in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the inhabitants of the cities:

Then the [two angels] said to Lot…for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it. (Genesis 19:12-13)

In Exodus 12, God decreed the death sentence for all the firstborn of Egypt, which was enacted by the death angel:

For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer (the death angel) to come in to your houses to smite you. (Exodus 12:23)

In Acts 12, King Herod thought that he was a god. What happened? God sent an angel to kill him:

And immediately an angel of the Lord struck [Herod] because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:23)

In Revelation, Chapters 6-19, the angels are agents of God's judgment on earth during the tribulation. For instance:

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads." (Revelation 7:1-3)

 

The angels' ministry to believers is totally different than their ministry to unbelievers. Consider the following:

The only ministry angels have to unbelievers is striking the unbeliever. The angels do not enjoy striking the unbeliever with death because God does not.

 

A Closer Look:

PROTECTING UNBELIEVERS – temporarily

There are cases of godly angels impacting unbelievers who have something specific to do that is prophesied:

"And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him." (Daniel 11:1)

Darius the Mede was a pagan (an unbeliever), but he was assigned an angel to encourage his work and to protect him. Why? Since Darius (also known as Cyrus) was prophesied to free the Jews, he had to live. Undoubtedly, Satan wanted to kill him (he did not want the Jews to return to the Land), so God had one of His angels protect Darius the Mede until the work was complete [and prophecy could be fulfilled]. Then an angel struck Darius the Mede, who is now in hell. [What a deal!]

 

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD ANGELS

 

Would you not agree that we should respect and appreciate angels? Furthermore, should we not follow their example of worshipping and praising God all of the time? Yes! However, we should NOT worship the angels.

Paul clearly tells us not to get involved in worshipping angels:

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind. (Colossians 2:18)

In fact, when a human being sees an angel, his first instinct is to worship the angel, because angels are such beautiful beings; however, angels do NOT want to be worshipped.

In Revelation 19, John sees an angel and says:

Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God." (Revelation 19:10)

Again, in Revelation 22 (only three chapters later –John had a short memory!), another angel appears and John still wants to fall down and worship:

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, "Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God. (Revelation 22:8)

The angels remember that there was one angel in heaven who wanted to be worshipped. Who was that angel who used to want to be worshipped? Where is he now? The angels are not going to find the highest created being, Lucifer, because he is not in heaven anymore.

When Lucifer and one third of the angels fell, the remaining two thirds of the angels learned:

And when a human being falls down to worship an angel, the angel always says No, no, no! Do not do that — worship GOD [for He is] Holy, Holy, Holy! Therefore, if we are grateful to the angels for their ministry to us, then we can repay them by following what they suggest we do:

Worship the LORD GOD!

 

Although we should appreciate angels and respect them, our focus should never be on angels; instead, our focus should always be on the Creator GOD. As we have seen, in eternity [past], the LORD GOD decreed that believers would be with Him in eternity [future], so the Creator of all gave believers:

Think About It: The Holy One has given us internal and external protection; He has covered every possibility!

The Lord God created the angels; therefore, we should thank the Creator for that, and we should not focus on His created spirit beings.

 

How great are Your works of creation, O Lord! In Your eternal wisdom You made godly angels who constantly recount Your glory and holiness. You are exalted above these ministering angels who are beloved by You and who perform, with awe and reverence, the will of You, their Creator.

We appreciate the fact that, once again, before You created the heavens and the earth, You already made provision for us — internally by Your Holy Spirit and externally by Your angels. We thank You for this protection and provision throughout all eternity. Now would You help us to appreciate and respect the angels, but to keep our hearts and minds focused on You, so we will not worship them, we will only worship You.

To You, the living and eternal God, who sovereignly rules over all, we give all our praise. It is in Messiah Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.

Next:

Angels, Agents Of God's Rule: SEEKING GOD FOR UNDERSTANDING

 

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