What Are Angels Doing Today?
00:00:00.000 | Well, what are the angels up to today?
00:00:06.680 | It's a great question.
00:00:08.520 | It comes to us from an anonymous listener of the podcast.
00:00:10.880 | Pastor John, hello and thank you for this podcast.
00:00:13.160 | Can you tell me, what is the role of angels right now?
00:00:17.240 | What are they doing?
00:00:18.600 | And as Christians, what active role do they play in our lives today?
00:00:22.320 | Pastor John, how would you address this?
00:00:25.000 | I think it's helpful to pose the question like this.
00:00:28.720 | Why do angels exist?
00:00:31.600 | That will include, what do they do?
00:00:35.240 | How do they relate to us?
00:00:37.760 | And we can answer those questions, at least in part, by looking at what they do in the
00:00:43.600 | Bible, which is the safest place to start, I think.
00:00:49.160 | But it also inclines us to ask, what is God up to by creating agents for his activity
00:00:58.640 | when he himself could do the very thing that they do just fine by himself?
00:01:04.600 | All the things that the Bible says angels do, God could snap his finger, so to speak,
00:01:11.280 | and it would be done.
00:01:13.680 | God doesn't need angels in order to accomplish things.
00:01:17.200 | So that's why I ask, why do they exist in the first place?
00:01:21.480 | And why so many of them as we will see?
00:01:25.520 | So let's start at the safest place to start, namely with the Bible, instead of our own
00:01:30.800 | speculations.
00:01:31.800 | And here's some of the things that the Bible says angels are doing.
00:01:37.040 | And the term angel or angels occurs in the Bible close to 300 times.
00:01:44.240 | So this is not a marginal reality in Scripture.
00:01:48.620 | So here's a sample.
00:01:50.760 | Angels announced things about the birth of Jesus to Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, Zechariah,
00:01:56.880 | the shepherds.
00:01:58.280 | They ministered to Jesus in the wilderness after his 40-day fast.
00:02:03.320 | They rolled the stone away from Jesus' grave.
00:02:07.080 | They opened prison doors for the apostles.
00:02:10.720 | They directed evangelists where to go, like Philip.
00:02:15.640 | They spoke to unbelievers like Cornelius about what they should do to find the gospel.
00:02:23.620 | They will come with Jesus, the Bible says, at his second coming.
00:02:28.000 | That's just a sampling of their activity in the Bible, particularly from the New Testament.
00:02:34.520 | And they are mentioned, by the way, in the Old Testament over a hundred times.
00:02:39.520 | But let's get more specific with four texts that give us glimpses of what angels do and
00:02:46.680 | why they exist.
00:02:48.320 | So here's the first one.
00:02:50.640 | One of the most basic texts there are about angels and Christians, Hebrews 1, 13 and 14.
00:02:59.480 | Almost the whole first chapter of Hebrews is devoted to showing the superiority of Jesus
00:03:08.640 | over angels.
00:03:10.720 | The chapter ends like this.
00:03:12.760 | Are they not all, that is angels, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve
00:03:22.000 | for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
00:03:27.760 | Several things are remarkable about that statement.
00:03:30.680 | It says that angels exist for the sake of Christians, those who are to inherit salvation.
00:03:38.120 | It says that they are serving us as ministering spirits.
00:03:43.840 | And maybe most amazingly, it says that all of them, not just some, all of them serve
00:03:52.900 | Christians to help us make it home to inherit our salvation.
00:03:59.480 | So all angels serve the good of all Christians all the time.
00:04:04.520 | They are agents, as it were, of Romans 8, 28, making everything work together for good
00:04:10.360 | under God's providence.
00:04:12.920 | Here's the second sweeping text about angels.
00:04:18.000 | Psalm 103, verse 20.
00:04:19.480 | "Blessed the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of
00:04:26.520 | his word.
00:04:27.520 | Blessed the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers who do his will."
00:04:35.360 | So it says angels are mighty ones.
00:04:38.880 | They're not baby-like, chubby cherubs with wings.
00:04:43.040 | They are colossal and tremendous in power.
00:04:47.600 | And then the psalmist calls them armies.
00:04:50.120 | The English word "hosts" translates a Hebrew word that means army or troops or military
00:04:55.200 | forces.
00:04:57.120 | But whether you call them angels or you call them hosts or armies, the emphasis in both
00:05:05.620 | cases in Psalm 103 falls on this.
00:05:09.800 | They do the will of God.
00:05:13.160 | You mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word, his hosts, his ministers
00:05:20.200 | who do his will.
00:05:23.280 | In other words, they are active, they are agents who do whatever God commands.
00:05:29.540 | So it seems to me that we can infer from this that God loves to create an abundance of doers
00:05:39.920 | of his will at multiple levels.
00:05:44.160 | Inanimate objects do his will.
00:05:47.600 | He commands the sea and it obeys him.
00:05:50.680 | Animals do his will.
00:05:51.680 | He commands a whale to swallow Jonah.
00:05:54.240 | Humans do his will.
00:05:55.880 | Angels do his will.
00:05:56.880 | And when God decided to create, he thought it wise to create hierarchies of beings, it
00:06:02.920 | seems like, from the least significant inanimate stone to the worm to the whale to the human
00:06:10.480 | and then to multiple ranks of angels, because some are called archangels.
00:06:17.360 | First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16, not just angels, but ranks of angels.
00:06:22.840 | And when they become demonic by rebellion, there are ranks of principalities and powers
00:06:28.040 | in the hordes of the devil.
00:06:31.160 | Here's a third text that underlines God's exuberance in creating angels.
00:06:39.080 | Daniel chapter 7 verse 10, "A stream of fire issued and came out from before the Lord.
00:06:47.760 | A thousand thousands served him and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him.
00:06:58.760 | The court sat in judgment and the books were opened."
00:07:03.280 | That's the end of the quote from Daniel 7.10.
00:07:06.480 | So there's a picture of God in heaven with 100 million angels standing before him.
00:07:17.480 | Now that's breathtaking.
00:07:20.280 | That's the point.
00:07:21.760 | God created millions upon millions of angels as a fitting, regal, royal assembly for his
00:07:32.520 | magnificence.
00:07:34.880 | The vastness of such a crowd of colossal beings all assembled before one great king speaks
00:07:43.800 | in a unique way about the glory and the imperial majesty of the King of Kings.
00:07:52.880 | So angels exist in their grandeur and in their obedience and in their vast numbers to call
00:08:01.980 | attention to the greatness of the God they serve.
00:08:06.720 | Here's one last text that's perhaps the most unusual of all.
00:08:11.760 | Matthew 8 verse 10, "See that you do not despise one of these little ones.
00:08:19.640 | For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father."
00:08:29.920 | This is Jesus talking, who is in heaven.
00:08:33.120 | Say it again.
00:08:34.120 | "See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones.
00:08:39.760 | For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in
00:08:45.300 | heaven."
00:08:46.780 | What in the world did Jesus mean by that?
00:08:49.800 | Well, the little ones refer to believers, Christians, childlike Christians, real Christians
00:08:58.900 | who are easily despised and made fun of in this world.
00:09:04.880 | And I think what he's saying is this.
00:09:06.860 | Every Christian, even the simplest, lowliest believer has an entourage of titans, angels,
00:09:16.500 | colossal, glorious beings who stand in the most privileged position in the universe before
00:09:24.360 | the face of God.
00:09:26.820 | Everyone's ready to do God's bidding at any time on behalf of those despised little Christians.
00:09:35.680 | So be careful not to despise any simple, unimpressive follower of Jesus.
00:09:44.260 | Heavenly titans are in God's service on their behalf in the very place of privilege before
00:09:52.320 | his face.
00:09:53.320 | Now, I wrote an article at Desiring God called "The Surprising Role of Guardian Angels"
00:09:59.520 | where I give all the arguments for what I just said.
00:10:02.160 | If it sounds like a new and unusual take on that text or on guardian angels, I hope you'll
00:10:09.760 | go to Desiring God and just search on that "Surprising Role of Guardian Angels."
00:10:15.000 | So let me just sum it up again like this.
00:10:17.200 | Jesus says, "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, one of my believers,
00:10:23.080 | because"—now here's the reason you must not despise any Christian—"because I tell
00:10:28.800 | you in heaven, they're angels."
00:10:31.800 | This is not one angel for one person.
00:10:34.600 | There's nothing in the text that would suggest that.
00:10:37.200 | "They're angels.
00:10:39.240 | Always see the face of my Father."
00:10:41.160 | Don't despise this simple, unimpressive disciple of Jesus.
00:10:45.520 | Let his angelic entourage remind you whose son he is.
00:10:51.280 | Let this angelic entourage of titans remind you whose Lord he is.
00:10:57.080 | Put your hand over your critical, despising mouth and show great esteem for all ordinary
00:11:05.360 | childlike disciples.
00:11:07.800 | If the fact that God is their Father and Jesus is their Lord doesn't keep you back from
00:11:14.680 | despising and mistreating the followers of Jesus, then let this terrifying advocacy and
00:11:21.080 | rank of their magnificent angels awaken you from your stupor.
00:11:26.440 | That's the idea.
00:11:27.520 | So in heaven and on earth, angels in their magnificence serve to call attention to the
00:11:35.040 | grandeur of God and surprisingly serve to call attention to the lesser but breathtaking
00:11:44.240 | grandeur of the simplest believer.
00:11:48.600 | God intends for the role of angels to thrill us with his grace and power and wisdom in
00:11:57.960 | the way he created, the way he governs, and the way he is saving his people.
00:12:05.760 | Fascinating survey of why angels exist.
00:12:08.240 | Thank you, Pastor John, for cramming all of that into one episode.
00:12:11.000 | It's a lot of content.
00:12:12.000 | And thank you for listening today.
00:12:13.600 | You can ask a question of your own.
00:12:15.080 | You can search through or browse all 1,600 of our past episodes, or you can subscribe
00:12:19.560 | to the podcast.
00:12:20.560 | You can do all that at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:12:26.400 | Well is there something stopping you from coming to Christ?
00:12:30.400 | This is actually a common issue.
00:12:32.280 | I would not be surprised if some of you listening right now are facing this too.
00:12:35.520 | Something gets in the way of the gospel.
00:12:37.480 | Often it's a moralism.
00:12:40.680 | Sinners who know that they are sinners, who really want to come to Christ, wrongly assume
00:12:45.720 | that they must first clean themselves up in order to make themselves worthy of Christ.
00:12:51.360 | This is a huge mistake.
00:12:53.680 | Millions of people are living in this mistake right now.
00:12:56.400 | And Pastor John will explain why and how to escape it next time.
00:13:00.240 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:13:01.600 | We'll see you back here on Wednesday.
00:13:04.320 | See you then.
00:13:04.640 | [END]
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