Angels

First of all, what is an angel? The word itself means "messenger". It can be applied, as it has been, to human prophets and pastors, or even to a manifestation of God Himself (Acts 7:30). However, if we are referring to angels in the traditional sense, there are two definitions. To understand them both, let's take a moment for a brief history lesson. Now this narrative is taken from a combination of biblical history, lore and legend, so if some minor detail seems suspect, don't take my word for it, look it up.

Before the beginning of the world, God was not alone. He had created a race of beings to serve and to worship Him. These were spirit beings, far different in nature from God Himself. Each had a will, but not a truly free will. It would be impossible for any of them to disobey a direct order from God. They lacked a creative spark. There were certain concepts they simply could not grasp. Once one of these creatures made a decision, it would be all but impossible for him to change his mind. These were the angels.

While they were decent companions, they left their creator emotionally unfilfilled. If God asked any of them to love Him, they would, inasmuch as they were capable. But whatever they did, it would not be true love, because they would be doing so because they were asked, having no knowledge of the alternative. These creatures were like robots. They were nice, but they were not what God truly needed- a people like Himself who could really and truly return His love.

Of course, God had been planning to create a race like this all along. So one day, He summoned the prince of the angels and explained His plan. He would soon be creating a physical realm to compliment the spiritual realm. The centerpiece of this realm would be the planet Earth, which He would fill with all sorts of physical life forms. These life forms would include a wide variety of creatures who would be both matter and spirit- animals. And the king of the animals would be one created in His own image. It would have the same emotions as God. It would be creative just like Him. It would be able to reason through complex philosophical ideas. It would be able to change its mind. And of course, it would have absolute freedom to choose whether or not it wanted to obey a direct order. Because of this freedom, it would be capable of true love on a level which angels simply couldn't reach. It would be called "human". And it would be the job of the angels to protect and serve these humans, who would eventually become God's own family.

The prince was insensed. He was Lucifer, the prince of light, lord of all angels, second only to the Godhead. Yet he would be expected to stoop to serving these animals made of dirt? The idea was apalling. Lucifer became angry with God. That anger turned to rebeliousness. The rebeliousness turned to outright hate. In his mind, Lucifer saw himself overthrowing God and setting himself up as the ruler of everything. Of course, he wasn't so foolish as to think that such a coup might succeed. Nevertheless, hate continued to well up in him. He knew he couldn't depose God. But he could hurt him.

Lucifer set out to hurt God in a big way. Being a leader of angels, he had been given a very persuasive tongue. He used this skill to turn a full third of the angels to his side. A civil war erupted in Heaven, the full extent of which we may never know. To this day, a full third of all the angels in the universe remain evil. We call them "demons". The remaining two thirds we continue to call "angels".

Lucifer had become the person we know today as Satan. But while he had been defeated, he and most of his forces were allowed to remain free. Satan still hated God, and was still out to hurt Him. He'd taken away a third of His angels. Now he would go after God's newest pets- humans. Possessing one of the most beautiful reptiles in the garden of Eden, Satan persuaded Eve into an act of deliberate rebellion against God. Eve then did the same to Adam. Satan was very pleased with himself. The human race had been corrupted.

Little did he know that was exactly what God had planned.

Had the human race never attained any knowledge of Evil, they would never understand the full splendor and majesty of God's goodness. They would never know grace, nor forgiveness, nor mercy, nor patience, nor the awesome love of Jesus in his act of sacrifice. Humans would simply offer their low-key affection in exchange for God's care. They would be God's housepets, not his children.

Things progressed like that for many years. Human history progressed as human history is wont to do. As human depravity grew, secret conspiracies arose which would manipulate history to their own ends. Satan and his forces would manipulate these conspiracies to achieve THEIR own ends. The kicker is that through it all, God has been manipulating Satan to achieve HIS own ends. Through it all, God is in control, allowing evil to continue in order to achieve greater good.

There has really only ever been one war. All of the wars which humankind has ever fought have really been part of the ongoing war between God and Satan.

Through it all, those angels who have remained loyal have played a major part in this war, mostly unseen. They have been our secret helpers and protectors not only against demons, but even against those humans who would seek to harm us. History is replete with stories of helpful spirits who have appeared in times of need.

Imagine what it was like for the angels when God launched His secret weapon.

For over four thousand years, Satan had been doing his level best to damn the entire human race which God loved so dearly. At one point, he'd even corrupted them so badly that the entire species had to be wiped out and started anew from the eight least corrupted individuals. But now, God was doing something which would change the course of the war forever. God the Son would be coming to Earth as a man. In 33 years, He would perform the ultimate act of atonement for every single human who was willing to accept it. The human race was to be ransomed. Satan would take a number of humans to Hell with him, but only those who had of their own free will chosen to reject God and His salvation.

Is it any wonder that the angels should rejoice? The huge loss of one third of their number was being vindicated. Jesus was setting into motion a series of events which would assure His victory in a war that covered all of history both past and future and would eventually involve a total of five realms. This was the event around which EVERYTHING in all known time and space pivots.

In Luke 1, Gabriel appears to Zechariah to proclaim the coming birth of John, the prophet who would prepare the way for Jesus. If angels are capable of excitement as we know it, he must have been excited to deliver this news, which had been over four-thousand years in coming. Is it any wonder that he'd be upset by the fact that Zechariah didn't receive the news well?

How wondrous, then, when a little later, the same angel delivered to Mary the news of Jesus' coming, and Mary accepted it with an even greater excitement than Gabriel's.

But what moves me most is what happened when the birth of Jesus had just occurred. Luke 2:9-14 says this...

9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

"All at once, the air seemed to be filled with human voices, saying "Glory! Glory! Glory to the God most high!" and "Happy art thou, Bethlehem, for God hath fulfilled His promise to the fathers; for in thy chambers is born the King that shall rule in righteousness." Their shoutings would rise up in the heavens, and then would sink down in mellow strains, and roll along at the foot of the mountains, and die away in the most soft and musical manner they had ever heard; then it would begin again high up in the heavens, in the very vaults of the sky, and descend in sweet, melodious strains, so that they could not refrain from weeping and shouting at the same time. The light would seem to burst forth high in the heavens, and then descend in softer rays and light up the hills and valleys, making everything more visible than the light of the sun, though it was not so brilliant, but clearer, like the brightest moon. I asked (the shepherds) how they felt- if they were afraid. They said at first they were; but after a while it seemed to calm their spirits and so fill their hearts with love and tranquility that they felt more like giving thanks than anything else. They said that it was around the whole city, and some of the people were almost scared to death... ...until melker the priest came out shouting and clapping his hands, seeming to be frantic with joy. ...he told them that it was the sign that God was coming to fulfill His promise made to their father Abraham.

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Pastor Oren Otter
November 19, 2005

Today's reading: Luke 2:8-14
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."