I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 2:8-14 --
while you’re doing that, let me share with you a poem that I ran across
recently:
“God
needed an angel in heaven
to stand at the Savior’s feet.
His choice must be the rarest,
a lily pure and sweet.
“He gazed upon the mighty throne,
then stopped and picked the best.
My loving sister was his chosen one,
with Jesus, now at rest.”1
-- let’s read this passage from Luke
2 now
Luke 2:8-14 New
International Version (NIV)
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 that will cause great joy for all the people. 11
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah,
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 heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his
favor rests.”
-- have you ever thought what it’s
going to be like to be one of the angels in heaven? -- to be part of God’s
heavenly choir, just like these angels from the Christmas story?
-- we all know it’s a fact that when
you die, you go to heaven and you’re given wings and a harp and you become an
angel, right?
-- that’s what we see in books and
movies and on the internet and in Facebook posts -- just think about the
classic movie,“It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Jimmy Stewart -- you know that
story
-- Jimmy Stewart’s character in the
movie, George Bailey, is down in the dumps and is considering ending it all
because everything that could go wrong has gone wrong -- but while he is
standing there on the bridge, getting up his nerve to kill himself, he looks up
and sees someone else fall off the bridge and into the water, so he dives in
after him and saves him
-- the man George saves is Clarence,
who proceeds to tell George that he is George’s guardian angel and that he has
been sent to help George -- which opens up a discussion about angels
-- remember what Clarence told
George Bailey about becoming an angel? -- he tells George that an angel is a person
who has died and has to earn their wings -- that's why he was sent to earth --
Joseph, the head angel, sends Clarence to earth to help George out so that
Clarence might earn his wings -- at one point in the movie, a bell rings and
Clarence remarks, "every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings"
-- this movie has a lot to do with
our beliefs about where angels come from, because there’s very few people who
don’t know that phrase, “every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings”
-- but it’s not just here -- we see
the same thing in other movies and hear it in our songs
-- Kenny Chesney has a song called,
"Everybody wants to go to heaven" -- the chorus of that song says,
"Everybody wants to go to heaven -- Get their wings and fly around --
Everybody want to go to heaven -- But nobody wants to go now"
-- very similar to what we learned
in the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" -- that angels are just people
who have died and gone into heaven and gotten their wings and now they’re part
of that great angelic chorus that we read about in Luke Chapter 2
-- you would be surprised at how
many people -- even in the church -- believe that angels are made this way
-- I can't tell you how many times
I've heard people say at funerals -- especially at the funeral of a child --
"God just needed another angel" -- it’s a common sentiment -- we hear
it all the time -- I don't know about you, but that's not an encouraging
thought to me
-- I heard Greg Laurie talk about
this one time in a sermon -- he said, "Can you think of anything more
horrible to tell a grieving parent than that?" -- think about the image
that gives us of God -- God's sitting there in heaven and looks around and
says, "You know, we need another angel up here -- somebody send a bus down
there and run over Tommy"
-- so, is this true? -- is this what
happens to us when we die? -- is this how God makes more angels? -- by taking
people when they die and giving them wings and turning them into angels?
-- this morning, we’re continuing in
our current sermon series called “Bumper Sticker Theology” by addressing this
very question
II.
Angels and Men
-- now, unfortunately, I can’t point
you to one verse or one passage in the Bible that clearly gives us the answer
to the question about people becoming angels when they die
-- although there are over 270
references to angels in the Bible -- both in the Old and the New Testament --
no where does it simply state: “When you die, you become an angel” or “When you
die, you do not become an angel”
-- but, still, we can learn the
answer by reading these verses as a whole and not letting popular beliefs about
angels from movies and songs and other resources influence our understanding --
I’m going to go over a bunch of scriptures this morning -- I’ve got them all
listed for you in your bulletins, so you don’t have to try to look them up now
-- but I would suggest you do so later this week as you continue to study this
message
-- so, for this morning, just hold
your place here in Luke 2 and just listen as I read the various scriptures to
you
-- let’s talk about angels and
people
1.
Angels are created beings, separate from man
-- I know that probably all of you
already know this -- but let me make this clear -- angels are not people --
they never were and they never will be -- regardless of what Clarence told George
Bailey and what you might hear at funerals, angels aren't people who died and
went to heaven
-- the Bible is pretty clear on this
-- if you have accepted Christ, when you die you will go to heaven -- not as an
angel -- but as a re-created human being with a new immortal and imperishable
body
-- so, if angels aren't people who
have died and been given wings -- then who are they? -- angels are created
beings who exist in a spiritual dimension that touches, but is separate, from
our own existence, although they can interact with us here on earth
-- in other words, angels are
special creations of God -- separate from man and all of the earthly creation
we read about in the Book of Genesis -- we don’t know when they were created,
but the Scriptures indicate that all of the angels were made and were in place
before God created the earth
-- Psalm 148:5 says that the Lord
commanded and the angels were created
-- in Colossians 1:16, we read,
"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all
things were created by him and for him."
-- and in Nehemiah 9:6 it says,
"You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,
and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all
that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven
worship you."
-- finally, over in Job 38:1-7, we get
an idea of when the angels were created -- as God speaks to Job and asks where
Job was while God created the earth, we read that the angels shouted for joy
while He laid out the foundations of the earth -- that means that they were
already in existence and living with God in the spiritual realm before He
created the earth
-- so, angels are created beings --
they are not another stage in human development, but were created before the
earth even began
2.
The number of angels
-- so, how many angels are there? --
we don’t really know, but we know there were thousands upon thousands -- tens
of thousands upon tens of thousands
-- in Matthew 26, when Jesus was
being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He told Peter to put up his sword
-- Jesus said that if He needed rescue, He could call on 12 legions of angels
-- a legion was around 6,000 people -- so 12 legions would have been 72,000
angels -- and, certainly, that was not all of the angels
-- Hebrews 12:22 talks about thousands and thousands of angels in joyful
assembly -- and in Revelation 5:11, John tells us he “looked and heard the
voice of many angels, number thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times
ten thousand”
-- so, God created a lot of angels
-- and, even though the Bible tells us that about one-third of the angels
rebelled with Lucifer against God and were flung to earth, no where do we read
in the Bible about God making more angels
-- it seems there is a finite number
of angels that God created and these are all that exist for eternity -- so,
there are no new angels being created, especially through human conversion
3.
The nature of angels
-- so, what are angels like? -- what
is their nature?
-- like we said earlier, angels are
a special creation of God -- according to Hebrews 1:14, angels are spiritual
beings -- meaning, they don’t have a physical body like we do -- man is another
special form of creation -- we were created in the image of God, and we are
triune in our creation, having body, soul, and spirit -- angels aren’t like
that -- they are just spirit, although they can take on human forms as they
minister to us
-- we also know from Luke 20:34-38
that angels do not procreate or reproduce -- they do not marry or give in
marriage -- which is another indication that new angels are not being created
-- and, this same passage tells us
that angels are immortal and eternal -- they do not die -- so, it’s not like
God has to replace angels who have passed away
4. The role of angels
-- so, why do angels exist? -- what
is their purpose and role in God’s heavenly kingdom?
-- are you still holding your place
in Luke 2? -- look back at verse 8 [read Luke 2:8-14]
-- this is the passage that inspired
the great Christmas hymn, "Angels We Have Heard on High" -- and it
points us to the three main functions of angels
-- first, they are messengers of God
-- the word "angel" actually means "messenger" -- angels are
servants of God -- sent by Him to speak His purpose and His plans and His
message to creation -- in other words, they proclaim the word of God
-- Luke records here that after
Jesus was born, an angel appeared to the shepherds out in the fields near
Bethlehem to tell them that their long-awaited Savior had come -- the shepherds
had no idea that anything extraordinary had happened -- they had no idea that
the Messiah had arrived -- so God sent His messenger to earth to tell them what
had happened so they could be the first evangelists at Christmas
-- this is what one of the most
famous angels in the Bible is known for -- out of all the references to angels
in the Bible, we are only given the names of two of these angels: Gabriel and Michael
-- Gabriel seems to be God's special
messenger -- he first appears in the Old Testament in the Book of Daniel when
he comes in answer to Daniel's prayer for wisdom to understand a vision that
God had given him
-- and we see him twice here in the New
Testament -- in the Christmas narrative in Luke Chapter 1 -- first, he appears
to Zechariah in the temple to tell him that Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth
would have a son called John who would usher in the coming of the Messiah --
then, he appears to Mary and tells her that she has been chosen to bear the
Messiah -- that she will be overcome by the presence of the Holy Spirit and
will be pregnant with Jesus even though she is a virgin
-- these are just examples to point
out the first purpose of the angels, which is to serve as God's messengers
-- secondly, angels are God's
worship leaders -- they exist to praise God and to bring glory to Him
-- we recognize this when we sing
the Doxology and say, "Praise Him above ye heavenly host" -- the
heavenly host are the angels of God who gather around the throne and praise Him
-- this comes from Psalm 148:1-5
that says, “Praise the Lord -- Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in
the heights above. -- Praise Him, all His angels -- Praise Him, all His
heavenly hosts -- Praise Him, sun and moon -- Praise Him, all you shining stars
-- Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies -- Let them
praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created”
-- we see them here in this passage
in Luke doing just that -- after the angel finishes delivering his message to
the shepherds, Luke says that a great company of the heavenly host appear with
angel -- praising God and singing glory to His name
-- in Isaiah Chapter 6 and
Revelation Chapter 4, we read about the angels who surround the throne of God
and call out praises to Him constantly -- John says "day and night"
they never stop praising God
-- the angels lead worship -- they
join with us and sing unending hymns of praise to God for what He has done --
as it says in Hebrews 1:6, "Let all God's angels worship Him"
-- finally, the angels minister to
people -- Hebrews 1:14 tells us that angels are ministering spirits sent to
serve those who will inherit salvation -- what does it mean to minister to
someone? -- it means to attend to the wants and needs of others
-- after Jesus had been tempted in
the wilderness, we read that the angels came and ministered to Him -- in the
same way, God sends His angels to minister to us -- to attend to our needs and
our wants -- primarily our spiritual well-being but also our physical needs and
wants
-- we've all heard of guardian
angels -- there's ample evidence in the Bible and in our lives today of angels
protecting people from physical harm -- for instance, in the Book of Acts, when
Peter was in jail, an angel opened the cell door and led him to freedom
-- more than likely, you have had
angels protect you and minister to you, as well -- you just probably weren't
aware of it -- in Hebrews 13:2 we read that we may have entertained angels
unaware -- in other words, they were there ministering to us, but we just
didn't know it -- maybe they were invisible and hidden from our eyes or maybe
they took the form of a person -- but they were there -- ministering to you in
some form or fashion
III.
Closing
-- so, are angels real -- do angels
exist?
-- absolutely, the Bible is clear on
this -- before the beginning of time -- before the creation of the earth -- God
created angels as spiritual beings to serve His purposes -- He made them
different from us -- pure spirits, without a physical body like we possess
-- the Bible actually says that we
were made a little lower than the angels -- but one day, we will sit in
judgment over them -- not because we’re any better than them -- but because we
have been elevated to a higher position because of the death and resurrection
of Jesus and our union with Him in salvation
-- angels are real -- and, right
now, at this moment, the heavens are resounding with the voices of angels
praising and glorifying God and the Lamb -- they serve to proclaim God’s glory
and majesty and might -- they minister to us by protecting us, by guiding us,
and by delivering God’s word to us
-- angels are real and an important
part of God’s creation -- but angels are not former people
-- while it may seem a comfort to
some to say that we become angels in heaven when we die, the truth is far, far
better -- for in John 1:12, we read that “to all who received [Jesus], to those
who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God --
children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will
-- but born of God”
-- if you have put your faith and
trust in Jesus -- if you have come to the cross and received forgiveness for
your sins through the blood of Jesus -- then you have become greater than the
angels - you have become a child of God
-- and when you no longer inhabit
your earthly tent -- when this perishable body you live in has passed away --
you will inherit a new, imperishable body and live with the Lord forever -- not
as an angel -- but as God’s own child -- a human perfected through the
cleansing blood of Jesus Christ
-- rather than offer up false
platitudes and clichés about angels to grieving people, let us remind them of
the joyous truth of God’s word -- that those who believe in Jesus and have put
their faith in Him will never die, but will live with the Lord forever
-- let us pray
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