So grab your Bibles this morning as we
continue our series, part 12 really, of our
series of the life and times of Jesus
Christ and part 12 being this morning a
very special, as they all are each week
in this series, a special topic and that
is Christ and the angels.
As we come to number 12 in our
study, we look at Christ and the angels
and we still look to the same very
theme verse of our study and that is
Colossians chapter 2 verse 9, for it says
there, in Christ all the fullness of the
Godhead dwells in bodily form.
That is when you're looking at Jesus Christ,
when the disciples, the apostles, looked at Christ,
they were looking at the manifestation, the physical
manifestation of the will of God, of the
purpose of God and of course that comes
through the second person of the Holy Trinity,
Jesus Christ.
That's why he said when Philip asked him,
if you'll just show us the Father, Jesus
will be okay.
And Jesus said to the disciples and mainly
to Philip, he said, have I not been
with you so long?
And you still ask, show me the Father.
He who has seen me has seen the
Father.
Not that the Father looks like Jesus, not
that the Spirit looks like Jesus, but that
what Jesus thinks, does, says and ministers is
the very will of his Father and of
the Holy Spirit and of course himself.
And we covered the triunity of God in
an earlier study and you can either get
the tape of that now or you can
wait until the whole series comes out in
a packet to go through this study all
in one time.
But this morning we come to a very,
very interesting and you know what, look around
you today, obviously a very exciting topic.
People are nuts about angels.
They got angels everywhere.
They got angel lapel buttons, they got angel
ties, they've got angel, little angel things on
license plates, bumper stickers, and it's just a
craze right now.
And I don't know if it's just national
or worldwide, but it's everywhere.
But the interest in angels has always been.
Ever since the beginning of time there seems
to be this mysterious curiosity regarding angels and
what they're all about and how they traverse
regarding the heavenly realm and regarding earth.
You might want to jot this down.
Out of the 34 books of the Bible,
you know the Bible is one book, but
it's made up of 66 books.
Out of the 66 books of the Bible,
34 of them make reference to angels.
And by the way, they are some awesome
creatures.
They are angels.
They're not like, you know, angels that you
see in drawings or what some artist might
render.
I know and I understand that the New
Age movement is really big on angels.
And they have these cute angels.
Have you seen them?
They're angels and they're like waving, you know,
and they got this big smile.
I'm not saying angels don't smile and I'm
not saying angels don't wave, but every instance
of an angel appearing in the Bible, the
people are greatly affected.
More often than not they are absolutely scared
to death of the angelic appearance.
Daniel, when he sees the angel that appears
to him while he's praying, it says in
the end of Daniel's book, Daniel chapter 12,
it says there that the angel in his
appearance left me, Daniel, sick for many days
and all strength had left him.
And he laid in bed by having an
encounter with an angel.
That's an awesome thing.
So whatever our perception or our understanding of
angels might be, it's probably wrong.
And you know, you've heard me say this
before.
It is pathetic that in some of your
bathrooms or somewhere in your hallway, you might
have a little fat cherub on your wall
with a little arrow and he's a little
baby, somewhere around 11 or 12 months of
age with little stubby wings and big round
butt.
Have you noticed?
And he's just there like little Cupid and
he's so cute.
Now that's not in the Bible.
You know, you don't see those kind of
angels in the Bible.
You see these awesome creatures that you're going
to get a look at this morning and
remember this and we'll see it as we
go through.
But those of you who might be new,
jot this down.
The Bible says that Jesus Christ himself created
the angels, not the Holy Spirit, not God
the Father, Jesus.
The Bible says Jesus created the angels.
And that's pretty amazing.
We'll see just exactly how that all works.
We know, first of all, that there are
some angels that never leave the presence of
God.
Did you know that?
In Revelation chapter 4 verse 6 through 8,
you might want to jot that down and
listen.
Or if you can, by the way, we
have a lot of verses this morning, so
you might want to run with me as
we give you these passages.
But by way of introduction, we know that
there are some angels who never leave the
presence of God.
Revelation 4, 6 says that before the throne
there was a sea of glass like crystal.
And in the midst of the throne and
around the throne were four living creatures.
This is how John describes them.
Full of eyes in the front and in
the back of them.
The first living creature looked like a lion
on one side.
The other side of him looked like a
calf.
And the other side of him looked like
a man.
And the other side, he looked like a
flying eagle.
And it says there then the fourth living
creatures, each having six wings full of eyes.
That ought to blow your mind.
Put that in your bathroom or on your
hallway.
Having eyes, full of eyes around and within.
And they do not rest day or night
saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who
was, who is, who is to come.
By the way, that is the reference to
Jesus Christ.
Did you know that?
The one who was, who is, who is
to come.
But they say it three times, holy, holy,
holy.
Personally, holy for the Father, holy for the
Son, holy for the Spirit.
They rest not day and night saying that.
In the presence of God for all eternity.
Now you might think, wow, that's a long
time.
You don't think it's hard?
They're there for a long time.
Easy answer to your question.
There is no time in eternity.
The moment that they're there is the moment
that is.
And it's the moment that there will always
be.
And you don't have to worry about time.
It's eternal.
We know from scientific examination that wherever there's
a material or physical realm, time exists.
And when there is no physical appearance or
physical attributes of this universe as we know
it, there is no time.
And scientists have been able to bombard atoms
and for a millisecond, nanoseconds actually, have been
able to cause time in a chamber to
stand still.
Interesting.
Flirting with eternity where there is no time.
There are some angels that appear before his
throne to give God reports.
Interesting.
In Job chapter 1 verse 6, Job 1,
6 says, And there was a day when
the sons of God, a reference to the
angelic host, came and presented themselves before the
Lord and Satan came among them.
More on him later.
But Jesus Christ himself was aware of and
taught regarding the existence of angels.
You can buy many books on angels.
I'm going to encourage you to be careful
about that.
I want to recommend three books to you
that are very good.
Billy Graham's book, Angels, Angels, Angels is a
good book.
There's a book by Merrill Unger that's currently
out of print.
It's called Angels in Biblical Demonology, written back
in the 1950s.
Very, very good book.
And there's a book entitled God's Secret Agents
by Donald Gray Barnhouse.
I believe the same title is shared by
Greg Laurie.
I think Greg Laurie stole that title from
Donald Gray Barnhouse and wrote a book recently
about it as well.
God's Secret Agents.
Who?
Angels.
And by the way, they are very, very
real and equally powerful.
You need to realize that.
We kind of make jokes about angels and
yet angels will, as we'll see in the
Bible, make no joke one to another about
other angels.
The Bible says even the most highest ranking
angels of heaven do not joke around about
Satan who was once a cherub or a
very special angel.
They don't mess around.
They don't joke around about it.
So this morning we want to look at
our first point.
There will be three of them this morning.
And the first thing we want to consider
this morning regarding Christ and the angels is
that Christ has created the angels.
It's an amazing fact.
A lot of people don't realize this, but
Christ has created the angels.
In Colossians chapter 1, verses 14 to 16,
it says, therefore, in whom we, that is
Jesus, have the redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn or the preeminent one, over all
of creation.
For by him all things were created that
are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones –
you ought to mark that in your Bible
– thrones, dominions, or principalities, or powers.
All things were created through Jesus Christ and
for Jesus Christ.
And so the first thing that we'll see
this morning regarding the fact that Christ has
created the angels, in his creating of them,
get this, he has, outside of the animal
creation, outside of the celestial creation – you
know what I mean by celestial?
You're all smart in here, right?
You know a dictionary?
Heavenly bodies, planets, celestial realms, outside of those,
outside of the animal kingdom, God has made
two types of beings that have the ability
to worship.
Only two.
One is the angelic world and second is
the human race.
Only those two.
Last night we were at the Brea Mall
Christmas shopping and we spent a great deal
of time, you know, talking about the, you
know, trying to unwind at the pet shop
that's there.
And so we were picking up all these
cute little guys, you know, and they're so
cute, these little puppies, and playing with them
and stuff.
But as cute as they are, they don't
exactly worship God.
They have a soul.
And I don't want to depress anybody, but
the Bible says that the soul of an
animal, when it dies, it returns to the
earth.
It goes into, well, it goes into nowhere.
The body returns to dust and its consciousness
ceases.
Don't ask me later if there's going to
be animals in heaven.
Read your Bible.
It talks about animals in heaven.
At least there's horses.
We know that for a fact in heaven.
But will your little poodle be there?
I don't think any poodles will be there,
personally.
That was a joke.
My dog will be there.
But they have a soul.
When they die, there's no more consciousness.
That's not true about the human being.
The human lives forever in heaven or in
hell.
The Bible makes it very clear.
Angels live forever.
We'll talk about that later.
But we want to look at the passion
that angels have to worship God.
The passion that angels have to worship them.
Jot that down if you haven't already.
Christ and the created angels.
The first thing we see is that they
have a passion to worship God.
They have what is called a free moral
agency.
They can choose to worship Him or not.
Angels can choose to obey Him or not.
Revelation 4.8. We read it a moment
ago.
Let me read it again.
They worship God with meaning.
I laugh because let me, well you'll see
why I'm laughing in a minute.
Revelation 4.8. The four living creatures each
having six wings full of eyes within and
without.
And they do not rest day and night
saying holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty who
was, who is, who is to come the
Almighty.
Listen, one angel, this by the way we'll
address it later, is a seraphim.
It's a type of angel.
Weird angel.
Sounds scary.
They have a face or they have a
head.
They have one head.
They have a face of a man pointing
this way.
Remember how it said they have eyes on
the front and back?
They have two eyes that look this way.
Let me, by those who are not here
and listening in, they have two eyes that
face north.
Face of a man.
Then there's a face of an ox.
What you would think would be the side
of the ear, the eastward side, it's a
face of an ox with two eyes looking
that way.
On the back side, there's a face of
a cow.
Or I'm kind of goofing that up.
It's a man.
It is, yeah the lion's coming.
The lion's on the other side.
Thank you.
A man, an ox, a lion facing south
with two eyes and on the left side
an eagle of course with two eyes.
And interesting, all those animals including the bird,
the eagle, have eyes facing forward on its
head.
This one seraphim has one head with four
faces.
That ought to keep you up all night
if you saw one, don't you think?
And it's got six wings.
And it says while they are in the
presence of God, they shield their body with
two of their wings.
Why do they need to shield their body?
I don't know, it's interesting though, isn't it?
And with two other wings, they cover their
faces.
They can't look at them it appears.
And then with the remaining two wings, remember
they have six, they must fly like the
dickens with those two wings in his presence.
And with two, they do fly.
Seraphim, amazing.
And what is their message?
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty who was,
who is, who is to come the Almighty.
Now, do you think up there they're going,
holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was,
who is to come is the Almighty.
Okay, now you say it, this side of
my face, you say it.
Oh no, they're not bored.
For all eternity they mean exactly that.
And they are in absolute awe.
Angels worship God.
And I bet you that angels are in
some sort of a shock that we don't
worship God more.
They must scratch their head and four faces,
stroking those chins saying, what is wrong with
those people down there?
When worship is saying, why don't they all
just praise God instead of thinking about the
meatloaf or did I unplug the iron?
Now I just lost 50% of you
by bringing those two topics up.
They worship God with a passion, so should
we.
Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3 says, and one
cried saying to another, holy, holy, holy.
Hey, it sounds like the same story, isn't
it?
Is the Lord of hosts and the whole
earth is full of his glory.
Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3.
In their creation, that is the creation of
the angels, we know this, that they existed
before the physical world was created.
How do we know that?
They existed before the physical world was created.
We know that for a fact because Job
chapter 38 verse 7 tells us that at
his creation, the morning stars, it's another reference
to angels, sang together and all the sons
of God shouted for joy.
Another reference to angels in the Old Testament,
sons of God in the Old Testament, morning
stars and sons of God.
They sang at the day of creation.
Isn't that neat?
I wonder what they sang.
I wonder how they sang.
I wonder what it sounded like.
It must have been incredible.
We know that angels were created, as I
said earlier, free moral agents or having a
free moral capacity, meaning that they can choose.
You and I are living in a world
right now that everybody is complaining and arguing.
I want the right to choice.
I want the right to perform an abortion
or not.
I want a right to choose this and
a right to choose that.
You can choose anything you want, person.
Anything you want, Christian or non-Christian, you
can choose anything you want.
Just know this.
Your choice will result in answering to God
for your choice.
You and I have been brought up in
a culture that says there is no responsibility
regarding our decisions.
This is humanism that we live in.
Well, go ahead and do what you want.
If it feels good, do it.
What they don't tell you is later you're
going to reap of your bad decisions or
your good decisions.
Oh, every one of us have a choice.
There's no doubt about it.
Am I pro-choice?
You bet I'm pro-choice.
I think everybody should choose Jesus Christ and
live.
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 6 tells us, But
when He, again, brings forth the firstborn into
the world, speaking of Jesus, He says, Let
all of the angels worship God.
That's interesting.
That's Hebrews 1 verse 6.
The Lord says, When He brought forth Jesus,
the word means brought into the world as
a physical being, Christ, born in Bethlehem.
The Father turns to the angelic realm and
says, All you angels, worship Him.
Well, they didn't get up and go, All
right.
They couldn't wait to get going.
I can prove this in a moment.
You'll see.
Revelation chapter 22 verse 9, it says, An
angel announces to John and the spectators, Worship
God.
Listen, we know that angels possess a will
and they possess emotions.
Did you know that?
Angels possess a will and emotions.
In Luke chapter 2 verse 9 concerning angels,
it says, And behold, an angel of the
Lord stood before the shepherds, that's in the
hills of Bethlehem, and the glory of the
Lord shone around about them and they were
greatly afraid.
Then the angel said to the shepherds, Do
not be afraid, for behold, I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which will be
to all people.
That means Gentiles too.
For there is born to you this day
in the city of David the Savior, who
is Christ the Lord.
And this will be the sign to you.
You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a food trough for cattle
or otherwise known as a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of heavenly hosts praising God, saying this,
Glory to God in the highest and on
earth, peace, good will toward men.
Actually in the Greek it's actually this.
The angels announced, Glory to God in the
highest and among men of good will, peace
be to them.
Interesting.
So great is this passion.
Hebrews chapter 13 verses 1 and 2 says,
Continue to love one another as true brethren.
Don't forget to be kind, listen, to strangers
that might pass by.
For some who have done this have unknowingly
entertained and ministered to angels.
What are you saying Jack?
Well the Bible says in various places that
angels have the ability to appear as mortal
human beings and then disappear.
Isn't that wild?
I have a friend who yearly visits this
place.
He goes there and he goes to the
kitchen and he would cook breakfast for all
of the men for the men's prayer breakfast.
And he would prepare all of the food
and then by 530 he would drive back
home and get ready to go to his
business.
And this was his ministry.
Nobody saw him do it.
It was his thing.
He was a very wealthy man and this
is the way he supplied that breakfast and
he cooked it himself.
On his way home, he fell asleep at
the wheel of his car.
And unfortunately, he was going at a very
high rate of speed.
And when his car went off the side
of the road, he went right underneath a
parked tractor rig and trailer.
And he was brutally mangled, but get a
load of this.
When we went to visit him in the
hospital, and he wasn't even supposed to live,
he said, Jack, you wouldn't believe what happened.
He says, I was just, the last, first
I went from cooking to driving in my
memory, in my mind, and he said, I
never realized what I hit.
He said, but the car was completely trapped
underneath the big rig and the car was
completely mangled.
He said, I felt no pain whatsoever, but
I heard a voice say to me, Glenn,
step out this way.
Glenn, step out this way.
And he looked and he had no strength
in his body.
He said, and this man opened the door
for him and he stepped out and the
man held his hand and he walked about
20 feet over from the crash scene.
And he sat the man down and the
man then went to the back of him
and was rubbing the back of his shoulders
and then vanished.
The car exploded into flames.
And when the paramedics, when Costa Mesa PD
and fire department showed up, the door was
never opened.
It was completely crushed.
He was outside in a safe place, waking
up to the fact that the paramedics were
working on him.
And he said, Jack, it was amazing.
I saw an angel.
And I said, what did he look like?
He looked like an average Joe, but he
was an angel.
There's no other explanation.
All of the paramedics and the firefighters were
shocked that such a thing happened to me.
We know this from the Bible that angels
appear and they actually converse with men and
then they're gone.
Sometimes they give information.
Sometimes this or the other, we know also,
and we'll talk about this later, I hope
at the time clock, at the clock stops,
that angels can also, or demons or fallen
angels can appear as good angels and deceive
people.
That's very dangerous, but they do traffic among
men.
Could there be one here this morning?
It's possible.
Be nice to strangers, he's saying to us,
because one of them could be an angel.
Isn't that wild?
It's funny how the world, you and I
live in it.
We wanna get all excited about stuff.
And so we'll go watch really goofy movies
or challenging things.
And ooh, we wanna be titillated with the
latest thriller.
And then the Bible, to me, this is
the ultimate thriller.
It says, hey, watch how you conduct yourself
around and make sure you love one another
as brothers because around us may be an
angel.
Now that ought to freak you out.
I hope an angel doesn't show up here
one day and nobody says hi to him.
And then he goes back and tells God
on us.
I went there and nobody said hi.
Lord, fry them.
You know?
Interesting.
Secondly, we see this morning, Christ and the
created angels, they have a passion to worship.
They also have a mission to serve God.
They serve God.
They love it.
They love to serve the Lord.
In fact, I'm sure they scratch their head
and wonder why we don't serve him more.
Serving him, by the way, it is temptation.
They serve the Lord at Jesus's temptation.
Mark chapter one, verse 13 says, and Jesus
was there in the wilderness for 40 days
being tempted by Satan and was there with
the wild beast in the mountains.
And the angels came and ministered to him.
That had to be something.
Matthew four, verse 11.
And when Satan had left Jesus, then the
angels came and ministered unto him.
We also know this, that Jesus himself announced
their service.
John chapter one, verse 51.
Jesus said, most assuredly I say to you,
hereafter you shall see heaven open up and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon
the son of man, referring to himself.
What an awesome thing to say.
Angels love to serve God.
That's their mission.
They have a mission to serve the Lord.
Second, look, watch this.
They are ready to serve him.
They stand ready.
In Matthew chapter 26, verse 53, look how
ready they are.
Remember when Peter was there, that Jesus is
the rest and they're all there.
Peter thinks he's gonna save the son of
God.
Pulls out a knife and runs after this
guy and misses and cuts his ear off.
And Jesus says to Peter and the rest
of the guys, he says, do you not
think that I can pray to my father
and he can send or provide me 12
legions of angels?
He says, Peter, put away your sword, crazy
guy.
You, if I needed deliverance, I could just
say, angel.
You know, it's interesting.
Jesus said 12 legions of angels.
Well, how many of them were there at
the moment?
Well, remember Judas had hung himself.
So there were 11 disciples and one Jesus.
I think it's neat.
I think it's significant.
I don't wanna read too much into it,
but the scripture there, Jesus says, I can
call down 12 legions.
Peter, you can have a legion.
Andrew, you can have a legion.
And I could have a legion.
We all could have a legion if I
wanted to.
They stand ready to serve.
I like that.
In 2 Kings chapter 19, I told you
I'd be giving you tons of scripture.
So write small.
2 Kings, excuse me, chapter 19, verse 34
says there, and I will defend this city
and I will save it for my sake
and for the sake of David, my servant.
And that night, the angel of the Lord
went out and put to death 185,000
soldiers of the Assyrian army.
And when the people woke up the next
morning, their enemy was dead.
How many angels did he send out to
kill 185,000 Syrian soldiers?
One.
Can you imagine?
185 armed men.
God sends one angel.
Well, you've read about Moses.
If you haven't read about Moses, you saw
10 commandments when Charlton Heston and those guys
are all there.
And when the death angel came through the
camp to take the firstborn of those who
are not hidden by the blood, one angel,
the death angel, took away life in a
moment.
They're very powerful, very powerful indeed.
And they have a mission to serve God.
The third thing that we see under this
heading is that they have a purpose to
reveal God.
They wanna reveal God.
They love this.
And I'm gonna give you some things to
consider.
They have a purpose to reveal God.
First of all, by predicting his birth.
By predicting his birth.
Luke 1, verse 30.
Luke 1, 30 says, Then the angel said
to her, that is Mary, do not be
afraid.
Why?
She was afraid.
Don't be afraid, Mary.
For you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb
and bring forth a son and shall call
his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called
the son of the highest.
And the Lord God will give him the
throne of his father, David.
And he will reign over the house of
Jacob forever.
And of his kingdom, there shall be no
end.
The angels predicted his birth.
Also, they revealed God by announcing his birth.
We read it a moment ago in Luke
chapter two, verse eight.
And I'll just paraphrase it.
That there it says, that there was a
great heavenly host announcing to the shepherds that
Christ the Savior had been born.
We have a graphic moment in history regarding
the birth of Christ.
And by the way, I'll confess, I try
to insert this verse in every study I
ever do.
Because I love it.
Are you awake?
You gotta jot this one down.
It's 1 Timothy 3.16. 1 Timothy 3
.16. Paul with incredible confidence and great boldness
says, you cannot question what I'm about to
say.
He says, this is beyond questioning.
It's so factual and true.
He says, you have no ability to disprove
what I'm about to say.
The mystery of godliness is great.
He appeared in a human body.
He was vindicated by the Holy Spirit.
And he was seen by angels.
Gee, what do you mean he was seen
by angels?
What a weird thing to say.
Haven't angels always looked at him?
The answer implies, no.
Do you remember earlier in the introduction, I
talked to you about how angels cover their
faces in the presence of God?
Do you know what is implied in 1
Timothy 3.16?
With all due respect, listen carefully.
It implies that Mary, being a good Jewish
girl that she was, you know, she didn't
go into the delivery room.
Did you know that, everybody?
She was in a cave there in Bethlehem,
and Bethlehem's full of caves.
She went into a cave and she got
either two rocks or two stools, probably two
stools.
Somebody, maybe it was the innkeeper, where there
was no room at that end.
He might've given her two stools.
It's not recorded, but he would've said, or
they would've said, maybe, can we borrow two
stools?
My daughter's, my wife's in labor.
You know what she would've done?
As was the Hebrew custom, she would've put
two stools on the ground and squatted on
those stools and gave birth to Jesus.
And what is implied here, seen by angels?
The word seen in Greek is to gawk.
It's to gawk at, to have wide eyes
and an open mouth.
Who?
The angels.
When?
At the birthing of Christ.
Why?
They may not have ever seen him before.
Their very creator, in his presence, they had
to veil their face because of his great
glory.
Now, for the first time in all eternity,
God was being born through Mary in the
person of Jesus Christ, veiled in human skin.
And the word implies that angels gawked at
his delivery.
With all due respect, they could've been saying,
he's got black hair.
I can see the top of his head.
He's got ears just like they do.
Here he comes.
He's so small.
He's a human.
He took upon himself the form of a
human.
Look at him, our creator, veiled, draped in
human skin.
They gawked at him because they had never
had a chance to gawk at him before.
What an incredible sight that must have been.
Their purpose was to reveal God.
They were so excited.
What do they do?
Hey, all you shepherds, listen up.
Today, born in the city of David is
Christ the Lord, the King.
That's awesome to me.
That just is.
He revealed God also by strengthening Jesus's resolve.
How so?
Well, they strengthened his resolve by visiting Jesus
in Luke chapter 22, verse 40.
They visited Jesus.
It says there in the garden of Gethsemane,
Jesus was praying and he sweat as it
were great drops of blood and an angel
came or the angels came and strengthened him.
He saw the heavenly perspective and he was
strengthened.
They strengthened his resolve.
They helped him in his hour of trial.
They revealed the will of God and the
purpose of God by proclaiming his victory.
In Matthew chapter 28, verses one through six,
the Bible says, now after the Sabbath, on
the first day of the week, it began
to dawn and Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary came to the tomb and behold, there
was a great earthquake.
Now, why do you think there was an
earthquake?
Well, it says because the angel of the
Lord descended from heaven and he came and
he rolled back the stone from the door
and sat on it.
Isn't that kind of sassy?
He just, earthquake, rolls back the door and
then he sits on it like, what's up?
He sits on it.
Why?
To let God out?
No, to let the disciples in.
He sits on it and it says there
in the scriptures, Matthew 28, three, it says
that his countenance was like a lightning.
Wow, that's awesome.
Remember, they didn't have sunglasses in those days.
His face was like lightning.
His clothes were as white as snow and
the Roman guard shook for fear because of
him and they became like dead men.
But the angel answered and said to the
women, don't be afraid for I know that
you seek Jesus who was crucified.
He's not here.
He's risen from the dead.
Come and see the place where the Lord
laid.
Past tense, he's gone.
They revealed God by assisting him or they
shall assist him at his second coming.
The great second coming of Christ, which is
at least seven years and one day away.
Matthew 25, verse 31, it says, when the
son of man comes in his glory and
all the holy angels with him, then he
shall sit upon the throne of his glory.
And you ought to read the fine print.
That means his throne in the city of
Jerusalem.
I mean, listen, Yasser Arafat, Jesus is gonna
sit on the throne in Jerusalem.
Listen to that Bill Clinton.
Jesus is gonna sit on the throne in
Jerusalem.
Barack, Jesus is gonna sit on the throne
in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, the most hotly contended city on the
face of the earth today, just as the
prophets foretold.
Matthew 24, verse 30, concerning his coming.
It says, then the sign of the son
of man will appear in the atmosphere.
And then the tribes that live upon the
earth will mourn.
And they will see the son of man
coming with clouds in the heavens and the
power and great glory.
And he will send forth his angels with
a great sound of a trumpet.
Isn't that gonna be awesome?
That's the second coming, by the way, not
the rapture, the second coming.
The next thing that we see this morning
is very important.
Our second point today, and that is Christ
and the eternal angels.
We need to pick up the speed or,
I mean, you're fine.
I need to pick up the pace.
Christ and the eternal angels.
Eternal angels are in the sense that they
were created.
Once they've been created, they live forever, okay?
You got that?
They, once having been created, they live forever.
They're not eternal in the sense that God
is.
God has never had a beginning.
He'll never have an end.
Angels had a beginning, but they'll never have
an end.
You know anybody else who's had a beginning,
but will never have an end?
Yeah, all of us, every human being has
a beginning, but they will never have an
end.
They will either have an eternal joy in
heaven, or they'll have an eternal death in
hell.
But the death, read again the fine print,
is a living death.
Those of the people who inherit hell, they
live forever in hell, in a living death.
It's terrible.
But the first thing you see here concerning
Christ and the eternal angels is that they
have personality.
Yes, they're eternal, but they have personality.
They're curious.
Did you know that?
They're curious angels.
In 1 Peter 1, verse 12, they're curious.
Now this kind of ought to get your
attention.
It says, to them it was revealed that
not to themselves, but to us, that is
the modern day believer, we have the full
counsel of God, the Bible.
But to us, they were ministering the things
which now have been reported to you through
those who have preached the gospel by the
Holy Spirit, sent from heaven.
These things angels desire to look into.
Isn't that neat?
They're curious.
Angels wanna hear what's being preached in this
church, and they listen in.
The word desire here is a very interesting
word.
They, with expectancy, listen in and watch.
They rejoice.
Angels, they're found in the Bible to get
angry.
Angels can get angry.
Angels care.
Angels fight.
Did you know that?
They fight.
By the way, listen carefully.
Don't misquote me.
I'm gonna say this carefully.
It's gonna raise some eyebrows, but this is
what your Bible says.
For some reason, we think angels are only
masculine in gender, that there's only male angels.
Did you know that's not true?
What?
It's not true that there's only male angels.
First of all, we do know that they're
all, except in one place, mentioned as male,
in the male gender, in both Hebrew and
Greek, in the masculine.
But the scripture says that in Matthew chapter
22, angels are not allowed to reproduce.
It doesn't say they can't.
It just says that they're not allowed to
reproduce.
Matthew chapter 22, verses 29 to 30.
But they're not all male.
How do we know that?
Zechariah five, verse nine.
Zechariah five, nine says, then I raised my
eyes and I looked, and there was two
women coming with the wind in their wings,
and they had wings like the wings of
a stork, and they lifted up the basket
between heaven and earth.
Interesting.
The only reference we know of in the
scriptures, Zechariah five, nine, of angelic beings of
a female gender.
But we always see them, you know, in
the New Testament as male.
Just thought I'd throw that out to confuse
you or upset you, one or the other.
Angels have personality, and also they have a
ranking order.
They have ranks of authority and position.
First Peter chapter three, verse 22.
They have a ranking order.
For it is Jesus who has gone into
heaven and is at the right hand of
God, and of the angels, and of authorities,
and of the powers having been made subject
to Christ.
What is?
Angels, authorities, and powers.
All of that is speaking of angelic entities
of power, spirit beings, angels.
They have different authority.
They have different power.
Ephesians chapter six, verse 12.
I know I'm going fast, but I can't
wait.
I gotta go.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood.
Are you ready?
But against principalities, that's a rank of angelic
being, against powers, against rulers in dark places,
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly realm.
That's what the Christian's up against.
That ought to cheer you up today.
But thank God, the Bible says in first
John four, verse four, that greater is he
that is in us than he that's in
the world.
That's good news.
And by the way, I need to hurry.
So I'm just gonna tell you, you can
look at Revelation chapter 12.
There's a lot of angels.
How many?
We don't know.
The word in Greek is innumerable amounts.
You can't count them.
It's impossible.
I'm gonna give you some of these ranking
orders real quick.
There's only one archangel named in the Bible.
There's only one name.
There's more than one, but there's only one
named.
Anybody know his name?
Good, Michael.
Michael, his name means who is like God.
It's not he's like God.
His name is a question.
Who is like God?
Isn't that neat?
He always shows up and his name means
who's like God.
It's almost like he wants to take on
somebody, which is exactly where you find Michael
every time he appears in the Bible.
He's fighting.
All right, who's like God?
You think you're like God?
He shows up in the Old Testament and
he knocks people out.
I mean, not people, other angels.
He gets in a confrontation with Satan himself.
Michael does.
He gets in a confrontation with the demonic
forces regarding the area of Persia.
You can look at that in Daniel chapter
10.
He's an archangel.
Jot this verse down.
1 Thessalonians 4, 16.
When Jesus comes to rapture the church out
of the earth, the announcement or one of
the announcements, there's three of them.
One of those great announcements is with the
voice of the archangel.
Wow.
Archangel, that's a rank.
Another rank is a ruling angel.
Ephesians 3.10. There are ruling angels.
They're less than an archangel, but they're ruling
angels.
That's found in Ephesians 3.10. And here
you go.
Everyone's gonna want this one.
There are guardian angels.
There truly are guardian angels.
That's not a myth.
It's not something made up.
In two passages of scripture, at least every
Christian has at least one angel that has
been with her or him and stays with
her or him.
Listen to this.
Hebrews 1.14. Hebrews 1.14 concerning guardian
angels.
It says, are they not all ministering spirits
sent forth to minister for those who will
inherit salvation?
Interesting.
Also Matthew 18.10. Matthew 18.10. Jesus
says, take heed that you do not despise
the least of these little children.
For I say to you that in heaven,
their angels always see the face of my
father who's in heaven.
Wow.
There's two passages of scripture that speak of
angels guarding over the life of the believer.
There's seraphim.
There's seraphim in Isaiah chapter six, verses one
through three.
Seraphim, S-E-R-A-P-H-I
-M.
Seraphim.
Isaiah six, one through three.
There are cherubim.
That's another I-M in Hebrew, plural.
C-H-E-R-U-B-I-M.
Cherubim.
You know who's the most famous cherub of
them all?
Yeah, some of you aren't sure.
You're just whispering it.
It's Satan himself.
Satan is a cherub.
He's not a seraphim and he's not an
archangel.
He's a cherub.
How do you know?
Ezekiel 28, 14 calls him a cherub.
There's elect angels.
Elect angels.
First Timothy 5, 21.
First Timothy 5, 21 says there are elect
angels.
And then sadly, I'll give you this and
we have to go quickly.
There are fallen angels.
Angels who were once holy, like Lucifer, whose
name means the son of the morning.
When he fell, God renamed him Diablos.
It's the root word to diabolical.
The one who destroys, the accuser, the attacker
of the brethren.
Satan.
The Bible calls him in the book of
Revelation, the serpent, the dragon of old.
Second Peter chapter two, verse four speaks about
him.
Jude one, verse six speaks about him.
Isaiah 14, nine through 12 speaks about Lucifer,
the fallen angel.
And by the way, there are more than
one fallen angel.
There are fallen angels.
The book of Revelation tells us that when
Satan fell, he took with him one third
of that innumerable host with him.
Amazing.
The third look in this second point is
that angels have an eternal existence.
They have an eternal existence.
And I just need you to note that
down.
You can read that throughout scripture.
Just jot this verse down.
Luke chapter 20, verse 36.
They live forever.
By the way, in a negative sense, Matthew
25, 41, in a negative sense, they live
eternally.
Matthew 25, 41 says that the fallen angels
with all those humans which rebel against God,
it says that hell has been created for
the devil and his what?
Angels.
And they'll be tormented there forever.
And by the way, so will all those
who reject Christ.
Very quickly, third point, and we'll be done
at this point.
Christ and the ministering angels.
They minister.
Psalm 103, verse 21.
Psalm 103, verse 21 says, "'Bless the Lord,
all you hosts, "'you ministers of his who
do his pleasure.'" And that's a reference to
angelic beings.
They minister before the throne of God.
They do that day and night.
They never cease.
They're there right now, even though there are
some here right now.
Secondly, they minister throughout eternity, forever.
They're not only before the throne of God,
they're there forever.
And we looked at that in earlier scriptures.
We'll get to the part that I wanna
spend a little bit of time on, and
that is they minister to all believers.
How?
Jot this down quick.
I know it's late, but I'm the one
in trouble, not you.
They help us in this life.
Currently, they're actually physically helping us in this
life.
Hebrews again, 114.
They help us in this life.
Listen, they are at work when prayer is
answered.
Acts chapter 12, they're praying that Peter would
be released.
And what happens?
Peter's in prison, and the church is praying
for his release.
And what happens?
An angel comes out of heaven and sets
Peter loose.
Sets him free.
They observe our lives.
1 Corinthians chapter four, verse nine, says that
they watch us.
Even if you're alone, they're watching.
They watch our lives.
They observe us.
And in the same light, they're actually watching
over us.
Acts chapter 27, verse 23.
They watch over us.
Acts 27, 23.
They're watching over us.
By the way, and I love this verse.
They participate in evangelism.
Whenever we share Christ, you know what they
do?
They get all ready to have a party.
Every time we share Christ, according to Luke
15, verse 10, that when a sinner comes
to the knowledge of God and repents, the
angels rejoice in heaven.
Isn't that neat?
I love it.
They escort us into God's presence at death.
Angels.
The moment we die, they take us into
the presence of the Lord.
Acts chapter 12, and Luke chapter 16.
And then we'll end here.
Truly, really, we will.
They minister unto the world.
And I wish I had better news about
this one.
Mostly it's in the area of judgment.
When I say the world, that is the
unbelieving world.
In Revelation 15, verse one, John says, I
saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous.
There were seven angels, each having seven plagues,
which were the wrath of God.
And it was complete.
The Bible tells us throughout the book of
Revelation, they visit the earth with wrathful judgments
that come from God.
Concerning the life of the Iraqi King or
Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar.
The Bible says in Daniel chapter four, it
says, verse 17, this decision was by the
decree of a watcher and the sentence by
the word of the holy ones, angels, in
order that the king may know that the
most high God reigns in the kingdoms and
the affairs of men, that he was turned
into a beast.
He went insane for seven seasons.
How was that decreed?
By the eyes of a watcher.
A watcher.
Daniel chapter four, 17.
Amazing.
I wanna say this in closing right now.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ will
send forth his angels in two separate great
events.
When he raptures the church out of the
earth for his believers, the angels will come
with him.
And then in the second coming, the angels
will come and we with them in the
great and cataclysmic events of the second coming.
And then it says there in the second
coming, don't make any mistake about it.
It says, and then Jesus will send forth
his angels into all the four corners of
the earth and gather together his elect, that
is those who have believed in him.
And it says that there'll be a great
gathering, Matthew chapter 25, and there Christ will
judge those living beings upon the earth.
And he says that there will be some
who live into the kingdom age prepared for
them, but the others, the angels, the reapers,
they're called will take those who do not
believe in Christ and they will be taken
away into judgment.
And I wanna ask you this morning, where
will you be in that moment?
Where will you be today if you die?
Where will you be if Christ returns at
this moment for his church?
Do angels scare you the thought of meeting
one?
It should terrify you unless you have a
relationship with Jesus.
Because if an angel shows up in your
life and you're a believer in Christ Jesus
born again, then he's there for a purpose
of ministry and instruction.
But if an angel shows up and you
don't know Christ, I would probably venture to
say your number's about up.
And I would tremble.
Do you know Christ Jesus personally?
You need to, because in the end, Jesus
says, I will stand before my father, which
is in heaven.
And if you know me, I will acknowledge
you before my father and all of my
holy angels.
But if you deny me in this earth,
I will deny you before my father in
heaven and before all these holy angels.
Have you accepted Christ today?
I hope so.
If not, you need to.
Let's give you an opportunity to do that
right now if you would.
Father, in Jesus' name, we ask, Lord, that
though we spent time on angels, we see
that they're ministering spirits.
And there's no doubt that we who are
living and breathing at this moment, born again
or not, saved and destined for heaven or
not, we live at this moment by virtue
of the fact that angels have been dispatched
for our welfare.
And Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that
if anyone in this place would say yes
to the saving power of Jesus, that they
would want him to deliver them from their
sins and give them eternal life, that, Father,
you would give them the courage to visit
the prayer room today, not tomorrow, today, and
say, Lord, save me of my sin and
bring me into right standing with you.
May that be the desire of your heart.
May that be your prayer today.
In Jesus' name.