Angels, No. 4

Colossians 1:15-20

COL-122

Our subject is "Hymn in honor of Christ," segment number 12 in Colossians 1:15-20.

The Doctrine of Angels

Angels are for real. That's the bottom line. They were created by Jesus Christ as unseen spirit personalities to serve as messengers and ministers of God. Some angels rebelled, along with Satan, against God, and they became the evil demons – the demon angels who oppose the holy angels and the believers in Jesus Christ. Angels hold power according to military-like ranks, and are referred to in Scriptures by various terms. Angels bring announcements from God. They forewarn; they guide and instruct; and, they guard and they defend believers. Angels do not minister to unbelievers, but they do execute God's judgments on mankind. At the end of the tribulation, it is the holy angels which will gather from the four corners of the earth those who have been saved during the tribulation to bring them together to meet the King Jesus Christ.

1. The Angel of the LORD

   So, continuing this evening with the doctrine of angels summary, the first point tonight is that there is a technical term relative to angels which is used in the Bible: "the Angel of the LORD," or "the angel of "YHWH." This is indicated always in your Bible by the word "LORD" being in capital letters "YHWH" (yeh-ho-vaw'), L O R D. This expression is only found in the Old Testament, and it refers to the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, He is not an angel, but it refers to him in terms of the fact that He is a messenger of God, and that, you remember, is the basic meaning of angels.

   We have gone over this recently, but to bring you back up to speed in refreshing your memory, Exodus 3:2 says, "And the angel of the Lord appeared to him (that is, to Moses) in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, and yet the bush was not consumed." The reason we know that this is not just an ordinary angel is, as we bring the references together to the Angel of the LORD, we discover that divine attributes are spoken of Him, and these attributes of deity could not be attributed to angels. In Judges 13:20-22, the angel of the Lord comes to Sampson's parents, and announces the future birth of this son: "For it came about when the flame went up from the altar, they had invited the Angel of the LORD to have a meal with him, He says, 'No, but I will observe a sacrifice with you.' So they placed a sacrifice on the altar, and lit it. For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven that the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. Now the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah or his wife. Then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD. So Manoah said to his wife, 'We shall surely die, for we have seen God."

   Here you have under Scripture inspiration, an explicit statement that the Angel of the LORD was the pre-incarnate Christ – that He is deity. Also in Numbers 22:21-31: Balaam was the prophet of God but who was getting into the occult. And Balak had come to him and said, 'I want you to curse Israel." And, at first, he said, "No, I won't do that." Then he agreed to do it. So, here he is now. Balaam arose in the morning; saddled his donkey; and went with the leaders of Moab who had come to plead with him to use his occult powers to curse Israel. But God was angry because he was going, and the Angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way, with His drawn sword in His hand, the donkey turned off from the way, and went into the field. But Balaam struck the donkey to turn him back into the way." The animal sees Jesus Christ standing in the way, and the drawn sword in His hand, and the donkey veers off the path, and goes out into the field, rather than confronting the Lord.

   "Then the Angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on each side, and a wall on that side. Then, when the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she pressed herself to the wall, and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So, he struck her again. And the Angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or to the left. When the donkey saw the Angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. So, Balaam was angry, and struck the donkey with his stick." Now he has beaten up on this animal three times for not wanting to confront the angel of the Lord, which is standing in the way of Balaam's purpose, of going to make a deal with the Moabites to curse Israel.

   "And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, 'What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?'" Now, is Balaam amazed by this? Is he taken aback? The donkey could have said, "Who's the donkey? The one on top, or underneath? How dare you'd treat me like this?" What does Balaam do?

   Numbers 22:29: "Then Balaam said to the donkey, 'Because you have made a mockery of me." Here he is carrying out on a conversation with his donkey. "'If there had been a sword in my hand, I would've killed you by now.' And the donkey said to Balaam, 'Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?' And he said, 'No.' Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of the LORD standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand. And he bowed all the way to the ground." His reaction was not just to an ordinary angel, but he was suddenly aware of the fact that he was in the presence of deity.

   One more, in 2 Kings 19:35: "Then it happened that night that the Angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead." The Assyrians had encircled Jerusalem, and they were threatening the people of God. So, God came in to take care of this enemy. And He moved in on Sennacherib's army. And during the night, 185,000 of his prime soldiers were killed, by Whom? By Jesus Christ. This is always a very difficult passage for pacifists – conscientious objectors, who object to killing the enemies of God's will. And here it is, the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom they used to like to refer to, to defend their attitude because He is the Prince of Peace. Here is indeed the Prince of Peace. And here's how the Prince of Peace achieves peace – by destroying the enemy, and making it impossible for the enemy to make war. That is a biblical doctrine of warfare. And the person that was able to do this, and did this, to the amazement of the Israelites, when they woke up the next morning and looked out, expecting that terrible army still to be surrounding them, there were piled-up bodies all over the place – 185,000 of them dead. So, Sennacherib went back to as Assyria.

   So, the Angel of the LORD is a messenger of the Lord, but different from the regular angelic hosts. He has the attributes of deity, and after the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of the LORD no longer appears in Scripture.

2. Power

   The second point tonight is that angels possess very great, but limited, power. Psalm 103:20: "Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His Word, obeying the voice of His word." That's an interesting turn of a phrase: "obeying the voice of His word." We have very legitimate ground for saying that when we read the Scriptures, which is the inerrant Word of God, we are indeed listening to the voice of God. Therefore, what the Bible says is not optional to our experience and to our obedience: "Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of the Word."

   Throughout the Scriptures we have this fact of the power of angels demonstrated in a variety of incidents. On one occasion, this was demonstrated to the apostles when they were imprisoned, after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, by the religious authorities. Acts 5:19-20, "But an angel of the Lord." We can see here the exactness of Scripture. It is no longer "the Angel of the LORD" because Jesus Christ has now been incarnated, but: "An angel of the Lord, during the night, opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out, He said, 'Go your way. Stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life." Now this is not a fairytale. This is not just an interesting religious story. This actually happened a long time ago – one day, when all the apostles were incarcerated at one time. And an angel comes along; opens the prison; sets them out; and, says, "Keep proclaiming. Keep preaching the Word. The next day, there was turmoil among the religious leaders. How did this happen? How could these men be out here on the street, doing this? Because angels had the power to do it.

   There was the other occasion where Peter himself was in prison. Acts 12:7-11: "And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared." Peter is in the cells. In the middle of the night, he's sleeping, and a light shown in the cell: "And he struck Peter's side, and aroused him, saying, 'Get up quickly.' And his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, 'Gird yourself. Put on your sandals.' And he did so. And he said to him, 'Wrap your cloak around you and follow me. And he went out and continued to follow. And he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. And when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city which opened for them by itself (by the power of the angel). And they went out, and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. And then Peter came to himself. He said, 'Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod, and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." So, he has the wonderful experience of being led out from the prison cell simply by the power of that angel.

   Angels also have a physical strength – superhuman physical strength. This is why people who are demon-possessed can be thrown around like rag dolls when the demons attack them. This is why we have incidents in Scripture where people are thrown into convulsions; are thrown into fire; and, are thrown into water, because these spirit beings have the ability to toss a human being around without any effort whatsoever.

   Here in 2 Peter 2:11, we have a reference to this power: "Whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord." This is referring to a group of godless men who were blaspheming, and ridiculing, and attacking, and being abusive it to demon angels – the angels that were serving them. And they were not serving them satisfactorily. And they spoke against these angels with contempt. And here, angels, who are greater in might and power than a human being – they do not speak disrespectfully even of the demon angels. They are like your relatives who are unsaved, and who cannot grasp the realities of the Word of God. They are blind. They are spiritually stupid. They have gone astray, but you still have a tender spot for them, and a respectful attitude toward them in the midst of their error. This of course is inherent in grace. Grace means freedom. Freedom means that we must allow people to exercise their will – to exercise their volition to their choices. And that means that we have to allow even Christians to make self-destructive choices. That is the tragedy of not understanding that grace is not for license to do what is evil, but for the power to do what is good. But when you see that a Christian (a believer) is using grace to do evil, it makes you hopping mad, and you might be tempted to resort to abusive words, which is what these people were doing. And the angels said that they wouldn't dream of doing that with all the power that they have. They wouldn't dream of abusing these people who once were the angels of God. And freedom to choose requires that even for people very close to us, we must have to say, "Well you must follow your star wherever it leads, and the consequences that it will bring to you."

   2 Thessalonians 1:7: "And to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire." Angels have superhuman strength. Angels however are not omnipotent. We have a classic example that angels have a certain level of power, commensurate with the rank that they hold.

   Turn to Daniel 10:12-13. The background of this particular passage is that Daniel has been doing some arithmetic, and he realizes that the 70 years that was allotted for Israel to be captives (slaves in Babylon) has almost passed. Consequently, he now begins to wonder what's going to happen. So, he turns in prayer to God and says, "What is your future for my people?" God hears him; God sends a messenger; and, nothing happens. Because of the context previously, we believe that this messenger was the angel Gabriel, who often is on missions of bringing announcements and information. And Daniel gets no answer. Finally in Daniel 10:12, Daniel finds himself confronted by this angelic person, probably Gabriel, "Then he said to me, 'Do not be afraid, Daniel. For from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this, and in humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia (not the human prince of Persia, but the prince which rules that nation – the demon prince, the agent of Satan, the demon of the kingdom of Persia) was withstanding me for 21 days. Then, behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia."

   What Gabriel said was: "I was confronted by a demon angel who was of my own military rank and authority and power, and he was able to keep blocking my passage to earth. For three solid weeks, I could not get by him. Finally, God sent the archangel Gabriel to overcome the prince, the demon of Persia, so that I could get by and bring the message to you. So, angels are not omnipotent. There is a limitation upon their powers.

   Compare this to Ephesians 6:12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Here again, we are reminded that we don't deal with conflicts with human beings. The problems that we deal with in life are always with angelic beings: those who are for good, pushing us in the right direction; or, those who are for evil, who are pushing us in the wrong direction. Now that image that people have such that on your left shoulder sits a demon, and on your right shoulder sits a good angel, and both of them are whispering in your ear, is not entirely biblical, but is not entirely untrue, in the image of what is happening. And here we have very clearly stated that out there in the heavenly places, which is the realm of Satan's operation, are those powers of various ranks that are spiritual forces of wickedness. And this is what a Christian is fighting.

   So, the next time somebody gives you a problem on a human level, remember to bypass that person. Don't be responding to that person. Don't be getting yourself caught up with dealing with that person, but realize that that person is an agent of a demonic power, and that's where your focus should be. That's where the real enemy is. And that's what must guide your prayers.

   Angels, of course, are very superior intellectually, but they are not omniscient. 2 Samuel 14:17: "Then your maidservant said, 'Please let the Word of my Lord the king be comforting, for as the angel of God, so is my Lord the king to discern good and evil, and may the Lord your God be with you." Here, the angels have a superior intellect concerning what is right and what is wrong.

   Now look at 2 Samuel 14:20, "In order to change the appearance of things, your servant Joab has done this thing, but my Lord is wise like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all that is in the earth." Joab, serving the king, is explaining his strategy that he is dealing with relative to Absalom's rebellion against David. And he is telling him that: "You understand, David. You're a very wise man. You're like the angels. You have great wisdom." But the angels do not know everything. They are not omniscient because they are not divine.

   This is indicated in 1 Peter 1:12: "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven – things into which the angels look long to look." Now, you remember this morning we said that one of the terms used of angels is "watchers." That's why the angels gather. Every time believers gather, they're present, and they're watching. They're pleased with your response to the Word of God. They're very interested to the constant exposition of the Word. And, of course, the Word of God never has any end to the depths and significance of its meaning. And here, Peter is saying, "You have been given instruction. You have been given biblical orientation. These things have been announced to you. It had begun with the gospel, the work of the Holy Spirit, all who were sent from heaven. These are things into which the angels are interested in learning about.

   Matthew 24:36: "But of the day and hour, no one knows (that is, of the second coming of Christ), not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." The angels are not omniscient.

   Also, angels are not omnipotent. We have just seen that demonstrated in the passage in Daniel 10:12-14. And we won't read that again, but they have varying levels of power assigned to them.

   Angels can Perform Miracles

   However, angels are able to perform miracles. We have this in a very clear demonstration in Genesis 19:10-11. The angelic visitors have arrived in appearance of men. Angels always appear as males – never as females. There are no angel girls – only angel boys. And they have come to warn Lot that he must flee Sodom because God's going to destroy it because of its homosexuality: "But the men came, and they said that they wanted those men thrust out to them so that they could sexually abuse them. But the men reached out their hands, and then they began attacking Lot." So Lot was rushing toward the door. The angels hold the door open. They reach out, and they pull Lot immediately in. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them. And they shut the door." Do angels have power?

   Genesis 19:11, "And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway." These angels had the ability to strike this whole mob of homosexuals blind on the spot, which stopped them, effectively, from the attacks that they were making on Lot.

   Another example of angelic power is in Daniel 6:22: "'My God sent His angel,' Daniel says, 'and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before him, and also toward you, O King. I have committed no crime." What shut the mouths of the lions? Did Daniel really smell that bad? Was he really that offensive that they did not find him a tasty morsel? Not really, because the men who had brought about this fiasco, who intended to kill Daniel – the result was that the king threw them into the lions' den, and the lions had a wonderful time. They can perform miracles.

   In John 5:4, we have the pool of Bethesda. The man who has a withered limb; the sick; the blind, as a matter of fact; and, the lame come to this pool, waiting to be healed. Some of them do get healed. When? "For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in, was made well from whatsoever disease with which he was afflicted." You had to be first in line. Periodically an angel came to do this. It was a miracle. Angels can perform miracles.

   Angels Can Fly

   Angels can fly. That is why they can move at the speed of light. As we told you this morning, the seraph class angel (the fiery holy ones that are the honor guard around the throne of God) have six wings each. The cherub class angels also have wings, and they only have four. Their name means "diggers: or "toilers." They're the muscle men of God for particular tasks. It was cherub type angels which were put at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to keep man from going in and eating of the tree of life, and living in his sin nature forever. But most angels do not have wings.

3. Angels were Created above Mankind

   Point number three is that angels were created in the class above mankind. They are just above men in the category of God's creative order. We have this in Hebrews 2:6-7: "But one has testified somewhere saying, 'What is man that You remember him, or the Son of Man that You are concerned about him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have appointed him over the works of Your hands." God has placed great responsibilities, relative to the control of nature, in the hands of man. But the angels have powers above man in all of that. For one reason, they're free from time and space limitations which are on man.

   The church believers one day will be judging the demon angels. They are going to be a lower class. We're going to rise up now, because we are now in the image of Christ. We are the believers, and we will be judging these evil demon angels. 1 Corinthians 6:3: "Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more matters of this life?" Now these angels, including Satan, have already been judged guilty. They've had their trial, and a sentence of guilt has been passed. What has not been carried out is the execution of the penalty. And that's what it means that we will be judging these angels. We'll be confirming the penalty at the great white throne judgment. And at that point in time, the penalty is confirmed by the authority of God, by the church-age believer, and these angelic beings will then be thrown into the lake of fire, perhaps by the believers themselves, one Christian with one demon – pitched into the flames of the lake of fire.

   Angels, therefore, because they're not omniscient, and they're not omnipresent, and they are not omnipotent, indicating that they are not deity, must not be worshiped. Colossians 2:18, "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking a stand on visions he has seen inflated without cause by his fleshly mind." This is what was happening in Colossae – this worshiping of angels as being superior to Jesus Christ. And how do they have it? Well: "I had a vision one night," says the false teacher in Colossae, and I had this revealed to me by God." Always what the churches say or the preachers say, like goods Bereans, has to be confirmed by the Word of God, not the experience and the claims of people.

   In Revelation 22:8-9, John says, "And 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." Now this is an understandable reaction on the part of John. Anyone of us would indeed stand in awe if an angel suddenly materialized in his glory as the messenger of God. And John, with a knee-jerk reaction, bows down in obeisance before the angel: "And he (the angel) 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.'" The angel said, "I'm just like you. I'm a creature of God. I have my place. You have your place. I have my mission. You have yours. We both worship God.

4. Angels Observed Creation

   Point number four tonight is that angels were present to observe the seven-day creation week activities that put together the magnificent universe in which we live. Job 38:4-7: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, Job? Tell me if you have understanding. Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? Or on what were its bases sunk? Or who has laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars?" Now what did you learn this morning? One of the terms for angels is "morning stars:" "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." What were they doing? They were doing exactly what a crowd does at a fireworks display. God spoke, and something burst out in space – the starry hosts. Billions of stars suddenly shot over the darkness of space and all the angels went, "Ahhh." And then he kicked the planets in motion, and set the earth (a beautiful gym), and everybody said, "Whoaaa." And they looked at it, and this was just a huge monstrous fireworks display as, day-after-day, God is throwing these things out in the space and creating all these interstellar planets and stars and things that are out there, and the galaxies, one upon another. We only reside in the Milky Way. That's all we can see – that stretch of the Milky Way. And that's something magnificent. We don't know how many possible thousands of galaxies are out there. Some of the stars have light (and I'm not sure how they determined it) that takes maybe a billion years to get to us or more. I forgot the figures when I listened to it the other day. What does that mean? That means that light, traveling at 186,000 miles a second took a billion years to get to the earth. And they talk about that as the outer perimeter of the universe. Suppose It is. Can you even fathom that?

   So the angels had a magnificent experience when they saw that taking place, and they were thrilled. The holy angels just praised God for what He was doing, and they were awed by Him, and their devotion was greater than ever.

   Note: The landmark Hubble Deep Field, taken in the mid-1990s, gave the first real insight into the universe's galaxy population. Subsequent sensitive observations such as Hubble's Ultra Deep Field revealed a myriad of faint galaxies. This led to an estimate that the observable universe contained about 200 billion galaxies.

   So, every time you look up there, as I did the other night through the telescope, and saw the Hale Bopp Comet shooting along, 25 miles long, just remember who put it up there. Just remember who could speak that into existence. Who? The person who indwells you. Jesus Christ, the Creator. So, what kind of a triviality are you struggling over in your life tonight? What kind of a thing are you waiting to get better before you do the good and the right thing, because your eyes are on yourself instead of on the One who created you, and who could speak into existence all the things that cause the angels to marvel – angels who had seen tremendous things already. Wake up to who you are. Wake up to the power of God within you. Wake up to the fact that when you do what is right and what God requires, then all will turn well with you. Things get hard when you're out of sync with what are the principles of doctrine, and what is the purpose of God for you.

5. Under the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ

   Point number five is that angels, naturally, are under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 4:36 indicates that: "An amazement came upon them all." This was a demon angel who had been cast out of this person, and he did come out upon the command of Jesus: "An amazement came upon them all, and they began discussing with one another, saying, 'What is this message? For with authority and power He (Jesus) commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.'" Even the angels who have rebelled against the Lord are under His control. And that's why, when God allowed Satan to put Job under undeserved suffering, Satan had asked God how far he could go, because Satan is completely under God's control, even in his rebellion.

   1 Peter 3:22: "Who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him?" Here it's referring again to the categories of ranks of demon angels. What Jesus did upon the cross was defeat Satan and all of his angels. And the final decision of their destiny was made then. There was no hope for them. There was no going back. These angels were at the call of the Lord Jesus Christ all the while that He was here upon this earth.

   One of the impressive verses we looked at this morning was Matthew 26:53. Peter has just cut off Malchus's ear as the authorities came to take Him in Gethsemane. Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away. And he says to him, "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than 12 legions of angels." There are 6,000 men in a legion. 12 legions equals 72,000 angels – just like that. All He has to do is ask. Jesus says, "I have all the reserves in the world in this battle. I don't need your help, Peter. This is their time."

   The Lord Jesus Christ, at His Second Coming, is going to be accompanied by His holy angels. Matthew 16:27: "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then recompense every man according to his deeds." Now, you should be aware of the fact that, at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, there'll not only be angels in that great entourage, but you too. You will be accompanying Him from heaven after the seven-year tribulation period. And you'll be in the company of angels. Don't you think that that's going to be an awesome sight? Here you are, moving shoulder-to-shoulder, and rank-to-rank with the angelic host itself.

   Matthew 25:31 says, "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all His angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne." He's going to come to this earth. He's not only going to straighten things out, but he's going to take over the world government. He will sit upon His throne in Jerusalem.

   It is no wonder, therefore, that the holy angels, with what they have seen, and what they know about Jesus Christ, they have no problem in worshiping Him. Hebrews 1:6: "And when He again brings the Firstborn into the world," and the word "Firstborn," applying to Jesus Christ, means "the preeminent one. He says, and let all the angels of God worship Him." And indeed they did.

   Revelation 7:11 points out to us: "And all the angels were standing around the throne, and around the elders, and the four living creatures (the seraphim class angels here in God's throne in heaven), "and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God." And the previous verse (Revelation 7:10) says, "Salvation to our God Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." So, this worship is directed both to the Father and to the Son. All of Satan's great power, as we see from the experience of Job, is still under God's control (Job 1:10-12).

   Demon angels are also subjected to Jesus Christ (Matthew 9:34). Also, in Mark 1:23-24, when He tells them to depart, they do.

   In fact, in the early church, in order to confirm that the message of the apostles was the message from God – that Judaism was set aside, and Christianity was the new thing that was in effect, Jesus confirmed this in one way by giving His disciples power over demons. Luke 9:1, "And he called the 12 together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases."

   Then, in Luke 10:17: "And the 70 returned with joy saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" In the name of Jesus Christ, the demons are even subject to the apostles.

   I would not be so presumptive as to presume that this allows you to deal with demons and to be casting them out. That is very dangerous ground. This is a promise which was given to the disciples. And it's an authority that probably belongs to them alone.

   Also tonight, one of the things that the holy angels did, in fulfilling their job as messengers, is that they announced the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:5-7: "And the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid. For I know that you are looking for Jesus, Who has been crucified. And He is not here, for He has risen. And as he said, 'Come see the place where He was lying.' And go quickly and tell the disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you into Galilee. There you'll see Him. Behold, I have told you.'" It was an angel of God that explained to the women, when they came to the tomb – a strong angel, when they had rolled the stone back, and they came to the tomb, and they saw it was empty. They didn't know what to make of it. The angel was there, and explained it to them."

   It is a wonderful thing to visit in Israel the garden tomb. It's called Gordon's tomb. Gordon of China (the Chinese Gordon), the great British general, is the one who discovered that tomb beyond the wall of Jerusalem in a very lovely garden area, a distance from the hill of Golgotha. And it is a very inspirational thing to go and see that tomb cut out of the side of the wall, and see the groove where the round stone rolled back and forth. And to see a granite monument marker on which you read Matthew 28:6 is something. The first thing you see when you walk in is those black letters on that white granite, and it says: "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He was lying." To know that He was not stolen and still dead; to know that they were not in the wrong tomb (that they were in the right place – it was an empty tomb); to know the reality of fulfillment of His promise (Mark 9:31): "I'm going to rise again after 72 hours (3 days), and I will then reappear to you, and this tomb is going to be empty;" and, to know that all that was real, and then the thrill of being able to walk into that garden tomb, and to be able to sit down there in the quietness of that tomb, and see this place, right there, stretched out, with this little round mound of stone chips chiseled out of the rock where the head lay, and to realize that you are right there on the very spot where Christ once lay for that 72 hours, and from which He rose back to life, and the angel was there to tell us He really did come forth.

   Now, everything the angels need to tell us is now in the Bible. They're not going to come and speak to you directly, but they will move you, under God's direction, in the direction that you should go. And one of the directions that angels are constantly encouraging you to go is toward the Word of God. It's your daily food, and it is your orientation to life to have any meaning and any significance. Appreciate the fact that God has created these multiplied millions upon millions of spirit messengers to keep you informed. Why would you ignore the information of the Word of God by excusing yourself? "I can't come to the morning service because? I can't come to the evening service because?" Do you realize how great will be the cost in eternity? I'll guarantee you that you'll look back, and you'll look at all those times, and you will remember them, because you'll have a brilliant memory then, and you'll wonder what on earth possessed you.

   The angels always look forward to the church service, eager to look into the things of the Word of God, to hear what is going to be said, and to see the reaction of the people. And you sit at home? The angels are here to inform us. And today they inform us through the Word of God. And God the Holy Spirit, Who indwells us, enables us to understand that which thrills the angels, and which become part of your spiritual maturity structure. How great it is to know about these helpers of God.

Well, we haven't come to very near the end. There's more to come. Please join us next time.

God, our Heavenly Father, we do thank You for this day, and for all that has come to us to review, and to remember, and to learn again about the holy angels of God.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

Back to the Colossians index