Rev. David Holwick B
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 14, 1996
2 Kings 6:11-23
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I. Angels are having a popularity boom.
A. Cover story in Time magazine.
1) Now a magazine of their own, called "Angel Times."
It is said to be "the first national magazine completely
devoted and dedicated to the angelic realm."
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2) Angel merchandise has been big at Christmas.
a) Waning already?
b) Angel pins at O.J. Simpson trial.
B. Angels have it made compared to humans.
Perhaps they're popular because we wouldn't mind trading places.
Kids may admire their ability to scare people whenever they want.
They have the magic of invisibility and the power of Superman.
Adults may envy angels because they never get cancer, never lose
their jobs and go hungry.
They have never fallen, and so have no apparent need for
salvation.
In contrast, humans seem frail and vulnerable.
We were created, says Psalm 8, "a little lower than the angels,"
and life gives us daily reminders.
Being human is hazardous to your health.
Perhaps for this reason a steady stream of "angelism" has flowed
through church history.
They are especially popular when evil seems strong and the
Church is weak and drifting.
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C. Everybody likes angels.
Society seems to be infatuated with supernatural things.
It goes for the counterfeits as well as the real McCoy.
Telephone psychics talk to angels, and California prophets
become channels for them.
The Bible condemns this as the "worship of angels." Col 2:18
Leonard Sweet, president of United Theological Seminary in
Dayton, Ohio, says:
"People today believe in miracles, in angels.
We don't have to argue the case for spiritual realities.
Our challenge is to help people believe the right thing."
Most people want spiritual junk food, and angels fill
the bill.
We need to give them meat. #3100
II. What the Bible really says about angels.
A. Modern views of angels are too tame and watered-down.
B. Angels should invoke awe.
1) Actually, they inspire terror.
2) Typical response (John in Rev) is to fall down and worship
them.
3) Among their most common statements: "Don't be afraid."
a) Angel to Zechariah, father of John the Baptist.
b) Angel to virgin Mary.
c) Angel to shepherds at Christmas.
d) Women at tomb of Jesus.
C. Angels are motivators.
Halford Luccock once noted that we often hear the expression,
"the voice of an angel."
He began wondering what an angel would sound like.
So he did some research, and discovered than an angel's voice
sounds remarkably like a person saying, "Hurry up!"
He says that most people are under the delusion that the
voice of an angel is always beautiful.
However, the words "Get up" are rarely beautiful,
particularly at 7 a.m.
Yet that's what the angels always say in the Bible.
An angel comes to Peter in jail and says, "Quick, get up!"
Then he whacks him on his side for good measure. Acts 12:7
An angel says to Gideon, "Go in the strength you have."
Judg 6:14
As Elijah sat under the tree brooding, an angel of the
Lord came to him and said, "Get up and eat!" 1 Kg 19:5
No more moping around or feeling sorry for himself.
An angel appears to Joseph in a dream, when Herod is
slaughtering the infants, and says, "Go quickly." Matt 2:13
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1) I always thought that I would like to hear an angel.
2) Now I am not so sure.
III. Angels come in several varieties.
A. Spiritual creatures associated with God's throne.
1) Cherubim in Holy of Holies.
2) Seraphim in God's heavenly temple.
3) Living Creatures near God's throne in Revelation 4:6.
a) They have wings, but also multiple heads, eyes and hands.
b) They are not exactly angels, but give us idea of wings.
B. Angels associated with human contact.
1) Run-of-the-mill angels.
a) "Angel" means messenger.
b) They appear as humans but have special knowledge and
power.
c) Many people don't catch on to their real identity.
2) Archangels.
a) Higher up angels, occur only a few times.
b) They are only ones given names (Gabriel, Michael).
3) The Angel of the Lord.
a) Jacob wrestled with him and thought he beat God.
b) Appears as a representation of God Himself.
IV. What angels do.
A. Their job is to look out for us. Heb 1:14
1) These creatures before whom great saints fell to the ground
aquiver are actually our servants.
Even Hollywood seems captivated by that notion.
In "It's a Wonderful Life," for example, the apprentice angel
Clarence helps restore hope and self-worth to Jimmy Stewart,
a man on the verge of suicide.
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2) Angel secret agents - one of their most fascinating jobs is
to physically protect and deliver believers.
Some Christians have fantastic stories.
On November 1, 1988, Rusty Lathrop, age 39, was working out
of a cherry picker bucket truck on some 7,200-volt power
lines in Oklahoma.
Suddenly the hydraulics bled off and dropped him 10 feet
into another 7,200-volt line.
"It happened so fast I didn't feel the bucket move," Lathrop
said.
"The electricity hit me at the base of my neck and the top of
my shoulders, rolled off the top of my head, and exited
out of my left leg."
When Lathrop awoke two hours later, he was in the emergency room
of Johnston County Memorial Hospital.
He said he had tubes stuck in him everywhere and was strapped
to a table.
He could smell his own burned flesh.
The whole back of his neck was gone, his spine was in clear view,
and his head had been scalped about three inches wide from
the base of his skull to the top of his head.
In addition, Lathrop's head was swollen to where his ears were
closed off and he could see out of only one eye.
Before he was given medication to put him back to sleep and ease
the pain, Lathrop said he made peace with the Lord.
He also asked God if he would keep him on earth long enough to
see his family.
Lathrop said he had seen several high-voltage electrical burns,
so his next prayer was that the Lord would take him quickly
so his family would not have to go through more misery.
In the meantime, Lathrop's family was keeping vigil in the
waiting room.
It was a very somber scene because doctors had told the family
he was getting worse each hour.
They were surprised when a woman none of them knew walked into
the waiting area and asked if anyone knew Rusty Lathrop.
The woman replied, "I know how he's been hurt," and went to the
nurses' station to ask to see him.
The nurses told her only immediate family was allowed in ICU,
and so the woman sat down in the waiting room, took a Bible
out of her purse and started reading it.
The woman appeared to be in her late 30s or early 40s.
She told the family the Lord told her she had to come and carry
a message from Him.
The family was further shocked when the charge nurse came into
the waiting room, walked up to the woman and said,
"You may see Rusty Lathrop now."
Rusty reported that when the woman walked into the room, where
his wife and sister were visiting, there was a change.
The usually cold room took on a warm, golden glow and a totally
peaceful atmosphere filled it.
The woman started telling him every prayer he had prayed that
day, word for word.
That surprised him because he had never prayed out loud.
Lathrop said the woman told him to quit praying to die, that
the Lord wasn't going to let that happen.
She said he was in the Lord's hands, God was taking care of him
and he wasn't through with him yet.
While the woman was in the room, Lathrop said he had no pain,
but when she left, the pain returned.
The room got cold again and the golden glow disappeared.
Everyone in the room looked at each other, making sure they had
all seen and heard the same thing.
Rusty Lathrop had to endure 41 surgeries before he was released
from the hospital.
The accident brought him closer to the Lord and to his family.
And what about the "angel?"
She left the hospital, and no one has been able to find her
even though she signed the register for all those entering
the ICU unit.
The entry reads simply, "Jerri Hargis (the Lord sent me)."
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B. We are a little lower than angels, but only for now. Ps 8
1) The New Testament contains intriguing hints that being human
has its advantages, which even an angel must acknowledge.
It seems that inexplicably God has chosen to invest the
future not in angels but in us.
We humans are frail and subject to death, prone to temptation,
notoriously inconstant, feckless and forgetful at worship.
In Pascal's phrase, we are "the scum and glory of the
universe."
There is no clear indication in the Bible how God feels about
angels.
Yet we do know how he feels about human beings: for some
incomprehensible reason, he loves us. Rom 8:38f?
2) Angels long to search out truths of salvation. 1 Pet 1:12
a) They cheer when a human is saved. Luke 15:10
b) They watch us struggle. 1 Cor 4:9
3) When we are glorified, we will have all their attributes and
more. Luke 20:36
a) We will even judge angels. 1 Cor 6:3
C. Together, a full picture. #3250
1) Angels are born with holiness, we gain it through salvation.
2) Christians are "angels" - messengers of Good News.
3) Angels and humans are a team. Rev 22:9
V. Jesus is greater. Hebrews 1
A. He commands all the angels.
B. They worship him.
C. Angels are the supporting cast, Jesus is the star.
D. We need to give him the same worship and obedience.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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