Our Advent Evening Prayers have been looking at different features
in the Christmas story, and our news sheets have had a more in-depth
look at another feature: angels. For this final week we're looking
at angels and us.
We started these reflections on angels by noting that angels are a
common feature of some popular forms of non-religious spirituality,
and that many people who don't believe in a God that relates to
people on a personal level do believe in angels. In these cases,
angels fulfil that need for spiritual beings that intervene in the
world. And so there are many books and websites that will tell you
how to contact your own personal angel and get them to do what you
want them to do. At this point the line between angels and fairy
godmothers gets a bit blurred!
These beliefs have
developed out of the description of angels found in the Bible, but
have been misinterpreted and misapplied in a way that is dangerous.
As we looked at in the first week, the main rôle of angels is to be
messengers from God, and so they do communicate with humans, but
importantly they are sent by God and cannot be summoned by humans.
Because they are sent by God, the message they bring cannot
contradict what God has spoken to us in the words of the Bible.
There can be no new information or revelation because Jesus is the
full and final revelation from God and the testimony to him in the
New Testament is complete. Therefore, if an angel says anything that
goes against the Bible or adds to it, we can be sure that they are a
servant of Satan masquerading as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
A common representation
of angels in popular culture is of Guardian Angels. One website
claims “Angels, especially guardian angels, are always buzzing
around, looking for ways to make your earthly journey more
interesting, dynamic and satisfying...Tell guardian angels exactly
what you want assistance with: romance, finances, health, career.
Then watch for their messages!” It also encourages people to
'bond' with their guardian angels by doing angel-related activities
and collecting angel-themed objects. The Bible gives hints about
this category of angels, but it doesn't say very much about what they
do. When talking about the 'little ones' (believers) Jesus mentions
"their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in
heaven" (Matthew 18:10). And Hebrews 1:14 describes angels as
“ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit
salvation.” Some take these verses to indicate that each believer
has an angel in heaven assigned to them. Even if that interpretation
is correct, though, the verses tell us nothing about what these
angels do. It certainly doesn’t confirm the speculation that they
follow us around to protect us, and they do not indicate that
non-Christians benefit from their ministry. Their are certainly
examples of angels being sent to protect believers (for example
Daniel in the lion's den, Daniel 6:22), but this doesn't mean that
every believer has an assigned angel or angels to protect them. The
only thing we can say for certain is that God can use angels as part
of his protection and care for Christians, but he doesn't do this
because he is unable to do these things himself. It is he who knows
every hair on our head (Matthew 10:30) and if God is for us, nothing
can be against us (Romans 8:31). Angels are merely one way God exercises his power and care.
So how should we, as
followers of Jesus, relate to angels? Firstly we should recognise that angels and humans are two distinct types of being. This means that we don't become angels when we die (see this blogpost) because, as we saw in the first of these reflections, although humans are created a little lower in status than the angels, through faith in Jesus we can inherit the higher status of children of God and rule over the angels. To think of our dead relatives as angels may seem comforting, but it is a false comfort that ignores the reality of a choice that faces each and every one of us: accept Jesus and inherit eternal life, or reject him and face eternal separation from him.
Most importantly, though, we should
give God thanks and praise for sending angels to bring us the message
of salvation through Jesus, and to direct our worship towards him.
We should also thank God for their rôle in assisting us, in ways we
may never know until the end of time, in the spiritual warfare that
is going on all around us. We should never pray to them as praying
to anyone except God is idolatry; just as angels reject our worship
(Revelation 22:8-9), so they would also reject our prayers. Besides
which, why would we want to pray to a lesser being when because of
Jesus' death, we have access to God and Jesus himself prays for us
(Hebrews 10:19-22, and 7:25)?
The existence of angels
opens our eyes to the spiritual dimension of life and they model
absolute, holy submission to God, unquestioning obedience, and
faithful worship. But perhaps their greatest rôle is to remind us
what makes us different to them: we have been offered salvation.
Angels will only ever be servants of God: humans are offered this:
“to all who did receive [Jesus], to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Will you
receive Jesus this Christmastime?
