When Angels Gather

When angels gather something’s up.  For example, after an angel had announced to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. . . . And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men’” (Luke 2:10-14)! Here the angels were about the business of announcing and establishing truth.

Yet you can’t speak of angels without unapologetically speaking of the supernatural.  In fact, quite apart from angels, you can’t read very far in either the Old or New Testaments without confronting the supernatural (with angels usually overtly or covertly present).  It undeniably breaks in on the scene and such discussion should not make the “believer” uncomfortable, rather it should whet his/her appetite to see more of the same.

Jacob’s Ladder.  Jacob stole his brother Esau’s birthright and is actually fleeing to Padan Aram (Genesis 28:6) to get himself a wife as opposed to getting one from Canaan as much as to escape the wrath of Esau.  Perhaps it was Jacob’s first day out.  The sun had set and he set up a stone for a pillar.  “Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12).  Then the Lord spoke, rehearsing promises of covenant given to Abraham and giving specific promises of blessing to Jacob.  Here, the angels got Jacob’s attention.

As angels figured so prominently in delivering Israel from Egypt and establishing her under Moses’ leadership.  Look for at least a similar level of angelic “ministry” on behalf of present-day Israel, protecting and keeping her.

Then, what’s true of Israel, will also be true of the church with angels intervening to assist, deliver and establish particularly new Christians.  The rationale for this statement is that in the spiritual realm a thing happens in the “natural” (Israel) first and in the “spiritual” (the Church) second.

Perhaps one ought not to seek to see angels as an event unto itself, but one certainly should be open to their ministry and learn ways to cooperate with how they work.  Because “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14)?