Heb No.2a The ministr of Angels 1v4-14

Now I direct your attention to the epistle to the Hebrews and particularly to the fourteenth verse of the first chapter. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. The reference is of course to angels.

Our author has been dealing with their ministry for the preceding eight or nine verses. He does so because it was possible for Jewish Christians, if not for a Gentile in those early days of the Christian church, to be affected by the notion that possibly angels demanded worship. Paul has to write to the Colossians and warn them against that foolish idea.

Possibly the speculation of some of the rabbis was affecting some of the early Christians with the view that angels were intermediaries between man and God, and you sort of reach God by various hops, if you like, from one angel to the next until through the whole train of angelic mediaries or mediators you reach the Lord God. Now the writer to the Hebrews will not have this. He acknowledges, as does the Apostle Paul, there's only one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus.

And so showing the excellence of the Lord Jesus Christ, he dips into the Old Testament seven times, and he pulls out scriptures which seek to support his argument given to him by the Holy Spirit that the Lord Jesus is superior to the angels. And you remember how we marshal some of those arguments last week. The writer tells us that Jesus has a name that's far greater than any of the angelic hosts.

He tells us that the Lord God is uniquely His Father, and to no angelic being did God ever say that, I'll be your Father. He goes on to show us, and I'm not going through the whole list, just one or two that strike me as important for our study to set our sails this evening. He goes on to show that the angels are finite, are created beings, whereas the Son is infinite.

Thy throne, O God, shall stand forever and ever. And then finally he gives us that tremendous picture of the Lord Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on High, a descriptive term which indicates Almighty God, and that position no angelic being could ever occupy. So the author of this epistle has carried his brief.

He's sustained his case. Jesus is the Supremo. He is supreme, supreme to the prophets of the Old Testament dispensation, higher than any of the angelic beings.

But somebody might come along and say, well what's the point of these angels? You've shown that Jesus is superior to them, but have they no ministry at all? Do they pale into abject insignificance? And the writer's response is astonishing, fascinating. No, he says, as for the angels, and he puts his statement in the interrogative, in the question form, expecting the answer, yes. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Now I say that's fascinating.

It hit me on the page last week, and as I was reading it, and just approaching it in our study, I felt I couldn't go on into chapter two until I had tried, by the aid of the Spirit of God, to crack that nut, so to speak, to show you what the kernel of that text was all about. And obviously my understanding is incomplete, but such as it is, I share with you. These angels are assistants.

Isn't this what the writer is saying? Assisting those who have become heirs of salvation. Now what are you, if not heirs of the gospel of Jesus Christ? And what is your reason for being? Is it not to communicate that gospel to everyone else? That's why we call the tabernacle an evangelical church, and all the congregation committed to its fellowship must be evangelistic, or else they have no reason to be amongst the membership of this church at all. Now assisting us in gospel proclamation are the angelic hosts.

Have you ever thought of that? I said something that was inaccurate on Sunday evening, completely by mistake. I said I'd never preached on angels before, and someone told me afterwards I had, and rather kindly supplied me with a tape, and I was glad to. I was glad to be corrected and to hear what I had to say.

It has helped me in fashioning my study this evening again, perhaps at a deeper level, for I was preaching at the gospel service. But it is remarkable, you know, to be reminded time and time again that in the communication of the gospel, we're not on our own, not amongst the ranks of humanity. There are other good agencies who have an interest in what we are about.

But let's put one or two simple questions. Who are these angels? And some of the answer to that question can well be found in the verses that occupied our attention last Thursday evening. The angels, as I've reminded you, were created by God.

Colossians tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the principle behind creation, and that dovetails with what John has to say when he tells us that it was through the Word, using that term to describe Jesus, that things were made. Without Him, says John, was nothing made that was made. That includes the angels.

Therefore in a pre-cosmic era, the angels were formed. You say, there he goes again, using these terms we don't understand. What do you mean by a pre-cosmic era? Cosmos means the world.

Pre means before. Therefore, before the world was formed, in a dimension that is beyond our own ken, beyond our own understanding, the triune God created angelic beings. That's what the scripture tells us.

And there were quite a lot of them. Because Psalms informs us, not doing the arithmetic completely, but in the 68th chapter, in the 17th verse, which somebody was telling me was a real blessing to them last week, that we find the chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place.

And you get some indication of that vast number of the angelic beings also in this epistle to the Hebrews, where in the 22nd verse of the 12th chapter, you read the delightful words, Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. And the word there in the original sustains the translation of myriad or millions, which by any measure is quite a lot. So there are these angelic beings whose home the Lord Jesus Christ reminds us in in Matthew's gospel, and chapter 24 is in heaven.

John on the isle of Patmos shares with us a vision that he has of the angelic realm, or of the heavenly realm. And he tells us of the holy angels who sit around the throne of God, or rather stand around God's throne. These creatures are strong.

That's what the psalmist has to say. You can get a good build-up picture of angels by just darting around the scriptures. I've done this to my heart's delight during the last few hours or so.

In Psalm 103 and the 20th verse, we read, Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. Here's the psalmist with a vision similar to that of John on Patmos.

He sees into heaven itself, he sees the angelic hosts, and they're praising the Lord. The psalmist encourages them just a little more and says, yes, brothers, or however you address an angel, enjoy praising the Lord your God. We're told that angels have striking apparel.

When the women and the men went to the garden where the Lord Jesus' body had been laid, you remember on the third day how they are overwhelmed by the sight of angels, and they make reference to their white apparel and the way that they glisten. Some holy aspect is indicated by the description in the resurrection narratives where angels feature in the drama of that miracle. So these glorious creatures are ministers of God.

If you go back to the days when the monarchy in England was much more powerful than it now is with our democratic monarchical system, you recall how the king or queen had ladies or gentlemen in waiting. They had the courtiers, they had their servants, they had their attendants, and the attendants did the bidding of the monarch, and that's precisely apparently what angels do. They glorify the Lord and they're glad to do his bidding.

The Hebrew writer reminds us here in the 14th verse that they're ministering spirits. The word angel means sent ones, and the word spirit gives the indication that they're not imprisoned in a body like you and me. Our bodies can be rather cumbersome things, can they not? They prevent us moving as quickly as we would like.

For me to get to South Africa means with my dear wife that we have to ask for assistance from South African airways or British airways, because our bodies won't do what our spirits want them to do, and it would be a jolly sight more cheap if they would do that, and that is simply to go. We're imprisoned by our bodies, but not the angels. And so you get the concept of Gabriel leaving with speed the court of heaven, this attendant on Almighty God who has a message to communicate to Daniel.

He comes very quickly, and apparently he has no fare to pay, because he needs no vehicle at all to bring him to where Daniel is. Now that's an interesting illustration, because Gabriel has another message to bring, you remember, years later, for he's the one who's associated with the infancy stories concerning the Lord Jesus, the Annunciation, and he tells Mary that she's the one elected by God to bring the Christ child into the world. Now what's so extraordinary? Well, Daniel lived hundreds of years before Mary, but it's the same Gabriel who spoke to Daniel who to Mary, which gives the impression that not only is an angel not imprisoned by bodies like we have, and therefore moves quickly, angels neither are locked into time.

They don't age like you and me. So these angelic creatures we have to think of as outside of time, outside of space, and they have a ministry to perform for the Lord. Sometimes in the Old Testament you come across the term, do you not, the Lord of hosts.

And the word host there is really used to describe God's attendants, His mighty armies, for sometimes we find angels depicted in the Old Testament as the armies of God. And perhaps there'll be opportunity to refer to a couple of those incidents in our study a little later. You remember, just sustaining that point, how the Lord Jesus was able to say to Peter when Peter wanted to defend Him in the garden of Gethsemane, put up your sword, put it into your sheath.

Don't you realize that there are battalions of angels who only need one word from me? And they'd rush to annihilate not only these handful of soldiers, but the whole army of Rome around the world. The angels of God are powerful creatures, numerous creatures. They have some idea of what is happening on this earth.

Inasmuch as from their ranks there are those who visit them, visit us, and we are told that not only were angels present when Jesus was born and they sang the Gloria as they peered down into Bethlehem, into Bethlehem's manger, but they've got some inadequate idea of why the Lord Jesus came into this world. There's a very striking reference in 1 Peter chapter 1 and the twelfth verse, where reference is made to the gospel and all that Jesus has achieved. And we read the fishermen saying, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven which things the angels desire to look into.

Let angel minds inquire no more. You remember that couplet from Wesley's great hymn? And Wesley had a brilliant way in which in writing hymns he was able to bring scriptural truths together. And he encompasses within those few words the astonishment of the of the angels at the mystery of salvation.

They don't understand it. These angels of whom I make reference are the righteous angels, the good angels. They are not sinful, and to them it is incredible that God in His grace should send Jesus Christ into this world to die for men like you and me.

Let angel minds inquire no more, because Wesley views that occasion when the Lord Jesus shall have all power and all glory visibly displayed in this universe. And the angels will have a greater understanding of the purposes of God in sending Jesus to redeem for Himself a fallen humanity. So then, this in passing, and it really is just in passing, certain verses that I've quoted, there are over 300 references to angels.

This is, in the Scriptures, this is the picture that we need to have in mind as we proceed in endeavouring to get this verse into perspective. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Glorious creatures who have a concern for the advance of the gospel. But you remember, I brought into my sentence construction a moment or so ago, the concept of good angels.

Because you see, you can't really understand verse 14 and its context and what follows in Hebrews without appreciating that twinned with good angels are also bad. Or if you like, fallen angels. Now, you get some notion of this from putting certain Scriptures together.

And again, we've only time to do this in piecemeal fashion tonight. But in the sixth verse of Jude's epistle, you find there some comment about angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation. And that God has reserved in everlasting change them unto darkness and to the judgment of the great day.

Let me give you another reference which is comparable with that. And now we're in 2nd Peter, the second chapter and the fourth verse. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.

And so he continues in his argument, which we're not following. But I am putting your sights on those words, angels that sinned. It's important, my friend, to understand something about angels and fallen angels, as well as good angels, the Lord's angels.

Because if you're defective in your comprehension there, you will never grasp the biblical teaching about sin and redemption. Let me proceed in talking about fallen angels, and you'll understand that last comment better, I think. The scripture tells us, and again the concept is so big, it's hard for our minds to contain it, that in that pre-cosmic dimension, in the heavenlies, before the world was created, before man and woman was made, there was rebellion.

The angels had free will, as Adam and Eve had before the fall. In other words, they had the potential to disobey God. Now we are told that angels have an order about them.

There are higher angels and lower angels. So you come across the term archangel. Amongst the archangels there is Michael.

But one of the highest of the angelic beings in the pre-cosmic era had the name Lucifer. And that very word denotes the glory of this celestial personage. It means shining one.

And we are informed that in heaven, Lucifer, ultimately using his free will, endeavored to usurp the authority of God. And as a result, there was a war in heaven, and from heaven were expelled one third of its inhabitants. And possibly the leader in the warfare was the archangel Michael.

Now all that is mind blowing. But there's intimation of this throughout Scripture. Listen to this for a description of Lucifer and his fall.

You can read it in full later on this evening. The reference is in your notes. It's from Ezekiel 28, where the immediate comment is made on the king of Tyre.

But the king of Tyre, an evil man, fades into insignificance and becomes a type of Lucifer himself. Ezekiel 28. And if I could read the numbers of the NIV, I think it's verse 12.

You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. And then on to the 14th verse.

You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God. You walked among the fiery stones.

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till wickedness was found in you. And then verse 16, and halfway through. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God.

And I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth.

I made a spectacle of you before kings. And in Isaiah 14, this time the king of Babylon is used typically of Lucifer. And what follows in from the 11th verse transcends any meaning to a human being, but features as a description, not only of the glory of the celestial being, but of his demise, of his expulsion from heaven.

All your pump has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps. Maggots are spread out beneath you, and worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, Lucifer, son of the dawn.

You have been cast down to the earth. You who once laid low the nations, you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God.

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.

But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. Jesus in his public ministry says, I saw Satan fall. And in the book of Revelation, in a quote, I give you the 12th chapter in the fourth verse, we are given the information, I mentioned a moment or so ago, that a third of heaven's hosts fell with Lucifer.

Now, the sphere of operation of the devil, the amphitheater of his activity is the world. For reasons I haven't much time to go into this evening, but I touched on in a previous series of Bible studies. You perhaps recall how I argued from Scripture that man was made for God's glory.

And it was the glory of God that the devil, Lucifer, was endeavoring to deface when Adam and Eve were led into sin and rebellion in the garden of Eden. The sphere of operations for the devil, for Lucifer, and fallen angels is the world. Ephesians 2.2 tells us that the devil is the prince of the power of the earth.

1 John 5.19 tells us that the whole world lies in the hands of the evil one. And the Apostle Paul, when he writes about the glory and the certainty of his salvation, has this comment to make, a singularly fascinating one, in Romans chapter 8, and the last two verses. For I am persuaded that neither life, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But Paul, man, why should the angels want to separate you from the love of God? And the only answer to that question is that Paul realizes that there are fallen angels who war against the saints, says Paul, and he's not kidding when he writes the sixth chapter of the Ephesian letter. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickednesses in high places. So often military terminology is used in the New Testament, and the Christian is informed that he's called to be a soldier of Jesus Christ, and the war is a dangerous one, because the devil and his hosts, Lucifer and fallen angels, are endeavoring to dissuade the elect of God from maintaining gospel testimony.

Says the Apostle, if I or any other angel preached unto you a gospel not like this, let him be accursed. But Paul, what angel would preach a gospel that was not exactly a reproduction of that which Jesus preached? And the only answer, the only comment that you can make from that verse, which is in Galatians 1 verses 2 or 3, is that Paul has in mind the subtle diabolical work of fallen angels. Does he not say to the Corinthians in the second epistle that the devil himself masquerades as an angel of light, subtlety? That is his mode of approach, and the church of Jesus is informed as to the diabolical way in which Satan's emissaries attack them, attack the members of the church.

So then, fallen angels must of necessity feature in your mind as you come to this 14th verse of Hebrews 1, because here we're not being informed about fallen angels, but faithful angels who have a concern to help human beings like us, who acknowledge Jesus as Lord. They assist in gospel proclamation. You remember how we are told in the Acts of the Apostles and in Galatians, and in a reference I gave you in Deuteronomy, in the Hebrew version of Deuteronomy, that angels were present when the law was given by Moses.

And angels, that when the law was given to Moses, they were custodians of the law, they brought it to Moses, and angels were not as directly involved, but they were present during the ministry of Jesus. At his birth they were there. At times they would sustain him in his public preaching, and in the testing that he endured at the hands of Lucifer.

They were present in the Garden of Gethsemane. Angels were there, that resurrection morn, to proclaim what had happened to Jesus Christ. Angels were there in the ascension, communicating to those men from Galilee who were staring into the sky, the gospel imperative, don't stand straining your necks upwards, get to Jerusalem, receive the power from on high, and start preaching.

Angels have a complementary role as assistants in gospel proclamation. They can't preach it themselves, they're not beneficiaries of the gospel, but they are concerned that the gospel be proclaimed well, and that assistance is given to those who are in need of it. We have in the Old Testament, have we not, the concept presented time and time again of angels bringing protection to people who were in danger, God's ambassadors.

I give you the illustration in your notes of Elisha and Gehazi, and the event at Dothan when the Syrian armies encompass the city, and the prophet's servant is so alarmed, and Elisha says, open his eyes Lord, let him see. His eyes are opened and he sees the hosts of the Lord, the angels of the Lord, ready to come to the bidding, ready to do the bidding of God and to come to the protection of his servants. We're told in the Psalms that the angels of God encamps around, the angel of God encamps around the Lord's people.

It was angels who rescued Lot, you remember, from the horror, the inferno of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was angels, according to Daniel, who closed the mouths of the lions, so that he had an easy time having bed and breakfast in that less salubrious of Babylon's hotels. And the lions didn't have him for breakfast, because of what the angels did.

It's the angels who are encouragers in ministry. Oh, this is what the apostle Paul has to testify, when in the Acts, we find him on his way to Rome, his boat, and the crew and passengers are in great danger. But Paul doesn't fear at all.

The 22nd verse of Acts 27, I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night, the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, you must be brought before Caesar, and so on. The angel encouraging Paul.

And what about Philip? Do you remember? Philip is a mighty evangelist. He's holding great services with much profit. But there's an Ethiopian who's been to Jerusalem to find the truth about God, and he's going back to his own country, uninformed.

And an angel gets very concerned. And Philip is directed by the angel to the eunuch. I find that a very interesting scripture.

But perhaps this is even more remarkable. And this quotation is not in your notes. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 9 refers to the ministry of Paul.

Paul has a rough time preaching. Very often he is ridiculed. He's made the offscouring of the world.

He's laughed at. He suffers terribly. He goes from shipwreck to shipwreck.

Often he's cold and without sufficient money for his keep. And there's a point when he's writing to the Corinthians, when he pulls back the curtain of his own experience, and he bears his heart. And he says in a singularly important verse, 1 Corinthians 4, 9, I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death.

For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. The point that I'm laboring is not so much the difficulties through which Paul passed, but the concept of the angelic host looking on this man's gospel activity. Does it not twin with the reference in Hebrews 1.14? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Does this not dovetail with Hebrews 12 and verse 1? Wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.

What does that refer to? Who does it refer to? I suggest the angelic hosts. Angels are present in many areas of our lives that perhaps we do not understand ourselves. The point of death.

Angels seem to be there, for Jesus tells the parable of divies, and how the poor man, the beggar, is not only led into Abraham's bosom, but carried there by the angels. Now, isn't it logical, my friend, bearing in mind what I have taught you about fallen angels, that unfallen angels, the angels of God, to quote the Psalmist, should have a deep interest in the successful propagation of the gospel. They are aware of the horrific tragedy in heaven.

They know what the root cause was of man's fall on earth. They are concerned for the glory of God, and they know that God is glorified when men and women come to a knowledge of Him, of His Son as Savior. So as best they can, indirectly, they encourage this.

They want to see Lucifer brought low. They are looking not only for his expulsion from heaven that has occurred, but his expulsion from the earth, to that day when he and his emissaries shall be locked up in hell forever. They want to see the glory of God, which suffered an assault by Lucifer in a pre-cosmic era and on this earth, not only remain intact as it has, but be visible throughout the universe, so that all shall recognize that God was not frustrated by Lucifer at all, but rather he turned the issue upside down.

And Lucifer, son of the morning, the one who endeavored to rob God of His glory, shall be reduced to the prisoner of God eternally. And man, whom the devil endeavored to gain for himself, shall have been redeemed by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and paradise lost shall be regained. Angels are concerned for the salvation of men.

That's why Jesus makes reference to the fact that when a sinner is converted, there is rejoicing in heaven. When one lost sheep returns to the fold, the hallelujah chorus is sounded forth by the angelic hosts. For the day is brought a little nearer, when Satan and his diabolical purposes shall be brought to an absolute zero, and the triumph of Calvary shall be established universally and be made complete.

So then, having run out of time, this is the context in which the Hebrew author puts down this particular proposition concerning angels. They're not on a par with the Son. He's superior to them.

But these pure angelic beings have a vital concern in the advance of the gospel. They minister to the saints. Not only do they spectate upon evangelistic opportunities, but there are times and examples I could furnish this evening.

There are times when they come to the aid of men and women who are in need. Not always visibly, not usually visibly, but invisibly. These angels work with Christian people like ourselves for the advancement of the gospel and to secure us in our position as sons of the living God.

Thank God for the ministry of angels, for what God is achieving through them and through us in these days. Amen. Father, you tell us so wonderfully in your Word that the angels of God encamp around his children.

And so often we need to be reminded of that and have our eyes opened as were Gehazi's eyes. Lord Jesus, you who teach that each child is looked after by the angels, help us to realize more and more that there are forces of good, your own celestial agencies who work with us for the propagation of the gospel. And help those of us who are older friends to realize that even at the point of death, you don't leave us alone, but you have your emissaries, your angels that perhaps become more visible at that time than at any other and take our spirit back to be with the Lord, its maker.

We praise you for such a wonderful salvation. Praise you for such marvelous provision. Help us, Lord, to profit by this study even more for Jesus' sake.

Amen.