Ministering Spirits

 

The book of Hebrews speaks of the superiority of God’s revelation to humanity through Christ. We saw that in the first three verses of chapter one. As we continue to work our way through Hebrews, we will see Christ’s superiority to angels, His superiority to Moses, His superiority to the Levitical priesthood, and the superiority of the new covenant to the Old Covenant.

 

Today we look at Christ’s superiority over angels. Our primary text comes from verse 14 of this first chapter, but I will read the entire chapter for context: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me”?

 

And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.” And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; And they all will become old like a garment, And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” But to which of the angels has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” 

 

When we talk about angels it’s vital that we maintain a biblical worldview during our discussions. Indeed, when we talk about anything related to our lives on earth and after death – maintaining a biblical perspective is critical to our spiritual health, our spiritual safety, and to the eternal destiny of our souls and the souls of those whom we love.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). When we say God created all things, it means He created ALL things – whether visible or invisible – including the supernatural beings called ‘angels.’

 

Let me say that again for emphasis so we are clear: God created all the supernatural Beings we call angels. They are not eternal. Only God – whom we know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – only God is eternal.

 

Scripture identifies two categories of angels: holy angels and fallen angels. It’s important to understand that when God created the angels, they were ALL holy angels. But scripture records that one of the holy angels named Lucifer rebelled against his creator and sought to dethrone God from His throne. We find in Isaiah this text about Lucifer (Hebrew: Light-bearer), “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God . . .‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14:13-14)

 

We find reference to Satan in Ezekiel 28:12-17: “You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God . . You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you . . . “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.”

I don’t want to spend more time talking about the enemy of our souls than is necessary, but I continue a bit longer because we must be reminded not only of Satan’s existence, but also of his powerful influence in the affairs of men and women, and his strategies for our eternal destruction. Without a keen awareness of Satan’s activities, we render ourselves and our loved ones defenseless against his deadly attacks.

And while on the subject of Satan’s power to influence, it’s important to note that Satan was able to convince 1/3 of God’s holy Angels – supernatural Beings who lived in the very presence of Almighty God, Beings surrounded by the love of God, by the glory of God, by the beauty of God – Satan convinced 1/3 of them to also rebel against their Creator. (see Revelation 12:4).

Let me pause a moment to reiterate what I just said. Satan was able to persuade 1/3 of the holy angels living in heaven to rebel against God. So, don’t think for a moment that he cannot persuade humans to do the same. The history of planet earth overflows with blood-soaked evidence of that tragic and ongoing reality. And the histories of many of our families also give mournful testimony of the devil’s ability to influence man and women away from God.

 

Regarding also Satan’s ability to influence humanity to rebel against God and His commandments, consider how he has perverted and corrupted the gifts God has given us, for example, in the areas of human sexuality and marriage.

 

The most recent National Survey of Family Growth, done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and completed in 2019, has found that 43 percent of evangelical Protestants ages 15 to 22 said they definitely or probably would cohabit in the future. More than two-thirds of evangelicals ages 29 to 49 had cohabited at least once. And 53 percent of evangelical Protestants currently in their first marriage cohabited with each other prior to being legally wed. And just to be clear, to ‘cohabit’ in this context is synonymous with committing fornication – a damnable sin, unless remedied by repentance.

 

Furthermore, according to a recent Pew Research survey of Americans who identify as Christian, 54% believe homosexuality should be accepted, rather than discouraged, by society – another damnable sin, unless remedied by repentance.

  

Do you begin to understand how successful the Dark Forces of hell have been to seduce men and women away from God’s light?

 

We should also look at yet another example of Satan’s strategy to move people toward disobedience to God and His commandments – and this one has to do with the commemorations the Christian Church has given us as a means of remembering and reflecting on God’s goodness, His holiness, His love, and His commandments.

 

The Church originally celebrated ‘Christ’s Mass’ – which was shortened to ‘Christmas’ – the Church celebrated Christmas as a day to remember the birth of the Savior in that little town of Bethlehem. But Satan hijacked Christmas and corrupted its original intent so that the day is often now synonymous with Santa Claus and reindeer, and scant thought (if any at all) about Jesus.

 

Easter is another holy day perverted by the devil. What originally began as a celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ now focuses our attention on cute bunnies and chocolate eggs.

 

And, since we are so close to the holy day that used to be called ‘All Hallows Eve’ and its companion, ‘All Saints Day’ – on which Christians used to remember and honor the holy martyrs of the church who died for their Christian testimony – today All Hallows Eve has been perverted into Halloween. Instead of honoring those who died for Christ, witches, ghosts, and black cats rule the night of Halloween.

 

Please hear this: By diverting our attention from the holiness of the original holy days, Satan has desensitized men, women, AND children – to the love of God AND what should also be the FEAR of and REVERENCE to God.

 

So – application time. God knows the spiritual danger we all face in this life and has provided us with spiritual protection through His Word, His Holy Spirit, and, as we shall see in a moment, through His holy angels.

 

THEREFORE, we ought to conduct our lives strictly according to God’s word. What that means regarding the evil spirit world is we MUST avoid everything that opens our soul to demonic seduction and danger. That includes, as I spoke of earlier in this message, it means turning our backs on the culture’s current means of celebrating All Hallows Eve – now called Halloween. Living according to God’s instructions also means we avoid reading our horoscopes. It means not caring a whit if our birthday falls under the pagan sign of Gemini, or Aries, or Virgo, or whatever. Those pagan symbols are demonic at their very source. Leave them alone.

 

Conducting ourselves according to God’s word means we don’t mess with occult and paranormal so-called ‘games’ such as Tarot cards, and Ouija boards. Living according to God’s word means we don’t watch horror movies that depict supernatural evil – of which there are dozens and dozens available on Prime and other streaming services. Remember, God tells us through the apostle Paul: “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.” (Ephesians 6:12). The Greek word Paul used for ‘struggle’ denotes a wrestling contest between two people and which is decided when the victor can hold his opponent down with his hand on his neck.

I say all this by way of guidance. Our role as parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts – whatever – our role is to help our families live biblically in this fallen culture.

 

Now we turn attention to the other category of angels: God’s holy angels.

Scripture gives us only glimpses into their supernatural realm, but what God’s word DOES tell us is sufficient for us to know what God wants us to know about the holy angels.

 

First, angels worship God. And it ought to seem incomprehensible if they would not worship Him. He surrounds them with His incredible beauty, intimate warmth, His light, His tenderness, His love.

 

Have you ever stopped to stare at a rainbow and get lost for a moment or two in its beauty? Have you ever been awed by a sunset when it painted the sky with pastel yellows and reds and blues? Have you ever been so touched by a symphonic orchestra that tears came to your eyes?  

 

Angels live in the ineffable presence of God’s incomprehensible love and in the midst of heaven’s sights and sounds of beauty – sights and sounds that far exceed anything we have ever experienced on earth. As St Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: “Things which eye has not seen ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

 

No wonder angels worship. And when we see and hear and sense the glories of heaven, we also will worship as we have never been able to worship in this life.

 

Now, moving on, the writer to the Hebrews tells us angels are ministers of God sent by Him to serve those who will inherit salvation. In what ways to they serve the child of God? Well, for one thing, angels are God’s messengers. They obediently deliver to us words from the Father. Angels usually appear as ordinary humans. That’s why Hebrews tells us: (Hebrews 13:2) “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

 

They appeared in physical form, in Genesis 18 to Abraham and Sarah. An angel appeared to Zechariah with a message about the birth of John the Baptizer. An angel appeared to Mary with the message that she would be the mother of Messiah Jesus. Angels physically appeared to Jacob, and Gideon, Samson’s parents, to Peter and to Paul. There are many other examples, but for the sake of time, we will stop here.

 

Angels also wage spiritual battle for us, fighting against the forces of spiritual darkness – fighting as only THEY can battle. We find such references in Daniel 10, Ephesians 6, and Jude 1. Angels execute God’s judgment on nations and people who persist in rebellion against God. For example, when Pharaoh refused to let God’s people leave Egypt, God sent an angel to kill every firstborn son (see Exodus 12). Herod was killed by an angel in Acts 12 because of his persistent evil and rebellion. And God sends angels to rain destruction on all of humanity in Revelation chapters 8-10.

 

God uses angels to protect us. As the Psalmist tells us: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them.” (Psalm 34:7) We see that played out in the story of Lot, when angels dragged him and his family from Sodom before its destruction (see Genesis 19). We see it in the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 6 when the Arameans surrounded the city of Dothan.

 

As we live biblically with God’s holy angels, Scripture provides some clear guidelines as to our interaction with them. Essentially – those guidelines tell us to ‘stay in our own lane.”  What I mean by that is, first, we don’t seek them. We don’t pray to them. We don’t honor them. We don’t initiate conversations with them. And we don’t have the right to name any angel, including our so-called ‘Guardian’ angel. Throughout Scripture, naming a person or a thing meant having authority over it. For example, Adam gave names to all the animals (Genesis 2). Parents give names to their children.

God never gives us the authority to name HIS angels.

 

We seek Christ and Him alone. Not angels. Christ alone is the focus of our prayers, our honor, and our conversations. To do ANYTHING different is to open our spirits to the dark forces I’ve already mentioned. St Paul was not joking when he told the Corinthian Christians: (2 Corinthians 11:14b-15) “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” 

 

And 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 – “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

 

As I said at the beginning of this message, when we talk about angels – or indeed, when we talk about anything related to how we ought to live our lives – it’s vital that we maintain a biblical perspective. To do otherwise opens our spirits to enormous spiritual danger.

 

Seek Christ alone. Not people. Not angels. No one but Christ. Obey His Word in all things. And give Him thanks for the protection He provides moment by moment through His holy angels, sent by Him to serve those who will inherit salvation.

 

Next week I want us to move into chapter two and this text: “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”