The Angels of God

Introduction

Revelation 22:8-9

Turn with me, please to Revelation, chapter 22, and verses 8 and 9. My, isn't it great to revel in the truth of our future, after our seventy years, perhaps eighty, here on earth? After that we have little expectancy of living. I saw a dear lady not long ago, aged, in a state of inactiveness, in the time when she had little to look forward to but eternity. The Land Beyond! God has it for those who love Him!

God has prepared a Holy City where we shall live with Him throughout eternity.

So, verses 8 and 9. "And I John saw these things." That is, the things written in the Book of Revelation. Remember, he actually SAW these things, the drama that God unfolded before his eyes, of the things that are to take place. "And heard them." He saw the glorious vision of the City of God, and the redeemed streaming into it, and he heard the statements God made, and that the angel made, statements of Christ. They are written down in this Book of Revelation. Oh, how God must wonder at human beings today, who, after HE SAID THESE THINGS, are not even interested enough to pick up the Book and read it! They would rather read the current, passing magazines than the eternal Word of the Living God; oh, may God help us to know HIS WORD. "And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then saith the angel unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship GOD." Worship God!

I. We Do Not Worship Angels

Here we have the record of a man falling down before an angel to worship the angel. You remember that God gave this prophecy to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave it to the angel. The angel gave it to the servant John, the apostle. And John wrote it to the church. John fell down before the angel to worship, but divine worship is due only to God. So the angel refused such worship. What does it mean to worship God? It means to prostrate ourselves before Him in His Deity and wonder and glory. Oh, friends, I'm wondering about people who go to church on Sunday mornings, how many of them go for divine worship. Their minds are filled with the thought of clothes, with business, or the happenings of the preceding week. How many really go to WORSHIP GOD? How many worship in spirit and in truth? Here is an indication of what worship means. The solemn truth is that we are to worship God.

II. We Shall Be Elevated to the Society of Angels

Now in the City of God, we shall be elevated to the society of angels. We will have a kindred relationship with these divine, celestial beings. We will be co-servants with the angels. You know, there are thousands of these beings called angels. We cannot estimate how many there are, but from the Greek phrase used in the New Testament, we may estimate that there are between 200      million and 300 million angels. We read in Psalm 68:17 that the angels of God are thousands! There are thousands of them. Multiplied numbers. Jesus said that when He comes again the reapers will be the angels, to gather in the saved and cast the unsaved into the Lake of Fire. They will sever the righteous from the wicked. Today saved and unsaved may live under the same roof, sleep in the same room, go to the same churches, and engage in the same business. But there is coming a  time of separation, when the righteous shall be severed from the wicked. I often wonder, as I see the throngs mingling together on the streets of our great cities, how many of them God sees as righteous and how many as wicked. I wonder, as a congregation gathers together on Sunday morning,         how many God sees as wicked and how many righteous. I wonder, how many are wicked and       how many are righteous in the moving picture show. The ANGELS some day will sever the righteous from the wicked.

We read also that the angels of little children behold always the face of the Father, which is in Heaven. There are angels that watch over the little ones. Sometimes we wonder how a child ever gets to be grown, how it ever survives all the tumbles and shocks of childhood and youth and on into maturity. There are angels looking after them. So we learn that angels behold the Face of the Father. They look into God's Face.

III. We Shall Behold and Serve God Like Angels

Heaven is filled with these powerful beings, waiting on God day and night to carry out His slightest wish. Friends, you and I are to keep the Word of God just like they do. Angels are attentive to Him, their one desire being to do the will of God. Friends, how can we neglect the Word of God? When we get to heaven, we'll wish we had read God's Word to the exclusion and neglect of everything else!

George Mueller, that mighty man of God, said he read his Bible ten to one over any other reading. The angels are ATTENTIVE to the Father.

IV. We Shall See the Angels When Jesus Comes

A. Their Number

When the Son of Man comes again, (Matt. 25:31) all the holy angels will be with him - every one of them. God will evacuate heaven of its angels, when Jesus returns! There will be a great company of angels with Him.

B. Their Power

We read also, (Matt. 26:53) giving us some idea of the power of angels, that when Jesus was being mocked by sinners, He said, "Don't you know that My Father could send Me twelve legions of angels to rescue and deliver Me?" But if Jesus had not gone on and completed His Word, men could not have been rescued from Hell.

C. Their Holy Nature

We read also, (Mark 8:38) that they are holy beings. Don't forget that the root meaning of the word HOLY means, "dedicated to God." "Complete yieldedness to God."

We read also, (Mark 12:25) that they are beings that do not marry. There is no marriage among the angels. And it will be the same way with us in heaven. We shall be as the angels. Not needing to marry, no need of procreation in that other world.

We read, (Luke 16:22) that when the beggar died, he was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. When you die, angels will be waiting by your bedside to carry you home to Glory. They didn't think enough of beggars in those days to even bury them, but this beggar was carried by the angels

into Abraham's bosom. What difference does it make about what happens to the body, if angels wing the soul to the Presence of God?

We read that Christians will be equal unto angels. (Luke 20:36.) Now we are a little lower than the angels. But we are going to be elevated to their equality.

We read that angels are clad in white, in John 20:12. Two angels in white were at the tomb of Jesus. Christians, too, we read in Revelation, shall be clad in white garments.

D. Their Limitations

Our salvation is so wonderful and complete that in Romans 8:38, we read that even angels will not be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We read again First Corinthians 6:3 that Christians will be elevated to judgeship over fallen angels. The only angels that will need Judgment will be the fallen ones, those that sinned against God.

First Corinthians 13:1 we read that though a man have the tongue of angels and have not love, he is like a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. Those marvelous beings, in their worship before the living God, are wonderful in speech. We will hear them in the other world. But LOVE is greater than the tongues of angels. Love, the power to love God and fellow-Christians and this lost world, is greater than to be able to speak in the marvelous language of a holy angel!

There is a danger of worshipping angels. Colossians 2:18. You know, these people were worshipping angels instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul speaks against this. In spite of this, John, in the glorious ecstasy of the Revelation, forgets himself and in the wonder if it all casts himself prostrate at the foot of an angel!

We read in Second Thessalonians 1:7 that our Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire with the angels of His power.

V. We Can Know Much About Angels

A. One Greater Than Angels

In Hebrews 1:4 we read that He was much better than the angels. How wonderful to realize that---the Lord Jesus is MUCH BETTER than the angels.

B. The Visitation of Angels

Then in Hebrews 13:2, we read that angels sometimes disguise themselves and come to our  homes and that many people have entertained angels unawares! That is an important passage. You never know, when someone raps at your door, whether that's an angel in the guise of someone poor and needy, to see if we will respond to that need or not. Unawares!

C. The Stooping of Angels

We read in First Peter 1:12 that the angels think so much of God's Gospel, the New Testament privilege of service, that they stoop down to look into these things. They'd like to be a soul winner! We have a job that God's angels would like to have! The angels themselves would like to carry the message of the Lord Jesus Christ!

D. The Ministry of Angels

Then, in this very Book of Revelation, it was to an angel that Jesus gave the Revelation, to give to John. And we read in 7:11 that all the angels stood round about the Throne, waiting on God.

We read of angels having charge of the four winds; angels over fire. We read in 14:10 about standing in the presence of the holy angels. There will be an angel at each of the twelve gates of the City of God! We read that they excel in strength and do God's Work perfectly. Psalm 103:20.

VI. Which Angels Will You Abide with in Eternity?

As we come to the close of this message, remember this, that when Jesus comes again, He will come in the glory with a great company of angels, to gather together His elect. Who are the elect? Those who are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have confessed Christ as your Savior and Lord, He will confess you, before His Father and before the Holy angels. If you are not a Christian, accept Him and be ready to meet Him. Will you do it? Don't be among the lost! You'll be flung out of the Presence of God, to be lost forever with the angels that rebelled and fell from heaven. Put your trust in Christ, TODAY. Will you do it?