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In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

People have a lot of different ideas about angels. A lot of strange ideas. Even people who aren’t Christian or particularly religious have interesting ideas about guardian angels, and their relationship with them. Maybe you’ve heard about some of those ideas from somebody. And maybe you’ve seen some of the many ways that angels have been depicted in artwork. One of the strangest, to me at least, is the Renaissance art that has little babies with wings floating in the edges of paintings. We call them cherubs, although that has nothing to do with Biblical descriptions. In the Bible, whenever angels appear to anyone, they have to say, “Stop being afraid!” While flying babies might be a little disturbing, they’re not likely to induce fear in someone.

“Angel” simply means “messenger.” They are messengers bringing a message from God, and very often it is a “good message.” The Greek word for Gospel is “eu-angellion,” good news, or a good message. So in the Revelation to St. John, even the pastors of the seven churches are called “angels” in English, because they are sent by God to bring the good news in those places. You probably remember many of the times when angels bring good messages to people, even if they don’t know that it’s good at the time, and so are afraid. Gabriel speaks to Zechariah in the temple, before the birth of Jesus. The angels appear to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those on whom His favor rests. To you this day is born a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.” Or the angel who appears to Mary and Joseph, to reveal to them what God is doing through the Child of Mary. Those are some of the more familiar appearances of angels.

But there are some less-familiar appearances as well. There is the angel who appears to Balaam, or rather to Balaam’s donkey. There are the angels who come with God to meet Abraham, before they go down to Sodom. There is the angel who appears to Elijah, when he is despairing in the wilderness: “rise and eat; the journey is too much for you,” and he went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights, to the mountain of God. And it’s not confined to the Old Testament. Angels appear to the apostles in prison, free Peter from prison, and appear to Paul before his shipwreck. And angels serve Jesus in the wilderness after the temptation and in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He sweats blood.

All of these, and there are several more as well, happen because God sends these messengers to speak His word to His people. They are not independent, spiritual beings; they are the ministering spirits of the God who made them. And so they are for us as well. God sends His angels to guard and protect His people now—to guard and protect you. You bear His Name, so His angels are for you. And we need this because we are in the midst of trouble, surrounded by evil, as the devil tries to attack us and sends his angels, the demons, to tear us from Christ. God sent His angel Michael to protect Israel in the midst of Babylon, when they were troubled by the angel-prince of Persia. And John saw visions of the Church’s earthly trouble in the Revelation. The devil, cast out of heaven, has come down to the earth in great wrath, to destroy the brothers and sisters of Jesus, the children born of water and the Spirit from the great Woman, the Church.

There is a great warfare in this world, surrounding us at all times, unseen. But God knows, and whenever the dragon tries to consume the brothers and sisters of the Child, John sees even the creation itself intervening to prevent the devil from having his way. Since we cannot see it, how can we be sure that God sends His angels to protect and guard us as we live in this world? How can we be certain when we pray, in the morning and the evening, “Let Thy holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me”? The dragon brought 1/3 of the angels with him when he was cast out of heaven. How can we be sure that God’s angels now will not turn against us, as the devil is against us?

It is exactly because these messengers of God are not independent of God, nor are they independent of Jesus. They guard and protect us and serve us because Jesus has already won the victory over the devil and his angels. He sent Michael to throw the dragon out of heaven, and there is rejoicing in the heavens because the accuser of the brothers, the accuser and attacker of Christ’s holy ones, has been cast down. But woe to the earth and the sea! Because he has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short. The victory over the dragon has been won, so he prowls around in great wrath, seeking someone to devour. But, though he is ravenous, like a lion, and against all the people of God, the victory over him has already been won. It is already finished and done, and there is nothing he can do to change that.

It has been won because the Son of God became, for a little while, lower than the angels. He took on flesh, and became like one of us, facing the temptation of the devil and his wrath, and Jesus was victorious. He suffered in our flesh and died in our flesh. He rose from the dead in our flesh, and He has been exalted above every power, seated at the right hand of God, until all things are put visibly under His feet. We do not yet see all things subject to Him, Hebrews says. It still looks like the devil is in charge, that the devil reigns, and all things are under his evil control. But it is not so. We do not see things subject to Jesus, but we do see Him, who became for a little while lower than the angels. And the angels served Him in His flesh, so they also serve us in our flesh. The angels rejoiced at His birth, and they rejoiced to speak of His resurrection. And the angels in heaven rejoice every time a sinner repents and believes in Jesus, their Lord. There is rejoicing in heaven at the victory over the devil, at the victory over all evil, and the victory over sin and death. And so Jesus tells the 72 to rejoice, not so much that the spirits are subject to them in the Name of Jesus, but that their names are written in the holy book of Jesus’ holy ones. And so is your name written there because of the victory of Jesus. Rejoice, even now, in the midst of the trouble of this world. Because the victory is complete, and the angels of the Lord serve you in His Name. It is with them that we rejoice: with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven! Though we do not see them, their Lord is here, so they are gathered in invisible glory around this altar, as you eat and drink from the living body and blood of the Lord. These ministering spirits guard and protect you now from the evil one, and Jesus says that they will be the harvesters at the end of the age, gathering you and me into the eternal house of the Lord on the last day.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 9/27/24