14. The Birth announced by Angels

  Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. (Luke 2:8–9 NKJV)

Angels

The gospel according to Luke begins and ends with angels. He has more references to angels than any of the other gospel recorders.

  Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  (Luke 1:26–27 NKJV)

When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. (Luke 24:23 NKJV)

Luke’s companion volume, the Acts of the Apostles, continues the theme.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10–11 NKJV)

From his birth to his resurrection, from the resurrection to the ascension, it seems that angels were constantly in attendance upon him

Technically the word derives from a messenger. Sometimes in the scriptures the ‘angel-messenger’ is clearly human but when we think of angels we generally think of the spirit beings God created to attend him and to execute his will. Sometimes they execute God’s judgments as the watchers in the book of Daniel (Dan 4:17ff) or the slayer of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:21–23) but usually they are supremely God’s messengers. Of the myriads of these creatures God has named only two: Michael who is designated as archangel and Gabriel who seems to fulfil the role of a Royal Courier. Perhaps this reticence is planned. Some folk develop an almost fatal fascination with angels.

Angels and pinheads

During the time preceding the 15th century Reformation theologians, apparently, used to discuss the question as to how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. This may have been a more serious quest than now appears, but angels being spirits do not have the same relationship to space and time as human beings. The theologians sometimes distinguish between God being omnipresent and spirits being ubiquitous. God is everywhere all at the same time. Angels beings creatures can be anywhere instantly but cannot be everywhere at the same time!

They are mysterious beings who usually fulfil their ministry secretly. They are God’s secret agents. We do not need to know their names. We are thankful to God for their ministry but we live our lives in a war-zone and God often works on a ‘need to know basis’. As an old Quaker remarked ‘I have no desire to be wiser than what is written’. So we will not delve into things that God has not clearly revealed.

Armies of Angels

Their numbers are immense. We have angels on solo missions recorded throughout the scripture and occasionally we get a glimpse of their great massed power. The record of the visit to the shepherds on the hills outside Bethlehem begins with a single angel whose appearing terrified the shepherds who watched over their sheep. The were ‘greatly afraid’. The original might almost be translated as ‘mega-phobic’ in our contemporary idiom. They were absolutely terrified. And this was their response to a single angel.

And then the army appeared.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying… (Luke 2:13 NKJV)

The word translated ‘host’ here is the word ‘stratea’ from which we get our word ‘strategy’: the science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing large military movements and operations. It is the Greek word for an army. The idea is used often in the Old Testament in the phrase ‘Jehovah of Hosts’ meaning God as the leader of heaven’s armies against the rebellions of earth.

How many angels on a pinhead? How many angels in an army? Our Lord, while on earth, had at his disposal more than twelve legions of angels. (Matt 26:53) A roman legion has approximately 6000 soldiers, so 12 legions would amount to 72,000 angels and he referred to ‘more than’ twelve legions. These powerful spirit beings had not come to sing in the choir. They were effectively his own Praetorian Guard: the personal bodyguard of a military commander. And, in spite of all our hymns to the contrary, there is not a hint that they came singing.

There is a record in 2 Kings Chapter 6 of an event in which Elisha was surrounded by a foreign army. His servant was fearful to see the vast array of horses and chariots that surrounded them but Elisha was unperturbed.

  So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kgs 6:16–17 NKJV)

It seems that this was Elisha’s personal bodyguard, and when Elisha was on his deathbed the king bewailed the prospect that the nation was about to lose its secret weapon:

 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” (2 Kgs 13:14 NKJV)

So, rank upon rank of heaven’s legions accompanied the birth of of a tiny baby and they paused to bring the good news to the shepherds in the hills.

At different times, as we read the record, our own eyes are opened to see the presence of this personal bodyguard.

Servants to the King

Mark records that after his temptations in the wilderness the angels attended him.

 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him. (Mark 1:12–13 NKJV)

Luke records that following his tryst in the garden of Gethsemane a hidden servant was again in attendance.

And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:41–44 NKJV)

Our ministers

Angels are not absent from our world nor from our experience. Perhaps God, knowing that their conscious presence would be a distraction to us, keeps them hidden so that we can concentrate on Him alone and so pursue our walk of faith. So only occasionally are we are aware of their attendance. But they are here, and here for us…

Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? (Heb 1:14 NKJV)

This obligation is not all in one direction. Our behaviour is an example to them and one day we must judge them. (1Cor 6:3) In the meantime I must live my life in a way that testifies to them of God’s kingdom having begun on earth. A kingdom with a culture that is neither Roman, nor Greek nor Jewish but heavenly. As a man I am not to cover my head in the gathering of the saints, and the woman is not to uncover hers… God’s restored order is to have its testimony on earth in a simple act of obedience. As a man I am not to cover my head in the gatherings of the saints, and the woman is not to uncover hers…’because of the angels’ (1 Cor 11:10)