Advent Day 22: Messangers

Angels served the Lord in various ways throughout the scriptures. They prepared the way for God's people (Exodus 23:20), called forth leaders to deliver the people when they were oppressed (Judges 6 & 13), delivered provisions to the persecuted (1 Kings 19:5-8) and acted as agents of God's wrath (Genesis 19, 2 Kings 19). In every circumstance, the main purpose of the appearance of an angel on earth was for one reason: to deliver an awesome message from God. The Lord utilized various measures to grab the attention of his people throughout history. He preformed great and wondrous signs before the people of Israel and he also came in a still small voice to Elijah. The instances where God sent forth an angel to do his bidding were socking and could not be ignored. It's hard to ignore divine intervention when it's tapping you on the shoulder (see Elijah in 1 Kings 19).

 

Angelic beings exist for one reason: to minister to and glorify God forever. In the instances in scripture that offer us a glimpse into God's throne room, we see how the spirits before the Lord are consumed with his majesty and can only cry out "Holy!" (Isaiah 6) Outside of heaven, angelic revelation is not a frequent occurrence and therefore should grab our attention whenever we come across such a passage in the Bible. In the Christmas story angelic messengers appear four different times: to Zechariah (Luke 1:5-25), to Mary (Luke 1:26-38), to Joseph (Matthew 1:20-24 & 2:13), to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20). Whats more, the host of angels that appeared to the shepherds in Luke 2 was the first and only such host to have appeared to men outside the heavenly realm. The greatest message of the Lord required a great number of angels to herald it! Can you imagine it? The angels in heaven were so excited about the coming of Christ that a multitude of them couldn't help but show themselves to lowly shepherds in order to use their song of praise to the Lord as a sign of the great and wonderful miracle that had happened.


Luke 2:8-15
"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!' When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.'”