Angels

Since the Enlightenment, many people, especially in the WESTERN WORLD, have reached the conclusion that ONLY realities which we can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste exist. Automatically, this eliminates deities or gods of all types, spirits, demons, the devil or Satan, angels, and the like. This also rules our miracles, supernatural events, mysterious personalities and occurrences, and the like.

In my humble opinion, this is a VERY NAIVE and UNREALISTIC concept. There are MANY phenomena which we cannot experience with the five senses, yet we assume they exist. One simple example is the atom. Now, without getting into a "philosophical" treatment of this general idea, I want to highlight a few biblical assertions about ANGELS.

1. The Bible, Old and New Testaments, assumes that angels exist and work in the world. Here are a VERY FEW texts.
a. Old Testament. Psalm 34:7:
"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and delivers them."
Psalm 103:20: "Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you might ones who do his bidding,
obedient to his spoken word."
Zechariah 3:1-5: "Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?' Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, 'Take off his filthy clothes.' And to him he said, 'See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will cloth you with festal apparel.' And I said, 'Let them put a clean turban on his head.' So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with the apparel; and the angel of the Lord was standing by."

b. New Testament. Luke 15:10: "I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Acts 12:6-11: "The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, 'Get up quickly.' And the chain fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, 'Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.' He did so. Then he said to him, 'Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.' Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel's help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along the lane, when sudden the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, 'Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all the Jewish people were expecting.'"

2. People around the world have had experiences of angels, inside and outside the USA and the Western World. In later blogs, I will share some of these experiences.

3. Just because a human being can experience other human beings "visibly" BY NO MEANS PROVES that other thinking, deciding, acting beings "invisible" to US do not exist.

We will talk about many of these matters more in depth. Right now, I want to share one of Walter Brueggemann's prayers in his volume Prayers for a Privileged People. This prayer is called "Sustained by Angels."

Maybe we have not thought much about Satan,
either in glib self-regard,
or in rejection of such silly speculation,
or in a way more urbane and benign
than to imagine such a character.

Except that as we begin our strenuous Lenten trek,
we are aware
that the power of resistance is at work in our midst,
that the force of negation is alive and well,
that our best will is contradicted
by stuff that surges
against our best selves,
that we, even we, are prone to our
several addictions that render us helpless.

So we pray in the Lenten season,
give us primitive freedom to
take full stock of Satan and the power of
evil still among us in our prosperity and
wealth and sophistication,
and give us primitive openness
to our ministering angels
who are present with care and gentleness
and great nourishment.

In the Lenten season, give us freedom
to reconfigure our lives
as a testing field between the force of Satan
and the food of your angels.

Enter our lives with power for newness,
deliver us from a sense of naive mastery,
and give us honest contact with our vulnerability.

Enter the deep places of our life and claim us for your purposes.
We would be more free than we are,
more bold than we dare,
more obedient than we choose.

We wait for the gift of your large gift of life
that will wrench us away from death
to the miracle of Easter joy.

Tell me your experiences of angels. What do these biblical texts affirm? Are we completely oblivious to the work of God's angels? Tell me your thoughts. Share your ideas with those around you.

We will talk more about angels in later blogs.

John Willis