Sermon Central
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The Angels 'to-Do' List, Pt. 2 Series
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Mar 23, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: Completion of message giving the angels’ job description. Link included to entire series in formatted text, handouts, and PowerPoints.
The Angels ‘To-Do’ List, pt. 2
They don’t hang out in libraries, atop skyscrapers, or at the beach…they have a job to do!
What’s an angel’s job?
1. To offer praise and worship to God
Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Last time we said that Heaven will be a noisy place…we might as well get used to praising God aloud right now!
Praise and worship are very misunderstood subjects in Christianity today. Did you know that you and I were created for the same reason as the angels? Yes! To praise and worship and glorify God!
New info:
They are messengers in scores of verses, but what messages are they to deliver and what tasks are on their to do list?
2. To bring judgment upon the enemies of God.
We usually think of them as agents of grace and mercy…coming in peace…and that’s all true, but it’s only part of the story. Oftentimes in scripture they are agents of judgment.
And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Fire = judgment So, they’re not just soft beings floating on a cloud.
Gen. 19—Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked before God, and God sent angels to warn them of coming judgment. Then angels were sent to deliver just Lot out of the city before judgment fell.
II Kings 19 / II Chron. 32—The judgment of Sennacherib. In 1 nite 1 angel killed 185k Assyrian soldiers, and was home in time for breakfast.
II Sam 24
David had sinned against God in numbering the people. He had to be punished. God gave him his choice of punishment.
In v. 10-13 the choices are listed. In v. 14, he asks God to choose.
v. 15-16 70k Israelis were killed by an angel acting as an agent of judgment.
NT example:
And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. [22] And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. [23] And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
Herod sits on his throne, decked in royal array. He was an eloquent speaker, and the people listened and began to worship him. He could have put a stop to that kind of following, but instead he enjoyed it.
[Joshua in the OT and Peter in the NT both rejected worship, but Herod did not, and so an angel was sent to smite him.]
Moral: give God the glory or get worms!
When someone praises you after singing a special or making a meal or whatever…give God the glory! Praise is like perfume…you can sniff a little, but don’t inhale, and definitely don’t swallow it whole!
Maybe God has blessed you financially, or w/ a nice home, or nice things…give God the glory!
But the word of God grew and multiplied.
I guess so!
So, angels brought OT judgment / NT judgment / and also future judgment! Angels will bring future judgment:
To the earth…
Rev. 7:1-2
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. [2] And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea…
Rev. 8:5-7
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. [6] And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
[7] The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
…and 6 more!
To unbelievers…
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Rev. 9:15
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
