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Advent 2023: Angels

Jesus, Infinitely Superior to the Angels

Scripture Texts:  Hebrews 1:4-14

We have spent the past four weeks of Advent considering the Gospel accounts announcing: the coming of the Messiah, the conception of the Messiah and the appearing of the Messiah at His birth.  The incarnation of Christ is surrounded by angels from heaven.

We have witnessed the visitation to earth of the archangel Gabriel bearing news of a coming event that is greater than anything the world has ever seen before.

I have stressed the significance and importance of this remarkable inbreaking of the heavenly with the earthly, the eternal with the temporal, the infinite with the finite, the invisible with the visible.

I have pushed against our secular, materialistic, pragmatic, windowless, closed, anti-supernatural world.  The abundance of proof is we are not alone, we live on a visited planet, created, sustained and redeemed by the real, living God, who has sent messengers from heaven.

I haven’t had the time to say much about angels so I want to make a number of quick bullet points to keep us from going into a ditch on this topic.

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Angels.  Angels are real and they are involved in the lives of human beings.

Angels are created creatures, created by God on one of the days of creation week.  They are not created in the image of God, and they are not eternal, but they are immortal, they never die.  They are powerful but not omnipotent.  They are spirits but not omnipresent, they can only be in one place at a time.  They are intelligent but not omniscient.

Among angels there appear to be several kinds of heavenly beings mentioned in Scripture: seraphim, cherubim, the four living creatures, angels, archangels, and the Angel of the Lord.  Gabriel and Michael are the only two named archangels in the Bible.

They can take on the form of human nature.  When they are seen by men the response is always one of fear, trembling, terror, scared out of their wits.  They are not cute cubby cherubs, nor are they aren’t like Clarence.

Angels are of two moral categories, holy/elect angels (I Timothy 5:2) and fallen/evil angels (Jude 6).  The fallen angels are irredeemable, there is no mention anywhere of an angel repenting, they have no Savior and therefore no salvation.  Once fallen, always fallen.  Their number is fixed, they neither reproduce nor die.  How many are there?  A lot.

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Angels are significant to the Christmas story because Jesus’ birth was like none other.  Something truly miraculous happened when Jesus took on human flesh as a baby.  The presence of angels confirm the miraculous nature of Jesus’ conception and birth.

The Christmas story requires us to accept by faith the supernatural, invisible, presence of spiritual beings from somewhere beyond our visible, physical universe.

Angels are important, but their greatest importance is what they point to, what they are a messenger of.  This brings us to the importance of our text this morning.  Hebrews 1 is the most concentrated, sustained treatment of angels in Scripture.

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The Shepherd’s Angel

Scripture Texts:  Luke 2:1-20

The Christmas story begins with a decree of Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the vast Roman Empire spreading all around the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.  At this time in history Rome was at its greatest, at the height of its rule and success, and Judea was at its lowest, the most subject, now being taxed by Rome.

He was the great emperor, when he issued a decree, everyone submitted and obeyed.  If all we had of the birth story was the first seven verses, we would think this is a political headline, a political story about Emperor Augustus.

But when Luke tells the story, it is incredible how Caesar Augustus became just a bit player quickly moved to the wings of the drama,.  He only has a cameo appearance in the divine drama, and he is never heard from again in Scripture.  The only reason he is known in Scripture is he is the one God used to move Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Augustus like all kings was only a pawn on God’s chessboard.  Think about it, merely a pawn.

This is true of President Biden, President Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of Hamas, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin.  They make their executive orders and issue their decrees, but every one of them is subject to and submitted to the sovereign decrees of God who is working all things for His glory and His redemptive purposes; for the glory of the kingdom of His Son who is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Never forget the words of Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

Christmas puts Caesar in his place.  Don’t be impressed with rulers, kings, presidents, rich and famous and powerful people.  No matter who is in power, God will prevail.  Don’t be fooled, don’t make a big deal about what is not a big deal.  They are nothing compared to the Christ.

The times belong to God, the times are in God’s hands.

Let us never be anxious about events all around us.

God orders and rules all things in heaven and on earth.

Little does Caesar know that he is being used by God to lay the foundation of a new kingdom before which his kingdom and all the kingdoms of earth will bow down.

The political purpose of the decree was for a census and taxation.  God used it for spiritual purposes to fulfill what He promised in prophecy, to accomplish His plan for salvation.

Everything in this story is humble and great at the same time.

A baby has been born in Bethlehem.  So what?  Lots of babies were born in Bethlehem, before and after this.  What is the significance of this event?

Luke’s narrative of the birth of Jesus on earth takes seven verses.  Seven verses.  That’s it.  The same number of verses for Isaac, Jacob and Moses.  What if Luke had just stopped there?

This event is the greatest event that has ever taken place on earth, it’s the turning point of history, but it has no meaning unless God reveals the meaning to us.  We must be told; it requires explanation.  The announcement of the birth of Jesus Luke takes twice as many verses.  This is the most important part, pay attention to this.

What this means is all human historical events and experiences are penultimate, secondary, second to last in their significance.  There is always something more, something above them, something ultimate.  Their ultimate significance lies in the reality that transcends what we see and know here.

Don’t miss this, this world is created and ruled by God, there is always more to every story, more than just what our five senses pick up.  There is more to your story than what’s on the surface.  God is always at work working out your salvation.  Watch for it, look for it, notice the grace all around.

What those in authority say or do, what people say or do is never the last word.  God always has the last word.  Remember another Joseph who said what you meant for evil, God meant for good.

 

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Joseph’s Angel

Scripture Texts: Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph’s discovery and dilemma, vss. 18-19.

We need to begin by understanding the Jewish practice of betrothal.  It is almost nothing like our western idea of engagement.

An engagement is a social agreement between a man and a woman with no legal ramifications, it can be broken off at will by either party.  None of that is true in a betrothal.

A betrothal is not the first step toward marriage, it is the first step of marriage.  It is a legally binding covenant, they are pledged to be husband and wife.  Notice in the text Joseph and Mary are referred to as husband and wife.  They have made vows, paid the dowry, and all that remains is for them to have one more formal ritual, and then the husband takes her from her home to his.  The reason for the interim period may be for her to come of age, or for him to secure a home or job.

One thing is clear, during this time there is no sexual intimacy between them and if either has sexual intimacy with someone else it is marital infidelity and falls under the judgment of God’s law for adultery.  It is during this time Mary is found to be pregnant.

This helps us understand the magnitude of the betrayal and crisis this creates for Joseph.

We cannot even begin to enter into the mind of this good and righteous man, Joseph.  He loves Mary, they are both godly, pure, God-fearing and they love each other.

Then Mary breaks the news that rocks his world.  How could he have misunderstood her character so much, how could he have been so deceived?  Everything in him refuses to believe this is possible, but it can’t be denied.

What a cauldron of emotions, disbelief, anger, rage, jealously, self-doubt, grief, vengeance.

Then add to this Mary’s complete unwavering denial of any sin, her complete lack of repentance, guilt, shame, tears of remorse.  And if that isn’t enough, Mary makes the most unbelievable, outrageous claim, God has made her pregnant with the Messiah, the son of David.

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Mary’s Angel

Scripture Texts: Luke 1:26-38

The first thing we notice in our text is something we addressed last week.

The Bible is unapologetically, unashamedly, openly supernatural.  The Bible talks about things and assumes things modern, materialistic mankind finds quaint or foolish.  This offends our American individualistic, independent way of thinking.  This offends our intellectual, scientific, academic pride, this is not the sort of stuff we allow to be taught in our schools.  People who believe this stuff are superstitious, gullible and naïve.

This is the stuff of myth, fantasy, sci-fi, make believe.  This is Peter Pan and Never neverland.  This is Alice and Wonderland.  We are just drifting through space on a big rock only to die and become worm food.

The fundamental truth concerning Christmas and the incarnation and Christianity is we live in an open universe where there are encounters with the real, invisible realm of God and heaven.  And we live on a planet visited by God where there is more going on around us than meets the eye.

Let there be absolutely no question in your mind, no hint of doubt, another world has broken into our world, and it dramatically changes everything.  We cannot just go on with business as usual.

I am thinking of you young people remembering when I was your age.  I remember being young, completely self-absorbed, thinking the world revolved around me, completely selfish in my decisions and choices, wanting what I want, doing what I want.  Thinking I am not accountable to anyone for anything.

I believed in God, I believed in Jesus and in heaven and hell and angels.  I believed all that but I lived like a practical atheist.  In other words, I didn’t really think about what the impact of the supernatural had on my day to day life.

We are not our own, we are not alone, God is as real and present and active in your life as He was in that teenager living in Nazareth.

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Zechariah’s Angel

Scripture Texts: Luke 1:5-25

Our Advent sermon series this year is the angels of Christmas who stand in the presence of God and reveal God to us.  I want us to see when eternity breaks into our world.

It is a strange and sad phenomena that surveys of Americans show more of them believe in angels than they do in God or Jesus or the Bible.  But angels come from the presence of God to point us to God and Jesus.

It is like when you point at something for a young child to look at and all they do is stare at your finger.  They are missing the point by looking at the pointer.  Angels are just couriers, carriers, deliverers, messengers and it’s their message is that’s important, their message is earth shattering, history changing, life altering.

Luke 1:5-25

The Gospels of Mark and John begin with the ministry of Jesus.  The Apostle Matthew begins his Gospel with the birth of Jesus.  Luke does neither.  Luke backs his story up to begin where Malachi ended.  He starts at the end of the four hundred years of silence after Malachi.  Luke starts when the voice of the Lord was heard again by the people of Israel.

You could say the NT starts in the OT.  All the characters of the Christmas story were in the OT when this all started.  Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna, they were all OT believers, clinging to the promises and prophecies of Yahweh to the children of Abraham.

We need to feel the tension, the expectation, the drama, the weariness of waiting four hundred years for God to speak.  The significance of this first story in Luke’s Gospel is hard for us to fathom without feeling the weight of four-hundred years of silence.

The promises in Genesis 3 and 22 were about to be fulfilled.  The seed of woman, the seed of God is coming, the one to sit on the throne of David, the lion of Judah, the prophetic weeks announced in Daniel 9, the consolation of Israel.  Everything was about to come together.  400 years of silence is interrupted by an angel of the Lord.

Luke starts the story, in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, focused on an obscure priest, from the hill country of Judah, and his barren wife.

This is God’s way again and again.  In a world full of rich and famous, high and mighty, proud and powerful, God chooses what is weak and foolish, what is of little consequence and significance.

 

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