Spirits Who Minister (Protestant Devotional and Caucus)

“To which of the angels has [God] ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” - Hebrews 1:13-14

Worshiper, message-bearer, soldier—these are roles that are filled by angels. But there is one more angelic office given to us in Scripture that helps us understand the function of these beings. As Hebrews 1:13–14 indicates, angels are spirits that minister to the needs of God’s people.

If we were to do a little reading on the subject of angels and angelic encounters, we would find many accounts of people even in our own day who claim that angels protected them or sustained them at a point of great need. Many individuals in the media might scoff at such claims, but that betrays more of an anti-supernaturalistic bias than anything else. The official position regarding angels of much of the leadership of the Western world in academia, the press, and other significant areas seems to be the outright denial that such beings could exist.

Stories of angelic encounters can be quite interesting, and perhaps in our own lives there are evidences of protection or sustenance that cannot be explained by ordinary causes. Nevertheless, our only sure guide to what it means for angels to be ministering spirits is the Word of God. As we look at some of the accounts of angels in Scripture, we see that the kind of ministry that they perform often overlaps with their actions as soldiers of the heavenly host. Consider 2 Kings 6:8–23. In this story, we read of the king of Syria’s attempt to capture the prophet Elisha by sending a great army against the city where the prophet was staying. Elisha’s servant was greatly afraid when he saw the Syrian forces, but the prophet was not concerned at all, saying to his servant that “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” God then gave Elisha’s servant the eyes to see the realm that was normally invisible to him, and he beheld a great army made up of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. The Lord had commissioned the angelic host to minister to Elisha and his servant by protecting them from the Syrian assault.

Similarly, Acts 5:17–42 describes the angel’s freeing the Apostles from prison so that they could continue their ministry. In this case, the kind of ministry the angel performs is to remove an obstacle to the preaching of the gospel. Though we cannot ordinarily see angels, we have reason to believe God is using them to protect us and to remove hindrances to our gospel outreach.

There are many other ways that angels minister to the people of God, but the key point is that our Lord uses these beings for our benefit. His love is so great that He sends powerful creatures to minister to us in ways that we are not even aware of at times. If you are doubting God’s love this day, know that His use of angels in your behalf shows His great affection for you if you are in Christ.

An interesting exercise for me was to read the Book of Enoch. Of course it wasn't included in the modern Bible, but is plain that the early Christians and Jews knew of the book because Jude quoted from it in vs 14. The early church used the Septuagint which contained several books we don't have and of course we have no record of Jesus saying they were forbidden. We know Enoch was raptured before the Flood and we have no idea who wrote it or when, but if the Apostles read it, I find it at least interesting to see what they knew. The whole book is filled with explanations of what angels were doing in the early days. I find the Nephilim (Genesis 6)stories explained at least in a logical story in Enoch. Also, the question of why God found Noah "perfect" in his generations, but needing "grace" from God is explained by the fallen angels were messing with human DNA and animals and anyone not pure was removed by the Flood. They also seemed to teach women potions and skills that maybe humans weren't supposed to know.( witches?)

Anyway, as a fun exercise, read it and see if it answers any questions you might have about angels. Over the years, the biggest things to learn about angels is they aren't children with wings, they are no women angels mentioned anywhere, we don't turn into angels when we die, and they are refereed to in the Bible as "Sons of God". Adam was a created being by God and was refereed to as a "Son of God". Cain and Able were sons of man, as are all of us until we are "born again". Jesus was the "Second Adam" and is known as The Son of God" His saving blood sacrifice gives us the right to become "Sons of God" also. The flesh must die and we must rise again as a creation of God to be His Son. There has been a long standing argument who the "Sons of God" were in Gen 6. To be a Son of God, He must create them. If it were religious holy believing men, as some say, why would their children become freakish hybrids that God found necessary to destroy? Being created by God doesn't guarantee that you are "Godly". There is Satan, a created being, and his fallen angels that all fell short. Also Adam was directly created by God and fell soon after.

Thanks. I am currently reading through all the early church fathers-a daunting task as there are 38 volumes and I'm only half way through the first book. These books are interesting as long as one remembers they are not divinely inspired-only the works contained in the Bible were agreed to be inspired. One can readily see the differences.

Per your suggestion I'm reading through the Book of Enoch. It is rather interesting but in Chapter 7 it says that the angels became "enamoured" with the beautiful women and took them in marriage (7:10-11). This contradicts scripture where Christ tells us that in heaven we neither marriage or are given in marriage for we will be like the angels...(Matt 22:30).

Angels in Heaven do not marry. The Book of Enoch is wrong if we are to believe the Bible. Now whether demons marry is another issue (which is the case in Enoch) and the scriptures are silent. One can only suppose they likewise do not marry but possess people (at least at the time of Christ).

There are places in scripture where quotes come in from non-inspired outside sources such as when Paul quotes a Cretan prophet who says "all Cretes are liars, evil beast, and lazy guttons" (Tim 1:12). One can only say that this portion of the quote is inspired and true while other parts are to be considered suspect. As for Cretans, we can only agree with Paul that not only are Cretans like this, so are the rest of us. :O)

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