(Luke 1.39-45)

Angels

• All angels are ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14)
• He will command his angels to guard you in his way (Psalms 90:11)
• Do not forget to entertain strangers for in doing so we have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2)
• The Angels will separate the wicked from the righteous (Matthew 13:47)

Angel is derived from the Greek work meaning messenger.  There are angels (temporal) and angels (spiritual) who are messengers of God to us.  It is easy to understand the idea that other people can speak into our lives and act as messengers from God.  The idea of spiritual angels needs more explanation.

Angels are a part of the company of heaven.  Satan was an angel who conceived the impossible thought of placing his throne higher than God.  He was then cast out of heaven.  The sin that caused his fall was pride – God did not spare the angels when they sinned but sent them straight to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment (2 Peter 2:4).  In Job we find Satan numbered among the sons of God and with access to his presence (Job 1:8-9 and 2:1-6).

The reason you may not immediately grasp the idea of spiritual angels is the habit within the Christian constituency of separating spiritual and physical where spiritual is seen as everything that is good and physical is seen as everything that is suspect.  It is a mistake (not the Christian teaching) to see your true self as being embodied within your spiritual rather than your physical being.  The idea that at the point of death some indefinable essence is released and we become akin to the wind in the trees, the smile on the child, the rain on the roof, is comforting because it makes us feel as if we have not lost the person who has died.  However, what it gives with one hand it takes away with the other.  The idea that shutting my eyes, listening to the rain fall and imagining the person who has died is the best I will get is selling my Christian birthright.

The Christian teaching is that it is Jesus’ second coming and not the moment of our death that marks the point of transformation.  Together the living and the dead wait for the coming of Christ.  It means that what Christianity has to say in the face of death, is better and worse.  It is worse because we don’t immediately slip into  a comfortable spiritualisation.  Death is a whole lot more than simply going into the next room.  It is better because the reunion at the second coming will be fuller and more complete.

That is some real good news for us this Christmas