December 4 Angels
“The angels keep their watch”
Pray
I believe that there is more to this world, Lord, than my eyes can see. Help me to look beyond the material to the spiritual and, with the angels, to rejoice. Amen.
Read – Hebrews 1:6
“And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says, ‘Let all God's angels worship Him.’”
Reflect
There’s a lot of nonsense written about angels. Popular books are filled with fanciful ideas that bear no relation to what we know about angels from the Bible. Angels are not capricious or cute; they are not curious about the foibles and sins of fallen humanity. We don’t become angels when we die. There is not “one more angel in heaven, one more star in the sky” when we depart. Angels are simply God’s messengers, spiritual beings whose purpose is to serve and glorify the Lord.
There are no precise depictions of angels in the Bible. They are unlikely to resemble the chubby, be-winged cherubs of the Renaissance artists. Neither should we think of them as the elfin, scantily-clad beauties of current mythology. Biblically, angels are neither infants nor female. The pronouns used to describe angels are male. This does not make them frustrated sexual beings, despite the best efforts of Hollywood. Angels have little in common with Nicholas Cage.
What we do know about angels centers around two themes: power and light. At times, angels form a mighty army, or a heavenly choir. They can stop enemies in their tracks; they can roll stones away. The light which the angels bring, like the power which they demonstrate, is not their own. Theirs is a reflected glory. But how they shone one dark, Bethlehem night, as the Prince of Glory finally took to the stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment