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Michael
St. Michael and All Angels – 9/29/2024
Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3
Rev. Christopher W. Brademeyer
That portion of God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our Old Testament lesson from the book of the prophet Daniel in the tenth and twelfth chapters with special emphasis on verse one of chapter twelve which reads as follows:
“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.”[1]
Thus far the Scriptures.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today’s topic is angels, given that this day is the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. On this day each year, the Christian church reflects on these servants of God. That is to say, we think about who the angels are, what their duties are, whether there are differences amongst them, and about how God created them. There is no shortage of ideas about these beings in contemporary society, some of which are confirmed in the Scriptures, others are the fabrications of legend and superstition that has arisen over the years.
Who are the angels? In brief, they are servants of God created by Him to serve Him. The word “angel” in Greek (ἄγγελος / angelos)[2] and Hebrew (מֲלְאָךְ / malak)[3] both mean “messenger.” Messengers do not come with their own agenda or their own words, instead, a good messenger serves as the mouthpiece and enacts the will of another who sends them. This, then is the main purpose of the angels: they serve to speak and act in accordance with the will of God. They are His servants, His messengers. They do His will by His command. This also means that these messengers are not former human beings; angels are not people with a job, rather, they are spiritual beings made by God for His purposes. In other words, people do not become angels when they die.
The angels are created by God, though the Scriptures do not give us the exact time of their creation. Since they are associated with God, whose realm is heaven, some theologians have speculated that they were made on the fifth day with the birds. Others point to passages like in Job, which mentions that the sons of God were made before the foundation of the world.[4]Angels are immaterial beings, that is to say, they are spirits and to not possess physical bodies like we do. Their bodies are spiritual and, as such, they are not male or female in a biological sense. This means that all the depictions of angels that one finds in stores and on greetings cards depicting them as beautiful women miss the mark; to be a woman in an obvious physical way is to assume that one has the physical hardware that goes along with being a woman, which, of course, a spiritual being would not have. For this reason, traditional Christian art depicts figures such as St. Gabriel, who announced to Mary that she would give birth to the Lord Jesus, as strong but somewhat androgynous men, in order to try and capture the idea of him not being a physical being. All named angels have masculine names in Scripture but trying to depict a manlike figure that is not a man, but instead is an immaterial spirit is a difficult thing and we can see why artists have a difficult time doing so perfectly.
Besides angels described as being man like in appearance such as in Genesis where angels and the Lord Himself visit Abraham before going to check out the sinful city of Sodom,[5] angels also appear in other ways in the Bible. Cherubim are described as appearing like animals, having human faces, and having wings.[6] Where angels that appear like men are seen in the Bible when God gives messages to mortal men, cherubim are associated with policing the presence of God and, thereby, keep sinners from entering God’s presence to our destruction. The angels that guarded the way into the garden of Eden are cherubim,[7] the angels that appeared to Ezekiel were cherubim,[8] and the carved figures on the top of the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple were cherubim.[9]
The Bible also mentions another kind of angel, the Seraphim, who are described in Isaiah as having six wings. Two sets of wings covered their faces and feet as a sign of respect and with the third set they flew. They also are bright, fiery, or shiny, given that the name “seraph” means “fiery one” in Hebrew. These winged angels are the origin of the idea that angels have wings, though the descriptions of the human-like angels in Scripture never describes them this way. In fact, Abraham seems to not realize that the three men who come to him are angels right away, implying that they do not have any obvious differences in appearance that would have tipped him off.
Ezekiel sees an unspecified type of angel that he simply calls “living beings” who, like the seraphim have multiple sets of wings and were fiery in appearance and like the cherubim have multiple faces. With these angels are what he called “wheels” that were covered with eyes and seem to also be some kind of angel.[10] These winged living beings also show up in Revelation before the throne of God.[11] The New Testament adds to these names and descriptions angels called thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, and powers.[12] Besides this are the archangels,[13] who seem to be leaders or higher ranked among the angels. The archangels are the only two named angels of the Bible: Michael[14] and Gabriel.[15] Because these descriptions are rather limited, theologians have tried to rank these different types of angels in various ways. In general, it is agreed that the wheels, cherubim, and seraphim seem to be superior angels given that they are pictured close to the throne of God, and the others are lower ranks of angels given that they are not described in this way.
As much fun as we might have in trying to figure out what all these differences mean, it is more important that we describe what God gives them to do. Angels bear the messages of God, do his will, and, as according to God’s will, they protect us. Our Lord says in Matthew that each Christian child has an angel associated with them,[16] which, along with the biblical promise that the angels protect Christian people,[17] is the basis of the traditional understanding of guardian angels. Angels are able to stand in God’s presence because, unlike us, they are blameless,[18] holy,[19] and stronger than us human beings.[20]
As an aside, this is what makes the demons so terrifying: these fallen angels are stronger than us and are very good at tempting us to sin, even though the guild for our sins lies ultimately with us. Fallen angels are unable to be redeemed as they do not have a Savior like we do, which is one of the reasons that Satan has such a hatred of humanity.
Those angels which did not fall into sin have had their holiness confirmed and are now unable to fall, unlike what some popular TV shows might say to the contrary.[21] Their holiness comes from God and is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. They ultimately serve to point to Him, defer to Him, and to lead to Him. This is why the angels do not want us to pray to them; they would rather us pray to Christ, the saving God.
So, what does this mean for us? Firstly, it reminds us that God’s creation is far greater than what we can imagine. After all, how does one understand spirits and immaterial reality? Second, it reminds us that God’s care for us runs so deep that He has given angels to protect and watch over us. Finally, it reminds us that all spiritual things center on Christ our Lord, who is our Savior.
In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] Daniel 12:1 English Standard Version
[2] Strong’s Concordance as found at https://biblehub.com/greek/32.htm.
[3] Strong’s Concordance as found at https://biblehub.com/hebrew/4397.htm.
[4] Job 38:4-7
[5] Genesis 19:1-22
[6] Ezekiel 41:18
[7] Genesis 3:24
[8] Ezekiel 41:18
[9] Exodus 25:18
[10] Ezekiel 1:4-24
[11] Revelation 4:8
[12] Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, Colossians 1:16, 1 Peter 3:22
[13] 1 Thessalonians 4:16
[14] Daniel 10:13, Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:7
[15] Daniel 8:16, Luke 1:19
[16] Matthew 18:10
[17] Psalm 91:11
[18]1 Samuel 29:9
[19] Job 5:1, Luke 9:26
[20] 2 Peter 2:11
[21] Matthew 25:31
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