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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

Angels Part 3: Angels Proclaim the Gospel

12/19/2019

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Picture
Leonardo Da Vinci, The Annunciation, circa 1472, Uffizi Gallery. Public Domain
Luke 1:26-39; Matthew 28:1-10 

December 18, 2019 
 
In our Advent series on Angels we have learned that angels are powerful spirits, who serve God. They protect us from bodily and spiritual harm; fighting demons and humans alike. Scripture calls them mighty ones. On occasion angels brandish fiery swords and ride in chariots of fire. A single angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. Angels fought alongside the army of Israel and drove out their enemies before them. God certainly sent his angels to guide his people in all their ways so that their feet would not strike rocks. Angels are warriors. God calls his angels the hosts, that is the armies of heaven. Yet, Scripture does not give angels the name, warriors, or any such derivative.  
We learned last week that angels teach us to worship, as we heard of them praising God before his throne in Isaiah 6, and filling the heavens with music as they announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. And indeed, angels are constantly worshiping and praising God. Yet, Scripture does not call angels priests or cantors.  
Scripture calls these heavenly warriors and worshipers of God, angels. The word angel comes from the Greek word for messenger. The New Testament was originally written in Greek. Both in the Old and in the New Testament angels are chiefly identified by the title, messenger. This is because, the chief and most honorable office these heavenly beings hold is that of messenger. The name angel is a title of honor, because these heavenly beings have the privilege of delivering God’s words to his people.  
Now, why is the title messenger more honorable than the title warrior or protector? Is it not much more marvelous that angels defeat all the enemies of God and of his people? That they fend off the devil and his minions; that they defeated the Philistines, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Syrians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians? That they watch over the beds of our children and keep our cars on the road on icy winter nights? Is it not more marvelous that they guide the hands of heart surgeons and keep plagues from ravaging our land? Why is the title messenger more honorable than priest or cantor? Is it not much more honorable that angels stand before God Almighty and behold his face? That they sing words of praise to him that glorify his name and shake the heavens? What could be more marvelous than the heavenly worship of God?  
No, the name God gives them is angels, because there is no more honorable name than Messenger of God, because there is no greater treasure God can give us than his words.  
Our church is called Trinity Lutheran Church, but our official name is actually Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. That word, Evangelical comes from the Greek word for Gospel, ευαγγελιον (euangelion).  If you listen closely, you might be able to hear the word angel in there: Eu-angel-on. Eu is the Greek word for good. Αγγελια (angelia) is the Greek words for message. So, euangelion means Good Message, or Good News. In its name our church confesses to be the church of the Gospel, that is, the Good News.  
Angels deliver messages from God. The greatest message an angel can deliver is the Good Message, the Gospel, the euangelion. In Luke chapter 2, the angel appears before the shepherds in the fields and says, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news [ευαγγελιζομαι (euangelizomai)] of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel, this messenger of God, declared the Gospel, that is the Good Message from God that Jesus, the Savior was born! And with those words the angel did something more profound, more important, more powerful than when the angels plagued Egypt, conquered Canaan, closed the mouths of lions, and protected Israel throughout their history. With those words, the angel brought eternal salvation to those shepherds! 
None of us were there when the angel Gabriel declared the good message to Mary that she would bear the Son of God, who would reign forever over his father David’s throne. And none of us witnessed the angel roll back the stone of Jesus’ tomb with an earthquake, paralyzing the soldiers with fear, nor did we hear him speak to the Marys concerning Jesus’ resurrection. But, we have heard these words from Scripture. And these words, this good message from the angels is just as good and powerful to us now as it was to those who heard it from the mouth of these heavenly beings.  
St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 1, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, the [ευαγγελιον (euangelion)] of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.” The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. This is because, we are not saved by our good works or anything we do. We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. That is, we are saved through believing the good message of Jesus Christ. Jesus saves by coming into the hearts of his people through words, through a message from God that he is not angry with us, but has reconciled himself to us through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.  
Scripture says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:14-15a, 17). It was truly marvelous that angels conquered the enemies of Israel with great signs and wonders and that they still protect us today from all harm and danger. It is truly beautiful that the angels worship God in heaven with reverence and awe. Yet, these things do not give to us eternal salvation. Eternal salvation comes only through faith in the good message of Jesus Christ, as Scripture says, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5) 
The title angel is the most honorable title God could give these heavenly creatures, because there is no greater majesty or power of God than that displayed in his good message to his people. In this good message, God reveals his Love for us!  
There are a few instances when the Bible uses the word angel to refer to beings that are not actual angels. Usually this is a title of honor. One, is in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, where Jesus sends letters to the angel of the church in seven different cities. This is probably a reference to their pastors, who are charged by God to deliver the message of God from holy Scripture.  
The other occasion is from the Old Testament with the term, The Angel of the LORD. In the Old Testament when it says The Angel of the LORD, instead of, an angel of the LORD, it usually refers to Christ, the Second Person in the Holy Trinity. To be clear, God is not an angel. He is a Spirit, who transcends all angels. And God did not make angels in his own image, but he made man in his own image. And God did not become an angel, but rather, he became a human being, Jesus Christ. Yet, Scripture sometimes calls Christ the Angel of the LORD. This is because the Son of God is the eternal Word of God. Our God speaks to us! This again is why it is such an honorable title given to the angels! They speak to us the powerful word of God! A word that is powerful enough to create light and the entire universe! A word that is powerful enough to create faith in our hearts and to forgive all our sins!  
I’ve never seen an angel. And none of us has had an angel speak to us directly. Yet, we have heard the message of these messengers: the good message from God himself. This is the message of Jesus Christ. This is the message that saves.  
This Christmas, we are celebrating the Good Message of Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, so that he might save us sinners by dying on the cross for our sins. This Good Message was first delivered by God’s messengers from heaven. And we still have the honor to hear this message today. And for that reason, we are glad to sing with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Amen.  
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Angels Part 2: Angels Teach Us to Worship

12/12/2019

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Picture
Isaiah's Lips Anointed with Fire, Benjamin West, 1738-1820, Bob Jones Museum and Gallery, Public Domain
December 11
Text: Isaiah 6:1-7; Luke 2:8-20 
Psalm 8 
Hymns: Lutheran Service Book: 960; 367, 380 
 
Although angels are powerful heavenly being, they are not to be worshipped. In Revelation chapter 22, the Apostle John fell down at the feet of an angel to worship him, but the angel responded, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (vs. 9) Indeed, we should only worship God and none other. This is the first and greatest commandment.  
God is not only our God; he is the angels’ God. We even proclaim every Sunday in the Proper Preface, “therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising you and saying,” So, not only do we believe that angels worship the same God we worship, but we worship God with the angels every time we worship God!  
And since angels stand in the presence of God (Luke 1:19) and always behold the face of God (18:10), it seems natural that we would seek to learn from the angels how to worship the almighty God with whom they share heaven. Indeed, this is what the Christian Church has done. For at least 1,650 years the Gloria in Excelsis has been a part of the Divine Service. This is where we sing, “Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace good will toward men. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee,” and so forth. Every Sunday you go to church, except for during Advent and Lent, you hear this song being sung. And who taught us this song? The angels, who announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good will toward men.” (Luke 2:13-14) If this song is good enough for the angels in heaven, it is certainly good enough for us to sing praises to our God, who comes to us even today in his Word and Sacraments.  
Every Sunday before we receive the Sacrament of Jesus’ true body and blood, we sing, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; heav’n and earth are full of Thy glory.” And where did we get these words? Isaiah heard the seraphim sing them in earth shaking voices to one another. The word Sabaoth is Hebrew for heavenly hosts. God is the Lord of the heavenly armies of angels.  
Yet, it isn’t just that we take the words the angels speak in their worship and incorporate them into our worship. It is the how and why that we are interested in. First the why. Why do the angels use these words? “Holy, holy, holy.” Why three holies? Why not one? Why not a hundred? The angels say the word holy three times, because God is the Holy Trinity. The Father is holy. The Son is holy. The Holy Spirit is holy. And yet, there are not three holies, but one Holy. The angels confess the Holy Trinity, the only God, who is Lord of the heavenly armies; the only God, whose glory fills the heavens and the earth.  
And so, we learn from the angels, whom we should worship: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We also learn from the angels’ worship that we glorify God by confessing who he is. This is why we confess the Creed. This is why we proclaim Jesus to be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. We glorify God by confessing him to be who he says he is and by confessing all the wonderful works he has done. When we sing the words of the angels, we are not mindlessly mimicking their words like parrots. We are learning from them why they sing the words they sing. And we let this “why” affect our entire form of worship.  
Second, how do the angels worship God. Let’s look at the seraphim. Seraphim are mighty angels, who fly above God’s throne. Their name, seraph, comes from the Hebrew word for burning, which indicates that their appearance might have been like fire. They used two wings to fly, but they used their other two pairs of wings to cover their faces and their feet. In Martin Luther’s hymn, he says that they did this humbly. Isn’t that remarkable? Angels of such high rank that they fly above God’s throne, whose appearance is of fire, who dwell in heaven close to God and are without sin, yet, they still show humility. They cover their faces before God. They cover their feet. They stand before God in reverence.  
And so, we learn to behave in a similar way. We have no written rule on how we should behave, what we should wear, how we should act when we are in worship before God. But the example of the angels tells us that we should be reverent. If the angels themselves cover their feet in humility, we too should come before God in humility. The angels teach us to recognize that we are in the presence of almighty God, who made the heavens and the earth. We learn from their composure that we should not forget that to have no other gods means to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. This fear does not mean that we are frightened of him, but that we acknowledge God as God and that he is the giver of all good things.  
The seraphim show humility before God, but they are not timid. Quite the opposite! While remaining pious and reverent, the angels are very confident in their worship of God. Isaiah says, “The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called.” As these angels say, “Holy, holy, holy!” to one another, their voices shook the foundations of the heavenly temple! Here, the angels teach us how to sing! When you come to church, don’t just mumble along to the music or worse, close the book and sit with your mouth closed. No, sing! It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t sing. God desires to hear your praise. Sing like the angels. Sing with the confidence of faith that what you are confessing is true. Let the beams and lintels of the church tremble as you sing praises to the only thrice holy God!  
Yet, there still remains a deep problem in our quest to worship God as the angels do. We’re not angels. We’re not sinless heavenly beings. We’re sinners. This is exactly the problem Isaiah and the shepherds faced. Isaiah cried out when he saw the angels’ worship, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”  
Yet, in each of our biblical cases of worshiping angels, the angels provide a solution. One of the seraphim flew to Isaiah, took a burning coal from the altar with tongs, and he touched Isaiah’s mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”  
This is the solution. The forgiveness of sins. Isaiah is able to stand before God, to join in and worship him, to proclaim the words of the Lord, because his sins are taken away. This is why we begin our services with confession and absolution. We, who on account of our sins are not worthy to stand before God or sing his praise, are forgiven of all our sins. When we hear that God forgives us for the sake of Jesus’ suffering and death, we are then fully equipped to praise God with the angels and with all those who dwell in heaven.  
The angel did the same thing for the frightened shepherds. He says, “Fear not.” Why should they not fear? Because the angel brings them good news. This good news is that unto them is born a Savior. Here again, we learn from the angels how to worship. In our worship we need the Gospel. It is through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior, that we are able to worship God with confidence. In fact, the greatest worship of God is done in the heart, when you believe that God forgives you and accepts you for Christ’s sake. This is why the preaching of the Gospel is always part of our worship of God.  
Did you notice how the angel used tongs to pick up the burning coal from the altar, but then he touched it to Isaiah’s mouth. Why didn’t the coal burn Isaiah’s lips? And if the coal didn’t burn Isaiah’s lips, then why did the angel need to pick up the coal with tongs? Because, the burning coal represents the divinity of God. God, in a mystery we cannot comprehend, became a man. The hottest fire touched human flesh, yet the flesh did not burn. God did not become an angel. So, the angel cannot touch God with his bare hands, but a sinful man, Isaiah can touch God with his lips. Because God became man, Jesus Christ. And Jesus, who sacrificed himself on the altar of God, which was his cross, has made atonement for our sins, so that we not only can worship him without fear, but we can even eat his true body and blood and say that God now dwells in us. This is something angels cannot do.  
Sometimes our church looks almost empty when we’re gathered to worship. That can be discouraging. Yet, remember, that there are those worshiping with us, whom we cannot see. We worship with the angels of heaven. And even greater than that, we worship with the saints, who have gone before us, whose sins have been atoned for, who are able to have a contact with God, which the angels will never have. And as we worship God here on earth, we have confidence that we will soon worship him in heaven, with uncovered faces, with angels, archangels, and every saint. We will worship him without end. Amen.  
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    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 

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