Seen Of Angels / Part Four

Series – July/August 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Seen Of Angels / Part Four

Angels And The Early Church
Angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14 NKJV ). So after the Lord Jesus had gone back to heaven and the Holy Spirit had come down to indwell the believers in the upper room uniting them into one body, the body of Christ (Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 12:13), we find angels thoroughly interested in what was happening and actively participating in some of the events in the Acts. In chapter 5:17-41, when the high priest and his fellow Sadducees put the apostles in the common prison, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors at night and brought the apostles out. He told them, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” The apostles did as they were directed, to the consternation of these Jewish officials who wanted to kill them. However, on the counsel of Gamaliel, a Pharisee respected as a teacher of the law by all the people, the apostles were beaten, commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus and then let go.

In chapter 8:5-8 Philip preached Christ with much blessing in Samaria. God in His sovereignty withheld giving the Holy Spirit to the Samaritan converts until Peter and John came to them, prayed for them and laid hands on them (vv.14-17). This had the practical effect of preventing the traditional enmity of the Jews and the Samaritans from resulting in a Jewish and a Samaritan church. Next, an angel of the Lord directed Philip to go south along the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Philip was obedient and went. The Spirit of God directed him to overtake a chariot in which the treasurer of the queen of Ethiopia was reading the book of Isaiah. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home. Philip was able to answer the man’s questions and point him to the Lord Jesus. The man believed, was baptized and went on his way rejoicing, while Philip was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord. Philip then preached in all the costal cities from Azotus to Caesarea, where he eventually made his home (vv.26-40).

Some time later, as recorded in Acts 10, an angel appeared in a vision to Cornelius, a devout Roman centurion stationed at Caesarea. The angel told him that his prayers and alms had come up for a memorial before God and that he should send for Peter, who was staying in Joppa at the time. The angel directed the centurion as to where his men would find Peter and said that Peter would tell him what he must do. Cornelius did what he was told while the Lord prepared Peter for the task before him: to go into the house of a Gentile – something which the Jews did not do as they felt it would defile them. Taking some brothers in Christ from Joppa with him, Peter went and brought the gospel to Cornelius and those gathered in his home. As Peter presented the message of salvation, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the Word. The Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the Holy Spirit had been given to the Gentiles also. Peter then commanded these new converts to be baptized in the name of the Lord.

Later King Herod moved against the Church and had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. Because he saw this pleased the Jews he also had Peter arrested and put under heavy guard in prison, intending to kill him after the Passover feast. The night before the execution was to take place, Peter, chained to two soldiers, was sleeping. Guards were also on duty by the doors. Suddenly an angel stood by Peter and a light shone in the prison. The angel struck Peter on the side, waking him, and told him to get up quickly, get dressed and put on his sandals. The chains fell off. The angel and Peter passed the first and second guard posts, and then the iron gate leading to the city opened to them and they went down one street before the angel left him. Peter quickly realized that the Lord had sent His angel and delivered him from Herod and the expectation of the Jewish people. He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many of the believers were praying for him. These believers had difficulty believing that it was truly Peter who stood at the door knocking, but when they let him in he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Peter then went to another place that night (Acts 12:1-17).

While we repeatedly note angelic activity in the life of Peter, Scripture mentions only one angelic incident in the life of Paul. This is found in Acts 27:20-26 where the ship in which Paul was being taken to Rome was tossed by a tempestuous [fierce] storm. The crew and passengers did not eat for days. But then Paul stood up and encouraged all on board by telling them that during the night an angel of the God, to whom he belonged and whom he served, had stood by him and had told him that he must be brought before Caesar and that God had granted him the lives of all on board, but the ship would run aground on a certain island. He used the opportunity to testify, “I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.”

We find several instances of demonic opposition to Paul’s ministry as we follow his pathway of service. On his first missionary journey with Barnabas, these two servants found one who was a sorcerer, false prophet and Jew named Bar-Jesus (meaning Son of Jesus) at Paphos with the proconsul of Cyprus. This man “withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.” Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, confronted this wicked man, exposing his character as a son of the devil and causing him to be blind for a time (Acts 13:6-12).

On his second missionary journey with Silas, Timothy and Luke, Paul encountered a demon-possessed slave girl who brought financial gain to her masters by fortune-telling. She attempted to act as publicity agent for the missionaries, following them day after day and saying that they were servants of the Most High God who were proclaiming the way of salvation. The Lord and Satan and his demons cannot work together hand in hand, so Paul, greatly annoyed, commanded the evil spirit to come out of the girl. For this he and Silas were beaten with rods and put in stocks in the inner prison. In the marvelous ways of God the net result was the conversion of the jailor and his entire family (Acts 16:16-34).

At Ephesus on his third missionary journey handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from Paul’s body to the sick, “and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” Others who tried to imitate Paul and use the name of Jesus were unsuccessful and put to open shame (Acts 19:11-17).

Reviewing these mentions of the ministry of angels in the early Church as the book of Acts presents them to us, we see that God used angels on various occasions to protect, deliver and encourage His servants. Angels were also used on occasion to direct people where to go or what to do. Never do we find angels being used to preach the gospel or to teach the Word, however. Such ministry is directed by the Lord Himself or the Holy Spirit. We see that Satan comes in various guises – Paul telling of his deceitfulness in coming as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) and Peter mentioning his threatening as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8). And we note that angelic ministry is only mentioned once after the first twelve chapters of Acts where the ministry of Peter, one of the apostles to the circumcision, the Jews, is prominent.

Angels And The Church Today
In his first epistle Peter mentions the interest the prophets had in the salvation about which they were led to prophesy. They searched carefully to find “what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” These things, he says, were not really for themselves but for us, for believers to whom those who have preached the gospel have reported these things through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Peter adds that these are “things which angels desire to look into” (1 Pet. 1:10-12).

God’s angels, great and intelligent beings with power and a nature way beyond humans, have from the beginning of God’s creation of man been interested in His plans for humankind. What a disappointment it must have been for them to see our first parents succumb to the lies of the deceiver, the enemy of God who has done his utmost to secure followers and worship for himself and to frustrate God’s plans for His creatures. And the angels witnessed God’s response to Satan’s wicked doings. They saw how God in His mercy clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skins (Gen. 3:21). Innocent animals had to die so that man might be clothed – what a blessed prophetic picture pointing forward to the time when God’s holy Son would die so that sinners might be saved and live!

While God’s holy elect angels have been interested in God’s dealings with mankind, the fallen angels have followed their chief, Satan, in working against God’s purposes and plans. Tempting and encouraging fallen mankind to do wrong is so common that it is hardly mentioned in Scripture. But as we read the Word we see some of the outstanding examples of their activity. Genesis 6:1-4 shows us their effort to corrupt the human race by angelic beings (“sons of God”) “taking wives for themselves of all whom they chose,” and thus prevent the birth of the Savior. Could this also have given occasion for men to do similarly, taking more than one wife and thus spoiling the picture of Christ and the Church that God intended for marriage to portray?

As we go through Scripture we see an ever-narrowing line of godly individuals through whom the Savior was ultimately to come into the world. Again and again we see attempts made on the lives or the integrity of these men and women. Cain killed Abel (Gen. 4:8); Abimelech took Sarah to be his wife when she was quite possibly pregnant with Isaac (Gen. 20:2-3); Abraham had a son, Ishmael, who was at enmity with the son of promise, Isaac (Gen. 21:9-10); Pharaoh ordered all the Israelites’ sons to be killed (Ex. 1:15-22); Saul repeatedly attempted to kill David, the man after God’s heart (1 Sam. 18:11: 19:10); Athaliah tried to kill all her grandsons and almost succeeded (2 Ki. 11:1-2); Haman ordered all the Jews in the Persian Empire to be killed (Est. 3:12-15); Herod had all the baby boys two years old and under in the Bethlehem area put to death (Mt. 2:16); the people of Nazareth endeavored to push Jesus over the cliff (Lk. 4:28-30); and others took up stones to throw at Him (Jn. 8:59). These are some of the efforts Satan inspired people to make as he sought to frustrate the purposes of God.

Today, we who are Christians are a part of God’s new creation. Every true Christian is a member of the body of Christ, the Church or, more precisely, the Assembly (Rom. 12:5). The Church is also the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:9) and as such is even nearer to His heart than Israel ever was. Not only has Christ been given as Head over all things to the Church (Eph. 1:22-23), but the Church is subject to Christ just as God intends for wives to be subject to their own husbands (Eph. 5:24). Indeed, the manifold [having many aspects] wisdom of God is to be made known by the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10). Thus we can say from Scripture that the Church is an object lesson from which angels are to learn the many facets of the wisdom of God.

Satan and his angels have not failed to make efforts of all kinds to spoil this object lesson. One example of this we see in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. In this portion we learn God’s thoughts about headship. Christ’s head is God, the man’s head is Christ, and the woman’s head is the man. Christ always did those things that pleased the One who had sent Him (Jn. 8:29). During times of praying or prophesying, man is to honor Christ, his spiritual Head, by not covering his physical head, while a woman honors her spiritual head, man, by covering her physical head. We are told in verse 10 that “the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.” The angels are watching what goes on in the Church for there they are to learn the wonderful wisdom of God.

For centuries, in fact since the beginning of church history, Christian women have covered their heads when praying or prophesying. In other words, when they are publicly in the presence of God where He is being addressed in prayer or where attention is being given to prophesying – to what He is seeking to say. Many women even cover their heads in their home or in private. During the past century this scriptural practice has broken down in most churches. Feminism has taught rebellion against God’s order by seeking to break down all distinctions between men and women. While women and men are equally precious and of equal value in the eyes of God (Acts 10:34), He has given them different but complementary roles in life. What woman has ever been able to father a child or what man has ever been able to bear a child or to nurse it? Unscriptually, more and more churches today are sanctioning homosexual marriage and ordaining homosexual clergy. Even the institution of a clergy-laity distinction is in essence a denial of the priesthood of all believers and a throwback to the Judaism of the Old Testament which God has set aside in this age of grace in Christianity. How sad it must make the angels to see Christians today deliberately setting aside the will of God as expressed in His Word and setting up systems contrary to it!

By Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.

Look for conclusion of this Series in next month’s issue.