ENCOUNTER WITH AN ANGEL

Religion

This sermon was preached at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, Georgia by Pastor Paul Mims on December 9, 2012.

Luke 1:5-25
A couple of weeks ago we had our annual “Hanging of the Greens” to decorate the church for Advent and Christmas. In the devotional time, I asked as those present to help me with the preparation of this sermon. I told them that I was preparing a sermon on encounters with angels and asked if anyone present had encountered an angel. Surprisingly, out of the group present four told stories of angel involvement in their lives. So today, would you explore with me the following questions about angels?

I. WHO AND WHAT ARE THE ANGELS?

Both the Greek and Hebrew word for angel means “messenger.” The angels are God’s heavenly messengers who either deliver a message from God to human beings, who carry out God’s will, who praise God and guard his throne, and who minister to God’s people. I think that the term “messenger” is an apt description for in the Christmas story Gabriel delivered the wonder of the birth of John the Baptist to Zachariah. Because their task is to carry messages they do not focus on themselves. The focus is on the message.

We will look at both the messenger and the message. The angels are called “sons of God” in scripture. Also, they are called “holy ones” and “the heavenly hosts.” As such they are around God’s throne and comprise God’s great army by which he acts in the earth. They emphasize the power of God to us.
There is a special category of angels that is distinguished by the fact that they have wings. It was interesting to me to learn that all angels do not have wings. The cherubim and seraphim are those that surround the throne of God in heaven and are the ones who have wings. The other angels that have appeared look like humans. They have the capacity to appear in human form at whatever time in history they are doing their work. The winged angels are seen mainly in the visions of Ezekiel and Isaiah. Angels often appear as ordinary men clothed in the garb of the period and of the country. They are referred to as the “angel of the Lord,” “hosts,” and “principalities and powers.” The bible indicates that they were created by God and are immortal. They worship God, but are not to be worshipped themselves. They do not marry. They have knowledge of and interest in earthly affairs and are obedient to God. They ministered to Jesus throughout his ministry on earth. They were present at his tomb, his ascension, and will be with him at his second coming.

You will remember that angels appeared to Abraham and announced that he and Sarah would have a son in their old age. Also, God sent and angel to call Moses to serve him. In Exodus 3:2 we read, “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.” From that point on there is a conversation between Moses and God.

In the 14th chapter of Exodus we see how an angel provided protection for Israel as they went out of Egypt and were crossing the Red Sea. In verses 19-20, we read, “The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.” So the scripture is telling us that angels help to accomplish the purposes of God in the earth. They appeared to Joshua and Elijah. Angels were active with Daniel and Zechariah in giving them the prophecies that they recorded.

It is interesting to note that there are only five of the sixty six books in the Bible that do not mention angels. These are Ruth, Nehemiah, Esther, and the epistles of James and John.

II. HOW WERE THE ANGELS ACTIVE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT?

In Hebrews 1:14, we read “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” So the mission of angels is to minister to God’s people who have trusted him for salvation in Christ. Jesus makes it personal when he said, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the see the face of my father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10).

Let’s look at how angels ministered in the New Testament. Peter was put in prison for his preaching of the gospel. Acts 12:7 says, “Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. The angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and sandals.’ And Peter did so. ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,’ the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.” It startled the church when Peter knocked on the door of the house when the church was having a prayer meeting for him.

An event from the life of Paul in Acts 27:23 tells of an angel encounter. Paul was on a ship sailing on the Mediterranean on his way to Rome to be tried before Caesar. The ship got caught in a storm similar to a hurricane. Paul said, “Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and god has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’” They also appeared to Phillip, Cornelius, and to John on the Isle of Patmos.

III. ARE ANGELS ACTIVE TODAY?

Our son, Joe, tells of an unusual experience that he interpreted as an angel encounter. He was crossing the street in front of Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta when a man approached him. He was a black man with blue eyes in a long dark coat and wearing a hat. He held out his hand to Joe and said, “Dr. Mims, thank you for your work of saving lives. Keep up the good work.” Joe did not know him or know how the man knew him. He thanked him and walked on and a few steps later he turned around to see him again and he had vanished. This came at a time that encouraged Joe greatly. Was this an angel encounter?
I will tell two of the experiences related two weeks ago that I mentioned in the introduction to this sermon. Ronda and Scott from Gainesville, Florida are frequent worshippers in our services. Ronda told of seeing a man unloading a truck and dumping old electronics on the side of a road that led to their home. She stopped and told him that he should not dump there because this was a community road and that they wanted it kept clean. He became irate and started moving toward her. Just at that moment a man on a motorbike came down out of the woods and stopped between her and the man and said to her, “Do you need help?” She said that she did not and thanked him and drove off. She later came back to the same place and found that there was no way for the motorbike to come out of the woods at that place. Was this an angel encounter?

Travis Crouch told of a family member who was in a wreck with a big semi-truck and was pinned in the car next to the grill of the big truck. While they were waiting for help to get him out of the wreck there was a conversation with a black lady who appeared to be sitting in the back seat. She gave words of comfort and encouragement all the time he was pinned in. But when he finally was freed from the wreck he saw no one. Was this an angel encounter?

I was given a book by a friend entitled WHERE ANGELS WALK. Joan Anderson wrote her story and it prompted her to do research into other stories to see if angel encounters are valid.

It happened on the night of December 24, 1983. The Andersons lived in a suburb of Chicago. Her son, Tim, and two of his friends, Jim and Don, were driving from Connecticut to Chicago on their way home from college at Christmas. It was an 18 hour drive and they planned to drive all the way without stopping. The Midwest at this time was having one of the most fierce cold spells in history. On that night the wind chill factor was below zero. The boys did not realize what they were driving into. They stopped in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and let Don off at his home. They kept driving on a rural road heading for the Indiana tollway.

They turned the radio on and heard, “Don’t go out tonight. Stay home because it is even too cold for your car to run.” Tim and Jim looked at each other and realized that they were on a rural road and there was no help available should they get into trouble. Their car began to sputter and finally the engine stopped. They were at the top of a hill and could see a good distance in all directions. They tried to start the car again but to no avail. Soon the cold was very pervasive inside the car. They felt their feet becoming numb. Jim said, “I will look backwards and Tim, you look forwards and we will hail any passing vehicle.” They could not even see a farmhouse in the distance. Then all of a sudden, right behind their car were bright lights and beside the driver’s side a man was standing with a flashlight. He said, “Do you need a tow?” They had been watching and they did not see him come from any direction. He pulled the wrecker up in front of the car and hooked on the chain. They told him to take them back to Don’s house in Fort Wayne and gave him the address. Don lived on the end of a street where there was a cul-d-sac. The wrecker pulled the car up in front of Don’s house. Jim said, “I will go in and borrow some money from Don’s dad to pay for the tow.” When he got in the house and look back there was no wrecker there. They did not even see two sets of tracks in the snow for the wrecker and for the car. All they saw were the tracks for the car. They could not explain it. It baffled them. They had no explanation for what happened or how they got there. They began to think, “Did we imagine this or did God sent somebody to help us?” Tim called his mother and told her what had happened and she said, “I heard on the radio what the weather was like there and I knew that you were still four hours from home. I asked God to please send somebody to help you.” Joan concluded, “I am not saying that his was an angel, but there was no explanation for it.”

IV. THE MESSAGE OF THE ANGEL

Zachariah had never seen an angel either. This one that appeared in the Temple startled him. He was very afraid and the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, for I have come to bring you some good news. Your prayer has been heard. You are going to have a son and he will be called John. He will prepare the way for the Lord.” Zachariah asked, “How can I know that I am going to have and son? I am an old man and my wife, Elizabeth, is old.” “The angel answered, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until this day happens because you did not believe my words, which will come true at the proper time.”

Zachariah’s song of praise for the birth of John the Baptist is recorded in Luke 1:67-70. “And you my child will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.”

There is a song that says, “I will sing about my Savior, who upon dark Calvary, freely pardoned my transgressions and died to set a sinner free. Then the angels stand and listen for they cannot join that song like the sound of many waters by that happy blood washed throne.” Although the angels can’t know the joy of redemption that we know, they rejoice over every sinner that repents and comes to know Christ as Lord and Savior.

PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!

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