Angels We Have Heard
Learn more with our interactive life lesson, Angels: Messengers from God.
“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” (Luke 2:9)
Come the Christmas holidays and everywhere you look there are angels. They are on top of Christmas trees, on the cards we send, the wrapping paper, and in children’s pageants. Winged with long graceful gowns, trumpets, harps, and flowing hair, a vast majority are depicted as beautiful women (the chubby cherubs are reserved for Valentine’s Day).
The Bible definitely acknowledges that angels exist. There are 1760 incidences of the phrase “the angel of the Lord”. One familiar one around the holidays is form Luke 2:9 -”Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them(the shepherds), and the glory of the Lord shone around them . . .”
But, exactly what are angels? Biblically speaking, they are not our dead ancestors watching over us. We get the word angel from the Greek aggelos meaning a “divine messenger”. But, there appears to be two kinds in the Bible ? divine and human.
The Bible Encyclopedia states, “The word angel is applied in Scripture to an order of supernatural or heavenly beings whose business it is to act as God’s messengers to men, and as agents who carry out His will. Both in Hebrew and Greek the word is applied to human messengers (1 Kings 19:2, Luke 7:24); in Hebrew it is used in the singular to denote a Divine messenger, and in the plural for human messengers, although there are exceptions to both usages.” (emphasis mine).
The first are Heavenly hosts who are other than human, but human-like. They worship God day and night singing, “Holy, holy, holy” and descend to earth to do his bidding. In the Bible they are predominantly male with names like Michael, Gabriel and even Lucifer. In the New Testament they are indwelled with Christ and He has rule over them. In the last days, so will the saints (that is us, His faithful believers). We are under no circumstances to worship angels. Paul hints that we need to practice hospitality because we may be entertaining angels unbeknownst to us. They are often surrounded by brightness and light piercing the darkness.
But, once indwelled with the Holy Spirit, are we not all called to be messengers of God? Christ dwells in us and we are to spread the word that He is Lord. We do his bidding on earth, and are His hands and feet until His coming in Glory. We are to bring His light into our world. Isn’t that in a broad sense one definition of an angel? This season think about that. You are called to bring Christ back into Christmas, and during Advent, the 4 weeks before December 25th, are called to proclaim that people should prepare their hearts and souls for His coming.
Father, May the words of my mouth paint an accurate picture of who You are. Amen.
Question: Will you be an angel to be heard?
Tags: angels, Christmas, devo, Devotional, Julie Cosgrove, Luke 2:9, Men, Women
8 Responses to “Angels We Have Heard”
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What more can I add to all those words of praise and worship? While driving today I listened to part of Handel’s Messiah, and was truly blessed. This evening my wife & I went to a Christmas banquet with her lady’s group at Church, enjoying great fellowship. This of course is God’s love, manifest in God’s people, and is our inspiration to tell neighbors about Jesus. Angels brought the best news of all when announcing Jesus’ birth; and now it is up to us to tell the world that He is coming back to earth. So, we as well as angels, are His chosen messengers. I like the words in Matthew 24:31 “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” NIV. (even those in our space ships). There are no surprises for God, but we are blessed to be His fellow-workers.
Sharon, Thank you so much… I felt every word of your thoughtful prayer, and such a nice addition, for God to bring “new christian friends” to her in her new surroundings (I think it’s even happening)~ PTL. Hugs, Lori
dear lori– prayer–father God i pray for your mom for your healing hand over he body, byGod’s stripes she is healed, bring other christians along her path to befriend so she won’t be to lonely this time of year and for everything to come into balance so she won’t be dizzy i pray all of this in JESUS name amen.
Trisha,
Thanks for writing. To answer your question,
It is up to you and God, but I’d let others know how you feel with a warm heart and kind spirit, not in a condemning way or shutting yourself in a room. Remove any emotion from your decision. Just simply explain your faith point and ask them to respect it.
For me it is not when we celebrate our Lord’s birth but the fact that we do. Anyway I can get Christ into the conversation is good. Some of my very favorite worship music are Christmas carols like O Holy Night. If you look, ther is still a lot of “holy” in our holidays.
Yes, we should celebrate Christ in our lives daily, and be charity minded. But for me, Christmas re-emphasizes that fact. Our holiday traditions all have human and pagan roots, but as Paul stated, he could be all things so he was not a stumbling block, and still be for Christ.
For me, bringing God into our holidays is one way to show people He can be a part of our lives. It is changing the pagan ways into holy ways. But, that’s me.
Blessings to you Julie…back in 1978, even before i was born again (1981), i saw the truth of all the commercialism attached with this holiday. When i started doing some research into the Truth of it and how Jesus wasn’t even born in December and how the book of Deuteronomy spoke against having the decorated tree in the house like the pagaens were doing and all the Dianna stories…and the the last straw for me was when my sister told her girlfriend NOT to buy her son anything that year bec she couldn’t afford to buy her dauther anything and then uh oh… come christmas day, there was a present anyhow. This left my sister feeling ashamed and led to anger. They didn’t talk to each other for 3 yrs! When i wouldn’t come out of my bedroom when my family came over in 1978 to open presents, they got so mad at me! They were actually banging on the door telling me to stop the —-! i haven’t “celebrated” all the nonsense since then. i love the LORD JESUS more than anyone or anything and am so free of all expense and obligations. Would you call me “Bah Hum Bug”? What are you’re thoughts?
Hi Julie, Well, I think you are an angel… In BSF (Bible Study fellowship), we are learning more about angels (Acts), and I must say it confuses me some. However, what you have written here, is what I believe also. Thank you for sharing this. I believe my mother was approached by an angel, and his name was Thomas… I even think it is because now that she is in a nursing home, and towards the end of her life, she is having some doubts. We have never seen this “Thomas”, only she has, and she met him in the garden after chapel one day. She told me all about him, and then the very next day she didn’t remember anything she told me. I found it strange, but then I looked at his name again (Thomas), and I’ve been noticng mom “doubting” a bit here lately. Not really doubting, but sort of just showing more fear of life eternal…It has opened up to me to begin sharing together my Bible study knowledge w/ her, and just to speak more openly w/ her referencing Christ and all he has done for us; sacraficed. I want to be her “angel”, I hope I can live up to that. Can you keep my mother in your prayers? She gets a little lonely and confused, but her health is good; just very slow, off balanced, and dizzy in her aging years. Thanks Julie. Love this devo, again you are a blessing to me. Lori
I know this devotional was about Angels, but the last sentence is very much what I pray for everyday. “Father, may the words of my mouth paint an accurate picture of who You are”. I constantly pray for God to put the words on my lips. I so can’t wait for the day when more of His word soaks into my brain and I remember appropriate scripture for the conversation and am a better messenger!
Wonderful words. Continue to let God use you. The prayer and the question should be repeated daily as we strive to be a witness for Jesus.