God’s Messengers || Angels Defined #1

Suppose you have paid attention in the church in any capacity or sung some of the most famous Christmas carols. In that case, you have probably heard of an angel before. We’ve seen their depictions in plays, Christmas cards, and scripture pictures on social media, but how many of you know what angels are designed to do. The Bible even gives us a representation of what an angel looks like, which I believe Hallmark would not approve of.

Over the subsequent seven main Bible Study sessions, I will define what an angel is and what they are designed to do. This series is called “Angels Defined.” My goal for this series is to help you understand the biblical concepts of what angels are, what angels do, and why they matter to you.

In part one, we’re talking about angels bringing messages.

Luke 1:26-28

26        In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee,

27        to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant to King David.

28        Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

What a message to deliver. God sent Gabriel to deliver the message to Mary that she would become pregnant, as a virgin, with the future Messiah. Gabriel was also the one who came to Elizabeth at the beginning of her pregnancy to tell her that she would be pregnant for the one to prepare the way for Jesus, who we know as John the Baptist. Gabriel also visited Daniel about 500 years earlier than his visits to Mary and Elizabeth. God used angels in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and even today.

God sends angels to deliver messages to us. It could be through people, situations, music, TV, or some other medium. The messages that God needs to communicate with you will reach your attention in some way or another. We just need to pay attention to the patterns and mediums to discern whether it came from God. The Holy Spirit will provide us with a gift of discernment to make this possible.

Daniel 8:15-17

15        As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision, someone who looked like a man stood in front of me.

16        And I heard a human voice calling out from the Ulai River, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of his vision.”

17        As Gabriel approached the place where I was standing, I became so terrified that I fell with my face to the the ground. “Son of man,” he said, “you must understand that the events you have seen in your vision relate to the time of the end.

Sometimes, in our darkest moments, we don’t even have to ask God for help – he knows what we need. The message God will communicate to us will come when we need it before we know it. Thank God for these messages that will help us significantly when we don’t even ask. This can also happen without an angel, but the simple explanation is that God will often reveal his divine wisdom and insight to you. Messengers help with this, but if God needs to communicate a message to you, He will do so in whatever way possible.

Two angels continuously show up in the Bible: Gabriel and Michael. When people encounter angels, they often fall before them in fear. These messengers would come with a blinding light that would make it hard to interpret what was going on. The unknown of those situations is what people are full of fear of. Imagine yourself in Paul’s situation. You’re walking down the road when a blinding light comes down from heaven. Your only thought is that this light comes from the Lord. The light is so bright that you are blind for three days. The only way you get your sight back is to follow the instructions that the message from the light tells you to. That sounds scary. In all honesty, it sounds out-of-this-world. This makes the fact the angel realm is the deliverer of these messages all too real.

In the next one, we’ll discuss how angels protect God’s people. Until next time, friends. Stay blessed!