We hear more about angels during Christmas, but they’re around all year. I wrote a short post about one way God uses angels to encourage believers, especially during times of persecution.
When we suffer for the name of Christ, we need biblical encouragement. And one form of biblical encouragement involves angels.
Consider the Thessalonian church. When Paul wrote to them his second letter, he noticed their “steadfastness and faith" even while they endured “persecutions and in the afflictions” (2 Thessalonians 1:4). To encourage them not to give up on their Lord, Paul wrote:
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (2 Thessalonians 1:5–8)
Paul’s point about the angels is worth noting and repeating, as Martin Luther did in the second verse of his famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”:
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the Right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who That may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabbaoth, His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.
Have you ever sung this and wondered why we call Jesus “Lord Sabbaoth”? Sabbaoth is not the word sabbath. Sabbaoth is an English transliteration of a Hebrew word that means “hosts”, which refers to the angelic army of the Lord. And so Lord Sabbaoth is simply another way of saying Lord of Hosts, the commander of his angelic army. Although mighty, the angels are still the servants of Christ which he uses for our benefit. “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14)
In false religions, gods are often divided up between different parts of creation, but Jesus, the true God, is lord of all. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:16). By knowing that Jesus is more glorious than the glorious armies of angels that he commands, we know that in the battle of good and evil, he will surely win.
The sermon is an important part of worship. Here’s how to make the most of it.
Learn about the @OrthodoxPC work in Mbale, Uganda. See how long-term committments make a difference. Faith and patience: it takes time for seeds to grow. Watch on Vimeo.
Tomorrow I will finish preaching the Gospel of John and will be sad to say goodbye to Frederick Dale Bruner, who, via his 1,200+ pg commentary, has been my main (non-divine) conversation partner on John for the last two years. Huge impact. Thank you, Dr. Bruner.
Finished The Art of Neighboring by @jayrpathak and Dave Runyon. Great into. Deals with common struggles, helps avoid missteps, and is full of good advice you can use today.
When Jesus comes “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4), but until then there is heartbreak even on the holidays. My heart goes out those who sat next to empty seats this Thanksgiving.
Learn about New Horizons, the OPC’s monthly magazine. Watch on vimeo.
Thanks to Christ Reformed Church in Washington, D.C., we now have a collection of links to most of the tunes used in Trinity Psalter Hymnal. You can use these to sing along. And if you can’t read music, these will help you learn the tunes.
Congratulations and thanks to David C. Noe for his new book, God or Baal: Two Letters on the Reformation of Worship and Pastoral Service.
This week Zondervan video courses are 50% off.
Postmodernism: Some Corrections and Clarifications by Elena Shalneva
Not all knowledge of Jesus is the same. Jonathan Edwards put it well: “There is a difference between having a rational judgment honey is sweet, and having a sense of sweetness.”
Here’s last night’s sermon on Genesis 22, the sacrifice of Isaac, where we discover that closeness with God sometimes includes hard things.
“Love is that liquor sweet and most divine, which my God feels as blood and I as wine.” (George Herbert). I invite you to listen to the sermon I preached this morning on the death of Jesus and drink up.
