Jeffrey C. Long

The following was from my original study notes for my sermon on Luke 1:26-38. They did not make it into the sermon, but I thought they might be useful. The majority of this material came from http://www.spirithome.com/angels.html

No one needs angels more then pastors:

Eugene Peterson in his review of the book The Sermon Maker by Calvin Miller writes:

Did you know that an angel has recently been sighted who has the specialized assignment of helping preachers get their preaching back? His name is Sermoniel, the Angel of Homiletics.

He is especially astute in detecting homileticus horribilis, a virus that infects an alarming number of pulpits. The men and women who occupy these pulpits are especially at risk, often developing sermonic sclerosis, the leading cause of death among preachers today.

Where big things are happening, angels are there. The big event of God coming to be with us started off with a peasant girl from Galilee talking with the archangel Gabriel. Angel choirs abound, and an Angel Mass Choir threw a Christmas party for some scruffy shepherds when the baby Jesus was born. Just as an archangel set up the first coming of Christ, so an archangel will mark the coming of Christ when Time runs out.

Messengers: One good way to see it is by way of the so-called “Tess theory”. It’s named after the angel played by Della Reese in TV’s “Touched By an Angel”. Tess speaks this idea many times in the series : angels are sent by God to bring the truth, especially the big truths, to specific people in critical situations. The biggest truth (the one that Jesus Christ was living, dying proof of) is that God is with us and for us, and the angel is here as a part of that. God’s message can be a warning, or be a comfort in times of danger and fear.

In their protective roles, angels are in no way Precious Moments-like creampuffs. They can be the fiercest of warriors and the swiftest of rescuers. Scripture shows that they have another fierce task : when God passes judgement on injustice, the angels are often the ones who carry out the sentence. The usual image is that they use flaming swords, but the Bible shows how they can execute judgement in other ways.

We’re told not to worship angels in Colossians 2:18 (Indeed, any real angel will urge you not to worship them, but to worship God.) Revelation 22:8-9

However awesome we may think angels are, Jesus is far more important. Hebrews 1

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