Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

The festival day of St. Michael and all Angels was yesterday the 29th. In our church calendar, through which we took a tour a couple months ago, there is a noticeable shift at this point of the year. The harvest is approaching, fall is in the air, but the Christian is reminded during this time of year of another coming, the coming of heaven upon the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, followed by a fresh celebration of Advent and Christmas. And so, to prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord, we must remain aware that He is always with us, giving us the protection of His holy angels.

Now, when it comes to talking about angels, one of two basic problems quickly come forward. On the one hand, there seems to be a lot that comes from the imagination. Movies about angels are so plentiful that they could be in a whole category by themselves. We hope to explain to ourselves the existence and activity of an entirely unseen world that somehow overlaps with the world that we can see. There is something genuinely fascinating to our human minds that there could be an angel standing above you or sitting next to you, and protecting you wherever you go. Our curiosity then gets the better of us and we let our own thoughts and feelings become the experts and we believe all sorts of things about those mysterious spiritual beings.

On the other hand, all of this mysterious and other-worldly language could discourage someone from thinking any further about angels and what they do. It seems angels and spirits are on everyone’s mind just because it is the latest fad. Our minds are still programmed with that idea of “What you see is what you get.” There needs to be enough proof laid out before our very eyes or else we will not become convinced. Of course you could believe in angels, but just as long as it doesn’t mean that your life in the so-called real world will be any different because of them.

It is so easy to make-believe in this whole other spiritual realm, just like you’re telling a story, but if someone starts getting really serious about it, then skeptical questions arise. Questions like: “If God sends angels to protect us, then why are there still accidents and terrorists and destruction? Where are the guardian angels when these things happen?” So when it seems possible that there could be more than meets the eye, we tend to abandon what our faith says in favor of what our senses tell us instead.

There was a time when Jesus had sent seventy-two preachers out to the various surrounding villages. They were to proclaim that God’s kingdom is here. The long-awaited Savior, the God in whom all the faithful put their hope—He is walking around even now healing people and preaching the good news of salvation. That was the message of these preachers; that was what they said. What they saw—rather, what God allowed their eyes to see—was something truly spectacular. The demons, those evil angels who serve not the Lord but the devil, they were fleeing like mad before these mere mortals! But then, when the disciples tell Jesus, it seems like He just shoots them down. He said this: “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20) As amazing as it was that they were witnessing a spirit-world struggle, our Lord reminds them not to be fixed on what their eyes were telling them.

The fact is, this whole other world actually exists, even though it is unseen. It not only exists, but this unseen world is the way things really are in God’s kingdom of heaven. It is the realm in which St. Michael the archangel and all the angel armies defeated Satan and cast him down like a bolt of lightning from the presence of Almighty God. It is the realm in which those miserable demons flee at the mere speaking of God’s Word. In the spiritual realm, there are angels right here among us and protecting us even now. In the realm that we can see, all that appears is a dead man hanging on a cross; in the spiritual realm, the devil’s head is crushed, he is thrown out of heaven and sin and death are completely wiped out.

Brothers and sisters, do not be ignorant of the way things really are. You may understand and believe with all your heart that your sins are taken away and that one day you will be in heaven. But it is still possible to believe that and still imagine that you are your own person, that you don’t need God’s help in your day-to-day life. God’s grace could easily become for you just a safety net for you to fall back on when you can’t help yourself out of your own mess. You have a deep-seated desire within you to be self-reliant, to be independent of God. It’s a temptation raised to your attention by the devil himself. For he wants you to believe that you can get by in life without God’s help, so that then you become easy prey to fall into the hands of the evil one. Even though he has been defeated forever and cast out of heaven, he can still bring you down to hell with him, and he knows his time of opportunity is short.

There is a whole other dimension to God’s grace. Above and beyond giving you the free forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven, our Lord has given you more. He always gives you more. He has entrusted your safety to his most powerful servants even while you are still on this earth. He promises that He will send His angels to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and cobra and trample them underfoot. Even though the devil like a roaring lion prowls about, waiting to devour you, he will not come near you, because God has given you Michael and all the heavenly armies to watch over you. Every day that you are alive is a gift with which God richly blesses you, and that gift is especially yours thanks to the work of His holy angels.

But, again, don’t get carried away. As much as the angels do for you, they are still God’s humble servants. They deserve no worship, thanks or praise for their work—they themselves would tell you that all glory goes to God alone who made them and who gave them their power. For it is that power that can be so fascinating. Those 72 preachers whom Jesus sent were for a moment allowed to see the heavenly realm and God’s powerful wrath unleashed against evil.

Do you want that power? Do you want to call down fire and brimstone against a backstabbing friend or the driver who cut you off on the freeway? Are you so sick and tired of the devil’s attacks and temptations that you wish you could just say the word and they would all be gone? Wouldn’t your life be easier if you could just make the angels do what you want them to do?

Fortunately for you, God does not want to show you His power. God’s power is none other than His punishment—and we already know that He punishes all those who hate Him. If you wish to see God’s power, then you wouldn’t be living long, because His punishment condemns all of us sinners. God’s power was instead unleashed against His only Son Jesus as He was hanging on the cross. He stood condemned before God the Father’s holy anger, not because of anything He had done, but He had your sin and mine clinging to His Body. In Christ hanging on the cross there truly is God’s power—but that power remains hidden within God’s love that He had—and still has—for you. That is a love that causes all the hosts of angels to rejoice over one sinner who admits his sin and asks for forgiveness.

God’s love is more amazing and even more awesome than His power. His love is seen in Jesus your Savior, who gave up all He had and became obedient to death, even death on a cross—and all for your sake. God knows that you are a sinner and that you deserve punishment, but with Jesus standing in your place, He no longer looks upon you with punishment and condemnation. Instead He abundantly showers His love on you for the sake of Jesus, who kept the law and suffered its punishment for you. Jesus gives you His very own Body and Blood, which was the price He paid for your sins, in order that you may join with Him and the angels of heaven in receiving salvation even now, both for your body and for your soul. In Holy Communion, God gives you a powerful assurance that your name is certainly written in heaven.

It is truly a mystery—as deep as a bottomless well—when it comes to thinking about God’s love. Even the angels themselves wonder in amazement at how great the love of God is for you, His precious creation. His special messengers gladly bring us Good News of God’s love, just like they did to the shepherds at Christmas, and to the women and the disciples on the first Easter. We then join with them in their heavenly song so that with angels and archangels we laud and magnify God’s glorious name.

And so the true reason why there are angels is so that you may believe and finally realize that your name is written in heaven. That is what our Lord Jesus said to His joyful missionaries, and that is what He says to you today. Anything more or less than this simply misses the point. Whether you focus too much on the angels or deny that they have any bearing on your life, then doubt and unbelief have the chance to creep in and destroy your faith. Remember first of all that you are saved and that your name is written in heaven and that no one can take that from you. Depend on Him for everything, and not on yourself. Then give thanks to God for sending His angels to remind you of that blessed truth and to protect you on every side from the attacks of the devil. All this He does because He loves you. So as Martin Luther once directed to do twice a day, along with all your fellow saints on earth, pray to the Lord, “Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3 those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake
Revelation 12:7-12 they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb…
Matthew 18:1-11 unless you turn and become like children