St. Michael and All Angels, 2024
Texts: Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3; Revelation 12:7-12; Matthew 18:1-11
Title: Divine Bodyguards
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You are walking down a dark alley in a bad part of town. Every shadow is suspicious. Every sound makes you nervous. Your every sense is heightened. It’s not cold out, and still shivers go up your spine. You can feel your heart pounding. Your hand is clenched tightly around your phone, just in case.
But then, you look to your side, and you can see that you are not alone. You have a bodyguard walking with you. He is trained, he is armed, he is dangerous.
You exhale with a sigh of relief. You hope that nothing happens, but you know that if it does, you have a warrior fighting by your side.
You may not have a bodyguard at your side. But you have something even better. God’s holy angels surround you and protect you.
Every morning, every evening we pray, “let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”
Angels are strong and mighty warriors. They are not cute and cuddly. They are not the spirits of those who have died. You do not become an angel when you die. Let me say again, “You do not become an angel when you die.”
Angels are a separate creation of God. The name angel means “messenger,” and that is how God most often uses them.
In the Old Testament, angels appeared to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses, and to Joshua, and many others bringing messages from God.
In the New Testament, angels appeared to Zachariah and Mary, to the women at the tomb, to Peter, John, and many more, proclaiming the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And that’s not all. Our readings today emphasize how the angels serve to protect us, particularly from the spiritual harm that Satan would do to us.
In the book of Daniel, the people of Israel were walking through the dark alley of exile in Babylon. They had been forced from their homes. Their temple had been destroyed. Their king had been deposed. They were strangers in a strange land.
Satan was tempting them to give up, to give in to the pressure to fit in, to bow down and worship the gods of Babylonians, to give up hope in God to deliver them.
In that dark time, God gave Daniel a vision of what was to come. They did not fight alone. Michael, the great prince of God’s people fought for them and with them. And even though a time of great tribulation would come, even though some of them would suffer and die, in the end they would arise and shine in glory like the stars above.
In the book of Revelation, the people of God’s church were walking through the dark alley of the Roman Empire. John was in exile on the island of Patmos. The churches to whom he wrote were in the province of Asia, where the Roman Emperor was worshipped as a god. They were strangers in a strange land.
Satan was tempting them to give up, to give in to the pressure to fit in, to bow down and worship the gods of the Romans, to give up hope in God to deliver them.
In that dark time, God gave John a vision of what was to come. They did not fight alone. Michael and his angels fought for them and with them. Even though many of them would die a martyr’s death, in the end the kingdom of God would come, and Satan would be conquered through the blood of the lamb and through their testimony.
You still walk through the dark alleys of the world today. Evil runs rampant and many call what is evil “good.” Your friends, your neighbors, even your own family bow down to the idols of money, sex, and self.
Satan tempts you daily to give up, to give in to the pressure to fit in, to bow down and worship the gods of the day, and to give up hope in God to deliver you.
You may feel like the little ones, the children of whom Jesus speaks. You feel weak and helpless in the face of temptation.
Take heart. In heaven your angels, your angels always see the face of the Father in heaven.
You have angels walking with you and watching over you. “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”
You certainly don’t deserve this kind of protection. You aren’t wealthy or famous enough to deserve an earthly bodyguard, let alone a spiritual one.
And yet, to you, His little ones, your heavenly Father has commanded His angels to have charge over you.
So, why then do you suffer? Why are you still oppressed by evil?
Look to Christ.
The angel Gabriel announced His coming to Mary.
An angel told Joseph to go ahead and marry her.
When Jesus was born, angels announced His birth to the shepherds.
After Jesus was tempted, the angels ministered to Him.
Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, an angel strengthened Jesus.
Jesus could have called legions of angels to defend Him when they came to arrest Him, but He knew that through His suffering, through His death He would ultimately defeat Satan.
You will suffer as well. It doesn’t mean that the angels aren’t with you, or that God has abandoned you.
The role of the angels is to keep temptations from overcoming you, to guard and protect not only your body, but your eternal soul.
One day you will die, too.
But then, like the angels, you will see God. You won’t be an angel, but you will be holy, as they are. And you will worship Him in His presence along with them, singing and praising God and the Lamb for our victory over sin, death, and the devil, won for us by His blood.
Yes, you have many dark alleys to walk through before that day. And you don’t walk through them alone. And the best way to keep fear from overcoming you is to come here, as often as you can, to be in the presence of the Lord and His holy angels. To sing with them “Glory to God in the Highest,” to sing with angels, with St. Michael and the archangels, to sing with the departed saints and all the company of heaven, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.”
Sabaoth is not Sabbath. They may sound the same, but they are completely different. Sabaoth is “hosts,” “armies,” of angels under the Lord’s command. To guard you, to protect you, to fight for you and with you. They are your armed escort, bringing you safely home.
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