“Ministering Angels In The Desert”

“And when we cried unto the LORD, He heard our voice, and sent an angel, and has brought us forth out of Egypt; and behold we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border.” Num. 20:16

When we cry unto God, He sends His angels to minister unto us. The Hebrew word for cry in this verse is (tsa-ak) to cry out for help, because you are in distress or need; and who are they crying out to? The LORD, YeHoVaH, the Self-Existent One, The Great I AM, The One True GOD, and He heard (shema) to hear with attention and interest. Not just hear, but listen to, to pay attention too! He heard the (kole) sound of their voice, the noise it makes, not just the image it represents, but the very words themselves, everyone of them! That is incredible, but we are speaking of an incredible GOD are we not? He not only hears our cries but gives His undivided attention to every word and syllable we utter to Him in prayer, every word! Incredible! And He sent (sha-lach) to send off, to shoot off, to impel or dismiss and angel (malak) messenger, representative, theophanic angel; a messenger from God, that is an angel!

Now this particular angel is distinguished in the Bible from all the other angels and is referred to in Gen. 16:9; 22:11; 48:16; Ex. 3:2; 14:19; Num. 22:22; Jud. 2:4; 6:11; 13:3;  2 Kings 19:35; Isa. 63:9; Zech. 1:2; 12:8; He is named, “The angel of God,” in Gen. 21:17; “The angel of God’s presence,” in Isa. 63:9; and is probably, “The messenger (angel)of the covenant” in Mal. 3:1. He is clearly identified with the LORD in His Self-Manifestation to man-kind. In Ex. 3:2-6 this same angel said to Moses, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham.” Divine attributes are ascribed to this angel, in fact He told Hagar, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly,” in Gen. 16:10; and Hagar spoke of Him as the all-seeing God in v.13. Jacob referred to Him as, “An angel who redeemed me from all evil,” Gen. 48:16. The place where the angel appeared was holy ground and He was to be worshipped; Ex. 3:5-6. Whereas, worship is sternly forbidden in the case of ordinary angels, Rev. 22:8-9. “The angel of the Lord was the keeper of Israel, and His voice had to be obeyed, for the name of God was in him.” Ex. 23:20-23.

However, in light of the Newer Testament, this Older Testament angel may properly be identified with the pre-incarnate ‘Son of God.’ In Jud. 13:18, the angel referred to his name as ‘Secret’ or literally, “Wonderful” (Pele) in Hebrew. Isaiah 9:6 gives this name to the predicted Messiah of Israel. The Jewish Midrash states that the Son in Isaiah 7:14 is the same Son in Isaiah 9:6 with eight names and that Christians do a terrible injustice by combining them into four names. In fact it is the only verse I know of in their Bible that they don’t translate but only transliterate. Malachi affirmed that “the LORD” who would “Suddenly come to His temple” would also be, “The messenger of the covenant.” Mal. 3:1. The identification of this angel with our Lord harmonizes with His distinctive function in relation to the Godhead for He is the eternal Word through whom the invisible God speaks and manifests Himself, John 1:1; 18. It is significant however, that in the Newer Testament there are no further references to the ‘angel of the Lord.’ Christ is conceived, crucified, crowned and sitting next to His Father; He is not walking on earth any longer, not until His second coming. He is seen standing to receive Stephen’s spirit, He is seen in the clouds talking to Paul in the Hebrew language, but He is not appearing as an angel, but He does send His angelic messengers to minister to us the heirs of His kingdom, Heb. 1:14.

Daniel prayed for 21 days, Dan. 10:2 waiting for an answer to his prayers. Gabriel was dispatched on the very first day but the prince of Persia stopped him and Michael the archangel, had to come and help Gabriel do battle and Gabriel finally got to Daniel with the message from God, and a very important message it was, too! So, Daniel prayed and Satan fought; does that tell you anything about your prayer life? Twenty one days fasting and praying and never letting up, never quitting, never giving in, NEVER!! How long would you go without food and water for a prayer request? How long? The problem with prayer today is the lack of importunity, Luke 11:8.  We need to ask with a beggars craving, seek with a servant’s carefulness and knock with a friends confidence and keep on knocking until He opens the door!

Jesus prayed in the garden of the ‘Olive Press’ and His Father sent angels to minister unto Him and strengthen Him, Lk. 22:43.  This was when He suffered (hematohidrosis) a bloody sweat, a medical term only used by Dr. Luke.  His Father also sent angels to minister unto Him after His temptation in the wilderness by Satan, Matt. 4:11; Mark 1:13.  As Zacharias was offering incense, a type of prayer (Rev. 5:8 & 8:3-5) the angel Gabriel appeared to  him and made him deaf and dumb, because he doubted God’s Word and power.  The disciples of Christ are scattered abroad preaching the Word, and Phillip goes to Samaria and back to Jerusalem when an angel tells him to go to Gaza and take the Gospel to the Ethiopians!

In Acts 10 Cornelius is on his roof praying at the ninth hour, 3;00 P.M. ‘The Hour of Prayer’ the same time Zacharias was offering incense, David killed Goliath, Christ gave up His Spirit, the evening offering was made in the Temple, Elijah called down fire from heaven, etc., etc:  And an angel came to Cornelius saying, v.4b “Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.”  A memory of a person or thing preserved before God in remembrance.  Your prayers and gifts to God are not a passing thought or momento to God, they are engraved in His memory forever!  Meditate on that for a while, it will impact your giving and your praying, if it doesn’t something is wrong!  Cornelius is told to send for Simon-Peter who is upon his roof praying in Joppa at noon and he came and gave them the Gospel and they were all saved and baptized.

Herod goes on a rampage against the church and kills John’s brother James and arrests Peter but prayer was made for him without ceasing, Acts 12:5.  He is bound with chains to two soldiers and an angel awoke him, touched his side and the chains fell off and the prison doors opened and he walked out to John Mark’s mother’s home where the believer’s were praying for him and Rhoda answered the  door, Acts 12:13.  Paul and Barnabas are there – Mary is Barney’s sister, Col. 4:10, and when they leave they take John Mark with them on a mission’s trip.  In v.17 Peter tells them to tell James he is released, so he doesn’t know James is dead.  In v. 19, 16 Roman soldiers were put to death for Peter’s escape.  So this was no light matter or miracle.  In Acts 23:8-9 Paul used his belief in angels as his defense against the Sadducees.  There are many references to angels ministering to mankind in the Scriptures in fact the book of Revelation has over 75 references to angels and every church in Rev. 2 & 3 has an angel assigned to it.  Rev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1,7,14.

Heb. 13:2 warns us, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”  Gen. 18:1-22, Abraham and his three guests.  I wonder how many times we have had the chance to help an angel on the side of the road with a sign “Homeless, Please Help” and we did nothing. 🙂  I have even turned my car around and gone back to help on occasion.  Just ask God, is this one of Your Messengers, do You want me to help?  Their power is inconceivable, 2 Kings 19:35; 185,000 Assyrians slain by one angel in one night.  They are exceedingly numerous Ps. 68:17; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 5:11; Their place is about the throne of God, Rev 5:11; &:11; Their relation to believers in Christ is one of, “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.” This ministry has reference largely to the physical safety and well-being of the children of God.  Heb. 1:14.

When you compare Heb. 1:14, Matt. 18:10 and Ps. 91:11, it appears that this care for ‘the heirs of salvation’ begins in infancy and continues through life.  This is where the concept of ‘Guardian Angels’ comes from.  The angels observe us Ecc. 5:6, 1 Cor. 4:9, Eph. 3:10, a fact which should influence our conduct, they are watching us “all the time.”  In my family we had a ‘Family Devotional Element’ where we took our first names and reversed the spelling to get a name for our guardian angels; for instance my name is Roger, so reversed it would be Regor; Becky would be ykceb etc.  It just gave a Personal touch to our personal angel.  There are books on angels and it would do us all good to read a couple.  However, my point is they cried unto the LORD, He heard their voice, and He sent an angel and delivered them.  Has He ever rescued you, delivered you, saved you, protected you?  I put a lot of His angels in the E.R. before I came to Christ, and since then! I should have died 6 or 7 times before 8/27/72.  Vietnam, car wrecks, robberies gone bad, as a cop. People even prayed for me to die before that date but God sent His angels because He knew on that day I would cry out for His Son to save me, and I’m sure there were many in your life too.  So, when you bow your head and say, “Father, I come to You in Jesus Name…” there are an innumerable company of angels anxiously waiting to be dispatched on an errand from God; watching, waiting, listening.  You have the attention of the entire spiritual world, then why in heaven aren’t you availing yourself of it’s power? Till next time, I’ll see you,…”Between The Lines…”

“Ministering Angels In The Desert” 6/12/16