211114 Angels 5

 Angels 5                                                                         211114

We have seen angel activity throughout the bible. It seems strange that the first mention of an angel is with regard to Sarai’s servant, Hagar. Up until that event, so far as we can see, any contact was directly with God. Why did God see fit to relate directly with this servant girl?

Previously God had assured Abraham that he would have an abundant offspring. However the window of human possibility of a child being born to Abraham was rapidly closing. So, “Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. (Genesis 16:2). As a result the servant girl, Hagar, became pregnant. Then in the course of events she looked down on Sarai and immediately Sarai blamed Abraham. She was the instigator but immediately passed the blame to her husband. As a result of the conflict -- Hagar ran away.

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. (Genesis 16:7-10).

So far as I can tell this is the first mention of an angel, as an angel, and he is called “the angel of the Lord”. Angel means “messenger”. The word “Lord”, in this context, is “Yahweh”. Through this messenger Yahweh assured her that this child, conceived in sin, would be a “wild donkey of a man”. And he would produce so many offspring that they cannot be numbered. Abraham was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born. Sarai would have been seventy-six. They did this to provide the heir that God had promised. It’s very dangerous for us to take on fulfilling God’s direction. It’s one thing to know what God wants to do. It is another thing entirely when we assume we know HOW God wants it done.

Thirteen years later, God again spoke to Abram changing his name to Abraham and renewing the covenant with him. God, once again, promised a child through Sarai and her name was also changed to Sarah. Abraham laughed so hard he fell on the ground when he was told that Sarah would be the mother of the son who would lead to the Messiah. And Abraham asked, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Genesis 17:17). Just in case God had not noticed Abraham reminded him of Ishmael. After all Ishmael was Abraham’s son. He’s already here why should we not use him as the heir? God replied “No”, Sarah will have a son and you will call his name “Isaac” which means “he laughs”.

The next report of angels, found in Genesis chapter 18, involved Abraham sitting by his tent when three men walked up. He begged them to stay awhile and have a meal with him. This was normal hospitality in that day. It reminds us of the words of Hebrews 13:2 advising that entertaining strangers might lead to entertaining angels. During the meal the subject of Isaac was brought up. Promising that he would be born to Sarah about the same time the next year. She had been hiding in the tent but she couldn’t hold back the laughter when she heard the message. One of the men, who were really angels, had begun to speak with more authority than the others and the written record called him “the Lord” which is a translation of the name Yahweh. Two angels who had accompanied God in human form to announce the coming birth of the baby that would be called “he laughs” or, just “laughter” and would be next in line to carry on the promise of one who would bless all the families of the earth. (Genesis 12:2).

There are a few other references to angels guiding the family of Abraham and his immediate descendants.

Those two angels continued their journey to destroy Sodom. So the angels were not only messengers they had the power to destroy cities and rescue the people God wanted rescued.

The next mention of an angel speaking was when Abraham was instructed by God to go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice the son he had waited so long to have. The angel of the Lord allowed him to reach the point of raising the knife when he called Abraham’s name and provided an animal to sacrifice. If there was ever any doubt that Abraham trusted God this event was it. Isaac had questioned Abraham on the way. He wanted to know “where is the Lamb”? Abraham’s reply was “the Lord will provide.” He knew Isaac could not die because he had to have offspring to carry on the promise. Isaac would not die until he produced a male heir.

And the next mention of an angel involved getting a wife for Isaac so there could be a continuation of the line leading to the Messiah. Abraham’s chief servant was told to go back to Haran to get Isaac a wife from their family. When he asked Abraham what he should do if the girl would not come. Abraham assured his servant that God would send his angel to guide him. The result of that trip produced a bride for Isaac named Rebekah. 20 years after they married she produced twins. Jacob and Esau were their names. Esau married two local women and this displeased Rebecca. She arranged for Jacob to go back to Haran for a wife because of the hatred Esau had for Jacob. During Jacob’s journey to Padan-aram he dreamed of a ladder reaching up to heaven. He saw on that ladder angels coming and going. This must’ve been very reassuring to him that the Lord would take care of him.

The dream became more than a vision he saw Yahweh at the top of the ladder. During that vision Yahweh renewed the covenant, first given to Abraham, with the promise that he would be with Jacob and Jacob’s offspring would be like the dust of the earth and in Jacob all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Genesis 28:10-17).

When Jacob returned from his trip to Haran he had four wives, 12 children and a vast wealth in cattle and servants. More than 20 years had passed since he had seen his brother Esau or his father Isaac.

Time will not allow us to look at all aspects of the family descended from Abraham. Suffice it to say that Jacob favored Joseph and his brothers were extremely jealous of him. An opportunity came for them to take care of the problem. They could deal with him and they sold him as a slave be taken to Egypt. The consequence of Joseph being sold was that in a few years he moved from being a slave to becoming the Prime Minister of Egypt. Even though his brothers had meant it for evil God had meant it for good.

In his promise to Abraham God had included the fact that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not their own. They would be slaves for most of 400 years. The account is found in Genesis chapter 15 beginning with verse 13. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

The last phrase, “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete”, gives us insight into God’s justice. In order for God to wipe out an entire nation the people must be completely evil. The 400 year gap would be filled by the people of God being parked in Egypt. Always Yahweh was guiding and blessing people in impossible situations to prepare for the Messiah.

The next angelic intervention was at the end of that 400 year gap. Let me give you some background. In order to weaken the Israelite slaves their midwives were instructed to kill the baby boys by throwing them into the Nile River. One mother just could not allow her baby to be killed. When he could no longer be hidden a water tight basket was prepared and the boy was put in it and placed in the river. Not exactly what the king had ordered but close enough. His sister was given the job of seeing what happened to the baby. Downstream of the place where the basket was placed in the river was the spot where Pharaoh’s daughter bathed every day. I am sure that was part of his mother’s plan. Pharaoh’s daughter sent her servant into the river to retrieve the basket. When she saw the baby she determined to keep it. The sister, all the time watching and waiting, offered to find a nurse for the baby. Of course she brought her mother into the discussion.

The baby boy, now called “Moses”, was raised as a member of the house of Pharaoh. Look ahead 40 years and Moses decided to visit his blood relatives. There he saw an Israelite being beaten by an Egyptian. Moses looked around and decided to do something about this injustice. He killed the Egyptian and hid the body. The next day he was confronted with the knowledge that the killing was known about and he left Egypt to live in the wilderness. Now we look ahead 40 more years and find (Exodus 3:1-6) Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. ³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Moses, brought up as a member of the royal house, trained in all the sciences of Egypt was now brought down to tending sheep for his father-in-law. As he led his sheep to the west side of the wilderness he turned to see for himself the burning bush that would not burn. The angel of the Lord here is none other than the messenger of Yahweh. He called Moses to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt.

Time will not allow us to continue today. Later we will take up this story. In the meantime as we celebrate Operation Christmas Child, Thanksgiving and Christmas we need to remember just as God delivered Israel from slavery then He can deliver those today who are in bondage to sin.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

God sent his son, Jesus, as evidence of his love to take our sins into his own body and nail it to the cross for his people.

Because the wages of sin is death, which we deserve, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

Please, be certain you are in Christ Jesus while you can.

 

 

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2016. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.