THE POWER OF ANGELS

(Part IV)

Powerful Things Angels Do

INTRO: Increase of Angelic Presence/Manifestation

Awareness of Angelic Presence seems to be important.

Exodus 23:20-24

²⁰ “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. ²² But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ²³ For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. ²⁴You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.  

            Exodus 3:2-3

² And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush: So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

Psalm 103:20

²⁰Bless the Lord, you His angels,

who excel in strength, who do His word,

Heeding the voice of His word.

I. THE PREVALENCE OF ANGELS

A.      The Word “angel” or “angels” appears in the Old Testament 108 times and 165 times in the New Testament.

o   The work of angels is referred to almost 250 times.

o   Thirty-four of the Bible’s sixty-six books talk about angels in detail.

o   There are 104 recorded appearances of angels to men—and even   one to a donkey - Numbers 22:23

1.      We have guardian Angels

Matthew 18:10

¹⁰ “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

Acts 12:13-15

¹³ And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. ¹⁵ But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”

2.     We can pray and God will supply angelic assistance

Matthew 26:53

⁵³ Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels?

3.     There are at least 100 trillion angels

Revelation5:2, 11-12

² Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?... ¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

4.     The birth and ministry of Jesus is full of angelic visitations

a.       The angel Gabriel came to Mary - Luke 1:26-37

b.      The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph before the birth of Jesus - Matthew 1:20-21

²⁰ But while he thought about these things…

c.       The Angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds with a multitude of the heavenly host

d.      The Angel of the Lord appeared in dreams in order to protect Jesus

(Egypt) Matthew 2:13, 19, 22

e.      Wise Men Warned in a dream Matthew 10-12

5.      The angelic was an important part of Jesus' ministry

II. POWERFUL THINGS ANGELS DO

1.     Two Angels Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah - Genesis 19

2.     Angel with Moses - Exodus 3

3.     Protected Israel from the Egyptians

Exodus 14:19-20

¹⁹ And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. ²⁰ So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night

4.     Angel with Gideon – Defeated Army with 300 men Judges 6

5.     Angel with Samson - Judges 13

6.     Delivered Three Hebrew Boys from the Fire - Daniel 3:28

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!

7.     Protected Daniel in the Lions den

Daniel 6:22

²² My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

8.     Killed 185,000 men

2 Kings 19:8-14, 35

⁸ Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. ⁹ And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look, he has come out to make war with you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? ¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ” ¹⁴ And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord…. ³⁵ And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead

9.     Will gather saints during the second coming

Matthew 24:31

³¹ And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

10.Caused an Earthquake and rolled the stone away from the tomb

Matthew 28:1-2

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

11.Stirred the water in the pool of Bethesda

John 5:4

⁴ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

12.Delivered the Disciples from prison

Acts 5:18-20

¹⁸ and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. ¹⁹ But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”

13.Delivered Peter from Prison

Acts 12:6-10

⁶ And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. ⁷ Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals;" and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” ⁹ So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

14.Delivered Paul and soldiers from a Shipwreck

Acts 27:23-26

²³ For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, ²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. ²⁶ However, we must run aground on a certain island.

15.Will take vengeance on those who don’t know God

2 Thessalonians 1:7-8

⁷ and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, ⁸ in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

16.Hold the wind so it won’t blow

Revelation 7:1

After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree

17.Bound Satan for 1000 years

Revelation 20:1-3

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ² He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; ³ and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

III. FOUR PRINCIPLES THAT ACTIVATE ANGELS

1.      Submission

A.      Obedience and submission to authority - angels understand authority

Romans 13:1-2

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

B.      Order in the home and church (I Corinthians 11, 12, 13, 14)

C.      The protocol of praise and worship (the way of approaching royalty) releases help from the heavenlies.

o   In worship  we come to Mt. Zion where  innumerable  angels  are joyfully  assembled (Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 7:11-12, 2 Chronicles 20:3-22, Acts 16:25).

2.      Wholeheartedness toward God to the point of sacrifice

A.   Abraham (Genesis 12)

B.   Zechariah (Luke 1)

3.      Prayer and fasting

A.      Abraham (Genesis 19)

B.      Daniel (10:2)

C.      Early Church (Acts 12)

4.      Giving

A.      Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22)

B.      Cornelius (Acts 10)