Behold The Angels

Genesis 28:10-13. "And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it." John 1 :51. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Behold the angels of God. 

One day in the Philippines, I was in the city of Manila, and I was riding in a taxi, and the driver started asking me questions about where I come from. Then he said, Are you a missionary? And I said, Well, I'm following Jesus, I'm teaching the Scripture. Then he said, Do you believe there are angels? I said, Yes. Then he said, Why? Have you ever seen one? And I said, Yes. Then he said, Where? He was surprised, and he turned around and he said, Where? Well, I said, I have seen them in the Bible. I've seen them so many times in the Bible. Through the eyes of faith I've seen the heavenly, angelic kingdom that God created. Well, he laughed at me. He just laughed, and it was time for me to get out of the taxi. 

As I walked away I thought, Oh, what I should have said to him was, Read your Bible, and talk to Jacob, and ask Jacob. Jacob, do you believe there are angels? And Jacob would have said, I saw heaven open and angels ascending and descending. He could have told him about wrestling with an angel. He could have told him of the time when Jacob was leaving Laban, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host. And maybe I should have said, Then you go and ask Daniel. Daniel, do you believe there are angels? And Daniel would have told him about the time when he was put in the lion's den, and the angel closed the lion's mouth. And he could have told him about the vision he had of God on the throne, and thousands and thousands of angels ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. He could have told him a little about Michael coming to help him. I could have told him, You go talk to Moses. Ask Moses, Moses, do you believe there are angels? And Moses would have said, God asked me to do something that was so impossible for me to do, but He promised me that an angel would go before me. And the angel did, and opened up the way. And he could have gone and talked to Elijah. Elijah, do you believe there are angels? And Elijah could have said, There was a time when I was so discouraged, I prayed to die. I lay down under a juniper tree, and I thought I couldn't go any more, and an angel came. God sent an angel, and an angel descended and brought food to me, and encouraged and strengthened me. And I could have said, Why don't you go talk to David. Talk to David and Zechariah. They just have wonderful things to tell you about angels. Wonderful things! And that's just the Old Testament. 

You go talk to Jesus, and ask Jesus, Are there angels? Did God really create angels? Is there really a kingdom above the human kingdom? We can see that angels were very, very involved in the story of Jesus and His birth. They came to Mary, and they brought reassurance to Joseph, and they were very concerned about the protection of that precious little life. It was an angel, that starlight night so long ago, that came to the shepherds, and brought the Gospel message. They were involved when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan. They came afterward and strengthened Him. They were involved in the garden, and they were involved in every step that Jesus took. They were involved in the resurrection. They rolled the stone away. We have a wonderful promise of His coming, His coming back, and His holy angels with Him. I don't have anything to tell you about angels accept to behold them. Behold the angels. There's just so much in the Scripture about this great kingdom of angels. There is much that we don't understand, and we can't say anything new, and I hope that I am not presumptuous to even mention it, but there is this great kingdom of angels, and it somehow just increases my faith to behold them, and to understand how God can meet every need and be everywhere. There is this great kingdom of angels. 

It tells us very clearly in Hebrews, what the angels are, and what they do. They are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. That's what they are, and that's what they do. There is a verse in the Psalms 103:20 that says, "Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." That's what angels do. They do His commandments, they hearken unto His voice. I'd like you to behold two beautiful pictures of angels in Rev. 7: 11. It says, "And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen." That's interesting to me. Amen, Yes, to every command of God. To every word of God. They stood round about, they fell on their faces, and said,
Amen. A wonderful example for us to have that spirit of the angels, to hearken to all of His commandments. A beautiful picture to behold in heaven. 

In Rev. 5:11, "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." All of these multitudes of angels saying, Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. Telling us, if we behold them, that is what they're saying, that's what they're singing to us, the Lamb is worthy of your life, worthy of your soul, He's worthy of your love, worthy of your trust, He's worthy of every tear, and every struggle and every sacrifice. He's worthy. And it's good for us to behold the angels, the angels are basking in wisdom. The angels that come from heaven, that come way down to earth, to help us in our great need, and go back to the Father. I love to behold the angels. 

I'd like to mention just six things that are in the hands of angels that we read about, and it's not that I can explain anything about this, it's just wonderful to behold, behold the angels. We read in Rev. 8:3, about the golden vessel that is put upon the golden altar. "And an angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand." The vessel is full of the prayers of the saints. That vessel, that vial, is put on the golden altar, before the throne of God. An angel came with incense, and the prayers of the saints ascended up with the incense to God out of the angel's hand. It says that out of the angel's hand it ascended up to God. The incense was mixed with the prayers of the saints, and then those prayers ascended to God, from the hands of the angel. Our deep need, and our deep sorrow, our deep distress. Behold the angels handling our prayers. 

In Rev. 10 we read about an angel. One foot was on the land and one foot was on the sea, and in his hand was a little book. And this book was the word of God. I don't think it was the Bible, but it was the word of God, and John was told to eat it. He was told that it would be so sweet to his mouth, but it would bitter in his stomach. The word of God must become part of us. We know that it is so sweet when we hear the story, there is such sweetness in it when we make it a part of us. But when we start denying ourselves, and facing reproach and persecution, taking up our cross, there can be bitterness in that experience. But I like this picture so much of sitting by the angels. If anyone makes fun of the word of God, and belittles the Scripture, I like to just look at this picture of the angel that has in his hand the message that came from God. And the angels that said, Amen. The mighty angel. 

In Rev. 14:15 we read about an angel that has a sharp sickle in his hand. It says that the time of harvest had come, and the earth was to be reaped, and the sword, the sickle, is not in the hands of a man. It was not in the hands of any servant of God. Like we read in Matt. 13 :49 "So shall it be at the end of he world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just." It's going to be the angels coming, and at the word of God they are the reapers. Isn't it wonderful that we can have complete trust in the righteous judgment of our God. 

In Rev. 18:21 we have a picture of an angel that has a great millstone in his hands. John was told that it would be like that that Babylon would be brought to naught. It will be brought down. And that angel cast that stone into the sea. Babylon was never brought down by men. It will never be brought down by harsh words of man, but Babylon will be brought down with violence. And everything that is untrue to Jesus, everything that is not of God will be brought down. It will be destroyed. It says there, that there will be no more music heard, there will be no more idols worshipped, there will be no more candles burning, there will be no more beautiful weddings, there will be no more merchandizing, it will all be brought down. We don't have to fear about evil
being dealt with. That which is untrue will be brought down. 

In Rev. 20 we read about an angel that has the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. One angel, and he was told to take hold of Satan and to bind him for one thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit. One angel, taking hold of Satan, and binding him. Just one angel, and there are legions of angels. How wonderful to know that there will be an end. There will be an end to deception. There will be an end to all of his lies. There will be an end, he will be chained, he will be bound. I just want to behold the angels, to behold the power, to behold their obedience to God, to behold their readiness to say, Amen. Behold the angels. I love to hear their song, Worthy is the Lamb. If we could just take the time to be in the spirit to hear that song. Jesus is worthy. That's the song that comes from heaven, He is worthy of our life, our all. 

There is another thing that's in the hands of angels. In Luke 16 we read about Lazarus dying, and the angels carrying him into the presence of heaven. How beautiful to think of the gentle hands of the angels, carrying the souls and the spirits into the presence of God. When my father died I was away on an island in the Philippine Islands. This was a very difficult time for me. My father was very, very special to me. There were several who sent me pictures of my father in the casket, and they sent pictures of the flowers. They wanted me to picture the funeral. I was glad to receive them, but I got no comfort from that. But it was so beautiful to try and pray and be in the spirit, and envision the angels carrying the soul of my father, his spirit into the presence of the God he loved. It helped so much. It was so comforting. One of our dear sister workers was killed. She was run over by a truck, and it was horrifying to us to think about her body, but it was wonderful to trust her to the hands of angels that would come and carry her spirit into the presence of God. Behold the angels ascending and descending. This is something God had created. A great angelic kingdom to help us. And their ascending and descending to minister, to minister to our souls. This is just part of the wonderful plan God has that we might be saved. I hope that in our experiences, that we would see beyond the clouds, beyond the struggle, that we would see the path of angels, ascending and descending. 

K. McLin