Angels among Us

Psalm 34 Genesis 18:1-15

As I was driving home from work the other day, something triggered a thought of an old high school history teacher. During my high school days he seemed 10 feet tall to me though I learned years later at the Little Rock airport when we happened to bump into one another that he was actually smaller in stature than I remembered, but he was never a “small” man by any means! He was blessed with wisdom and an ability to convey that wisdom that can only come from enduring a lot of life’s experiences. The problem is that I didn’t fully realize what a wise man he was until years later.

I then remembered a girl who was in my class. We grew up together actually down the street from one another. She was always very studious and – at least I thought at the time – something of a snob. Yet while I was in the hospital when we were in school, she took the time to stop by, bring me class assignments and books, and even offered to help me (she was very well aware that I was a less-than-stellar student!). It was only years later when I was able to appreciate the enormity of the gesture although I strongly resented her taking away my excuses for not doing any school work!

The Bible speaks of angels here and there as what we picture in our minds as these heavenly, winged creatures of brilliant countenance who come directly to us from Heaven and serve as the “messengers” we have always believed them to be. There were the angels at the tomb who announced Jesus’ Resurrection. There were the angels who ministered to Jesus in the wilderness after His encounter with the evil one. There is Michael the archangel who does battle with Satan, and there is Gabriel the archangel who comes to Mary to announce that she had been chosen to give birth to the Son of God.

These angels we are more familiar with even though we’ve never actually seen with our own eyes. There are other angels in our lives, however, who may not be in the same class as the angels created by the Lord God to serve as His messengers, but there are persons in our lives who are no less His messengers.

Coach Rainey, the high school history teacher and current Arkansas state representative, and Jo Carol, the classmate and now attorney, each had a profound impact on my life without my having been aware of it until many years later. Each had a message to me and to others about the importance of making the most of the God-given life that each of us is blessed with, and each one believed in hard work and achievement. There is hardly a way that anyone could convince me that the Lord did not have His hand in each of these encounters as well as so many others throughout my life.

The Genesis passage is a little problematic for a number of reasons. The chapter begins with telling the reader that “the Lord appeared to Abraham…” in the first verse. Then in verse two, “Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby” who are presumably angels on a mission. Abraham immediately offered his hospitality to these three men who were, as we discover in the next chapters, on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah. But the conversation seems to go back and forth between the three men speaking AND the Lord having a conversation with Abraham about Sarah’s impending pregnancy.

What was the writer trying to tell us about this encounter? Was Abraham dealing with angels? Is it significant to be mindful of the relationship between Abraham and the Lord, and then the relationship between Abraham and Lot and these men headed to Sodom? It almost appears to be a chance encounter with very little meaning until we move into verse sixteen and beyond. In fact, this chapter should probably be broken down into the two sections, the first dealing with the announcement of Sarah’s pregnancy and the second dealing with the three men and their apparent mission to protect Lot and his family from the impending doom of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The more I began seriously considering the angels who have crossed my path throughout my life, the more I have come to realize that there are probably more times in my past when I have been somewhat less than hospitable when these angels, human or otherwise, came into my life. Did Abraham immediately recognize these men as angels since the chapter tells us that the Lord had already appeared to him? And does it matter? Would Abraham have been as hospitable to these men otherwise? And since the Scripture does not actually spell it out, do we really know that these men were actually angels?

Here’s the rub. In the Genesis encounters, it is difficult to make the distinction between the Lord and the angels. In chapter 18 alone, we see that “The Lord appears…” and then suddenly there are these three men. And the dialogue that goes between Abraham, the Lord, and the three men does not make a distinction.

So what can we gather from this especially since New Testament theology does not seem to emphasis these messengers as much as in the Hebrew texts? After all, the “messenger” we encounter in the Gospels is the Christ. And just before Jesus is ascended into Heaven, He promises the “Helper”, the Holy Spirit, to guide us. Would this mean then that these heavenly beings, these angels, will not be needed until the Final Day?

I think it goes back to something I heard many years ago and have preached consistently since: that there are certainly such things as accidental pregnancies but that there is no such thing as an accidental life. If we believe the Lord God to be the all-power, all-knowing Being we’ve been taught to believe, then we must know that His will – as Jesus taught us to pray – must be done. And if that means we need to hear from someone to help keep us on track, then I think the Lord will whatever means are necessary to get our attention. If it is a class mate or a high school history teacher, then let it be so.

Each life is precious for this very reason. Are we in such a position as to be able to hear it for what it is? Do we demand something like a supernatural, earth-shattering “sign”, or are we willing and able to hear a “still, small voice”?

The Lord has something to say even today either TO us or THROUGH us. Must His messengers be only those with wings?