BEHOLD
BEHOLD
Angels We Have Heard On High
Good morning! Today we start a new Christmas series that I’m truly excited about. It is based upon this scripture:
Mark 1:1-3 NKJV
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the Prophets:
“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.”
3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
Behold is used 1,298 times in the King James version of the Bible. It is derived from the Greek which has the literal translation of; be sure to see or in our words, “don’t miss this”.
Ezekiel 12:2 New King James Version
2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.
Mark 8:18 New King James Version
18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
So during this series I want us to ask God to open our eyes. Behold what is in front us right now, this very moment in time. Don’t miss it.
PRAYER
So let’s start our Christmas story series with this scripture:
Luke 2:13-14 NKJV
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’”
Have you ever wondered about angels? Do you know much about them? Having grown up in church, of course I heard and read about the angels in the bible and some of my favorite bible stories, but I have never looked real close at them.
Behold, Angels We Have Heard On High
Angels are mentioned in 34 books of the Bible, totaling 273 times.
The word translated as “angel” is used in the OT. The word mal’a^k., literally, means to “dispatch a deputy” or “send an ambassador”.
The Greek word is aggello and it means “a messenger who is sent in the authority of the one who sent them”.
In a sense, an angel is like a deputy sent by a sheriff, an agent acting on the sheriff’s behalf.
Or maybe a better way to think of them are they are like ambassadors from another country doing business on behalf of that country or Kingdom. The malak, or angel has full legal authority to do business on the behalf of the King.
Angels can be classified as revealed in Scripture as three categories.
1. Warring
2. Worshipping
3. Word Carrying (Messengers)
The first mention of angels in the Bible was when the Cherubim is placed as the guardian over the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:24 New King James Version
24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Cherubim is the plural form of cherub. It is not one particular type of angel but is a general term interchangeable with the word angel.
Then we see Seraphim in Isaiah 6, Psalm 75:6, and Revelation 4. which we learned on a Wednesday night means “burning”. They are the entourage for the One who sits on the Throne. They never stop saying, Holy, Holy, Holy!”
Then we have the Archangels.
o Michael: “who (is) like God?” – He is defined as “one of the archangels”, the “chief archangel” or “the first archangels”. He is also described as the “defender of Israel” in times of conflict.
o Gabriel: “warrior of God” or “God is my strength”. We will hear more about him throughout the Christmas story as a messenger. He appeared first to Daniel.
The Book of Enoch mentions 7 Archangels.
o Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Phanuel, Sariel.
o Notice they all have “El” in their name, which means in Hebrew God.
Lucifer means “bearer of light” or “morning star”. This angel became “Satan”, meaning “the opponent” or “archenemy of good”.
Of course we know that angels, like everything else in the universe were made by Creator God.
Psalm 148:2,5 NKJV
2 Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For He commanded and they were created.
According to Job 38, angels existed before the earth was created.
Job 38:4-7 New King James Version
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Common Angels
Nature of Angels
Angels are spirit beings with a celestial body:
Hebrews 1:14 New King James Version
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
Angels are curious to the Gospel:
1 Peter 1:10-12 New Living Translation
10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 11 They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.
12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
So they do not understand what it feels like when we come down and kneel at an altar and weep….etc..
This Christmas, I want us to BEHOLD, don’t miss this…
Luke 2:13-14 NKJV
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’”
Hebrews 1:6 New Living Translation
6 And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said,
“Let all of God’s angels worship him.”
Why is this important?
Hebrews 2:16-17 New Living Translation
16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
When Adam sinned it began an opposite kingdom and it still exist today. SO since that time, everything that God has made, Satan has tried to counterfeit.
However, there is one thing that He cannot counterfeit.
It’s the BLOOD OF JESUS!!
That’s why the Bible says:
Revelation 12:11 New King James Version
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
In the Hebrew alphabet, they have numbers assigned to their letters. When the Hebrew rabbis counted the numbers in the Hebrew word for Satan it came up to 364.
365 The Day of Atonement.
There is one day for the Christian for Satan to touch you…and it’s the day that you repent and apply the Blood on You. The Devil himself cannot stop it.
So think about this:
One day, when we come back with Jesus, we will be with TESTIFYING of the BLOOD OF JESUS