When God Sends in His Angels (Luke 2)

Have you ever wondered how God’s angels work in the world today? In this encouraging and eye-opening message, Pastor Chris Teien explores what the Bible teaches about angels—how they guide, protect, and even carry God’s people home to heaven. From the angelic announcement of Jesus’ birth to stories of miraculous rescues and God’s unseen hand, this message reminds us that while angels serve as God’s messengers, our ultimate hope is in God’s sovereignty and care.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/14086794

Main Points:

#1 God sends His angels to guide us (Luke 2:9–12; Matthew 2:13–14,19–21)

#2 God’s innumerable angels bring Him glory (Luke 2:13–14; Daniel 7:9–10; Ephesians 6:12)

#3 God uses angels to rescue us (Psalm 91:1–4; 2 Timothy 3:1–5; 1 Kings 19:1–7)

#4 God sends angels to punish the wicked (Psalm 91:5–8; Hebrews 13:1–2,4; Genesis 19:10–13)

#5 God sends angels to protect us (Psalm 91:11–13; Acts 12:7; Daniel 6:22)

#6 God sends angels to carry us home (Psalm 91:14–16; Hebrews 1:14; Luke 16:22)

Key Takeaways:

• Angels are real and active in God’s plan, but our faith is in God’s presence and promises, not in angelic intervention.
• God’s care is often unseen but always present.
• Trusting God means living with confidence, knowing we are never alone.

Reflection Questions:

• Have you experienced God’s protection or guidance in unexpected ways?
• How can you live with greater awareness of God’s presence in your life?

Connect:
For more messages and resources, visit Rockwell Church or ChrisTeien.com.

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Helping you understand and apply God’s Word. Find sermon transcripts and more Bible teaching at Well.faith. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church. Questions or feedback? Email wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

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Chris T 0:16

Last year, about November 28th or so, I had a message on angels. And this is a continuation of that. But you can go actually and you can listen to that. But anyway, so there was a message on angels in the past. And I have divided my message kind of in between talking about angels and Psalm 91, because I currently have this fascination with Psalm 91. It all happened when I was visiting Bob not too long ago, and I was reading like I always do as a pastor in Psalm 91, which is a great Psalm of encouragement. But there's parts of it where I'm like, you know what? Parts of this don't really fit. I mean, what if you're taken over by sickness and you know God promises to preserve you from that? What is this all about? So I've been looking into this and studying it. It's this interesting time in my life, too, because in my old church, I think I went to the children's hospital as many times as I went to the regular hospital to see people. I've done way more funerals here than I did in years there at the other church. This calling on people in the hospital and stuff. Here is more common. Actually, I'm doing an online study on how to become even better at funerals and life care and encouraging people when they come to the end, the end stage of their life. And Psalm 91 just ties into this. So I'm going to run through some verses, have some stories to share about angels. It'd be interesting to hear from you. Maybe sometime if you've ever had any kind of angel experience before. Has anything unexpected happened? Maybe have you ever seen an angel? It's possible that the Bible says we might entertain angels unaware. So I don't know if it was an angel experience or not. Sometimes we can act as angels when we help people or protect them. So our youth group, when I was in high school, actually it was my grandparents' youth group. I went with them to Chicago and we were visiting Moody Bible Institute and other things in Chicago, and it was a different day, and we were just running around the streets of Chicago. They're like, hey, run around the streets of Chicago, meet back at the Boss at One, you know? So it's a different time, right? So we're off the beaten path. I don't know where we thought we were going, but we're in downtown Chicago, and this doorman, this big, black, strong doorman with a big deep voice, he steps out from this, it's a hotel. He steps out and he's like, boys, I'll probably get out of the camera. He's like, boys, this is a safe side of the street. That is not a safe side of the street. Do not cross the street and go over there. Stay over here. And then he like stepped back, and that was that. And I'm like, huh, that's interesting. Does he do that for everybody? Did he know that we were naive and stupid? Was there a gang across the street? I don't know. But maybe that could be an angel. I don't know. But God sends in his angels sometimes when he wants to accomplish certain things. He sends in his angels sometimes when he wants to protect us. Now, if we were going to study angel ology, it would take a long time. So doctrine of the short version of angel ology, just the audio is like two hours long. So angels, angelic beings are mentioned at least 273 times in 34 books of the Bible. Three angels are identified by name in the Bible Gabriel, Michael the Archangel, and Lucifer the fallen angel. Alright, so in the Christmas story, this is why we're talking about angels, is because the angel showed up, right? We talked about this before, but Luke 2, verse 9, the shepherds. The angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Don't be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah of the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You'll find a baby wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. So God sends his angels to guide us. God sent his angels to guide the shepherds to see the Savior, and God sent his angels to guide Joseph, Jesus' stepdad, to make sure that Jesus stayed safe. Matthew 2 13. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, said, Get up, he said, Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt. And then later, after Herod died, verse 19, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life or dead. So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. So God uses angels to guide the things that he wants to happen, to guide the people where they need to go, to guide and direct, and that is one method that he uses. So there are innumerable angels. Number two, God's innumerable angels bring him glory. There's no way to know how many angels there are. It is so strange to think there's this entire spiritual world on maybe it's just all around us and we're just not able to see it. Maybe our eyes are veiled and we can't see it. But to I mean, what would we do if we could see it, if we could know? I mean, how many angels are in the room? Um, how do angels put up with us? How many angels shake their head in disappointment when we give in to temptation? And how many angels applaud when the temptation is there and we choose to do the right thing? We say no to the temptation, we flee from the temptation, we do the right thing, and the angels are like, Yes, I knew we could do it. Yay! So, but here, Luke 2.13, suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. So some don't know if they sang that or if they shouted that, but nonetheless, angels glorify God and they are innumerable. They are innumerable, and as they glorify God and praise God, they also serve God. So in Daniel 7.10 and 7.9 through 10. So Daniel's having this vision. He's seeing the spiritual realm, he's seeing what's going on. He said, I watched as thrones were put in place, and the ancient one sat down to judge. His clothing was white as snow, his hair like purest wool. He sat on a fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, and a river of fire was pouring out, flowing from his presence, and millions of angels ministered to him. Many millions stood to attend him. And then the court began its session, and the books were opened. And so Jesus is on the throne. There's millions of angels all around. One Bible translation says ten thousand times ten thousand, but innumerable, innumerable, too many to fathom. And God created these angels, created these spiritual beings. And we know that Satan was an angel. Now he's a dark angel, an evil angel, but nonetheless, that we are in a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6.12, for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers of this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. And in this battle, angels can step in and guide and protect. There's a missionary story about John Patton, who was a missionary to the new Hebride Islands tribe. One night, af and one night, hostile natives surrounded his mission station, intent on burning out the missionaries and their families and killing them. So Patton, aware of the danger, pulled his wife and his children together and the other missionaries, and they began to pray that terror-filled night, that God would deliver them. When daylight came, they were amazed to see their attackers leave for no apparent reason. Well, years later, the chief of the tribe that was going to kill Patton became a Christian. So Patton met this man and said, Sir, I must ask you a question that's been bothering me for a long time now. When you were leading those people to kill us that night, and suddenly you turned away without explanation, can you tell me why you did that? And the chief was surprised. He said, Who were all of those men with you that night? What men? There were no men present with me, Patton said. And the chief said that they had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station. So that could be an account of a modern day angelic intervention. So we hear these stories, we don't know, only God knows what happened that night or what happened. But Psalm 91 is a psalm that we use when we pray for people in need. God uses angels to rescue us, God rescues us. So Psalm 91, if you're familiar with it, is a messianic psalm. Satan even tried to tempt Jesus using part of the psalm. And it is a promise given under the old covenant to Israel that if they chose to follow God and do the right thing, that good things would happen for them and God would protect them and guide them and help them. Now the Bible says that all scripture has been given to us. So when we look at Psalm 91, we see how God has revealed Himself, what God promised to Israel, and what promises we have that are verified in the New Testament. And together, then we can get a general sense of how we can apply this Psalm to our life, and God uses angels to rescue us. So the Psalm starts out Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety. He is my God, and I trust him. So the first thing we see is it's a conditional psalm that says this psalm, these promises, these things are for those who are in the Lord, those who are in God, and for us those who are in Christ. So therefore, this is a conditional promise for those people who are living in the Lord, doing the Lord's will. And then it says that He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers, he will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. So some Bible commentators say this is referring to God and his eagle's wings covering us and protecting us. But then when we get a little further in the passage, it talks about angels protecting us. So some say that this could be God delegating this protection to the angels and their wings, but nevertheless, the promise says that for those who are following God, those and for us in the New Testament, those who are following Christ, he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. Which is a really great promise, and really great, unless you're sitting praying this with someone in the hospital who has a deadly disease and they don't seem to have a cure, and you're pretty sure their next stop is to go meet Jesus in heaven. And maybe that's the ultimate promise, is that the disease, the difficulty, the whatever isn't going to stop you from living in all eternity. It might stop you from living this day here in this life now, but in Christ we are assured that the minute we die in this place, we go to be in the presence of the Lord. And the Old Testament, for the Israelites, it literally was a promise. If you look in Deuteronomy 5 through Deuteronomy 7, they were given the Ten Commandments again and basically told, When you choose to do right, when you follow me and you don't follow the false gods and you do all these things right, I will protect you from disease, I will keep you, I will protect you, I will guide you, I will shelter you. And God shelters us today. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. And we need armor and protection because there are so many things against us. We're in a spiritual battle, we are going through this life, there's sickness, there's difficulty, there's all of these things. And even the I mean, maybe it's not health, maybe it's not actual war, but what about this? 2 Timothy 3 verse 1. Paul tells Timothy that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people who will love only themselves and their money, they will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving, they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good, they will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will not, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that. Does that sound like 2023 coming up? Does that sound like some of the things that we're going through now? We need God's help to get through the difficulties in life. We need God to shelter us and protect us sometimes for the things that will come against us, the things that will come against us in the future. So I can't, I can't imagine all how fast persecution could come to the church because society is changing so quick and everybody's got their voice on social networking, and people are quick to cancel people, and so the thought police are quick to get out there and you know either try to change your mind or cancel you or dismiss you from. I mean, if you read the news stories, there's been godly people just saying things that had been, you know, accepted for 2,000 years about faith and marriage and everything else, losing their jobs. The fire chief got fired because of something he posted on his own personal blog about what he thought about biblical marriage and Christianity. So it had nothing to do with his job, just that because the thought police came after him. So, but we need to trust that God guides and directs and provides. You know, in Hebrews 13, 5, it's not on the screen, but God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So we say this in confidence the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? So, afraid. Who gets afraid? Godly people don't get afraid, right? People, godly people don't fall apart when persecution comes, but yes, yes, they do. We had a really great Sunday school class, lots of the guys commenting and encouraging each other about how to stay strong in the in the Christian life and how to get through difficult times, and so I appreciated it. But so Elijah was a guy, as you remember from 1 Kings, Elijah was a godly man who was doing miraculous things for the Lord. So he had this throw-down where all the priests of Baal got together and they were trying to call down fire from heaven to light up the offering that they had. And so Elijah's got all this boldness. He's like mocking them and telling them, you know, I'm gonna put water on mine. And anyway, he goes through all this stuff. You can read about it in 1 Kings 19. But so God does bring down fire and does exactly what Elijah had prayed, and then they killed the priests of Baal. Let me read from 1 Kings 19. So Ahab got home and told Jezebel, the wicked queen, everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. You'd think that Elijah was having a victory dance over this. But Jezebel sent this message to Elijah. What was Elijah's response? He's like, Did you not just see what I did? But it said, He freaked. And this happens to people sometimes when they're serving the Lord, missionaries that are doing a great work, sometimes pastors that have great sermons, or when things are really going great, that the adrenaline and the adrenaline wears off and they go through periods of depression. And so Elijah flips from being bold for God to being afraid. And Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, where he left his servant there. And then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. I have had enough, Lord. Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died. So we have some links. I'm not sure if it's on my personal blog or the church thing about all the reasons not to say yes to suicide. But sometimes depression comes, especially during this Christmas time where a lot of people are having fun with family and all this stuff, and then there are some people that aren't. So maybe the kids are no longer around. Maybe the kids are nearby, but they're not coming to see you. That leads to depression. Maybe it was a hard economic year, and you're not able to provide the gifts and meet the expectations and everything, and it leads to depression and it leads to sadness. But we need to put our hope and faith in Christ and not get caught up in these temporal things and never come to the point where we take our own lives. So we're gonna do a series through the Ten Commandments as we get after Easter, and after the one about thou shalt not kill, I'm gonna do a message on suicide. But if you can't wait until then, I have resources right now, because I hear that's a problem on the range. And then an angel shows up. Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But just as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, Get up and eat. And he looked around, and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. And then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you. And if you read the rest of the passage, you're gonna see that God is going to bring Elijah on an awesome adventure to experience him. So and if you read the rest of the passage, you'll see that God really, really likes Elijah and even takes him up to heaven. So, nonetheless, some wonder if we have guardian angels. Some wonder if we don't have all angels assigned if there's guardian angels. Nobody knows. There's just this one passage in Matthew 18 that says, Beware that you don't look down on any of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly father. So here, it seems like Jesus was saying that the children have angels that have been assigned to them. So I don't know. So I don't know if I'd want to have one guardian angel assigned to me, or if I'd want to have a crew that worked in shifts to try to keep me going in the right direction and doing the right thing. But nonetheless, God cares about kids, God cares about people, and sometimes even when we're not totally in God's will or when we're in a bad circumstance, maybe he will send angels to help us, to save us. Eric Vitaxis wrote a book on miracles, and in there were some angel stories. And there's this one that's uh he writes My friend Eva Meyer was 13 and a freshman at this high school in Connecticut. She was new to the school in the first days of school. She was trying to make some new friends. So you know what that's like. You're being you're lonely, you're trying to make friends in the school, you just you want to find somebody to be your friend, so you might compromise and go with friends that aren't necessarily friends. But nonetheless, at the first few days of school, she made some new friends and they invited her to a sleepover. When she got to the sleepover, she realized these girls were different from her other friends and that they were into the occult and they wanted to have a seance. And so Eva's like, I don't want to have any part of that. And they're like, Oh, that's fine, just come over, we'll have a sleepover. Maybe we'll go down to the ocean and down to the beach and it will be fun. So these girls, they're walking over this bridge, and the one girl whose house they're staying at says, Oh, oh, we should go to the other side on the other side of the bridge. It's it's really great. I'll read you the story, okay? So she's on this bridge that crosses I-95 of the interstate highway that runs from Maine to Florida. So when the girls got to the bridge, Eva saw that there was a six-foot-tall stockade fence blocking the road. Eventually there was road work being done. So this girl's like, oh yeah, I go over the fence all the time. It's really it's really fun. We should do this. Why don't you go first? So these other girls helped her over the fence. Eva explains that for some strange reason they suggested that she go first. They would boost her up and help her get over the fence. To this day, Eva cannot figure out why she agreed to go first, but she did. She says that at the time she was five foot two, maybe one hundred and forty pounds, somewhat chubby, very weak 13-year-old girl who had never done a single pull-up in her life. So the girls boosted her up with her hands and essentially heaved her up over the six-foot fence. It was the next split second that Eva saw the trouble. To put it in her own words, precisely as she typed them to me in all capital letters, there was no bridge there. Nothing. It was an unspeakable horror, the sort of thing of which one has recurring nightmares. Eva remembers that in the briefest of moments, seeing a huge semi truck roaring right beneath her flailing legs, which were kicking in midair, and she remembers the feel of the rough top of the stockade fence which she desperately tried to grasp as her body went over. Instinctively she screamed out, Jesus! Then just as she lost her grip and began to plummet to what she knew would be her death on the highway, down below, with the endless speeding trucks and cars, she felt herself lifted up. She saw nothing, but in the blink of an eye, she felt herself being scooped up in midair and carried back over the fence and placed on solid ground. A full ten feet away from where the three girls had tossed her over. She says she remembers landing, my arms stretched out wide as though a parachute had brought me into a soft landing. Then she remembers the unhinged looks on the faces of the other three girls. She remembers that they were utterly horrified, scared, witless. Eva says they were white as sheets, their mouths were open, their eyes wide in tear. All three of them shrieked and instantly bolted the scene, running away as fast as they could. Eva remembers the feeling of those moments. She felt strangely calm but confused too. She knew without a doubt in that moment that Jesus had miraculously saved her life. She simply got up and walked home, not telling a soul what happened, but she remembers clearly that not one of those three girls ever spoke to her again that wouldn't even glance in her direction or come near. So, could that have been an angel that saved that girl who was in a bad situation? All she wanted was friends. All she wanted is a place to fit in. And I don't know if these girls were intent on harming her or how that all worked out. But what did she do in her time of need? She screamed out, Jesus. And so that's in Eric Metax's book on miracles. So is it a God sighting? Only only God knows. But sounds like it could be to me. God sends his angels to punish the wicked. God sends his angels to punish the wicked. Do not be afraid of the terrors of night, do or the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in the darkness or the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. Just open your eyes and see how the wicked are punished. So, how do you put this into a New Testament context? For an Old Testament promise of these things that happened back then is that when there is disease, we can trust that God can get us through. We pray that God gets us through. When we see this, we know that God is not bound by the clock, the terrors of night, or the arrows that fly in the day, or the disease that stocks in the darkness, the disaster at midday. God is there for all of those times to help us, to help us. So if you see your notes, you will see that there are a lot of verses in there and a lot of points that I'm not going to make it to because I didn't know how long that I would get. But it is interesting that the Bible tells us to give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage, and God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. Charles Spurgeon said that he who travels on the king's highway is under the king's protection, but he who takes to buy roads must protect himself, and the probability is that he will meet with robbers who will make him rue the day that he ever turned to the right hand or to the left. So when we're walking with God, we can trust that he will protect us and that he will help us. So I just mentioned this verse that says, God's going to judge those who are immoral, those who commit adultery, to give honor to marriage, and all of that. But then we see that when the angels came to visit Lot in Genesis 19, 10, so for some reason Lot thought that Sodom was a great place to live. The two angels show up, right? The two angels reached out because they're being attacked to be violated by all these men. Two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door, and then they blinded all the men, young and old, who are at the door of the house. They gave up trying to get inside. And then hang on a second, we're in reverse. Oh, yeah, here. Sorry, I don't. For we are about you you inserted it, thank you. For we are about to destroy the city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it. So the Lord sent these angels, two angels, to destroy the entire city. If God has innumerable angels, how many more? How many more destruction could they do? But God sends his angels to punish the wicked. Okay, so Peter's in prison, and the angel of the Lord appears and struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Get up, he said, and the chains fell off of Peter's wrists. And then Daniel's in the lion's den, and the angel shuts the mouth of the lions. Daniel says, God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight, nor have I ever done any wrong before you. So God protects us. And then finally, the point that I wanted to get to you, because I'm out of time. God sends his angels to take us home. So I will rescue those who love me, I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer, I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue and honor them, I will reward them with long life and give them my salvation. In Psalm 91, 14 through 16. So we had in the Advent candle lighting the verse John 3:16 that God loved the world so much, and then we were reminded that you have to believe in the Son to have eternal life, and if not, we would be separated from the Lord. And we in our lives have the confident assurance that when we die, when it is time, the angels will come alongside of us and help us. So there was a great post from Billy Graham's website, or someone wrote in and they said, Do angels come to be with us when it's our time to die? And Billy Graham's response was, Yes, the Bible indicates that when we die, we will not be alone, but angels will accompany accompany us on our journey to heaven, if that's our destiny. So in one of his parables, he told about a poor man who had suffered much during this time on earth, and when he died, Jesus says the angels carried him to Abraham's side, to heaven. So this confidence that we have in the Lord, this confidence that we have that God is at work, that God can use angels, that God can use other people, that God can use even us to make a difference in people's lives should help us when we go through the difficult times, when we go through the hard times. We look at all the things that God has done in the past. What did I say? 230 some times, 273 times in the Bible, angelic beings are mentioned doing things. You see angels in Revelation carrying things out. You see angels showing up to make the rapture happen. You see angels doing all these things. I should do a series on angels because there's so many more things I could say. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much that in your grace you use us to accomplish your purposes. And sometimes you send in angels for the assist, for the to guide us, to direct us, to stop us from doing things we shouldn't do. Lord, I pray that we'd be a grace-filled people, empowered by your Holy Spirit and quick to pursue you, trusting that you can work out your purposes and plans in our lives. Lord, I pray that this Christmas season that we would proclaim your message and that we would praise you, honor, and glorify you for all that you've done and all that you're going to do. Lord, we commit this all to you. We thank you for the kids who sang your praises today, and we ask us all in Jesus' name. Amen.