Ministering Angels
Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” This is an interesting category of angels to cast. The concept of ministering angels can apply to all categories of angels because at the center of all angelic activities is ministering either to God or for God. However, in regard to humanity we find that angels are sent from God to minister to all of humanity at an individual level.
The verse in Hebrews teaches us three things about casting for this role. The first thing is that the angels are spirits. Well this may be hard to actually cast since we as humans do not see spirits unless God opens our eyes to see. As spirits they do not have bodies. They may appear to people in human form as required. We see an example of this in Matthew 28:3, Mark 16:5 and Luke 24:4 pertaining to Christ’s resurrection. Yet normally these ministering angels are hidden from our human eyes. Elisha, in the story in 2 Kings 6:15-17 prays for the opening of his servant’s eyes so that he may see the presence of angels around the city.
We find the second thing we learned about ministering spirits is that their entire nature is to serve. Previously we identified that there is a hierarchy among the angels but it is the nature of all angels to serve. They have been created to serve God and in our casting of these roles we must ask God constantly if the potential cast members fit the role that He has created them for.
The last thing we learned was that there are angels and demons. Angels serve the glory of God and demons serve the wickedness of Satan. This means that angels do not serve everyone. But this also means that demons want to serve everyone. The angels serve God and His children. We found two ways how angels serve God’s children.
In Hebrews 1:14 the service of the angels seems to be linked to how believers inherit salvation. So the angels play a role in organizing circumstances in such a way that God’s elect will hear and respond to the Gospel.
In 2 Kings 6:15-17 angels surround a city to protect God’s prophet. So angels play a role in protecting believers from bodily harm. The same is found in Psalm 34:7: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”
In Matthews 18:10 Christ says “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” Angels stand always ready to receive God’s instructions to help the believers.