The ministry of angels has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament.  This is the theme of Hebrews, but especially the 12th chapter. We will compare the law under Moses and grace under Jesus Christ, Mount Sinai where the law was given, and Mount Zion which is so typical of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 12

vs. 22 “But you are come unto mount Sion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,”

vs. 23 “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,”

vs. 24 “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

In this passage of Scripture, you and I now have come into the general assembly. That is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also every time we come to church, it’s called the Church, the general assembly of the firstborn, the firstborn being the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason why the Church universal exists is because of the firstborn, Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of the Church. Any local church gives credence back to the original one, and that was Jesus Christ. And because of that, you and I now no longer have to come under the law. We no longer come before God with fear and trembling. We no longer have to come before a human representative to speak to God for us. You and I now come through the blood of Jesus Christ and we come directly to the throne room of God, the Judge of the whole earth. We also come before spirits of just men made perfect. Jesus Christ Himself the mediator of the covenant, and also as that verse of Scripture said, “An innumerable company of angels.”

The Ministry of Angels

Psalms 91

vs. 9 “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;”

David wrote this in the Old Testament.  David was probably one of the greatest types of the Church and the greatest types of the day you and I live in than has ever existed.

David was the only one of the Old Testament prophets and saints that had the Holy Spirit come to abide on him and never did depart from him.  He was one of the people who actually took the ark of the covenant, brought it into Jerusalem, and had everybody worship around it.  The ark, could only be touched by a few chosen people, was brought into the city and people could come before it, they could see the glory of God, experience the glory of God, sing, rejoice, dance, all nationalities, male, female. This was something that was so unusual yet very typical of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But no longer does the Holy Spirit dwell in temples made by hands, but He now dwells in us.

This is that famous Psalm that says if we dwell in the secret place of the most High, we will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  This chapter is provisions for those who remain in fellowship with God. That secret place is a place where there’s no sin in your life, where God has forgiven you. You are current with your confession of sins and your life is clean before the Lord. You’re standing upright before Him.

The Purpose of Angels

Psalm 91

vs. 10 “No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;”

vs. 11 “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”

vs. 13 “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.”

In this passage of Scripture, we find out angels are sent to protect us.  Verse 9 says, ” if we have made the Lord our refugeand our habitation.”  In other words, we have chosen to dwell in Him. We have chosen to stay in fellowship with Him. We have chosen to serve Him all the days of our life, then angels go to work for us, and I want you to see what they do.

The angels have been given charge over us to watch us and promises no evil shall befall us and no plague shall come nigh our dwelling. Then he goes on to say, “We’ll tread on the lion, we’ll tread on the serpent, the scorpion, we will tread on the young lion, the adders, and all this is brought up in this passage of Scripture.”

But I want you to see something that’s brought out here and that is, there are things in life that we can see and things that we cannot see. Angels protect us from things we cannot see and do not know about, because of our adversary, Satan.  I want you to see that sometimes there are traps set for us that we cannot see and there also are attacks that we can see. But in the attacks that we cannot see, angels watch over us.   And in those that we can see, we’re to trample on them and tread on them and stomp on them, because that’s the authority that God has given to us.

It’s good to  know that Satan can only attack us two ways:  things that we can see and things that we can’t see. Isn’t that wonderful? That should make us rejoice!  God has us protected both ways. He tells us, “Can you see it coming?” “Yes, Jesus, I see it coming.” He says, “Then lift up your foot and stomp your foot on Satan’s head. You take care of those adversaries that are coming against you.”

But in the other case, there may be things coming against us that we cannot see and how in the world are we supposed to take care of those? Well, God promises if we have made God our habitation and we have made Him our dwelling place, angels go forth to minister for us and they will protect us so that no evil can befall us. That means Satan can’t drop anything on our heads. Angels are right there to take care of us.

“No plague shall come  nigh our dwelling.”  It’s simply saying that there are forces in this earth of sickness and evil, but God said He’ll take care of those. Those we cannot see, angels will protect us. Those things we can see, we’re to take authority over them in the name of Jesus. Glory to God!

Angels Prepare a Way

Genesis 24

vs. 4 “but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

Abraham sent his servant to his home country to find a wife for his son, Isaac.  His servant asked him, “Abraham,  how  will  I know?  Who will I look for?  How will I find this woman?  You’re asking me to go into the promised land and find her. How will I know?” And Abraham said something to him. He said, “The Lord will send His angel ahead of you.”

vs. 7 “…He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.”

Now, that’s something we need to understand. When we go into unchartered territory, angels go ahead and prepare the path for us. When we go into areas we don’t know. If you venture into business areas that you’ve never ventured in before.  Or,  you venture into marriage and you’ve never been married before. Go off to college, or start a new family.  Angels are going ahead to prepare the path for you.

I’m simply saying when it comes to the unknown, there are angels out there that are going to handle it and take care of it. Whatever you can handle, you handle. What you can’t handle, assign it to angels and God said they will go forth and they will protect you from evil that will befall you and they will protect you also from any plague that tries to come near your dwelling.

Next of all, they even said that if you’ve come across a stone that you don’t see on the path and you start to trip and you start to stumble, when you’ve made the Lord God your dwelling place and the Most High your habitation, he said that angels would lift you up and take you over those stones so that you won’t trip.  If you see the stone coming, you take care of it, but those things you cannot see, don’t know about that are in the unknown, angels will watch over you and protect you.

Angels Will Protect You

When we get to heaven, we have a lot of questions to ask our angels? Angels are going to fill us in on things that happened to us that we had no idea about.

I remember my dad told me about a time when I was real small. We were going to somebody’s house that night. My sister and I were in the backseat of our car. My mom and he were in the front seat.   We came to a corner and started to go through the intersection and somebody ran through the intersection without their lights on.  My father said that all he remembered was there was a car coming directly at their side and, all of a sudden, he didn’t remember anything after that. He says, “I don’t know what happened. Either that car went right through us or God picked the car up and took it up over us,” but he said, “that car was coming.” My dad said there was no time to prepare, hardly any time to get Jesus out of his mouth when suddenly that car was there and gone. I’m here to tell you, there must have been a multitude of angels there that night that caused something to happen.

I remember, a friend of ours told me about a time he was over in Hawaii.  He and his family were coming around a mountain and as they came around the mountain suddenly they came upon a car that was stalled in the road. There was nothing they could do, and all they did was yell out “Jesus.” My friend said, “I don’t know what happened, but either we went through that car or over it or around it or something.  We turned around and looked and that car was behind us, still on the road, and there was no room for us to pass it.  I believe angels watch over and protect us day after day after day.