Matthew 18:10 – ARE YOU KIDDING ME – ANGELS?

© Calling all Angels – Image created by Ross Cochrane

Matthew 18:10 – ARE YOU KIDDING ME – ANGELS?

Matthew 18:10 (NLT) “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.”  

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds write in their song Into My Arms

And I don’t believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that’s true
But if I did I would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you.

In Matthew 18:10 Jesus moves into what many regard as fiction. He has already likened the humbly obedient person who is receptive to Christ to a child. Then He says that new followers of Christ have GUARDIAN ANGELS READY AT HAND! Hebrews 1:14 indicates that they are assigned to care for your spiritual growth when you have placed your trust in Christ.

Psalm 91 also mentions angels, and it’s evident that this is not some romantic baby cherub firing arrows at lovers, but more like the Science Fiction winged hero like Falcon in the new Captain America movie who fights for our deliverance (but without the mechanical wings).

Psalm 91:1-16 (NLT) says, “… If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. FOR HE WILL ORDER HIS ANGELS TO PROTECT YOU wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!”

Turn to any section of the Bible and sooner or later you’ll come up against an angel. It seems these guys don’t care that people don’t believe in them. So when Jesus talks about new followers of Christ having angels in heaven, ready at hand, He’s not kidding?

What will these heavenly creatures do if a new follower of Christ is looked down on, despised or demeaned? Come down with swords ready at hand to annihilate all opposition? Obviously not. New Christians are despised and demeaned all the time and those who do this seem to get away with it.

It’s clear we still experience evil situations in life, but according to Psalm 91, with God’s help, they will not overwhelm or overcome us, and even for plagues and diseases, God will find the way through in terms of protection and rescue. The Psalm continues,

“The Lord says, “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 honour them.” Things will come against those who trust in God but nothing will be successful?

Moses is possibly the writer of Psalm 91. Moses had it good. He only had to grapple with desert perils; hidden traps, terrors by night and arrows by day, deadly diseases, stumbling over rocks and facing lions and snakes. Today that translates into terrorist attacks, stabbings, road rage drivers, cancer, rapes, riots, Ebola or Aids and a whole lot more threats to health and home. Hebrews 11:37 describes heroes of the faith who experienced much worse.

God unfolds His Story throughout the pages of Scripture and we realise that there is even more to the story of God’s protection and victories in life than even Psalm 91 shares with us. And apparently angels are part of that story. I’m not kidding!

The invitation is to trust in Christ and in doing so we are promised the victory and protection of God available to us during times of difficulty. Calling all angels.

Pastor Ross