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THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS Angels attend perpetually to the holiness of God Almighty as servants. 1. Prophesied His Birth -- (Luke 1:26-38). 2. Guarded Him during sojourn to Egypt -- (Matthew 2:13-20). 3. Supplied encouragement and food as they did with Elijah during period of temptation -- (Matthew 4:11 and 1 Kings 19:5-7). 4. Strengthed Him in Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:43). 5. Announced His Resurrection (Matthew 28:5-7, Mark 16:6-7, Luke 24:4-7 and John 20:12-13) 6. Attended His triumphant Ascension into Glory (Acts 1:10). 7. Attend His Second Coming after regathering the elect of Israel to the land (Matthew 24 AND 25, verse 31). Angels also have an important ministry to humans -- Hebrews 1:14 says angels have a ministering ("leitourgika" in Greek) function to believers in both the Old Testament and the Church. Specifically, they: 1. Protect -- The prison chronicles of the apostles (Acts 5:19, 12:7-11), the 144,000 Jewish proselytes of Revelation 7, the enemies of Gods' people (Psalm 91:11-13) and even David himself when he was hounded by the Philistines (Psalm 34:7). 2. Nourish -- Elijah and Jesus, for example. 3. Encourage -- like Paul during the storm and shipwreck on the way to Rome (Acts 27:23-25). 4. Call a meeting where appropriate, such as Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26) and Peter and Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10:3, 22). 5. Respond to prayer requests at the behest of God -- Peter in prison (Acts 12) and Daniel 10:10-12:13). 6. Carry home the saints -- like Lazarus to Abraham's Bosom (Luke 16:22). They also carry the bad news of judgment -- Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:12) and the Battle of Armageddon. In Revelation, they also sound the trumpets and announce the bowl judgments as well as cast unbelievers into the fire (Matthew 13:39-42). Elsewhere, angels carried out judgment over Jerusalem for its idolatry -- (Ezekiel 9) and slew Herod Agrippa for blasphemy (Acts 12:23) |