A kid with his bike and a world to explore. “Don’t play in the dumping grounds on the outskirts of town”, warned mum, “It is too dangerous.” Well, that’s like a personal invitation to a ten year old.
To ride up and down the huge mounds of dirt scraped off to make way for a new suburb, and to weave amongst the mounds of rubble from old houses flattened, was a lot of fun. Little obstacle tracks began to form for daring renegades to show off their skills.
I was out there alone. The place deserted as the heat of the day rose towards 48 Degrees Celsius.
Down the mound, up the next… a jump… and as I came crashing down my bare foot slammed down onto an upturned broken bottle. The base of the bottle flat on the ground and the jagged shards sliced cleanly through and poked out of the top of my foot.
I lay winded and in agony. I couldn’t walk. I felt faint. Blood gushed from my foot, the bottle firmly embedded. The heat unbearable as the sun blazed down upon me. The place deserted — I was alone, so very alone. And in my delirious cries I called out to the only One who would hear, “Oh God! Help me.”
Then appeared a joyful man dressed in a black robe with a gold cord around his waist. And from his white collar, I assumed him to be a Priest. At the time, to me, it wasn’t bizarre that here was a man, walking in the middle of the heat in a black robe. As I looked up weak and trembling, all I knew was that he was a good man. He was here to rescue me.
I felt all was going to be okay as he scooped me up into his arms and carried me like a baby. In what seemed like an instant I was being handed to my mum and dad at home… 4km away.
Mum and Dad rushed me to the hospital. The ‘priest’ was never seen again. Even when we tried to find him, and thank him, we discovered that he was not known and his dress was not familiar to any of the churches in Mt. Isa.
Angels are amazing beings that come from Heaven and from before God. They radiate His Majesty and Power. Is it any wonder that those whom they appear before, tremble.
I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.
Daniel 10:5-7A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
Daniel 10:10,11
But when they are sent to minister, they can be reassuring and encouraging:
Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.
Daniel 10:12
But we must remember that it is not the Angels we worship or call upon, but the One who sends them – Jesus.
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.” But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
Hebrews 1:4-8Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Hebrews 1:14
Angels are sent to serve those who will inherit salvation… this could be you too!