Chapter 1: What is the significance of angels in Christianity?
Let him see. Not let him see a hallucination. Not let him see a vision of what's not real. Let him see what's really out there. And when he opened his eyes, the assembled host of angels was vastly superior in number and power to all of those chariots and armies of the king of Syria. And that's what God tells us is the world in which we live.
Do you believe in angels? Do you believe in demons? Just because we may not be able to see something with our naked eye doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. After all, God Himself is invisible. It's good to have you with us for this Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind as we start a two-message study on angels.
Although there is some fascination out there concerning the existence of angels or supernatural creatures, there is widespread skepticism when it comes to believing in the existence of anything beyond this visible and material world. Today we'll begin R.C. Sproul's series titled Angels and Demons. You can own this series when you give a donation at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight.
We'll send you the DVD and we'll unlock the messages and the study guide in the free Ligonier app. Well, let's see what the Bible has to say about angels. Here's Dr. Sproul.
One of my favorite angel narratives in all of Scripture is one found in the second book of Kings. And I enjoy this particular narrative because it reveals directly and indirectly so many things that we need to understand about the nature and function of angels.
So let's take a few moments to look at this narrative that takes place during the life of the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings, beginning in verse 8. Here's the text. 2 Kings chapter 6, beginning at verse 8. Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel, and he consulted with his servants, saying, My camp will be in such and such a place.
And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there. So the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him, and thus he warned him, and he was watchful there not just once or twice."
Now you see here what the king of Syria is trying to do is to plan an ambush against the king of Israel, but somehow all of the secret plans that the king of Syria is making are told to the king of Israel so that he avoids the trap. So we read in verse 11, Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing.
And he called his servants and said to them, Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? He automatically assumes that he has a spy. in the camp. And so he inquires of that. And one of the servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.
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Chapter 2: How does Elisha's story illustrate the role of angels?
But the same thing may be true of angels. They're invisible most of the time. There are times throughout biblical history, as we read in the case of the visitors to Sodom and elsewhere, when the angels manifest themselves, usually in human garb, But under ordinary circumstances, they are spirit beings, they're real, they're creatures, they're spirit beings who are invisible.
And if we really do believe in the message of the Christian faith, we have to understand this as part and parcel of that message, that the reality in which we live contains much more than meets the eye.
Now that should not be that much of a stretch to us living on this side of the Enlightenment, living on this side of the invention of the telescope, living on this side of the invention of the microscope because the scientific revolution of the modern era took place
when our perception of reality was increased and enhanced by instruments that enabled us to see things that could not be seen by the naked eye.
You know, one of the crises in the time of Galileo was the scientists of his day, as well as the bishops of his day, refused to put their eye on the telescope because they didn't want to believe the evidence that the telescope was revealing about how the heavens really are structured and how the orbits of the planets and so on really take place.
And the whole revolution that we call the Copernican Revolution was a revolution in science that was provoked by a sudden ability to see what previously was unseen. And if that revolution takes place with the telescope, how much more the revolution that has taken place in our lifetimes even with the microscope microbiology.
that there are in this room as I speak enough real entities to destroy each one of us that if we could see them with the naked eye would probably strike terror into our souls. But fortunately for us, we go along our merry way completely oblivious to the myriad micro-bodies that have the capacity to kill us.
If we could see them all, we'd probably stay in bed hiding under the covers for the rest of our lives. But we have learned through modern science that there are realities out there beyond the scope of our ability to perceive them.
Now, why is it that we believe that germs that we can't see can be out there, but we have this bias that says you can't have supernatural heavenly beings, spirit beings like angels when the Scripture texts are full of them? That's one of the things that I love about this story is the servant couldn't see what was really there. until Elisha prayed and said, please, Lord, open his eyes.
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Chapter 3: What does the Bible say about the existence of angels?
that the angels ever engaged in, in all of redemptive history, because God had ordained that His Holy One would not suffer corruption. And so He appoints the angels to be at the tomb. The angels are the escorts of Christ when He ascends into heaven, when He goes to His enthronement for His coronation as the King of kings.
He declares that when He returns, the end of the age, He will be accompanied by the heavenly host, that same heavenly host that were present in the fields of Bethlehem when Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Again, I have to say to you, I don't know how you are, but when I think of the events that transpired during the life of Jesus and then how the disciples, at least some of them, were eyewitnesses of almost every one of them, I asked myself, if I could have been an eyewitness of any event in the life of Jesus, what one would I choose? What one would I really like to have seen with my own eyes?
And that's really a hard one. I mean, obviously, I would just be delighted to witness a resurrection. Who wouldn't? That would be fantastic. But it's hard for me to choose between the resurrection and the transfiguration. To see that bursting forth of the glory of Christ through the veil of His humanity where His countenance was changed, that would have been incredible.
And the disciples never did get over that. They kept talking about, we beheld His glory. But one of the ones that I really savor, one of the ones I just, my imagination runs wild with me, and it's because I've been over there. And I remember the time we went to Bethlehem, and we went to the church there of the nativity and so on.
And they were going through all of the spiel inside the church and all of that and the guided tour. And I was not really turned on by that. And I left the company. of those who were going through the tour and walked out by myself out to the edge of the church, and they had this little stone, primitive stone wall.
And I went out and sat on that stone wall, and it looks out onto this vast, flat plain that were the fields of Bethlehem, and I just let my imagination run wild. I sat there and I said, imagine that night of pitch dark. A little campfire maybe bursting through the darkness.
These peasants sitting around there trying to keep warm, trying to watch over their flocks, and all heaven breaks loose with the glory of God shining round about as the heavenly hosts begin to sing of the birth of Christ. If I would have seen that, I would have said like Simeon, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. I've seen all I ever need to see. That is fantastic.
But the angels are present in the moments not only of the suffering of Christ, but in His glory. They attend Him in the manifestation of His glory and of His exaltation.
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Chapter 4: How do angels interact with humans according to Scripture?
which are the things that the great saints of the ages would have loved to peer into, but have been given only to a few in church history. And so, since the angels manifest the glory of God, only when the glory of God is eclipsed in a culture and in the church that angels are dismissed as insignificant. But where the glory of God is honored,
and the glory and exaltation of Christ is upheld, we see attending those moments in the past and in the future the heavenly host who serve as an escort for the King.
If you were skeptical about the existence of angels, has your view changed after today's message? If you have more questions, I encourage you to join us again next Saturday as the Bible has more to say on this topic. I'm Nathan W. Bingham on this Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind. And you just heard a message from R.C. Sproul's series, Angels and Demons.
And we'll send it to you on DVD when you give a donation in support of this daily podcast at renewingyourmind.org. You'll be able to watch or listen to all eight messages, more than you'll hear on Saturdays. And you'll receive lifetime digital access to those messages and the study guide in the free Ligonier app.
Complete your study of a subject that is often neglected or greatly misunderstood when you give your gift at renewingyourmind.org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. But respond now as only hours remain for today's resource offer. Also, don't forget about next month's Renewing Your Mind live event in Houston, Texas.
Join me, Joel Beeky, and hundreds of other Renewing Your Mind listeners for a night of teaching, trivia, giveaways, and more. It'll be on March 17. You can learn more when you visit renewingyourmind.org slash Houston and register. I look forward to seeing you there. Angels minister and they serve, but what else were they created to do? R.C. Sproul will explain their role as messengers.
That'll be next Saturday here on Renewing Your Mind.
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