Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith. Many people confuse angelic visitations with demonic dalliances. Today's program will help you understand the difference—a difference that's more crucial than ever, as more and more people are being deceived when they try to communicate with angels. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.
In his series A Flurry of Wings, Pastor Lutzer today concludes a message on what angels know. Pastor, one thing they know for certain is that we are a proud race, not humble before a holy God like Jesus was. Dave, you're absolutely. Right, the angels see how proud we are, and you remember in the book of Revelation, John fell before an angel in worship, and the angel said, "Get up! I'm a created creature like you are.
Worship God alone." Oftentimes, angels are exalted, and they are exalted in ways that the good angels would not accept. And the Bible warns against the worship of angels, and yet people today look to angels for resources, for knowledge, when what they should be doing is looking into the Bible, where God has already revealed Himself to us.
Well, I want to ask you a question. How would you like to have a perfect bedtime routine for your children, for your grandchildren, for other children? I'm holding in my hands a very special book. It's hardback. It is beautifully illustrated.
It's a book entitled One, Two, Three. Jesus Loves Me, and it is written by my wife Rebecca. Here's what happens in this book. The child learns to count, but at the same time learns Bible stories about Jesus. For a gift of any amount, we're making it available for you.
Here's what you do: you go to rtwoffer.com. By the way, would be a wonderful Christmas gift for some child. Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at one eight eight eight two one eight. 93:37. Listen carefully to this message, and following it, I'm going to be giving you the contact info once again.
You think that the angels were fascinated with Christ's life on Earth? I want you to know that moment by moment, they were constantly hovering near him. Here is Jesus who is out forty days and forty nights, and he's fasting. And after that time, he is hungry, and then he has that altercation with the devil. And it says that when the devil departed, angels came strengthening him.
They were there. They were there. And then we come to Gethsemane, where Jesus is on his knees and saying, "If it be thy will, let this cup pass from me." And the disciples are thinking to themselves, "Jesus, get out of this." How can you be both the man of glory and the man of suffering? It isn't right that the Son of God should be spat upon and humiliated, and tormented. Get out of this!
And that, of course, is the way we, as people who live in America, reason. Where is the escape hatch? Deliver me! And Jesus said, "No, I have to keep back the angels. I could call ten legions of angels, hundreds of thousands, and they would deliver me just like that.
But I need to restrain them. I will not call on them because it is needful that I suffer." And the angels saw it all. They saw it all, and they wondered in amazement. And then we come, of course, to the resurrection of Jesus. And who is at the tomb to announce the news?
But angels. And who is there? When Jesus is ascended on high on the Mount of Olives, but angels accompany him, and then they will be with him when he returns to Earth, and finally fulfills this prophecy. By the way. I don't think the prophecy's been fulfilled.
You know, this is a very controversial statement where it says the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of David forever.
Some people say, "Well, that throne is in heaven. That's what it means. Jesus is going to rule over the house of David in heaven. He's got a throne up there somewhere." Well, bless him, he does have a throne in heaven. But the house of David and the throne of David seems a very earthly kingdom.
That's why some of us actually. Believe that during the millennial kingdom, Jesus is still going to rule from this earth, from the city of Jerusalem. Though he has a glorified body, and though we have glorified bodies, there is going to be a population in planet Earth that does not have glorified bodies, and there will be that that interaction, just as there was with Jesus after the resurrection, he and his disciples, and that someday he will still rule from the city of Jerusalem. You say, "Well, you believe that? Yeah, yeah, I believe that because I don't think this prophecy's been fulfilled." But my point this morning is simply that angels will be there; they will accompany him.
Will you remember that angels are fascinated with Christ because they saw him high and exalted, and they saw him low and humiliated, and they knew how far down he had come. Secondly, angels are also interested in us. They know us. Let's pick up the text now. Mary says in verse thirty-four, "How can this be, since I am a woman, or rather a virgin?
Rather, how can this be, since I'm a virgin?" I take this by the way that she is not asking in unbelief. There are some people who say, "See, she didn't believe." Notice that she's not saying. I don't believe this will happen, but she's saying I don't understand how it can happen, since I am a virgin. And so the angel explains: the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.
And behold, even your relative Elizabeth also conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God. How can this be? The answer is: with God, nothing is impossible. And then the beautiful response.
Behold, the bondslave of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word. And then angels did what angels always do when their job is done, so that they do not divert attention from God. Gabriel departed.
Now let's look at this beautiful, beautiful ascent of obedience. The angel Gabriel presents the news. Mary accepts it and says, "I am the bond slave of God." And on the one hand, a great honor; on the other hand, as always is the case, with a great honor, great pain. Her friends will not understand. You read the Gospels.
You discover that Jesus is constantly being accused of having been born out of wedlock. And and her friends did not understand it. Perhaps her close ones did, but there are many people out there. She lived with those rumors, and then she had to live to see her son die such a horrible death. She went through the whole experience, but she said, "I am your bond slave." Now, here is my point today.
Gabriel saw her response, and if she had had a different response, if she had said, "No, absolutely, I'll have nothing to do with that," he would have observed that response too, because angels see our obedience and they also see our disobedience, and constantly they see both. You know, here at the Moody Church, we. Believe that the role of elder in the church should be held by men. The apostle Paul, in First Corinthians, when he is discussing the role of women in the church, even says women should be veiled to show submission. And actually, we do not require veiling because we think that it's the submission that was the important part.
But you know, when he is giving reasons for it. He just throws in a statement that I've often pondered. He says, "For this reason, women should have that symbol of subjection." He says, "Because of the angels." You take your Bible and turn to First Corinthians chapter eleven, and notice what he says in verse ten. Just in case you think I didn't have enough sleep last night, First Corinthians eleven verse ten. Therefore, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
Incidentally, if anybody asks you what Moody Church's position is on these things, say, "Yeah, we believe thus and so." And if they say, "Why?" say, "Well, you know, it's because of the angels." You know, that'll probably slow them down for a moment or two. What is my point? The reason that Paul includes that is he has seen disorder, he has seen rebellion, and angels have witnessed their own original rebellion and the fall of man in the garden, and therefore Paul says, even the angels are observing your worship, and that's my point today. And they see our obedience, and they see our disobedience, and they are constantly moving in and out among us, and they are seeing what happens. Let me ask you something today: If you were to interview an angel and ask the angel the question, "What is it that keeps you motivated?
What is your greatest sense of awe or wonder?" I thought about that, and I'd like to tell you what I think angels would say as to what they marvel at. First of all, they would say they marvel at the humility of God and the pride of mankind. I think that must be a source of everlasting distress and wonder. They marvel at the humility of God. Here is God in all of His beauty and all of His wonder, having all of this adoration, and He comes to this earth and He is spat upon and He is lied about, and He will not accept the deliverance that they were willing to give to Him, and He is willing to accept even the cross and all of the shame that was connected with the cross, and and He's God, and they marvel at it.
And then they see us, who are sinners, strutting around like kings. When Christ came to serve, and we come and we want to rule, and they marvel. He came to serve. He was not interested in his own needs. And angels marvel at the fact that all that we are is self-absorbed.
And we do not humble ourselves in the sight of God. Much less do we humble ourselves in the sight of others, because we maintain all those walls that insulate us from the possibility of accepting the beauty of God's promises. Because most of God's promises cannot be received unless we are broken and humble in the sight of a holy God. And if we aren't, all the promises of the world roll off our backs. You know what God does when He begins to stir up a congregation, and the manifest presence of God begins to happen.
I'll tell you. First of all, He takes the roof off.
So that our relationship with God is settled, and then He begins to take the walls down, so that our relationship with one another becomes open and honest and caring and interactive, and the bonds begin to build, and we begin to include others in our Christmas celebrations, and we begin to be sacrificially involved in the lives of others as Christ, as He. And the vine that bears the most fruit is always the lowest on the ground. And the vines that stand up and say, "Look at me," are the barren vines that have no fruit. And angels marvel at the humility of God and the pride of men.
Source of wonder.
Someone has said that the world is a better place because Michelangelo didn't say. I don't do ceilings. The world is a better place because Martin Luther didn't say, "I don't do doors." The world is a better place because Noah didn't say, "I don't do arcs." The world is a better place because Mary Magdalene didn't say, "I don't do feet." The world is a better place because Peter didn't say. I don't do Gentiles, and the world is a better place because Mary didn't say, "I don't do virgin births," and the world is a better place because Jesus didn't say, "I don't do crosses." Angels marvel at the humility of God and the pride. The pride of men.
God spends most of our lifetime crushing us, and sometimes only at the end of life, finally, does He see the humility and the brokenness, which is of great price in His sight. That's what angels marvel at. Secondly, angels marvel at the grace of God and the generosity of God and the stinginess of man. God is so generous. This must be certainly a source of wonder.
Now, in order to understand how much they marvel, let's remember that when God created the angels, all of them were good. Lucifer had the responsibility, I believe, for this earth, and supposed to take the worship of all of the created beings on this earth and make sure that all of it went to God. He was performing the function of a priest, so that if there was some praise and worship, he made sure that it got passed along to the Almighty, to whom it so beautifully belonged. What he began to do is to accept some of it along the way and pass only part of the praise and the honor along to God. And he said, "I have to keep some of this for myself." In fact, he went on to say, "I shall be like the Most High." God says, "I'm going to continue to give you authority over the earth." The Bible says that the whole world is cradled in the hands of the wicked one, but You are now going to be my enemy, and we are not going to be getting along together.
And at the end, I will crush you, even though I'm going to give you a lot of rope for a long time.
So. That was the way in which the scenario went, but when Lucifer fell, a whole host of angels—possibly one a third of their number, which could be tens of thousands multiplied and cubed factorially—they fell with him, and so they are all part of this fallen number. And God has chosen. To not redeem them.
Now I explain this to you almost every Christmas, but we have some visitors who perhaps have not been here before. When God redeemed mankind, He deliberately chose that angels would never be redeemed. The Bible says in the Book of Hebrews, He took not upon Himself the nature of angels, but took upon Himself the seed of Abraham. If angels were to be redeemed, then you would have to have Christ becoming an angel and dying, and a special sacrifice made for these fallen creatures, and they are just going to be abandoned to hell, and that's not going to happen.
Now can't you just imagine angels saying, "Well, he's doing it for man. Why is he not doing it for the rest of us? You know, after all, we used to have some buddies when we used to work together, and they are now infallibly and ultimately fallen, irretrievably." So, well, the angels, of course, are not envious, but. What what really intrigues them is what God plans to do with people. The fact that the Scripture says that mankind was for a little while lower than the angels.
We are lower than the angels now. We know less than they do. We are not as powerful as they are. Our abilities are limited, but only for a little while. Lower than the angels.
In fact, the time is going to come when we will be exalted above them, crowned with glory and honor. No angel will ever be an heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. And angels stand in rapt attention and wonder at God's ability to take people out of the pit and to let them walk in the palace, and to scoop them up from the mud and enable them to walk on marble. And they marvel at the fact that God is willing. To do that for human beings, they're really just about as bad as the demons who fell, and so they are filled with a dawning wonder of God's grace.
In fact, we even see it here in the text. Notice it says in verse twenty-eight. Always keep your finger in the text. Verse twenty-eight of Luke chapter one. When Gabriel comes, he says to Mary, "Hail, favored one." Now, in Greek, that word "favored one" is keraταλ, which is a perfect passive participle.
Oh, I wish that my grammar teacher, the eighth grade, would have been here to say that, or to hear it rather. She'd have been so proud. She'd have quoted verse thirty-seven: "For nothing shall be impossible with God." What is a perfect passive participle? It means that we are the recipients. It is something that God does.
We are passive, and it is God who graces Mary and gives her the favor and says, "Hail, favored one! You are graced. You are kissed. You are beloved. You are special," and God is showing you this favor.
It's a very special form of the word, and an intensified form to show that you are highly favored. Let me ask you something today: Would it help your coming week if you were to hear from God today, and God were to look into your eyes and say to you, "Hail, favored one! You are highly favored of the Lord." You say, "Well, Pastor Luther, if I heard that." If God were to say to me today that you are highly favored, it would make Monday easier. It would make Tuesday easier. It would make Wednesday easier, and all the way along the line.
Well, I want you to know today that that is exactly what God says to you today. Ephesians chapter one verse six—the only place in the New Testament where you have the same construction of that perfect passive participle katao—and what does it say? It says we are chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world, and we have been graced. In the beloved one, same expression. Don't exalt Mary and think, "Oh, if only I were Mary, if I'd have only heard these words given to me by God." You are hearing those same words given you today by God through the lips of the Apostle Paul, an inspired writer who says, "You are accepted in the beloved." King James Version.
You are graced in the beloved. You are highly favored of the Lord. Is it any wonder? That the angels look at that with adoring perplexity, adoring perplexity. Here are these sinners who really deserve the same fate as those fallen angels.
And God scoops them out and lifts them up and says, "Today you are highly favored of the Lord in Christ, in the beloved one. You are favored, accepted in Him." Wow! No wonder the angels never lose their sense of awe. At the grace of God, and then they look at our stinginess, our unwillingness to give, our our protectiveness, our castles, our desire to to build those walls, to have our own interests, to have our own way, to manipulate our our desire to make sure that we come first, that we are the ones that are secure, and they marvel at the contrast, the grace of God. And the stinginess of man, and of course, someday you say, Pastor Luther, will we ever see these angels that you've been talking about?
You will, you will. In fact, when people die, years ago, when people died without drugs, they oftentimes saw the spirit world before they passed on. They always mentioned Jesus, and usually already some angels. And the Bible says in the sixteenth chapter of Luke that when a man died. Lazarus died.
It says that he was carried away by angels into Abraham's bosom. He wasn't just escorted. These guys didn't say, "Well, look now, go in this direction, and we'll follow you." No. What they said was, "Let us." Carry you. Let us take the initiative and take you where you need to be.
And I fully expect that at death, in addition to Christ, angels will be there, rejoicing that we have finally arrived home. We've arrived home. And today, God says to you and to me, do you understand how important you are to me? You know the angels are important. They are singing all the praises of God.
But the Scripture says in Hebrews 1:14, they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who are heirs of salvation, and they never lose their sense of worship when they see the humility of God, and their sense of pain when they see the pride of man, and their sense of joy at His grace and hurt. At our own stinginess.
Well, this is Pastor Luther, my friend. God may have sent many angels to rescue us without us knowing about it, because we can't see them.
So we are thankful for the angels, for the good angels, but we also acknowledge that there are evil angels, as I have frequently emphasized. But at the same time, we must always recognize that we have to go back to God's word. I have a question I want to ask you. Do you have a Christmas gift for a child?
Well, I think that perhaps we can be an answer to your desire. Here is what you do. You go to rtwoffer dot com.
Now, the name of the book that I am talking about is One Two Three. Jesus loves me. Child will learn to count. Will also learn Bible stories. Stories about Jesus.
Go to rtwoffer dot com. By the way, you can go there and see a picture of the book. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. You can also call us at one eight eight eight. Two one eight ninety three thirty seven.
I want to thank you in advance for helping us, even as we do all that we can to give you resources to make it successfully all the way to the finish line. Get the book one two three Jesus loves me by going to rtwoffer dot com. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. On today's Running to Win, Irwin Lutzer has concluded what angels know. The second in a series of messages on a flurry of wings.
Next time, we look into the meaning of the angel of the Lord. Plan to join us for Pastor Irwin Lutzer. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
