Stranger Angels.

 Angels- can appear unassuming as well as glorious, and frighteningly awe-inspiring.

Jesus says this--

Heb 13:2  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares

Angels unassuming. 

Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 

Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 

Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 

Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 

Mat 25:42  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 

Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 

Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 

Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

 

Angels of God give us opportunities to share the love of others, the love that comes from the Lord.  Don't wait for a mysterious generous spirit to take over you causing you to love others when in truth you are wary of others. From as far back as I can remember and that's 53 years at this moment, I've been very shy. My shyness is a trait I was born with. This trait of mine makes it hard for me to be outgoing towards others. To top it off I have an extreme tendency towards panic attacks, and this contributes to my preference of the familiar, which doesn't include interacting with strangers. You could say the cards are stacked against me when it comes to helping others such as Jesus described above. I can only imagine how an outgoing person could react to others in the scenarios given. Easy or difficult, we are all called to love others in deed not just in theory, in word, in ideas. In actuality we are called to serve-

-the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the prisoners. 

Our world is filled with these, filled! Are we serving them?

Angels can give us opportunities to serve, but they aren't going to appear with a flaming sword indicating that we are serving angels.

The thing we need to remember here is that we CAN'T know when a stranger is an angel or human, and we shouldn't differentiate between them- we can't. We shouldn't want to. We should not want to serve a stranger angel above a human stranger, we should be always serving knowing this is God's will - angel or no.  God wants this! God would have us know that our being servants is a REAL thing, a very REAL thing.

Please, Lord, help us be the servants you would have us be. Please.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior! Now and forever, Amen!

(Excerpt)

6. THEIR EXALTED CHARACTER AND SURPASSING GLORY

When sin entered into the world, God's glory was withdrawn, and a dark pall of gloom was spread over it; God no more talked with man. We have only a few fading flowers, a few bright spots, to remind us of the departed glory. Even the angels have but seldom been seen by mortals. The most lovely objects that we behold are marred with deformity and tarnished with decay. Hence we can have but slight conceptions of the surpassing loveliness and glory of the heavenly beings. A few times a rift has been made in the clouds, through which some  privileged ones have been permitted to behold a few rays of the glory of heaven. And then these have been so overwhelmed by it that they feared that they should die. Thus the prophet Isaiah, upon having a view of heaven, exclaimed, "Woe is me! for I am undone; . . . for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isa. 6:5.

As Moses came down from the mount where he had been with the Lord for forty days, his face so shone with the reflected glory of God, that the Israelites in fear avoided him. Ex. 34:29, 30. 

How bright and glorious, then, must be the angels who dwell in the immediate presence of the Almighty! Some of the rays of this light and glory encircle them as they visit this world. Thus, when the angel came to Peter in the prison, it is said, "And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison." Acts 12:7. 

Of the angel who appeared at the tomb of our Saviour it is said, "His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow." Matt. 28:3. 

And Daniel thus describes the appearance of an angel who came to him: "Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz; his body also war like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude." Dan. 10:5, 6.

Let the reader consider for a moment what majesty and glory are here described. The most gorgeously-appareled monarch would appear mean in comparison. No wonder that Daniel says of the men who were with him, "A great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves." Verse 7. And so exceedingly glorious was the angel that came to John upon Patmos, that the apostle fell down to worship him, supposing that it must be the Lord Himself. Rev. 22:8.

 From these facts we can form some conception of the surpassing glory of the holy angels.

Of the might and power of the angels, the Bible also speaks in the strongest terms. John says: "A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea." Rev. 18:21. 

The Psalmist speaks of those who remained loyal to God, as "angels, that excel in strength." Ps. 103:20. 

When the angel came to call Christ from the tomb, he made the earth to quake, and the soldiers fell like dead men before him. Matt. 28:3, 4. 

The angels move with the velocity of lightning. Ezekiel says that they "ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning." Eze. 1:14. 

And Daniel says that Gabriel flew from heaven to the earth while he was praying. Dan. 9:21. 

The angels also have control over the elements. Thus when the king of Babylon caused the furnace to be heated very hot, and the three Hebrews to be cast into it, the angel of the Lord came, and stood and walked unharmed in the midst of the fire. Not only so, but he protected those men of God so that their garments were not even scorched.

Dan. 3:19-27. The angels also control the wild beasts. This we see in the case of Daniel being thrown into the den of lions. Those ferocious beasts became as harmless as lambs. The angel of God was there. Dan. 6:22. 

Again, heavy bars are drawn from the bolted door, and the massive iron gate flies open at the command of the angel, when a child of God is to be delivered. Acts 12. 

Thus we see that all the elements of nature, and men, and beasts, are subject to the control of angels.

Angels: Their Nature and Ministry

 (Excerpt - for continuing study) Revised by J.H. Waggoner.  1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)