Allen Jackson - Angels and Revelation - Part 1
We’re working on a topic, «Angels, Demons & You,» and I put the «You» in there on purpose because it’s so easy, when we pick up our Bible, to study it in a theoretical way. It’d be like having a conversation about diet and exercise, that doesn’t bother me at all, we can talk about diet and exercise all you want. If you say you want to talk about my diet and exercise, I’m not so interested, it’s none of your business. And when we talk about angels and demons, we need to understand the impact they have on us as individuals. So the purpose of this study is to see if we can raise our awareness of spiritual things, and the significance of our words and our actions and how they influence those spiritual forces in our lives.
For the most part, I think American Evangelicalism has stepped away from that for several decades. We haven’t always done that, it has not always been the description of the church, and I don’t believe it’s an expression of a more effective education or a heightened spirituality, I think it’s very much a lack thereof. And so it’s really kind of been intended to be an introductory, we started last week, we looked at angels in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew Bible, and we looked at the angels and their role in Jesus’s life and ministry. And one thing I can tell you is I have spent some time with this, I’ve come to think of the angels in terms of Jesus’s angels. And I understand with more clarity than I have ever understood, you know, we tend to think of Jesus in terms of in the Gospels.
You see Jesus between Matthew and John, and in the first chapter of Acts. I assure you, Jesus is involved in the story from Genesis to the book of Revelation, and Jesus and his angels are involved in the purposes of God with Adam and his descendants, from Genesis until he comes back as a conquering king and the judge of all the earth. So when I began to put your outline together for this evening, my target was «Angels in the Book of Revelation,» and I got into that, and I didn’t get through Revelation, so we have «Angels and Part of the Book of Revelation,» and we’ll see what we do next. But let’s start with this notion of, in Jesus’s ministry he talked a good deal about angels at the end of the age.
So before we get to the book of Revelation, I just wanna remind you that Jesus told us, he gave us the outline for the book of Revelation while he was here. So the book of Revelation really shouldn’t be a surprise, Jesus told us most of it. In Matthew 16, in verse 24, Jesus is teaching, he said, «What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and he will reward each person according to what he has done».
Now that is a pretty good summary of the book of Revelation, the Son of Man is returning to earth in his glory with all of his angels, and he’s going to reward each person for what he’s done. In order to give a reward like that to each person, he’ll have to be the judge. So Jesus himself gave us the synopsis for the end of the age. Do you believe that? I hope you do, I hope you’re living that way. It would be, Jesus told a parable where he talked about a rich fool, a man who had tremendous success, brilliant business strategist.
Year after year after year he was the head of trends and flourished above the norms, until finally, he had accumulated so much it wasn’t even necessary for him to engage anymore, and he said, «I’m just gonna enjoy what I have done». And the commentary Jesus gave on that man was that he was a fool because he had outsmarted the systems, but he hadn’t made any provision for eternity. And it’s not wrong to be engaged in the systems of the present age, but you want your hope and dream and the desires of your heart to be invested in the age to come. The Apostle Paul said, «If we have hope only for this life, we’re to be pitied above all men».
And so Jesus gives us the synopsis in 2 Thessalonians 1, this was a part of the thought, the understanding of the early church, so it wasn’t just Jesus’s teaching, the early church had absorbed it, they understood. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, in verse 6, it says, He’ll pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. That he will return again with his angels and their power and strength, and fire is used consistently in the discussion of the end of the age as a part of God’s judgment.
Then, in Matthew 13, the familiar parable of the wheat and the tares, we looked at it for a moment on Sunday, the wheat and the tares. The words for us are different, but in the Greek language the word that’s used for the wheat, the tares, or the weeds, suggests a plant that would be almost indistinguishable from the wheat. So they’re flourishing together, one to bear fruit and one that won’t, but it’s using up limited resources and they’re not going to be easily distinguished. It’s very similar to the language as we approach the end of the age of the true and the false church, and Jesus talks so much and warned us so frequently in Matthew 24, and Luke 21, and other places, about the frequency of deception.
And so the disciples, when they were alone, they ask for the explanation of the parable and Jesus gives it to them. «His disciples came and they said, 'Explain the parable to us, '» and he said, «The one who sowed the seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. The enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels». Again, I just want to keep bringing you back to the central assignment, the central role, the frequent engagement of angels, they’re more a part of your life than you know.
In Hebrews 13, it says we need to be vigilant and practice hospitality because many have entertained angels and didn’t know it; they don’t always show up with wings and a flutter, sometimes they show up in the parents of human beings. «And the Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there’ll be weeping and gnashing of teeth».
Again, the central role of angels at the end of the age was a prominent part of Jesus’s teaching, it was absorbed and understood by the early church and it’s reflected in the letters of the New Testament. So we’re not breaking new ground, we’re just trying to acknowledge something that we’ve paid very little attention to. It’s worth noting that, in that parable, it’s the same climactic conditions that allow the wheat and the weeds to ripen at the same time. So I believe we will see that as we approach more fully the end of the age, that the circumstances that allow evil to flourish will also create opportunity for the kingdom of God to flourish. You’ll have to decide where to focus your attention and where to invest yourself.
Deception will increase, wickedness will increase, immorality will increase, righteousness will flourish, the Spirit of God will move in dramatic ways, and there’ll be demonic involvement in ways we’ve never seen before. Not to be frightened, we have an assignment. I think one of the changes that will characterize the church as we find our place and our stride in this season is we’re gonna gain a heightened sense of assignment. You know, prior to the awakening that has begun, our assignment was to get saved and help other people to get saved, we really didn’t process assignment much beyond that because our lives were pretty stable and the circumstances around us were such that opportunities were there if you were willing to make the effort, or for most of us. But in the season we’re in now, I don’t think we will be able to sustain our faith, candidly, without a heightened sense of assignment.
So let’s go to the book of Revelation, we’ll start there, we’ll see how far we get, if we don’t like it I’ll change the format. A couple of big rock ideas I just want to draw your attention to, I’ll leave it with you and the Holy Spirit. But it is abundantly clear that angels play a central role, a key role in the end of the age. I’m really not convinced they played a lesser role through all of history, it’s just as we get to the end of the age and we’re given, the curtain is pulled back a bit so we can be prepared, that we can have enough insight and understanding that we’ll understand our roles and assignment. It’s a critical season. In the same way that the angels visited Mary or Joseph or Gideon or Daniel, or the other places we’ve looked, in those pivotal, critical points in history, the curtain is pulled back a bit, so those who are participants can have the awareness to flourish in their assignments.
Angels are gonna play a key role at the end of the age and particularly in the book of the Revelation because that’s what it presents to us, how this age is going to come to a close. It’s not a frightening book, it’s a good news book, the boss is coming back and he’s bringing the bonus checks. Angels are mentioned in every chapter of the book except three, and two of the chapters where they’re not mentioned there’s a lengthy description of the heavenly beings that surround the throne of God. The one chapter maybe where they’re conspicuously absent is in 13, it’s focused on a description of the beast. But let’s start in Revelation chapter 1, in verse 1, «The revelation of Jesus Christ». That’s what the book is, it’s a revelation of Jesus as the judge of all the earth coming back. «Which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place».
So God gave Jesus the revelation of the end of the age to make known to his servants, and Jesus chose the pathway to do that, «He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John». Remember we said, angels, there’s multiple functions but two primary functions that we’re told, that they’re messengers, right? and then they’re ministering spirits on behalf of those who are inheriting salvation? So Jesus has this portrayal of the end of the age and he’s gonna use one of his messengers to make it known to John. So, without the angels we don’t even get the book of Revelation. See, a part of what I want, if you see their prominent role in Scripture I hope you’ll move past the internal debate on whether they exist or not, whether spiritual things influence our lives or not. Because before we get to the other side of this, physics teaches us that, «For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction».
It’s illogical and irrational to believe in angels and God, and not to believe in the kingdom of darkness, it makes no sense. But I wanted to start with the angels in the book of Revelation. «He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw, that’s, the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near». It’s the one book in the Bible that says there’s a blessing you’ll get if you read it. I’m just simple enough to believe that. If you need a blessing in your life, take some time and read the book of Revelation, don’t make it harder than it has to be.
Same chapter, chapter 1, verse 19, «Write, therefore, what you’ve seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this». When John turns to see who’s speaking to him, he sees Jesus, and in his hands are the stars and he’s standing in the midst of the lampstands, and here’s the explanation: «The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches». Are you conscious that there are angels assigned to churches? I’m quite confident there are angels assigned to this congregation, not uniquely to this congregation, I believe that’s true of other churches as well, but please don’t miss that fact. You see, when we take our place and say, we’ll do whatever we can to strengthen the church, to add momentum to what God is doing, we join the angels, we join the heavenly host, we’re not just filling slots or doing busy work or meeting religious obligations.
Now I really didn’t intend to get into this, but as I began to pull it together I thought some of the messages were so relevant we oughta take just a moment. Beginning in chapter 2, there’s a message given to each of those seven churches, and what is repeated over and over is, «I know what you’re about, I know your strengths and your weaknesses. I’m watching,» Jesus says. Again, I hope we live with the awareness that Jesus is aware of what we’re doing, how we’re doing our assignment. You know, there’s this mythical, it’s a very deceptive, dishonest idea that exists pretty broadly, in that, you know, «What I do in the privacy of my home is my business and nobody else’s».
Well I certainly don’t want the government involved in the privacy of your home or mine, but God’s aware of who we are 24/7, I don’t have a private Allen and a public Allen, I don’t have a faith for when I’m standing here in the midst of the congregation and a faith for when I’m in the mall. And you don’t want to cultivate that notion, you don’t have a set of ethics for business and a set of ethics for church, or a set of ethics for one group of friends and another group of ethics for another. The very clear message to those seven churches is our lives are open before the Lord, that, «What we whisper in our bedrooms will be shouted from the housetops,» the Scripture says. But to one of the churches, it feels relevant to me today, the church in Sardis, the seven churches of Revelation are seven churches in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
The Gospel has spread by that point, before John comes to the end of his life the Gospel has made it all the way to Rome and around the Mediterranean. But so these messages are sent to these seven churches in relatively close proximity. «To the Angel of the church of Sardis: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you’re dead». Your reputation is not accurate, people look at you from a secular perspective and you seem to be vibrant and vital and effective, but from God’s perspective. Remember what we said about a prophetic perspective? that we see circumstances from the vantage point of God? that a priestly perspective represents people to God, the prophetic perspective gives God’s opinion to people.
So there’s a prophetic note to the message that’s being delivered. «You have a reputation of being alive, but you’re dead». So what’s the resolution? If you’re dead, it it’d be good to know be alive again, right? «Wake up»! «Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I haven’t found your deeds complete in the sight of my God». It’s not that their deeds are completely missing, they’re incomplete, it’s similar to what happened with the church in Galatia. He said, «What happened to you? You were running a good race, and somebody broke in on you and you’ve lost all your momentum».
Again, I think we have been trained a little bit deficiently, to focus on our entry point into the kingdom of God and then we just kinda wait around and hope we don’t make any really big mistakes. Your deeds are incomplete. «Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you don’t wake up, I’ll come like a thief, and you’ll not know at what time I’ll come to you». It sounds very similar to Jesus’s teaching, doesn’t it? I hope before we’re done with Revelation you’ll see that it’s not a book apart from the rest of the New Testament, or even the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, but it’s very much an extension of what we’ve learned in those places.
«Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They’ll walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. And he who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I’ll never blot his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels». Again, the angels are gonna be, they are attendant to all that God is doing. We’ve got to become more aware of them, we won’t fulfill our assignments without the help of the angels, we just won’t. So there’s some characteristics of this particular church, it’s a church that made the book so they’re not reprobate, they were asleep. Now sleep is a normal part of the cycle of life, sleep is necessary, without sleep you’ll self-destruct. But Proverbs says, «It’s a shameful son who sleeps during harvest».
So there’s a time to be asleep and a time to be awake. We’ve said it many times, when you’re asleep, you’re unaware, you’re uninvolved and you’re unconcerned. You’re not evil, you just don’t care. So inappropriate prayer is to begin to say to the Lord, «Lord, are there things that I’m unconcerned about or unaware of that I need to be concerned about and aware of»? Do you have the courage to pray that? Are you willing for the Spirit of God to give you an assignment, a burden, an intercessory role? Say, «My life’s full, I got all I want, I don’t wanna think about that». Okay. If you have the courage to say to the Spirit of God, «Are there things that I should be aware of? Help me to be aware».
So, asleep, and then he said you’re weak, «Strengthen what remains and is about to die,» you are in a weakened condition, you need to gain some strength. So you need to be prepared that, with the awakening, with the heightened awareness, you’re gonna have to gain some strength. You’re probably not fully prepared for what you’re unaware of, and with the awareness you’re gonna have to do, you’re gonna have to read, you’re gonna have to learn, you’re gonna have to pray, you’re gonna have to grow spiritually. And then it says, «Remember what you had,» they have forfeited some things that they had in the past, seems pretty accurate to me. We have lived with Jesus in a far more prominent part of our lives than we are currently, we have lived with a far more prominent biblical worldview than we currently are.
The moral perspectives that are being celebrated and pushed forward in our schools, in our universities, in our media, just wherever you look right now, would have been unimaginable in the not very distant past. So we need to remember what we had and not capitulate, not yield the field, not put our hands up and go, «Well, that’s just how things go». That’s not how things go, this book is filled with stories, generation after generation after generation of God’s people drifting into immoral, ungodly, inappropriate places, and through the repentance of people, God bringing them back. We’re cowards if we capitulate, we don’t want to be cowardly, the book of Revelation doesn’t speak well about that.
The church of Philadelphia, I’ve put one verse there, it was too good to walk past. Revelation 3, verse 11, «I’m coming soon. Hold onto what you have, so that no one will take your crown». It implies a bit of a tug of war: hold onto what you’ve got, there’s an attempt to snatch it, to diminish it, to take it from you, to distract you. Hold onto it, don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t yield, don’t yield your thoughts, don’t yield your emotions. I will be filled with the joy of the Lord, I will honor him, I’ll celebrate his goodness in the land of the living, he’s kept us through this crazy season. We had food and clothing and shelter and we could worship. It may have been a little uncomfortable, may have been hot or cold or whatever, but we’ve been able to be together. He’s been good to us, let the joy of the Lord begin to creep into your heart. Hold onto what you have.
Hey, we’ll finish this message tomorrow. Before we go today, I want to have a prayer with you. Whenever I talk about the Holy Spirit or what God is doing in the earth, I like to offer a prayer of invitation. I don’t wanna stand on the outside and talk about what God is doing or stand on the outside as an observer, I want to be involved in what God is doing. And I think we have permission and freedom to say to the Lord, «Help me to see, I’m available, I want to serve». So I’d like to offer that prayer with you before we go today. Let’s pray:
Father, I thank you for your Word, for its truth and power. I thank you for your Spirit in the earth, it leads, guides and directs us; for the angels that are ministering spirits in our behalf. And give us open hearts, and ears that can hear, and eyes that can see, we wanna cooperate with you, you’re welcome in our lives today. In Jesus’s name, amen.