This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Stairway! (WATCH HERE)
Genesis 28:12 [Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
On Sunday, I didn’t spend time talking about the angels that were going up and down on the stairway, but it deserves some reflection.
God could have given Jacob a dream of himself in heaven and just spoken the words of promise and affirmed his presence, but he chooses to use the stairway and has angels ascending and descending to and from the throne of God. Why do you think?
As I think of how and where angels show up in the history of the Bible, it seems they show up to do two things: Proclaim and Protect.
The angel Gabriel came to Mary to proclaim to her that she would be the mother of Jesus. The angels came to Abraham and told him he would have a child and that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed. An angel came to Zechariah to tell him he would have a son named John. The book of Revelation has many examples of the angels sent to proclaim words to the seven churches in Asia Minor.
However the key thing is that these are not messages that the angels came up with on their own. They are bringing words from the very voice of God to God’s people. Consider Gabriel’s opening words to Mary: Luke 1:19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
Part of the power of the vision God showed Jacob was the fact that communication was open between him and God. Whether it was direction from God himself or from one of his angels, God’s desire was for Jacob to receive his words. This was the case as Jacob was returning and encountered the angels of God:
Genesis 32:1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.
Angels are also for protection. Consider the words of the psalmist in Psalm 91:11-12:
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. There are numerous examples, but perhaps a familiar one is Daniel in the lions den when he was asked how he survived, replied (Daniel 6:22), “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
Perhaps it’s easy to think, “Yeah that was in Bible times, but not today.” Perhaps in some ways the direct revelation and interaction has shifted to the words of the Bible, but we know that the angels of God are still actively ascending and descending from the throne of God to carry out the will of God among God’s people. The writer to the Hebrews posed (1:14), “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
They are. You can live each day with the confidence not only that you have a God who loves you, but a God who sends his angels to serve you…to bring you messages of his Word and protection of his power.
Apply: Perhaps you have not had a direct encounter with an angel, but can you think of a time in life where your life was spared from harm and you thought, “God must have sent an angel.”
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your love that is willing to command your angels to watch over and protect me. AMEN.