So if you’ve been joining us the past few weeks, we took a little off road excursion and turned up the mountain to inquire about angels. In episode 279 we took a look at why are there some many references in the Bible about angels visiting God’s people and what could we learn from what they were told. Why do scholars refer to these events as ordinary angelic messengers? If they are so ordinary, why don’t we hear more about these encounters today?

In last weeks show, I dug a little deeper and opted to take a look at some of the attributes of these angelic messengers…with the hope that maybe, after studying “the messenger process”, I might better understand how to engage with an angel when it’s my turn. If you missed these two shows, I recommend you go back and listen to them. Not only are the visits bizarre in many respects, they are EPIC…and I tried my best to bring that home in pondering each event.

Okay, so last week I heard from a faithful listener who wanted to remind me that angels are indeed all around us…today. He sited Hebrews 13:2. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” I concur with Mack and his reminder and thought it worth sharing.

The Bible differentiates between the Holy Spirit and angels of the Lord primarily by establishing that the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity, while angels are created, ministering spirits.

• Deity vs. Created Being: The fundamental distinction is that the Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead and possesses all divine attributes (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence). Angels, though powerful spiritual beings, are created by God and are not divine.
• Indwelling Presence vs. External Action: The Holy Spirit works within believers, providing a permanent presence, conviction, and guidance. Angels, by contrast, generally operate externally, appearing to people to deliver specific messages or provide temporary assistance in specific situations.
• Function: Angels are primarily messengers and servants who carry out God's commands in the physical world. The Holy Spirit has a more intimate role in the life of a Christian, serving as a helper, comforter, and the source of spiritual growth and gifts.

According to the late Billy Graham, “The Holy Spirit illuminates the minds of people, makes us yearn for God, and takes spiritual truth and makes it understandable to us.”

The Holy Spirit IS WHO Christ left behind for us to accept when he departed for Heaven. The Bible tells us that THIS VERY SAME SPIRIT THAT RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD, DWELLS IN US. Romans 8:11.

We need Him in our life as a conduit to become who God created us to be, and through His power we have aid in all situations. Without Him, we are powerless.

“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”” Acts 1:8

“pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY.” Liberty sounds pretty good to me! That means NO BONDAGE by the way! 2 Corinthians 3:17

“And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31

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Last week's show was all about sharing that angels DID speak to regular folks back in Bible times and I asked why don’t they do that today?

DO angels speak to folks today and if they do how would I recognize their voice? Do they all sound the same? Do all angels have the same manner of communicating their message? Do they have different gifts or specialties?

What are some of the attributes of angels and what can we learn from the angelic encounters we covered last week?

Let’s start with the Hagar story in Genesis 21:12-13. This is the Abraham, Sarah and Hagar story. God is speaking to Abraham, and says “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, (well lookie there…fellas…listen to your wives).

Genesis 16:11-12: we learn that an angel of the Lord can see the unborn and can see what their destiny is. Check this out.

“The angel of the Lord said to her (Hagar), “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.””

Here’s a bonus observation. Even tho Hagar felt rejected, abandoned, mistreated and castoff, God blessed her and gave Ishmael his own nation.

Let’s take a look at Gideons Encounter:

From my perspective, it proved to be rather comical and unsuspecting. It was conversational over lunch vs a booming voice from Heaven like Hagar’s encounter.

Read Judges 6:12-15, 17, 20-21. Then read Judges 6:36-40

“Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.”

Hezekiah's Prayer for Deliverance

Highlights of Hezekiah’s encounter: Hezekiah brought receipts; he told God to read it and he did. His angel was an angel of action…deployed by God…no interaction with Hezekiah directly. His angel killed 185,000 Assyrians over night.

Read Isiah 37:14-20 and Isaiah 37:33-36

36 And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these (the 185,000) were all dead bodies.

Daniel had multiple encounters with angels. Daniel’s angel had a name. He explained why he was delayed in delivering the message, he was fighting principalities and preparing for the next spiritual battle. In Chapter 8, a voice commands Gabriel to explain a vision to Daniel. In Chapter 9, while Daniel is praying, Gabriel comes to him to deliver a divine message and explain why it took so long for the answer to arrive, due to a spiritual conflict with the "prince of Persia".

In Daniel’s case…Gabriel left the battlefield above Persia to deliver the Gods answer to Daniel’s prayer.

Daniel’s Angel was at war against principalities / countries (Persia); they have back up; this stuff is way over our heads … but here’s what I do know…if you have a need to know…you’ll know.

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Can you read the signs of our times today? In the midst of the tear-gas can you see the chaos building? Have you seen the polls that suggest murdering political opponents is considered acceptable? Have you heard that there is a price or rewards offered for causing trouble?

But on the other side of the street, you hear stories about revivals cropping up everywhere, from Australia to the UK. Turning Point USA now has over 130,000 campus chapter requests to fulfill. Meet me at the Water is baptizing folks by the thousands according to some reports. Something is happening!

The bible verse that most directly discusses reading the signs of the times is Matthew 16:3, where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and Sadducees for being able to predict the weather but not to interpret the spiritual and historical signs of their generation.

At the end of last weeks show, I mentioned that the phrase “an Angel of the Lord spoke” was mentioned 59 times in the Bible. Both Mark and I thought that was a pretty significant number of mentions. So I decided to do a deeper dive into this topic using AI as my search agent.

Here's a few references.

Exodus 3:2: "And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush."

Genesis 16:1-13, 21:9-19 -- The angel of the Lord, Hagar, and her son

Genesis 22:9-18 -- The angel of the Lord, Abraham, and Isaac

Judges 2:1-5 -- The angel of the Lord rebukes Israel.

Judges 6:11-24 -- The angel of the Lord and Gideon

1 Kings 19:1-8 -- The angel of the Lord strengthens Elijah before his long journey.

2 Kings 1:1-17 -- The angel of the Lord instructs Elijah what to say to king Ahaziah.

1 Chronicles 21:1-27 -- The angel of the Lord comes to destroy Jerusalem

Zechariah 1:7-13 -- The angel of the Lord mediates between God and Jerusalem.

The Greek phrase angelos kuriou (angel of the Lord) is found in the New Testament, but these passages are generally understood to refer to ordinary angelic messengers, not the divine figure from the Old Testament.

Would you consider a word or visit from an angelic messenger ORDINARY? Me neither!

I am more moved by the fact that Angels Spoke to people just like you and me.

Whether they were “ordinary angelic messengers" or the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, to me is NOT THE POINT. The most significant point that we need to ponder here is…DID WE LISTEN TO THE VOICE AND DO WHAT IT SAID?

Which begs the question…What is the Angel of Lord saying to us today? What is He telling you? What is the Angel of the Lord saying to ALL THOSE THAT WILL LISTEN, WHO ARE CALLED BY HIS NAME.

I don’t know where you sit on this front, but I for one believe that when an “ordinary” or an unordinary angelic messenger speaks” we need to be listening with all our senses and willing to do whatever were asked to do.

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