St Michael and All Angels [Hebrews 12:11] (26-Sept-2021)

       

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering. (Hebrews 12:22) 

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. 

Today we are celebrating the church festival of St Michael and All Angels, and this is a festival where we particularly commemorate those wonderful creatures, the angels, which God has created. There are all kinds of places where angels are mentioned in the bible, and there are two angels, Michael and Gabriel, which are mentioned by name. Angels are not mentioned in the creed, but in the Nicene Creed, we say: I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things, visible and invisible. These invisible things that God has created includes the angels.

The angels are mentioned in a number of places in the Old Testament, and I could go through many passages and discuss them. But also, angels are mentioned at very significant places in the life of Jesus. Actually, at almost every event in the life of Jesus which we mention in the creed, the angels are present. For example, the angel Gabriel is present when Jesus is conceived of the Holy Spirit, angels visit the shepherds in the fields when he is born of the Virgin Mary, an angel visits Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to strengthen him before he suffers and dies, angels are at the tomb when Jesus rises from the dead, and also the angels appear when Jesus ascends into heaven. There’s a wonderful passage in the Gospel of John where Jesus promises to Nathanael: Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

But today, in our sermon, I’d like to focus on angels and our worship. Every Sunday we gather together around the Word of God and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or as we sometimes call it, Holy Communion, or the Sacrament of the Altar, or the Eucharist, and we gather together as God’s baptised people, his children, joining together in our common faith. And we call this gathering together, and all the things we do and say and pray together, and the order of things, the “Liturgy”. When we gather together, whether it is a small group or a large group, we are joined together with innumerable angels in festal gathering, as it says in Hebrews 12. Actually, in some sense, like the shepherds in the field at Christmas time, when we gather together the angels come and join in with us. But also, it is also true that the angels are always engaged in worshiping God before his throne in heaven, and so when we gather here together as Christians to celebrate the Divine Service or the Liturgy, we are actually joining in with what the angels are always doing in heaven.

And so, I thought it might be a good idea to go through the various parts of the liturgy, and consider the way in which the angels are involved.

So, for example, when we begin the service, we say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We are gathering together and doing everything that we are doing in the name of the God who has created us, and also who has created the angels. We don’t worship the angels, but we worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together with them.

But also, at the beginning of our service, we confess our sins together, and receive the absolution. This is a very significant thing, because we are coming together in God’s house, and we acknowledge our unworthiness, and our failings, and our sin, and through the absolution, the forgiveness of sins spoken by the pastor, it is as if God allows us to enter his house through his grace and forgiveness.

Now, when it comes to sin and the forgiveness of sin, we should think back to the Book of Genesis, in the Garden of Eden, where we have the first mention of an angel in the bible. After Adam and Eve fall into sin, we read that they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. We read: At the east of the garden of Eden [God] placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

When we come to church together, we actually come to meet God in his presence, and he meets us in all of his holiness and righteousness and glory. And when we gather in this way, it is like we are entering back into the Garden of Eden again, or at least, we could say, God brings heaven with him to meet us on this earth, and gives us foretaste of that wonderful Paradise that we will enjoy with him in eternity. In old times, churches were decorated for this reason, with paintings, art, we use music, cloths, curtains, candles, vestments, bells, incense, and all kinds of things like this, because it was there as a reminder that when we enter into church, we receive a foretaste of heaven itself. Obviously, here with our eyes, we can’t see the significance of what’s going on, but we believe it by faith. So as we come into the presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it is as if the angel from the entrance of the Garden of Eden is standing here with his flaming sword, asking us what is the condition of our hearts. And so we confess our sins. We acknowledge that we are not worthy to enter here. We tell the truth about ourselves, that we have fallen into sin, like Adam and Eve, and carry their sin in our hearts as members of their family. And when we confess our sin, God gives his answer, which is the forgiveness of our sins. And we also remember what it says in the Parable of the Lost Coin, where the woman finds the coin that she lost. Jesus says: When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

So when we come to confess our sins and receive the forgiveness of sins in the confession and absolution at the beginning of our service, we should remember the angel of God at the entrance to the Garden of Eden with his flaming sword, but also we remember the fact that the angels rejoice over even just one sinner who repents.

Now, in the liturgy, after the confession of sins and absolution, we often sing a hymn and move into the ‘Service of the Word’, where we sing the Introit psalm, the ‘Lord have mercy’, we sing the Gloria, ‘Glory to God in the highest’, and we have the prayer or collect for the day, before listening to the readings.

I’d like to single out particularly here the ‘Gloria’, which is that wonderful song which we sing, which starts with the words: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among those with whom he is pleased. Now, where do these words come from? They come from the angels, when they visited the shepherds at Christmas time, on the occasion when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We read in the Gospel of Luke: Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’

First of all, this whole event tells us a wonderful thing about the birth of the baby Jesus. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a choir was formed to sing about it. And it was not just any choir, but actually was made up of the angels of heaven. And their joy was so great, that they couldn’t keep the joy to themselves, but they actually sought out these shepherds for them to join in with them. When the shepherds returned from visiting Jesus and Mary and Joseph, we read: And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And so, it also became a custom in the church that this song that the angels sung with the shepherds on that occasion, we also sing every Sunday together with those same angels.

All those years ago, they sang it because the baby Jesus had been born. The Son of God had taken on human flesh, but not only that, but he was now visible, and had come out from the womb, and people could now see his wonderful face. For us, too, the Son of God—who is both true man and true God—comes to meet us in our humble gathering, and shines the light of his face upon us, through his wonderful grace, through the forgiveness of sins, through his wonderful promises of eternal life. We can’t see his face, but by faith, we confess that Jesus actually comes to be with his people, even today. How could even possibly come up with the words ourselves to express how wonderful a fact this is! So, we take up the words and songs of the angels, and we say: Glory to God in the highest! Jesus is now here, he has come to speak his living and active word, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Before we read the Gospel, we also sing the Hallelujah! which also has a similar meaning! In the book of Revelation, we read that it is the angels and the great multitude in heaven who are singing, Hallelujah! We see hallelujahs all over the place. Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready. You can see that this word, “Hallelujah”, which means “Praise the Lord”, comes from the angels, it comes from heaven, and so we also sing it too. But then, also, if we go to the Psalms, for example, in Psalm 148, God’s people also say, Praise the Lord, all his angels! Praise him, all his hosts! So, this words comes from the angels, but we also use this word to invite the angels to join in with us as we praise God.

So, here in the Divine Service, in the Liturgy, the angels lead us in the praise and glory of God, and we join in with them, and they join in with us. It really is an incredible mystery!

Let me say something now, about the fact that when we gather together in church, we read portions of the bible, from the Old Testament, from the letters of the Apostles, and from the Gospels, from the life of Jesus, and we also preach about it. We read in 1 Peter these words: Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Here Peter says the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, was working in the prophets, so that they prophesied Christ’s suffering and also the wonderful things that came about as a result. Then he says: It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you. Peter says that these prophets knew that they were not just prophesying for their own benefit, but for people who were going to be part of Christ’s church, people just like the people who were listening to Peter’s letters, not just at the time when Peter was alive, but also now, people like us. Then he says: It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which the angels long to look. Here we see that that Peter is speaking about the fact that the good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is preached to you, by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. And then he says something about the angels. He says that these things are things into which the angels long to look.

We read and hear the preaching of the Word of God. And this is wonderful thing, because this is the way we meet Jesus, this is the way he feeds his flock, and shepherds us in the church. We hear the preaching of God’s law and his judgment upon sin, but we also hear the preaching of the Gospel, and the free forgiveness of sins. And all of this going on is so holy and so wonderful that the angels can only long to look at it. It is a marvellous thing for them, a glorious miracle, and a wonderful thing. To think, that the angels remain silent in awe and reverence when sinners hear the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ preached to them.

Also, after the Gospel, we also speak the words of the Creed together. And the creeds, whether it is the Apostles’ Creed, or the Nicene Creed, which we said earlier today, are statements which the church in earlier times has drawn together in such a way to give voice to the confession of our faith, which we read about in Scriptures. So in the Gospels, Jesus said to his disciples: Who do you say that I am? The Creeds give a wonderful answer to that question, which we confess together. But also Jesus says: Everyone who acknowledges me before men… or people, we mean here, such as we do together—we confess Jesus in the presence of each other—Jesus says: the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God. So when we confess our faith together, we do this, not just in our own hearing, but also in the hearing and in the presence of God and of Jesus. And Jesus promises also that when we confess him, he will also acknowledge us before the angels. So because of this wonderful promise, we should always take it to heart that we are not just speaking things together here, but that these things are even heard by Jesus, and that the angels listen carefully and attentively.

After the sermon, in the Liturgy, we bring our offerings to God, and pray the prayer of the church. In the Book of Revelation, it says: When [the Lamb] had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Here in this verse, we read the angels and the twenty-four elders here hold golden bowls full of incense, and that these bowls of incense are the prayers of the saints. When we join together in the righteousness of Jesus, standing before him in his holiness, and bring our prayers for the world, and our community, and city, and such like, to God, actually, these prayers are being held physically in the hands of the angels, as golden bowls full of incense. In Psalm 141, it says: Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! Just as incense rises upwards like a sweet-smelling smoke, our prayers also rise in this way before God, and are treasured by the angels, not just in plastic Tupperware tubs, but in golden bowls. What a thought! What an incredible mystery!

In the last part of our service, we have the Lord’s Supper. And in what we call the ‘Preface’, we actually have an explicit reference to the angels, which we say week after week. We acknowledge the goodness of thanking and praising God, and say: Therefore, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we adore and magnify your holy name, evermore praising you and saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!

As we prepare to receive the body and blood of Jesus, we confess the fact that we praise God for this wonderful blessing together with not just the angels, but also the archangels and all the company of heaven, that is, all those who have died in the Christian faith before us, and now see the angels before God’s throne with their own eyes. And in the Holy, holy, holy—or the Sanctus, as it is called in Latin—we call Jesus, the Lord God of hosts! Sometimes, some modern translations, say: God of power and might. But this doesn’t really capture what it means. In Isaiah 6, where these words come from, it says: Lord God of hosts, which is talking about the heavenly armies, the armies of angels.

In Isaiah 6, we read about the wonderful vision of Isaiah the prophet, when he was called, and he saw the seraphim, who were singing these words, Holy, holy, holy! Isaiah says: Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then we read: Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’

This gives us a wonderful picture of the Lord’s Supper, We also should say: Woe is me! Because we are lost, and we are men and women of unclean lips, who live in the midst of a people of unclean lips. But instead of receiving a burning coal, in the church we have the Body and Blood of Christ which touches our lips. His holy Body and Blood is like a burning coal: he is a true human being that is completely united in one person with true divinity. Just as fire and coal are together in one thing, so also in Christ, God and man are together in one person, and he now touches our lips. By his sacrifice on the cross, our guilt is taken away and our sin is atoned for, and he now brings that sacrifice here today and places it on the altar so that we can receive it. Meanwhile, the cherubim, the seraphim, angels, the archangels, stand in awe, and proclaim the holiness of God. Holy, holy, holy! Holy is the Father, Holy is the Son, Holy is the Holy Spirit.

So as we sing the praises of God in the presence of God today, as we receive the wonderful gifts of God from his hands in his presence, let’s bear in mind the wonderful way in which the angels bear us up, join with us, help us, supplement our numbers, and stand in awe and reverence and fear of God, together with them. As we read in the book of Hebrews: You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering. Amen. 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.