Jesus and the Angels

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As you know, angels heralded the birth of Jesus. The angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus to Mary (Luke 1:26-35) and the Angel of the Lord assured her fiancé Joseph that it was right for him to wed Mary (Matthew 1:20-24).

When Jesus was born, the angels announced his birth to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-15. Then, the Angel of the Lord saved Jesus and his family by appearing in a dream to Joseph to escape to Egypt and avoid Herod’s treachery (Matthew 2:13-21).

For a little while, Jesus was made lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:6-8) while he was in human flesh. After the crucifixion, Jesus’s name was exalted above every name (Philippians 2:9). Jesus is now and forever above the angels.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus referred to angels as “his angels” as in “The Son of Man will send his angels” (Matthew 13:41) and “The Son of Man will come with his angels” (Matthew 16:27) italic emphasis added.

Why would Jesus refer to angels as his angels? Perhaps because he was involved with their creation, as we read in Colossians 1:15-17:

[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (ESV).

This fits with the first chapter of the Gospel of John, verse 3 which says that all things were made through Jesus.

Jesus was involved with the creation of everything, including the angels! Since the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, this makes sense.

According to the Book of Job 38:4-7, the angels were created prior to the earth being made. The angels shouted for joy as God through Jesus the Word, created us all.

Angels also ministered to Jesus after his 40-day fast and temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:11) and at the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:43).

When Jesus rose from the dead, an angel rolled away the stone of his tomb (Matthew 28:2), and the angels were at his tomb to give messages to his visitors (Luke 24:22-24).

After Jesus ascended, two angels assured the apostles that Jesus was now in Heaven, and that he would return in the same way that he left (Acts 1:10-11). The second coming of Jesus is also described as Jesus returning in the company of angels (Matthew 24:30-31), and the end times with Jesus and Archangel Michael defeating Satan in the Book of Revelation.

Jacob’s Ladder

So as we’ve seen from the above scripture, Jesus and the angels are clearly interconnected. They are his servants and messengers. And my favorite connection comes from the story of Jacob’s ladder. This is a dream that Jacob had while traveling, in which he saw a ladder extending from earth to heaven.

Angels of God were ascending and descending upon the ladder.

At the top of the ladder was the Lord reaffirming his covenant with Jacob’s ancestors. Clearly, the dream was about the connection between Heaven and Earth. You’ll recall that this connection was lost when Adam and Eve rebelled in Paradise.

Well, Jesus told his disciples in John 1:51 (NLT):

‘ Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”’

This shows that Jesus is the ladder, the stairway, the connection! He came to reconnect us with God, after that connection was lost in the Garden of Eden.

From DoreenVirtue.com