JESUS SAYS HIS LITTLE ONES HAVE ANGELS
Prayer: We thank You, our heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept us from all harm and danger. Into Your hands we commend ourselves, our loved ones and all your little ones, our bodies and souls and all things; let Your holy angels be with us, that the wicked foe may have no power over us. Amen.
Sermon Text, St. Matthew 18:1-7, 10 (v. 10). “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I see to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your Words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ: I bring you grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of angels. Amen.
Jesus speaks about “these little ones,” that they have “angels” – He calls them “their angels”– who “in heaven always see the face of My Father.” This is the verse that brings everything together that’s in the Bible about the angels.
It’s amazing that it’s almost a by-the-way comment. But of course nothing Jesus says is merely by-the-way. His every word is important. Whenever Jesus speaks He’s revealing the Father to us. In Hebrews 1 it says that “in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son,” and in John 1 it says that “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Jesus speaks to reveal what God is like, what’s in His heart, what He has for, you what His relationship with you is, and what your relationship to Him is, or should be.
So today we find out that the angels have something to do with this. We have lots of curiosity about angels, but Jesus isn’t here to satisfy our curiosity. When He says that His little ones have angels, He isn’t satisfying curiosity about angels. He’s revealing the Father’s heart.
First we see who the angels are, and that they were created to glorify and worship God in heaven. This is showing us what we are created for too, and to see things of which we’re often unaware.
Jesus says the angels “always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” This should make us ask: Who are the angels? Why do we hear that they are continually seeing the face of God in heaven?
The angels are created beings. They were created during the 6 days of creation. They are spirits, without human bodies although in the Bible they often take the form of a man when they’re sent with messages.
Today’s psalm said they “excel in strength.” They battle against the evil spirits, the demons, who are actually fallen angels. In Scripture they’re called evil powers, rulers of the darkness of this age. Heaven has an army – the heavenly host – going against the armies of Satan.
But not only are they strong; they are holy. There were angels that sinned. All the angels were created very good and yet with free will. We know it was an angel, Lucifer, who followed a selfish desire, who indulged the sin of pride, wanting to be a great one, as great as Christ. He led a rebellion and he and the fallen evil angels were cast out of heaven. But the holy angels are the angels who didn’t use their free will to rebel and who resisted pride. Their status as holy angels is now fixed.
Jesus reveals that they are always seeing, looking upon, “the face of My Father in heaven.” In Isaiah 6, we see seraphim who are in God’s throne-room, flying around His throne and praising Him with a loud voice saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” There’s a similar scene in Revelation 4. We see then that the center of the angels’ life is God on His throne. The angels are first of all worshipping beings. They were made, created, for worship. Their worship is pure and holy.
So think about this: The angels, who are mighty and exist in the realm of power fighting against the evil powers, are shown by Jesus and in these other scenes in the Bible – instead of being consumed with power or using it for self – to be in the posture of worshipping, in humble submission to God, not self-serving but self-effacing, even (in Isaiah 6) using their wings to cover their faces in His glorious presence.
Jesus brings this up, of course, because the disciples do the opposite, bickering about “who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” So He “called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Unless you become like little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’ ”
Jesus basically tells them that the power question, the greatness question, is the wrong question. It’s the wrong desire. It shouldn’t be, “Can I be great?” but “Can I be a little one – God’s little one?” Remember, Satan came to Adam and Eve tempting them with greatness, to be like God. The sin of pride – Satan’s own sin – was humanity’s Fall into sin.
The greatness question gets us into all kinds of trouble. Everything in our world is geared toward this self-serving goal. Young people today are weighed down with questions about whether they have significance, if they matter. Not just the youth, everyone’s stuck on this, focused on what your place is. The desire to be noticed. But we see that the angels are content to be invisible to us. They’re content to gaze upon God. They are content to do His will, not to have their own will done.
But seeing the angels’ example doesn’t solve our pride problem, and how we compete for attention and struggle with being self-focused. Our relationship with God isn’t healed that way. “God sent no angel to our race … but to this world Himself He came.” (ELH #281:2). So, after first seeing who the angels are, and how glorious and yet humble their worship is:
We see Jesus. He is the way to be holy as the angels. Notice, Jesus shows us the angels being in the Father’s presence, but He also puts Himself there with the little word “My” – “My Father.”There’s Jesus. With the Father. When the angels worship the Father, they also worship Jesus.
We know the angels deserve to be there. They are holy. But you know your sins. You know your unworthiness because of your sins. So what do you need? You need Jesus. He came down from heaven, where the angels are, for everyone’s salvation. He came to make you worthy. He came to suffer and to die for you, to bring you to heaven.
The angels served a role as Jesus did this. They love our salvation! As soon as Jesus was born, the angel host came into the sky above Bethlehem to proclaim the “good tidings of great joy” as it happened. When Jesus was in great anguish as He carried out our salvation, an angel came to comfort Him. As soon as Jesus rose victoriously from the dead, the angels came to announce it. The angels love our salvation that Jesus accomplished!
Especially they love that you receive this salvation. Jesus said “the angels in heaven rejoice” as you repent and believe God’s forgiveness.
Everything in His kingdom – everything! – serves His “little ones.” Even the angels. When children are baptized is when the angels become “their angels.” This is one more wonderful gift of baptism. Because the angels “are sent forth to minister for those who inherit salvation” (Heb 1:14), they specifically serve and protect Christians, children of God.
In fact, the angels know your name through baptism. Just as an angel in a dream addressed the apostle Paul by His Christian name, and said, “Paul,” the angels who serve you know your name. In the moment of baptism, as the pastor spoke your name, God knew you by your name as His child, and He makes sure the angels – whom He’s giving to guard you – know your name. So finally:
Our favorite thing to know about the angels is that they serve God on earth by protecting Christians. They are a way that God the Father “protects me from all danger, guards and keeps me from all evil.” You have guardian angels. This is what Psalm 91 – which we also hear today – is saying in the words, “He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”
This resonates with us, the task of the angels to guard and protect us is our favorite part of what the angels do, because we feel our danger in life. Physical dangers are always the first on our mind, but the angels are also there for your spiritual dangers, and against the power of the devil.
Your obedience goes up and down, you struggle with the greatness question, with sinful pride, with your status with others and if you matter, and your priorities will get out of whack. But because of this, every day your Baptism matters. You are His child, His dear child, you have significance and you matter, not by the world’s standards but since He baptized you. He made you His child, one of His “little ones.” You’re still His child, not because you’re so good at living like His child, but because in baptism He made you His child and keeps you that way.
This is a strong defense against the devil. This is where the forgiveness of sins – the cleansing – received in Baptism is so important. When the words were spoken, the Triune God was present in the water. That includes Jesus and His blood, which cleanse us from all sin. It’s the same forgiveness you receive now, which starts the angels singing. And because He keeps you His child, the angels are still serving you joyfully.
That’s the greatness you do have in His kingdom: that He makes you holy through His blood, and puts you next to angels and archangels – worthy to praise Him both here on earth and forever in heaven. Amen!