[Machine transcription]
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,
“Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.”
Amen.
You may be seated.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear Saints, we’re going to consider this text from Revelation 12. It’s fantastic. It’s one of my favorites. It’s just the best. But before we do, I think it’s good on St. Michael’s Day to review what the Bible says about the angels, at least a few things. We have a lot, actually, of information about the angels in the Scriptures, these heavenly beings that we cannot see, that we learn of through the Lord’s holy words.
So a couple of things by way of review, and then we’ll consider the text. First, we want to remember that the word angel refers to the vocation or the office or the calling of these spiritual beings. The word in Hebrew, malak, and in Greek, angelos, means messenger, and it can refer to human messengers as well, to the pastor or to the person who delivers the news or the mail. It’s a messenger, an angel who comes to bring it, and this refers to the work that the Lord has set these angels to do, that is to deliver and to preserve the Lord’s work.
So, the angel is what they do, but when we talk about what they are, we use the word spirit. That refers to the beings that we refer to as the angel. In fact, here’s the definition: angels are finite spirits without bodies, complete in their spiritual nature, personal, rational, and moral beings of great but limited wisdom and power, and of various ranks and orders.
The angels were, like everything else in the universe, created by God at some point in the six days of creation, probably very early because we are told at the end of the book of Job that the morning stars rejoiced as they saw the Lord creating the world and the work of creation unfold.
There are a fixed number of angels. They are neither married nor given in marriage so that there are no little angel babies. Even though they show up on the cards all the time—it’s always baby angels. No, they’re no baby angels; no families of angels, and neither do the angels die.
The classic attributes assigned to the angels are one, indivisibility because they are spiritual; two, invisibility—they cannot be seen; three, immutability—they don’t change, especially they don’t get old; immortality—they don’t die; endless duration—that means that they had a beginning but they have no end; illocality and agility—those are two interesting ones. Illocality is trying to sort out how the angels relate to space without actually having a body. So that’s the theological word that the church uses to describe that. It is to say that the angels do not take up space. They do not, they have no bodies to actually locate themselves in space and yet they are present at a certain place. They are not omnipresent like the Lord is in every place. So they are illocal. They are present at a place but they don’t take up space.
And also, being limited to a particular place, they have to move from one place to another and this has to do with what the old theologians called their velocity, or their agility, or what one theologian called—this is one of my favorite theological phrases—extreme locomotion. That means that the angels can get from one place to another very quickly. That’s amazing to think about.
Now at some point early in God’s work of creation, perhaps even before the six days of creation were finished, there was a rebellion amongst the angels, amongst the spirits, led by the devil himself, and one-third of the angels fell, and we call these fallen angels the demons. These angels, fallen angels, maintained their strength and their intelligence, but now they have a will that’s bent on the destruction of God’s work.
Here’s the work of the evil angels. I’ll quote again from the theologians: the evil angels, being since their fall enemies of God and of His children, are under their princes ever bent upon destroying the works of God, counteracting His purposes, doing and promoting evil, and though subject to God’s supreme dominion and control and confined within the bounds of His permission, they are in various ways occupied in strengthening their kingdom and exerting their power in the minds and bodies of men.
So there are angels and there are demons, and they are all around us. We simply cannot see them. It’s an amazing thing simply to pause and reflect on that and that in this space, in this place, there is a cosmic battle taking place between those who are supporting the preaching of the Lord’s Word and His kindness coming to us and those who are opposing it constantly and trying to stop it.
Now in regards to the work of the demons, the Bible teaches us about demonic possession in two ways: both spiritual possession and physical possession, as well as demonic oppression. And these are categories brought to us by the devil that we want to also assert in our own time. I got an email just from someone yesterday asking, “Hey, does the Lutheran Church believe in exorcism?” And the answer is yes, indeed. And we believe that the devil continues to work as he has worked from the beginning and will work in the end to overthrow all that the Lord has done, and he does this by taking possession of all those things which he ought not to possess: the souls, hearts, and minds of humanity. And this is true for all unbelievers and even in some cases the physical bodies of people.
So we read in the Scriptures of the demons taking a young boy and throwing him into the water and the fire, or another one causing him to shake and foam at the mouth. We hear of one man who was living in the cemetery and had so many demons that when Jesus asked their name, they said “we are legion,” and that this man lived amongst the graves and had the strength even to break chains. And we say, yes, these are possibilities and not something to be treated lightly.
There’s also another category which we want to call demon oppression, and that is that the demons can simply get after individuals, that the devil can put his thumb on someone and exert a special kind of energy to try to oppress them and afflict them. And I suppose in one way or another all of us face this demonic oppression. When it’s time to come to church, when it’s time to trust the Lord’s word, when it’s time to bless one another in the Lord’s name, the devil comes and tries to stop this over and over.
So the demons are doing their work. But on the other hand, the Lord’s good angels also are doing their work to support and uphold the Lord’s word and His work in the world, especially the church and the Christian home. Now the angels are also, like the demons, involved in the general affairs of state and also society. As we sang in the hymn, that’s the one Melanchthon hymn that I think we have in the hymnal, that the devil wants to overthrow church and family and state. All three estates are under attack by the devil, and all three are being protected by the Lord and His holy angels, especially the state in so far as it supports the Lord’s gift of this life and also the gifts of the life to come.
Now it does seem, and this is an interesting thing to note as we just are making a list of some of the things we know about the angels. It does seem like, according to the words of Jesus in Matthew 18, that the children are appointed guardian angels. Jesus talks about the little one, and He says, “Their angels behold the face of God in heaven.” Now, if—so that’s a true thing that the Bible teaches. What we don’t know—I wish we did—but we don’t have enough information to know from the Scriptures. If those angels are reassigned when we reach a certain age, or if they stick with us our whole life, kind of hope so, but we don’t know.
Now, a couple more things on the angels. The angels, both the good and the evil angels, are confirmed in their condition. It’s one of the differences between humanity and the angels. The angels, it seems, like, had one moment where they were either going to be for God or against God. And at that moment, after that free choice, they were locked in so that the good angels were confirmed, the theologians say, in bliss, while the evil angels were confirmed in their malice. And there is no converting or redeeming the fallen angels; they are and will remain fallen. Neither is there tempting the good angels from the office that they have. It is a locked-in moment, so that’s good.
So we thank God for the ministry of the angels, remembering that He sends them to serve us. Now this is an amazing thing and maybe the last thing to remember about the angels. The angels are greater than we are. Just on the chain of being, the angels stand above us as the beings of light that stand right next to God, and yet the Lord has determined in His mercy that these great and powerful beings, these holy and righteous spirits, would spend their energy and their wisdom serving you and me. And we thank God for that gift, it is a tremendous gift, and we pray every morning that the Lord would send His holy angels to watch over us, that they would bless and keep us.
Now, with all that in mind, that’s a lot, but with all that in mind, I want to turn our attention to Revelation chapter 12, where we hear of St. Michael. We hear of St. Michael just three times in the Scriptures, in Daniel twice, and then in Revelation chapter 12, and Daniel has a unique job or office that he’s given to do, and that is, in Revelation 12, Michael is to remove the devil from heaven.
Now, what is going on here? This is the story. The vision that God gives to St. John in Revelation chapter 12 is really a vision that covers the whole of human history. It starts at the beginning of chapter 12 with a pregnant woman in labor to give birth, and this is a way that the Lord is picturing for John Israel in the Old Testament. Ever since the promise that God gave to Adam and Eve in the garden that her seed would crush the head of the serpent, Israel has been a pregnant woman waiting for the birth of the Messiah, the promised Messiah.
And there is a second vision that’s there; the devil appears and he’s there waiting to devour the child that’s born. This is an incredible and quite stunning picture that you can see in your imagination, this woman laboring to give birth and a fiery red dragon waiting to eat the baby as soon as it’s born. It’s really quite a horrific picture, but that’s a way of understanding all of the trouble of the people of God all the way through the Old Testament.
When we see Pharaoh having the babies thrown into the Nile River, or Herod killing all of the babies in Bethlehem, or all of the enemies of God’s people always trying to destroy Jerusalem, we are seeing the dragon sitting there ready to destroy the baby. He wants to bring to nothing this child who was to rule the world with a rod of iron, but he fails, and the child is, the text says, caught up to God in heaven.
So in one verse it goes from the birth of Jesus all the way through His life, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, just like this. I’ll read you the text. Revelation 12 starting with verse 5: “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God into His throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for one hundred, one thousand, two hundred and sixty days.” That’s three and a half years, the time that the Revelation uses to describe the trouble that we have in this life.
Now what happens then? And here’s the thing, I mean this utterly compelling picture. What happens when this child, when your Jesus, ascends into the heavenly throne room? What happens to that place? Remember the throne room of God we’ve seen all throughout the Scriptures, in fact that’s where the prophets stood to hear the Lord’s word. You’ve got to imagine it. I don’t know how your imagination is, but you have to imagine this huge, big sort of place that’s crowded and in the middle of it is a throne.
And in that throne room, or in that chamber room, there are probably five or six things that happen. There’s conversation between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and there are praises that are offered to God, and there are petitions that are heard, and there are people who are sent forth from that room. But the main thing that happens in that throne room, at least as far as this Revelation 12 is concerned, the main thing that happens there is a court case over the righteousness of individuals.
So remember, just to put it in our mind, remember how it was in Job chapter 1. We see this throne room and the devil comes and the devil apparently has a chair with his name on it for the devil’s use only or something. He has a reserved seat in the heavenly throne room, and he comes and he takes his seat, and the Lord says, “Okay, now we’re going to talk about Job.” He’s going to be on trial. And the devil starts to bring accusations against Job. “Well, he’s only righteous because you give him so much stuff. He’s only righteous because you give him so much health. He’s only righteous because… because… because.” And the devil starts to bring accusations against Job.
And then the devil goes down to see if he can make those accusations come true. If he can make Job curse God and die. But here’s the point: there’s a court case happening in heaven over your righteousness. Now that is frightful. And maybe even more frightful is that the person—the prosecution against you—is none other than the devil himself. That’s what the word Satan means; it means accuser. He is, remember we read it in the text, he is the one who accuses our brothers day and night before the throne of God.
So that the picture of heaven—now imagine—because all of us think, “Man, how we’d long to go to heaven,” but imagine if this is the vision that we have of heaven, is that heaven is the place where there’s a trial being held over your righteousness and the devil is there presenting evidence against you. And he doesn’t have to lie. He doesn’t have to make stuff up. You know your sin; you know what you’ve done, and the devil is keeping track of it. You know the commandments that you’ve broken. You know the love that you have failed to show. You know how you’ve sinned and fallen short of the glory of God so that the devil doesn’t need to lie. He has plenty—you and I have given him plenty of evidence to work with—and he is there carrying it before the throne of God.
Now that is terrifying. Imagine standing there when you finally reach that place, when you breathe your last, and you now die, to stand before the Lord, and there you stand, and the Lord says, “Okay, now it’s time for judgment,” and there is the devil who has a list of all of the things that you’ve done wrong.
Now that’s the picture in the background of Revelation 12, but Revelation 12 is going to tell us what happens when your Lord Jesus, who has died for you, who has shed His blood for you, who has suffered on the cross for you to win your atonement, to win your forgiveness—what happens when He goes to heaven? When He goes into the court? Hebrews tells us that He carries His blood inside the veil so that Jesus now enters into the court as your defender. The word that we have in the Bible is advocate. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus.
He is Christ the Righteous One, and He is going to come into this court, and He is going to argue His case. But He does not bring the evidence of all that you’ve done good, all the good works that you’ve done, all the things that you’ve managed to accomplish, all of your good intents. He does not bring that into the heavenly court, no. He brings as evidence on your behalf His blood, His suffering, His cross, His resurrection, His body broken. He brings that before the judge, and that evidence prevails.
I don’t know anything better to tell you guys than this: the blood of Jesus prevails before the throne of God, so that the Father sees the evidence of your sin brought by the devil and He sees the evidence of His Son brought to Him in His suffering, death, and resurrection, and you are acquitted. You are declared to be innocent, righteous. That is what the word justification means, that you are declared holy and perfect and without sin, that the righteousness of Christ belongs to you, that the price for your sin has been paid, and now you are set free.
So can you imagine? This is how I like to imagine it: I’m standing there before this throne of God shaking to my boots because Lord knows how guilty I should be before the throne of God, and the devil comes along and says, “We see how scared he is; he should be. Look at these things he’s done. Here’s one; here’s evidence of Brian’s sin.” And he brings it and he presents it before
