by Pastor Michael Salemink
You can’t tell the Christmas story without angels. And their part in it clearly proclaims the sanctity of human life.
First of all, departure from this life does not “promote” a person to angelic status. (Apologies to Clarence Oddbody and all the Looney Tunes.) Though angels in the Bible frequently resemble human beings, they represent a separate species of creature for the Scriptures. (The Lord Jesus does compare mortals and angels in Matthew 22:30, but this similarity concerns the message of marriage and not any metamorphosis, as Luke 20:36 makes plain.)
Almighty God did not make any angels in His image. He didn’t involve them in His lifegiving activity via procreation, nor did He invite them to subdue earth and rule other entities, including the angels themselves (1 Corinthians 6:3). He never incarnated Himself as one of their race, nor did He adopt them as His own beloved daughters and sons. And Hebrews 1:4-14 explains that these honors give humankind worth and purpose superior even to that of the angels.
Moreover, angels draw attention to God’s fondness for the offspring of Adam and Eve.
- The Most High stations an angel at His Son’s conception to mark His entering our existence (Luke 1:35).
- Angelic intervention laments the slaughter of the Holy Innocents (Matthew 2:13), just as an angel appeared to interrupt Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac (Genesis 22:11-12).
- Little ones each get assigned guardian angels who do not hesitate to show the Father their faces (Matthew 18:10).
- Angels attend to displaced persons (Genesis 16:7 and 21:14-18; 1 Kings 19:1-5), those experiencing infertility (Judges 13:3; Luke 1:13), those suffering imprisonment (Acts 5:19, 12:7) or enduring execution (Daniel 3:28, 6:22), and neighbors with disabilities (John 5:2-4 KJV).
- The heavenly messengers bear extraordinary witness against discriminating on the basis of origin or appearance (Acts 10:9-22; Revelation 14:6).
- Nothing sets the angels to celebrating like forgiveness finding sinners who repent (Luke 15:10; Isaiah 6:6-7)—even after perpetrating abortion.
- And angels usher human souls into the arms of eternity at the hour the Lord God appoints (Luke 16:22; Matthew 24:31).
On occasion, the angels contribute to carrying out the divine decision of concluding life (2 Kings 19:35; Revelation 9:15). The devil idolatrously desires to take this authority for his own, and such lust brought about his downfall from among the angelic number (Isaiah 14:12-15; Revelation 12:9). Still he masquerades as an impostor angel (Job 1:6; 2 Corinthians 11:14) to tempt humankind toward emulating his evil and assume power over life and death. But his attractively packaged promises of “autonomy” amount to a counterfeit gospel (Galatians 1:8) that we must turn ourselves and one another away from with the fervor befitting an angelic epiphany (Luke 2:9; Matthew 28:2-4).
We have a privilege even the angels don’t enjoy (1 Peter 1:12). We get to receive every neighbor as if each one comes as an angel from God (Galatians 4:14; Hebrews 13:2)—and better yet, as sisters and brothers of Christ Himself (Matthew 25:4). And after all, the ceaseless celestial song of the angels rejoices in the sanctity God’s grace has invested in our kind!