War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
Revelation 12:7-8
A war broke out in heaven, we are told in today’s passage from Revelation. The archangel, Michael, and other angels fought against the dragon, Satan, until he was thrown down to the earth, along with all the demonic angels who followed their leader, the great dragon.
Yes, this is in the Bible. And no, we don’t hear about it very often in our worship services. But today is a special day, the festival of Michael and All Angels. A day when we turn our attention to angels, good and bad.
This festival is only observed when September 29th happens to fall on a Sunday, so today gives us an unusual opportunity to talk about angels, and to look at this amazing vision shared by John in Revelation. So that is what I plan to do.
I think that angels are too important to ignore. Their very existence reminds us that there is more going on in this world than we can see, or ever understand. “Angels,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, “speak in many layers of meaning and mystery, trying to express the inexpressible. If we ignore them, our lives are the poorer.”
I think that is exactly right. Angles are mysterious, speaking in many layers of meaning. But God created them for a reason. And when we ignore angels, we miss out on something important to the witness of scripture.
But what are angels? What does the Bible say about them? What should we believe about them? And what difference do they make to us today?
And what’s going on in that passage from Revelation, the war in heaven fought by angels and demons?
What Is an Angel?
First, what exactly is an angel? There are two ways to answer that.
First, we can agree with Martin Luther’s description of angels when he says that:
“An angel is a spiritual creature, a personal being without a body, appointed for the service of the divine church.”
There are categories of these spiritual beings, like cherubim and seraphim. There are also archangels, like Michael and Gabriel. Spiritual beings that can reveal themselves to us when needed, but often go unseen.
But Luther also reminds us that angels can be thought of in a second way as any messenger from God:
“The word angelos … really means a messenger, not one who carries letters, but one who is sent to deliver a message by word of mouth. Thus this name is commonly applied in Scripture to all messengers of God in heaven and on earth, whether they are the holy angels in heaven or prophets and apostles on earth … Therefore all who proclaim God’s Word are God’s angels and messengers.”
So we can think of angels as simply being messengers from God. You and I can be angels in that way. But we can think of holy angels as being something very different – heavenly beings that we cannot see, unless they wish to be seen. When we confess in the Nicene Creed our belief that God has created all that is, seen and unseen, we are confessing our faith in, among other things, angels.
Angels in Scripture
But what does the Bible have to teach us about angels? Let me offer a couple of examples before I turn to the story about Michael and the war in heaven from today’s second reading.
The first appearance of an angel in scripture is in Genesis, when an angel of the Lord appears to Abraham and Sarah’s slave, Hagar, when she is in the wilderness. An angel appears a little later in that same story, but to Abraham to stop him from sacrificing Isaac. In both cases, angels are heavenly beings with a message from God.
In Psalm 91 we have an example of angels being sent by God to guard and watch over God’s people.
In the Old Testament Book of Daniel, we meet for the first time two named angels, Gabriel and Michael. Gabriel appears to Daniel in the form of a man to help him interpret the visions that he has had.
And in today’s first reading (Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3), the angel Gabriel tells Daniel not to be afraid – which is by far the most common message from the angels – and Gabriel explains to Daniel that the angel Michael was sent to help Gabriel, to protect God’s people from the prince of the kingdom of Persia. Michael is described as “one of the chief princes,” what we now call “archangels.”
Now, I know we are getting a bit into the weeds here, as they say, but bear with me a little longer, and I hope to get to a place where we can make sense of all this.
We have been reminded that angels are messengers from God. We see this in the New Testament as well, most famously when the angel Gabriel is sent to Mary to tell her that she would give birth to God’s Son, Jesus. But also when Jesus is raised from the dead, when angels appear to Mary Magdalene and others at the tomb to tell them that Jesus has been raised from the dead.
We have also been reminded that angels are also sent to protect us. They protected Jesus during his time of temptation with Satan, for example.
And, finally, we have been reminded that there are archangels who have a more significant role in God’s kingdom than other angels.
And, disturbingly, there are fallen angels, led by Satan himself, the dragon and “deceiver of the whole world.”
So, with all of that in mind, let’s look at this dramatic story from our second reading, Revelation 12.
A war broke out in heaven, we learn; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, Satan. What a powerful reminder that there is always more going on than we can see or experience, good and bad. There are battles being fought that don’t make the news, that we cannot see, but that are very real.
But this particular battle, between Michael and Satan and taking place in heaven, has ended. Satan and his angels were defeated, and thrown down to the earth. Which might sound kind of ominous. But immediately after John tells us of this, he shares a vision of a voice from heaven proclaiming this good news:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah … For they have conquered [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
Satan, in other words, has been thrown out of heaven and has been conquered here on earth, conquered “by the blood of the Lamb” and by the testimony of Jesus’s followers.
The evil one is still dangerous, in the same way that any mortally wounded animal is dangerous, but his days are numbered. He has been cast out of heaven and is being defeated here on earth.
Okay. But where do the angels fit into this now, and more importantly, where do we fit into all of this?
Well, let’s bring in our gospel reading to get a handle on that. This short passage takes place right after seventy of Jesus’s followers have returned from their mission. Jesus had sent them out in pairs to visit towns and communities and share the good news of the gospel. Preach, teach, heal, and do everything that Jesus has been doing. And they did. And now they have returned to Jesus. They are excited, and share with him their joy, saying: “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” The devil’s fallen angels are running scared because the followers of Jesus are doing what he asked. And Jesus responded by saying to them: “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.”
You see? The great war in heaven is being repeated here on earth. The battle against Satan and his followers. But this battle is not being fought with weapons. It is being fought in a very different way. It is being fought in the way that the Son of God has modeled for us. Fought with love, fought by showing mercy, fought by healing and serving. Fought not with power and might, but with meekness and humility.
In a sense, we could say that today is a reminder to us that there are battles being fought in the spiritual realms that we have no knowledge of. Nor do we need it. We can trust Michael and all the angels to take care of that.
Our job is simply to bring the love of Jesus into our corner of the world. To work for justice and peace, and to leave the rest to higher powers.
Worshiping with the Angels
Michael and the angels do their work, and we do ours. But there is one very special time when our work joins together, and that is during this sacred hour of worship.
I like how the Lutheran theologian, Chad Bird, describes this, in a powerful essay he wrote on how a small, country congregation became a megachurch:
Here’s how it all went down. Through the stained glass windows and the steeply pitched roof, seraphim swooped down from heavenly perches. Each sported six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And around the sanctuary they chanted one to another, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” … But that was only the beginning.
Cherubim winged their way down from the heavenly city. Not the cute, chubby Precious Moments’ angels, but manly warriors who stationed themselves like sentinels around the sanctuary. They belted out the words to the hymns, added their Amens to the divine words read and preached that day.
But the angels were not alone. With them came saints innumerable. Men and women who had fought the good fight, finished the race, and gone on to glory. But here they were, back … on this Lord’s day. They added their voices to the earthly choir of farmers and ranchers and coaches and teachers who still trod the pathway toward the heavenly Jerusalem.
The pews were packed. Standing room only in the aisles. Some perched on the rafters and peered down with serene gazes upon the altar. There, wonder of wonders, was a throne. And on that throne stood a Lamb, slain yet alive, sacrificed but resurrected. Every face of every worshiper, angelic and human, earthly and heavenly, was fixated upon his face.
…
That’s how a small, country congregation became a megachurch overnight. Without even trying. They gathered around the word of Jesus, ate his meal, sang his songs.
And Jesus showed up, every Sunday, with all of heaven along for the ride.
(https://www.1517.org/articles/how-a-small-country-congregation-became-a-megachurch-overnight)
Closing
This festival of Michael and All Angels is a powerful reminder that we are not alone. There are angels among us, worshiping with us, fighting evil for us, and helping us to bring the love of Jesus into our corner of the world.
May we always be encouraged by their presence, and may we always join them in faithfully worshiping and serving the One who sits at the right hand of God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus, to whom be all the glory now and forever. Amen.
My Pastoral Ponderings 