RC Sproul Jr

Being sick has its advantages. I am constantly encouraged when sick by the willingness of others to pray. I am grateful for the prayers, and goaded to be a more faithful prayer warrior myself. It is also a timely reminder of the catholicity of the church. That is, people from all manner of denominational backgrounds have been faithful to pray for me when I’ve been sick. What may be even more interesting, however, is the response I receive from those outside the body of Christ. I have friends outside the kingdom, and they too have, at times, been concerned for my health. They just have a rather peculiar way of expressing their concern. I can’t count the number of times I have been told, “We’re sending thoughts your way.” Apparently either their transmitter or my receiver is on the blink. What are these dear folks thinking? Do they actually believe that their brain waves have some sort of healing power? Do they think that they can visualize away the illness in my body?

We would do well to watch out for temporal pride. That is, we face the temptation that because our broader culture is less primitive than others, because precious few people bow down to statues, or fear the storm god, that we have put idolatry behind us. We think that the problem with those wrapped up in modernist unbelief is that they are too sophisticated, when the truth is they are superstitious rubes. They “send their thoughts” out; they hang crystals from their rear view mirrors. Not too long ago they were all aflutter over angels. There was a time when you couldn’t swing a dead cat in the local Barnes and Noble without hitting some book about angels. There were books explaining the work of angels, books telling you how to get in touch with your angel, books on the history of angels.

Why all the fuss? “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known about God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible men—birds, and four footed animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:18-23).

The unregenerate man finds himself in a horrible pickle. He knows all too well what Solomon wrote about in Ecclesiastes. If reality ends at the edge of the universe, if our lives are indeed lived under the sun, then all is vanity. You come from nothing, live in futility, and then you return to the nothing. If, on the other hand, there is a transcendent realm, if there is a God in heaven, then you have the problem of having to answer to Him. This dilemma is what Paul is getting at in his letter to the church at Rome. Either life is meaningless, or we will have to answer to the Giver of meaning.

Man’s solution is to muddy the water, to strive for a touch of transcendence, while steering clear of accountability. We do this by constructing gods in our own image, by bowing down to the creature. We are willing to worship, as long as that which we worship will require nothing of us. Which may well by why angels became a thing. Angels give the unredeemed a touch of something beyond this world. They come from a world above the sun. But they come, because these false angels are made in our image, with no judgment. Check through all the angel books, blogs and podcasts and you won’t find a single one giving instruction on how to appease the wrath of your angel. They are all soft, light, and only want to help.

We are fools when we rejoice that those outside the church are at least interested in the world beyond. We are fools if we think that those who are “religious” or worse still “spiritual” are on the right track, but simply need better directions. It is all rebellion, and it is all foolishness. A culture fascinated by angels is a culture that is unwilling to look upon that which the angels delight to look upon, the glory of the living God. A culture awash in angel dust is a culture still buried under the dust of death. A culture that longs to be touched by an angel is not on the highway to heaven, but is on the highway to hell.

Angels, rightly understood, are heralds, messengers. They are the sent ones, sent from the transcendent realm, the realms of glory, to wing their way o’er all the earth. They sang creation’s glory, and now sing not just the Messiah’s birth, but His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. If we want the world around us to hear them, we must point the world around us to the Word of God. We must encourage the lost to look into the very things that the angels themselves long to look into. In short, our calling to those caught up in angel lore is to be angels ourselves, messengers speaking the good news. May God give us the grace to speak with the tongues of angels, that every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.