Hi all,
I ended last week talking about how Paul told the Corinthians wives to put their veils back on so they don’t disrespect their husbands and the angels in charge of their home.
They were free in Christ to remove their veils – the sign they were married – but he asked them not to in the name of a higher respect for divine order.
The way Paul writes, it seems common knowledge that once they were reminded of the divine order of their marriages, including oversight by angels, it would change their behavior. Think about that. Respect for the divine. Respect for God’s order. Respect for angels in charge of your family. Paul expected that reminder to change them and apparent it did, for he does not revisit the subject in his second letter.
Consider Acts 12: 10-15
Peter has been supernaturally released from prison by an angel, and we are told when he came to himself and realized it wasn’t a dream but real, he walked to the home of Mary, mother of John Mark the author of the gospel that bears his name. It was late or perhaps very early in the morning, but the house was filled with people praying for Peter.
When the girl named Rhoda answered Peter’s knock at the door, she was so startled to see it was Peter that she left him there to run inside and tell everyone. Human nature never changes: They were all praying for his release, but when it happened they were in disbelief. That gives us encouragement to pray whether we fully know the Lord’s will or not.
When Rhoda insisted it was Peter, their response was: “It is his angel.”
I remember reading that as a teenager and telling the Father I wanted to renew my mind to the point that when there is a knock at my door I automatically think that it could be an angel. I’m still not quite there yet – but consider the fact they thought an angel might be at the door knocking, evidently to give a heavenly update on Peter’s situation.(?)
In I Corinthians 4: 9 Paul says he supposes apostles are the lowest in the Lord, their lives being made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to common society.
In I Timothy 3: 16 Paul said the mystery of godliness is great in that Christ was made human, declared to be righteous by the Holy Spirit, seen by angels, and preached around the world.
In I Corinthians 6: 2 he says in the age to come we will judge (rule over, administrate) the world and angels.
Side note: I remember one of the early visitations I had with the Lord and who I call ‘my angel’, and I was able to ask the angel, “How do you feel about me being in charge of you in the age to come?” The look on his face immediately became one of anguish that I could ask such a question. With great zeal and urgency he replied.
“It is right! It is proper! (“Why?” I asked) “Remember: We know Him as Creator. But you know Him as Savior.”
Compare first century respect for the angelic versus common Christian culture today
In the larger church culture today talk of angels is either treated as something to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ people with, or a goal in life to see one, or brought down to a mix of new age spirit-guide status in the practice of some.
But where do we see the respect, awe, even fear of angels and divine order in life that we see in the pages of the NT? It is fine to be interested in, fascinated by even, but it should not be forgotten that in this age they are more powerful than us. One thing I’ve learned from my many encounters with the Lord and angels, is that they are merely servant-messengers of the Father God.
They have no emotional attachment to us – they like who they guard for they walk in love – but if the Lord said to take our life in judgment, they would do so without hesitation. It’s like what I told our boys when we got them horses: “You may love them and you think they love you, but never forget their power.” The same with the Father, the Lord, and the angels.
I’ve shared before how in a visitation when the Lord taught me about angels and demons I asked if we had the right to command angels. His response was: “You don’t even know how to pray as you should. What makes you think you know how to tell an angel what to do?”
The reference to not even knowing how to pray I immediately recognized from Romans 8:26 which says exactly that: “Likewise, the Spirit helps our infirmities, for we don’t know how to pray as we should. The Spirit makes intercession with us with groanings which cannot be uttered in articulate speech.”
I told the Lord many people were commanding angels and teaching we could do so, based on Psalm 103: 20 that says they hearken to the voice of the Word. The idea being quote a verse and command them to do it. His reply was this:
“Read that passage and you’ll see the context is not about man quoting verse, but rather comparing the mortality of man (v15) with the Lord who loves them so, giving commands to angels on their behalf and for their good. I AM the Word in that passage. I am the word of the Father’s power.”
“Have you not read in the days of my flesh, in the garden*, I said I could have asked the Father and He would have given me 12 legions of angels? The angels belong to the Father. Have you not read what I told the church at Sardis*, that if they repented they would stand with Me and I would acknowledge them before the Father and His angels? The angels still belong to the Father. But to answer your question, no, you do not have that right.” (*Matthew 26: 53; *Revelation 3: 5)
I replied: “But Lord, there are times when I’m in the Spirit and praying about something, and I sense the angels going out or being used in that subject area, though I don’t command them I can sense their assignments and have an awareness they are at work.” He said, “Those are times as you said, you are in the Spirit and can sense such things, and you have done well not to fall to the doctrine of error but have weighed these things out. Many who practice such error have good hearts, so I do what I can for them, though the Spirit of Truth stays within the bounds of truth and can’t cooperate with such foolishness.”
That’s the most detail I’ve ever shared about that visitation, and my point isn’t to tackle the subject of that visitation other than from the perspective that we need to have high respect, honor, awe, and godly fear concerning the things of God. Too many have lost respect for angels and the gifts of God and think themselves something when they are not. Sad.
Next week I’ll talk about how familiarity with Jesus as a mere carpenter’s son prevented his hometown from respecting the larger truth about Him, and how today, many Christians are far too ‘familiar’ with the Father and Lord and have also lost sight of true revelation about the majesty and power of God. Lack of true revelation in church culture has led to much error.
Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
