Jump Start # 1696

Revelation 5:11 “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands”

  Yesterday, our Jump Starts noticed how God made man “lower than the angels.” That expression, led us to a discussion about angels. One thing about angels that I do not think we fully grasp is how many there are. The number is well beyond dozens and dozens. Look at the words in our verse today. We understand the term “thousands of thousands.” College football stadiums are full of thousands every Saturday afternoon. I don’t know what a “myriad” is. It must be more than a thousand. There were “myriads of myriads” of angels.

We remember at the arrest of Jesus in the garden, that at His command twelve legions of angels would come and rescue Him. A legion is a part of the Roman military. It was made up of 600 soldiers. Twelve legions would be 72,000 angels. Jesus didn’t need that many. We remember one angel, back in 2 Kings 19, that killed 185,000 Assyrians. One angel.

All of this leads us to a few simple conclusions.

First, there are a lot of angels. Why? Why does God need so many angels? If one angel can defeat a vast army, why are there myriads of myriads of angels? I don’t think we know. Is it so that each person has his own angel. Are we assigned an angel at birth? Some seem to think so. The “guardian” angel concept is built around that idea. We’ll have something to say about guardian angels in another Jump Start. I think it’s comforting to know that there are so many. Angels are God’s tools to help His people. God made them to announce His will, bring about His justice, and help His people. Angels carried the soul of Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom. It’s great to think that God has so many angels available. There is nothing to think that God continually creates angels as He needs them. It seems that the angels were created at the beginning. God knew what He needed. There will never be a time when all the angels are tied up in one project and a need slips through the cracks because of a lack of angelic availability. Throughout the Bible, God’s people have called upon God for help. They didn’t call for angels. They didn’t pray to angels. They didn’t feel that they were saved by angels. It was God. I think some have put more stock into theories about angels than what the Scriptures teach us about the Lord. People are counting upon “their angel” to get them out of a mess rather than turning to the Lord. At the end of the season, it’s not the shovel nor the tractor that gets the praise for the hard work of farming, but rather, it’s the farmer. He couldn’t have done it without his tools, but he was the one who used them. It’s the same way with the Lord. He may use angels to help us, but they are merely His instruments and tools to accomplish what He desires. The praise goes to the Lord.

Second, our verse today along with Revelation 7, which takes place around the throne of God, identifies a great multitude of saved which no one could count. People from every nation and every tongue. Thousands and thousands of saved people surrounding the throne and praising God. John has been able to count several things in the book of Revelation. He counted seven churches, and seven bowls and seven seals. He counted a thousand year reign. He counted 144,000. But here, at this occasion, the number was so great that he couldn’t count them. So, we have myriads of myriads of angels and a massive crowd of saved which no one can count, all in Heaven. Heaven will be filled. There will be a huge crowd in Heaven. This is impressive. Can you imagine the praise to God in such an assembly?

This needs to be thought about. I have preached at many small congregations before. I have preached to audiences of five. I held a meeting for a church of seven people. When we think about the Matthew passage where Jesus says that a few will be saved, it is easy to conclude that there might be about a dozen in Heaven. Some would like that. Some don’t like crowds. Some like small churches and some do all that they can to keep a church small. “You get lost in a crowd,” they proclaim. “You can’t know everyone,” they believe. So, small they remain. They like it that way. I wonder how these same folks think about the true picture of Heaven, with thousands and thousands and myriads of myriads of angels and a massive crowd of saved that is so large that no one can count? What a crowd. All there because of God. All doing right. All focusing upon the One sitting upon the throne. I doubt the singing would be pitiful. Can you imagine? Can you imagine seeing such a crowd? So many that love the Lord. So many that sacrificed for the Lord. So many that gave their all for the Lord.

And there with angels. Lots and lots of angels. I don’t know if every angel has a name. We know two of them do. I don’t know if we would run into an angel that actually helped us in our life? I wonder if we would even know how many times God has been there for us, helped us and even sent angels for us. I think we would look past the angels and look to the Lord. I think we would be overwhelmed with how much God cares for us and is there for us.

Angels are not divine. They are not eternal. There has not always been angels. They were created, Psalms tells us, like everything else. They are not “little gods.” They are not to be worshipped. We don’t pray to angels. We don’t even ask for angels. They are God’s servants. He determines if, when and where the angels are used. Since angels are a spirit, they may pass through our day and we not even know it. When prayers are answered, it is God who is thanked, not angels. If we are protected from harm’s way, it is God who is praised, not angels. Without God, angels wouldn’t be doing anything for us. They are His. They come at His beckoning.

It is interesting to note, Jesus tells us that Hell is prepared for the devil and “his angels.” The devil has angels. They most likely serve his twisted and evil purposes. Not much is said about Satan’s angels. They are spirits. Were they created that way? Did they go bad? Were they once good angels that took a wrong turn in life? We hope to write some things about that later in the week.

But one final thought all of this leads us to is that there are many unseen things that fills our world. We can’t see spirits. We can’t see angels, good or bad. We can’t see souls being taken from the departed to paradise. Our sight is limited. There are many things going on that we do not see nor understand. God moves kings. God is active in this world. It is so easy to think that the work of God is finished. That He sits on the sidelines simply watching us play out our lives. This is so untrue. Just as we can’t see radio waves and wireless communication and waves going to satellites and back to earth, many passing through our homes and probably even through our bodies, we can’t see spirits. We must wonder, without knowing the answer, how many angels are sent to earth each day. God is busy. He is trying to save you. He is trying to help you. There are many ways He does this. Angels are just one of His tools.

Myriads of myriads of angels—that’s a great reminder for us.

Roger