Angels

Genesis 18:1-5

Many books have been written about angels, I’ve heard people state you’re an angel, or have you had someone come out of no where and “save your bacon” and you proclaim “You are an angel.”  Our family was in London many years ago our daughter was in her teens and the three of us were out early looking the town over.  I will never forget observing an older man in a sport coat and tie looking in the garbage cans.  The girls were window shopping and I could not take my eyes off the old man picking through the garbage, and coming up with a cup or a morsel that I would see him put into his mouth.  We had been to London a few times and I had never seen anyone acting that way, so I told the girls and we watched as he went from one garbage can to the next. The Spirit that lives in me said, Bob feed that man, and another voice in my head said, he’s just a bum. 

The battle was going on in my mind and I knew that I had to feed that poor old gentleman, so I told the girls to go on to the area we had agreed on earlier and I would find them later.  As I approached the old gentleman, I noted that his coat was not clean, that his shoes had not been polished in sometime, but he was clean and had shaved.  He did not see me as I crossed the street because he was diligently searching in the trash, for something to eat.  As he looked up, I said sir, I’ve noticed that you seem to be hungry, would you do me a favor and have breakfast with me.  The old gentleman was very polite and told me he was not hungry, and as I looked into his eyes I saw a kindness and love and at the same time I also saw pain, no matter what I said, his answer was no, but thank you for asking.  I crossed back to the other side of the street and turned to look once more at the old man but he was no where to be seen, it had only been seconds, and as I looked up and down the street there was no place he could have gone, but he was gone.

To this day I believe he was an angel, I believe it was a test to see if I would care for what God cares for or if I would listen to the other voice that said he’s just a bum and your on vacation, let one of his people feed him.  Hebrews 13:2, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.”  Let me be quick to state that I was totally out of my comfort zone that day, and I believe the Lord spoke to me and gave me a heart of compassion for an old man digging in garbage cans.

It is the heat of the day and Abraham is sitting at the door of his tent, when he sees three men standing in front of him and this was his actions,  “When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.   Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on – since you have come to your servant.”

It seems like these three men came out of no where, and the Bible does not speak to the fact that Abraham was or had been praying or meditating, but it is a good guess that the son that God had promised was on his mind when he saw these men.  It is also true that they looked like men but Abraham ran and bowed down to them and he addressed the spokesman as “my Lord” (Hebrew Adonai), which is one of the divine names.  It is important to state that the same name is used as a title of respect for men, so it does not prove that Abraham recognized him as God.  But it was the Lord with two angels and  unlike my old gentleman in London, they sat down and ate the meal that was prepared for them.

The Genesis Record by Henry M. Morris states on page 339, “It might seem strange that angels would actually partake physically of human food.  It certainly is not necessary for them to do so for their own sustenance.  Nevertheless it is evidently possible for them to do so, in connection with their service as “messengers” (actual meaning of the word “angels”) from God to man.  In order to communicate to man, they frequently appear in Scripture as men.  This appearance is not a ghostlike, unsubstantial appearance, but in every way physical and real.  There is no way of explaining this phenomenon on a naturalistic level.  Angels are “spirits” (Hebrews 1:14), but evidently God allows them to be “clothed” in human form when occasion requires.  It is possibly somewhat analogous to the resurrection body of the Lord Jesus, who, when He appeared to the disciples, “did eat before them” (Luke 24:43).

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice