An Angelic Festival of Worship (Hebrews 12:22-24) | Worship Service

Good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church. Would you please stand as we open up our service this morning with a reading out of Psalm 9.

And verses 9 to 14 says, Yahweh also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of distress.

And those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, oh Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Sing praises to Yahweh who abides in Zion, declare among the peoples his acts, for he who requires blood remembers them, he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

Be gracious to me, oh Yahweh, see my affliction from those who hate me, you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the of Zion, I may rejoice in your salvation.

Let's sing together Psalm 9, wholehearted Thanksgiving. Wholehearted Thanksgiving to thee will

I bring, in praise of thy marvelous deeds

I will sing. In me I will join and exultingly cry, thy name

I will praise, oh Jehovah most high. Praise the

Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.

O come to Jehovah, declare ye his fame, and give him all honor, for just is his name.

Lord, art a refuge for all the oppressed, all trust thee, who know thee, and trust thee are blessed, for never, oh

Lord, did thy mercy forsake the soul that has sought of thy grace to partake.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.

O come to Jehovah, declare ye his fame, and give him all honor, for just is his name.

Give praise to Jehovah, the mighty, deep stead, of him who has chosen in Zion to dwell.

Of him to whom justice and vengeance belong, who blesses the lowly and overthrows wrong.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.

O come to Jehovah, declare justice his name.

Thy affliction, thy mercy, accord. And back from death's portals, restore me,

O Lord, that I in the gates of thy

Zion may raise my song of salvation and show forth thy praise.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.

O come to Jehovah, declare ye his fame, and give him all honor, for just is his name.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.

O come to Jehovah, declare ye his fame, and give him all honor, for just is his name.

Come, gaze upon your Savior, behold your great

High Priest. Drawn near in awe and wonder, this cross has spoken peace.

Come, rest from sin and strive me, find endless stores of grace.

The heart that turns to Jesus is cleansed from every stain.

Oh, how deep, how wide, how long. Oh, how vast the love of Jesus.

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong. Oh, how vast the love for us.

So lift your eyes to Jesus. Arise from doubt and shame.

His blood cries, it is finished. Our life is in his name.

Oh, how deep, how wide, how long. Oh, how vast the love of Jesus.

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong. Oh, how vast is love for us.

How can separate us?

Can death or pain or fear? We have this strong assurance.

In Christ we've been brought near.

And in his strength we'll labor. His promise is our hope.

Thus far his love has led us. His love will lead us home.

Oh, how deep, how wide, how long. Oh, how vast the love of Jesus.

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong. Oh, how vast is love for us.

Oh, how deep, how wide, how long. Oh, how vast the love of Jesus.

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong. Oh, how vast is love for us.

Amen. You may be seated. We have a full house today.

So apparently everybody heard about the potluck that we're having after the service today. And if you are new here and you didn't know about that, you can pretend that you knew all along and that you paid a little something to be part of it and join us after the service.

Immediately after our service, we're going to tear down a couple of rows back here in this section. So we would just ask everybody to sort of exit the building, go out, make your way out onto the lawn.

So we can set up the food tables in here. And then we will have somebody go out, probably me, and pray.

And then you'll come back through the line and then head outside to eat. And I think that was all that I needed to announce.

One last thing before our scripture reading. We have some missionaries who are visiting us that our church has supported for 40 years.

When you see him, you're going to say, yeah, he does look like he's been on the mission field for 40 years. And I've known him since I was a teenager.

And they came up and were part of Vacation Bible School on occasion. And we're here for Sunday school and visited our church from years ago.

There we go. All right. So with that, it's

Marty and Jeanette Wendel. And they have recently transitioned to a new kind of ministry, a different phase of their ministry, which you do when you've been supported for 40 years.

And their table is out in the foyer. So I would encourage you to go out there and visit them. And I think that Marty and Jeanette are probably going to be new faces in a new ministry to many of you who are here.

But Marty, will you come up here now and share with us, please? Good morning.

That gentleman you saw running up here, that was a practice run for the EMTs when I die of old age in the pulpit.

I score him a 9 out of 10. He'd have got 10 out of 10 if he'd have been screaming as he ran up here.

Every time I think of Kootenai Community Church, I think of the following verses. I thank my

God every time I remember you. In all of my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.

Because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now.

It has been 40 years. I am 42 years old, for those of you that are asking. And ever since they started meeting in the basement of that little white church, and then moved to the school, and then came here, it's been remarkable to see how

God has blessed you from the first day until now. The growth that I see here is, in my mind, the reflection of faithfulness to God and his word, and faithfulness by the pastors who have led this ministry forward since its beginning in 1979,

I believe the church was started as a Sunday school. So, Pastor Jim, thank you.

Thank you, too, for your prayer and financial support with our submissions, beginning in Latin America and now expanding to over five continents.

We've participated with you in prayer and financial giving, and in 2015, Katie Kenney came and worked at one of our camps in Ireland.

So, if you feel like going to Ireland, we still have plenty of room there, and in probably 45 other countries where we're doing camping.

Bible -Centered Ministries, or BCM, began 87 years ago as the Bible Club movement, focused on teaching the

Bible to children in home clubs and in camps. While still maintaining that focus, our activities have grown to include evangelism and discipleship of all ages, church planning and leadership development.

You will often hear us say in our organization, we are reaching children and strengthening the church.

Jeanette and I have been with BCM now for more than 17 years. We came to BCM, and I came as the international president of the organization, and Jeanette has been working in communications and also as the editor of the

BCM World magazine, a digital magazine about the happenings of BCM globally.

In April of this year, after a successful year -long search,

Dr. Rick Rhodes was installed as the seventh president of BCM International. So, what lies ahead for us?

People say, are you retiring? I say, not yet, we're retooling. As president emeritus, which does sound like I have one foot in the grave, as president emeritus,

I will be assuming the role of advisor to the president, traveling with him during this transition period, and then

I will continue doing international teaching, keynote speaking, and the development and mentoring of leaders internationally.

Jeanette will continue as editor of the BCM World magazine, in communications and training writers globally.

She currently has 24 titles that are published. If you stop at the table in the back, you'll see a few of those titles.

Let me just give an unabashed advertisement. The books you see there are for sale, and all of the proceeds will be going to the

BCM efforts by our BCM missionaries in disaster relief for the

Ukraine. They are now in day 561 since this resurgence of that conflict.

So, that's where the proceeds for those books will go. So, for further information, stop in the foyer.

You also say, okay, we've heard about BCM, but tell me a little bit more. And the way I'm going to do that, so I don't cut into the preaching time, is we have a little two -and -a -half to three -minute video that will give you an overview.

So, watch the video. If you have any more questions, stop and see us in the back.

And now, will you please turn your

Bibles to Psalm 68. So, we would encourage you to take the time to meet

Marty and Jeanette, if you have not, and stop by the table out there. Sign up for their informational newsletters that they send out.

Psalm 68. We're going to read the first 19 verses of this psalm. For the choir director, a psalm of David, a song.

Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before God.

And let the righteous be glad, let them exult before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. Sing to God, sing praises to His name.

Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, whose name is the Lord, and exult before Him.

A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation.

God makes a home for the lonely. He leads out the prisoners into prosperity. Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

O God, when You went forth before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked.

The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God. Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the

God of Israel. You shed abroad a plentiful rain, O God. You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parched.

Your creatures settled in it. You provided in Your goodness for the poor, O God. The Lord gives the command.

The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host. Kings of armies flee, they flee, and she who remains at home will divide the spoil.

When You lie down among the sheepfolds, You are like the wings of a dove covered with silver and its pinions with glistening gold.

When the Almighty scattered the kings there, it was snowing in Zelman. A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan.

A mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan. Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, at the mountain which

God has desired for His abode? Surely the Lord will dwell there forever. The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands.

The Lord is among them as at Sinai in holiness. You have ascended on high. You have led captive Your captives.

You have received gifts among men, even among the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell there. Blessed be the

Lord who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. Will you stand with me as we pray?

Let's bow our heads. Our Father, You are a God of salvation and deliverances.

You are mighty and holy and righteous and altogether true. You are glorious in all of Your perfections and beautiful in Your holiness.

And we thank You that You have desired and worked to bring a people to Yourself, to make us holy not just in our standing before You, but ultimately in all of our conduct, and then to secure us in that holiness to dwell in Your abode with You forever and ever.

We anticipate that with great expectation, with longing and loving hearts.

We thank You for the grace that You have worked to bring us salvation, to bring us to salvation.

And we thank You for securing our redemption through the purchase of the life and the death and the burial and the resurrection of the

Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You for Your great mercy. We thank You for this reminder this morning that You are extending that mercy around the world as You continue to bless the work of Your servants and bringing the gospel to the nations.

And we know that someday, on that great day, when we are gathered into Your presence, that we will be gathered with brothers and sisters from around the world, from all of the nations, whom

You are making glad in Yourself. You will bring them all to Yourself on that great day, and You will be praised by every tribe and by every tongue and by every kindred on the face of the planet.

And we will join with them in everlasting song and everlasting rejoicing. And we pray that You would continue that work, and we pray that You would hurry to gather in all

Your chosen ones so that that last day may come and we may rejoice with You everlastingly. We praise

You for Your great goodness and ask Your blessing upon our worship service. And we pray that we would, as we sing the sentiments of our hearts, that we would sing in a way that is worthy of Your great holiness and Your great majesty.

And may Your name be made great, not just among the nations, but here amongst us as well. We ask in the name of Christ our

Lord. Amen. Let us love and sing and wonder.

Let us praise the Savior's name. He has hushed the laws of thunder.

He has quenched mouths' sinai's flame. He has washed us with His blood.

he has washed us with his blood he has brought us nigh to God let us love the

Lord who brought us pitied us when enemies called us by his grace and taught us gave us ears and gave us eyes he has washed us with his blood he presents our souls to God let us seek no fierce temptation threatens hard to bear us down for the

Lord our strong salvation holds in view the conqueror's crown he has washed us with his blood washed us with his blood soon will bring us home to God let us wonder grace and justice join and point to mercy's door when through grace in Christ our trust is justice smiles and asks no more he who washed us with his blood has secured our way to God let us praise and join the chorus of the saints enthroned on high here they trusted him before us now their praises fill the sky thou hast washed us with thy blood thou hast washed us with thy blood thou art worthy oh

God before the mountains were brought forth or days of spring and summer filled the earth from everlasting you are

God we dwell beneath the stars in ancient skies a thousand years are nothing in your sight from everlasting you are

God we dwell within your hands your perfect love and favor have no end we rest within the wisdom of your plan everlasting

God oh

God when joy and tragedy collide and loss reminds us life is but a sigh from everlasting you are

God and all our days are held within your hands your perfect love and favor have no end we rest within the wisdom of your plan everlasting

God oh God of light our ways are known to you but by your grace you're making all things new so satisfy us in our numbered days establish every effort while we wait from everlasting you are

God and all our days are held within your hands your perfect love and favor have no end we rest within the wisdom of your plan everlasting

God and all our days are held within your hands your perfect love and favor have no end we rest within the wisdom of your plan everlasting

God our reading this morning comes out of Isaiah 40 verses 12 to 17 who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and encompassed the heavens by the span and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales who has encompassed the spirit of Yahweh or as his counselor has informed him with whom did he take counsel and who gave him understanding and who taught him in the path of justice and taught him knowledge and made him know the way of understanding behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are counted as a speck of dust on the scales behold he lifts up the coastlands like fine dust even

Lebanon is not enough to burn nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering all the nations are as nothing before him they are counted by him as non -existent and utterly formless to whom then will you liken

God or what likeness will you compare with him we're going to end our music this morning by singing

Behold Our God who has held the oceans in his hand who has numbered every grain of sand kings and nations tremble at his voice all creation rises to rejoice behold our

God seated on his throne come let us adore him behold our

King nothing can compare come let us adore who has given counsel to the

Lord who can question any of his words who can teach the one who knows all things who can fathom all his wondrous deeds behold our

God seated on his throne come let us adore him behold our

King nothing can compare come let us adore him who has felt the nails upon his hand bearing all the guilt of sinful men

God eternal humbled to the grave

Jesus Savior risen now to reign behold our

God seated on his throne come let us adore him behold our

King nothing can compare come let us adore him behold our

God seated on his throne come let us adore him behold our

King nothing can compare come let us adore and all

God's people said Amen turn now please in your

Bibles to the book of Hebrews to chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 while you're doing that I want to clarify something

I said earlier in the announcement sometimes words form in my head that sound one way and come out my mouth and then

I reflect upon it and think that didn't quite come out like I intended it when I mentioned pretending as if you knew about the potluck in time to register and joining us

I wasn't in any way trying to be snarky I was just simply saying that even if you're brand new here and you had no idea that other people registered for that and you didn't know we weren't necessarily planning on you being here we sort of planned on you being here a little bit anyway so please join us afterwards and don't feel like you've got to leave that was better?

no, yeah alright, well there's a whole sermon ahead of us so see how this goes

Hebrews chapter 12 we're going to begin reading at verse 22 verses 22 through 24 and then we'll pray together but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living

God the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel let's pray together our father it is our desire today that as we look at your word that you would speak to our hearts and to our minds we pray that you would remove from us all of the distractions of this world and of our day -to -day lives and occupations that we may give this time to reflecting upon the great blessings that you have poured out upon an undeserving and ill -deserving people and so we pray that our time spent here meditating upon these truths may encourage our hearts and strengthen us to live holy and resolute lives in the midst of a hostile world and that you would fix our attention on the glories that is to come and our time with you and what you have in store for us for all of eternity we ask this in Christ's name amen if there is a lot of confusion among believers and unbelievers about the nature and character of our eternal home heaven and there is then certainly there is also a lot of confusion among believers and unbelievers regarding the beings with whom we will spend eternity namely angels

I find it fascinating that we live in a culture that in some cases utterly denies the realities of any kind of spiritual realm beyond the one that we can see with our eyes and hear and feel and yet we also live in a culture that seems fascinated with beings outside of our realm alien visitations and life from other planets and even in religious circles a fascination with angelic beings and so there is a lot of confusion not just about the nature of heaven but also the nature of those with whom we will share heaven and last week we moved the ball a little bit as it were in trying to clear up some of the confusion about our eternal destiny the heaven that is to come and where we will spend it eternity and this week we're going to try and clear up a little bit of confusion regarding angels in the passage before us that is our focus this morning the top of this list of inhabitants in heaven is angels you'll notice it in verse 22 and then verses 23 and 24 also have to do with all of the other persons or things that belong to the heavenly city that is mentioned in verse 22 verse 22 describes heaven as Mount Zion the city of the living

God a heavenly Jerusalem and then the rest of verse 22 the myriads of angels and then verses 23 and 24 describe those beings which inhabit heaven notice the list there beginning in verse 22 the myriads of angels to the general assembly and church of the first born

God the judge of all the spirits of the righteous made perfect and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and today we're going to look at angels we're going to talk about the nature of angels and what this passage tells us about our eventual assembly there with the angels now you might wish that I had chosen to do more than just one of the next things in this list today but when you drove up you saw the big smoker that's out on the lawn and you know that there's a potluck to come so you are going to be thankful that I only chose one of these instead of more than one of these so even if we get out a little bit early it'll be a blessing because what rests ahead of us is a foretaste of heaven

I'm not saying that there's going to be meat in heaven but I'm not denying that there's going to be meat in heaven either

I have some verses I'm working on and I think my next book is going to be about meat in heaven I suggested last week that one of the fruits the twelve fruits from the tree of life could taste like bacon and one of the kids came up and said if heaven is going to be filled with all the things that I love and I love meat then explain to me how it is that I'm going to enjoy heaven how can heaven not have what

I love here meat that's going to be the subject of my next book probably let's look first now at the nature of angels and our future with them verse 22 heaven is described in those three phrases

Mount Zion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and then it seems quite natural for the author to take up the subject of the angelic host that are in heaven now and are among us even now and the angelic host with whom we will spend eternity it is an interesting phrase that he uses an interesting way of describing what we have been brought to or what we come to he says we have come as if a past tense reality we've already come to heaven do you notice that?

we have come to Mount Zion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and yet you and I have not come to those things yet have we?

because we're still here so we haven't realized that and yet the author describes this list of things to which we have come as if we've already been brought there and we're already experiencing it and yet we have not already been brought there in a literal sense that we are experiencing it yet but he describes it as if we have and if we are

I think that is because our participation in these things our enjoyment of these things are being grouped in with these things is so certain and fixed in the mind of God because of what

Christ has done in securing these things through His death burial and resurrection on our behalf that the author can describe us as having already been brought to these things you have been brought to Christ and if you have been brought to Christ you have been brought to everything that encompasses

Him you have already been brought to your entire heavenly inheritance it's already yours it is already secured it is already certain so certain that Paul can speak of our glorification as if it is a past tense event in Romans chapter 8 because in the mind of God He has already done everything that is necessary to bring you to this so while you have been brought to this you're not yet experiencing that that is a reality and so there is a sense in which we have been brought to it and there is a sense in which we will be brought to it that's why the author of Hebrews in chapter 13 verse 14 look over there if you have a moment chapter 13 verse 14 for here we do not have a lasting city what's the lasting city?

The heavenly Jerusalem the city of God but we are seeking the city which is to come you have been brought to this but you're still seeking it so there is a both and and a yes we enjoy it and we're part of it and it's ours but we don't yet apprehend it we don't yet experience it so in many ways we are just like Abraham we have been promised this the enjoyment of it is absolutely fixed and certain and yet we're still living in tents here in this world waiting for that city that heavenly dwelling that is to come and part of that possession involves angels and I will have to confess to you that when

I think about heaven and when I think about the realities of heaven and going there after this life

I don't often think about the angelic host that will inhabit that great place with us

I think of you I think of my family I think of my wife I think of my friends

I think of people that have passed on I think of other people who are already there one great saint who within the last couple of weeks even passed and went to his eternal reward so I think about heaven

I think of what he is experiencing there and seeing there and rejoicing in there but I really don't think of the reality of angels being part of that eternal picture and maybe just because I don't commune with them very often if at all here and so I don't think in terms of their place with us in heaven and yet it seems quite natural for the author to speak of angels since we associate angels with heaven we associate angels with heaven and angels are not going to go out of existence when the new heaven and the new earth is created angels are going to have a place there with us in that eternal dwelling and I think the description here tells us a little bit about what we can anticipate so we should consider the nature of angels and I would love to at this point take 6 or 7 or 8 or 12 weeks and do like a series on the nature of angels because I think it would be fascinating and helpful

I'm not going to do that I want to give you a brief theological sketch of angelic beings and then mostly focus on why they're mentioned here and what the significance of their mention here is in terms of that eternal city and our eternal dwelling angels are created beings

Wayne Grudem in his systematic theology defines angels this way it's a very simple straightforward definition

I would only add one word to what Wayne Grudem I'm about to give you from Wayne Grudem but he says angels are created spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence but without physical bodies angels are created spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence but without physical bodies

I would only add one word to that definition and it would be the word powerful they're powerful they're created beings they're spiritual beings they are moral beings they are intelligent beings and they are powerful beings but they do not have physical bodies angels are not omniscient angels are not omnipresent angels do not have the qualities that God has that makes him

God Jesus said that hell is created for the devil and his angels so we know that there was a myriad of angels who were created sometime before the earth and the present universe was created and that a third of those angels fell and rebelled and Satan is their leader and so Jesus speaks of hell being a place that is created and reserved for the devil and his angels

Matthew 25 verse 41 you and I don't become angels when we die and that is one of the mystiques the cultural sort of ideas that floats around in people's heads that after you die you become like an angel second class and then if you come back and you help somebody else out then you become angel first class and every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings that might be what makes a life wonderful but it's not at all true in terms of scripture so that is part of the mystique that we have in our head or in our minds that culture teaches us that those who are angels now were once human beings so they are a different created category entirely without physical bodies though they do manifest themselves in scripture in physical form from time to time and I think that that has implications for the world to come and I hope

I don't forget to mention that a little later on but they are created beings they are beings able to communicate this to me is fascinating they are intelligent rational beings that if you could if you could have one manifest himself to you you would be able to have an intelligent rational conversation with that spiritual beings you and I are not used to being able to have rational intelligent conversations with any other created things but angels are rational and intelligent highly intelligent so you could have a full conversation with an angel they are spiritual beings so they do not have a permanent physical form they do appear physically in scripture as men it is my speculation or suggestion possibly that angels in the new heavens in the new earth will be given a permanent spiritual form that would seem to make sense with an ability to worship and to gather and to interact in a physical creation that they will live in and dwell with us there we will be able in the new heavens in the new earth to see angelic beings either we will be able to permanently see spiritual entities without physical form or they will take permanently a physical form and we will be able to converse with them we will be able to worship with them and fellowship with them angels are present in this current creation

I think around us probably far more than we tend to think or realize there is that incident you remember 2nd

Kings chapter 6 where Elisha is a servant is in the city and the foreign army surround the city and the servant comes to Elisha and says master what are we going to do now and Elisha says you don't need to worry about it those who are with us are more than those who are with them and the servant is like wait wait it's like those with us it's you and me it's us we are in this little city we are surrounded by an invading army and then

Elisha prays that the Lord would open the eyes of his servant and the servant's eyes are open and he sees the chariots and the myriads of angels that were around him at that very moment so there is an ability if God were to grant us an ability now to see the dimension that does not exist we would be able to see the angelic beings that I think join us every

Sunday for our worship services and that are with us throughout the course of our lives not as guardian angels like one person assigned to keep you alive for the rest of your life that's not what angelic beings do they have a work they are specifically given a certain work that they are engaged in concerning us but we don't have guardian angels in the sense that we think of guardian angels but we do have angelic beings that can go between heaven the present heaven and this creation and even interact in this creation in ways that we cannot comprehend and I think that they are around God's people constantly including when we worship we should consider the number of angels there is nothing in scripture that fixes the number of angels and says there is

X number of millions of them but the language that scripture uses to describe angelic beings indicates that it is a vast number that is far more than you and I would want to have to count

Jude chapter 14 it was also about these men that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied saying behold the

Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones Revelation 5, 11 and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands the word myriad was a word that would use to describe the number 10 ,000 which in the ancient world was the highest number that they could ever conceive of in their mind just 10 ,000 that was the top number for them obviously they didn't have a government spending money like ours does because we can contemplate billions and trillions of dollars and we just throw that around but back in the ancient times it was 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 you want to talk about an astronomical mind boggling amount of beings you would describe them as myriads that's tens of thousands times tens of thousands myriads upon myriads thousands of myriads of angels thousands of 10 ,000 of angels so the number suggests something that is immense to our imagination the language describes an innumerable or countless host we should also consider the variety of angels we know in scripture that there are at least archangels seraphim and cherubim now there are other names or words that are used to describe angels that suggest to me that there are other species of angels or kinds of angels if we could use that language words like elohim and living creatures and princes and morning stars and watchers

God is a creative God so when you think of angels do you think of just like a cookie cutter approach to creating angels where God just they're all the same and we get to heaven you're not going to be able to tell

Joe from John they're going to be so close that you won't be able to tell the difference between them or between one type of angel or another type of angel there are angels who are permanently assigned to hover around the throne of God and to just sing day after day holy holy holy is the

Lord God almighty who was and who is and who is to come that is their constant refrain that's one kind of angel so cherubim and seraphim and archangels and I would go even further

I would venture to say that if you think that this world is filled with demonstrations of God's creativity and His diversity among humankind wait till you see what

God's diversity looks like among the angelic kind I wouldn't be surprised if every angel were different a different look a different design look at God's creation just among dogs and cats the variety that exists in that one created kind and do you think that all the personality of angels is the same do angels have personality

I understand that we use the term personality to describe persons persons have personality but your dog has a personality doesn't it your cat

I've owned a number of dogs in my lifetime all of them have different personalities I understand that they're not persons but they have a certain way of comporting themselves certain characteristics that are unique do you think that all of the angels talk the same think the same look the same act the same or do you think that there might be diversity even amongst the angelic hosts this is my speculation because I've never met an angel and my guess is that they're probably angels who are listening to this right now so if that's the case

I don't mean to slander you in any way but it is my speculation that amongst the angels you're probably going to have all kinds of varieties of personalities amongst those intelligent communicative rational thinking beings you're probably going to have more cerebral angels who like to read up on reformation history and they like the

Puritans and they liked hanging out that was kind of their little niche that was their thing then you're going to have the funny angels with a great sense of humor always playing tricks on us and enjoying joking around about things and talking about things you're going to have angels interested in animals and angels interested in botany and angels interested in human beings and periods of history and cultures and things that we develop and a new heavens and a new earth with all that we have to explore they're going to find joy and delight in all of those things as well so they are intelligent and rational beings and their work is to serve

God and His people to bring messages to God's servants we see this in Scripture to physically protect sometimes

God's servants from danger sometimes God protects His people just Himself sovereignly by what He does in His providence other times

God assigns angels to protect His people like in 2 Kings 6 that I mentioned earlier some angels are assigned to constant and unceasing worship angels appear in Scripture to watch over us to observe the

Church and its leadership and our conduct within the Church they join us for our worship and they see us though we do not see them and I think there are two implications of this that I just want to I want you to think about in this next week two implications of this when you are alone and you sin and you think nobody sees it there may be hundreds of angels watching you at that moment rational logical thinking communicative beings with whom you will spend eternity worshiping conversing and fellowshipping now that's a bit of a make you sit up straight take notice consideration at the same time that deed that you do all alone that is a good thing to serve somebody else to sacrifice to put sin to death to say no to temptation to do the right thing and you think that nobody notices

I think there are hundreds of angels who observe that and they rejoice and these are people sorry these are angelic beings with whom you will converse and fellowship and worship for all of eternity just the reference to this reminds us that everything we do is on display amongst the heavenly realm and we have fellow worshipping creatures and beings who will join us in heaven for all of eternity who will have observed our entire lives and we will be able to have intelligent rational conversations with them about the things that God did just keep that in mind now the significance of their mention here

I think that there are two connections to our context which are very significant and I don't want you to miss these two points of connection first the mention of the coming paradise of God the holy city the heavenly city of Jerusalem Mount Zion that future reality should remind us that what's being described in Revelation 21 and 22 is a paradise that God has prepared for those who are his we have come from a paradise and we are going back to a paradise the nature of these two paradises is slightly different but we have been exiled from a paradise and we are going back to a paradise the very first mention of angels actually is in Genesis chapter 3 so this is after the fall of man so he drove man out and at the east of the garden of Eden he stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life so the very first mention of an angel in scripture is the mention that an angel was stationed at the entrance of the garden to guard the way to the tree of life so that man who had been because of his sin and rebellion exiled from paradise kicked out of the presence of God where God walked with him in the cool of the day at one point and man had unfettered and unhindered fellowship with God in the garden because of his sin he has been exiled from that paradise has been lost and the angel was stationed at the entrance of that paradise guarding the way to the tree of life so that no man could come back and eat of that tree and that angel was a symbol a signal that we had been exiled that we had lost everything and now that symbol that angel was a symbol of terror and judgment and wrath that if we approached and tried to go back into that garden where God dwelt with man prior that he would be judged that he would be executed for his sin so that angel suddenly became now an object or a symbol of terror and dread and then you see angels again at Mount Sinai so remember we have talked about Mount Sinai verses 18 through verse 21 angels were present at Sinai as well so now it's interesting that he would mention angels being present in the

New Jerusalem having just contrasted this Mount Zion with Mount Sinai angels were present at the giving of the law and we don't read this here in this passage but other places in scripture so for instance in Acts 7 verse 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it see even there is describing the law being given having been ordained through angels other passages like Galatians 3 .19

are even more clear why the law then it was added because of transgressions having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator there was a mediator between God and man so that terror that we describe in verses 18 through 21 the fear and the terror at Mount Sinai with the judgment and the condemnation and the law there were angelic beings who were present for all of that Deuteronomy 33 verse 2 the

Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir he shone forth from Mount Paran and he came from the midst of 10 ,000 holy ones at his right hand there was flashing lightning for them

Psalm 68 .17 the chariots of God are myriads thousands upon thousands the

Lord is among them as at Sinai in holiness so there were angels present at the giving of the law you remember verse 18 and 19 describe the blazing fire the darkness the gloom the world wind verse 19 talks about the blast of the trumpet who do you think was blowing the trumpets?

it wasn't Moses and Aaron it wasn't the people of Israel those trumpets were being blown by angelic hosts so this just adds to the terror of that event at Sinai it's enough that God would be there and that he would thunder with his voice and give the law and that there would be fire and smoke and gloom and darkness and everything that was associated with that that the people would look upon those visible physical phenomena of God's presence and be struck with terror in their hearts but then imagine 10 ,000 upon 10 ,000 of angels blowing trumpets and hovering around Mount Sinai as well while the law is being given that would just add to the terror of that event and here's the good news and this is the connection to the context here angelic hosts are no longer like that for us they're no longer like that for us in the new paradise the angelic hosts will also guard the way to the tree of life because Revelation 21 verse 12 says that the new

Jerusalem has a great high wall with 12 gates and at the 12 gates 12 angels and names were written on them which are the name of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel so there will be angelic hosts at the gates in the new

Jerusalem but they will not be there to keep you and I from the tree of life they will be there welcoming us into the new

Jerusalem you see our our approach to angels our relationship with angels has changed because of what

Christ has done so now we are fellow citizens of the new Jerusalem they're with us there and welcoming us in and rather than cutting us off and guarding us from the tree of life and making it so paradise is cut off from us now they stand at the entrances of the 12 entrances of the new

Jerusalem and they will welcome us in that's yet another contrast with Sinai in the garden angels guarded the entrance to keep us out and in the new paradise angels will guard the entrance to welcome us in and they will be there as a reminder that that path which was once cut off from us now because of what

Christ has done the Lamb who is at the center of the new Jerusalem because of what He has done you and I can walk freely now and partake of the tree of life then there is a phrase here in verse 23 that describes the gathering that we shall have it says to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn the phrase general assembly does not describe the church of the firstborn the phrase general assembly is intended to describe the gathering of the angels that phrase the

NASB the phrase general assembly the NASB does not do it justice not at all and I'll tell you why because the idea of a general assembly that doesn't sound fun at all does it?

that doesn't sound inviting or enjoyable oh I have come to the general assembly of people that sounds stuffy cold no fellowship there just a gathering or a collection of nameless and faithless peoples but that is not what is being described here the words describe the angels and not the church it is the angels in general assembly they say well that doesn't sound much better well the words general assembly there actually describe a festival or a feast the

ESV translates this verse innumerable angels in festal gathering the

NIV thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly this is the word though it is only used once in the

New Testament and it's here it is the Greek word that was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe the feasts and the festivals and the joyful gathering assemblies that God commanded

His people to participate in in Old Testament Israel they were to gather together and enjoy these festivals of celebrating the goodness of God and so in the

Old Testament this word was used to describe those prescribed festival gatherings joyful assemblies of the people it's used that way in Amos 5 verse 21 where God says

I hate and I reject your festivals nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies they would get together and they would they would be joyful they would be filled with joy there would be all kinds of celebration but because they were gathering in the wrong way because they were gathering for the wrong purposes and doing the wrong things

God says I reject and I hate your festival gatherings but yet God had commanded them to do it but when Israel with their sin came and approached

God in that way God says I reject them so it is not just a general assembly it is a heavenly joyful festive festival celebration gathering that's what we've been brought to not just angels like we're going to be in terror but angels having a big party where God is at the center of it it is an angelic festival an angelic festival of worship where God's people get to gather together with angelic beings who have a lot of practice worshiping

God because they've been doing it for thousands of years and we get to step into their presence we have been gathered together with those angelic beings as part of a festival worship service a festival gathering it's festivity it's joy and a celebration you and I will have a lot to celebrate

God's justice over His enemies which we sing about Sunday after Sunday His triumph of grace on His people our freedom from sin the banishment of death the triumphs of Christ through His people and for His people a new creation that you and I will get to explore and develop and enjoy and it will never be spoiled you see what the author is describing here that you and I get to anticipate and look forward to with great expectation is being brought into the presence of angelic hosts and having one eternal celebration one eternal celebration a celebration that never ends that is inside of that city the

Holy Jerusalem you and I get to come and we get to go we get to participate we get to bring others we get to visit it we get to participate in it we get to go in and out of that city and enjoy all of those blessings and this is a reminder that every celebration that you and I enjoy here in this world is a foretaste of one that is to come every party every get together every gathering with saints every celebration every experience of delight every experience of satisfaction every experience of joy every experience of happiness and fulfillment that is merely a glimpse of what

God has in store for those who are His and you get to enjoy all of that with angelic beings but here's the difference between then and now that celebration will never be spoiled by sin this is significant this

I think is the most appealing thing about Heaven for me is the absence of sin and sinfulness because we will be able to participate in a celebration like that and we will never have to wonder did

I say something wrong to that person you ever leave a celebration and you think halfway through that thing so and so their attitude towards me just totally changed did

I say something wrong did I say something offensive did I stay too long did I leave too early did

I monopolize the conversation again I mean they started talking about my favorite sport and for 40 years

I just sat there and talked about that and we never went beyond that did

I bring up a bad memory did I say something offensive did I cut somebody else off you'll never have to have any celebration spoiled by sin you will be able to gather for worship and no service will ever be interrupted the pastor will not say something that is embarrassing or stupid the worship leader will never annoy you nothing will ever spoil that there will be nothing to defile it nothing negative that you and I associate with gathering together did

I eat too much did I drink too much did I laugh too much did I talk too much or did I not do those things enough did

I not say thank you when I showed up did I not say thank you before I left you don't have to worry about any of that you and I are being gathered together with angelic hosts for a festival celebration that's the new

Jerusalem and every glimpse of that that we get here in this world including the barbecue which is to come should remind you of the joys and the delights that we get to have for thousands upon thousands of years in the new

Jerusalem and in the new creation what a rich blessing that you and I have been given that the terror of Sinai has been removed because of the death of Christ and that the expulsion from the paradise has been reversed the terror is gone and the paradise lost has been secured and regained for us friends these things that we are describing in this passage when

I speak about heaven and the angelic hosts that are there and you're gathering to them if you are in Jesus Christ these things are as certain to you they are more certain than anything else that you have ever experienced or anticipated in this life absolutely and perfectly secured for you by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross

He died to take away your sin He died to pay the price that you deserve for your rebellion against Him He died to restore to you the paradise that was lost in Adam as the head of our race as our new

Adam as our new representative He has given back to His people everything that was lost in the fall and then some we get not just that creation back we get that creation resurrected and renewed and made new and never to be spoiled by sin again that's what has been restored to us that is what we look forward to a heavenly city a new

Jerusalem Mount Zion and this time a mountain covered with angels yes but no longer terrifying us now welcoming us fellowshiping with us conversing with us celebrating with us and telling back and forth us with them and with each other all of the glories of our

God because He has done these things that's what we get to expect Our Father we thank

You for Your great grace the fact that we can gather together and rejoice in our salvation to rejoice together in the hope that we have because of what

Christ has done Father these things are are just harbingers of what is to come for us every worship service every celebration every joy and delight is a token of the blessing that You have promised to us because of Christ so it is our heart's desire that any who are here who do not know

Christ that they would see their need for Him understand their sin and that they would be granted repentance and faith to turn from their sin and believe savingly upon Him for everlasting life we pray that nobody who is here who is hearing these words may miss this eternal kingdom and all that is being described here but be pleased we pray to gather in Your people that Christ may have the full reward for all of His sufferings and we pray that You would hasten that day when we get to stand before You and rejoice together and celebrate everlastingly our great salvation and the creation that is to come we thank

You in the name of Christ our Lord and all God's people said Amen Will you please stand?

Sweetest that ever was heard Tell how the angels in chorus

Sang as they welcomed His birth Glory to God in the highest

Peace and good tidings to earn Tell me the story of Jesus Bright on my heart every word

Tell me the story most precious Sweetest that ever was heard

How sweet the new boon the Testament Tell of the days that are past How for our sins

He was tempted Yet He was triumphant at last

Tell of the years of His labor Tell of the sorrow

He bore He was dispersed and afflicted

Homeless, rejected, and poor Tell me the story of Jesus Bright on my heart every word

Tell me the story most precious Sweetest that ever was heard

Tell of the cross where they nailed Him Writhing in anguish and pain

Tell of the grave where they laid Him Tell how

He liveth in that story so tender

Clearer than ever I see

Say let me weep while you whisper

Love paid the ransom for me Tell me the story of Jesus Bright on my heart every word

Tell me the story most precious Sweetest that ever was heard

Now may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the