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Sermon for the Feast of St. Michael & All Angels
Revelation 12:7-12 + Matthew 18:1-11
On Monday, which was the actual feast of St. Michael, President Trump posted this on the White House website: According to sacred Scripture, when the Devil rebelled against God in Heaven, Saint Michael and his legion of angels cast Satan down to Earth—triumphantly reasserting God’s sovereignty over all creation. For 2,000 years, Christians have looked to Saint Michael the Archangel for protection, strength, and courage in times of conflict, distress, and doubt. In 1886, nearly 140 years ago, Pope Leo XIII, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, fearing for the future of the western world, introduced the legendary Prayer to Saint Michael, which is still recited to this day in churches and homes all across our Nation and throughout the world: Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
On the one hand, it’s nice to see the government speaking positively about religion instead of persecuting it. But we should always think critically when a government official says something about God or the Bible, because they’re not good theologians. Consider what the president wrote and notice a couple of things. First, he tells the nation that St. Michael cast down Satan in the beginning, when the Devil rebelled, “reasserting God’s sovereignty over all creation.” But what you heard about Michael casting out the devil in tonight’s first lesson from Revelation 12 didn’t happen in connection with the devil’s rebellion. If we look at the context, we see that it happened in connection with the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus. In fact, the vision is so full of symbolism that it would be unwise for us to think about that “battle in heaven” too literally in the first place. Nor was God’s sovereignty over all creation ever in question, needing to be “reasserted” by Michael and the angels. Nor are we ever taught in Holy Scripture to pray to any of the holy angels. Instead, we are taught over and over again to pray to God.
But, having said that, it is entirely appropriate to give thanks to God for the help and protection of the holy angels, and to pray to God that He would continue to send them to help us and to minister to us in our time need. Because there are many and great forces working against us in the spiritual realm. The devil is real. His demons are real. But so is Michael, and so are the holy angels, whom God employs to fight for us in ways that are almost always invisible to us.
Now there’s much we don’t know about angels, but there are some things we do know from Scripture. Angels don’t have flesh and blood as we do, but they can appear as men when they wish, like the two angels who accompanied the Lord in His visit to Abraham. We often picture angels with wings. That’s because Scripture describes them that way in several places, including how God Himself commanded Moses to depict them on the ark of the covenant and in the temple. Some of them are called “cherubim,” others “seraphim,” pictured as having either no wings, or two wings, or four wings, or six.
What do the angels do? Well, first and foremost, they worship God, their Creator, their Father, and their Lord. The seraphim are pictured doing that in Isaiah’s vision as they flew around God’s throne, calling out, Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! Or in Revelation, the angels join their voices with all creatures, singing, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing! The writer to the Hebrews tells us that when God brought His firstborn into the world, He says: Let all the angels of God worship Him. And they did. Remember when they appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and a great multitude of the heavenly host appeared and sang, Glory to God in the highest! Peace on earth, goodwill to men!
Not only do the angels worship God, but they teach us to worship God together with them, with joy, with reverence, and with humble awe. There was a reason why God told Moses to place two cherubim on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark of the covenant, with their wings spread over the mercy seat, and with their faces staring down at it in reverence, just as there was a reason why God instructed Solomon to have two statues of angels made to stand guard in the most holy place in the temple, with other carved figures of angels placed in the walls of the Temple. God was teaching Israel to worship Him as the angels do. God was teaching them to imitate the worship of the angels, and that, when we worship God, the angels are present there, too, which is why, whenever we sing the Sanctus before Communion, we pray, “Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious name!”
Now, if the angels worshiped God there at the mercy seat where He appeared, and in the temple, shouldn’t we worship Him a hundred times more? The angels worship Him as their Creator and Father. We worship Him, not only as our Creator and Father, but as our Redeemer and Savior. The sinless angels have never needed God’s mercy. We poor sinners need it at all times. God didn’t send His Son into angels’ flesh, but into ours. God didn’t give His Son into death for the angels, but for us men. God has not had to forgive the angels any sins, but He forgives ours daily. God has not brought the angels into the body of Christ, but He has made us members of Christ’s body. So may our worship not just imitate, but surpass that of the angels. We have far greater reasons to worship our God than they.
But the main purpose of the angels, the primary work they were created to do, at least as far as we’re told in Scripture, is to serve the people of God. As it says in Hebrews about the angels, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
There have been two main ways in which angels have served the Church. First, they were often God’s messengers to certain men, bringing the Word of God to people, here and there, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. But such messages were rare. The chief and ongoing work of the angels is something that we never get to see, and that is, to guard and protect the people of God from dangers both seen and unseen, from attacks both spiritual and physical, both demonic and human. The angels are God’s instruments to keep us safe from harm.
Michael is said to be one of the chief angels, an “archangel.” His name itself is a word of praise, meaning, “Who is like God?” The prophet Daniel was told that Michael is “the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.” Whether “your people” was only a reference to the Old Testament nation of Israel or to all the people of God throughout the world for all time, we don’t even know. And it doesn’t really matter. Because, whether Michael is our archangel or whether it’s another, all the angels work together, at God’s command, to guard and protect the children of God.
All of this fits perfectly with what David wrote in Psalm 34, The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them; and with what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 91, Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. The truth is, if we could only see all the dangers that surround us, and the spiritual battles being fought all around us, we would never stop giving thanks to God for the protection He gives us through these mighty messengers of His.
So take comfort in the angels’ presence and protection, whether you’re on land, on sea, or in the air, in your home or in the hospital, knowing that the angels are faithful servants of God, and mighty warriors against all that might bring us harm. And if any bad thing does happen to a child of God, we can know for certain that it was not a failure of the angels to protect us, or a failure of God to see to our protection. As St. Paul wrote, “We must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations.” This is not yet Paradise, where we will be truly safe from all harm. We’re still on the battlefield here, still living in the realm of the prince of this world, still living in enemy territory, as it were. But if any bad thing happens, we have God’s promise that He allowed it to happen for a good purpose, for our eternal good, and for the good of His holy Church, even as it finally worked out well for poor Lazarus, who suffered much in this life, but whose soul was finally carried, by the angels, up to Paradise.
There will come a day when the troubles of this life are finally removed forever, and the angels will be there on that day, too. Jesus says, The Son of Man will come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him. And, As the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. At the same time, Jesus says, He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Give thanks to God today for how He runs the universe to work all things together for good to those who love Him, including His use of these holy messengers of His, the mighty angels, our fellow servants of the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who worship Him together with us and lend us their ministry and protection. We don’t see them now, but we will see them when Christ comes again. Until then, we will continue to pray in Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers, “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.” Amen.
