Angels from the Realms of Glory…

Did you know that there were so many of them? Today in the Anglican Church is the Feast Day of Michael and all the assembled angel hordes. You know the dudes. 8 foot, kick-*** fellas in the Bible who, if you mess with them can cause you all sorts of problems, and who, if you stay on their right side can be jolly and nice and bring you neat messages from God (hence “malak” in the Hebrew meaning – “messenger”). So much for pretty girly angels in our nativity plays huh? (It’s a particular bug-bear of mine).

Anyway, back to the point. Michael (see above with kick-*** sword – “you looking at me demon?”) is going to come back and lead the armies that fight against the dragon and his angels (Rev 12:7). But, according to tradition, he also gets to be the ruler of the Jewish people. Neat huh? Gabriel on the other hand seems to be a “malak par malakim” as one of God’s chief messengers whereas Raphael is reputed to be the Angel of Healing. He appears in Tobit, gets Tobit to fish and uses the fish’s gallbladder to heal Tobit’s eyes AND to get rid of Asmodeus. I think the myth of Raphael is worth exploring more in our healing ministry, but I digress…

While I don’t think we should anything to do with modern Angel divination stuff, it’s always good to know what the early church thought about these kind of things. Spend a moment today and thank God for Michael, a symbol of his victory over sin, Gabriel, a symbol of his revelation to mankind and Raphael, a symbol of the healing power of Christ on the Cross. But never, never, ever thank the angels themselves. That would be a very bad thing to do…..