[I have a book of Introduction to Angels at Amazon.com/author/billhaberman]
Check previous parts for important information.
What about Guardian Angels and Physical World Salvation?
In Hebrews 1 all the angels are ministering spirits sent forth to do service [minister] to the ones that shall be saved.
It appears clear that the guardian angels are not concerned with eternal salvation here, at least not directly. Example, in the case of Lot it was salvation from the destruction Sodom. In the case of Balaam is was salvation from the physical curse for the people of Israel. In the case of the child-Jesus the angel was working for his physical salvation from the coming mass murder of children. God had given the angels charge to protect him.
If you are to be delivered from a physical world problem [that type salvation], this is the realm of the guardian angels’ work. They minister and aid you so you will know what to do and provide a way for you to do it. It is up to you to do. You must be active in your salvation in this context.
Consider the next verses in Hebrews 2:1-4 [The thought continues; there were no chapters in the original writing.]
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard … for if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Which having at first been spoken by the Lord was confirmed unto us by them that heard …”
This passage could receive a book unto itself. But we are limiting ourselves to the guardian angel concepts.
The Hebrews, who received this writing, were Christians. They had already been involved in the escape regarding eternal salvation. What might this salvation be then?
Something, future to the primal readers, was going to happen from which they were going to need to have salvation. This is stated in the context of guardian angels, ministering spirit, announcing it. The guardian angels seem to be used to deal with some sort of physical world salvation.
“If the words spoken by angels [in the past] proved steadfast …” That would be something like the case of Lot. Sodom was going to be destroyed, and Lot and his family needed to escape. That was the message to him and the way of escape from being caught up in that physical destruction.
Also in that message, there was the instruction not to look back. Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. “… every transgression received a just recompence of reward …”
The situation in Hebrews and the angels was “first spoken by the Lord [Jesus], confirmed by the one’s that heard, and later by God through the apostles and prophets, earthy angels [Hebrews 2:4]. What could this message have been for the Hebrew Christians.
There was yet to come the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the army of Titus.
Jesus had messaged this in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. In that message Jesus told the Hebrews that when they saw the city Jerusalem surrounded, flee, do not dally. [How could they flee if it was surrounded?] This would be a message of the angels like that of Lot. It would be of import to the Christian Jews of Jerusalem, the Hebrews.
In the late 60’s a.d., Titus with his army surrounded Jerusalem. At the same time his father was fighting in Egypt, and that was not going well. So, Titus lifted the siege and went to his aid. A door of escape was provided.
The city rejoiced that they had been delivered. But Josephus, the Roman Historian, tells us that the Christians fled the city and crossed the Jordan. When Titus returned and finally destroyed Jerusalem in 70 a.d., the Christians had escaped the physical destruction.
The ones that shall be saved in Hebrews 1:14 are those Hebrews who were saved from the destruction of Jerusalem by positively receiving the message of the angels and fleeing.
This dovetails exactly into what we have already learned about guardian angels.
The apostles and prophet were the earthly angels here who kept the message before the people so they could escape. But there are several instances where the apostles refused worship. The heavenly angels refused worship too.
Remember they are ministering spirits. Like the ministering cups in the tabernacle and temple. They were of service but not venerated. The Levites were ministering servants. They were thanked with honorarium, but not worshiped.
So also, the angels, ministering spirits, are thanked but not worshipped. We are to receive with thanksgiving said the apostle Paul.
It is a profound ego boost when we do something. That is misdirected thinking. You have the opportunity by the ministering of angels. God is in control of the circumstances, and you exercised your free will to do. You had been given the opportunity to do by the guardian angels. Your success is, if viewed from this spiritual vantage point, a truly humbling experience.
From the perspective of the real world you are human being, being in the circumstances presented to you. In that context you may choose to be a human doing, that is free will.
In the martial art of aikido there is the principle of blending. This is a completely defensive martial art. They do not look at defense as doing something, but blending with reality.
This may be an oversimplification, but this is how their philosophy works. If someone is throwing a punch at you, you simply turn to the side as if you are moving in the direction of the punch. Then you gently take the hand of assault and move with it that direction and direct it to the ground.
The problem person falls at your feet and you step back.
I heard about a little 78 year old nun who took up this art for exercise. She was comfortable with it because it was defensive and without intent to harm. One day the nun was going to be mugged by two men.
The first man moved at her, and she blended. The man went down at her feet, and she stepped back. While he was getting up, the second man came; she blended and stepped back. Then the first man came at her, and again he was at her feet. They decided her purse was not so important, and they ran away.
Everyone was talking about how great she had handled the problem and with such ease. She had clearly been physically out matched and effortless, in seconds, delivered herself from the situation.
She humbly said it was not her she had just blended. When the problem came and the opportunity of escape appeared, she took it. It was not her power. It was her choice to use the opportunity that was presented to her.
I may not have explained that well. However it is very beautiful when you see it. It is totally effortless.
This is a way to view the work of guardian angels. Your life is a series of opportunities. The angel offers you a door; in some way he makes your path clear. When you take it, you effortlessly pass through to the next level of life. Ego is nothing. Resistance and labor against reality is none existent. You are just being in reality. With the guardian angel it is just blending with reality.
