Feast of St. Michael and All Angels—The Face of God and the Warfare of Heaven
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Our churches teach that the history of saints may be set before us so that we may follow the example of their faith and good works, according to our calling. For example, the emperor may follow the example of David in making war to drive away the Turk from his country, for both are kings.
But the Scriptures do not teach that we are to call on the saints or to ask the saints for help. Scripture sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Atoning Sacrifice, High Priest, and Intercessor. He is to be prayed to.
He has promised that He will hear our prayer. This is the worship that He approves above all other worship: that He be called upon in all afflictions” (Augsburg Confession XXI, 1–3).
That is what the Augsburg Confession says on the worship of saints. That is what our churches teach regarding the role of saints in the Christian life. They are set before us as examples, that we would look to them as examples of faith and good works, according to our various places in life, according to the Ten Commandments—whether it be in the home, in the Church, or in society.
But what about today? What about this feast? We celebrated the Feast of St. Matthew last Sunday, and that makes sense immediately. It is normal to call a human departed Christian a saint, like one of the apostles. But what about the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, calling an angel a saint?
In Scripture, the angels, like St. Michael, that remained faithful to God when Satan and his evil angels rebelled, are called holy, or they are called holy ones—the same place we get the word “saint.” The same that believing humans receive—that same title we get as saints, holy ones.
This language of “saint” or “holy one” is used of the angels in passages like Deuteronomy 33:2, where Moses, in his final blessing to the Church before he died, started with these words: “The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousand of saints; from His right hand came a fiery law for them. Yes, He loves the people; all His saints are in Your hand; they sit down at Your feet; everyone receives Your words” (Deuteronomy 33:2–3).
So it is true that the saints of God—all those who receive the words of the LORD, whether they be human or angel—are rightly called saints. The saints of God are the elect angels and those of us who trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. Michael and the rest of God’s obedient and believing angels are fellow saints and holy ones with us. That is what we are all called.
And so it is right for our churches to remember St. Michael and all the good angels, the elect angels, and that they be set before us as examples, that we may follow their faith and good works according to our calling.
When the rebellion of Satan and his evil angels took place, these evil angels were confirmed in their evil and their unbelief. Not that they did not have a historic knowledge of who God was, but that they did not believe it in a saving way. That is how we talk about it as humans—but believe it in a way that they would remain righteous. Because they did not need to be saved. They did not have sin in themselves, but they did rebel, and they rebelled against the knowledge they had more clearly than we do.
Like when James says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19). They had that knowledge, but they rejected it. And so they were confirmed in their evil.
St. Peter says this: “God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).
The angels who resisted and fought against Satan and his evil angels, rather than being confirmed in evil, were confirmed in goodness and faithfulness to their Creator. So that Scripture now calls them, as I have already said, elect angels. That is what Paul refers to them as in 1 Timothy 5. These elect angels of God are confirmed in the good and exist in bliss.
As our Lord told us in the Gospel this morning: “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). That is their bliss even now. They see the Father’s face.
The fact that they always behold the Father’s face is not something that we should quickly gloss over. It is not something we should just skip over if we do not really know why it is significant.
Our Lord Jesus, the eternal Word, is described in the first verse of St. John’s Gospel this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Your Bible probably says “with God,” but literally it is “toward God.” So, toward the Father. And the Word was God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward God the Father, and the Word was God. The love shared in the Divine Majesty, in the Trinity, is described as one where They face toward one another. And so it is with the angels, who also behold God’s face—the love and the communion that they share with God in this special way, that we do not completely share in the same way now on this side of glory.
That is why our Lutheran fathers spoke this way: “With the vision of God is most intimately united the most fervent love of God. Whoever beholds God cannot but love Him as the highest good.” And so the will of the good angels coincides constantly and perfectly with the will of God. The sole object of their entire activity is the accomplishment of the good. That is what it means that they behold the Father’s face.
In this we see the first way we could look at them as an example. As Christians, we cannot see the face of God in the same way that the angels now see the face of God. But we do behold the face of God when we make use of the means of grace. Baptism, the Scriptures tell us, is a washing in the blood of the Lamb, and it is Christ who washes us in the water and the Word.
So in Holy Baptism, we see God. When the words of absolution are spoken by the pastor, Christ tells us that this is bound in heaven as it is bound on earth. It is established by God: “He who hears you hears Me” (Luke 10:16). It is Christ speaking.
And St. Paul, when he is restoring that sinner who had gotten excommunicated—when he is talking to them in 1 Corinthians and then again in 2 Corinthians about restoring that sinner and speaking of absolution—he says this: “Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:10–11).
So when you hear the words of absolution spoken by the pastor, it is the face of Christ, His mask over that man—that sinful man—speaking those words to you. You see God in that.
And it is the same way, even more clearly, in the Lord’s Supper. It is the body and blood of Christ. He makes Himself known and recognizable to us in the breaking of the bread.
And so you see the face of God in this. And in all of these means by which God reveals His face and His gracious disposition toward us, He does it through His Word. It is not water on its own, or bread and wine on their own. It is not my words on their own. It is God’s command and Word connected to these means.
And so, if that is how we see the face of God—the fact that it is the Word that is connected to these visible elements—that means that when you open up your Bible and you read it, or you listen to it, or you hear and pay attention to preaching that is faithful according to God’s Word, you behold the face of the Father.
And so it is that for the Christian who makes diligent use of the means of grace—the Bible, the preaching, Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper—you see the face of the Father like the angels, as you wait to see Him with your eyes in the resurrection fully, like the angels behold Him now.
It is in making use of these means of grace, coming to behold Him, that we see the Father’s face. And when we avail ourselves more and more—make use of the means of grace more and more—those words spoken of the angels, that they are beholding the Father’s face, are true for us. Because in these means of grace is where faith is given and preserved in us.
And in that saving faith—not a bare historical knowledge, but real trust in Christ—in that trust and saving faith, and in and through the use of the means of grace, we are made more like the angels and more and more conformed to God’s will, and most intimately united to the most fervent love of God, and cannot but help to love Him as the highest good.
This beholding of the Father’s face and being in perfect harmony with the will and love of God means that angels naturally, freely, and joyously praise God—as the angels announcing the birth of the Lord to the shepherds. They boldly and without hesitation proclaim the message of God, like when they speak to Zechariah. And they diligently protect the saints on earth, serve them in their work and calling, and bring them ultimately to everlasting bliss with the Lord in His eternal kingdom according to His will. And they destroy all causes of sin and all workers of lawlessness.
That is what the Scriptures tell us about the angels: “Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure” (Psalm 103:20–21).
And Psalm 91 tells us: “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” (Psalm 91:11–12).
In Luke 16, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we are told that “the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22).
In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “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. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:41–43).
We are not angels, and so we will not be perfectly in line with the will of God in this life, on this side of glory. But we are Christians, redeemed by the blood of Christ and governed by the Holy Spirit. We do have a new man.
We delight in the law of God in our inner being, is what the Scriptures tell us. We are called to follow the example of our Lord Jesus and His saints that reflect the same sort of disposition, the same sort of behavior, as our Lord Jesus did in His body. We are called to follow them as examples—those who now behold the Father’s face in glory.
And so we are called to heed the voice of the LORD, the voice of His Word, the same way that the angels are attentive to it. Like the angels, we are to desire to look into God’s holy Word and the precious Gospel. Even now, even with the knowledge they have, St. Peter tells us they desire to peer into these things and to study these things.
They have not become dead, boring, common, banal things. The words of the LORD—even to the angels, with their greater knowledge than us—are things they earnestly desire to peer into constantly. So how can we sit here and say, “I already know it. I grew up with it. I know this Bible stuff”?
We have not come anywhere close to even the knowledge of the angels. And they, in their greater knowledge, only hunger and thirst more to peer into this Word and to proclaim it.
We are called to rejoice with the angels when one sinner repents, as the Scriptures say the angels do: “I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).
If the angels in their perfection can look upon our filth and still rejoice at our repentance, how much more should we—who are far closer in righteousness to the most wicked humans in this world than we are to the angels? How much more should we rejoice when a fellow sinner, even our enemy, repents?
We are far closer to their righteousness—even the most despicable human being you could imagine. We may be more righteous than them as Christians governed by the Holy Spirit, maybe. But we are a lot closer to them in righteousness than we are to the perfection of the angels.
So if they can rejoice over us, we can rejoice over our enemies when they repent. That was part of the pride and arrogance of Satan in the first place. He could not bear the idea that God would place flesh-and-blood human beings at the crown of His creation, above the angels.
But the good angels, even knowing the things in which they excel compared to us—the power and the knowledge that they excelled in more than us, the righteousness that they excelled in more than us after the Fall—had that humility, as elect angels, to still even now rejoice when we repent.
And whether you are responsible only for yourself—which hardly anybody really is—but even if you are only responsible for yourself, you need to listen to this next part. And especially if you are charged with the care of others, like most of us are in some way, we follow the example of the vigilance and the readiness of the holy angels.
They fight. They do not rest. They do not dull their senses. They are sober-minded, knowing that we are always engaged in war. They do not let their guard down. They see clearly how easily the things of this world can be wielded by Satan as weapons to destroy the saints of God.
And we ought to follow that example as well. They see clearly and take very seriously what our Lord says today: “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire” (Matthew 18:7–9).
The angels understand it. That is why, when the Son of Man sends them in the end, they will not hesitate to come down here and root out every cause of sin and every worker of lawlessness, and throw them into fire without flinching—because they know just how dangerous this is.
They already had to deal with it with Satan and the evil angels in the first rebellion. They will not flinch to do it then either. And so they understand what Jesus says here, and let us understand it very clearly too.
If your own body parts could be spoken of by your Lord Jesus in hyperbole and overstatement in this way—because I am not telling you to start gouging your eyes out and cutting off your hands right now—if it can be spoken of this way, how much more should we take seriously the real point? That those created things that we do not even need to live a godly life in this age, or to make an honest living—how much more seriously should we consider these created things, whether or not they ought to be cut out of our life completely?
You could replace, “If your eye causes you to sin” with: “Does my particular kind of cell phone cause me to sin? Are there things I can do to that particular kind of cell phone to keep those causes to sin out of my life, to throw them away, so that I can enter into life with a less cool phone, but still enter into everlasting life?”
Or is it the case that that kind of phone—it is not enough to put limits or to delete things off of it—but to not even have that kind of device? I do not want you to get tunnel vision about it, but you should honestly ask that question about created things.
If you do not even need your eyeballs to enter into eternal life, do you really need a phone? Do you need sports? No. Do you need a particular kind of education? No. So if these things are even less important than your eyeballs or your hands, take it as seriously as the Lord’s angels do, and be honest and examine yourself. Take heed to yourself.
And if fill in the blank causes you to sin, cast it off. And even more so, if it is causing your children to sin, or those under your care to sin, cast it off—because it is better to enter into life without it than to be cast into everlasting fire.
Our Lord never stops sending His angels—His messengers and warriors—to preach to us, to guard us, to fight for us and with us. He is our Captain. Our Lord Jesus is our Captain, and St. Michael stands with Him, and they lead His holy angels in battle for us and with us even now as fellow holy ones. Do not forget that.
Let it spur you on to fight. Pay close attention to our first Communion hymn this morning. Let it spur you on to fight the good fight of faith in your life, to take up your weapons—the Word of God and the shield of faith—and be comforted, knowing that our Lord sends hosts of angels to fight for you against the hordes of hell that are doomed for destruction on the Last Day.
You are precious to the Lord, and that is why you are hearing His words spoken into your ears right now. And it is why you can know that when you pray the Luther morning and evening prayer, it really is true that He sends His holy angel to be with you, that the evil foe may have no power over you. And thanks be to God for this.
Thanks be to God that the Lord sends His angels now. Thanks be to God that they are not only fighting for us, but they are also an example for us to engage in that same warfare.
Let us pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your fatherly mercy, that You have created Your holy angels to watch over us, that they should protect us from Satan. Govern and lead our hearts and souls through Your Holy Spirit, that we may live in Your fear and never act against Your will, and in all needs that may come upon us hold to You as our refuge. That we may always have Your angels around us to serve and strengthen us, so that neither Satan nor the evil world around us may break us or bring us to shame. But just as Your dear Son, Christ Jesus, who forgave us our sins and promised us eternal life through the protection of Your dear angels, we may be defended in body, life, and all we have on earth, so that we may live in peace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
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