Entertaining Strangers (Angels incognito)

The film & television industries haven't done a great job protraying angels in movies and shows.  Numerous plotlines usually invovle: Either angels are angry God has shown more interest in humans and thus are warring with humans for some nefarious reason; or the angels are jealous of humans and do everything possible to make them fail, sin, blaspheme God so angels look, well, more angelic; or....angels are aware of what God really wants from them and go maverick every now and then, trying to get God's attention again; or, an angel decides to "fall" from the presence of God cause they fell in love with a human.  Whichever movie you pick...angels are always misrepresented and in an unbibilical manner.

 

I wonder what we would REALLY do if we knew we were entertaining an angel?

 

And yet, we are to treat all strangers as IF they might be angels.  Some of you might argue that we only need to be nice to men strangers (as all angels in the Bible only appear as men and never women).  Whoa!  Wait a minute...you didn't know that?
 

Let's digress here and do a quick study of Angelology....

 

If you want a thorough study of angels (Angelology), check out www.ariel.org, the Come and See section.  Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum does an excellent study on the Doctrice of the Elect Angels...and you can listen to him talk about it and download his pdf file to follow along.

 

Brief facts about angels. (All of the following is taken directly from Dr. Fruchtenbaum's manuscript).

 

The Bible does teach that angels exist...Angels are mentioned in the Bible 273 times, in 33 of the 66 books of the Bible.  They are mentioned 108 times in 18 books of the Old Testament and 165 times in 15 books of the New Testament.  Jesus Himself clearly taught the existence of anges and referred to them in every Gospel.

 

Angels were created by God (Colossians 1:16).  According to Job 38:4-7, angels were already in existence when Genesis 1:1 took place.  Angels are inferior to Jesus as God (Hebrews 1:4-2:3) and to Jesus' humanity (Hebrews 2:5-8).  However, they are superior to common man because they are higher beings than man (Psalm 8:4-5; Heb. 2:5-7; II Pet. 2:11).  Angles always appeared as young men (Gen. 18:1-2, 16, 22; 19:1-22; Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4; Acts 1:10-11).

 

Nowhere in the Bible do angels appear in the form of women, children, such as cupids, or old men.  (So, although that female angel tree-topper at Christmas is beautiful...it really is unbiblical.)

 

There are four main attributes of angels.  1-Angels are holy (Luke 9:26).  2-Angels are powerful (Psalm 103:20; Matthew 28:2 - able to roll away the stone from the tomb of Jesus, where normally several men would be needed; Acts 5:19 - open prison doors; Acts 12:7 - able to snap off Peter's chains; other verses referring to their powers - Eph. 1:21; 3:10; Col. 1:16; II Thess. 1:7; II Peter 2:11).  3-Angels are immortal (Luke 20:35-36).  4-Angels are not divine, and therefore forbidden to be worshipped (Col. 2:18; Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9).

 

Most lately, one comfort (among many others) to me when my mom died was a specific ministry of angels.  According to Luke 16:22, one of the works, or ministries, of angels in relationship to believers is to carry the soul to its abode in Heaven when a believer dies.

 

You really should go online and download the manuscript to get a full Biblical study about angels.  And, there are other super great Biblically sound studies on all sorts of topics.

 

Let's get back to "entertaining strangers."

 

In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about when He returns and separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep He puts to His right. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' (Matthew 25:34-40)

 

Kinda changes your perspective on how Jesus will view what we did while we are on this earth.  And, notice He refers to them as "brothers of Mine."  Again, I think this is another reflection of loving God and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.  How we treat each other in the body of Christ really matters to God.

 

If we were to demonstrate that kind of dedicated love to each other in the body of Christ...we'd never want to do anything but go to church, fellowship with other Christians and take care of each other.  The body of Christ would be a brilliant beacon in this dark world saying, "Jesus is here!  Come and thirst no more!"  Today, in the church, we sit with a bunch of "strangers."  We are content to recognize faces, maybe make the occasional nice talk...but it ends there.  No wonder the naked, hungry, thirsty, strangers, sick, or imprisoned aren't welcomed into our clean, tidy and sterile sanctuaries. 

 

Rather than bemoan our stagnate state...I have a responsibility to let the change begin with me.  I want to fall in love with God!  Don't you?!

PlanetWisdom.com Devotionals

Go: Entertain Strangers Posted: 19 May 2009 12:37 PM PDT "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2) You could read this verse in a few different ways, but I don't think the writer was urging Christians to do stand-up comedy routines for strangers in hopes of "entertaining" angels. For most of human history, traveling has been dangerous. Away from home, you never know who to trust. Is the innkeeper a good guy -- or is he working with thieves to ambush his unwary house guests? In that time, especially, Christians could actively show the love of Jesus by offering kindness, hospitality, and protection to travelers. As more and more strangers were given a night's rest and safe passage by Christians, they would take the message far and wide that Christians are people who do good, even for strangers. Traveling has changed, but there are still plenty of strangers in need of help, food, and hospitality. We can continue to make Jesus known by helping in His name those we do not know. Bonus: You might even end up giving a ride, a meal, or a few bucks to an angel. Think: How often has your family or your church participated in entertaining strangers? Has anyone ever helped you in a moment of need, even though he or she did not know you? How can you be ready to wisely (and safely) help out the next stranger that comes your way? Pray: Ask God to help you and your family or church group to be available to offer hospitality to strangers in the name of Jesus. Do: Ask your parents and/or youth leader about any of their experiences offering and/or receiving hospitality to or from strangers. Visit PlanetWisdom.com for more great resources!