St.
Michael and All Angels
Observed
on
September
28, 2014
Daniel
12:1
Michael
Guards God's People
†
In
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I.
Satan
and his evil angels are always most active when time is short.
When
Jesus walked the earth, Satan's activity increased dramatically.
Think of the many demon-possessions with which Jesus and His
disciples dealt. Remember the direct temptations that the Devil
brought before Jesus in the wilderness. He knew that he was running
out of time to stop Jesus from going to the cross, where He would die
for the sins of the world.
And
now in these last days, our old evil foe is active like never before.
The Devil seems to control most aspects of the world around us. He
does this not by spiritually possessing the bodies of
politicians or journalists or educators or your children or your
parents. Instead he uses peer pressure to never ever speak of Sin
with any authority or conviction. No voice will be tolerated who
says, "Love God and love your neighbor." And because no one
is allowed to speak this essence of the Law to anyone anymore, we are
in a time of great distress. Without the damning cry of Love, of
which we always fall miserably short, we live now with extreme
pressure to live without the Savior. This is the world in which Satan
is content to live.
God
help us! And He does. He sends messengers to proclaim the Law and the
Gospel to our stressed-out souls. He takes our minds that our
bombarded by shifty lies and leads us to His unchanging promises.
13Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,
because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.
14The
purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles
by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through
faith. Galatians
3:13-14
II.
And
He sends us Michael, the chief of the guardian angels. Guardian
angels are real. We often limit their protection to earthly safety,
especially if you have to cross the I-74 bridge during rush hour. But
they do so much more than protect us from distracted drivers!
Sent
by God, Michael leads his army of good angels against the Devil and
his forces of evil angels. And the good news is that they have
already won the war in heaven.
7And
there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But
he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The
great dragon was hurled down—that
ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world
astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with
him. Revelation
12:7-9
St.
John went on in his revelation to reveal that the evil angels were
hurled down to the earth near the beginning of time. Since then they
have been attacking God's people to this day.
So
we pray, "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."
And we pray, "Deliver us from evil." We pray that God would
keep hurling Satan and his evil demons downward. They
were thrown down from heaven to earth. Dear Lord, keep throwing them
down, down into the bowels of hell. But until the Last Day arrives
without warning—probably
and hopefully sometime today—the
war continues here on earth.
1At
that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will
arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from
the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your
people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be
delivered. Daniel
12:1
This
prediction was made to Daniel, but it applies to our time also. We
are living in the end time, the last days of this world. We are
living in a time of great distress. The Devil and his evil angels are
more active than ever. They corrupt the minds of so many in the name
of tolerance and progress. And so we have the terrible privilege of
witnessing how terrible the world and its lovers have always been.
In
Christ we are strong, because in Him we have already won. The legions
of faithful angels that He refused to use to take Him safely away
from the false accusations of the Jews and the torture and cross of
the Romans, He uses instead to protect you. He sends Michael and his
holy angels to guard you because your name is written in the Book of
Life, written in His blood for the forgiveness of your sin.
God's
messenger angel assured Daniel and he assures us,
“Don’t
be afraid, you who are treasured by God. Peace be to you; be very
strong!” Daniel
10:19
In
the name of the Father
and
of the † Son
and
of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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