Special!

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?  Hebrews 1:14

Do you realize how special you are to be a follower of Christ? Before you get too excited, you are not special because of   anything that you have done to become a Christian. God makes that clear, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may  boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them   (Eph. 2:8-9).” What I mean by special is that even though we were made a little lower than the angels, we can do something that the Angels can never do: glorify God for our salvation.

Angels and people have God as creator, but only humans  can know His Son as Redeemer. The angel Gabriel and all of the other angels that did not rebel do not need a redeemer, and Satan and the third of the angels that did do not get a redeemer. We can do what no angel can do: sing our praises   to God for our redemption. Angles rejoice over our conversion (Luke 15:10) and give God the glory for it, but they can never know the joy you know from salvation. You were once lost,   but now you are found. You were blind, but now you see. You were once a slave to sin but now a slave of righteousness.  Because God has saved us from Hell, we can praise Him forever for saving wretches like us.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that one calling of these angels is to serve those who are heirs of salvation. Think about this for a moment: God’s angels minister to the saints. Commentaries agree that this is both a current and future prospect. We will  be served by God’s angels for all eternity. David L. Allen, the author of  Hebrews.

The New American Commentary, writes this about 1:14: This verse illuminates the interplay of realized eschatology with  its “already” and futuristic eschatology with its “not yet.” The doctrinal sections of the epistle focus on the former, while  the parenetic.

Remember, Christian you are special in the eyes of God.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark