Angels Call Him Lord
By Dennis Pollock
I have been reading the Bible regularly for the last fifty years. Still, there are always things that pop out at me while I read, even though I know the basic stories pretty well. Today I want to look at an interchange between an angel of the Lord and a couple of ladies who went to the tomb, to look for Jesus. In Matthew 28, the Bible tells us:
And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. (Matthew 28:2-4)
This "angel of the Lord" was awesome to look at. He had come from the presence of God and he was shining and glowing with the glory of God. This was way more than the Roman guards could take. They began to tremble and shake and quickly fell down in a faint. These hardened, tough Roman soldiers were lying all over the ground, passed out from a glimpse of God's glory shining through His servant, this spectacular angel of the Lord.
Scary Angels
Throughout the Bible, we find angels being sent as emissaries of the Lord Almighty. And even when they appear to God's faithful servants, fear is always the result, so much so, that with almost every appearance of an angel, the first words that come out of their mouths are identical: "Do not be afraid." They say this because people are afraid of these fearsome representatives of our Creator. They scare people terribly, and even the most godly of men and women can barely stand in their presence.
When this angel appeared, even the earth itself began to shake. The ground could hardly stand the presence of this angel of the Lord, and the stone which stood over the mouth of the tomb meekly rolled to the side. Finally, two women, disciples of Jesus, show up and see the angel. And the angel says what angels always say when they are looked upon by God's children: "Do not be afraid." He went on to say: "I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified." In other words, "You are friends of God, you are seeking Jesus because you love Him and respect Him, so you have no need to fear. You are friends of heaven, you're friends of God, you're friends of Jesus, so you don't have anything to be afraid of." And unlike the Roman soldiers who fell to the ground in a faint, these women were able to stand up and hear the words of this mighty heavenly being.
The angel went on to tell the astonished ladies: "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said." (Matthew 28:6). While He was with His disciples, before His crucifixion, Jesus had made no secret of His coming death and resurrection. He had told them of these things numerous times, and the angel was reminding the women that things had happened precisely as their Lord had predicted.
Then the angel invited the ladies to enter and observe the empty tomb, saying, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." We like to watch movies with tough heroes, men who can defeat their enemies with a few quick punches and kicks. But no man on earth can match the power or the irresistible strength and glory of the angels of the Lord. All the Roman guards were lying on the ground like dead men, from a single appearance of just one angel. But now we find this angel, mighty, powerful, irresistible, awesome to behold, unafraid of any man or any contingent of men, and yet when he speaks of Jesus he calls him Lord: "Come see the place where the Lord lay."
Lord Over All
Angels do not even begin to measure up to Jesus. He is infinitely greater than they are. He is the Lord, the Boss, the One with all authority. Although when everybody else sees angels, they fear and tremble, it was not so with Jesus. Whenever an angel would meet Jesus, if anybody was going to tremble it would be the angels, because He is their Lord, their Boss. And so the angel of the Lord reverently says to the ladies, "Come see the place where the Lord lay."
Workers have always had a bit of fear or nervousness whenever the boss comes into their particular work area. When the boss is around and is watching you, you are always on your best behavior. You do not want to look bad, because he has the authority to determine your fate, whether you are to be fired, or remain, whether you are to receive a raise or a demotion. And we discover that Jesus, who lived as a man and looked like a man, had complete authority over even the mighty and holy angels of God. Later in this chapter, Jesus tells His disciples:
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… (Matthew 28:18-19)
So Little Respect
It is ironic that so many of His own people, while He was on earth walking the streets of Israel, did not show Him the respect He deserved, the respect which even the mighty angels demonstrated. Many of the elite of Israel looked upon Him as an uneducated Galilean, a common village man. He was too young, He was too uneducated, He was too common, He was too brash – what could He possibly teach us? God in human flesh was right under their noses and they could not see it.
And so it is today. People today have little respect for Jesus, His people, His church, His message, His morals, or His insistence that without Him we will never see heaven. The One the angels fear and respect, we ignore, reject, and even sometimes ridicule. The One who could calm the storms, heal the lepers, raise the dead, and walk on water, we treat with utter disdain.
The Book of Hebrews is all about the superiority of Jesus to everybody and everything. It speaks of Jesus' superiority over the law of God, His superiority over Moses, and His superiority over angels. In the first chapter, we read:
But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
"Let all the angels of God worship Him."
And of the angels He says:
"Who makes His angels spirits
And His ministers a flame of fire."
But to the Son He says:
"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…" (Hebrews 1:6-8)
Angels are not merely to obey Jesus; they are to worship Jesus. And we all recognize that the only One worthy of worship is God. It is no wonder the angel told the women, "Come see the place where the Lord lay."
Not Only Mighty…
There is one further point that needs to be made. As mighty as Jesus is, as much authority as He holds, over men and women, over nature, over demons, and angels, we must also see that He loves us. When Jesus went to the cross to die in our place, He went there voluntarily. He could easily have struck all His enemies dead or caused the earth to open up and swallow the Roman soldiers forever, just as it happened in the days of Moses. But Jesus went to the cross as a docile lamb, the Lamb of God. He said no word, He offered no resistance. He allowed the soldiers to drive those large nails through His hands and His feet, because of His great love for you and me.
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