I found a great book the other day, Wayne Biddle’s Field Guide to the Unseen (Henry Holt & Co. 1998). It looks like it might be one of Roger Tory Peterson’s classic guides, but instead of cataloging flora and fauna, this book lists the ingredients of “the inescapable stew we’re in” (dust jacket) – what constantly surrounds us, but remains invisible. It is quite a trove of scientific information about everything from allergens and alpha rays, to B.O. and burps, to Quarks and Radon. The entry on mites (and their attendant feces) is perhaps the most disturbing bit, but the entry on Krypton was particularly fascinating – especially since Superman has returned (to a theatre near you) this summer. Biddle even has a short entry for God, and, taking into account this is not a religious tome, but a merely scientific one (albeit a bit whimsical at times), I think his treatment pretty even-handed.
There is one entry missing. If Mr. Biddle hadn’t mentioned God I would not slight him for it, but when he writes: “We can be thankful God will always be invisible,” (p. 70), I hold him accountable for his failure to mention Angels.
Angels are “ministering spirits, sent for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” Hebrews 1.14.They appear rather frequently (not always visibly), from Genesis to Revelation, helping Hagar find water, making Balaam’s donkey speak, defeating entire armies, ministering to Jesus in the wilderness and the garden, releasing Peter from jail, etc…As the Hebrews writer will further remind us (Hebrews 13.1ff) we may be in their presence and not even know it.
To emphasize this point we have an example in the Old Testament, and one in the New Testament which illustrate both the variety of the work of Angels and their unseen presence. In II Kings 6, the Syrian army has come to capture Elisha. He and his servant wake one morning to see an army surrounding the city walls. The servant trembles, but Elisha (v.16) says: “Don’t be afraid, those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then he prays that the servant’s eyes will be opened, and the servant sees the hillside aflame with armies of angels. The prophet strikes the army of Syria blind, feeds them all lunch, and sends them home.
In the New Testament, when, in Luke 16 Jesus tells us about an unnamed rich man, and a beggar named Lazarus, he says that when Lazarus died “he was carried by the Angels to the bosom of Abraham,” (v.22). This is not just some pretty metaphor. Jesus doesn’t make things up. He says that when the righteous person dies, the angels are there, and that whatever happens to translate us from this life to the next, they facilitate it.
We lost our sister, Catherine Mason last week. She had been so sick, in so many ways, for so long, that her rest in the bosom of Abraham is certainly a blessing to her. Her last day was a blessing as well as nearly 30 of her family: her husband, siblings, children, grand children, great-grand children, and loved ones gathered around her to say goodbye. The little room in the ICU unit at Virginia Hospital Center was filled with loved-ones those few, short minutes between the time they removed the respirator, and she began her heavenly rest. As full as the room was with people, there were others there, unseen helpers, ready to take her home, and others to minister to the rest – those still waiting to receive their inheritance.
I thought, that day, “There are angels, right here in the room with us, we just can’t see them.” It was an electric feeling. But then, when are they not in the room?
