Angels Reveal God’s Will To Us

For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me.
–Acts 27:23

The Bible says angels sometimes reveal God’s will to us. The Bible is God’s complete and final revelation–that is, everything we need to know about God is deposited in the Scripture. There is no new doctrine, no new revelation from God today. Nevertheless, even though this Book is complete, we often wonder, “How do I know what God’s plan for my life is? How do I know what school to attend? How do I know whom to marry? How do I know which car to buy? How do I know what job to take? How does God reveal His specific will to me?”

There are several ways God reveals His specific will to us. Sometimes God uses circumstances to reveal His will. Other times God reveals His will to us through people, especially those in authority over us. Sometimes God uses the church to reveal His specific will for us in a situation. Sometimes, as Romans 8:14 says, He uses the Holy Spirit to lead us into His will. But there are also times that God uses angels to reveal His specific will to us.

We see examples of this throughout Scripture. In Matthew 1:20, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” Later, angels appeared at Jesus’ empty tomb and instructed the women where to go (Matthew 28:7). In Acts 8:26, an angel came to Philip and told him to go to the Gaza road to meet the Ethiopian eunuch. In Acts 27, Paul stood before the terrified passengers on a sinking ship and told them not to panic because an angel had appeared to him and assured him that everyone on the boat would be saved (27:23-26).

The Bible teaches us that God does at times reveal Himself through angels. God is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). And if God in the past has revealed His specific will through angels, why should we be surprised that occasionally He chooses to do the same for us today?

By the way, one word of caution: in 2 Corinthians 11:14, the Apostle Paul warned us that Satan is able to disguise himself as an angel of light. We need to remember that Satan has the ability to deceive us, and that is why we need to be very careful that if we do see an angel, we must always test that supernatural revelation against the truth of God’s Word. The Bible says God will not contradict Himself. If an angel comes to you and tells you something that contradicts the Word of God, you are to dismiss that angelic appearance as an appearance of Satan.

We are not to pray for the appearance of an angel. Nevertheless, we should not be surprised if at times of stress and trial God might send an angel to reveal His specific will to us. In these cases, we are to test every angelic appearance by the truth of God’s Word.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “The Angels And You” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2018.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.