The Reality Of Angels

During the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison.
–Acts 5:19

Do you believe in angels?

Before you answer that question, let me ask you another one: Do you believe in the Bible?

If your answer to the second question is yes, then your answer to the question about angels must also be yes. You cannot believe in the Bible without believing in angels. Approximately 275 times, Scripture directly teaches the existence of angels.

What do we know about angels from the Bible? Interestingly, God’s Word gives us a lot of information about these supernatural beings. Let’s look at how the Bible confirms the existence of angels.

Though some people overemphasize the importance of angels, there are others who go to the other extreme and deny that angels exist. In fact, there was such a group during the time Jesus lived–they were called the Sadducees. The Sadducees were a sect of Jews who refused to believe in anything supernatural. They did not accept the resurrection of Jesus because that was supernatural. And they did not believe in angels because they, too, are supernatural.

By the way, if you ever doubt that God has a sense of humor, just read Acts 5. In this passage, the Sadducees–the ones who did not believe in angels–arrested the apostles for preaching on Jesus’ resurrection and threw them in jail. But Acts 5:19 says that during the night, an angel came and supernaturally released these apostles from prison. Then the angel told them, “Go to the temple and teach about exactly what happened.”

The next day, the Sadducees sent officials to the prison to bring the apostles to them. When the officials got there, they found the prison locked and guarded–but no one was inside. Someone came and reported to the Sadducees, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” (Acts 5:25). Astonished, the Sadducees rushed to the temple, where they saw the apostles teaching about Jesus’ resurrection! I can imagine the apostles, with broken chains dangling from their arms, standing before the open-mouthed Sadducees and saying something like, “Now, tell us one more time why you don’t believe in angels?”

This is just one of many passages in the Bible that confirm the reality of angels. This week we will begin taking a look at some specific things we know from Scripture about these supernatural beings.

***

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.