ENTERTAINING ANGELS
Tuesday – July 31, 2018, Av 19, 5778
Greetings my brothers and sisters and welcome back to this illuminating Bible Study from the Book of Hebrews. God is so very good to give us His Word to insure our success for the Kingdom of God and ourselves. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Now let’s look at our primary Bible text reading it aloud.
Hebrews 13:1-5 (KJV)
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Yesterday I talked at some length about entertaining strangers and just exactly who constitutes a stranger in this context. Today let us move ahead speaking of entertaining angels. I don’t know about you but I have to my knowledge never entertained an angel or angels. There have been many people in my life whom I have called an angel but they were not heavenly beings of the angel class but persons of the god class who showed extraordinary kindness to me. An angel, a holy angel, is a messenger, one who is sent in order to announce, teach, perform, or explore anything according to The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament. If you have had such a visitation please share that with me and with your permission I will share it with the readers. It seems that angels appearing to the saints of old or even the Lord Himself appearing was far more common then what is reported today. Perhaps not, more than likely it is related to the Bible focus for when you consider it in relation to the number of reported appearances compared to all the people over hundreds of years (millennia) it would still be considered rare. Let’s look at a couple of episodes, one with Abraham and one with Lot (Abrahams’ nephew). The featured picture today depicts the account to follow from Genesis eighteen.
Genesis 18:1-5 (KJV)
1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
Our Bible text start off telling us that the LORD appeared to Abraham. The word ‘LORD’ in the King James Version generally refers to the one we call Father now and is Jehovah or Yahweh the eternal self-existent God. However, on occasion it can also mean Adonai meaning One of highest authority. This would seem to be the case here since the Scripture is clear that no man has ever seen God the Father (Yahweh) at anytime other than the Son. Long story short we are talking about the preincarnate Christ Jesus along with two angels. In this chapter the coming of the son of promise (Isaac) will again be confirmed and the Lord will tell Abraham what is about to happen in Sodom and Gomorrah (absolute destruction). Abraham was familiar with the LORD for He had appeared to Abraham on two prior occasions (Genesis 12:7, Genesis 17:1). However, the other two men were strangers that were with the LORD. Abraham, his wife Sarah, his whole staff were hospitable to these three. Now let’s go forward a little and evaluate the account associated with Lot.
Genesis 19:1-2 (KJV)
1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
We notice right away that the LORD is no longer present but the two angels have come alone to Sodom. There is no indication that Lot recognized these as angelic being although later he most certainly must have come to that knowledge. Abraham had negotiated with the LORD to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if ten righteous could be found. There were ten persons in Lots family, he and his wife, two unmarried daughters, and three married daughters with husbands giving a total of ten souls. The three married daughters and their husbands refused to leave and therefore there were only four righteous and the cities could not be spared. Notice the authority that we have, Abraham had to give the LORD permission to destroy the cities but only if less than ten righteous could be found.
Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
Ephesians 3:13-19 (KJV)
13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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