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Why Study Angels? The world is obsessed with the study of angels. But unfortunately it is for all the wrong reasons. But as Christians, we have one grand reason why we should study angels – to see the bliss and wonder of what it means to worship Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Such majestic beings as angels help us lift up our eyes from this troubled earth. One reason they were created was to help us draw our gaze to the Lord. They were not created to draw our gaze to themselves. Remember they never talked about their strength, looks and power! An angel deserves no more worship than a fuzzy fur ball of a cat. It is a created entity designed to glorify God like us. In Isaiah 6 the prophet Isaiah catches a glimpse of the throne room of God! “Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet and with two he flew” (vs. 2). We really do not know much about these angelic beings, except what’s here. This is the only verse in the entire Bible that mentions the “Seraphim.” The word “seraphim” comes from a Hebrew word that means, “to burn.” What an awesome brilliant appearance they must have had. They glowed with the radiance of the glory of God! The chief role of these celestial beings is revealed to us in verse 3: “And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy! Holy! Holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (vs. 3). In order to make sure Isaiah got the message they declared God’s holiness 3xs! Of all the ways the seraphim could have described God they used the word holy. Meditation on the holiness of God should be a great comfort to believers. If God is perfectly holy, then we can be sure His actions to us are always just. We should never be tempted to think that God’s actions toward us are unfair or mean spirited. God always does what is good for us because He is Holy. In verse 4 the prophet says, “The posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.” As these spiritual beings worshipped God, the authority of God’s word shook the place and the worship spread like the smoke of incense. How did this experience of Isaiah with the seraphim revive him? Because these angelic beings taught him about his awesome God! Isaiah could not be revived until he saw God for who He is – sovereign and holy. Unbeknown to him, Isaiah was being schooled in how to worship Christ! “So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts” (vs. 5). The prophet was granted the special privilege of seeing Jesus the King! This privilege wasn’t even granted to the seraphim that stood in His presence! The seraphim had to cover his face and even his feet! If you want be awakened and revived do as the hymn writer suggested: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim.” When we truly see God as holy, we will see ourselves as we really are – sinful. When we read Scripture and think about how awesome God is we should be reminded about the angels. The seraphim have a lot to teach us about worshipping God. They covered their eyes with two wings because of God’s glory. They covered their feet with two wings symbolizing humility in God’s presence. And they used two wings to hover in their service for God. Four wings were used in worship and two wings were used in service. One principle we can glean from wings of the Seraphim is: If we spend more time in worship than working, then we will know what to do when we go to work because we’ve been in God’s presence. Meditate on these angels and apply it to your worship of Christ.
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