St. Michael and All Angels

September 29, 2024

Revelation 12:7-12

How’s Your Followership?

Followers of Christ Have Powerful Allies!

7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.” (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

If someone asked you to name the three major festivals in the Christian church year, how would you respond? It wouldn’t be difficult for us to list the Festival of Christmas, the Festival of Easter and the Festival of Pentecost— a.k.a. the Festival of God the Father, the Festival of God the Son, and the Festival of God the Holy Spirit. If someone asked you to name the “minor” festivals in the Christian church year— “minor” not because they are less important, but “minor” because they do not always receive the same kind of emphasis— how would you respond? Most of us would probably list the Festival of Thanksgiving and the Festival of Reformation. Any discussion about festivals in the Christian church year might also include the fact that there are festivals that are indeed important, but all too often are either overlooked or combined with other celebrations. This would include: the Circumcision and Naming of our Lord, All Saints Day, the Holy Innocents and the festival we are here to celebrate today— St. Michael and All the Angels.

As we blend the celebration of the Festival of St. Michael and All the Angels with our sermon series How’s Your Followership? let’s see how Scripture assures us of this truth: Followers of Christ Have Powerful Allies!

Our text for today begins in an extremely powerful way. John tells us, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down— that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”

War! In heaven! Or, that could be translated: War! In the sky! While these words automatically raise a number of very important questions, the first question that comes to my mind is — When? When did this “war” take place? There are those who think that John is referring to the “war” that took place soon after God created the heavens and the earth but before the Fall of Adam and Eve into sin. And yet, when we look at the larger context of Revelation chapter twelve it does not seem as though John is talking about the original fall of Satan and the evil angels.

When we look at the description of this “war” in the light of the second half of our text— which we’ll get to in just a little bit— it seems most likely that John was given the ability to see a “war in the sky” that we rarely even think about. The “war” that John saw being fought in the sky over Patmos was a representation of the “war” in which the devil lost the ability to go before the throne of God and bring accusations against God’s children. There is only one “war” where this was the outcome. It was the “war” that Jesus fought when He came into our world as our true Brother to “destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). To be even more specific, it is the “war” that Jesus fought against Satan on the cross of Calvary’s hill. (Pointing to the cross)

This understanding of our text helps us to understand other portions of Scripture as well. For example, as Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death He told them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (John 12:23, 31). In our Gospel lesson for today (Luke 10:17-20) the 72 disciples that Jesus had sent out “to every town and place he was about to go” (Luke 10:1) came back and joyfully reported to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons submitted to us in your name.” How did Jesus respond? He said, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven.” Every time someone is brought to faith in Jesus through the powerful message of the Gospel— Satan is defeated! Satan loses the battle for that person’s soul!

While we rightly focus on Jesus and what Jesus was doing for us in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary’s hill, at the very same time there was a “war” being fought “in the sky”! Michael and his angels were fighting against Satan and his angels. Praise God that because Jesus won His “war” against Satan, Michael and his angels were able to win their “war” against Satan and his angels!

In the light of that great victory look at what John tells us in verse ten of our text. He says, “Then I heard a voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”

The victory celebration in heaven— with includes both Jesus’ victory (Pointing to the cross) and the victory of Michael and all the good angels— that victory celebration far exceeds any celebration we can imagine! It is also a victory celebration that will continue into all of eternity! In the lives of the people who first read and/or heard these words, John reminded them that their “salvation victory” did not consist of being protected against the swords of their persecutors or the mouths of the lions in the arena. Their victory— as well as our victory!— is found in the “salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ”!

In the lives of the people who first heard and/or read these words— as well as in our lives!— the victory Christ secured for us (Pointing to the cross) means that Satan has indeed lost his ability to “accuse” us before the throne of God. The picture that the Holy Spirit paints for us here is that as the great Accuser Satan is constantly tempting us to sin and when we give in to any of those temptations, when we sin against our God, Satan scurries off to God’s throne and demands that we be punished!

While you know and while I know that there are many many sins that Satan can bring before the throne of God and say, “See! See what she has done! See! See what he did!” Satan’s power to accuse us, Satan’s power to demand that we be punished has been nullified! How? There is only one reason as to why Satan has completely lost the right to accuse us. It is— through what Christ has done for us! Jesus’ victory over sin, death and Satan has become our victory over sin, death and Satan purely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now look at verse eleven of our text. Here John brings out the foundation of our victory by emphasizing two key points. First, he emphasizes that our victory rests on “the blood of the Lamb.” Through the grace and power of God the “blood of the Lamb purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Through the grace and power of God we are among those who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). Through the grace and power of God we know that we have been “redeemed” we have been “bought back” — not with gold or silver “but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18, 19). Because of the “blood of the Lamb,” because the Son of God innocently suffered and died to completely pay the “wages” we deserved to receive for our sins (See Romans 6:23), the devil can no longer accuse us before the judgment throne of God and be “successful”.

Secondly, Jesus’ victory over Satan became our victory over Satan “by the word of their testimony.” This is a reference to the powerful message of the Gospel as it comes to us through God’s holy Word and God’s holy Sacraments. The Gospel message of forgiveness that now lives in our hearts and shines in our lives guarantees that when the devil does try to accuse us before God he is proven to be a liar. Why? Because the Judge before whom Satan accuses us has already “justified” us! He has already “Declared us: Not Guilty!” “through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).

The result of all this, my friends, is two-fold. First in verse twelve of our text John says, “Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!” Because Satan has lost his power to successfully accuse God’s people all the saints and all the angels in heaven are “rejoicing”! As Jesus tells us in both the Parable of the Lost Sheep and in the Parable of the Lost Coin, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15). Picture that scene in your mind. Every time you repent of a sin that you have committed against God, every time anyone repents of a sin they have committed against God the angels in heaven are “rejoicing”!

This “rejoicing,” however, is not confined to heaven is it. When we gather together to worship the God of our salvation we join our voices with the voices of the Christmas angels as we sing: “Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (See Luke 2:13, 14) As we are preparing to receive the holy Supper of our Lord we hear the pastor say, “Therefore with all the saints on earth and hosts of heaven, we praise your holy name and join their glorious song.” Then we sing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of heavenly hosts; heaven and earth are full of your glory.” (See Isaiah 6:1-4) And when we get home to heaven we will join together with all the saints and all the angels to sing praises to our God for all of eternity! (See Revelation 5)

But the angels are not only with us as we worship the God of our salvation. They are with us each and every day! The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). Think about that. God sends His holy angels to “serve” us! Even though we cannot see God’s holy angels with our physical eyes we rejoice and take comfort in knowing that God’s holy angels are with us each and every day!

The writer to the Hebrews also tells us that God’s angels give us the opportunity to serve others. In Hebrews 13:2 we’re told, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” These words may automatically lead us to think of men such as Abraham (Genesis 18) and Lot (Genesis 19). While we can not know if the “strangers” that we encounter in our lives are “angels,” we can see these words of Hebrews 13 as an encouragement to show Christian hospitality to the “strangers” that God brings into our lives— especially when we have visitors here at church! As Jesus Himself tells us, “ A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34, 35).

And, of course, we cannot overlook the Scripture passages that specifically address our theme for today: Followers of Christ Have Powerful Allies! Think of our Old Testament lesson for today. (2 Kings 6:8-17) When the king of Aram was so enraged with Elisha because Elisha kept revealing his battle plans to the king of Israel, he sent a “strong force” of horses and chariots to surround the city where Elisha and his servant were staying. When Elisha’s servant woke up and saw the city surrounded by their enemies, he was afraid! Elisha was not! In fact, Elisha assured his servant by telling him, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha asked the Lord to open the eyes of his servant and what did he see? He saw the “hills full of horses and chariots of fire”!

“Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Now dovetail those words with the opening verses of our text, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.” The war that Jesus fought and won against Satan on the cross of Calvary’s hill, the war that Michael and his angels simultaneously fought and won in the sky against the devil and his angels assures us that with Jesus and His angels on our side we too can confidently say, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Add to that glorious truth what Jesus says in Matthew 18:10, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” One of the beautiful ways in which God uses His angels to “serve those who will inherit salvation” is by sending them to serve as our Guardian Angels!

While the Festival of St. Michael and All the Angels may not be one of the most familiar festivals we celebrate, it is indeed a festival that overflows with comfort for us as followers of Christ. And while we never want to cross the line and pray to the angels, when we as followers of Christ recognize that God’s angels are indeed our powerful allies, we can follow the example of Martin Luther. You may recall that in both Luther’s Morning Prayer and in his Evening Prayer he closes his prayer to the Triune God by saying, “Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me.” Let that be our prayer as well!

To God be the glory!

Amen