• Spiritual Realm (2)

    Angels 1 [Hebrews 1:14]
    2018.03.25 | Pastor Emeritus Jaerock Lee
    • [Passage]

      [Hebrews 1: 14]
      "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?"


      [Introduction]

      Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

      In this message, I will talk about angels, which is one of the evidence of the spiritual realm. Angels are friendly beings to the believers, those who are God's children. Usually even the unbelievers describe angels in white garment with wings. They are also a symbol of beauty.

      Some actually believe angels really exist while others think they are just created by human imagination. Anyway, it is safe to say most people don't believe angels exist because they haven't seen them.

      However, angels actually do exist, and they are very close to us. At least one angel is given to each of the children of God who has been born again by believing in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:14 says, "Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?"

      Angels always stay near their masters to render service to and help them. They don't have humanity, so they don't really have feelings. However, they can feel the heart of their masters to some extent, and they have different facial expressions or act according to their masters' feelings. For example, if they their master praises or dances with joy before God, they imitate their master with joyful faces. If their masters laugh out loud watching something funny, the angels also laugh together. If their masters become sad, they also make sad faces and sit discouraged. Depending on the condition of their master's heart, their facial expression and actions also change.

      Also, when their masters walk in the Light and keep the words of God, the angels become very happy. On the contrary, if their masters walk in darkness and commit sins, they become sad. Every time their masters commit sins, they earnestly tell them they shouldn't do it. But if the masters keep on committing sins, the angels just stay at a distance and turn their backs on them.

      Dear brothers and sisters, other than these angels that render service and minister to God's children, there are many other angels that perform various tasks. There are numerous kinds of angels including ones that record every word and act of each person; ones that praise God; ones that manage the heavenly facilities; ones that control the weather conditions; ones that accept the aroma of prayers, etc. Among them are angels in leading positions. There are a countless number of angels, and their world is vast.

      Now, where do these countless angels belong and who manages or directs them? Angels are beings that belong in the third heaven, and they move only according to the command of the Father God. Third heaven is the space for the kingdom of heaven. It is a space in a completely different dimension than this physical world. It's a spiritual realm. For this reason when the angels are close to us, we can't see them with our physical eyes because they belong to the third heaven. We can see them only with spiritual eyes.

      But even among ordinary people, some of them see the spiritual realm with their spiritual eyes opened just before death. I've witnessed such things many times during the course of my 36 years of ministry. There is a doctor of nursing in Korea who took care of more than 600 final stage cancer patients in hospice. She wrote a book and let me introduce some of its contents.

      Hospice is a program that provides palliative care and attends to the emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients at an inpatient facility or at the patient's home. While seeing the deaths of more than 600 patients, she noticed they momentarily see the spiritual realm just before their spirits leave their body. It showed in the responses and outward appearances.

      For example, some patients face the final moment in peace and with very bright faces. They had previously made faces due to pain, but as they reach the final moments, they begin to smile and say such things as, "There are men in white," "There are shining men with wings."

      However, there are other patients who are in completely different situations. They shout out, "No! No!" and die in pain. Some others say there are men in black and they see and hear strange things, and then die in fear with their eyes wide open.

      Brothers and sisters, as in the cases that this doctor witnessed, there certainly is the life to come. Namely, when a man's physical life comes to an end on this earth, they will go to either heaven or hell. Now, what kind of situation will they face after they die?

      For those who are saved, God lets two angels wait for them, and when their soul leaves their body, the angels will guide them to the kingdom of heaven with one on each side. Of course, the kingdom of heaven here refers to the upper grave. The Bible also writes about it in detail.

      Luke 16:22 first part says about the poor man Lazarus, "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom." On the contrary, for those who are not saved, two angels of death will wait for them and take the soul to hell. And by hell I refer to the lower grave.

      Some of our church members had such spiritual experiences. The following is a testimony of Sun Hee Wang in the 28th parish. She felt very heavy all over the body and difficult breathing. She did some tests in hospital. The results were shocking. She had last stage cirrhosis of the liver and she could live only for a couple more years.

      Being admitted, she received visitations by her parish pastor. She also listened to the sermon series Message of the Cross and repented everyday along with her husband. One day, she woke up on her bed, and she saw 3 to 4 black and dark faces on the curtain of the hospital ward. She knew they were from the world of darkness.

      She saw their eyes in the dark faces, and they were whispering among themselves rolling their eyeballs. She quickly explained to her husband what she was seeing, and he helped her receive my prayer recorded on telephone automatic response service. What do you think happened after receiving the prayer? The power of darkness disappeared immediately, and from that day on, she saw angels that came to her bed and began to guard her.

      She saw angels about 3 times, and she explained about the third time as follows: "Countless angels put on white robes and boots that came up to their knees. They were holding trumpets and were surrounding my bed. Five angels looked around my hospital ward and left."

      Soon, something even more amazing took place with her. 2 hours after she saw the angels, her doctor told her she recovered and she could go home. When God the Father touched her, the darkness went away and she was healed completely. And letting her see the angels was the confirmation.

      Dear brothers and sisters, when angels appeared to her and began to guard her after she had seen the power of darkness around her, what kind of peace would she have had! God the Father always wants to protect us through the angels. Angels fulfill their duties with all their best following God's will.

      Especially in this year 2018, God the Father said that He would let us experience angels more vividly. It is because He wants His beloved children to actually feel and experience the spiritual realm so that they will not look at the things on earth but the things above.

      For this same reason, God has been letting us experience the spiritual realm from time to time by opening the spaces in this church. And the works of the angels gave us more hope for the heavenly kingdom. From now on I will begin explaining about the works of angels that took place in our church in 3 aspects. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be filled with more hope of New Jerusalem through this message.



      [Main]

      Dear brothers and sisters,

      The first kind of work of angels that has taken place in this church is that of our members having been protected in various accidents.

      Even in the Bible we can see the cases where men of God were protected and guarded in major crises. One of the best examples is Daniel who was thrown into a lions' den. When Daniel became the prime minister in Persia, those people who were jealous of him contrived a scheme and threw him into a lions' den.

      However, Daniel said in Daniel 6:22, "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime." In order to protect Daniel, who was completely sinless, God sent His angels and closed the mouths of the lions. The ferocious lions became mild instantly, and Daniel was not hurt at all until he came out of the den.

      What if he hadn't received any help of the angels? Daniel 6:24 says, "The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions' den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones."

      The brutality of the lions appeared as it was, and they crushed all the bones of those individuals who were thrown into the den. However, because Daniel was after God's heart, a spiritual space covered him and he was protected by the angels in God's protection.

      Many of you church members received help from the angels in the space of the shepherd. Let me introduce only some of those testimonies.

      First of all, in 1997, a van of the Daegu Manmin church was protected in a traffic accident. The van was 12-seater, but 17 of them were on it, and the driver was speeding quite a bit. They wanted to be on time for the anniversary service of Masan Manmin Church where I was delivering the message.

      While the van was speeding the right rear tire was punctured. The van rolled over and hit the median strip and again rolled 3 more times. The van had to go to the scrap yard. In such a big accident like that one, it is very likely that the passengers would die or get seriously injured. However, only one of the 17 was slightly injured and the other 16 were perfectly fine. The one with the minor injury also recovered right away when I prayed for her after the service.

      There was even a woman who was 3 months pregnant. She was thrown out of the van through the window and fell on the road. However, she felt like somebody was holding her up, and when she landed, she didn't really feel the impact. She did some tests in a hospital the next day, and it was confirmed that the fetus was OK, too. God mobilized angels and protected all the passengers that were in the van. When this pregnant woman was falling on the road, angels held her so that she and her baby were both fine.

      There is a similar testimony. It is the testimony of Elder Joong Ik Jeon, who is a police officer. It took place when he was a new-believer. On Dec. 23, 1998, he was doing a riot control at a Buddhist temple as a member of the special police force. {Assistant Inspector then Senior Inspector now}

      While in action, the ladder truck he was on flipped over and he fell down 15 meters. The other officers who fell together with him were all seriously injured but he was barely hurt at all. He also testified that he felt like a very big hand was supporting him gently the moment he hit the ground.

      It was also a work of God mobilizing His angels in the space of the shepherd. As if there are special ministering angels for Manmin members, many of Manmin members are protected in various situations.

      I will continue to talk about more incredible and mysterious testimonies of angels in the next session.



      [Conclusion]

      Dear brothers and sisters,

      The reason why I delivered a message about angels is that spiritual realm will open to us more widely and angels' works will be taking place more actively when I proclaim them on the pulpit and you gain faith through it.

      And I already heard testimonies that some of our church members saw angels. One of the newly registered members had her spiritual eyes opened and saw the 3 archangels on the Sunday I prayed on the handkerchiefs. After this wonderful experience, she gained more faith and she was so happy.

      Would you all like to see angels and experience the works of the angels? I hope you will long for the messages on spiritual realm even more; believe those words and experience them.

      You can gain strength and understand the heart of God the Father to the same extent that you know the spiritual realm. I pray in the name of the Lord that all of you will come to know about the spiritual realm more clearly, understand the deep love of God the Father more completely and fulfill His will.




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