Our Angelic Brothers in Arms, a devotional thought

In  Revelation19:10, there’s this brief but moving exchange between John, the author of Revelation, and an angel who has been telling him what to write. The angel tells him  he is to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb,” after which John, apparently overcome with awe in the presence of this heavenly emissary, falls down at his feet to worship him. 

In Greek, the word for worship doesn’t always have to mean “religious worship, offered to a deity.” It can also simple mean, “to give due honour” or “pay obeisance” to someone. In this case, though, it seems like it’s the former meaning, because the angel raises him to his feet and says, “Don’t worship me, I am a servant of God just like you. . . . Worship only God.” 

 Like I say, it’s brief, but also moving. Because biblically, angels are not the chubby little harmless cherubs that adorn St. Valentine’s Day cards. They are heavenly warriors (He makes his angles flames of fire (Heb 1:7)), ministering spirits from the heavenly realms that pretty consistently leave humans flat on their face in abject terror whenever they come into contact with us.

So let it sink in: this angel lifts John to his feet, shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye with him, and says, essentially, “You and I are comrades, colleagues, and co-servants in the Lord’s Kingdom.” Follower of Jesus , be inspired today: you are a comrade-at-arms with the angelic warriors of the Heavenly Host, who mark you as peers as together you serve the Lord Jesus with them.