Ministering Spirits by Ellen G. White

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 1, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 47.

Ministering Spirits

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White

Jacob's dream showed under a figure of the ladder, representing Christ, how God's angels minister to His children. See Gen. 28:12; John 1:51.

The connection of the visible with the invisible world, the ministration of the angels of God, and the agency of evil spirits, are plainly revealed in the Scriptures, and inseparably interwoven with human history. There is a growing tendency to disbelief in the existence of evil spirits; while the holy angels that “minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation,” are regarded by many as the spirits of the dead. But the Scriptures not only teach the existence of angels, both good and evil, but present unquestionable proof that these are not the disembodied spirits of dead men.

Before the creation of man, angels were in existence; for when the foundations of the earth were laid, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” After the fall of man, angels were sent to guard the Tree of Life, and this before a human being had died. Angels are in nature superior to men; for the psalmist says that man was made “a little lower than the angels.”

We are informed in Scripture as to the number and the power and glory of the heavenly beings, of their connection with the government of God, and also of their relation to the work of redemption. “The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.” And, says the prophet, “I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne.” In the presence-chamber of the King of Kings they wait—“angels, that excel in strength,” “ministers of His, that do His pleasure,” “harkening unto the voice of His word.” Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands were the heavenly messengers beheld by the prophet John. The apostle Paul declared them “an innumerable company.” As God’s messengers they go forth, like “the appearance of a flash of lightning,” so dazzling their glory, and so swift their flight. The angel that appeared at the Saviour’s tomb, his countenance “like lightning, and his raiment white as snow,” caused the keepers for fear of him to quake, and they “became as dead men.” When Sennacherib, the haughty Assyrian, reproached and blasphemed God, and threatened Israel with destruction, “it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand.” There were “cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains,” from the army of Sennacherib. “So he returned with shame of face to his own land.”

Angels are sent on missions of mercy to the children of God. To Abraham, with promises of blessing; to the gates of Sodom, to rescue righteous Lot from its fiery doom; to Elijah, as he was about to perish from weariness and hunger in the desert; to Elisha, with chariots and horses of fire surrounding the little town where he was shut in by his foes; to Daniel, while seeking divine wisdom in the court of a heathen king, or abandoned to become the lions’ prey; to Peter, doomed to death in Herod’s dungeon; to the prisoners at Philippi; to Paul and his companions in the night of tempest on the sea; to open the mind of Cornelius to receive the Gospel; to despatch Peter with the message of the Gospel to the Gentile stranger,—thus holy angels have in all ages ministered to God’s people.

A guardian angel is appointed to every follower of Christ. These heavenly watchers shield the righteous from the power of the wicked one. This Satan himself recognized when he said, “Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?” The agency by which God protects His people is presented in the words of the psalmist, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Said the Saviour, speaking of those who believe in Him, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father.” The angels appointed to minister to the children of God have at all times access to God’s presence.

Thus God’s people, exposed to the deceptive power and unsleeping malice of the prince of darkness, and in contact with all the forces of evil, are assured of the unceasing guardianship of heavenly angels. Nor is such assurance given without need. If God has granted to His children promise of grace and protection, it is because there are mighty agencies of evil to be met,—agencies numerous, determined, and untiring, of whose malignity and power none can safely be ignorant or unheeding.

Not until the providences of God are seen in the light of eternity shall we understand what we owe to the care and interposition of His angels.

Celestial beings have taken an active part in the affairs of men. They have appeared in garments that shone as the lightning; they have come as men, in the garb of wayfarers. They have accepted the hospitalities of human homes; they have acted as guides to benighted travelers. They have thwarted the spoiler’s purpose, and turned aside the stroke of the destroyer.

Though the rulers of this world know it not, yet often in their councils angels have been

spokesmen. Human eyes have looked upon them, human ears have listened to their appeals. In the council-hall and the court of justice, heavenly messengers have pleaded the cause of the persecuted and oppressed. They have defeated purposes and arrested evils that would have brought wrong and suffering to God’s children.

Every one will some day understand the ministry of angels in his own life. The angel who was his guardian from his earliest moment; the angel who watched his steps, and covered his head in the day of peril; the angel who was with him in the valley of the shadow of death, who marked his resting-place, who was the first to greet him in the resurrection morning,—what will it not be to hold converse with him, and to learn the history of divine interposition in the individual life, of heavenly cooperation in every work for humanity!

One part of the ministry of heavenly angels is to visit our world and oversee the work of the Lord in the hands of His stewards. In every time of necessity they minister to those who, as coworkers with God, are striving to carry forward His work in the earth. These heavenly intelligences are represented as desiring to look into the plan of redemption, and they rejoice when any part of God’s work prospers.

Angels are interested in the spiritual welfare of all who are seeking to restore God’s moral image in man; and the earthly family are to connect with the heavenly in binding up the wounds and bruises that sin has made. Angelic agencies, altho invisible, are cooperating with visible human agencies, forming a relief-association with men. The very angels who, when Satan was seeking supremacy, fought the battle in the heavenly courts, and triumphed on the side of God; the very angels who shouted for joy over the creation of our world and its sinless inhabitants; the angels who witnessed the fall of man and his expulsion from his Eden home,—these very heavenly messengers are most intensely interested to work in union with the fallen, redeemed race for the salvation of human beings perishing in their sin.

Human agencies are the hands of heavenly instrumentalities; for heavenly angels employ human hands in practical ministry. Human agencies as hand helpers, are to work out the knowledge and to use the facilities of heavenly beings. By uniting with these powers that are omnipotent, we receive the benefit of their higher education and experience. Thus as we become partakers of the divine nature, and separate selfishness from our lives, special talents for helping one another are granted us. This is heaven’s way of administering saving power.

Is there not something stimulating and inspiring in this thought, that the human agent stands as the visible instrument to confer the blessings of angelic agencies? As we are thus laborers together with God, the work bears the inscription of the divine. The knowledge and the activity of the heavenly workers, united with the knowledge and power that are imparted to human agencies, bring relief to the oppressed and suffering.

Our acts of unselfish ministry make us partakers in the success that results from the relief afforded.

With what joy heaven looks upon these blended influences! All heaven is watching those agencies that are as the hand to work out the purpose of God in the earth. Such cooperation accomplishes a work that brings honor and glory and majesty to God. O, if all would love as Christ has loved, that perishing men might be saved from ruin, what a change would come to our world!