+ St. Michael and All Angels – September 28th, 2025
Daniel 10:10-14, 12:1-3; Revelation 12:7-12; Luke 10:17-20
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
When God gave Moses the holy blueprints for the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place, he was told to make a covering of gold. The mercy seat. A place for blood. For atonement. For YHWH dwell with and for his people. And God’s sacred seat, or throne, was adorned with gilded cherubim.
When God gave Isaiah a vision of his heavenly throne, there too, YHWH was seated, surrounded by seraphim crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
Since their creation, wherever you find the angels – or better yet…where they find you - they’re surrounding our Savior and telling the story of salvation. And wherever you find Christ at work – from Genesis to Revelation – you’ll find the Lord of Sabaoth commanding his army of holy angels. They’re his ministers. Messengers. And Heralds. Guardians. Defenders. And Protectors. Servants. Singers. Storytellers and Soldiers.
Today we remember and give thanks to God for St Michael’s and All Angels. Christ’s holy angels are warrior-poets, armed to the teeth with God’s word, shielded by the blood of the Lamb, and wielding the sword of the Spirit. They’re Christ’s sacred storytellers and holy Spartans of heaven. Sent to declare and defend Christ’s victory…the deliver story of salvation.
Today we also remember that while angels are many things in Scripture, marvelous spiritual beings, , one thing’s certain. They’re not cute, cuddly, or chubby. They’re holy. Mysterious. Awesome – in the old meaning of the word. There’s a reason their first words are often, “do not fear.”
And as St. John learns in Revelation, we don’t worship the angels. We worship with them. And they worship with us. Together we bow before Christ. We don’t pray to angels either. We pray with them. They pray with us. Together calling upon Christ. Praising Christ. Pointing to Christ. Protecting you who are in Christ. Proclaiming Christ for you.
For those are their holy marching orders. They’re ministers of God’s mercy. Preachers of Christ’s promises. Messengers of the Messiah. Defenders of Jesus’ disciples. Servants of the Savior for his saints. It’s like the old tales where the king leads his men into the fray. Steps into the breach ahead of his troops. Christ is first over the trench wall.
Wherever Christ goes for our salvation, his holy angels go with him. When Gabriel announced the coming birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary, Christ’s holy angel sounded his arrival. “behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
When Christ’s birth was announced to lowly shepherds, his holy heralds lit up the sky and filled the air with a battle cry: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to men…for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
When Christ was in the wilderness, weak from fasting, weary from temptation, having withstood Satan’s wiles, his holy angels ministered to him.
When Christ prayed in Gethsemane, drops of blood gathering with his anguish and prayers, “Father, not my will but yours be done,” his holy angels were there again, strengthening for the blood and thorns and nails of the tree.
When the women came to Christ’s tomb that first day of the week. In the early dawn. Morning was breaking. But the seal of the tomb had already broken. And along with it, good news of great joy, delivered, once again by Christ’s holy angels. “Do not be afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”
Whenever the Scriptures speak of angels you’ll find them surrounding Christ our Savior and proclaiming the story of salvation. For angels are not only servants and ministers and messengers of Christ. They’re also his servants, ministers, messengers, guardians, and defenders sent for you and for me and for all the saints. Though you may never see them this side of the new creation, rest assured, He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
Christ’s holy angels rejoice in heaven when you and I, or any sinner, live in that daily spiritual battlefield we call the baptized life of repentance and forgiveness.
Christ sends his holy angels, his ministering spirits, to render service for your sake, for you who inherit salvation. For you are his holy ones, his little children of faith, held in arms of our merciful, heavenly Father.
Christ sends his holy angels to you guard you morning, afternoon, evening and night as you pray, “Let your holy angels be with me that the evil foe may have no power over me.”
Christ sends his holy angels to fight alongside you, for the ancient dragon, having lost the war in heaven, brings his fight to earth. For he knows his time is ticking…ticking…ticking. St. Michael and Christ’s holy angels conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of Christ as their weapon.
To be sure, this fallen angel tries to live up to his name, Satan…accuser. “Look what they’ve done. Said. Thought. They’re guilty…every one of them deserves death.” But he is as Jesus says: a liar. A con artist. A fallen angel. Wherever Christ is, his angelic warrior-poets are sitting in the foxhole with you. Wielding the same weapons you do: the blood of the Lamb and the word of Christ.
In life Christ sends his holy angels as our guardians and protectors. In death, his holy angels serve as our pall bearers, accompanying our souls to Christ until the Day of the resurrection of all flesh.
Until that day, Christ still sends his holy angels to us. Unseen yet present. Invisible yet active. Christ is still enthroned between the cherubim, here on the altar in bread and wine. Christ is still surrounded by seraphim as he sends you holy coals from his altar and puts them on your lips.
Today, we sing with St. Michael and angels and archangels and all the company of heaven as Christ, the Lord of hosts, gathers us to his table, and we join them in singing the ancient song, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.” And today, so is his house and his people.
Today, we stand shoulder to shoulder with cherubim and seraphim, hearing and proclaiming the great story of salvation: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
A blessed feast of St. Michael and All Angels, to each of you…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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