Funny how the notion of angels has permeated the collective unconscious. Even individuals who don’t believe in God or who have never read the Bible are frequently willing to accept the existence of angels and the notion that they have been sent to take care of us in some way, possibly as guardian angels looking over us.
Jesus reportedly wandered the desert for 40 days without access to water, food, or shelter, according to Matthew’s Gospel. We might suppose that in addition to being physically exhausted, hungry, dirty, and dusty, he was also likely to have experienced a peculiar type of spiritual attentiveness that comes with fasting. “Then the devil departed [Jesus], and angels came and attended him,” Matthew writes at the conclusion of his narrative (4:11).
Several questions are raised by these angels who minister. What did they do when they looked after Jesus? They brought food and drink, right? Has he been dressed and given a bath? Did they offer him emotional support, pray with him, or perhaps sing to him? Although we can’t be certain, this verse illustrates something significant about the character and workings of God.
How Did The Angels Minister To Jesus In The Desert
The Bible tells us that when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert, He was accompanied by angels who ministered to Him. This is how they did it:
1) They ministered to His physical needs.
2) They ministered to His emotional needs.
3) They ministered to His spiritual needs.
As angels were active ministering during the Old Testament period, the same can be said for life of Jesus. The New Testament stresses the fact that the ministry of Christ was viewed by angels.
Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16).
Angels appeared at various times in the ministry of Jesus. 1. Predicted His Birth
The angel Gabriel predicted the birth of Christ to Mary.
And the angel said unto her, Do not be afraid, Mary: for you have found favor with God. And behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:30-33).
2. Present At Birth
Angels were present at the birth of Christ.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom He favors!” (Luke 2:13,14).
3. Warned Joseph
An angel warned Joseph about Herod’s plot to kill Jesus.
When Herod died, the angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead” (Matthew 2:19,20).
4. Temptation Of Christ
Angels ministered to Christ after His temptation by the Devil.
Then the Devil left Him, and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him (Matthew 4:11).
5. Gethsemane When Christ was praying at the Garden of Gethsemane, an angel was there ministering to Him.
Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and gave Him strength (Luke 22:43).
6. Ready To Help At Betrayal
Angels were ready to help when Jesus was betrayed.
Do you think that I cannot now appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53).
7. Rolled Stone From Tomb
An angel rolled back the stone from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake – for an angel of the Lord, descended from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it (Matthew 28:2).
8. Resurrection
An angel announced the resurrection of Christ.
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus Who was crucified. He is not here; for He has been raised, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was laying (Matthew 28:5,6).
9. Ascension
Christ ascended into heaven with angels present.
While He was going, and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them (Acts 1:10).
10. Second Coming
The Bible says angels will be with Christ at His Second Coming.
And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:31).
11. Execute Christ’s Judgment
When Christ comes again, angels will execute His judgment.
and to give relief to you who are afflicted, as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels (2 Thessalonians 1:7).
12. Separate Righteous From Unrighteous
Angels will separate the righteous from the wicked.
The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will collect out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous (Matthew 13:41,49).
13. Hear Christ Acknowledging Or Denying
After the separation of the unrighteous from the righteous, angels will hear Christ either acknowledging or denying each person.
And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges Me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God (Luke 12:8).
Had Seen Deity, Now Humanity
It is important to remember that angels had seen Jesus, as God, previously to Him becoming a man. When Jesus humbled Himself in becoming human, they saw the Lord of the universe make Himself into a servant. These same angels, who had seen Jesus banish the angel who became the Devil after the original rebellion, now see this same fallen angel tempting Jesus. The angels observed Jesus suffering at the hands of sinful humanity, agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane, and dying a humiliating death between two robbers. Indeed, they observed the great love that Jesus showed toward humanity.
It’s funny how the idea of angels has entered into the popular imagination. Even those who have no faith in God, or who have never read the Bible, are often willing to believe that angels exist and that they are sent to look after human beings in some way – guardian angels watching over us, perhaps.
In Matthew’s Gospel we’re told that Jesus spent 40 days in the desert with no food, no shelter and presumably no means of bathing. He may have experienced a strange kind of spiritual alertness that comes with fasting but we can assume he was also physically tired, hungry, dirty and dusty. Matthew ends the narrative with: “Then the devil left [Jesus], and angels came and attended him” (4:11).
These ministering angels raise many questions. What did they do for Jesus when they cared for him? Did they bring food and water? Did they bathe and clothe him? Did they also soothe him emotionally, pray with him, sing to him, even? We can’t know exactly, but this verse demonstrates something profound about the nature and economy of God.
A caring presence One of the things I find interesting is that the angels are an added extra to the presence of the Spirit. Jesus had already received the Spirit at his baptism (Matthew 3:16) – he had the Comforter with him so that he could be strengthened for the ordeal of the desert.
Yet God the Father didn’t leave him with only that. Through the gift of the angels’ presence, Jesus was given something more tangible. God could have sent ravens to bring him food and water, or provided sustenance another way, but instead he sent angels. What does this tell us?
First, it is yet another window into the fully human nature of Jesus Christ. The divine Son, when he came to earth, never ceased to be the divine Son. He has the very nature of God and yet he chose to live his life on Earth in exactly the same way as we live ours, but without sin.
He experienced all the physical weaknesses, natural impulses, frailty, pain and neediness of the human condition. We can assume the 40 days that he spent hungry and exhausted in the desert would have been as punishing for him as it would be for you or I.
I always tend to think of Jesus as the strong one. He is the one who strengthens, comforts and draws alongside the sheep to save, rescue and heal. He is the rock, the one we lean on. And yet in the wilderness God sent angels to care for him.
We don’t know a lot about angels from the scriptures. We know they can appear to us as very like humans or more divine. We know they are intermediaries between us and God, and that God normally sends them to humanity as messengers (‘angel’ is sometimes translated as ‘messenger’). In this instance, however, they had a caring and protective role.
In the desert we see God himself receiving ministry
We know angels can care and protect, as the devil reminded Jesus in Matthew 4:5, taunting him with a quote from Psalm 91: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Psalm 91 is a song that expresses – more than any other psalm – the promise of God’s protection: “‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name…With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation’” (v14-16).
Surely this should be true for the beloved Son of God and yet, when it comes to the point of mortal danger on the cross, Psalm 91 doesn’t ‘work’ in the way it seems to promise. Of course, the Son could have called on his Father to send the angels again to save him from death, but he didn’t. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit agreed that he would go through death and triumph over it for the sake of the world. The angels came afterwards and the women found them waiting at the empty tomb. What does this tell us of God and us?
Admitting our weaknesses We know that we, like Jesus, are not spared the ordeals and hardships of life. We often find ourselves in a desert, but in Matthew we see God’s willingness to care and protect even when we are exposed to hardships. Jesus spoke about himself as “one who serves” (Luke 22:27), but in the desert we see God himself, in the Son, receiving ministry.
We see the practice of ministering and serving woven into the fabric of a universe where God the Father and God the Spirit sent angels to serve God the Son. This means that we don’t always have to be stoic and brave, but can also receive care when we need it.
Sometimes we think that being brave is a virtue. If we don’t crumble under pressure, then we’re strong. In Christian terms we might think this demonstrates how firm we are in our faith. But God cares for us in our vulnerability and need – and promises that in our weakness, he is our strength. We don’t have to prove that we’re not weak, we just have to be weak and he will help. Even Jesus admitted his need for care.
This story also tells me that we don’t have to convince ourselves that the presence of the Spirit of God is all we need. Sometimes we need the creaturely comfort of the presence of others with us. God knows we are human, with longings for the physical presence of other creatures and the bodily comfort of having our worn out, tired, hungry, battered souls and bodies cared for by another.
The damage that can be done to our minds, hearts and emotional wellbeing by a lack of physical touch is well documented among babies and children. Physical touch, such as hugs from people who love and care for us, is as important for the healing of our souls as the presence of the Spirit of God. If Jesus needed this after his ordeal, how much more should we care and be cared for in our times of need?
Summary
The ministry of angels can be found throughout the life of Christ. From His birth, to His ascension into heaven, angels played an important role in the ministry of Christ. The fact that angels had an attentive role around the ministry of Jesus is another testimony of His Deity. Just as they surround the throne of God the Father and serve Him, they also were around Jesus – attending to God the Son.
