Just One Angel

One way to assess the power of God is to look at the power of His servants, the angels. I can only think of two places where the Bible describes a group of angels. The first is a heavenly choir to annouce the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:13) The second is when there is war in heaven (Rev 12:7).

The rest of the time it is one angel.

Consider three examples.

In Exodus 33:2 God tells Moses "I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites." An angel. One. Hmm.

Sennacherib led his Assyrian army -- probably the most brutal in the world at the time -- against Jerusalem. King Hezekiah cries out to God for deliverance. In 2 Chronicles 32:21 we read "And the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace." An angel. One. The word 'annihilated' means 'grind into dust,' so this wasn't fairy taps and vulcan neck pinches. My son says "He's like the Terminator angel!"

In Revelation 20:1-3 we see one, ordinary, unnamed angel defeating Satan. "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him..." An angel. One.

If the individual servants of the Lord can do these things, how much more can their Creator do? More than we can ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)