Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Angels At Christmas
Do angels still matter, or are they just seasonal decorations? We walk through the Christmas story by spotlighting six angelic encounters that move the story forward—Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, the dream that steadies Joseph, the midnight message to shepherds, the warning that sends a young family to Egypt, and the signal that it’s safe to return. Each moment reveals angels as messengers and guardians, not mascots: they arrive with purpose, speak with clarity, and point all praise back to God.
We also unpack what the Bible says angels are—and are not. Angels are ministering spirits created by God, countless in number, ordered in roles and ranks, present at creation’s dawn, and active across Scripture. Only three are named—Gabriel, Michael, and the fallen Lucifer—yet hosts stand ready at God’s command. They do not marry, they are not glorified humans, and they refuse our worship, always redirecting our awe to the One who sent them. This clears away cupids and fairies and replaces them with a sober, hope-filled picture: warriors, witnesses, and messengers who serve God’s purposes for the good of people.
As Christmas nears, we pull the thread into daily life. Community shapes our habits, so choose voices that strengthen faith. Pray over busy schedules, ask for provision, and let the angels’ favourite line steady your heart: do not be afraid. The Nativity becomes more than nostalgia when we see how God protects the promise and invites ordinary people to play their part. If this conversation reframed how you think about angels and the Nativity, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we’d love to hear what surprised you most.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
I thought I'd throw this one in because it's just a couple of days for Christmas, just something a little different. But I'm calling this one an angelic Christmas. Over the years, angels have fascinated Christians and non-Christians alike. In this podcast, I will hopefully provide an overview of the duties and description of angels as well as the six specific Bible accounts of angelic involvement in the Christmas story. So, first off, angels, fact or fiction. Well, they are factual. Angels are mystical, but they aren't mythical. Okay? Now get the difference. Okay? They're not make believe they are, but they're not human. Okay? Angels are mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible. Angels are sometimes mentioned as being warriors and sometimes as being messengers. Most angels worship God, but some have rebelled against God. Okay, they're the ones that went with Satan, just in case you don't know. Um, and sometimes angels have appeared to people in splendor, and sometimes as a regular looking person. According to an American poll, 94% of those who regular attend church believe in the existence of angels. Okay, only 94%. And 95 of those who identify as angelical Christians believe in angels. All right, even among a cross-section of American survey, the only reason I'm referring to Americans is because you know people in the UK and uh Australia and any other, you know, like um Western society, don't normally run all of these surveys. Sometimes Americans run surveys just to be survey runners, okay? So in saying that, there's a cross-section of Americans surveyed, and these are both Christian and non-Christian, as well as church attenders and those who don't attract. Nearly eight out of ten at 77% indicate that they believe in the existence of angels. Now, just let me clarify one thing here, all right? You don't necessarily have to be attending church to be a practicing Christian and have your faith. Yes, I know it says in the word, do not forsake the assembly, okay, and that is important because we need to be like-minded, surrounded by Christians at all times, and you know, it's like if you hang around robbers, or if you hang around drug alex, or if you hang around gamblers, there's a high percentage of the possibility that you will become like them because you uh one way of looking at it is because you it's peer pressure and you don't want to be the odd one out, but it also is indicative of you know putting a bad apple in a barrel of beautiful apples, eventually that bad apple will contaminate the others, so it's easy enough for you to work out. Hang around people that swear a lot, you'll end up swearing a lot. Hang around people who drink a lot, you'll end up drinking a lot. It's very, very hard to have a really strong will uh and to be able to uh hang around these environments and where all these people do these sort of things and don't get it rubbing off on you. So that's why I included people that attend church and people that don't. The idea behind attending church is because biblically the church is us, the people, and when we come around like-minded people, then you rub off on each other, okay? And you speak the way they speak, you have the same you know, hobbies and ideas and all that sort of stuff, uh, but you're not led astray by worldly conceptions because we live in this world, but we're not of it. So, now let's get back to our message. Now, today we see images of angels everywhere, including works of art which depict them as being something from fierce warriors with swords and six-packed abs to efermiate Caucasian fairy-like creatures or chubby naked winged children, like little coopards, right? Angels in the Christmas story, it's like this an angel told Mary about the conception of Jesus, and that's in Luke 1, 26 to 33, and it starts off like this in the sixth month, at six months of Elizabeth's pregnancy, okay, God sent an angel, Gabriel, to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin, pleaded to be married, or sorry, not pleaded, let's say, pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. Right? And that's very important, the descendants here, okay, for another time again. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favoured. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at this these types of words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. Now, I mean, that's a big thing to lay on such a young child, but you know, it wasn't unheard of in those days for angels to appear to people and give them messages from God. And you've got to remember also there was a need for an angel to encourage Joseph to stay with Mary, and that's in 120 to 21, and it says, but after he had considered divorcing Mary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. And angels announce the Jesus birth to shepherds. And there's a stage and a step for everything, and it's all got a plan and a purpose behind it. Because in Luke 2, 8, 12, and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Alright. And it goes on to say, you know, today in a town, David, Savior, or born, and all that sort of stuff. Okay, we're not gonna go through the whole scriptures. Read it for yourself. Okay. I want you to read through Luke 2, 8 to 12, alright? Um, because it's it's important, you know. Let's go down a little bit further. Uh Matthew 2, 13 says, When the wise men had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you. For Herod is going to search for the child and kill him. So as you can see, there was all of these things happening, and these were all angels, these were all messengers of God, sort of guiding the footsteps of Mary, Joseph, um, the um the shepherds, even the Josephes that would come later on. They were guided by the influence of angels, letting them know what was going on. See, the angel of the Lord told Joseph that it was safe to return to Israel because Herod was dead, and that was in Matthew 2, um 19 to 20, and said, After Herod died, an angel of the Lord 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 are trying to take the child's life are now dead. Alright. So, as a follow-up, you know, it's one thing I've learned, you know, within churches when you're when you're in ministry of helps and things like that. If you don't follow through with things, you know, things slip through the cracks. As you can see here, the angel told him one thing, right? Get out of here and go to Egypt. And then he said, I will tell you when it's safe to come home, and he did so. So, what actually is an angel? Now, the word angel comes from the Greek word anglos, which means messenger. The Bible tells us angels are ministering spirits. In Hebrews 1 14 it says, You not all angels, ministering spirits, sent to serve those who will inherit salvation. He's talking about us. Angels are not glorified human beings, and they neither marry nor reproduce like human beings. And Matthew 22, 30 says, at the resurrection, people will neither marry nor will be given in marriage, they will be like the angels in heaven. So there's a time and a place for everything, and that's what needs to be done. Now, why did God create angels? Let's look at it this way: God created angels before he even created the heavens and the earth, and they were present with singing and rejoicing when he spoke the word into existence. It talks about that in Psalm hundred and forty-eight, five. It says, Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. If you look at Job thirty-eight, four through to seven, it says this. Where were you? He's referring to Job, of course. When I laid the earth's foundation, tell me if you understand, who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know, who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footing sets or who laid its cornerstone, while the morning star sang together and all the angels shouted for joy, see? Angels are immortal, but they are not eternal beings since God created them. And goes on in Colossians 1 16 to 17. Now I'm not going to read through that. I'll just give you a couple of other scriptures to look at. Uh if you've got time. I know we're leading up to Christmas, everybody's really, really busy. But you do yourself a favor if you need to go to the shops and getting last-minute presents or food or anything, realize that everything is birthed in prayer. Pray for a car park, pray for an event-free time at the shops, and pray that you'll have the financial resources and the help to do what you need to do so you can have a glorious, blessed Christmas. You know, just one more scripture, Peter 2.4. It says this, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment. I don't want to be a bad angel, that's for sure. But all angels in the Bible are presented as masculine. Now, I don't want anybody sending me emails or anything like that, but the reality of the fact is that um that's that's the way it does it. God is gender neutral, okay? We've probably got on very well today, um, in some aspects, but he just has that aspect. There are 300 references that are mentioned as being male, however, it is possible that there are female angels. Let's, you know, look at it from both perspectives, shall we? Angels are without numbers. Hebrews 12 22 says, thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. Daniel 7 10 says, thousands upon thousands of angels attended him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. And Matthew 26, 53 says, Do you think I, that's Jesus, cannot call on the Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twenty legions of angels. Wow. Twenty legions. That is uh put it into you like um you know, modern day terms, that's three battalions from military perspective. So uh he's just gonna say, oh look, if Jesus asked for it, he ought to sudden get three battalions, and three battalions is equivalent to okay, uh, like three thousand men and women in an instant. But only three angels are named in the Bible. That's Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer. Now Gabriel is the messenger angel, Michael is the arch uh archangel, Michael is the only archangel mentioned in the Bible, and that's in Thelesione Thelesiones. I'm not really firing on Wilsilla's today. Thessalonians 4 16, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and in Jude 9 it says, But even the archangel Michael, Lucifer, the fallen angel, Satan. Now, I'm not going to go on this for a long time. I'm just going to make a few of these short so I know people have got their commitments, but you know, put the fur put the Lord first and foremost in everything you say and everything you do, I think is very important. But there are different kinds of angels with different roles, ranks, and duties. It's a bit like the military, I suppose you could put it this way. Um, there was Serpaphine, which was a sixth wind creature that worked at the throne of God. Uh Isaiah 6.3, and there were serprients who were called to one another, and it goes on and on, and you could talk about the cherubim, um, that's mentioned in Genesis, uh, in Samuel 4a, talks about um the cherubim again, 1 Kings 626. So there are, like I said, there's over 300 references to angels in the Bible. So maybe one time you can go through and try and find them all and highlight them and see if my specifications are correct. Now, angels are not to be worshipped. Okay, Revelation 22, 8 and 9 says, Um, am not one of who heard and saw these things, and when I've heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been shown them to me. But he said, This is everybody said, Do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and the prophets, and all who keep the word of this book worship God. See, sometimes we think that if we see an angelic beast. We're supposed to lay down and worship them. That's not our role. Okay, they're servants the way that we're supposed to serve the house of God. And so I just want to. One more example is Gabriel, who came to uh Zechariah concerning the birth of John the Baptist. Uh and gets an instruction. The Bible tells us in Matthew 1, 2, that angels gave instruction to Joseph about the birth. Angels gave instruction to the women at the tomb. You know, the Bible tells us in Acts that angels gave instruction all the time. I think it's very important. So if anybody wants to know more about this, please by all means let me know. Now, just one final thing, right? Acts 27, 23 to 25 said, Last night an angel of the God, who I am and whom I serve, stood beside me and said, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you. Care for believers at the moment of death. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, we read that angels escorted the spirit of Lazarus when he died. And Luke 16, 22, the time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side in paradise. So do your own research. The only reason I've done this is because uh in relation to leading up to the birth of our Lord and Savior, which is celebrated on the 25th of December, I think it's important to know that the angels had a role to play, or they were given instructions to do things in relation to the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Talk to you after Christmas, so have a Merry Christmas and a blessed new year, and stay safe out there, everyone. This is a time of celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior. I know there's a lot of people that just look at it as a holiday, but just remember a couple of little things. Don't say happy holidays when people ask you or greet you. You reply, Merry Christmas, the Christ has been born. Amen. Talk to you after the festivities. Bye for now.
