you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus is the son of man surrounded by thousands upon thousands who minister to him. Myriads upon myriads attend to him. Which is odd in a way. He doesn't need them. His power is limitless.
War broke out in heaven;
Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.
Jesus has the power to banish the dragon with a thought, a whim. Yet he allows this war to be fought for him by his angels. Why this restraint? Why does the throne of fire not simply consume all enemies?
He has reasons for this, of course. Everything he does manifests who he is. The archangels reveal the power and love of the one who created them. The vast numbers that surround his throne reveal a God who is greater than any number. That he allows them deal with the consequences of their own freedom reveals how much he respects that freedom.
Still, even among such great ones, we don't get lost in the crowd.
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathanael answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
We are invited before Jesus. But we do not come before him alone. We come before all of the angels and saints whenever we worship at his holy temple. Especially in the Mass we sing his praises in the sight of the angels.
Yet all of heaven is a drop in the bucket next to the Ancient of Days. All the armies are as nought next to the LORD of hosts. But rather than overwhelming creation with such power he uses it to express his love, both for Nathanael and for us.
The huge dragon, the ancient serpent,
who is called the Devil and Satan,
who deceived the whole world,
was thrown down to earth,
and its angels were thrown down with it.
The archangels, representations of the very power of God, are in the same battle that we ourselves fight. They love us and we them as we fight against the principalities and powers, the world rulers of this prsenent darkness (cf. Eph. 6:12). We ourselves share in the victory which is ultimately won by the son of man. The Blood of the Lamb is poured out as the weapon by which we conquer the accuser of our brothers. The very words of our testimony to him are now imbued with his own power.
God loves us personally. Each one of us is his child. Yet together we form his family. We each reveal something of this heritage in ourselves. Today we rejoice in the help and revelation we receive from the archangels. United with them as family we reveal an even more perfect picture of the Ancient One.
“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.
Somehow God is using us to make his wisdom known to the angels (cf. Eph. 3:9). This is something which ought not happen. They are timeless, we time-bound. They are much greater and we much less. Clearly our own strength has nothing to do with this. The plan of God delights in such reversals. They reveal the centrality of love. We can't take any credit even as we give our all in testimony to the Blood of the Lamb. Let's just rejoice in the victory of our family. The powers of evil are no longer hold sway.
All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD
when they hear the words of your mouth;
And they shall sing of the ways of the LORD
“Great is the glory of the LORD
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