As far back as I can remember, my mother loved angels. She collected angels of all shapes and sizes. Figures of angels were on book shelves and hanging in various place around the house. One of her favorite television programs back in the day was “Touched By An Angel.”
Angels are mentioned all through the Bible: 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament. A lot of mystery surrounds angels, but it is clear in the scripture that angels are messengers of God.
I recently re-read Billy Graham’s excellent book on angels that was published in 1975, “Angels, God’s Secret Agents.” A chapter in the book is entitled, “The Angels and Death.”
Billy Graham suggests that angels are present at the death of a believer to carry that person into the presence of God. He referred to the story that Jesus told in the 16th chapter of Luke, where Lazarus, who had died, was “carried by the angels” into the life beyond.
He told about the death of his grandmother. Moments before she died, she sat up in bed and said, “I see Jesus. He has his arms outstretched toward me. I see Ben (her husband who had died years earlier) and I see the angels.” She slumped over, absent from the body, but present with the Lord.
As I said, my mother always loved angels. I smile when I think of her in the presence of the angels in Heaven.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, on his deathbed said, “The best of all, God is with us.”