Matthew 4:6 And said to him, If you be the Son of God, cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you… Observe the sentence omitted in the quotation. The psalmist wrote, "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." It may be that, from our points of view, the omission is not important, because we can see that it is involved even if it be not explicitly stated. The Divine care always assumes that its objects are in the sphere of duty. But it is significant that the tempter should omit what he evidently felt would spoil his persuasion. I. ANGEL-CHARGE. There will always be two ways of dealing with the references to angels which are found in the Word of God. 1. The one way will be taken by the practical-minded, who can be content with the surface of things, and to whom facts are just facts. These will always people the unseen world with personal beings, who are conceived as constantly engaged in Divine ministries, and who have sometimes actually come into the field of human vision. "Are they not ministering spirits," etc.? 2. The other way will be taken by the mystical-minded, who cannot imprison their minds in forms, who are always seeking essences, spiritual realities, the things which gain varying embodiments for the apprehension of the human senses. To these, angels will seem to be personifications of the many Divine forces and influences that affect men's lives. God caring for us, God working for us, is for them the fact; angel-charge is for them the appearance. All join in recognizing that angel-charge is God with us as our Helper. II. THE LIMITS UNDER WHICH ANGEL-CHARGE IS SET. "I being in the way, the Lord led me." It is always assumed that we are trying to go right and to do right. God helps those who mean to be obedient. The self-willed, those who, like Ephraim, are "joined to their idols," God lets alone. The angels are removed if a man persistently resolves to "follow the devices and desires of his own heart." "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." There is, however, the gracious truth of the Divine overruling, even of man's infirmity and wilfulness, of which, in this connection, clue account needs to be taken. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. |
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