No Fast
13And it came to pass when Joshua was in Jericho, that he looked up with his eyes and saw a man standing before him, and there was a drawn sword in his hand; and Joshua drew near and said to him, Are you for us or on the side of our enemies? 14And he said to him, I am now come, the chief captain of the host of the Lord. 15And Joshua fell on his face upon the earth, and said to him, Lord, what command you your servant?
2And the hand of Madiam prevailed against Israel: and the children of Israel made for themselves because of Madiam the caves in the mountains, and the dens, and the holes in the rocks. 7And the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of Madiam. 11And an angel of the Lord came, and sat down under the fir tree, which was in Ephratha in the land of Joas father of Esdri; and Gedeon his son was threshing wheat in a wine-press in order to escape from the face of Madiam. 12And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty in strength. 13And Gedeon said to him, Be gracious with me, my Lord: but if the Lord is with us, why have these evils found us? and where are all his miracles, which our fathers have related to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? and now he has cast us out, and given us into the hand of Madiam. 14And the angel of the Lord turned to him, and said, Go in this your strength, and you shall save Israel out of the hand of Madiam: behold, I have sent you. 15And Gedeon said to him, Be gracious with me, my Lord: whereby shall I save Israel? behold, my thousand is weakened in Manasse, and I am the least in my father's house. 16And the angel of the Lord said to him, The Lord shall be with you, and you shall strike Madiam as one man. 17And Gedeon said to him, If now I have found mercy in your eyes, and you will do this day for me all that you have spoken of with me, 18depart not hence until I come to you, and I will bring forth an offering and offer it before you: and he said, I will remain until you return. 19And Gedeon went in, and prepared a kid of the goats, and an ephah of fine flour unleavened; and he put the flesh in the basket, and poured the broth into the pot, and brought them forth to him under the turpentine tree, and drew near. 20And the angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and put them on that rock, and pour out the broth close by: and he did so. 21And the angel of the Lord stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread; and fire came up out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened bread, and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22And Gedeon saw that he was an angel of the Lord; and Gedeon said, Ah, ah, Lord my God! for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. 23And the Lord said to him, Peace be to you, fear not, you shall not die. 24And Gedeon built there an altar to the Lord, and called it The peace of the Lord, until this day, as it is still in Ephratha of the father of Esdri.
7All the earth cries aloud with joy: 8the trees also of Libanus rejoice against you, and the cedar of Libanus, saying, From the time that you have been laid low, no one has come up to cut us down. 9Hell from beneath is provoked to meet you: all the great ones that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against you, they that have raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10All shall answer and say to you, You also have been taken, even as we; and you are numbered among us. 11Your glory has come down to Hades, and your great mirth: under you they shall spread corruption, and the worm shall be your covering. 12How has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all the nations is crushed to the earth. 13But you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, on the lofty mountains toward the north: 14I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High. 15But now you shall go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth. 16They that see you shall wonder at you, and say, This is the man that troubled the earth, that made kings to shake; 17that made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity. 18All the kings of the nations lie in honor, every man in his house. 19But you shall be cast forth on the mountains, as a loathed carcass, with many dead who have been pierced with swords, going down to the grave. 20As a garment defiled with blood shall not be pure, so neither shall you be pure; because you have destroyed my land, and have slain my people: you shall not endure for ever, —you an evil seed.
24He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. 26But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also. 27The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’
28“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
29“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
36Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”
37He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. 39The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity, 42and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
2Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving, 3praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, 4that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.
5Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
7All my affairs will be made known to you by Tychicus, the beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow bondservant in the Lord. 8I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, 9together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you everything that is going on here.
2For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, by various works of power, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?
5For he didn’t subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels. 6But one has somewhere testified, saying, “What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him? 7You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor.
8You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we don’t yet see all things subjected to him. 9But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.
10For it became him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
1Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
6He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down! Why does it waste the soil?’ 8He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’”
16Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
17The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
18He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven. 19Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you. 20Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
21In that same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.”
The holy Scriptures, from beginning to end, are filled with mentions and descriptions of the Heavenly Host: not to believe in angels is not to believe in the Bible. In the heavens they behold the face of God, eternally hymning His glory. They are intimately involved with mankind as well: an angel is appointed guardian over every nation, and over every individual Christian. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel, whom we especially commemorate today along with all the other bodiless powers, have served as messengers to man. “Michael” means “Who is like God?”;”Gabriel” means “God is mighty.” Gabriel especially was appointed to announce the coming of Christ in the flesh.
There is no reckoning the number of the Heavenly Host, though we know that they are a great multitude. They are ranked in nine orders, called Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim, Dominions, Powers, Authorities, Principalities, Archangels and Angels. “Angel” means “herald” or “messenger” and is properly applied only to those who serve as messengers from God to man; but the name is often applied to the entire host of bodiless powers.
Though bodiless, the angels are finite in knowledge, extension and power. The angel Lucifer, once the highest of them all, desired to be like God Himself, and was cast forever from the presence of God, along with countless others who followed him. These we now know as Satan and the demons. (Needless to say, they are not commemorated today).