It seems that every time God does something spectacular He sends His angels to announce it. Angels are also sent to witness, strengthen, encourage, deliver, or warn us humans.
The prophet Job tells us angels were present at the creation of the world; angels were sent to guard the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve sinned; an angel stayed the hand of Abraham when he was about to slay his own son, Isaac, at God’s command; an angel single handedly wiped out the army of the Assyrians that had come to attack King Hezekiah; angels appeared to Mary and Zechariah, announcing the soon-to-be arrivals of Jesus and John the Baptist; a host of angels was sent to herald the birth of Jesus; and when the most important event in all of human history occurred, angels were there to announce the resurrection of God’s son.
Jesus was crucified. His disciples fled. The women prepared spices and took them to the tomb to prepare the body for burial. When they arrived, the stone (which probably weighed more than 3,000 pounds) had been rolled away by an angel, dressed in dazzling white, who sat on it. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus….He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’”
As Mary Magdalene bent over and looked in the tomb, she saw two angels, one where Jesus’ head had been and one at Jesus’ feet.
The picture shown is a work in watercolor, pen, and ink by William Blake, English poet and painter. It depicts a scene from the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, when God tells Moses to instruct the Israelites to make a mercy seat flanked by cherubim, all made of gold. The two angels are posed like a pair of hands in prayer.
Even as the cherubim flanked the mercy seat where the sins of the people were
forgiven when the blood of an animal was sprinkled on it, angels flanked the place where Jesus body had been laid. Jesus blood, shed at the cross, was the ultimate and final act of atonement for our sins. Mercy so great we cannot fully take it in.
Yes, angels were there to announce the greatest event in all of human history.
Their announcement would be confirmed by many appearances of Jesus to his disciples and friends following his resurrection. As we celebrate Easter on earth, I believe there must also be a glorious celebration in heaven by all the saints who have arrived there ahead of us, singing with the angels, “Christ the Lord is risen today. Hallelujah!”