Angels will proclaim the gospels to the end; Angels: Day 163

In Origen’s time, some heretical sects said that the God of the Old Testament was not the same as the God of  the New. But Origen says there is only one gospel, and angels will proclaim it to every nation even to the end of time.

But the beginning of the gospel is nothing but the whole Old Testament. John (the Baptist) is, in this respect, a type of the Old Testament, or, if we regard the connection of the New Testament with the Old, John represents the termination of the Old. Mark himself says: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’” (Mark 1:1-3).

And here I must wonder how the heretics can connect the two Testaments with two different Gods. These words, even if there were no others, are enough to convict them of their error. How can John be the beginning of the gospel if they suppose he belongs to a different God, if he belongs to the demiurge, and, as they hold, is not acquainted with the new deity?

And the angels are not entrusted with just one evangelical ministry—and that a short one, the one addressed to the shepherds—for at the end an exalted

and flying angel, having the gospel, will preach it to every nation, for the good Fa- ther has not entirely deserted those who have fallen away from him. John, son of Zebedee, says in his Apocalypse: “Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water’” (Rev. 14:6-7). –Origen, Commentary on John, 1.14

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

How am I helping the angels spread the gospel?

CLOSING PRAYER

Remember, in your mercy and compassion, all who have not heard your Word, and send your messengers to proclaim it to them.

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