The Angel In My Living Room

     A small group of Spirit-filled Christians used to meet for worship in my living room every Lord’s Day, and I still remember those meetings as some of the most Spiritual times of my life.  It was also in one of those meetings that I saw the angel who completely changed the way I think about Christianity.

     Angels are mentioned over 300 times in 35 different books of the Bible, and so they’re very real, and very important, to Christians.  God’s angels are special messengers that He sends down from heaven with important guidance and protection for us.[1.  In the original New Testament Greek, the word “angel” is the noun aggelos (pronounced “ahn‘-geh-lahss”).  It means a special messenger or envoy sent from heaven by God with important information or help for us.]  For example, He sent angels down with special guidance for Mary, and for Joseph, and for the shepherds in the fields, during the birth of Jesus.[2.  See Luke 1:28; Matthew 1:20; and Luke 2.9.]

     Angelic appearances are always unexpected and always a surprise, and that was true of me that morning.  They can appear to us in three different ways:  in dreams,[3.  See Matthew 1:20.] in visions,[4.  See Acts 10:3.] or physically.[5.  See Acts 27:23.]  The angel who appeared to me was in a vision, although I’ve sensed their physical presence several times in my life, such as the day I tripped and fell headlong down a staircase, but floated harmlessly through the air and came to rest gently on the floor – supported, I believe, by a protecting angel.

     However, on the morning of my vision, I was sitting quietly in my living room with my eyes closed, since our small group had just finished singing a prayerful song.  Suddenly, I realized that I was looking at the face of a very powerful and authoritative figure.  He looked “Roman” because his hair was cut short in tight curls, like the statue of a Roman general.  I could see him so clearly that I would know him today.  I could see his facial expression, the look in his eyes, the way he held his mouth, and the details of his personality and attitude.

     My immediate impression was one of great power and importance.  The first thought that popped into my head was, “Boy!  You don’t mess with him!”  I also sensed that he had come a very long way and had left some extremely important work behind just to visit me.  I don’t know how I knew these things, they were just immediately clear in my mind.

     After a moment of seeing the angel’s face, the vision changed, and I was seeing the full angel.  He was standing full-length before me, a short distance from me.  He looked the size of an average human, and was dressed in a floor-length robe that had no collar, and that had long, loose sleeves.  He was wearing a rope around his waist for a belt, like a monk, and the belt had two long cords dangling half way down his body on his left side.  He had no wings, and he was a silvery-gray color, including his robe, skin, hair, face, and everything about him.  I felt no fear and was completely relaxed.  All I felt was great respect for him and wonderment at his visit.

     Then the angel gave me his special message.  With his left hand, he reached down and grasped the two dangling cords of his rope belt and began to shake them gently to make me look at them.  I looked at the cords, and saw something I hadn’t noticed before.  The cords were of slightly different lengths, and attached to the end of the longest cord was a large golden key.[6.  The key looked six or eight inches long, since I could see it clearly from a distance.  It was gold colored, with a wide, flat shank and a wide, flat bit – where most old-fashioned keys have a round shank and a fancy bit.]  Then, continuing to gently shake this key, the angel said, “You have found the Key of David.”

      I knew that Revelation 3:7 in the Bible mentions a Key of David,[7.  Revelation 3:7 says, “This is the message from the One who is holy and true, the One who has the Key of David.  What He opens, no one can close; and what He closes, no one can open.”] so I was immediately able to sense part of the angel’s meaning (more understanding would come later).  I didn’t see his mouth move, and I didn’t hear any human words.  Somehow I just “knew” what he said.  Then, after another moment or two, the vision faded and the angel was gone.  I haven’t seen him since, though I’d like very much to see him again.

     The whole vision only lasted a few minutes.  Yet it completely changed the way I think about Christianity.  Now, what did the angel’s message mean?  What special guidance did our heavenly Father send him from the throne room of heaven to give me?  As I said, I didn’t fully understand the message that morning and, in fact, my understanding of it is still growing richer to this day.  I knew that his message referred to our small group, and I knew that the Bible name David means “love,” or “beloved,” or “to be loved.”  So, for years I thought the angel meant that by meeting in a small group we had discovered true Christian love.  And we had discovered true Christian love, and we did have it in our meetings.

     But in recent years, I’ve also realized that I originally focused on the wrong word in the angel’s message.  I focused on the word David, when I should have focused on the word key.  The large golden key on the angel’s rope belt was the main point of his message.  This was proven by later events.  After about three years, our small group disbanded.  Several of our families had job transfers, several of our younger members left for college or the military, and our group gradually faded out.

     However, after our small group ended, I didn’t experience the same Christian love again, or the same Spiritual worship again, for several years.  And that is the deeper meaning of the angel’s message.  His message was that small groups with the Early Christian structure are the “key” to the deepest levels of Spiritual worship and love.  He was telling me that participation in an Early Christian style small group is the “key” to living the Early Christian Lifestyle – and in reverse, that lifestyle is rare for people who don’t participate in one.

     In fact, that Spiritual principle is one of the symbolic meanings of the word “key” in the Bible.[8.  In the original New Testament Greek, the word “key” is the noun kleis (pronounced “clice‘,” rhyming with “dice”).  Kleis literally means a door key.  But figuratively, it means a tool, technique, or action that opens something nobody else can close; and that closes something nobody else can open, just as Jesus said in Revelation 3:7.]  The truth about Christian history is that for the first three centuries (about the first eight generations of the original Christians) all Christians met in Spirit-filled, like-minded small groups in private homes – and those small groups were the reason that Early Christianity changed the world Spiritually in only 70 years.

     My problem was that I didn’t know any of that the morning the angel visited me.  The small group that met in my living room was the first small group I’d ever been in.  And so it was only after the group disbanded that I gradually realized what a Spiritual powerhouse the group had been in my life.  Since that time, I’ve studied small groups in both business corporations and Christian congregations for years.  So today I understand more clearly than ever what the angel’s message meant that morning:  It meant that small groups with the Early Christian structure can be the solution to Christianity’s problems these days.  It meant that small groups with the Early Christian structure worked for the original Christians, and they can work for us today.

     That’s why small groups are the theme of this blog, and that’s why they’re the theme of my new book, Saving Christianity.  I think I understand why Christianity is shrinking nationally today, and how that trend could be reversed.  The angel gave me the answer in my living room years ago.  It’s this:  Christians can and should use the Key of David and participate in Spirit-filled, like-minded small groups.  I pray that you participate in one.  If you don’t, please pray about joining one or forming one.