Angels Unawares;
By
Dewey Maggard Most people believe there are guardian angels who watch over us. There have been numerousaccounts of these unseen beings in our presence. Radio, Newspapers and Televesion have reported incidents that have miraculous overtones. Unexplained occurences that cause us to escape what would be certain death gives credubility to our concept of guardian angels It does not have to be escape from death, It can be escape from an unseen danger-unseen by the one who is being protected. It is safe to say many people have had personal experiences they can relate which causes them to be aware of this unseen presence. The certain manifestations of the miraculous have caused humanity to come to these beliefs. This idea of unseen angels about us is not new. There is countless tangible and historically recorded evidence going back to the ancient past. Not only secular history but also biblical scriptures validate this fact. Firstly,I will give sufficient tangible evidence through numismatics that supports this belief. Then, I will quote a few biblical narratives that are the true roots to the wonderful angelic guardianship that has been given to mankind.A universal concept of what angels may look like has been depicted on ancient coinages as early as 483 B.C. Various nations during that period and later have been partial to show angels in flight hovering over a chariot and the charioteer. This particular design is prevalent with the Carthiginians, the Greeks, and the Romans. The earliest coin I have seen with this motif is a Silver Dekadrachm minted by the tyrant Dionysios at Syracuse Italy Circa 390 B.C,who ruled there.This design has four prancing horse pulling the the charioteer in his chariot with the angel hovering over the driver with outstretched armsover his head. A few years later, Alexander the Great gives us the name of an Angel he claims to have spoken with. That name was “Nike’ and has stuck with historical writers.The angels are frequently shown with outstretched arms over the head of the driver. In later Republic era of the Romans, angels were often shown as driving the chariot- to signify, the protection offered to the one whose name is on the coin. One example that I have seen,on a silver denarius is an angel driving the chariot in place of General Sulla who is named on the coin. This writer owns such coins. Strangely as it may seem to our own modern society, these ancient people were very religious. The word providentia (Latin) occurs many times on early Roman coins. These people had no less than 23 Dieties and 34 various images for Personifications. The personification for Providentia- or providence is always shown holding a baton and scepter. Occasionally a globe (for the earth) appears at her feet signifying protection over the earth or their world. Of course these people knew the earth was round.Numerous ancient coins depict a globe for our world. THis personification is shown as a lady. On our own U.S. Coinage, we show personifications for “Liberty” in the form of a lady;See our quarters from 1916-1930- or our half dollars from 1916-1945.There are literally hundreds of references to angels in our bibles. Yet before we had our bibles, the belief concerning angels was widespread and the coinages illustrate this fact. Miraculous incidents involving angels have been so vivid as to leave little doubt for mankind if he will but look at the record. For example, King Nebuchadnezzer who had three young men thrown in a fiery furnace became a believer when he saw that these men were unharmed by the flames. He made a statement to show that he knew about angels when he said (Paraphrased) “Blessed be the God of these men who trusted their God, that He has sent his angels and delivered them.(Read Daniel 3:28 & 29) Futhermore, this king made a decree that every people, nation, and language would learn of this incident and uphold these three men.One more example that captured the minds of people concerns when the prophet Daniel was thrown in the Lion’s den because of jealous treachery. So what happened! This was another king (Darius) who was very concerned about Daniel- He made inquiry to Daniel having believed that angels would have protected him- which they did. Daniel’s reply to this king was “My God hath sent his angel,and hath shut the lions’ mouth that they have not hurt me”…Dan 6:22. The king was so delighted that he made a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men fear and tremble before the God of Daniel…Dan 6:26.. And so dear reader,The above is simply a couple of examples as to how the word got out- the word was published in all lands by these King’s decrees. Of course,from the very beginning of man’s history,the presence of angles has been known- But here we are dealing with an extension of those decrees and incidents in the form of tangible evidence on coinages.
Wouldn’t it be great if our own leaders would take heed to the words of these kings to fear and tremble before God- especially in their decision making.
The sobering thoughts we glean from all of this is that indeed, there is providential watch care especially for those who look to Him who has all power. One last comment that we could think on- are the words of the apostle Paul in Hebrews 13:2 as follows; “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby, some have entertained angels unawares.
