Post by ambassador on Apr 30, 2009 0:39:37 GMT -5
The Angelic Host: Comprehending the Misunderstood
What do you think of when you imagine angels? Are angels light-skinned with blond hair? Do they have haloes and wings? Do angels sit on clouds and strum harps in Heaven? Do people become angels when they die? Religious tradition portrays angels in such a ridiculous, unscriptural way. It is also sad that very few people bother to see what the Bible REALLY says about angels; what I hope to accomplish in this article is to clear up confusion about angels.
The Bible makes reference to angels at least 248 times, so it would be impractical for me to comment on all of those verses. I simply want to give you a brief—yet Biblical—glimpse of the angelic host. First we look at the angelic nature, and then we will look at the role of angels in the past, in the present-day, and in the future. As always, what a denomination says or what any person says is not important: God’s Word is the Final Authority in all spiritual matters.
THE NATURE OF ANGELS
• From where did angels come? God created the angelic host before He created the worlds (Nehemiah 9:6), because in Job 38:6-7, the angels watched in amazement and rejoiced as God created the universe. Like us, angels feel emotions such as joy and awe (also see Luke 15:7, 10). It is important to note that angels and humans are separate creatures; people NEVER become angels, but angels can take human form (more on this later). The clear distinction between angels and humans is that angels were not created “in the image of God” like humans were (Genesis 1:26-27).
• The Bible calls angels “the sons of God” and “the morning stars” (Job 38:6-7), and “the stars of Heaven” in Revelation 12:4.
• The most powerful angel was named Lucifer and because of pride, he rebelled against God and fell from Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:13-19; Luke 10:18). We now know Lucifer by the name “Satan, or the devil,” and he is the chief adversary of God.
• The angelic host is “innumerable;” there are far too many angels for us to count (Hebrews 12:22).
• According to Psalm 78:25, manna is called “angels’ food.” Evidently, the food of the angels is the bread that God provided Israel to eat in the wilderness. Angels eat, wow!
• The Bible explains that during the rebellion of Lucifer (Satan), one-third of the angelic host chose to follow Satan and disobey God (Revelation 12:4).
• These fallen angels are called devils. The most wicked fallen angels are imprisoned in darkness (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6), to one day be thrown into the Lake of Fire with unbelievers to suffer all eternity in torments (Matthew 25:41).
• Angels are invisible spirit beings (Numbers 22:22-31). When they made appearances, they were in the form of physical, tangible men (Revelation 21:17; one angel appeared as a young man in Christ’s tomb in Mark 16:5). Two angels and the Lord—all three disguised as physical men—ate with Abraham in Genesis 18:1-8, and at first, Abraham was unaware of their true identities.
• Angels are strong and powerful (Psalm 103:20), wise (2 Samuel 14:17, 20), and holy (“set apart,” Matthew 25:31). One angel is recorded to have slain 185,000 men in one single night (Isaiah 37:36)!
• Angelic creatures do not seem to understand salvation that God has provided to humans (1 Peter 1:10-12). Angels are not omnipotent, so like us, they learn from experience (Mark 13:32)—angels are still far more intelligent than man. In eternity, is it possible that we believers will be teaching angels the details of salvation?
• Angels are organized in ranks or orders. Michael is the only archangel the Bible mentions, one of the chief angels, if not the leader of the righteous angelic host (Jude 19). Gabriel is the name of another angel (Daniel 9:21-27; Luke 1:1-38).
• Isaiah had a vision of seraphim flying around, which some believe are angelic creatures (Isaiah 6:2, 6). God placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden to prevent Adam and Eve from re-entering the Garden after the fall of man (Genesis 3:24), and there is another reference to cherubim in 2 Kings 19:15. However, others say that these are creatures separate from angels. Interestingly, Zechariah 6:8-9 says there are some evil devilish creatures with wings called “wickedness.” These are not angelic beings, but counterfeit versions of Satan.
• There is some debate over the identity of “the angel of the Lord.” Is this God the Son in a theophany, or is this simply an angelic being? I cannot say for sure, due to what is in Genesis 48:16, but I think it is simply an angel of God. You can also see Genesis 16:7-16; Genesis 22:11; 2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:7-8 for other references to “the angel of the Lord.”
ANGELS IN TIME PAST
• In Israel’s program, under the direction and supervision of God, angels protected believers (Psalm 34:7; Psalm 91:11-12 with Matthew 4:6), rescued believers from prison (Acts 12:7-8), ministered to believers (Hebrews 1:13-14), provided for believers (1 Kings 1:5-8), and guided believers (Genesis 24:7, 40).
• The ministry of angels toward unbelievers was just the opposite. God sent angels to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:13). According to Judges 5:23, God sent angels to curse the unbelievers.
• Angels also appeared to the Jewish patriarchs such as Abraham (Genesis 18:2-15) and Moses (Exodus 3:2), and even to the prophet Daniel (6:22). On one particular occasion, angels appeared to the entire Nation of Israel (Judges 2:1-4).
• In the Book of 1 Kings, the first eight verses of chapter 19, an angel fed Elijah cakes and gave him water to drink when he fled from Jezebel.
• Angels appeared to Mary and Joseph to herald Christ’s conception, and angels appeared to the shepherds when Christ was born (Matthew 1:20-24; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:9-12).
• Angels ministered to the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness after His temptations from the devil (Matthew 4:11).
• The Lord Jesus claimed that He could ask His Father to send over 72,000 angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53)!
• In time past, after a believer’s death, angels carried him or her to paradise (the Old Testament version of Heaven). See Luke 16:22.
• The Bible says that angels not only proclaimed Christ’s resurrection (Matthew 28:5-7), but they also witnessed Christ’s resurrection (1 Timothy 3:16).
• Angels appeared to the eleven apostles on the Mount of Olives, and these same two angels accompanied Christ as He ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:9-11).
• According to Acts 27:23-24, an angel appeared to comfort the Apostle Paul before shipwreck.
ANGELS IN THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE
• In this Dispensation of Grace, separate from the prophetic program in Israel, angels are NOT making public appearances today. There have not been any angelic appearances to man in almost 2,000 years, so do not be looking for angelic appearances either!
• If you have a supposedly “angelic appearance” today—or any other similar miraculous experience—you need to be aware of Galatians 1:8. An angelic appearance would serve no purpose today, as God’s message to us is in His written Word, the Bible; an “angel” would only appear to you today to deceive you. Now that we have a complete, preserved Word of God (KJV in English), God does not send angels to relay messages to us today like in time past. Remember that the devil is working behind these so-called “angelic appearances,” for he is the master deceiver (see 2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
• Like the lost world, the angelic host watched Paul’s lifestyle and ministry, and they probably watched the other apostles (1 Corinthians 4:9). Although we cannot see angels today, they are around us: are they watching us right now, how we talk, what we do? Angels exist, but they cannot be seen today like in biblical times.
• Angels are NEVER to be worshipped (Colossians 2:18). We should not have angelic statues, angelic paintings, and the like because this is evil, and this could possibly lead to idolatry (Exodus 20:4-5).
ANGELS IN THE AGES TO COME
• Angels will be present as the Church, the Body of Christ is raptured into glory (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
• After the Rapture, during the seven-year Tribulation, angels will bring God’s judgment on the lost world (Revelation 7:1-3; also, Revelation chapters 8 and 9, for instance).
• Prior to the Battle of Armageddon, angels will accompany the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (Matthew 13:41, 49). My idea is that the Church, the Body of Christ will also accompany Him at His Second Coming (see Revelation 19:14).
• Look at 1 Corinthians 6:3 KJV when Paul asks, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” Are believers in eternity going to rule with Christ over angels? Yes, actually, I agree with that idea.
What do you think of when you imagine angels? Are angels light-skinned with blond hair? Do they have haloes and wings? Do angels sit on clouds and strum harps in Heaven? Do people become angels when they die? Religious tradition portrays angels in such a ridiculous, unscriptural way. It is also sad that very few people bother to see what the Bible REALLY says about angels; what I hope to accomplish in this article is to clear up confusion about angels.
The Bible makes reference to angels at least 248 times, so it would be impractical for me to comment on all of those verses. I simply want to give you a brief—yet Biblical—glimpse of the angelic host. First we look at the angelic nature, and then we will look at the role of angels in the past, in the present-day, and in the future. As always, what a denomination says or what any person says is not important: God’s Word is the Final Authority in all spiritual matters.
THE NATURE OF ANGELS
• From where did angels come? God created the angelic host before He created the worlds (Nehemiah 9:6), because in Job 38:6-7, the angels watched in amazement and rejoiced as God created the universe. Like us, angels feel emotions such as joy and awe (also see Luke 15:7, 10). It is important to note that angels and humans are separate creatures; people NEVER become angels, but angels can take human form (more on this later). The clear distinction between angels and humans is that angels were not created “in the image of God” like humans were (Genesis 1:26-27).
• The Bible calls angels “the sons of God” and “the morning stars” (Job 38:6-7), and “the stars of Heaven” in Revelation 12:4.
• The most powerful angel was named Lucifer and because of pride, he rebelled against God and fell from Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:13-19; Luke 10:18). We now know Lucifer by the name “Satan, or the devil,” and he is the chief adversary of God.
• The angelic host is “innumerable;” there are far too many angels for us to count (Hebrews 12:22).
• According to Psalm 78:25, manna is called “angels’ food.” Evidently, the food of the angels is the bread that God provided Israel to eat in the wilderness. Angels eat, wow!
• The Bible explains that during the rebellion of Lucifer (Satan), one-third of the angelic host chose to follow Satan and disobey God (Revelation 12:4).
• These fallen angels are called devils. The most wicked fallen angels are imprisoned in darkness (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6), to one day be thrown into the Lake of Fire with unbelievers to suffer all eternity in torments (Matthew 25:41).
• Angels are invisible spirit beings (Numbers 22:22-31). When they made appearances, they were in the form of physical, tangible men (Revelation 21:17; one angel appeared as a young man in Christ’s tomb in Mark 16:5). Two angels and the Lord—all three disguised as physical men—ate with Abraham in Genesis 18:1-8, and at first, Abraham was unaware of their true identities.
• Angels are strong and powerful (Psalm 103:20), wise (2 Samuel 14:17, 20), and holy (“set apart,” Matthew 25:31). One angel is recorded to have slain 185,000 men in one single night (Isaiah 37:36)!
• Angelic creatures do not seem to understand salvation that God has provided to humans (1 Peter 1:10-12). Angels are not omnipotent, so like us, they learn from experience (Mark 13:32)—angels are still far more intelligent than man. In eternity, is it possible that we believers will be teaching angels the details of salvation?
• Angels are organized in ranks or orders. Michael is the only archangel the Bible mentions, one of the chief angels, if not the leader of the righteous angelic host (Jude 19). Gabriel is the name of another angel (Daniel 9:21-27; Luke 1:1-38).
• Isaiah had a vision of seraphim flying around, which some believe are angelic creatures (Isaiah 6:2, 6). God placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden to prevent Adam and Eve from re-entering the Garden after the fall of man (Genesis 3:24), and there is another reference to cherubim in 2 Kings 19:15. However, others say that these are creatures separate from angels. Interestingly, Zechariah 6:8-9 says there are some evil devilish creatures with wings called “wickedness.” These are not angelic beings, but counterfeit versions of Satan.
• There is some debate over the identity of “the angel of the Lord.” Is this God the Son in a theophany, or is this simply an angelic being? I cannot say for sure, due to what is in Genesis 48:16, but I think it is simply an angel of God. You can also see Genesis 16:7-16; Genesis 22:11; 2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:7-8 for other references to “the angel of the Lord.”
ANGELS IN TIME PAST
• In Israel’s program, under the direction and supervision of God, angels protected believers (Psalm 34:7; Psalm 91:11-12 with Matthew 4:6), rescued believers from prison (Acts 12:7-8), ministered to believers (Hebrews 1:13-14), provided for believers (1 Kings 1:5-8), and guided believers (Genesis 24:7, 40).
• The ministry of angels toward unbelievers was just the opposite. God sent angels to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:13). According to Judges 5:23, God sent angels to curse the unbelievers.
• Angels also appeared to the Jewish patriarchs such as Abraham (Genesis 18:2-15) and Moses (Exodus 3:2), and even to the prophet Daniel (6:22). On one particular occasion, angels appeared to the entire Nation of Israel (Judges 2:1-4).
• In the Book of 1 Kings, the first eight verses of chapter 19, an angel fed Elijah cakes and gave him water to drink when he fled from Jezebel.
• Angels appeared to Mary and Joseph to herald Christ’s conception, and angels appeared to the shepherds when Christ was born (Matthew 1:20-24; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:9-12).
• Angels ministered to the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness after His temptations from the devil (Matthew 4:11).
• The Lord Jesus claimed that He could ask His Father to send over 72,000 angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53)!
• In time past, after a believer’s death, angels carried him or her to paradise (the Old Testament version of Heaven). See Luke 16:22.
• The Bible says that angels not only proclaimed Christ’s resurrection (Matthew 28:5-7), but they also witnessed Christ’s resurrection (1 Timothy 3:16).
• Angels appeared to the eleven apostles on the Mount of Olives, and these same two angels accompanied Christ as He ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:9-11).
• According to Acts 27:23-24, an angel appeared to comfort the Apostle Paul before shipwreck.
ANGELS IN THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE
• In this Dispensation of Grace, separate from the prophetic program in Israel, angels are NOT making public appearances today. There have not been any angelic appearances to man in almost 2,000 years, so do not be looking for angelic appearances either!
• If you have a supposedly “angelic appearance” today—or any other similar miraculous experience—you need to be aware of Galatians 1:8. An angelic appearance would serve no purpose today, as God’s message to us is in His written Word, the Bible; an “angel” would only appear to you today to deceive you. Now that we have a complete, preserved Word of God (KJV in English), God does not send angels to relay messages to us today like in time past. Remember that the devil is working behind these so-called “angelic appearances,” for he is the master deceiver (see 2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
• Like the lost world, the angelic host watched Paul’s lifestyle and ministry, and they probably watched the other apostles (1 Corinthians 4:9). Although we cannot see angels today, they are around us: are they watching us right now, how we talk, what we do? Angels exist, but they cannot be seen today like in biblical times.
• Angels are NEVER to be worshipped (Colossians 2:18). We should not have angelic statues, angelic paintings, and the like because this is evil, and this could possibly lead to idolatry (Exodus 20:4-5).
ANGELS IN THE AGES TO COME
• Angels will be present as the Church, the Body of Christ is raptured into glory (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
• After the Rapture, during the seven-year Tribulation, angels will bring God’s judgment on the lost world (Revelation 7:1-3; also, Revelation chapters 8 and 9, for instance).
• Prior to the Battle of Armageddon, angels will accompany the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (Matthew 13:41, 49). My idea is that the Church, the Body of Christ will also accompany Him at His Second Coming (see Revelation 19:14).
• Look at 1 Corinthians 6:3 KJV when Paul asks, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” Are believers in eternity going to rule with Christ over angels? Yes, actually, I agree with that idea.