02 - Chapter 02
CHAP. II. OF THE DIVINE LOVE AS MANIFESTED RESPECTING ANGELS.
Concerning Angels we know simply that which is revealed in the Scriptures. In modern ages, those beings, of whatever description, are not personally the objects of perceptible communication with men. And, though we rest assured that, in the earlier periods of the world, even to the days of the Apostles, Angelic Messengers were commissioned to render themselves manifest to individuals; our information is restricted to the brief details recorded in the Sacred Writings. That the various particulars which the Scriptures relate concerning Angels concur in attesting the statement that God is Love, is a proposition which it will not be presumptuous to maintain. The circumstance evidently requiring to be noticed antecedently to all other intelligence, which the Scriptures impart concerning Angels, is the separation of those superhuman beings into two divisions, holy Angels, and evil Angels. All the Angels were created holy and happy, partakers of the Love of God and exemplifications of its fulness. What was the period in the unseen ages of eternity during which this blissful state continued, we know not; but we know that as to numbers amid the Angelic Hosts it came to an end. Temptation assailed them; they sinned and fell. They kept not their first estate of righteousness and felicity: they left their own original habitation in heaven: they were cast into hell, and are reserved in chains and darkness unto the Judgement of the great day. The consideration of their condition will be resum ed; and the conclusions to which it leads, as connected with our general subject, will be developed, when we shall have contemplated the conduct of the Deity respecting the holy Angels, and the inferences to be deduced from it. Of those Angels who, though subjected to their appropriate probation, whatever may have been its nature, maintained their first estate of obedience and blessedness, the characteristic designation is holiness. It is the characteristic designation attributed to them by our Saviour. The Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy Angels with Him.[1] Of all men who in this world are ashamed of Him and of His words, of them also shall He be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels.[2] They are described in other passages of Scripture by additional titles, indicating them as beings exalted to signal preeminence, and endued with most noble qualities and attainments. They are termed Angels of God ; Angels of the Lord; Angels of Light; Mighty, excelling in strength, and in wisdom.[3] They have received the gift of immortal life. They stand in the presence of the Most High, and are made acquainted with many of His counsels. The multitude of the Angelic Hosts is beyond computation. They are the innumerable company of Angels.[4] They are distributed into orders and degrees. We hear of Michael the Archangel; we hear of other Angels, described by the name of Seraphim[5]; we hear of thrones, and dominions, and prin-
1 Matthew 25:31; Matthew 14:20. Psalms 103:20.
2 Mark 8:38; Luke 20:36 .
3 2 Thessalonians 1:7;
4 Hebrews 12:22.
5 Isaiah 6:2-6 . dualities, and powers of Heaven.[1] But, whatever be the rank of the different Angels of God, all of them are holy. All of them are ministering Spirits to the Lord Almighty, doing His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word, ministers of His that do His pleasure.[2] It may be that He sees fit to conduct in part by their agency the government of the universe. But, whatever be the manner in which He may have determined to exercise his superintendence over worlds to us unknown; we are assured that, in ruling the globe on which we dwell, He is pleased largely to employ the services of Angels. When the foundations of the earth were laid, the Angels were present, and beheld the new creation with rapture. The Morning Stars sang together: and all the Sons of God shouted for joy.[3] When the law was promulgated on Mount Sinai, they were present ; and, though invisible to mortal eyes, had functions of dignity and sacredness assigned to them in the aweful solemnity. The Law was received by the disposition of Angels. It was [1] Colossians 1:16 : Ephesians 3:2Hebrews 1:7
[2] Psalms 103:20-21.
[3] Job 38:7. ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator. [1] When the Son of God invested Himself with human nature, for the purpose of accomplishing the mystery of redemption, that stupendous mystery of Divine Love into which the Angels desire to look [2]; their ministry was called forth in its most ample extent to glorify the mighty Saviour. To announce His incarnation, an Angel was sent to the Virgin Mary. The birth of His forerunner John the Baptist was predicted by an Angel to Zacharias. From the moment of the birth of Christ, to Him, though he had taken upon himself the form of a servant, to Him, even when he had thus humbled Himself, all the hosts of heaven were placed in subjection. His Everlasting Father, when He brought His First-begotten Son into the world, said: Let all the Angels of God worship him.[3] When the appearance upon earth of the Lord Jesus was communicated to the shepherds by an Angel, suddenly there was with Him a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.* [1] Acts 7:53. Galatians 3:3Hebrews 1:6.
[2] Luke 2:13-14.
[3] 1 Peter 1:12.
It was by an Angel that God commanded Joseph to remove the Infant and His Mother into Egypt from the murderous machinations of Herod. It was an Angel who, after the death of Herod, appeared to Joseph, and directed him to return with the young Child into the land of Israel. When our Redeemer had encountered and repelled the temptations of the Devil in the wilderness; behold, Angels came and ministered unto Him.[1] When he was in his Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, there appeared unto Him an Angel from heaven strengthening Him. [2] When seized by his enemies, He could instantly have received the aid, had He chosen to deliver Himself from death, of more than twelve legions of Angels.[3] When the hour of his Resurrection was come, an Angel of the Lord, whose countenance was Uke lightning and his raiment white as snow, descended from heaven, and rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulchre.[4] It was by Angels that the women who came to the tomb were instructed that Christ was risen. When, after the completion of his undertaking of mercy upon earth, [1] Matthew 4:11
[2] Matthew 26:53.
[3] Luke 12:43.
[4] Matthew 28:2-3.
He ascended into heaven, two Angels showed themselves by the side of his disciples, and averred to them that He should again come from heaven, in the same manner in which they had witnessed his ascent. To Him, as Head of his Church, now that he is exalted in his human nature to the right hand of God, Angels, and authorities, and powers, are made subject.[1] Of His present government, of His flock throughout the world, they are spectators and ministers, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.[2] When He shall come in his glory, to judge the world, all the holy Angels shall be with Him. And He shall send them forth, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity. And they shall sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.[3] The Scriptures discover to us various purposes for which Angels have been commissioned to appear to men. Sometimes they have been sent to convey practical directions from God to His [
[2] Matthew 13:39. Matthew 13:49-50.
[3] Ephesians 3:19. servants: as when the prophet Gad was commanded by an Angel to bear a message to David; and Philip the Evangelist to go down into the desert between Jerusalem and Gaza, that he might be ready for the service on which he was there to be employed. Sometimes they were to reveal far distant events, as to Daniel and to St. John. Sometimes they were to communicate special assurances of the Divine favour, which in certain cases were also accompanied with a disclosure of future events, or with instructions to the individuals: as to Abraham, to Hagar, to Zachariah, to Cornelius. Sometimes they were charged with messages of wrath : as to Balaam the soothsayer, and to the rebellious people of Israel at Bochim.[1] Sometimes they were commissioned to afford to the servants of God assistance and deliverance in seasons of affliction or of peril: as to the Israelites in their departure from Egypt; to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- nego in the furnace ; to Daniel in the den of lions ; to the diseased at the pool of Bethesda ; to Peter in the prison; to Paul on his voyage into Italy. Sometimes they were sent forth to execute judgements for iniquity: as to destroy [1] Numbers 22:23. Judges 2:1-5. the first-born of the Egyptians; to rain fire and brimstone upon Sodom and the neighbouring cities; to bring low the multitude of the people whom David in the pride of his heart had unlawfully numbered; to disable the army of Sennacherib; to smite Herod on his throne, when with blasphemous satisfaction he appropriated to himself honour pertaining to God. But it is not only to some favoured nation involved in some extraordinary trial, or to individuals eminent, as Prophets, as Apostles, or as Martyrs, that Angels are commissioned with purposes of mercy. Of all the faithful worshippers of the Most High these heavenly intelligences are the appointed and the constant protectors. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation? [1] They are sent forth to minister for good to every follower of Cb rist. The angel of the Liord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.[2] What was the language of our Lord to his disciples, when he placed in the midst of them a little child as an example of lowliness of mind ? Whoso shall despise one of these Uttle ones that believe in me, it were [1] Hebrews 1:14
[2] Psalms 34:7. better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you that in heaven their Angels (the Angels to whose care they are specially committed) do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.[1] That generally the Angels are entrusted by their gracious God with a previous knowledge of events which he has decreed to bring to pass upon the earth, our Saviour evinces by a very emphatical exception as to a particular case, the time of his future return in glory : of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the Angels of heaven? Other passages in the word of God imply that
[1] Matthew 18:6-10.
[2] Matthew 24:36. Il£p( dt rng iifitpag tutivnc. ovdttg oiStv. The word ovStie had been better rendered in its indefinite sense, no one, no being in the creation, not even any angel, no existence save God himself. Our translators of the New Testament, in their singularly excellent version, have fallen more than once into a similar mistake respecting the local meaning of ovStic.. ThusRevelation 5:3. we read, And no man in heaven, nor in earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. So again in the succeeding verse, And I wept much became no man was found worthy to open and to read the book. The original stands thus :— Kat ovStiQ rjBvvaro tv rw ovpavt,i,&c. Kat tyia Ik\o.iov iroXXa on ovdtic . ajiof tvptf/n, &c. The meaning in each verse evidently is, that no being, neither angel nor man nor departed spirit, was able or worthy to open or even to look upon the book. the Angels are continual and attentive witnesses of human actions. St. Paul, speaking of the incessant persecutions experienced by himself and by the other apostles, has this remarkable expression : We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to Angels.[1] On another occasion, when he is enforcing a solemn admonition upon Timothy, his words are these: I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect Angels[2] Nor is this inspection of earthly transactions on the part of the heavenly hosts a mere exercise of curious observance respecting the manners of inferior beings; nor simply a reverent and admiring contemplation of the unbounded wisdom and the diversified operations of the Most High. It is accompanied by warm and affectionate solicitude for the welfare of man. "When one sinner repenteth, there is joy over him in heaven, in the presence of the Angels of God? Our Saviour’s declaration that at the day of judgement He will confess, as his own, every one who has confessed Him, and will deny every one who has been ashamed of Him, before the assembled Angels, attests the lively interest [1] 1 Corinthians 4:9.
[2] 1 Timothy 5:21.
[3] Luke 15:7-10. which they will feel in the sentence that shall be passed upon different persons. And in his parable of the rich man and Lazarus He appears to authorise the conclusion, that one part of the ministration of Angels is to convey and to welcome to everlasting rest the unbodied spirits of the righteous. Is it not then manifest from the scriptural statements which have been produced, that the divine conduct respecting the Holy Angels fully sustains the proposition that God is love? Is it not manifest from the exalted qualities with which He has endowed them, from the glory and blessedness with which he has arrayed them, from the gift of immortal existence with which he has crowned them, from the condescending confidence with which he renders them partakers of His counsels, from the ministrations in which he employs their service? If the conclusion be undeniable, in what an unbounded measure is His love multiplied and magnified to our conceptions, when we reflect that these highly-favoured beings form an innumerable company ! Do we ask what are their own sentiments respecting their Almighty Benefactor ? We hear with Isaiah their sentiments from the lips of the Seraphim, when they appear standing by the throne of God in his Temple, and in adoration, veiling their faces with their wings, exclaim, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory"[1] We hear them with St. John, when he beheld and heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice ; Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to re- ceivepower, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. Again, we listen with the same Apostle when all the Angels stood round about the throne, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God, saying, Amen ! Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever! Amen! [2] It is possible that an objector may ask [1] Isaiah 6:1-3.
[2] Revelation 5:11; Revelation 7:11-12. whether it can be consistent with love on the part of God towards Holy Angels, to require them, according to admitted facts, to be the bearers of messages of rebuke and wrath, or to be the executioners of penal inflictions, even to the extermination, nay, to the final perdition, of the offenders. An answer to this question will be deduced from the reply to be returned to another. Is it consistent with love, to send messages of rebuke and wrath, to decree penal inflictions, to ordain the extermination and even the final perdition of offenders ? If these messages and decisions be consistent with love, it cannot be inconsistent with love to employ other beings as agents to communicate and to accomplish them. Are they then consistent with the character of a Being who is Love? Unquestionably messages of rebuke and indignation may be proceedings of positive and signal kindness to the transgressor, calculated to awaken his conscience and to lead him to repentance and forgiveness. If he remains perseveringly and determinately unimpressible by these manifestations of love, and can no longer be fitly an object of the exercise of love; his merited and necessary punishment, be it even to final perdition, may yet be an exercise of love towards incalculable multitudes of other intelligent and responsible existences, whom the example of his punishment may stimulate as a powerful admonition to obedience ; whom impunity permitted to him might have encouraged to transgression, and have beguiled to destruction. In noticing the preceding objection I have purposely forborne from entering prematurely into the discussion of the great question, which must inevitably be met in the progress of this investigation ; How can the existence of evil, physical or moral, among created beings, be compatible with the truth of the position that God is love? The objection seemed entitled to be produced; and the remarks which have been made concerning it appear to furnish for the present a sufficient reply.