06.24. Angels Among Us
Angels Among Us
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews 13:2
Belief in angels is as old as man himself and indeed the belief in angels is found in the history of all nations. Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and all others. Today it has become a hot topic because of the interest in the New Age Movement. The popular TV show Highway to Heaven was based on angels. Howbeit they taught in error that humans can become angels and return to earth as such. This is not possible according to Scripture. Perhaps one of the best known is the Christmas movie, It’s a wonderful life, with Clarence trying to get his angel wings. This gave rise to the rhyme, "Ever time a bell rings and angel gets his wings." Mankind has spent millions of dollars in recent years to search for life apart from the human life here on earth. We have sent out signals and are constantly listening for an answer. One of the latest attempt to find this life is the "Hubble" telescope. Perhaps a better name for it is the "hobble" telescope. Is there life out there and is it intelligent and will we ever communicate with it? These question and many more are answered in the Word of God for us. Angels are mentioned some 273 times in the Scriptures. 108 in Old Testament and 165 in the New Testament. We do not need to look far in the word of God to find the testimony that they exist. Psalms 68:17 says, "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." And again in Psalms 148:2, "Praise ye Him, all his angels, praise ye him, all his hosts." I wish to explore three different areas of Angels. I- The Origin of Angels, II- The Nature of III- Angels, and the Ministry of Angels.
I- The Origin of Angels:
Who created them, how did they come into existence, when did they come into being, why were they created, and how many angels are there is some of the question I wish to explore. So I guess we could say the Who, How, When, Why and How many in relationship to the origin of angels will be our topics. A- Who? Who created the angels? We know that angels are not eternal creature and therefore they must have a creator. Colossians 1:16 says, "For by Him (Note: Him being Christ) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. So we can answer the who as being the Lord Jesus Christ, the instrument of all creation. B- How? How were the angels created? Psalms 148:2,5 says, "Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created." So we can see from this verse that He created angels the same way He created the rest of the universe, except for man, by the power of His word. Remember that He formed man out of the ground with His loving hands. Still each angel is a direct creation from God in His act of creation. C- When? When did God create the angels? Was it when he created the earth or before. Before Man or after? Job 38:1,4,7 " Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said...4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. ...7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Dr. Henry Morris, creation scientist, says, "Although not mentioned in Genesis 1, it is probable that another act of creation took place on this day. Sometime prior to the third day of creation, a multitude of angels were created, since they were present when the ’foundation of the earth ’ were laid....Angels are called the ’host of heaven,’ and so could not have been created before the existence of heaven." (The Genesis Record, p.57) D- Why? Why did God create the order of life we know as angels? We turn to the scripture to find it teaches us in Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. They were created to bring glory to God. Colossians 1:16, that we have already quoted, says they were created to bring glory. E- How many? How many angels did God create? We are not told the specific number but it is considered enormous. Hebrews 12:22 says concerning the number of angels that they are an, "...innumerable company..." So we see that we cannot number them no more than we can number the stars in space or the sand on the seashore. We will discuss this somewhat further next.
II- Nature of Angels:
A- What is their nature? They are spirit beings as evidenced by Hebrews 1:14 "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Angels are being that are spiritual being as opposed to human beings. They like man were created in the image of God with personality which is necessary to have fellowship with God. They were also created with the ability to make a choice to follow God or to reject Him much like man. They were originally created without fault or sin as Adam was. This has been referred to as their probation period. This probation ended when Lucifer, who was heavens chief angel led a rebellion against God. From this time forward Bible scholars say they fallen angels, that we know as demons, are unable not to sin and the good angels as not able to sin. These fallen angels are known as the Devil’s angels. (See Matthew 25:41, Revelation 12:9 ) The good angels are referred to as Holy or elect angels. (See Mark 8:38, 1 Timothy 5:21 ). For our purpose we are not studying the fallen angels but the holy angels. B- Are there more today than when they were first created? The answer to this question is no. First Christ told us in Luke 20:36, "...neither can they die anymore: for they are equal unto the angels." This verse tells us that angels do not die. So their number has never decreased through death. What about procreation of the species, do they reproduce themselves. Again we turn to the Scripture to find Christ word concerning the human resurrection, "...when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven." We know that angels manifest themselves in human form at times but they are neither gender as human being are. They are neither male or female, but angels.
C- What about their power? We know that angels are very powerful beings in fact much more powerful than human beings.
Psalms 8:4-5 "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour."
2 Peter 2:11 "Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord."
No where is this power more evident than the night that one angel killed the army of Sennacherib king of Assyria. (See 2 Chronicles 32:9-23 ) So we see that they are powerful but not all powerful. D- The type and ranks of the angels. There are many kinds of angels mentioned in scripture. The Archangels, the Cherubims, and the Seraphims as well as others. 1- Archangels: Michael (Daniel 10:13,21 ; Daniel 12:1; Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7 ) Gaberiel is mentioned some 17 different places in the Scriptures. (Daniel 8:16 ; Daniel 9:21, Luke 1:19 ; Luke 1:26 ; Matthew 1:20 ; Matthew 2:13; Matthew 2:19;) He is also identified by some Bible scholars as the Angel of the Lord in the New Testament. (Luke 2:9 ; Luke 22:43; Matthew 28:2 ; Acts 5:19 ; Acts 10:3; Acts 12:7; Acts 12:23; Acts 27:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:16 ) 2- Cherubims: (Genesis 3:24 ; Exodus 25:18-20 ; Ezekiel 1:4-28 ; Ezekiel 10:1-22) Cherubims each have four faces with the front a man, right side a lion, left an ox, the back face is an eagle. They have two pairs of wings, with two sets of human like hands under each wing. Their duties include keeping Adam from the tree of life after he sinned; Lucifer was the chief cherub before his fall. 3- Serephims: (Isaiah 6:1-7 ) The word seraphim means "burning ones" and speaks of their burning devotion to God in worship. They have 6 wings, they cry in chorus the majesty of God as "Holy, Holy, Holy."
III- Ministry of Angels:
The almost natural question concerning angels is what do they do. What is their ministry to us and to the world? We are given very few looks into this other realm of life in the Scriptures but at the same time we are given a lot. The Lord allowed Daniel to understand the warfare going on around us (see Daniel 10:13-14 ) as well as the servant of Elijah who was allowed to see the armies of angels camped about them. (See 2 Kings 7:8-17 ) A- Ministry to Nations: The capital of our country is not protected ultimately by military might. It is protected by angels. Let’s see this based on Daniel 10:12-13 "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia." I believe that the nations of this earth have a warfare that goes on all the time between the forces of evil and the forces of God. B- Ministry to Believers: The question that is on all of our minds by now is there such a thing as guardian angels. Our text states this as so. Landrum P. Leavell in his book Angels, Angels, Angels states, "It is my judgment that we cannot accept the bible as God’s inspired Word and discount the reality of personal angels." This brings us to our next point.
C- Guardian Angels: Matthew 18:10 "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
Hebrews 1:14 "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
There are angels in charge of our protection. Psalms 34:7 "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."
Psalms 91:11 "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."
Allow me to give us an illustration of which there are thousands like. In Billy Grahams book Angels: God Special Agents gives us this account: "The Reverend John G. Paton, a missionary in the New Herbides Islands, tells a thrilling story involving the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Paton’s out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see the attackers unaccountably leave. They thanked God for delivering them. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ, and Mr. Paton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, ’Who were all those men you had with you there?’ The missionary answered, ’There were no men there; just my wife and I.’ The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard-hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr. Paton realize that God had sent His angels to protect them. The chief agreed that there was no other explanation." D- They care for the righteous at death.
Luke 16:22 "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom..."
Jude 1:9 "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."
What comfort it is to know at the moment of death we have a company of angels to bear us home to glory.