The Nature of Angels

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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June 5, 2019

00:10: Well again, it's It's good to see everyone here tonight.
00:15: It's always great to have to pull out extra tables and chairs.
00:17: That's always encouraging and For those of you who are relatively new with us or maybe tonight's your first night We have been in a long study of systematic theology systematic theology is Where we take the subjects of the Bible God The Trinity the person and work of Jesus Christ the person and work of the Holy Spirit and we look at those subjects in a manner Which is expository meaning we go to the scripture and we seek to pull out from the scripture what the scripture says about those particular subjects and we just happen to be at this time on the subject of angels not every systematic theology Deals with angels.
01:07: In fact, I have several books on systematic theology.
01:10: Some are on my desk somewhere on my shelf some are on my computer and As I was preparing for this portion of this lecture series I went and started pulling out the books which ones have angels and which ones don't and not all of them did But most of them did and so I felt like I didn't want to skip on past this part And I'm glad I didn't because it seems as if there has been some interest.
01:38: Thank you, brother Seems as if there has been some interest in this subject And I wanted to share it by way of just a personal testimony something that happened to me when I was in seminary and No, I didn't see an angel, but I was very intrigued.
01:59: I Was I was in class one day in And the professor told a story He said there was a man in the hospital Who had had a vision of angels? Now, I don't know what this professor was thinking Telling a group of young men and he said the man is in the hospital and he gave us his name So as soon as class was over I drove to the hospital Because I wanted to hear this man's story He didn't know me from Adam and It was an awkward moment When I walked in and I said, please tell me your angel story But it just goes to show how intriguing this this this whole subject can be it can be one that is just Absolutely enamoring for our soul because the Bible is very clear.
02:51: We talked about this last week The Bible is very clear that angels exist In fact, we're going to see in the course of this study that it's also clear that we do engage with angels sometimes without even knowing it and We take some things for granted again If you're here for the first time one of the things we take for granted in this church is that the Bible is true The Bible is the Word of God.
03:16: It's inerrant.
03:17: It is infallible It is the inspired Word of God And so if the Bible says angels exist we believe that we don't have to wonder we don't have to think about it We don't have to consider whether or not that's true.
03:29: We simply take that for granted now I've taught other classes on why we believe the Bible is true But that's not the subject for the evening the subject for the evening is simply to say because the Bible is true We do believe that it's true.
03:40: We have we don't have to wonder about the existence of angels in fact As I mentioned in our course study last week That is a big deal Because people have stopped believing in the supernatural People have stopped believing.
04:01: In fact, you ask somebody if they believe in God.
04:04: Yeah But then you begin to dig a little deeper and what they believe about God is usually very naturalistic How did men come about were they special creations? No, they came about through evolutionary process What happens to our men's lives governed by Almighty God? No, they're governed by chance and random Situations, you know, that's a naturalistic worldview.
04:29: That's trying to fit its way into a theistic one I want to believe in God, but I don't want to believe that he has anything to do with the universe I don't want to believe that he has anything to do with my life And I certainly don't want to believe that he has anything to do with judgment.
04:42: Maybe he'll bring me to heaven And that's the hope But I don't want to invest anything Beloved that's not Christianity In fact, that's not even theism There's a word for that.
04:56: It's called deism Deism is the belief that there is a God who created the universe, but that they he simply is Divorced from what is going on in the universe.
05:09: He's disinterested Regarding the universe he as it were Started the world spinning like a top and he just stepped back and he's watching it spin and one day it's gonna spin out Like a top might eventually cease to spin and that's deism and I think that's what a lot of people want They like they want the idea that there's a God but they don't want any accountability They certainly don't want any judgment and they don't want anyone Against whom they have to be responsible or with whom they have to be responsible.
05:40: So deism is very tempting But the Bible doesn't teach any such thing the Bible teaches that God exists and it teaches that He has created angels now I want to give you the blanks because some of you are Tonight's your first night here and I know sitting there with blanks on your page It can be rather disconcerting with your in your mind So if you weren't here last week, the first three blanks are as such the under the existence of angels The first is that the Bible assumes their existence the Bible assumes Their existence It never tries to prove they exist it simply assumes it it's the same way with God It just says in the beginning God, it doesn't try to prove God's existence It simply assumes that he does exist.
06:26: The Bible describes their creation and Again, if you weren't here last week, you can get the audio recordings for this if you're interested It does describe their creation.
06:36: They are not glorified human beings This is something I didn't mention last week.
06:41: It was in my notes, but I just overlooked it A lot of people think that when you die you become an angel There is no biblical warrant for that There is no biblical prayer and you'll hear people say all this person gained his wings or this person gained her wings And and I understand that that's a platitude that is a sympathetic statement that's trying to bring some kind of Softness to a hard situation and I understand the need for that But you'll notice when I prayed earlier, what did I pray against? Platitudes As I was thinking about that those parents who lost their child The last thing they need is people to come up and say to them things that are just not true You know and people do that all the time and in an attempt to try to be comforting.
07:33: They're often very very untrue statements that are made They say what does it matter? Oh, it matters a lot.
07:41: The truth matters.
07:42: I had a guy Don't be careful I had a guy always gets dangerous because I have a lot of guys say a lot of crazy stuff People say a lot of crazy things to me.
07:54: I think I must have it on my face.
07:55: Is it this face? people just come and say stuff and So we'll just leave that be but Angels are not glorified human beings.
08:05: They had a special they had a time of creation This is described in many passages Psalm 148 Colossians 1 several other passages But the Bible is silent as to when they were created.
08:17: We don't know when We don't know when they were created We just know that they were Some passages seem to indicate they were created prior to the creation of the world.
08:28: We talked about that last week This is Job 38 other passages would seem to indicate that that was the world was first and then the angels came and again I don't I don't argue the win.
08:39: I Just simply say this.
08:40: We know that angels exist.
08:42: We know they had a beginning.
08:43: They are not eternal beings like God God says this very specific thing in the book of Isaiah.
08:52: I am God and there is no other I am God and there is none like me Before me there was no God formed and there will be no God formed after me God is absolutely unique.
09:06: He is eternal.
09:08: He is eternally existing He is Self-existent and he is without cause nothing caused God you ever had in your children.
09:18: There's just a blessing They'll say well if God made everything who made God and that's a legitimate question that you have to answer and the question is God is not made Because God is not created.
09:31: He is creator He is the source of everything Angels included he is the source Even of the angels.
09:43: Well tonight.
09:44: We're gonna look at the nature of angels.
09:46: That was my Rehashing of what we did last week.
09:48: We're gonna now move to the nature of angels and By nature.
09:54: I mean what kind of beings are they? You'll remember we looked at the nature of Jesus and we said what kind of being is Jesus? Jesus is God in the flesh.
10:06: He is the second person of the Trinity.
10:09: He is the God man He is true where the Latin is vera homo vera deus He is truly God truly man.
10:18: And so Jesus is unique the Holy Spirit is truly God and So we have one God who exists in three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit by nature.
10:31: They all share the essence of God and They interrelate and have a relationship within the Trinity That's the nature of God.
10:42: That is not the nature of angels So tonight we're going to look at the nature of angels Well, the first thing we see on our sheet to fill in the blank is that angels are personal beings They are personal beings.
10:59: I'll put that up.
11:04: It's just a Did this not come from you didn't see the box this brand new? It's uh, it's no good.
11:12: It's I hate that.
11:14: I won't send you again.
11:15: Okay.
11:16: I hate that I feel like a heel sending you back Angels are personal beings now.
11:21: What do we mean by that? Well, if you remember for those of you who were here when we studied the doctrine of the Holy Spirit we said one of the things that we needed to understand about the Holy Spirit is that he is Personal a lot of people think the Holy Spirit is like a force like electricity But the Holy Spirit is never never in Scripture is the pronoun it Ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
11:49: The Holy Spirit is always given the pronoun he always with the pronoun of person Never with the pronoun of in person if I say it is a book I wouldn't say it is a Cody, right? I would say he is a Cody right because there's a difference between a book and a person there's a difference between a lectern and You and the difference is person right When we talk about the angels, they are always given the idea of personality They're always described as person not Simply in our it or impersonal they're never considered to be Impersonal beings.
12:38: Thank you, brother.
12:39: I appreciate it was yes.
12:41: I think that's what it was.
12:42: I think yeah.
12:43: Oh, yeah Now I'm cooking with gas now.
12:45: Okay.
12:45: Alright, so so what does anybody remember? the three ways that we note Personality in a being other than the fact that they are considered by the personal pronoun of he or she Was there were there were three ways that we identify Personality you may remember what those three things work Yes.
13:11: Yeah, very good.
13:12: Very good.
13:13: Holler it out when you know, yes, the first one is intellect What's the next one emotion All right.
13:27: So there's a third one who's gonna who's gonna remember that one as we said and we said personality is made up typically an intellect emotion and Will will Now we're not talking about free will that's another conversation but the will the the the desire the the the the the Ability to want or to will to do right Angels are shown to have intellect.
14:00: I'll give you a passage for that Matthew chapter 28 and verse 5 It says the angel said to the woman do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified Notice the angel knows what she wants.
14:17: He has intellect.
14:18: He has understanding he has information I know you're looking for Jesus.
14:23: This is after the resurrection.
14:24: I know what you want So he knows that's a statement of intellect first Peter 112 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves But you and the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit Sent from heaven things in which and things into which angels long to look Now that particular passage again, you might want to write it down first Peter 112 It's interesting because it basically says this it says when it comes to the things of salvation angels want to know They long to look at those things Remember what I said about angels last week the difference between man and angel is that angels do not have the opportunity for redemption The angels that fell Did not get a Savior Mankind fell God Sent his son born of a woman born under the law that he would Redeem those who were under the law and give them the adoption as sons.
15:30: That's the Savior of the world Jesus Christ Angels do not have a Savior.
15:37: There are elect angels and there are fallen angels, but there is no saved Angel in the sense that gone from one position to another No angel gets saved So I think first Peter 112 when it says angels long to look at our salvation.
15:55: I think that they're interested in it They're intrigued by the reality of our own experience of Receiving redemption see we go from lost to saved We go from the wretched to the righteous and they are experiencing that they are seeing that They're learning they have intellect They long to know They have emotions Job 38 verse 7 says when the morning stars sang together they shouted for joy This is actually talking about creation says the angels shouted for joy when God created the world That's one of the reasons why I believe maybe angels were created Prior to the world because they were shouting for joy when the world was created and remember we talked about last week It could have been concurrent like it was one right after the other and there wasn't really a distinct amount of time But we know this they were joyous and joy is a form of emotional expression Right.
17:01: So if we are correct to say that personality is defined by intellect emotion and will we've seen them express intellect They know and they want to know We've seen them express emotion joy and also when Jesus was born the heavenly hosts Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth and goodwill toward men right I Was interestingly Patsy Hoffman.
17:28: She always made a big deal about the fact everybody says they sang Glory to God in the highest but the text doesn't say that Says they said it if you go back and look at they didn't sing Joyce pointed that out.
17:41: Just remember that just now and But still it was an expression glory to God in the highest is an expression Now the issue of will the issue of will How do we know that angels? Express the concept of will and again, we're not talking tonight about the the bondage of the will or free will versus Determinant will and all those things is that we're going to talk about that a lot later when we get to anthropology and the subject Of sin and how sin affects our will But I will say this about the will you've got one if you're lost tonight Your will is in bondage to sin And if you are saved tonight, you are saved because God took you out of bondage He took your your dastardly will and he removed from your heart the heart of stone And he gave you a heart of flesh and he changed your will The Bible says my people will be made willing in the day of my power.
18:40: God changed your heart So the will is there but before we get saved our will is corrupt.
18:48: That's the that's the point So with angels, how do we know they have a will? Because some of them fell That's right.
18:56: If you want to just want to text for this is Jude and by the way, Jude only has one chapter So it's Jude verse 6 Jude 1 6 And the angels who did not stay with their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling He has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.
19:15: That's talking about the fall of angels Revelation talks about the great dragon who took with him a third of the stars of heaven Now we don't know for certain but it seems to be indicating that when Satan fell he had influenced a Great number of the multitude of God's angels up to and including a third of them We don't know how many there are but there's a multitude And that's where we get the concept of The fallen angel or the demon so we're going to talk about we're moving from angelology to demonology next So we'll talk more about this later But the concept of intellect emotion and will is proof positive of personality Angels have it.
20:04: They are not it's they are He they's I'm trying to figure out a way to make that sentence work they're not Impersonal they are personal and with that being said they're also always identified in the masculine Angels are always identified in the masculine every time you see an angel on a Christmas tree.
20:27: It's a girl Every time or it's or it's a baby.
20:32: Yeah, but you almost always see angels identified as female And not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things because they're asexual beings.
20:43: They're not producing So in the sense of sexuality, it's not about that, but there is it seems within the world a demasculinization of the world an attempt to try to To make everything masculine bad and to remove the positive nature of masculinity There's there's Bibles that are coming out that have removed any masculine pronoun for God Now God is some some of them.
21:13: God is she those are the very liberal ones But some it's just God is it Again making it impersonal pronoun But God has never called it he is always identified by the masculine he angels also identified by the masculine he always you'll never you will not find in Scripture a Female angel and again, they're asexual, but the point is simply to be made.
21:42: They're personal Never identified as it So angels are personal beings number two or letter B angels are spiritual beings So we see angels are personal beings angels are spiritual beings They exist as spirits not with material bodies Hebrews 1 14 talks about them being ministering Spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.
22:24: They are called ministering spirits now I Want to talk about this for a minute because I think it's important that we realize something when I say the word spirit Oftentimes we bring a lot of baggage to that word If you are a person who didn't grow up in church, you might hear the word spirit and think about the word of something like a ghost right Even in the Bible in the old King James Bible what we call the Holy Spirit the Holy Ghost right, and so that word is is common to equate spirit and ghost and The word spirit means what who remembers we saw it study the the doctrine the Holy Spirit.
23:10: What does the word spirit mean air? That's right the word Pneuma in Greek.
23:19: It's where we get the word pneumatic in English like a pneumatic tool like you might use a pneumatic wrench It means air or wind or breath Why is the word pneuma or air wind or breath used to describe Angels or the Holy Spirit because they are not Material beings Can you grab the wind? Can you catch air Now you might say well I can catch air in a jar or something.
23:56: Well, but seriously You can catch a ball.
24:00: You can catch a fish, but you cannot catch the wind Because it doesn't have a material substance that you can wrap your hands around and get a hold of there's no purchase on air There's no way to purchase on wind understand and so when the Bible describes a being as a spiritual being Then what it is saying is that that being is not material Not material.
24:29: In fact, I want to I want to just give you like a little chart here In the world we have the material and the immaterial So we have the image make sure I'm spelling it right we have the material and the immaterial what constitutes the material worlds Everything that you can that you can measure Right.
24:58: It's a see taste touch smell What's the last one I missed there's five senses See thank you.
25:08: Thank you.
25:08: Yeah, I'm I knew I was missing one.
25:10: So you have the the material world is What science deals with? Right.
25:17: I mean honestly if what do scientists do They spend their time categorizing the material world all sciences taxonomy taxonomy is the dog is the is the scientific process of putting things into categories And all science is putting things into categories, right they create lists So this is this and this is not this because we've tested it this does this and this doesn't do this So we put all things in the categories and so material world is all things that can be touched Tasted that can be smelt can be heard can be seen.
25:46: This is the material World and then we have the immaterial world.
25:51: The material world is everything that we would call natural Everything that we would call natural now, I want to make a quick quick note The natural world By itself is still not really natural in the sense that it didn't come about on its own So when I say natural, I don't mean Self-becoming Right because a lot of people believe that they think the natural world came about Naturally in the sense that it came about without a creator simply happened, right? That's not what I mean, what I mean is the natural world is the material world so that would mean the immaterial world is the Supernatural thank you.
26:40: Yeah, it's the super natural world now Again, we're using words here that have so much baggage when I say supernatural you think television shows Superman, you know, you think some kind of a some kind of a ghost or something, right? When I say supernatural you're thinking all of these things that connect in our mind.
27:00: What does the Bible? What language does the Bible use the Bible doesn't use the word material immaterial the Bible doesn't use the word natural and supernatural What's the Bible use? Amen Spirit and flesh.
27:14: Yes, but I'm thinking that it's not I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm thinking a little little different Visible and invisible that's the language the Bible uses the natural world is called the visible world and The supernatural world is Invisible I'll give you a few verses to think about with that Romans 1 20 tells us God has invisible attributes It says we know God's invisible attributes by what he did visibly It says when we look out at the world around us God's invisible attributes are seen through what has been made We learn about this because of this when it comes to God What do we know about God's creativity when we look at the world around us? He's immensely creative because he created this world.
28:08: That's so immensely different has so such a vast array of Beautiful colors and different array.
28:16: Every one of you is absolutely unique your DNA and everything is absolutely unique You know, you hear people say you're one in a million In a world of seven billion, that's not great.
28:27: There's that means there's a hundred thousand just like you know, you're one in seven billion Nobody's like you Andy Okay that is The visible showing God's invisible character That's Romans 1 20 Colossians.
28:48: I want you to see this one go to Colossians 1 and verse 15 Colossians 1 15 Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians, you know general electric power company.
29:12: That's how you get there.
29:12: Okay, I just help you get you All right, so Colossians 1 verse 15 This is speaking about Jesus It says he is the image of the invisible God The firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him That is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as creator He created everything both that which is seen the natural and that which is unseen the supernatural the visible and The invisible so when we ask the question, what is a spirit being? it is a being that exists in a Invisible or a state of being that's not natural To us they have a different Constitution They are constituted differently than we are now having said that That tells us a few things about them.
30:33: They are spirit beings But they can Make themselves visible What happened at the resurrection the women came to the tomb and they saw what did they saw what? What did they see I Said they saw a man Right some some depending on the depending on who's telling the story whether it's Matthew Mark or Luke.
31:04: Sometimes it's two men, but it's always a Vision of a person right but in dazzling apparel So the angel had the ability to make himself Known or themselves if it was multiple, which it certainly was because the Bible tells us there's multiple Appearances, so they have the ability to come into the natural, but they're not becoming Incarnate that's key only Jesus took on flesh Angels have the appearance of flesh, but they do not become man They simply take on the appearance of man That's important because the incarnation is absolutely unique only one virgin birth only one Jesus Christ only one God man There's not a bunch of angelic Men They look like men, but they're not men remember the two men who came to eat with Abram and Yahweh under the trees of the oaks at Mamre and then those two men made a journey to a city What was the name of the city? Sodom What happened at the city of Sodom Those men looked like men and they looked appealing to the men of Sodom and the men of Sodom wanted to have Relations with them according to the text of Scripture and they wanted to be with these men That's what they looked enough like men that they were appealing.
32:39: I Know that there was great judgment that happened as a result but the point is they looked enough like men to make other men who had twisted minds want to be with them So angels have the ability to look like men But they're not men Say again brother Yeah, and we're gonna I'm actually getting there in a minute because we're gonna talk about cherubs and seraph Since we're out of time, we probably won't get to it tonight, but I really want to We got to keep going Get you another cup of coffee.
33:17: Come right back.
33:19: I really at least I could get through these three But the two other things real quick number one because they're spirit beings the scripture says they do not reproduce I already said they're asexual you want the verse for that.
33:30: It's Mark 12 25 It simply says they're neither married nor given in marriage But they're like the angels of heaven who neither marry nor given a marriage when you die This is one way that you will be like an angel According to scripture when you die, you're no longer married Your significant other becomes your brother or sister in Christ.
33:54: I Have a sign in my bedroom.
33:56: I made it for my wife I do a little woodwork and I had my router and I routed out the words onto a sign and the sign says this It says I know we can't be married in heaven But can I sit next to you when we get there? I Like my wife.
34:14: I would like to be able to be with her in heaven, but our relationship will be different We won't have a reproducing romantic relationship But we will have a relationship that is first with Christ and then with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ so that Again it's like angels.
34:38: They don't reproduce angels were made all at once and all The number of angels is fixed.
34:44: It was it's not they're not creating more angels by virtue of the sexual process as man does They also do not die It's just a Luke 20 and verse I have the passage here Luke 20 and 36 says they cannot die anymore because they're equal to the angels in heaven So just simply reminds us that angels don't die They're spirit beings.
35:08: They don't have the same limitations as the natural being the natural man All right, if you if you'll grant me just another minute or two I'll finish this and I'll at least we'll have gotten three of these The last one on here under the nature of angels in the next week We will look at the ministry of angels last one under the nature of angels is that they are organized and ranked Organized and ranked you say what does that mean? Well, the Bible uses language of organization when it talks about the hosts of heaven and God's armies remember what did Jesus say to Pontius Pilate when he was brought before him? I could bring down a legion of angels.
35:53: I could if I wanted to but also It talks about rank when it refers to Michael in Jude 9 as the arch angel Ark being a position of authority a high position if you've heard of arch bishop That means the highest bishop Well the same way with arch or arch Angel Michael has a position.
36:23: In fact, Michael Michael's position in Scripture is so high That some people have assumed that he is Jesus The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Michael Who was mentioned in the Old Testament as the archangel is the incarnate or Jesus is the incarnation of the angel Michael? The Bible does not teach that The Bible teaches that Michael is an angel.
36:49: Jesus is God in the flesh.
36:51: There is a difference in the nature of being however still keep in mind that there is an arch Archangel position it's given to Michael and I think Scripture doesn't say it So this is where I'm gonna get dangerous.
37:06: I always look over at Andy.
37:08: He's not like oh, yeah You know, you're gonna throw a rock at me.
37:12: I Love my elders.
37:13: We have so much fun.
37:15: Um, I think Gabriel has a position of prominence Wouldn't you say? He is noted as being a special messenger of God.
37:25: He spoke to Mary And is in other places as God's messenger whether or not he carries the rank of archangel or archangel I've not seen that in Scripture if you show it to me I'd be happy to correct myself, but I didn't find that rank attributed to him but there are in Daniel chapter 10 called chief princes and So lens again the idea of rank among the angels Chiefs and archangels and so I would like to at least think that Gabriel is among God's special Messengers used of God to do what God has commanded him to do now There are two classes of angels that I'm going to wait and talk about next week Because they're so important and so valuable that I don't want to just run through them and that is the angels called the seraphim which are mentioned in Isaiah chapter 6 and The cherubim which are mentioned in Genesis 3 and in Ezekiel and I would encourage you read Isaiah 6 This week.
38:31: I think it's 1 through 9 it's the passage where he sees the Lord in his temple and he sees the seraphim and I want you to just take note of what the Bible Describes about those heavenly angels who are surrounding the throne of God whose day and night proclamation is this holy holy holy So read that and that'll prepare us for the introduction to next week's lesson as we look at those two classes of angels All right.
39:07: Let's go Father I thank you for this time Lord I pray that this has been helpful not just for information sake but Lord a reminder of the supernatural nature of you and your angels and the fact that every one of us has a Soul every one of us has a part of us that's going to live on after we die and that that soul Lord is either going to live in a place of torment and hell or it's going to live in a place of comfort with you and that is based on whether or not we have Received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and our Lord father.