The Truth about Angels

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several years ago a friend and a co -worker was of mine at the jail was shot to death
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It wasn't in the line of duty He was actually shot in the midst of a domestic dispute, and I won't go into all the details
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But suffice it to say that after the funeral his girlfriend his fiance
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Posted a note on the bulletin board at work And she said that she knew that John had become an angel and was now watching over us
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Now you know what I wasn't a believer. I think I would have just glossed over that But I read that and every time
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I went by that a bulletin board I'd read it again, and I just wanted to take it down because I knew it was wrong But we hear things like that all the time about angels
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We hear that You know when a child dies another angel is in heaven or When they're just this weekend there was a college football game or actually it was last weekend
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And they were focusing on him this weekend because it was a big upset and this player's father had just died
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And he said that during the game where they won they pulled off this big upset And he could hear his father talking to him, and he knew that when he made the big catch his father was helping him
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I thought hmm. I don't know.
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I don't I don't think we see anything like that in the Bible then a few weeks ago As I was studying first Peter We were talking about things in which
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Angels long to look talking about the salvation of souls and it just got me to thinking about angels and some of the things that are said in the
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Bible about angels and I want to look at them from a biblical perspective and some of you might say well why?
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Well two reasons First they are part of God's creation and God's revelation and when we look at God's creation
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What do we see we see the hand of the Creator? When we look at Romans 1 or if we look at Psalm 19 the heavens declare the glory of God We look at Romans 1 and we see the creation tells us about God it tells us that he is not only creative He is also a
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God of order. It tells us a good number of things so when we can look at a topic like angels We get to see more about God and also
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It's a topic as we'll see here. That is spread throughout the Bible the book of or Throughout God's revelation therefore we need to look into it.
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We need to know the Bible, but also It this is kind of in looking at this well.
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Let me put it this way. It's kind of an inverted Romans 1 argument because if the unrighteous suppress the truth by holding down what they know about God then by Studying the things that we do know about God and his creation.
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We are actually bringing out the truth We are unsuppressing and if I could say that we are elevating the truth, and we rejoice in that We want to look at what
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God has to say now let me ask you a question and this is going to be relatively informal kind of a little bit more like a class than a
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Sermon because how do you just say be an angel or something? I don't even know what you'd say I Do have a point though, and we'll get to that.
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It's good to have a point Why do you suppose that angels are popular?
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Why do people like to talk about angels? What's so great about angels
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Especially from an unbeliever standpoint Brian They are not condemning that is an excellent point
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Angels are so nice aren't they? Anybody else you can make them into so many things.
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I mean I think was that you Steve talking about touched by an angel oh It's Joey, but see when we see them portrayed on television and other things.
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I mean angels are nice I mean who'll forget Michael Lang Landon being the You know the angel and helping people out all the time and solving all their problems.
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You know At least Michael Landon allegedly reported to God so But listen to listen to this
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From this time magazine many years ago, but listen to this for those who choke too easily on God and his rules
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Angels are the handy compromise all fluff and meringue Kind and non -judgmental and They're available to everyone like aspirin
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And I thought yep, that's how people view angels. They're nice, and they're everywhere, and they're here to help
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Reminds you of what internal affairs used to say we're here, and we're here to help sure they're Christianity today said this about angels
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Angels too easily provide a temptation for those who want a fix of spirituality without bothering with God himself
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Right on I Want to believe in something I can't see but don't give me
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God One Pastor who by the way his last name was
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D 'Angelo, so I just thought that was kind of funny part of his church They call on angels and he calls on angels to help people heal the unresolved traumas of life and he says
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You know you can't always get through to God because he's like a CEO chief executive officer
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But you can always reach a good executive secretary an angel is like a good executive secretary
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These are just whacked -out ideas So I'm gonna ask a series of questions And then we're gonna go through the
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Bible and see what the Bible has to say about these things in it I can't really I was kind of amazed as I read about angels.
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There is absolutely no way I could cover everything You know this isn't going to be and I didn't call it everything you ever wanted to know about angels because I just couldn't do it
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For example angels are going to be involved in judgment, and I'm not gonna specifically talk about that tonight
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But there are a lot of different things that we could go through but who are angels It's a baseball team in California, but that's not the point who are angels
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Well, let me just let me just say this That it is interesting to me. I mean these numbers just staggered me because I would not think of this
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Being so frequent. I mean to me angels are Rarities in the Bible, but you know the
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Old Testament mentions angels 103 times and the New Testament 165 times
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They are mentioned in 34 of the 66 books of the Bible They're there a lot
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What are they they are created beings they have not always existed nor are they self -sustaining how do we know that?
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They have not always existed nor are they self -sustaining. How do we know that who is?
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Yeah, how holy God is you know if we said well, they've always always been there Well, then we'd have to say they are
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God and they are not Let's look at Psalm 148
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Psalm 148 And I'm going to read verses 2 to 5 and I'm going to do
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I Would guess a lot of reading this evening Psalm 148 verses 2 to 5
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Praise him all his angels Praise him all his hosts
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Praise him sun and moon praise him all you shining stars Praise him you highest heavens in you waters above the heavens
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Let them praise the name of the Lord why For he commanded and they were created
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All those things were created Colossians 116
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Passage that should be very familiar because it talks about the supremacy of Christ Colossians 116
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Says for by him talking about Jesus all things were created both in the heavens and on earth
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Visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created
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Through him and for him so in the all things Angels are included true or false
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Absolutely Visible and invisible I love when Paul does things like that because he wants to make sure that we understand when he says all
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He really means all Visible and things you can see things you can't see things in front of you things
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Well, you know he goes through the whole thing leave nothing out Angels are like us in some respects
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But they're not like us and others. Let's look at some similarities First of all they have intelligence most of us have intelligence
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Most of us how do we know that angels have intelligence? Okay, they can choose right or wrong and how do we know that because some angels fell
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They can make choices What else do they do that we can do they also praise
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God take some intelligence also We could say to pray to praise God, but let's look at Luke 2 13
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Luke 2 13 and suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
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Praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased
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I Mean we read passages like that all the time And there are some there are some coming up that I'm telling you
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I read them And I'm going why didn't I ever notice angels were there, but I mean when you think about that here.
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We have this great that this great scene where this angel is making this announcement and The heavenly host more angels praising
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God and saying glory to God in the highest They're similar to us in that they were good when they were created
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Genesis 131 God looks at creation. He says it is Good everything in it was good
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There's speculation I mean I read a lot of speculation about where the angels were created doesn't really Ultimately you're kind of reading into and it's and it really doesn't matter as long as we understand that they were there
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You know when God created the heavens in the earth in fact somebody says that they they think when he created the heavens
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That's when he created the angels maybe But we don't have anything specific on that They either had and this is kind of something that I I'm not really clear on I don't think
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But I don't want to land down hard on this. I don't think that angels Can still sin maybe they can
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I I don't know but it's not clear to me that they can't because every everything that's talked about Is past tense?
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Certainly we don't have any indication that they're still falling. Let's look at Jude 6
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Jude 6 and Angels who did not keep their own abode, but abandoned their proper abode.
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He has kept God has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day
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In other words, they are being held in a kind of prison for judgment on the great day
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They are not omniscient. They don't know everything Another another way that they're like us we don't know everything they don't know everything
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I talked a few weeks ago about how in first Peter they long to look into some things There are some things about salvation.
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They don't get well, how about in Matthew 24 verse 36? Jesus says talking about when he returns but of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven nor the
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Son But the Father alone Angels don't know can't know why because God isn't telling them now.
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There are differences between angels and men Many angels first they were created to be
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They were created a higher level than men Hebrews 2 7 now this is talking about Jesus But when it's talking about Jesus it well,
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I'll read Hebrews 2 7 You have made him for a little while lower than the angels You have crowned him with glory and honor and have appointed him over the works of your hands
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Well, what did it mean? What does it mean when it says here? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels.
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How was Jesus lower than the angels? I'm sorry loose
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Humanity when he took on humanity he he Descended and he took on a position lower than the angels another difference
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Angels true or false have flesh and blood false
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Hebrews they are spirit beings. They do not have flesh and blood Hebrews 1 13 and 14
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Says but to which of the angels has he said has he ever said? Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
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What's the answer to that? He never said that to any of the angels Are they not all ministering spirits?
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Sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation
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So the resurrected Son of God Jesus was no longer what? A little lower than the angels
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How do we know that because what did it say to which of the angels has he ever said sit at my right hand in?
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other words when Jesus Ascended sat at the right hand. He was no longer in that same place of being lower he was no longer in that same place of just humanity or a physical humanity in a fallen world
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The word therefore spirits ministering spirits is pneumata. It just means spirits.
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They are non physical entities they do not have bodies
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So, I don't know what Michael Landon would do about that, but he doesn't he wouldn't have had a body if he was an actual angel
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Also note in that verse there that they are here. Why are why do angels are why do they even exist?
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Well one is because God wanted them to exist, but what's their function the
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Greek word and also the Hebrew word basically means They're messengers but they do a lot more than Relay messages
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Again back there in Hebrews 1 13 and 14 that Greek verb that's translated ministering
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Indicates they are specially commissioned by God to do what what do they do? They minister they help people they help believers specifically.
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I Mean read it again. Are they not all ministering spirits talking about angels sent out to render service?
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For the sake of those who will inherit salvation for the elect
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Charles Ryrie says he once saw a church inscription that said this Though God's power be sufficient to govern us
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Yet for man's infirmity man's weakness. He appointed his angels to watch over us
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They minister to us. They help us One of the more graphic examples, please turn to Acts chapter 12 and A lot of the places in the
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New Testament where we see angels actually in action is in the book of Acts now is Acts Descriptive or prescriptive in other words does it tell us what did happen or what should happen?
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I'm sorry Pat both Okay Mostly descriptive,
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I mean certainly there is prescription there, but mostly it is Descriptive it is history
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Acts 12 verses 6 to 10 on The very night Herod was about to bring him forward
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Peter was sleeping between two soldiers Bound with two chains and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.
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So this is pretty secure I mean, I I've done some Watching of prisoners in my life and I don't think
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I've ever seen that where we had one guy Attached to two guards with two chains and guards in the front door watching the over there.
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I mean he is locked down Verse 7 and behold an angel of the
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Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell and he struck Peter's side and woke him up quickly saying
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Or woke him up saying get up quickly and his chains fell off his hands and the angel said to him gird yourself and put on your sandals and He did so and he said to him wrap your cloak around you and follow me
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And he went out and continued to follow and he did not know That what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision
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When they had passed the first and second guard they came to the iron gate that leads into the city Which opened for them by itself and they went out and went along one
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Street and immediately the angel departed from him Now does this mean that if you know somebody in prison, you should pray for an angel to go set them loose
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No, obviously not. What does this tell us about angels? They have powers.
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They definitely have powers. They can get things done and When God sends them to perform a mission, even if it's a jailbreak
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They get it done But again, that's not It's not prescriptive. We can't know that that's what's going to happen
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Does show what angels can do and how God can use them now? There is nothing in Scripture again to indicate that anything along this line is normative.
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I mean there are a lot of different Episodes and acts that we could look at where angels did miraculous things
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And we're not told to watch or hope for angels In the sense that if we're in a tough spot, we should say
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God would you send me an angel to get me out of this? What do we read about angels as far as how we should interact with them in the
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New Testament? What kind of things do we read about them? We are not to worship them.
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Absolutely not. I Think I have that later, but that is absolutely correct. What else don't be afraid.
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Okay, I'm with you Okay We can trust what they say
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Maybe Three Galatians 1 8 I want to just mention this because you know if we expect and Obviously, we're not going to but if we expect messages from angels or if we expect intervention by angels
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I think we're we are opening up the door for deception
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Galatians 1 8 Paul writes, but even if we An angel from heaven now recognizing that he's most likely using hyperbole here but Do such things happen?
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I think the answer is yes But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you
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He is to be a curse talking about Anyone including up to the rank of an angel from heaven?
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And I'm going to talk about that later in terms of application things to think about Even as we consider and and the main thrust of my my
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Talk tonight is what I want you to get is some information about angels So that when people start talking about angels you can interact with them
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You can point to them what the Bible really says and I think it will give you some opportunities to preach the gospel
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Number five what else do angels do they also ministered to Jesus? Have a quick listing here.
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They warned Joseph and Mary to flee to Egypt with Jesus. They told him when to return ministered to Jesus after his confrontation with Satan in the wilderness
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And and one that I just really hadn't really paid attention to before let's look at Luke 22 for a moment
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In fact, I'm going to Turn there as well Luke 22 toward the end of the chapter verse
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Right around verse 43. I'll start at verse 39
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And he came out and proceeded as was his custom to the Mount of Olives and the disciples also followed him
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When he arrived at that place, he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation and he withdrew
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From them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and began to pray Saying father if you are willing
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Remove this cup from me yet. Not my will but yours be done very familiar passage verse 43 now an angel from heaven appeared to him strengthening him and being in agony, he was praying very fervently and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground now that verse verse 43
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I I think I must just like rush through that now an angel from heaven appeared to him strengthening him.
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Well, how does an angel? strengthen the Son of God How does he do that?
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Okay, I think that's a good suggestion and I would go for it but I cheated and looked at the
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Greek word for strengthening and what it actually means is It's basically like a
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I Don't know what I'm all I'm tending to call this Gatorade.
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I mean he gave him like spiritual angel aid You know some kind of it's an energy boost that he actually gave him.
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It's a physical Strengthening and the picture here is of Jesus being worn down Physically because in his humanity was he subject to being tired?
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Was he subject to all the things that we are subject to yes, and so this angel comes along and Jesus is
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Hurting physically and so he he gives him physical energy so he can continue
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Physically to endure what he has to endure and I thought that is a pretty interesting insight to what an angel can do kind of recharges batteries
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After the resurrection of Jesus Angels do what they roll away the stone? They announced to the women that came to check the tomb that he had been raised from the dead and Then they are present when he ascends into heaven
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When will they also be present? When he comes back now
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Even though they are spirit beings Can they appear to men?
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Do we ever see them you know the Bible do they ever appear to anybody and that the answer is absolutely yes and I think one of the one of them a
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Lot of the fun stuff here is during the time of Elijah and Elisha, but let's look at 2nd Kings chapter 6 2nd
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Kings chapter 6 I'm gonna read verses 8 to 17 now the king of Aram or Ram was warring against Israel And he counseled with his servants saying in such in such a place shall be my camp
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The man of God sent word to the king of Israel who's the man of God Okay the
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Prophet Elisha Sent word to the king of Israel saying beware that you do not pass this place for the
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Arameans are Coming down there the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God had told him thus he warned him
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So that he guarded himself there more than once or twice Now the heart of the king of Aram Was enraged over this thing and he called his servants and said to them
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Will you tell me which one of us or which of us is for the king of Israel? What's his question really there?
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Yeah, who leaked this information? There's a leak in the White House. I want to know who it is. That's his point
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Verse 12 one of his servants said no my lord. Oh King But Elisha the
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Prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom It's a little unnerving
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So he said go and see where he is that I made This is the king speaking go and see where he is that I might send and take him capture him
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Get him out of my way, and it was told to him saying behold. He is in Dothan He sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city
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Bad news for Elisha. He's in trouble verse 15 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out
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Behold an army with horses and chariots was circling the city and his servant said to him said to Elisha Alas my master, what shall we do?
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Listen? We're surrounded We're smoked verse 16
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So he answered Do not fear For those who are with us are more than those who are with them
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And you can imagine what the servants thinking right now He's thinking you must be out of your mind if you look that go ahead and look over that wall there.
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We are toast Then Elisha prayed and said O Lord I pray open his eyes that he may see and the
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Lord opened the servants eyes and he saw and Behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha What were those horses and chariots of fire an army of angels
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So Elisha is like you don't understand who's really in charge here You know, they've got their their horses and their swords and all we've got are the hosts of heaven on our side
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I like our chances now You know,
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I mentioned that I Among the first Christian books
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I ever read were a couple of fiction books and they take things like this and they Present them as normative.
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I think they're called this present darkness and piercing the darkness a couple books
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I Mean they made for okay fiction, but once you understand what the Bible say you just go These are again, these are descriptions of particular people
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Elijah and Elisha were blessed over and over again by Miraculous workings of God.
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We can't expect those to be the normal workings of God, but still They're there.
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We don't see them. There is I don't know what to call it because the Bible doesn't call it anything There's another dimension a spiritual dimension a realm that we do not see and yet it surrounds all around us
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What else do angels do or what else do we know about angels from reading this they are immortal they never die
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Created but they never die. Unlike us. We will die Jesus talking about angels in Luke 20 verses 34 to 36 said this
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Jesus said to them the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead
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Neither marry nor are given in marriage For they cannot even die anymore because they are like angels and our sons of God being sons of the resurrection in other words
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Once you get to heaven, you won't be married Sorry, all you
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Mormons out there Sorry for anybody else you
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Muslims who think you're gonna get Whatever in paradise But you will not die because then in heaven you will be like angels in this sense that you cannot die
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So they can never die Okay, also they do not how else are they different from us.
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They do not have offspring They don't procreate They do not have children and I know that might raise some issues and I'm prepared
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I have some trick questions at the end that I'll spring on you. But okay Matthew 22 verse 30
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Jesus again from the resurrection. They neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven the picture and purpose of marriage is there and they're going to be just like We are gonna be just like angels in heaven meaning angels don't do that now
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What else about angels what else makes them different than us? Well, they do have great power even as we saw there when they when an angel did a jailbreak
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Jailbreak, I don't know why I like saying that Psalm 103 which we read earlier gladman read earlier
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Psalm 103 verses 20 and 21 bless the Lord you his angels mighty in strength
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Who perform his word? Obeying the voice of the
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Lord Bless the Lord you his all you his hosts you who serve him doing his will now
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What else we learn right from there that they not only have great power, but they obey perfectly Why do they why do angels?
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obey perfectly I Alluded to this a few weeks ago. What why is it that they obey perfectly?
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They're sinless Okay What happens to an angel who doesn't obey? They fall they can't be redeemed so and and I was even reminded of the
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Lord's Prayer Where Jesus says, you know pray we call the Lord's Prayer. It's the disciples prayer.
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What does he say? He says pray in this manner and he says Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as It is in heaven.
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Well houses will done in heaven. It's done perfectly by the angels who are there Okay, so those are some of the differences between Angels, I mean, obviously we don't have great power and obviously we don't obey
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God At least not perfectly Okay, what types of angels are there is there a hierarchy archangels and Apparently the answer is yes.
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Yeah Ryrie says it appears Inarguable that God has organized the elect angels and Satan has organized the evil angels or the demons
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First of all, there is one completely separate class above everything else. That would be the angel of the
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Lord Just real quickly I'm going to read
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Genesis 31 verses 11 to 13 the angel of the Lord then the angel of God Said to me in the dream
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Jacob and I said here I am he said Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped speckled and modeled
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For I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel Where you anointed a pillar where you made a vow to me now arise
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Leave this land and return to the land of your birth So who is this messenger who is this person bringing this message to Jacob?
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Jesus Christ pre -incarnate Christ second person of the Trinity and it's interesting to note to and again as I was reading
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We see the angel of the Lord fairly often When do we not see him? We don't see him anytime after the incarnation
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There are zero Appearances of the angel of the Lord the pre -incarnate Christ after he's incarnate that makes sense, doesn't it?
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I mean in the New Testament, we never see the angel of the Lord Singular Old Testament the angel of the
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Lord. We also have Michael the Archangel Talking about in ranks here.
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So I just went I went to the top The angel of the Lord and then Michael the Archangel First Thessalonians 4 16 says for the
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Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout With the voice of the
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Archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first Jude 1 9 says but Michael the
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Archangel When he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment
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But said the Lord rebuke you. So what do we know about Michael the Archangel? less than Lucifer Pretty powerful though.
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That's right. Let's uh, let's turn to Daniel chapter chapter 10
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Daniel chapter 10 verses 18 to 21 Then this one with human appearance
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Interesting how he describes him there this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me
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He said Oh man of high esteem talking to Daniel do not be afraid Peace be with you.
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Take courage and be courageous Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said
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May my Lord speak for you have strengthened me again that idea of strengthening the same thing that happened to Jesus In the
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Garden of Gethsemane, then he said do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the
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Prince of Persia So I am going forth and behold the Prince of Greece is about to come
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However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth yet There is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your
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Prince Now Michael wasn't the Prince of Daniel Michael was the
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Prince of the forces of God It's just it it's interesting to read and also in Daniel 10 12 1
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It's just interesting to read there is some kind of spiritual we talk about spiritual warfare being involved in it and we are but there's a whole nother level of Struggle between the forces of God and the forces of Satan that we don't really fully get
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Daniel 12 1 says now at the at that time Michael The great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise and there will be a time of distress such as never
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Such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time and at that time your people everyone who was found in the book will be rescued
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Michael the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people there are
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Angels in charge of different things and Michael the Archangel is a very powerful angel
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Only one other angel is mentioned by name and that is Gabriel. He announces the birth or Tells Mary that she's going to have the baby
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There are also in Daniel chapter 10, there are chief princes
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And again, these are just it's just talking about a hierarchy a an order
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Daniel chapter 10 and I'm going to read starting in verse 5 I lifted my eyes and looked and behold there was a certain man dressed in linen whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of euphez
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His body was also like a barrel His face had the appearance of lightning his eyes were like flaming torches
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His arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze. Who does this sound like? Like like Jesus in Revelation, that's exactly right.
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Now. I Daniel alone saw the vision while the men who were with me did not see the vision nevertheless a great dread fell on them and They ran away to hide themselves
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So I was left alone and saw this great vision yet No strength was left in me for my natural colored turned to a deathly pallor and I retained no strength there is
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Definitely a power a a World and existence outside of us that we don't that we're just not in touch with that.
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We don't see Moving on further in that Well, I'll skip over that but there are some chief princes described in that passage and the chief princes
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Refer to a group of superior angels underscoring the fact of ranking among the angels
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Of this group of chief princes Michael the Archangel is the foremost
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There are apocryphal books that refer to various angels
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That name them but I mean that's all speculation There are governmental rulers that are talked about in the
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Bible Paul uses this kind of language rulers or principalities These words that are used seven times by Paul indicate an order of angels both good and evil involved in governing the universe
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Secondly their authorities or powers And this emphasizes the kind of superhuman authority of angels and demons exercised in relation to the affairs of the world
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There are powers places of rule thrones or dominions all these kind of things that we just don't See, we don't know exactly what's going on.
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What we do know is That there's a lot of wickedness in this world and Satan certainly has a lot of power that he exercises through evil men
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There are also cherubim and I call him cherubim instead of cherubim because That's what
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I was taught in school. And and besides that the plural the plural in the Hebrew I really think should be beam.
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So and if you saw it, you'd probably agree with me, but Cherubim is another order of angels
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Evidently of high ranks and Satan himself was a cherub Ezekiel 28 verses 14 is 16 talking about Satan You were the anointed cherub who covers and I placed you there
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You were on the holy mountain of God you walked in the midst of the stones of fire You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created
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Until Unrighteousness was found in you By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence and you sinned
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Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you Oh covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire
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Cherubim seem to function as guardians of the holiness of God Having guarded the way to the tree of life in the
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Garden of Eden after they were after Adam and Eve were expelled and of course once Satan was no longer a cherub then he lost that function and he was cast out of heaven.
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Let's see. They're also seraphim We know about them because of Isaiah 6 6 wings cetera, etc.
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What are the angels doing right now? Where are they right now? Well, as I said,
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I think they're in heaven and I think they're also All around us. We just don't see them
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How many angels are there anybody know how many angels are raise your hand if you've if you know 10 ,000 upon 10 ,000 which means how many a lot
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You you can't count that high So, why do angels exist anybody want to take a guess of why angels exist
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Besides the fact that they minister to us while so they exist To glorify
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God I'll take that one right there to glorify God. Why does anything exist to glorify
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God? now I have what I call the lightning round which may not be so lightning, but Some some issues surrounding angels and I thought well these would be intriguing to address
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What about guardian angels? The idea that we have guardian angels who protect us
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Okay That's right, does
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Steve have an angel, you know the double -o Steve angel who follows him around and Watches him.
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Well, you know, it's interesting because the Internet is a dangerous thing and I looked it up on Wikipedia just see what it would say about angels and let me see if I could say this right here in Zoroastrianism I did say it there there are a number of different angel like animals and check this out each person has a guardian angel called a fervor she
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They patronize human beings and other creatures and also manifest God's glory, but I thought well, that's interesting They have their own little guardian angel.
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Here's what Wayne Grudem says about Guardian angels because we you know, we want to a lot of people want to believe that they have guardian angels
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Of course, they don't want to think about God constantly looking at them and seeing everything they do But they like the idea of a guardian angel.
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That's okay Scripture clearly tells us that God sends angels for our protection
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Like Lewis was saying he would give his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways Psalm 91 but some people have gone beyond this idea of general protection and wondered if God gives a special a specific guardian angel for each individual or at least for each
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Christian and Support for this idea has been given in Jesus words about little children in heaven.
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They're angels Always behold the face of my father who is in heaven Matthew 18 10 however, our
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Lord may simply be saying that angels are assigned the task of protecting little children and Then he says when the disciples in Acts 12 15 say that Peter's angel must be knocking on the door
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This does not necessarily imply belief in an individual guardian angel So in other words, he says listen
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There is no convincing support for the idea of individual guardian angels in the text of Scripture.
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Could it be that way? Yes, but we can't say one way or the other Now for me the killer question about angels is what?
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What is the one that everybody always wants to know that wasn't one
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I was thinking about but that's a good one Do dead people become angels? No, they don't absolutely not.
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Oh, I mean, let's put it this way There are innumerable angels, but will there ever be any more? No, because they don't procreate it.
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We don't turn in angels. We die once and then what? judgment Not die once and then turn in angels and hang out for a while help people
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You know like in movies What what is what is
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I I think this is like one of the hardest passages in all the Bible to understand and it's one
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That angels get thrown into all the time Thank You pastor
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Dave Genesis 6 4 The Nephilim I Mean how many times we heard that that's angels and I want to assure you that I am
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NOT going to try to resolve this in a lightning round But I will say this
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I've always had a problem with that with this idea that it was angels who fell That angels and women had babies.
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Why would I have a problem with that? Because angels don't have babies. I mean, that's reason number one
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Man, that's a big problem, right? You just don't have children
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Besides that I just I just I think about it. I go. Wait a minute if that was possible then
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I mean it really Boy, I'm gonna introduce all kinds of Mythology here tonight.
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I mean that is Pandora's box You are opening up all kinds of things, you know, Rosemary's baby
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There are all kinds of wacky scenarios that come into play I mean This is just we are so far outside the bounds of the
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Bible when we start thinking about that that it's just Crazy, I don't believe that Angels are spirit beings and cannot marry or reproduce
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So I don't believe that that refers to the offspring of angels and mankind Listen what
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Walvoord says He says talking about Genesis 6 4. Let me just read that.
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I mean, we're we're basically we're right smack dab Before the flood here I'll start in verse 3 then the
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Lord said my spirit shall not strive with man forever because he also is flesh Nevertheless his days shall be 120 years verse 4 the
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Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also Afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them
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Those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown
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Here's what Walvoord says this incident incident is one of hubris or nerve temerity chutzpah the proud overstepping of bounds
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Here it applies to the sons of God a lusty powerful lot striving for fame and fertility
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They were probably powerful rulers now. Listen to this who were controlled or indwelt by fallen angels
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So we're talking about basically demonic control It may be that fallen angels left their habitation and inhabited bodies like in Jude of human despots bad men
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Dictators warriors the mighty ones of earth And so that's his theory and I think it's a good one.
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And so what God wipes them out. They're horrible People he goes on he says it is known from Ezekiel 28 and Daniel 10
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That the prince is ruling behind them their power is demonic so it's no surprise that Pagan literature would pick up on this idea of half human half divine demigods
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But that is not the biblical picture in Genesis 6 1 to 4 this actually describes how corrupt the world had become and this violation was
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Rampant and is actually he says a polemic against the pagan belief
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The Giants and men of renown were of divine origin This is nonsense it was
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Immorality it was Power gone crazy gone mad nothing more and nothing less okay, so Somebody already addressed this one.
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Should we worship angels? Absolutely not. What about praying to angels? Consulting them.
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Can they give us wisdom? Okay. I Mean I and I agree with that I just be
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I would always be you know, if they have a message for us from God the question would be And really that was one of the places where I wanted to go
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Could an angel bring us a message that we would need to hear. I Mean I don't think so if we think about 2nd
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Peter 1 3 where Peter writes His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness
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Through the true knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and excellence. I Just don't see it.
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In fact, I think you know, we know that Satan described disguises himself as an angel of light Paul warns us against Having a message that is contrary to the gospel brought to us by an angel in 1st
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Timothy Paul writes that there is one mediator between God and men the man
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Christ Jesus Christ mediates between us in the sense that he pleads for us, but does he not also mediate with us and Doesn't the
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Holy Spirit not mediate for us in terms of our prayer life and everything else? So obviously we wouldn't pray to them. Can angels give us wisdom?
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Again I know I just don't see how that's how that's possible if we believe in the sufficiency of the
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Bible if God has some new form of revelation and he's going to send it in the person of an angel.
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I Don't know what I'm going to do Absolutely, and I think that's that is a great illustration.
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But again, we're back to that is a descriptive situation and Mary didn't have the full counsel of God which we have now and I I'm with you.
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I'm on board I just think if if something that I thought was an angel appeared to me and gave me a message
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I I think I'd have a real hard time with it. And one of the reasons Louis did you have something?
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You yeah, you have to go back to I mean, it's That's right. So I mean,
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I I mean the one issue is you have to you'd have to compare any new message with Scripture, which means
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It you've already got it. What was your first point? Oh the the other source Yeah Because getting you know getting back to Galatians 1 a
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Paul is warning people John warns people about not receiving new messages and here's here's why?
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You know two of the religions Well, I mean one of the most dominant religions in the world.
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How did Muhammad get the revelation for Islam from an angel
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How did Joseph Smith get the revelation for Mormonism from an angel did
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I hear Moroni So And this takes me right to where I wanted to be.
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Anyway, I mean, we don't know what the source is I mean, it's like kind of like, you know, one of the issues and with the charismatic movement somebody says they have a
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You know a tongue they have a message from God that needs to be translated So let's just presume for a moment that that is true
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Okay, so he gives his message somebody translates it and then what do we do? We compare it with the
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Bible Well, if it's already in the Bible then where we need somebody to what do we have to go through all that stuff for?
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Study the Bible teach the Bible know the Bible and then you know, all these other things won't come up But I thought well, how can we practically use this kind of information?
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well, first of all if we think about angels rightly and we know that if Muhammad got his message on how to start
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Islam from an angel and Joseph Smith got his message on and His initial message by the way from an angel and who did he get his ultimate actually his first vision from was from God the
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Father a person and Jesus Christ his son a person Who by the way and all the pictures
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I've ever seen of them in Mormonism And I saw quite a few of them and even in their movies and stuff like that They look like identical twins and they're both physical beings and they're both standing next to each other and I'm going okay
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You know, I mean it made sense to me when I was deceived Just like okay. And what did what did this
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God tell Joseph Smith, which was none of the other religions On the face of the planet were the truth.
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So if he would have compared that with the Bible He would have checked it right away But what this gives you is an opportunity to witness why because somebody says, you know what?
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I'm a Mormon you go, huh? Who's he? What was the origin of your religion?
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Well, Joseph Smith had a vision told not to join he had an angel led him to the golden plates an angel
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You know what? The Bible says about angels. Oh You're Muslim How did
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Mohammed get his revelation? Oh, it was given to him by an angel You know what? It says in Galatians 1 8 about angels bringing new messages that are different than what the
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Bible says We live in a culture or even if you're just talking to a new age person, you know
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It's funny because new age people, you know, do they like God or reject him? They reject the
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God of the Bible, but are they open to angels? You know just like those articles said beat why because angels are spiritual and they're nice They're not
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God. They're not, you know Filled with rules. They kind of let you do your own thing
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So when you're talking to somebody and the subject of angels comes up you have a great opportunity
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You go to the Bible and you are going to be able to not just from tonight But through your own study as you note the places where angels appear in the
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Bible where they are what their limitations are What the Bible warned you about in terms of you know,
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Satan described disguising himself Describing himself as an angel light disguising himself as a high.
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I'm an angel of light Disguising himself as an angel of light Paul giving the warning that if an angel appears to you and gives you a message contrary to that Which he had already preached that angel himself should be considered a cursed when we come up with these things
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We can go one of two ways we can say, you know what? I understand that but that angel was accursed
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Joseph Smith was accursed you were accursed or we can say would you like to know what the Bible actually says?
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and you know, most people are Christians are painfully ignorant of what the Bible says as a society at large very very ignorant and yet and you know great way to start a conversation because people want to know about angels and you can tell them all about angels including the angel of the
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Lord a Great angel to tell them about how they could be reconciled through the life death resurrection of the angel of the
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Lord who took on a body of flesh and dwelt among us and Died that men might be forgiven their sins and reconciled to God who is absolutely holy
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No matter what fallen men might think let's pray Father we praise you
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For all of your creation even as we think about angels tonight and all the ways that you have used them even to strengthen our
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Savior in his time of just Exhaustion and Gethsemane as he
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Prayed so fervently father. We thank you for your word.
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We thank you for your spirit enlightening us that we might Understand something of what is going on about us constantly father
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We confess that we don't know all things concerning angels because you have not revealed them to us Nevertheless what you have given to us the hidden things belong to you
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But what you have revealed belongs to us and father I just pray that you would drive us to your word that we would exhaust every possible subject topic
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Nuance of your word that we might know it that we might be excited about it that when we come upon People who are distorting the truth who don't know the truth
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Who speak as if they do? Lord, would you just use the things that we learn of our own study their own hearing to give us opportunities?
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to preach the gospel to be open to listening to people so that we might respond and Give them the good news of Jesus Christ, and it's in his name.