10 Essentials Series: 5. Angelology, the Doctrine of Angels

The Ten Essential Doctrines and the Place of Angelology

Alright, so, we're going through the Ten Essential Doctrines, we've gone through Bibliology, the study of Scripture, Theology proper, the study of God the Father or the Godhead, Christology, the study of Jesus, Pneumatology, the study of the Spirit, today is Angelology, the study of angels, Anthropology, the study of man, Harmardiology, the study of sin, Soteriology, the study of salvation, Ecclesiology, the study of church government, and Eschatology, the study of last things.

So let's start this morning, Angelology, the doctrine of angels or the study of angels. This is what John MacArthur has to say, theologies typically ignore or deal just briefly with angelology. However, the Bible contains a great amount of information on the subject, a lot more than what people realize.

Therefore, this section attempts to capture what the Scripture reveals regarding angels, both those who are holy and those who are evil. The Old Testament Hebrew word malakha appears 213 times and the New Testament Greek word angelos appears 176 times and they can generally be translated messenger, envoy, or ambassador when referring to task or function.

Over 389 occurrences in 42 books of the Bible. The messenger can be human in nature, such as the messengers of Jacob, the messengers of John the Baptist, the messengers of Christ, and pastors. When we read in Revelation chapter 1 and it says to the angel of the church at Smyrna, to the angel of the church in Laodicea, that word angel is messenger and it's addressing the shepherd or the pastor of that church.

So, these words can point to human beings as well as spiritual beings. Frequently, the messenger is a non-human supernatural created being, usually referenced to as an angel or the angel of the Lord.

These Hebrew and Greek terms appear from Genesis 16 7 to Malachi 3 1 in the Old Testament and from Matthew 1 20 to Revelation 22 16 in the New Testament. So, it's basically from the beginning to end throughout scripture, angels are referenced.

Wayne Grudem, in his section, he titles it What Are Angels? Obviously, this is important. We may define angels as follows. Angels are created spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence but without physical bodies.

Okay, so generally when we're talking about an angel, it's somebody immaterial, okay, created by God who has knowledge of God. Angels have not always existed. They are part of the universe that God created.

In a passage that refers to angels as the host of heaven or armies of heaven, Ezra says, you are the Lord, you alone. You have made the heavens of heavens with all their hosts and the hosts of heaven worship you.

Now, host is the word for armies and we learned in Luke chapter 2 when the angels announced to the shepherds, it was a heavenly host, it was a heavenly army of angels. Paul tells us that God created all things visible and invisible through Christ and for him and then specifically includes the angelic world with the phrase where the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

So there are heavenly thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities, okay, and this is what the heavenly host is referring to. The angels exercise moral judgment. That angels exercise moral judgment is seen in the fact that some of them sinned and fell from their positions.

Their high intelligence is seen throughout the scripture as they speak to people. Okay, so what is the nature of an angel? Angels are spiritual beings that are part of the spiritual realms created by God who exist to serve and minister to God and his church, the number of which are countless, although they have no flesh or bones and are invisible, they can appear and communicate the will of God to humans.

So Colossians 116, we just went through this one, for by him all things were created in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

So just as an aside, when somebody says, well why did God create the world? For Jesus, everything was created by him, through him, and for him, okay. Psalm 148, praise the Lord, praise the Lord from heaven, praise him in the heights, praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his hosts, praise him, sun, moon, praise him, all you shining stars, praise him, your highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.

So they were created beings and they praise God. In fact, what do we know happens once one sinner repents? The angels rejoice over one sinner who repents. Nehemiah 9 .6, you are the Lord, you alone, you have made heaven the heaven of heavens and all their hosts, the earth and all that is on it.

Okay, so angels are created beings. We'll continue, bless the Lord, all you his angels, Psalm 103 .20, you his mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word, bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers who do his will.

So the angels serve to minister to God, to do what he tells them to do. Hebrews 1 .4, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Isn't that a telling verse?

They're sent to serve those, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. Not everyone, just those who are to inherit salvation. Hebrews 12 .22, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels, that you're not able to count them, they're innumerable, in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

So there are numerous, innumerable number of angels. Luke 24, see my hands, my feet, that it is I myself, touch me and see, for spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. So they're immaterial.

Angels are spiritual beings. They do not have bodies. All right, moving right along. In Daniel 8, 16, and 17, and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Uli, and it called, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.

So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was frightened, fell on my face. But he, meaning the angel, said to me, understand O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end. So they can appear, okay, in physical form, and they communicate what God tells them to communicate to us.

Right, so now a lot of times people like, well, when you speak in tongues, you speak in the tongues of men and angels. Well, the angel spoke in a tongue we could understand, right? When the angel is communicating to you something, he's not speaking in a different language.

So yes, you could speak in the tongue of men and angels. Angels speak Hebrew. I'm only kidding. All right. Matthew 2, 13, now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.

That's a pretty important piece of information, right? And the angel relayed that to him, okay, relayed that to Joseph. So the angels can communicate with us. Well, that's out of order. Luke 1, 19, and the angel answered him, I am Gabriel.

I stand in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you to bring you this good news. Now, where did we first hear about Gabriel? Who did he speak to first? One, two, Gabriel. We heard about him in Daniel.

The angel that came to Daniel is the same angel that came to Mary. Some people don't even realize that. Revelation 1, 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John. So over and over and over, the scriptures continually relay to us that angels can communicate with us, and they are sent by God to deliver us a message, a message that we need to hear.

Angels as Messengers, Ministers, and Agents of God's Judgment

Angels carry out the purposes of God and the judgments of God. God's law itself was facilitated by the service of angels. Numbers 22, 22, but God's anger was kindled because he went and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way of his adversary.

So now the angel is being sent to take a stand against an adversary. This is going to be fulfilling the judgment of God. Psalm 103, bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers who do his will. Matthew 13, the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels.

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So the angels are going to be called to come, and this is going to be at the end, the final judgment of God, where God separates the sheep and the goats.

The angels are going to gather the unbelievers, those who rebelled against God, and they're going to carry out God's justice by sending them into the lake of fire. 2 Samuel 24, 16,. And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, it is enough.

Now stay your hand, and the angel of the Lord was... And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Arunah, the Jebusite. So here we have the angel of the Lord, okay, on the earth, pouring out judgment, or ready to stretch out his hand and to destroy Jerusalem.

He said, was that Jerusalem? Where is it? It doesn't say. He was destroying the city that God told him to destroy. So the angels can carry out God's judgments and bring his wrath. 2 Kings 19, 35,. And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185 ,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.

And when the people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. That's a lot of people. Angels have the power to take, you know, to take the life of the people who God says they're done.

So think about going to sleep, all right, and we're praying for some nations and some things, and you wake up and 185 ,000 of them are wiped out because God sent angels to do the job. All right, sometimes we don't realize that our prayers are powerful and effective, not to kill 185 ,000 people, but you understand what I'm saying.

God sends messengers, angels, into the world to carry out his purposes. Psalm 35,. Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away, lest their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

So the angel of the Lord is driving people away from where God told them. Acts 12, 23,. Immediately the angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

Very uplifting, encouraging verse, right? So here we see again, the angel of the Lord striking someone down, because power, life, and death is in God's hands. Revelation 16, 1,. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, telling the seven angels, Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.

Acts 7, 53,. You who received the law were as delivered by angels, and did not keep it. So here God uses the angels as a mediator to bring the law to his people. Hebrews 2, 2,. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution.

Okay, so here you see the function of the angels can be to destroy somebody, they were used to deliver the law to us, and they're going to continue. Psalm 148,. Praise him all all his angels, praise him all his hosts.

Isaiah 6, 3,. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. So they are not themselves to be worshipped, but they do the worshipping.

They worship God in his presence. Luke 2, 13 and 14,. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts again, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

Revelation 5, 11 and 12,. Then I looked and heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

So they came, they can bring destruction, they can communicate with human beings to bring them a message, and they're in the presence of God worshipping him continually. This is what the heavenly hosts do.

Worship, Guardian Angels, and the Question of Angelic Mediation

Colossians 2, 18,. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. So there was a group called the Gnostics who were telling people to worship angels.

Unfortunately, there are groups today, part of the New Apostolic Reformation tells you to talk to angels, call upon angels. We're never commanded to talk to angels or call upon angels to do anything. We call upon the name of the Lord.

If the Lord issues angels to do that job, great, that's God's will. We're not to call angels because we're gonna learn in a couple of minutes there are good angels and then there are bad angels. And if this angel, so-called angel, appears to you, do you think he's gonna appear like a bad angel?

Say, hey listen, I'm a bad angel. I'm here to hurt you. No, he's gonna appear as an angel of light. They make you think everything's okay. Revelation 19, 10,. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, you must not do that.

I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. Okay, so falling down at someone's feet could be considered an act of worship if you're praising that person.

There are some religious traditions that bow down before Mary, all right, and hail her. That's an act of worship whether they deny it or not. You are not to do that. You are to worship God and God alone.

Revelation 22, 9,. But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. Pretty clear. Worship God.

Psalm 34,. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. So in a moment we're gonna see something that people would ascribe to. Oh, see that this is where we get the doctrine of guardian angels.

Now I would say, somebody might ask me, oh, do angels, do we really have guardian angels? Do they really guard us? And I would say, the angel of the Lord encamps around all those who fear him. So if you revere God, if your faith and trust is in him and you call upon the Lord, he will answer.

He may use angels to do that, all right. I'm not dogmatic about every single person having a guardian angel following them around all day long. I don't necessarily think that's the pattern. Psalm 91,.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. So this is all at the hand of God, the Word of God.

He's the one who guards us. He uses angels to do it. Praise God. All right, another function of the angels is to worship and praise God. We're here already. Okay, Daniel 622, My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouths, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before him, and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.

Isn't that an amazing thing? Daniel's in the cave with the lions, and the lions are the one, the angels are the ones who shut the lion's mouth. Like, how is that even conceivable? But that's God's Word.

He says he did it. Matthew 1810,. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see their face of my Father who is in heaven. This is one of the verses that people would use to say, see, everybody has a guardian angel.

An angel is always before the face of God helping them. Luke 1622,. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. Okay, so the angels are involved at that point in time with carrying Lazarus, the poor man, carried him to Abraham's side.

Angels go by several different titles. They're called sons of God, holy ones, and watchers. In Job 1 6,. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came among them.

Anyone know what the word Satan means? Yes, adversary, right. So Satan is an adversary against us. Psalm 89,. Let the heavens praise you, praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.

So angels, the good angels, the ones who haven't fallen, are called holy ones. Holy means set apart or other. They're different. Daniel 8 13,. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke.

Daniel 4 13,. I saw in the visions of my head, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. So they're adversaries, they're holy ones, they're watchers, they're watching things down here on earth.

There were also two different types, seraphim and cherubim. Isaiah 6 2,. Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Genesis 3 24,. He drove out the man, and at the east end of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way of the tree of life. Now angels are usually pictured as these little, you know, little babies with wings on them.

Could you picture the baby with the wings on them, with a big flaming sword saying, come on, I'm gonna get you. Nobody's getting in here. That's not necessarily what angels look like. Angels are imposing figures.

Again, what did the shepherds in the field do? They were greatly afraid. That's not a little chubby baby with wings on them saying, here I am. Angels are imposing figures, and they can come to do destruction.

If an angel ever appeared, we'd probably hit the deck. Exodus 25 18,. And you shall make two cherubim of gold,. Hebrews 9 5,. Above it were cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. Okay, any questions up until now?

Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer, and Abaddon

Okay, so I'm gonna give you a pop quiz then. There's only four angels named in the Bible. Who wants to take a stab at guessing all four? One we talked about. You can't, who? Gabriel's one of them. Michael is the two harder ones.

Lucifer. Good. Last one, who can get it? Do you know it, Maria? That's not Scripture. I know. Jesus, no, no. It begins with an A, two different ways. What, say again? No, say it. Yes, Apollyon, or Abaddon.

Ready? We have Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer, and Abaddon, or Apollyon, right? We always forget about that. We're gonna go through them. Okay, Luke 1 19,. And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you to bring you this good news.

Okay, this was Gabriel who stood in the presence of Daniel and told him that the time is far off. Okay, now he comes to tell Mary the time is now, right? So that's the angel Gabriel. Michael in Jude 9,.

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume, but said, The Lord rebuke you. Okay, so Michael, archangel, alright, everybody talks about Michael the archangel.

So he was one of the angels named in the Scripture, Lucifer. Now this is a little tricky because it's only in the King James. Isaiah 14 12, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?

How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? Okay, so again, that's that's King James only. Now here's the one that everybody wants to know. Revelation 9 11, They have a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit.

His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he's called Apollyon. Okay, so we got four named. If you could find, yes, they are, they are. So it's it's maybe two names for the same, for the same one, yeah, for the same, for the same angel, right?

They have a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit. Yeah, I would probably say that's, that's Satan. Yes, I don't know. Well, listen, Jesus goes by many names as well, right? Son of God, Son of Man, you know, Savior, King of Kings, the Good Shepherd.

He's got a lot of different names, so Satan has different names. I mean, he's called the Great Dragon, you know. There's a lot of different names that he's, he's referred to as. Okay, so we're getting close to the end.

Fallen Angels, Satan, and Spiritual Warfare

Some angels are elect, and some have fallen from their designated position, Jude 6, where they will be judged and sent to hell. One fallen angel, Satan, leads the charge against God and his people. 1st Timothy 521, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels.

So there are some angels elected to stay in their proper position and not sin. Jude 6, and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling. So these are the angels that sin, left the heavenly dwelling, and ended up coming to earth, right, to torment us, in a way.

2nd Peter 2 .4, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. Okay, so there are angels who are going to be in hell, because they rebelled against God and took a third, Satan, the, the, the head fallen angel, took a third of the angels with him.

Revelation 20 and 2, he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. So here it is. Satan can also be called the devil, right, that's another name that he has.

1st Chronicles 21 .1, then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. That's an interesting, that's an interesting verse, because God would later accuse David of taking the, taking the census.

So God was doing it, and David was doing it. It's a little, a little tricky to understand that. Any questions right now? I'm probably gonna end a little early. Okay, 1st Peter 5 .8, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

And just because Satan is bound, doesn't mean that he, he doesn't have influence here on earth. Okay, what does, when it says Satan is bound, okay, what did, what did Satan lose when he was bound? Yes, his ability to deceive the nations.

Yes, exactly. But that doesn't mean he, he doesn't have influence over people. 1st Thessalonians 3 .5, for this reason, when I could hear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would be in vain.

So we know that God doesn't tempt anyone. It's fallen angel Satan, his, his crew are the ones who are trying to tempt us or set things up, set a trap, set up a scheme to deceive us. 1st, 2nd Corinthians 4 .4, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of, of God.

He's the God of this world. Now, this doesn't mean that he's a God, okay, it's lowercase G. Who's the God of this world right now? Jesus, right? He's ruling and reigning until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.

However, there is a world system which Satan is leading. He's pushing, leading the charge in that, in the wrong direction. So that doesn't mean that Satan is a God as in the nature of God. Okay. He is a spiritual being with power and intelligence leading people in the wrong direction.

He is not all powerful and ultimately will be defeated since Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and to destroy the one who has the power of death. 1st John 3 .8, the reason the son of God peer appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Hebrews 2 .14, he himself likewise partook of the same things, flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. So God can use Satan and fallen angels to bring about judgment and destruction, to destroy people, right?

That's the power of death. Okay. So what is Satan's current status? Anyone? Yes. Well, he was fallen before now, right? Way back when. All right, let me just go through this. All right. Satan was disarmed, Satan was judged, Satan was cast out, Satan was bound by Jesus and Satan's work has been restrained.

So we see in Colossians 2 .15, Jesus, he disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing them over them, by triumphing, I'm mispronouncing that, triumphing. Somebody say that for me?

I'm right? It doesn't sound right as I'm saying triumphing over them in him. So what happened at the cross? Right, but what happened? Death was, well, death was defeated at the resurrection. At the cross our sins were paid for, right?

So now what does Romans 8 say about anybody who can make a charge against us? They can't make a charge against us because our sins were paid for. So when Jesus died on the cross and cast him out, Satan no longer has his prosecutorial ability.

He cannot come before the heavenly bodies and say, look what he did, he's guilty of this. Why? Because Jesus paid the price for those sins, all right? No one can make a charge against God's elect. Why?

Their sins have been paid for. Yes. Have we sinned? Do we still sin? Yes, but those sins are paid for by Jesus. He looks upon us the way, as if we were innocent. So he's disarmed. Satan can't make a charge against those whom God has chosen.

Satan was judged. John 16 11, because the ruler of this world is judged, right? He's been found guilty and that's not ever gonna change. Satan was cast out. John 12 31, now is the judgment of this world.

Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, okay? We would look at Revelation 20 and say that that's applicable now, that Satan was cast down. Other people wouldn't look at it. It depends on your eschatology.

Satan was bound by Jesus. Matthew 12 29, or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds up the strong man? Now how do we know that, what did Jesus do to show that he's plundering Satan's house?

What did he do while he was here on earth? He was casting demons out. He's like, you don't belong here. You're out, right? He healed the demoniac, right? He's casting demons out of people because they don't belong in his world.

Again, when Jesus came, John 1 1, he came to bring the new heavens and the new earth and to inaugurate the new heavens and new earth. So demons don't belong in God's new heaven and new earth, so he was casting them out.

Then Revelation 20, and he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, okay? So Satan's bound in the sense that he can no longer deceive the nations.

He's limited in his power, but he still prowls around like a lion, waiting to pounce on people. So there's two different extremes. The devil doesn't exist, he's not even a part of this world, or there's a devil under every rock.

Oh my goodness, it's the devil, it's the devil, it's the devil. Now somewhere in the middle, obviously, lies the truth. We have to be aware and understand that there are demonic forces that are still working here in this world.

We see them in a lot of nations, one that we're in, right? It's a demonic thing to want to kill babies, that's demonic. That comes from an outside source. On top of our depraved state to begin with, we're self-centered, so this just feeds into the whole thing.

Satan's work has been restrained, 2 Thessalonians 2 .6, and you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. That's for the Antichrist.

All right, that basically wraps up that section. Is there any questions, anything that I missed? Okay, so I hope that was helpful. With that, let's close in prayer, and we'll get ready for worship.