Angels: What are they?

Alright, so tonight's study is going to be on angels. So, what are angels?

Why did God create them? We're going to go through a nice little study tonight. So, let's begin.

What are angels? Angels are created spiritual beings with moral judgment, so they know right from wrong.

High intelligence, they're smarter than we are. But without physical bodies, similar to God. God is a spirit and has not a body like man.

Excuse me, have not angels appeared in bodily form? They appear in bodily form, but they don't have bodies.

Right, exactly. We're going to get into that. Since 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 the armies of heaven, Ezra says, you are the

Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts. And the hosts of heaven worship you.

So, the host of heaven is referring to the spiritual beings, the angels, who are worshipping God and have been worshipping

Him since the moment they were created. Paul tells us that God created all things, visible and invisible, through Christ and for Christ, and then specifically includes the angelic world with the phrase, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

We're going to learn how angels have a hierarchy. There's archangels, like you've heard of Michael, and then there's angels beneath Michael, right?

We used to have to memorize them in school. Well, I'm going to give you a chance to tap into that memory and tell us about them.

So, we've got good ways to go. That angels exercise moral judgment is seen in the fact that some of them sinned and fell from their positions.

You can read that in 2 Peter and Jude 6. Do you want to read that one, Jerry? Yes, 2 Peter 6. For God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept unto the judgment.

Excellent. In Jude 6. Yeah, sure. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling,

He is kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.

Right. Those are the angels that sinned. They rebelled against God, and they're being kept in chains, right, in Sheol right now until the final resurrection of the dead.

Their high intelligence is seen throughout Scripture as they speak to people, Matthew 28, Acts 12, and sing praise to God.

Do you want to read one or two of those? Sure. Matthew 28, 5 says this, But the angel said to the woman,

Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. And then

Acts 12, 6 -11. Now when

Herod was about to bring him out on the very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly. And the chains fell off his hands.

And the angel said to him, Dress yourself and put on your sandals. And he did so.

And he said to him, Wrap your cloak around you and follow me. And he went out and followed him.

He did not know that what was being done was being done by an angel.

Excellent. Okay, I want to read one that sings praise to God, Revelation 4 .11. Revelation 4 .11

says, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.

For you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.

One of the things you'll see over and over in scriptures, anytime an angel does appear to somebody, they usually say,

Fear not. They're imposing beings. They're not, you know, it's not like something regular, like,

Oh, okay. This is a heavenly being that's appearing to you. So the angels over and over say,

Fear not. Fear not. Since angels are spirits or spiritual creatures, they do not ordinarily have physical bodies.

Therefore, they cannot usually be seen by us unless God gives us a special ability to see them.

In their ordinary activities of guarding and protecting us, Psalm 34, 91 and Hebrews 114, and joining with us in worship to God, they are invisible.

However, from time to time, angels took on a bodily form to appear to various people in scripture.

Okay. Other names for angels, and you'll read this throughout the scriptures.

Scripture sometimes refers, sometimes uses other terms for angels, such as sons of God, Job 1 .6,

holy ones, Psalm 89, spirits, Hebrews 1 .14, watchers,

Daniel 4 .13, thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities, Colossians 1 .16.

There are three other specific types of heavenly beings named in scripture. Whether we think of these as special types of angels, in a broad sense of the term, or whether we think of them as heavenly beings distinct from angels, they are nonetheless created spiritual beings who serve and worship

God. I think you remember, Tony Costa had said that the cherubim and seraphim were not angels.

They are heavenly beings. They may be classified as angels. They may not. Cherubim and seraphim.

I think we're going to go through those. Here it is. The cherubim. This is a type of angel.

The cherubim were given the task of guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden. Remember the cherubim with the flaming swords?

And God is frequently said to be enthroned on the cherubim or to travel with the cherubim as his chariot.

Want to read Psalm 18? Psalm 18 .10 says, He rode on a cherubim and flew.

He came swiftly on the wings of the wind. So the cherubim are in charge of the chariot and moving the chariot around.

They're over the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament where two golden figures of cherubim with their wings stretched out above the

Ark. And it was there that God promised to come to dwell among his people. It says,

There I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubim that are on the Ark of the

Testimony. I will speak with you about all that I will give you in the commandment for the people of Israel.

Want to read Exodus 25? Exodus 25 .22 There I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubim that are on the

Ark of the Testimony. I will speak with you about all that I will give you in the commandment for the people of Israel.

Okay, so you're getting a feeling for this is what the cherubim are. Again, could be a class of angel.

The scripture doesn't actually say. But they certainly are heavenly beings. Now the seraphim. This is another group of heavenly beings.

The seraphim. And they are mentioned only in Isaiah chapter 6 verses 2 -7.

Where they continually worship the Lord and call to one another. Holy, holy, holy is the

Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. We actually went through this scripture last week.

When we talked about who Isaiah saw in chapter 6. When he saw the Lord in the temple, high and lifted up.

The train of Israel filled the temple. That was Jesus. And the seraphim are the ones who are singing, crying out holy, holy, holy is the

Lord of hosts. So the cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant and they moved the chariot.

The seraphim are the ones who worship and praise God singing holy, holy, holy is the

Lord of hosts. The living creatures. This is different than the seraphim and the cherubim.

Both Ezekiel and Revelation tell us of yet another kind of heavenly being known as living creatures around God's throne.

Ezekiel 1, 5 -14 and Revelation 4, 6 -8. Could you read the Revelation 4 one?

And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal and around the throne on each side of the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.

The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight and the four living creatures each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night they never cease to say holy, holy, holy is the

Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come. So now we have the cherubim, the seraphim and now the living creatures.

With their appearances like a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle they are the mightiest representatives of various parts of God's entire creation.

Wild beasts, domesticated animals, human beings, and birds and they worship God continually.

Day and night they never cease to say holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come.

And last time Tony Costa was out he said that those four living creatures would be a type and shadow of the four gospel writers,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And he went through a whole argument as to why that would be. Now, I don't quite remember the whole argument

I think it can it may or may not be 100 % true but hey,

Ashley, how are you? It may or may not be 100 % true but he made a good argument.

Calvin actually covers that quite extensively. There's a couple of different twists to it but it's all basically we actually looked at that when we looked at Revelation.

Yes, yes. That was with Bruce Gore, right? Alright, moving on. So we have the living creatures.

Now here's the rank and order of the angels. Scripture indicates that there is a rank and order among the angels.

One angel, Michael, is called the archangel in Jude 9. A title that indicates rule or authority over other angels.

He's called one of the chief princes in Daniel chapter 10. Michael also appears to be a leader in the angelic army.

Now war rose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back but he was defeated.

And Paul tells us that the Lord will return from heaven with the voice of an archangel, 1

Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 .16 Whether this refers to Michael as the only archangel or whether there are other archangels,

Scripture does not tell us. Now, Bruce Gore says that Michael is none other than Jesus.

He is the highest of the angels. Which would actually lend credence to what the

Jehovah's Witnesses say with Michael being the archangel. Which is very, very interesting. There are several prominent theologians who say that Michael is that is

Jesus. That he is Michael the archangel. He's the highest of the angels. Remember, just because you use the term angel doesn't mean that you can't also be human in Jesus' case.

Angel means messenger. You're an angel. You're a messenger of the gospel. In fact, the apostles were called messengers, yes.

If God created the angels, he didn't create his son.

They always were. So, how can Michael the archangel be Jesus if he was created?

Well, this doesn't say that Michael was created. Jesus is eternal but he's sent by God the

Father. This is the same line of reasoning a Jehovah's Witness would say. How can Jesus be human if he's

God? He's created. So, although Jesus comes into the created order, in that sense, he's a messenger from God.

Doesn't mean that he's a spiritual one of these spiritual creatures.

Follow? So, he can preside over the angels in a certain way distinct from the

Father. Jesus is the archangel over all of them. He's the chief messenger from God.

OK? Names of specific angels.

Only two angels are specifically named in Scripture. Michael is mentioned in Jude 9 and Revelation 12 7 as well as Daniel 10 where he's called

Michael, one of the chief princes. And this would be one argument against Jesus being the archangel

Michael because he's one of the chief princes. OK? But, you know, one of the politicians doesn't mean that all of the politicians have the same rank.

Joe Biden is one of the politicians but he's chief. He's above all the others. So, when

Scripture says one of the chief princes, doesn't say that one's not higher than the other.

Anyway, the angel Gabriel is mentioned in Daniel 8 16 and 9 21 as a messenger who comes from God to speak to Daniel.

Gabriel is also identified as God's messenger to Zechariah and Mary in Luke 1.

The angel answers, Zechariah I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.

Then we read in the sixth month the angel Gabriel who was sent from God to a city of Galilee named

Nazareth to a virgin. The virgin's name was Mary. This is the very same angel that brought the message to Daniel the prophet now appears to Mary to bring her good news.

Is there one of those verses that you wanted to? I think you actually I could read this one.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God was sent from God to the city of Galilee named

Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgin's name was

Mary. So these are the two angels that are named

Michael and Gabriel. Those are the only two out of all the angels in scripture. Angels can only be in one place at one time.

Scripture frequently represents angels as traveling from one place to another as in the verse mentioned above where Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named

Nazareth. This is made explicit when an angel comes to Daniel and says I have come because of your words.

The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days but Michael one of the chief princes came to help me for I was left there with the kings of Persia and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days.

And we talked about latter days in Sunday school yesterday. So think about this.

Angels can only be in one place at one time. Right? Think about people who are hyper about demons.

There's a demon here. There's a demon there. It's like demons are fallen angels. And there's less demons than there are good angels.

They cannot be everywhere at the same time. Doesn't mean that they can't show up. But they're not

I'm not omniscient. Thank you. Omnipresent. They're not omnipresent.

They're not everywhere at the same time. So you don't have to be fearful of walking around. Oh there's demons all around.

Okay? They can only be in one place at one time. And they're limited. Now you see So you said earlier that there's a percentage of demons that are being held in Sheol right?

Yeah, absolutely. So that cuts the third down even more. And then is not the

Holy Spirit more powerful than any of these? Certainly. And if the Spirit dwells in us. Right.

Now you see the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days.

So you see that there's battling between angels. Okay? So it took

Gabriel 21 days to come to Daniel to tell him this. So we don't realize that there is warfare happening in the heavenly realms that we're not privy to.

Yes, that's another angel. That's fighting against Michael.

So this actually has something to do with the way our prayers are answered. Okay? I don't know exactly what it is but there's that heavenly realm that takes place.

Very important. And then I haven't read Daniel recently but wasn't

Daniel praying the entire time? I'm sure he took a nap. But the 21 days wasn't he in prayer that whole time?

During that spiritual battle? I believe so. I believe so. I can't pinpoint it. I haven't read through it recently.

I know chapter 4 7 and 9 stand out in my mind because those are the identifying ones.

Okay? But yes. Okay, so the idea that an angel can be in only one place at one time is consistent with the fact that angels are created beings.

Unlike God who is omnipresent they are finite creatures and therefore limited to being in one place at one time as is everything else that God created.

Now that doesn't mean that they're not more powerful than us. They are much more powerful than us. One thing maybe

I don't necessarily know that we're going to get through it here but the angels don't have a plan of salvation.

It's not like they can trust in Jesus and be saved. There was no plan of salvation for the angels.

That's why the covenant is better for us. Right? So let's keep going. How many angels are there?

Myriads. Myriads. Though scripture does not give us a figure for the number of angels

God created, it is apparently a very great number. We read that God on Mount Sinai came from the ten thousands of holy ones with flaming fire in His right hand.

We also learned that the chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands.

When we come to worship we come into the presence of innumerable angels. Hebrews 12 .22

Their number is even more strikingly emphasized in Revelation 5 .11 where John says,

I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.

This expression indicates an amazingly large number from a human standpoint and innumerable assembly of angelic beings praising

God. Could you read that one in Hebrews 12 .22? But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living

God the heavenly Jerusalem and innumerable angels in festal gathering.

Excellent. Thank you. So what we have to remember is that when we come into worship when our worship service starts and I pray the prayer of invocation and we ask that God would be present and provide us with His Holy Spirit we are now entering into the presence of God with myriads of angels worshiping

God at the same time. That's why worship is not frivolous. It's very serious what we do and when people take it frivolously and don't give

God the proper reverence and honor that He's due it's not worship that God accepts.

It's very important that we come in with clean hands and pure hearts that's why we pray and that's why we confess our sins before we come to the

God who's enthroned on high who the angels are worshiping that we're actually entering into the heavenly realms and we're bringing heaven to earth and we pray on earth as it is in heaven.

It's a form of battle. Absolutely. We're joining them and praying now that God would be worshiped and that His word would come forth and His kingdom would come.

Any other words on battle? Nope. Excellent.

This was a question that we had asked last week. Do people have individual guardian angels?

Scripture clearly tells us that God sends angels for our protection. 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 the stone.

We don't know when the angels are around, but we do know that God sends them to protect us.

If they're sent to protect us, what does that mean? There might be other angels, fallen angels trying to hurt us.

Or, we may be trying to hurt ourselves. As a child of God, God says, no,

I'm not going to let you do this or that. I'm going to protect you. The same way when we have little kids around, we protect them.

We put bumper buddies on the corners of the table. We follow them around to keep them from falling.

Because you love them. You don't want them to get hurt. Same thing with us and God. Some people have gone beyond this idea of general protection and wondered if God gives a specific guardian angel for each individual in the world, or at least for each

Christian. Support for this idea has been found in Jesus' words about little children. In heaven, their angels always see the face of my

Father who is in heaven. Does this indicate that there are specific individual angels?

Maybe, maybe not. However, our Lord may simply be saying that the angels who are assigned the task of protecting little children have ready access to God's presence.

To use an athletic analogy, the angels may be playing zone rather than man -to -man defense.

It could be a certain angel who's guarding certain children, not a particular angel for every particular child type of situation.

When the disciples in Acts 12 .15 say that Peter's angel must be knocking at the door, this does not necessarily imply belief in an individual guardian angel.

It could be that an angel was guarding or caring for Peter just at that time. There seems to be, therefore, no convincing support for the idea of individual guardian angels in the text of Scripture.

Can you imagine that World War II, what, 40 maybe 60 million people died and not too many of them had any guardian angels?

Well, if they were children of God, they could have guardian angels.

Just because somebody dies doesn't mean that they didn't have a guardian, an angel guarding them.

Again, all our days are ordained. Precious in His sight is the death of His saints. So, even though you die maybe prematurely, or what we would consider prematurely, if God had a reason and a purpose for it, it's for God's glory.

Right? You've got to remember too, if God was to take somebody out of the earth early,

He may be sparing them wrath that would accrue to their account.

So, it's actually an act of mercy, God taking somebody out of the earth sooner than normal.

Sooner than later, I should say. So, if the person dies prematurely, or what we would consider prematurely, and they're a child of God, they're ushered right into the presence of God.

They're not upset. At all. They're happy. Angels do not marry.

Jesus taught that in the resurrection, people neither marry, nor are given in marriage, or are like the angels in heaven.

Matthew 22 and Luke 20, this would suggest that angels do not have the kind of family relationships that exist among human beings.

Scripture is otherwise silent on this point, so it is wise not to attempt to engage in speculation. Now, a woman once told me, she goes, you know why heaven is so nice?

They're not married. They don't have a guy to bother them all the time. They're not married. Anthony, the ones that supposedly came to earth and mated with human women, were those angels?

I don't think that those were angelic beings, because once again, they don't have physical bodies.

So, when the Scripture uses the term sons of God, I believe that those were people who were born of God's spirit.

It would be as if, you know how in Scripture we're told not to be unequally yoked? It would be as if Christian men or women started intermarrying with unbelievers.

And now you get this mix. You know, the child is confused. Oh, my dad believes in God, my mother doesn't.

Oh, my mother believes in God, my dad doesn't. And that's called syncretism. You start mixing these different things.

As Christians, we have a certain worldview. We have certain things that we're commanded to do in Scripture.

If we were to marry somebody who doesn't, or who comes from like a Hindu worldview, or something like that, now you're going to have these things that are starting to mix.

And that's what happened with Israel. They started intermarrying with the nations around them.

And started to take on their gods. Rather than worshiping the one true God, they started collecting idols from the

Samaritans. From all these different nations who worship different gods. Again, dangerous.

Wasn't it also there was a line of Seth and a line of who was the brother?

King. The line of King was the sons of God, if you looked at it that way.

And the line of Seth was Christ the first. Yes, Seth was

Christ the first. And then, in the same way that Eve was deceived, and then convinced

Adam to you know, if you marry outside your unequal yoke, you're going to be corrupted.

And they're going to win. Absolutely. Listen, when you say the name

Cain, what should immediately come to mind is the Canaanites. That's where Canaanites come from.

They come from the line of Cain. And the Canaanites are always God's enemies. He sends them into the land to drive out the

Canaanites. The people who come from the wrong line, the wrong seed, so to speak.

Good question. The power of angels. Angels apparently have very great power.

They are called you mighty ones who do his word. Psalm 103. And powers, Ephesians 1 -2.

And dominions and authorities, Colossians 1 -16. Angels are seemingly greater in might and power than rebellious human beings.

At least for the time of their earthly existence, human beings are made lower than the angels. Though the power of the angels is great, it is certainly not infinite.

But it is used to battle against evil demonic powers under the control of Satan. Nonetheless, when the

Lord returns, we will be raised to a position higher than that of the angels. Because of Jesus.

Jesus is better than the angels. If we are united to Jesus in marriage, we too will be above the angels because of him.

Who is the angel of the Lord? Alright, this is a good question. Several passages of scripture, especially in the

Old Testament, speak of the angel of the Lord in a way that suggests that he is God himself, taking on a human form to appear briefly to various people in the

Old Testament. So, here we go. We use the term angel, angel of the Lord, not a created being if this is

Jesus. So, he is a messenger, a direct messenger from God.

In some passages, the angel of the Lord, not an angel of the Lord, is spoken of as the

Lord himself. So, the angel of the Lord who found Hagar in the wilderness promises her,

I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. Genesis 16 .10

And Hagar responds by calling the name of the Lord who spoke to her, for you are a

God of seeing. Genesis 16. So, the angel of the Lord is referred to as God himself.

Yes. Angels, created angels don't have that power, but God does.

God is the author of life. Yes. Absolutely. Similarly, when

Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac, the angel of the Lord calls to him from heaven and says,

Now I know you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Yeah, Joe, you had a question? Nope. Oh, no. Hagar was the mother of Ishmael.

She was the slave of the servant of Abraham and Sarah. The descendants of Ishmael are the

Arab people today? Yes. That's how it's supposed to go. Yeah. Everybody says, oh, they're

Muslims, but there's other lines that could be Muslim. Right.

Exactly. Okay. When the angel of God appeared to Jacob in a dream, he said,

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Again, when the angel of the

Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, he then said, I am the God of your father, the

God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I am. There you go. That term,

I am. Remember, John 118 says, no one has seen

God at any time. The only God who is at the Father's side has made Him known, or explained

Him. Again, this goes back to the triunity of God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

The only God who is at the Father's side has made Him known. Jesus is the one who exegetes or explains

God, the Father, to the people who He comes in contact with. When it says, nobody has seen

God, it doesn't mean laid eyes on God. It means understood, like when

I use the term, you see what I mean? Alright? It's also John 3, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they're born again.

That doesn't mean see with your physical eyes. Nobody can see the kingdom. Nobody can understand.

Seeing as in understanding. Yeah, that's important, because a lot of people get caught saying, well, how could people see if Jesus is

God and people storm in the Old Testament and nobody can see God? See, that's why Jesus isn't God.

And when we mean see as in eyesight, they're right. But that's not what the term means.

No one can see. Take the word see out and use understand. Nobody can comprehend or understand

God unless Jesus the mediator between God and man explains Him to us.

So that we can understand God. As human beings who are finite, how can we comprehend or understand something that's infinite?

Unless it's broken down to us. So very similar to when we have children.

If you've ever babysat or have children, you get down on their level and you try to explain things to them so that they can understand it.

It's the same thing with God and us. He brings things down to a lower level so that we can understand some things.

But we cannot understand everything there is to know about God. It's impossible. He's infinite. Right? Okay.

These are clear instances of the angel of the Lord or the angel of God appearing as God Himself. Perhaps more specifically as God the

Son taking on a human body for a short time in order to appear to human beings.

At other times, the angel of the Lord seems to be distinguished from God. See 2

Samuel 24 16. Could you read that one? Sure. 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's enough. Now stay your hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of...

Yeah. Can you read Zechariah 1 11 and 13?

Yes. Thanks. And the answer... I'm sorry. And they answered the angel of the

Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, We have patrolled the earth and behold, all the earth remains at rest.

Then the angel of the Lord said, O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah against which you have been angry these 70 years?

And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who walked with me.

Excellent. Passages that mention the angel of the Lord usually indicate an angel sent by God.

Okay, so... Yeah.

Usually when it says the angel of the Lord, you got to look at the context, but usually that means

Jesus. In fact, when... I forget what chapter in Genesis it is, but when fire was rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah, it says the

Lord rained down fire and brimstone from the Lord. So the angel of the

Lord was on the earth raining down fire and brimstone from the Lord. Again, this is an instance where you can see that God is a unity in community and a community in unity.

He's not a single person. He's a community. Let us make man in our image.

Right? Whose image are we created in? In the triune God. Because it's our image.

That's not the angels. We are not created in the image of angels. We're created in the image of God.

Let us make man in our image. That's a big deal, because our worldview is the only worldview.

We're the triune God. No one would make that up. Okay? When the apostles are teaching that in the scriptures, they're not making that up to confuse you.

Because if I was trying to start a religion, I would make the doctrine real easy that you could follow. Exactly.

So this is not something they're making up. This is a reality of the Christian worldview that they're explaining to us that's very difficult, because God is holy.

He's other. He's different than everything we see and experience on the earth.

But he's not unknowable. Okay? He makes himself known. He reveals himself to us.

Sodom and Gomorrah were not those angels that came into Sodom?

Well, they were angels that took over human bodies. Okay. Right? Okay. When were the angels created?

Again, this was another thing. We talked about gap theory between Genesis 1 -1 and 1 -2. All the angels must have been created before the seventh day of creation.

For we read, thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. Genesis 2 -1.

Understanding host to be the heavenly creatures that inhabit God's universe. Even more explicit than this is the statement, in six days the

Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, all the angels were created at least by the sixth day of creation.

Can we be more specific? There may be a hint at the creation of angelic beings on the first day of creation when we read that in the beginning

God created the heavens and the earth. And then immediately after we read that, the earth was without form and void, but with no mention of the heavens in the second verse.

Let's read what he's going to say. This may suggest that the uninhabitable state of the earth is contrasted with the heavens where perhaps

God had already created angelic beings and assigned them various roles and orders.

This idea is made more plausible when we read that the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy at the time when

God said, when God laid the cornerstone of the earth and sunk its bases in the process of forming and founding it.

If the angels, the sons of God, shouted for joy when God was making the earth inhabitable, this could imply that God created the angelic beings early on the first day.

You follow what he's saying? In Job it says the morning stars, which are angels, sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

That's at the time when God laid the cornerstone of the earth and sunk its bases. So this is on day one before the earth was created,

God created the heavens and the earth. So the heavens came first with the heavenly host in them and then the earth came next and they were singing for joy as God was creating it.

Okay? Wasn't the morning star one of the names for Satan in Isaiah 14?

It is. Yes. Yep, that is.

Yes. Musical. Yeah.

Certainly. Yeah, absolutely.

The scripture talks about the antichrist and many antichrists.

It talks about the man of sin or the man of lawlessness. But remember the scriptures also talk about the man of God.

That's us. It's not a singular man. But then there is the man of God, which is

Jesus. So it's one and many at the same time. Follow?

However, since we only have only hints in scripture, we must remain content with the fact that God has not given us much information about the time of creation of the angels.

Further speculation, apart from the clear scriptural data, would seem to be useless. Deuteronomy 29, the secret things belong to the

Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever that we may do all the words of this law.

So there's certain things that we're not given information on that we're not privy to. They're secret things that God doesn't reveal to us.

We don't need to know them. Sometime before Satan tempted Eve in the garden, a number of angels sinned and rebelled against God.

We read 2 Peter and Jude 6 already. This event occurred apparently after the sixth day of creation when

God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was all very good. But beyond this, scripture gives us no further information.

So we can safely say God created the angels between day one and day six. Somewhere in that time, we can narrow it down to six days.

That's when he created them. When they fell, not sure. Again, it's not told to us.

Angels show the greatness of God's love and plan for us. Human beings and angels, using the term broadly, are the only moral, highly intelligent creatures that God has made.

Therefore, we can understand much about God's plan and love for us when we compare ourselves with angels. The first distinction to be noted is that angels are never said to be made in the image of God.

That is interesting. While human beings are several times said to be in God's image.

Since being in the image of God means to be like God, it seems fair to conclude that we are more like God than even the angels are.

That's crazy, right? This is supported by the fact that God will someday give us authority over angels to judge them.

Do you not know that we are to judge angels? 1 Corinthians 6. Though we are for a little while lower than the angels,

Hebrews 2 7, when our salvation is complete we will be exalted above angels and rule over them.

In fact, even now, angels already serve us. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Hebrews 1 14. This is why I wanted to go over this. This is really important. We talked about angels in the first half of Hebrews 1.

The ability of human beings to bear children like themselves Adam fathered a son in his own likeness after his image is another element of our superiority to angels who apparently cannot bear children.

That's why they don't marry. They cannot be fruitful and multiply. Human beings can be fruitful and multiply.

Think about this. As men we are given the same title of God as father when we bring children into the world.

It is a huge responsibility and a huge honor. We cannot take that lightly.

We reproduce after our own kind. That's what God does. Angels also demonstrate the greatness of God's love for us in that though many angels sinned, none were saved.

Peter tells us that 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.

That's a really good point. Because when we sinned He didn't cast us into gloomy darkness.

He had mercy on us. There's something very different between us and the angels.

They didn't get a second chance. So when people constantly come to me why do bad things happen to me?

Look what happened to the angels when they sinned. I don't know where it is in Scripture, but I know that there is a section where it says that angels are awed by the fact that God showed grace and mercy to us.

This would explain partially why. Sure. Absolutely. That's a good point. They have no concept of it.

Jude says that angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling,

He has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. We read in Hebrews, for surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham.

Wow. Wow. We see therefore that God created two groups of intelligent moral creatures.

Among the angels many sinned, but God decided to redeem none of them. This was perfectly just for God to do and no angel can ever complain that he has been treated unfairly by God.

Now among other groups of moral characters, human beings, we also find that a large number, indeed all, has sinned and turned away from God.

As with the angels that sinned, God could have let all of us go on our own self -chosen path towards eternal condemnation.

Had God decided to save no one out of the entire sinful human race, He would be perfectly just to do so and no one can complain of unfairness on His part.

Good point. That's a very good point. That's why He wrote the systematic theology.

Alright. But God decided to do much more than merely meet the demands of justice. He decided to save some sinful human beings.

If He had decided to save only five human beings out of the entire human race, that would have been much more than justice.

It would have been a great demonstration of mercy and grace. If He had decided to save only 100 out of the whole human race, it would have been an amazing demonstration of mercy and love.

But God in fact has chosen to do much more than that. He has decided to redeem out of sinful mankind a great multitude whom no man can number from every tribe and language and people and nation.

This is incalculable mercy and love far beyond our comprehension. It is all undeserved favor.

It is all of grace. The striking contrast with the fate of angels brings this truth home to us.

So again, everything that God creates, He does so for the sake of those whom

He loves. It's a demonstration of God's love towards us. So He shows us that could have been you.

You could have been an angel that fell and not had a chance and been taken out forever. And God is just in doing it.

He didn't commit any wrong by not saving any of the angels. Make sense?

The fact that we have been saved from a life of rebellion against God means that we are able to sing songs that angels will never be able to sing for all eternity.

Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite mercy.

His child and forever I am. This song and all the great songs proclaiming our redemption in Christ are ours to sing alone.

Unfallen angels see us sing these songs and they rejoice. Luke 15 .10. But they will never be able to make them their own.

Read 15 .10. Just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Amen. Every time somebody repents, there's a party that goes on in heaven.

They rejoice. They worship. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Because obviously when a sinner is saved, it gives glory to God. It's like they worship

God like my goodness Lord we witnessed all these things that this person has done. You saved them.

My goodness are you merciful and loving towards people who are in rebellion to you. Yeah. That's right.

Angels remind us that the unseen world is real. This is a big deal. Just as the

Sadducees in Jesus day said that there is no resurrection nor angel nor spirit. So many in our day deny the reality of anything they cannot see.

But the biblical teaching on the existence of angels is a constant reminder to us that there is an unseen world that is very real.

It was only when the Lord opened the eyes of Elisha's servant to the reality of this invisible world that the servant saw the mount was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

This was a great angelic army sent to Dothan to protect Elisha from the Syrians. He opens

Elisha's servant's eyes to see that he's not alone. That God has an army of angels on horses no less there to fight this battle.

Isn't that amazing? Could you imagine one day God opens your eyes and you look around and you're like oh my goodness we are not here alone.

They are fighting for us. They're ministering angels spirits sent to protect us for our good to those who are going to inherit salvation.

That's an amazing thing. Despite our shortcomings and our sinfulness.

God again didn't spare the angels. The moment they sent they were cast out.

Think about that. We had free will in Adam.

Now our will was in bondage to sin until God freed us. Unencumbered will

I would say. Free choice. The psalmist too shows an awareness of the unseen world when he encourages the angels.

Praise him all his angels. Praise him all his hosts. The author of Hebrews reminds us that when we worship we come into the heavenly

Jerusalem to gather with innumerable angels in festal gathering. When we do not see whose presence should fill us with both awe and joy an unbelieving world may dismiss talk of angels as mere superstition but scripture offers it as an insight into the state of affairs as they really are.

Angels are examples for us. In both their obedience and their worship angels provide helpful examples for us to imitate.

Jesus teaches us to pray. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven

God's will is done by angels immediately, joyfully and without question. The angels don't rebel against God.

They know him. Say again. They don't question him. They don't say why.

They know better not to. Exactly. So they're an example for us.

We need to obey like the angels. So we ought to pray daily that our obedience and the obedience of others would be like that of the angels in heaven.

Their delight is to be God's humble servants each faithfully and joyfully performing their assigned task whether great or small.

Our desire and prayer should be that we ourselves and all others on earth would do the same. Angels also serve as our examples in their worship of God.

The seraphim before God's throne see God in His holiness and continue to cry out

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And John sees around God's throne a great angelic army, numerating 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.

Right? The wings covering their eyes because they're in the presence of God.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Um, I would say in a sense yes, but I think

I'm not sure, but I think we close our eyes to keep us undistracted. If our eyes are open, it's so easy to focus on the wrong.

You close your eyes, you bow your head. It's an act of reverence towards God. And with your eyes closed, now you can focus in your mind on God.

You know, like to try to block out all the distractions. You know, like when somebody meditates, they usually don't meditate with their eyes open.

You know, you usually meditate with your eyes closed. I think it's also certainly an act of reverence. The angels are covering their eyes because they're in the presence of God.

They can't look upon God without being overwhelmed. That's going to be something.

One day. Yes. Angels carry out some of God's plans.

Scripture sees angels as God's servants who carry out some of his plans in the earth. They bring God's messages to people.

You want to read, uh, let's see, maybe Acts 10, 3 -8? About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him,

Cornelius, and he stared at him in terror and said, what is it,

Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God and now send send men to Joppa and bring one

Simon who is called Peter. He is lodged with one Simon a tanner whose house is by the sea.

When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and devout soldiers from among those who attended him and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

That's when the angel came in a vision to Cornelius and bring him and Peter together.

Peter had to bring him a message. So they carry out God's plans. They carry out some of God's judgments, bringing a plague upon Israel, 2

Samuel 24, smiting the leaders of the Assyrian army, 2 Chronicles 32, striking

King Herod dead because he did not give God glory. Read that one, Acts 12, 23. Immediately an 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.

Isn't that amazing? Herod got that? Yeah. Or pouring out bowls of God's wrath on the earth.

When Christ returns, angels will come with him as a great army accompanying their king and their lord.

Angels also patrol the earth as God's representative, Zechariah 1, 10 -12, and carry out war against demonic forces.

Daniel 10, we read that before. John in his vision saw an angel coming down from heaven and he records that the angel seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit.

When Christ returns, an archangel will proclaim his coming. Angels directly glorify

God. Angels also serve another function. They minister directly to God by glorifying Him.

In addition to human beings, there are other intelligent, moral creatures who glorify God in the universe.

Angels glorify God for He is in Himself, for who He is in Himself, for His excellence.

Bless the Lord, O you His angels, you mighty ones who do His word, obeying the voice of His word.

The seraphim continually praise God for His holiness, as do the four living creatures. So you get the hint, how the angels are there to glorify

God, to praise and worship Him. Angels also glorify God for His great plan of salvation as they see it unfold.

When Christ was born in Bethlehem, a multitude of angels praised God and said, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom

He is pleased. Jesus tells us there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

We read that earlier too. Indicating that angels rejoice every time someone turns from his or her sins and trusts in Christ as Savior.

So the angels know the plan of salvation and they know it's not for them. But they're watching God play this out over time.

They kind of like have a ringside seat to see what God is doing in the earth. And because they know who

God is and He's so holy and just and beautiful and good, they're cheering and watching

Him defeat evil on the earth. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing.

I mean, this is really a good study. When Paul proclaims the gospel so that people from diverse racial backgrounds, both

Jews and Greeks, are brought into the church, he sees God's wise plan for the church as being displayed before the angels and demons.

For he says that He was called to preach to the Gentiles that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

And Peter tells us that angels long to look, 1 Peter 1 .12, into the glories of the plan of salvation as it works out in the lives of individual believers each day.

Yeah, I just was reminded of Lawrence's study in Micah and he's getting, well, when he got into mountains, when

Christ was ascended? No, when He was on the cross.

He was on a mountain and He was in the heavenlies, spiritually.

He was on the cross as a, he said, not an example, as what's the word?

To display to the heavenlies. And I suppose to the demons.

He said to the demons and to the rulers and the principalities that He was on display. He said that.

And then maybe also to the good angels. To heavenlies. They're both there.

Yeah, Ephesians 5 I think talks about the forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

And I never understood what that meant, but he's talking about demonic beings that fight against the good angels.

Caution regarding our relationship to angels. Beware of receiving false doctrine from angels.

The Bible warns us against receiving false doctrine from supposed angels. But even if we, this is

Paul, but even if we are an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel, contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed or anathema.

That means eternally cast away from God. Paul makes this warning because he knows that there's a possibility of deception.

He says, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Similarly, the lying prophet who deceived the man of God, 1

Kings 13 claimed, an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.

Yet the text of Scripture immediately adds in the same verse, but he lied to him. Right? Joseph Smith was deceived by an angel.

Mohammed, right? Listen, I would say in certain cases, Roman Catholics who said that they had this apparition of Mary was deceived and you know, that's what

I'm saying, Fatima. Yeah, right. So, Well, yes, certainly.

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, Mohammed certainly was deceived.

Yeah, he believed. He didn't even know that what he was writing down was

God's word. He went back to his wife. Do you think this is God's word? He had these discussions and wrote them down.

Like, if God was speaking to you, you'd know it. This is not something that you would be hmm, I'm not sure.

They'd know. These are all instances of false doctrinal guidance being conveyed by angels.

It's interesting that these examples show the clear possibility of satanic deception tempting us to disobey the clear teachings of Scripture or the clear commands of God.

These warnings should keep any Christian from being fooled by the claims of Mormons. For example, that an angel,

Moroni, spoke to Joseph Smith and revealed to him the basis of the Mormon religion. Such revelation is contrary to the teaching of Scripture at many points with respect to such doctrines as the

Trinity, the person of Christ, justification by faith alone and many others and Christians should be warned against accepting these claims.

The closing of the canon of Scripture should also warn us that no further revelation of doctrine is to be given by God today and any claims to have received additional revelation of doctrine from angels should be immediately rejected as false.

Jude clearly tells us that we receive the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.

You've received the faith once and for all delivered. It's not something that we're going to add to later on.

It's been delivered once and for all to us as God's children. No, right?

Exactly, exactly. We don't want God to change and God, in His love for us, has given us the completed revelation so we no longer have to wonder or you should listen to Pastor's message yesterday he says, you don't no longer, you no longer need to look for a sign because God swore by an oath to swear by none greater than Himself.

He sent His Son speaks to us through His Son we don't need a sign to confirm

God's plan to us. If His Son isn't enough, then you've got problems.

You're seeking after a sign when God gave His Son that should be more than enough for us.

Do not worship angels pray to them or seek them worship of angels was one of the false doctrines being taught at Colossae this is

Gnosticism. Moreover an angel speaking to John in the book of Revelation warns John not to worship him you must not do that I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus worship

God period nor should we pray to angels we are to pray to only

God who alone is omnipotent and thus able to answer prayer and who alone is omniscient and therefore able to hear the prayers of all

His people at once. By virtue of omnipotence all -knowing and omnipresent God the

Son and God the Holy Spirit are also worthy of being prayed to. But this is not true of any other being.

Paul warns us against thinking that any other mediator can come between us and God. For there is one

God and there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus. If we were to pray to angels it would be implicitly attributing to them a status equal to God which we must not do.

There is no example in Scripture of anyone praying to any specific angel or asking angels for help.

We ask God. God will help us He can send an angel but we don't address the angels ourselves

God's the one who addresses the angels again our angels our angels can only be in one place at one time right?

So how can you pray to an angel who's on the other side of the earth hear you again he's not omniscient okay?

He's not omnipresent. Only God is omnipresent and there's only one mediator.

Moreover Scripture gives us no warrant to seek for appearances of angels to us. They manifest themselves unsought.

To seek such appearances would seem to indicate an unhealthy curiosity or desire for some kind of spectacular event rather than a love for God and devotion to Him and His work.

Though angels did appear to people at various times in Scripture the people apparently never sought those appearances.

Our role rather is to talk to the Lord who is himself the commander of all angelic forces. However it would not seem to be wrong to ask

God to fulfill His promise in Psalm 91 to send angels to protect us in times of need

So do angels appear to us today? This is going to be a little sticky subject in a minute but we'll go through it.

In the earliest period of the church's history angels were active An angel told Philip to travel south on the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza instructed

Cornelius to send a messenger to get Peter to come from Joppa urged Peter to get up and walk out of prison and promised

Paul that no one on the ship would be lost and that he himself would stand before Caesar. Moreover the author of Hebrews encourages his readers none of whom are apostles or even first generation believers associated with the apostles that they should continue to show hospitality to strangers apparently with the expectation that they too might sometime entertain angels without realizing

There is therefore no compelling reason to rule out the possibility of angelic appearances today.

Now I highlighted this in red because this is where we might take exception with what he teaches Some would dispute this on grounds that the sufficiency of scripture and the closing of the canon rule out the possibility of angelic manifestations now.

They would say that we are not to expect God to communicate to us through angels. However this conclusion does not follow.

I would say that God doesn't communicate to us through angels. He's given us his son in these last days he's spoken to us through his son and gives us the scriptures.

If there's something that the angel, a message that the angel has to bring us, that we need to know, then scripture is not sufficient

Everything pertaining to life and godliness is given to us in the scriptures.

God can communicate to us through an angel. I wouldn't say that he can't, but it's not something that we need for salvation

Certainly not new revelation. I think he goes on to say that. Though angels would not add to the doctrinal and moral content of scripture,

God could communicate information to us through angels as he also does through prophecy or through ordinary communication from other persons or through our observation of the world

If God can send another human being to warn us of danger or encourage us when we're downcast, there seems to be no reason why he could not occasionally send an angel to do this as well

However, we should use extreme caution in receiving guidance from an angel should such an unusual event happen.

In fact, I would discount it altogether It is perhaps noteworthy that very few instances of such events are recorded today and many of these involve communication of anti -scriptural doctrine indicating that they are actually demonic appearances.

The fact that demons can appear as angels of light 2 Corinthians 11 .14 should warn us that the appearance of any angel -like creature does not guarantee that this being speaks truthfully

Scripture is our guide and no angelic creature can give an authoritative teaching that is contrary to scripture

An angelic appearance today would be unusual If one should apparently occur we should evaluate it with caution but there is no convincing reason for saying that such an event absolutely could not happen, particularly in a time of extreme danger or intense conflict with the forces of evil