Seen Of Angels / Part One

Series – May 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Seen Of Angels / Part One

Angels Or Angelic Beings
God’s Word, the Bible, mentions angels many times – especially in connection with God’s earthly people, Israel. We also read of other celestial beings; many of them good, others obviously bad and some that we wonder about: the archangel, cherubim, seraphim, living creatures, sons of God, fallen angels, demons, the devil, principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. In addition we sometimes come across the very special personage referred to as “the Angel of the Lord.” Who are these beings? Where do they come from? What is their function?

An angel is “a messenger.” This is the meaning of the term both in Hebrew and Greek. Hebrews 1:7 shows us clearly that angels are spirits and verse 14 adds that they are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (NKJV). As spirits they do not intrinsically have bodies. Verse 7 also compares them with a flame of fire. Yet, again and again when angels appear to humans the angels have bodies that are real. They assume these bodies for the purpose of their specific mission. These bodies normally appear to be the body of a man, sometimes specifically that of a young man (Lk. 24:4; Mk. 16:5). Never do we read of a baby angel or of an angel that appeared in the form of a woman; and when an angel’s appearance is given, the angel is described as being clothed in white garments (Acts 1:10). Scripture also tells us of occasions when the appearance of an angel was awe-inspiring or even terrifying (Mt. 28:2-4).

Angels were evidently created very early in history for Job 38:7 tells us that these “sons of God” shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. They are called “sons of God” because they originate from God who is called “the Father of spirits” in Hebrews 12:9. They are also termed “elect angels” in 1 Timothy 5:21 and “holy angels” in Matthew 25:31. Angels are intelligent moral beings capable of making choices. They are not robots. Angels can see (1 Cor. 11:10) and they have emotions (Rev. 12:12). However, they are not omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful) or omnipresent (all-present). Angels cannot predict the future, read the thoughts of men, give life or raise men from the dead. God in His sovereignty has preserved many angels from sinning while others chose to rebel and fall. Nowhere in the Bible do we read of any possible salvation for fallen angels.

The Lord Himself tells us that the angels of God in heaven neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mt. 22:30). They do not reproduce – all the angels were created at one time and there is not even the slightest hint in Scripture that would lead us to believe that God is still creating new angels. Scripture indicates that there is a tremendous number of them (Rev. 5:11). As spirit beings they cannot die in the sense that we know death, for death is the separation of soul and spirit from the body and angels have no body. But hell, also termed the Lake of Fire, was prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt. 25:41). Woe to any person who does not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior while it is still the accepted time, the day of grace, as they face judgment there, too (2 Cor. 6:2; Heb 2:2-3)!

Though many religions teach in a varying number of archangels, Scripture names only one, Michael, the archangel. Archangel means “chief angel.” He is depicted as contending with the devil for the body of Moses (Jude 9). The latter chapters of the Book of Daniel picture the archangel Michael as a prince entrusted with the protection of the nation of Israel (Dan. 12:1). Revelation 12 presents Michael as a warrior prince of angels fighting against Satan and his angels. Gabriel, who some want to elevate to the dignity of being an archangel, refers to himself as “Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God” (Lk. 1:19). He is a prominent, much-used messenger of God mentioned in various books of the Bible, but he is never called an archangel.

We first meet cherubim at the end of Genesis 3, guarding the way to the Garden of Eden from which our first parents had been barred for their own good that they might not also eat of the Tree of Life and live in their sinful condition forever. The cherubim (Hebrew plural, cherub is the singular) are celestial beings symbolic of God’s holy presence and unapproachableness. They guard and vindicate God’s righteousness, His mercy and His government. In Israel of old, God’s glory dwelt between the two cherubim upon the mercy seat upon the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle (1 Chr. 13:6; Ps. 80:1). Cherubim were also pictured on the veil that separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place (Ex. 36:35) and on the inner curtains covering the tabernacle (Ex. 36:8). The majestic appearance of the cherubim is described in detail in Ezekiel 1. In Ezekiel 9 and 10 we see the cherubim lifting up and by stages, seemingly reluctantly, leaving the temple that had been desecrated by Israel’s idolatry. In Ezekiel 28:14 we find that Satan himself was a mighty cherub before his fall.

Seraphim (again a Hebrew plural word of which seraph is the singular) are only mentioned by this name in Isaiah’s vision in chapter 6 of his book. They are exalted celestial beings whose special function is to proclaim the holiness of God constantly. Not much is told us about them. They are described as having six wings, two with which to cover their face in the presence of God, two with which to cover their feet and two with which to fly. Their occupation is to cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (v.3). A seraph cleansed Isaiah, using a live coal taken from off the altar and touching it to Isaiah’s lips.

The living creatures seen in Revelation 4 and elsewhere in that book, while evidently cherubim, are described almost as having features of both cherubim and seraphim. They are seen in the midst of and around the throne in heaven. These creatures proclaim the holiness of the eternal God, giving glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits upon the throne, and are associated with the judgments that fall upon the earth during the awful time of tribulation described in this book.

Sometimes we come across the expression “The Angel of the Lord.” At first the Angel of the Lord seems like another angelic messenger but upon more careful observation we notice some important differences. In Genesis 16 where we first encounter the Angel of the Lord, after questioning Hagar, He directs her to return to and submit to her mistress. He then goes on to tell her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude” (v.10). An ordinary angel does not make promises of this kind. God alone can multiply descendants. Hagar was told further that she was pregnant, that she would bear a son whom she was to name Ishmael, and what Ishmael would be like. Hagar recognized that no ordinary angel had appeared to her and “she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’” (v.13).

Gideon, too, had a visit from the Angel of the Lord. As we read the account in Judges 6 we see that this visitor does not identify Himself but that Gideon eventually recognized Him to be this when He accepted Gideon’s God-honoring offering, touching it with His staff so that fire sprang up from the rock and consumed it. Gideon prayed to the Lord and built an altar there to Him.

Throughout Scripture we see that God’s angels do not accept worship. This is plainly shown in the last such encounter in Revelation 22:8-9 where John falls down to worship the angel who had shown him the things in chapters 4 to 22. The angel refused John’s worship, saying, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant ... Worship God.” The Angel of the Lord accepts worship, for He is not a mere servant – He is God! We are reminded that our Lord Jesus accepted worship when it was offered Him while He walked here on earth.

The Devil And Demons
Looking at the other side of the ledger we see a very powerful, wicked angel with a great host of followers all in rebellion against God and at enmity with our Lord Jesus. God did not make them to be that way! God is light. He is good and He does all things well. God made all creation with a moral character. In condemning the king of Babylon, the great religious and political power opposed to God and to His people, Lucifer (meaning “Day Star”) is addressed in Isaiah 14:12 as “son of the morning.” He is said to be fallen from heaven. This same personage is addressed in Ezekiel 28:12-19 in the guise of the king of Tyre, the vast commercial power of its day. With the expression that he was in Eden, the garden of God, we realize that the writer is speaking of one greater than this king. Reading these two passages we understand that the fall of the angelic being we call Satan is being addressed. He was evidently the greatest of God’s creatures – the one set in the position of highest responsibility, perfect in his ways from the day he was created. Occupied with his own wisdom and beauty, he aspired to a place still higher – the place that God purposed for His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 1:18). The “I wills” he initially spoke in his heart (Isa. 14:13) became open rebellion against God. To this day he is Satan (adversary) the malevolent [hateful] enemy of God, the instigator of evil, and, as our Lord put it, a murderer from the beginning and a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44). Yet he still transforms himself into an angel of light if this suits his purposes (2 Cor. 11:14). He is the Devil (accuser), specifically the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10). He seems to take special delight in bringing the faults and sins of believers to God’s attention. Thankfully, God is our Father and our Lord Jesus, who bore our sins and defeated the Devil, is our Advocate before Him (1 Jn. 2:1).

Satan has many followers. There is evidence in Scripture to lead us to think that he may have seduced as many as a third of the host of angels to rebel with him (Rev. 12:4). We usually refer to these fallen angels as demons. The Bible speaks of war in heaven and tells us that our conflict is not “against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). From this verse and passages such as the latter half of Daniel 10 and Mark 9:14-29 we see that Satan’s demons are organized and that there are ranks among them, even to the extent that they have vast influence over the affairs of nations.

When we study the life of our Lord Jesus on earth we often see Him having contact with demon-possessed individuals. Demons recognized who He was and showed their hostility, but also their fear, in His presence (Lk. 8:28-33). The Lord repeatedly cast out demons even when His disciples whom He had given power to do so were not able (Mk. 9:25-29). His being crucified seemed like a tremendous victory for Satan but the Lord demonstrated His victory over him by rising from the dead and ascending to heaven. The first prophecy mankind heard God speak was that the Lord Jesus, the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, Satan. But Satan would bruise the Lord’s heel (Gen. 3:15).

An aspect of the war Satan is waging on God is found in the earliest chapters of the book of Genesis. God had put man at the head of His earthly creation. The very next thing we see after God made a helper for the man He had formed out of the dust of the ground was that Satan entered the beautiful Garden of Eden where God had placed this first couple. Satan entered in the form of a serpent (he is later called that ancient serpent) and approached the woman, speaking to, deceiving and causing her to disobey God by eating of the one fruit He had forbidden mankind to eat. Upon eating of this fruit she also gave some to her husband, and he listened to her and became responsible for sinning deliberately (Gen 3:1-7; Rom 5:12). We all have followed him in this action.

When God expelled mankind from the Garden of Eden, Satan tried other tactics to fight against Him, such as attacking the Head of God’s creation, Christ, through mankind. Cain, the first son born to Adam and Eve, killed his brother Abel, thereby introducing violence into the world (Gen. 4:1,8). Lamech, a descendant of Cain, corrupted the picture God intended marriage to illustrate, the union of Christ and the Church, by taking two wives and he continued to follow the pattern of violence (Gen. 4:19,23-24). Next, fallen angels (we have noted that angels are termed “sons of God” in the Old Testament) in their willfulness chose and took wives of all the beautiful daughters of men. The offspring of this dreadful mixture of demons and humans were fallen ones, exceptional in size and strength (Gen. 6:1-4). They are “heroes” found in the mythology of many heathen peoples.

By thus seeking to corrupt the human race Satan in his perverted wisdom sought to prevent the Messiah from coming as the Seed of the woman. God dealt with this diabolic attempt to frustrate His purpose by sending the Flood to destroy the sin-corrupted human race, except for the family of Noah who was “perfect in his generations” and “walked with God” (Gen. 6:9). The angels who sinned, Peter tells us while alluding back to the time of Noah in 2 Peter 2:4, were not spared but were delivered to chains of darkness to be kept for judgment. This is corroborated in Jude 6. These Scriptures refer to this special category of fallen angels, not to all fallen angels, for demons and their leader Satan are still very active in the world today. But their doom, too, is sure. We rejoice in the assurance that “the God of peace will crush Satan under [our] feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20) and that the devil and all his host will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10). If you are not yet saved, please turn to the Savior in repentance and faith, receiving Him now before it is eternally too late!

Another fact Scripture plainly teaches is that when heathen people worship idols it is not just an interesting, innocent and harmless cultural activity. From the beginning of his history as Satan, the Devil has sought worship and power – he even had the audacity to ask Christ to bow down and worship him. Do not he and his hosts seek worship from mankind as well? The Bible makes clear that “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God” (1 Cor. 10:20). Other portions show us that behind the idols are demons who are seeking worship. There are repeated warnings in God’s Word against having anything to do with the occult and many who have had the sad experience of experimenting with the occult found almost inevitably that it leads a person into a dreadful bondage which only the power of the Lord can break.

Christians are told nowhere to go and look for the Devil or his demons to seek to challenge them. We are told, however, to “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7). Peter gives us essentially the same instruction in 1 Peter 5:8-9. In Acts 19:19 we see that the still new Christians at Ephesus who had previously practiced magic brought their books together and burned them openly. They did not sell them to others who did not share their convictions, though they were valued at a very high price. No, they made a clean break with this wickedness which had meant so much to them before. May we learn from their example!

By Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.

Look for part two of this series next month.