The Angels Of God
Bob Harding
Table of Contents
Lesson LESSON TITLE Page
1Angels Are Real Beings………………………………..………………..3
2Characteristics Of Angels……………………………………..……….19
3What Are Angels Doing Today?...... ……………………..33
4Examining Some Difficult Passages…………………………………..46
The Angels Of God
LESSON 1: ANGELS ARE REAL BEINGS
INTRODUCTION
A.Want to catch someone’s attention? Speak of ghosts, UFO’s, or angels! One difference here, angels are real.
1.Christians are different from others in many ways.
1)One way – the world is striving for what they see about them. Christians look at things not seen.
2 Cor 4:18:“While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
2)The Bible claims that the unseen realm is the greater reality.
Heb 11:3:“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
2.We are expected to believe the existence of many things we cannot see.
1)We believe in an invisible God.
John 1:18:“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
1 Tim 1:17:“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
3.There is reasonable evidence to believe in these things.
1)Rather than prove every point about the unseen world God proves to us the identity of His son(Rom 1:3-4).
2)If Jesus is who He claimed to be, then His testimony is sure(John 6:46; 8:38).
B.We have a limited amount of information about angels in the Scriptures.
- Most ideas about angels come from superstition.
1)But what does the Bible say about angels?
2)What information can we gather from the Scriptures?
2.Thousands of books have been written on the history of mankind.
1)However, the one chapter that is usually missing from such books is the one which would describe the role of angels in human history.
2)There is scarcely any important event in sacred history that does not involve angels.
I. THE NATURE OF ANGELS
A.Their origin – Created beings.
1.God is the Creator of all creation.
Neh 9:6: “You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You.”
1)The host is made up of angels.
Ps 103:19-21:“The LORD established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignity rules over all. Bless the LORD, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you serve Him doing His will.”
2.The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus created all things, Col 1:16: “both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him.”
John 1:3: “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
1)Ps 148:2: “Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him all his hosts!”
2)Ps 148:5: Angels are placed in the category of “for He commanded and they were created.”
3.The time of their creation is never stated in the Bible, however, we know from the book of Job that they were created before the creation of the world.
Job 38:4-7: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
1)Since the angels existed prior to the creation of man, it would seem clear that angels are not simply glorified men who once lived on earth.
2)In addition, angels as a class, are clearly distinguished from men and women who are faithful.
Heb 2:16: “For assuredly He doesnot give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.”
3)Unlike us, angels have no plan of salvation.
- Angels are spiritual beings.
1.Angels are called “ministering spirits” (Heb 1:14).
1)In contrast to man who has a spirit and a body, angels are pure spirit beings.
2)They are spirit beings rather than physical creatures, thus a different orderfrom humankind with its body.
3)In their nature state, angels are invisible to the eyes of man.
Num 22:31: “Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground.
2 Kings 6:15-17:“Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’ 16 So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, I pray,open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
Ps 89:6-7: Angels are heavenly beings, “For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord?Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord, 7 a God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,and awesome above all those who are around Him?”
2.Angels can travel from the spiritual dimension to the physical.
1)An angel appeared in human form to Gideon.
Jud 6:11-21:“Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.’ 13 Then Gideon said to him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian. 14 The Lord looked at him and said, ‘Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?’ 15 He said to Him, ‘O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.’ 16 But the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.’ 17 So Gideon said to Him, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.’ And He said, ‘I will remain until you return.’ 19 Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. 20 The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
2)An angel appeared in human form to Manoah and his wife.
Jud 13:3-9:“Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. 5 For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.’ 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, ‘A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, “Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’” 8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born.’ 9 God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.”
3)Angels appeared to shepherds.
Luke 2:9,13:“And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened…13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,”
4)An angel appearedto Peter in prison.
Acts 12:7:“And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And his chains fell off his hands.”
3.While they are spirits, in their interactions with man, they have taken on the form of men inorder to facilitate communication.
Gen 19:1-3:“Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 And he said, ‘Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.’ They said however, ‘No, but we shall spend the night in the square.’ 3 Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feastfor them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.”
1)They appeared to people as MEN, not as women or children, and were always clothed.
2)Angels are always referred to in the masculine gender.
3)Masculine pronouns are always used to refer to the angels.
4)The only 2 angels who are named in Scripture, Michael and Gabriel, have masculine names.
5)We never find angels appearing in a female form.
- People create an image of angels that they have no biblical reason to believe is true. You’ve seen it and I’ve seen it too, people have displayed many types of images they call angels. You likely have seen these ceramic dolls or figures of a woman with wings. The funny thing is, not once do you read of a female angel in all of the inspired text we know as the Bible.
- Remember angels are spiritual beings. Even though the Bible calls this idolatry (Ex 20:3-4), people still do it.
6)As spiritual beings, they are not bound by the flesh.
Num 22:22-31: Invisible at first to Balaam but not to the donkey.
“But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way. 24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall, so he struck her again. 26 The angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick. 28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ 29 Then Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.’ 30 The donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?’ And he said, ‘No.’ 31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground.
7)Angels can also assume other forms of appearances, such as wind or fire.
Heb 1:7:“And of the angels He says, ‘WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS,AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE.’”
Ex 3:2:“The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.”
4.As spirits, they do not participate in marriage or even physical death.
Luke 20:35-36:“but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marrynor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”
1)Immortals are not given to mortal needs.
2)The text doesn’t say we become angels – “like angels.”
3)Since the angels existed prior to the creation of man, it would seem clear that angels are not simply glorified men who once lived on earth.
4)When man dies he awaits the judgment in Hades (Luke 16:19-31). In the end, man will be changed from a corruptible body into a spiritual body (1 Cor 15:36-58). We die, then we are judged (Heb 9:27). We do not join an angelic air force!
5)Since angels don’t die there is no need to replace them.
6)Some have thought that angels will fight in a battle of good versus evil and some will die. Well, that too is false. Angels, once created, will then live for an eternity as we do.
5.Angels are between humanity and divinity, being creatures higher than man yet lower than God – angels are the clay of Christ (Col 1:15-17).
1)When Christ took on human flesh, He temporarily appeared lower than the angels He createdby virtue of that tabernacle of humanity.Heb 2:6-7:But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that You remember him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned Him with glory and honor, and have appointed Him over the works of his hands.”
2)Angels, as a class, are clearly distinguished from men and women who are faithful (Heb 2:16-not give help to angels).
3)Angels have their own language.
1 Cor 13:1:“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
4)Angels are greater in the hierarchy of God’s creation.
Ps 8:3-6:Speaks of man,“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God (the angels-KJV), and You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;You have put all things under his feet,”
Heb 2:7:Applied to Jesus, “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS;YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR,AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;”
Heb 2:11:“For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,”