THE AMAZING TRUTH ABOUT ANGELS (Lesson 1)
I am hoping that at the end of these lessons you will be much more informed about what God's word has to say about these special supernatural spiritual beings. There is at story about missionary John Pollock and his wife, who went to the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific. As they arrived at the island, they were the first white missionaries the natives had ever seen. The witch doctor was afraid of them and told the tribe they were there to kill their babies. So, on that first evening, the natives surrounded the missionary's hut, preparing to kill them. All night long John and his wife stayed on their knees in prayer and the natives never attacked. As time went on, they learned the language and they won the trust of the people and many of them came to know Christ. The tribe's chieftain became a Christian and John asked him the following question. "We've always wondered why on that first night when you surrounded us with your spears you didn't attack." And the chief said, "Where did you get all those men?" John said, "It was only my wife and myself." The chief said, "Oh, no. All that evening we saw large men with swords in their hands, surrounding your hut and we were afraid so we never attacked."
I believe this is just one of thousands of manifestations of God's special secret agents–his angels. In these lessons we are going to learn what the Bible has to say about angels. I'm going to ask you to forget a lot of what you may have heard from folklore or Hollywood or just your imagination and let's focus on what God's word says about angels.
Hebrews is all about the superiority of Jesus; how He is superior to angels; how He is superior to Moses; how He is superior to the law and how He is superior to Melchizedek. Hebrews 1:13-14. "But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
God told only His Son, Jesus, that He would sit at His right hand. If you want a quick phrase that tells us who angels are and what they do "they are spirits sent to serve the saints." They are spirits sent to serve the saints. Now if you ask me if I have ever encountered an angel, I believe I have. If you ask me if I have ever physically seen an angel I have to say to you, "I'm not sure."
I hope you would answer that you are not sure either. Why? In the last chapter of Hebrews, chapter 13. There is a fascinating passage of scripture that tells us we might have encountered angels and not even been aware of it. Hebrews 13:2. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." We may have encountered angels and not even known it.
When it comes to the subject of angels, there seems to be two extremes, as with a lot of things. On one hand, many of us are ignorant about angels. On the other hand, some people are obsessed with angels. If you check your Concordance you will find that there are more than 500 references to angels in one way or another, verse that mentions angel, angels, spirits, cherubim and seraphim. So the Bible has much to say about angels.
On the other hand, there are some today who are so obsessed with angels that it becomes something that causes them to go overboard. There is a fascination in America today about angels. USA Today had a recent cover issue about angels. The Ladies Home Journal also had an article on angels. There is tremendous interest in the secular world about angels. Sophie Burnham published two best-selling books secular books, The Angel Book and Angel Letters–and the secular world out there is fascinated.
The problem is the New Age Religion has embraced the idea of angels, because New Age is "anything goes" anyway. They step over the line and start talking about "the angel within" and "getting in touch with your angel," which to them is nothing but a channeling spirit they use–very satanic! There is a lot of misunderstanding and misconception about angels out there.
There's a great commercial interest in angels as well. There is a store called "Everything Angels" in Denver, Colorado that is ready to franchise across America. All they sell are angel figurines and angel pins. It's trendy. It's the fad and some people have become obsessed with it. As with a lot of spiritual issues, the truth remains between these two extremes. Let's not be ignorant. Let's learn what the Bible says about them but not become obsessed with them. Let's learn what's God's word says.
I am basically a Biblical Christian. Where the Bible speaks, I believe it. Where the Bible is silent, I am silent. I want to ask you throughout this study of angels to commit yourself to believe what God's Word says about angels, not what you read in a magazine article, not what somebody says happened to them, but what God's Word says about it.
So, today I want to give an informative teaching kind of lesson. I want to separate the fantasy from the facts. We're going to study five of the fantasies the world holds and compare and contrast them to the facts of the Word.
FANTASY #1: ANGELS ARE HUMAN BEINGS WHO HAVE DIED
A lot of people out there think angels are people who have died and gone to heaven and somehow got wings and became angels. Here's the biblical fact: Angels are spiritual beings created by God. Where did we get the idea angels are human beings who died? We got that idea from a lot of folklore and a lot of Hollywood. A lot of us got our doctrine on angels more from Hollywood than from God's word.
Angels are, as the Bible says, "spiritual beings were created by God." Colossians 1:16 tells us that Jesus created everything. "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: " That is a word, powers and principalities, that has to do with the angelic rankings and realms and divisions it says, "All things were created by him and for him."
The Bible says God knows the number of the angels. We don't know how many angels there are but we believe there is a set number. How many? We don't know. John says in Revelation 5:11 he saw 10,000 x 10,000 angels–that's a hundred million–and then he said thousands upon thousands. There is a mind-boggling number of angels God has created but the Bible never speaks about an angel getting old or of an angel dying.
You never see "baby angels." In fact, we know from what Jesus said that angels do not reproduce, because he said when we go to heaven we will be like the angels in the sense that we will not have to marry for human procreation. So, the angels are special spiritual beings created by God. Loose your mind from the fantasy that they are loved ones who died and are trying to earn their wings.
FANTASY #2: ANGELS APPEAR AS CHUBBY BABIES WITH WINGS
That's the fantasy of Hollywood that they are chubby babies with wings. Here's the biblical fact: Angels most often appear as ordinary men. Angels are always in the masculine. I went searching the internet for pictures of angels to add to these lessons and all I could find were baby angels and female angels and all of them had wings. I don't know where people got the idea that angels are feminine or are these little babies like "Cupid, draw back your bow and let your arrow go."
And where do we get the idea that all angels have wings to start with? The Bible teaches there are different kinds of angels. There is one archangel: Michael. Then, there are just what we would call–for lack of a better word–God's holy angels You might want to call them "ordinary angels," except there is nothing ordinary about them. They don't have wings, they just appear as men. Remember what it says in Hebrews 13:2. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."
When Abraham encountered these three angels, they looked just like three men. In fact, he thought they were men. When Manoah, who was the father-to-be of Samson, encountered an angel, he thought it was a man. He did not know until later it was an angel. All throughout the Bible we see angels appearing simply as men and we would have no way of knowing that they were angels.
So where did we get the idea of wings to start with? I'm talking about
different kinds of angels. There are certain kinds of angels in the Bible called
"cherubim." Cherub is the singular and in Hebrew when you put an
"im" on
it, that makes it plural.
In Exodus 3, we are told that the figures of the cherubim were over the Ark of
the Covenant and Ezekiel gives us some more information about the cherubim. They
have four wings. In Isaiah 6, there is another kind of angel, seraphim. When
Isaiah sees these seraphim in the Bible in the temple, they have six wings. Just
because the cherubim and the seraphim have wings doesn't mean those ordinary
holy angels have wings.
FANTASY #3: ANGELS ARE SWEET CREATURES WHO SING AND PLAY HARPS
Here's the biblical fact: Angels are most often warriors who hold swords. Have you ever noticed sometimes a parent will look at a newborn and say, "Oh, the sweet little angel." That's just not based on the Bible. We get the idea that they are real sweet creatures who sing and play harps. First, the Bible never says they ever play harps. Are you ready for this? I'm going to burst your bubble so get ready: The Bible never says angels sing. The first time I heard that I said, "That's just not true" and I set out to prove his statement was wrong.
After research all through the scriptures, I did not, nor have I found to this day a verse that ever mentioned the angels singing. Now you are saying, "Why are you trying to spoil my Christmas spirit? We sing about ‘Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing' Do you mean I have to change that to ‘Angels we have heard on high sweetly speaking?'" Well, I want to tell you the Bible never says angels sing.
Some people look at Job 38:7 at the Creation and say, "Well, the Bible says ‘the morning stars sang at the Creation.'" Some say that's the angels, but most commentators say it is just the personification of nature, just like when the Psalms say, "Let the field be joyful, and all that [is] therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice." (Psalms 96:12)
Job, 38 says in the very next section of that verse "and the angels shouted for joy!" I know what some of you are saying. "Well, Doug, what about Luke chapter 2, when the shepherds are out there in the field and Jesus was born? Didn't the angels come and sing, ‘Gloria on earth Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men?'" No. We always sing it in the musicals right? But the Bible says, "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:13, 14) "they said it."
One of the first things I learned in Greek is the Greek verbs, lego means "to speak" and that's the very word used there. What's the significance of that? I believe, according to the scriptures, the only people who really sing and have the right and the responsibility to sing are God's saints, the born-again.
Because the angels I am talking about have never been lost, they have never
been saved; they don't know the joy of salvation. "What about Revelation?
Doesn't it say that the angels will gather around the throne and they will sing
to the Lamb on the throne?" It says they speak their praise but the saints
sing a new song. All I am saying is the Bible never says angels sing.
Angels are most often warriors who hold swords. Angels are not "sweet
little creatures." They are mighty warriors. The first time we see angels
in the Bible is in Genesis 3, when God places an angel at the gate of the Garden
of Eden with a flaming sword to prevent Adam and Eve from coming back. All
throughout the word of God we see them as soldiers. When Jesus talked about
angels, He said, "I could call twelve legions of angels." Legion is a
word for a military division. In Isaiah 37:36, it says that in one night one
angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. These are mighty warriors we are talking
about.
FANTASY #4: ALL ANGELS ARE GOOD AND OBEY GOD
The fact of the matter is some angels are evil and oppose God. There are only three angels named in the Bible: Michael, the archangel, Gabriel (by the way the Bible never says he is going to blow a trumpet) and the third angel is Lucifer, who rebelled against God and was cast out.
Now we call him Satan, the devil, and he has a lot of fallen angels we often call demons, evil spirits. So you have God's holy angels and you have the fallen angels. That's why in Matthew 25:41, Jesus said Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Angels have a will and they can choose and some of them chose to rebel against God.
FANTASY #5: ANGELS MUST BE SEEN TO BE REAL
The Bible says they are usually invisible and it is only at times we are enabled to see them. I heard a cue story about a pastor who was studying about angels and he said, "Lord, I'd just like to see an angel. Can you send me one?" POOF! There was an angel in his study. The angel said, "Well, here I am. Would you like to take my picture?" The pastor looked around there and pulled out his old camera and took a picture of the angel. He rushed the pictures down to the drugstore and couldn't wait until they got developed. He got his pictures back and looked at them and he was so disappointed because the pictures were all dull and blurred and you couldn't see a thing. The moral of that story is, "The spirit was willing, but the flash was weak!" I know I can hear you groaning,
I'll tell you why I believe we don't see angels more often with our visual eyes than some people do: It's because I'm afraid I would do (and you would do probably) what the apostle John did in the book of Revelation. He fell down to worship an angel! The angel said, "Oh, no! Don't worship me! Worship God only!"
I'm afraid if you saw an angel, you would be so obsessed, that you would want to fall down and worship that angel.. You don't have to see them. The fact is angels usually work as invisible helpers.
II Kings 6, is a story all of us need to learn as we are studying angels. It's the story of Elisha, the prophet, who gathered out his servants against the Aramean army. Here are Elisha and his servants and a whole army of Assyrian soldiers against them. The servant was very afraid and he said, "Oh, what are we going to do, master?" Elisha said, "They that be with us are more than they that be with them!"
I can imagine the servant said, "What?? It's the two of us and look at all of them thousands of them. What are you talking about?" Elisha prayed a prayer. He said, "God, open the eyes of my servant" and the Bible says that his eyes were opened and the Bible says he saw that the mountains were full of flaming chariots and horses and warriors. Now, those angelic warriors were there all along right? It was just that in that moment God granted Elisha's servant the ability to see them.
I don't want you to develop angelic paranoia, but I happen to sincerely believe that even wherever you are right now, if God opened your spiritual eyes, you would be amazed at what we could see right there by you! I believe there are angels everywhere. Our eyes just aren't open to see them.
The Bible says in Psalm 91:11, "God shall give his angels charge over you." God sends his angels to help you and protect you and to sometimes deliver messages but they usually do it as invisible helpers. Do I believe in angels? I sure do! One reason, I have seen the way some of you drive and you are alive today. If you will just start looking around, God's angels are there.
Do you want to know how to make the angels of God really celebrate today and rejoice? Jesus said, "There is joy in the presence of angels over one person who repents." If you are reading this lesson today and you have never accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, if today you will say "No" to your sin and "Yes" to Jesus and trust him, there will be a holy celebration that takes place! (See the Salvation Page)