The Origin of Angels (2) Nature of Angels

A couple of weeks ago we began a study on what the Bible teaches about angels. And after introducing the topic, the subject, we took a look at the existence of angels, kind of did a flyover of the whole Bible and just spotted different places throughout the Bible where angels are found. And the purpose of that was to give us an understanding, kind of a scope of the fact that angels are found throughout the entirety of scripture in every part of scripture and numerous times in scripture. Very common topic in the word of God. So the Bible has a lot to say about angels. Last week we began briefly talking about the origin of angels and that's where we're going to pick up tonight. We started by seeing what the scriptures say about the agent of creation. Their original creation, who was the agent that created them, we saw first of all that God created all things and that all things includes angels according to Psalm 148 where we find a number of things that are called upon in creation to praise the Lord and worship Him, one of those being the angels. And then it says for he commanded and they were created. So God created the angels and then we looked a little bit more closely and saw that it was actually Christ was the agent of the Trinity who created all things John 1 and Paul makes clear in Colossians 116 created angels. So we begin tonight with the act of creation. The agent is Christ. Christ created angels. Angels are created beings. They're not eternal. They haven't existed forever in the past. They were created at a point in time. Christ created them. So let's look at when they were created. The act of creation. I think last week we saw this verse, Colossians 116, for in Him speaking of Christ, in Him all things were created, things in heaven, in on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. And all of those titles are titles for angels, different ranks of angels. And we'll look at those names and more later. And then it goes on to say all things have been created through Him and for Him. So Christ created the angels. Now I think I mentioned in our closing last week that that is spoken of as an event, not a process. It's in a particular tense in the Greek language called the Eristh tense, which describes an event that happens, not a process, just an event that happens. So that leads us to believe that all angels were created at or near the same time. All of them created together. We're going to continue to draw these kind of inferences from statements in scripture. They seem pretty clear. I think they're pretty sound, but they will help us understand a little bit more about how and when the angels were created and what kind of beings they are. Okay, I think it's where we ended last week. And I think we talked about the fact last week that we would let you know this week exactly when they were created. And the Bible does seem to indicate that angels were created on day one of creation before the earth was created. The beginning of creation is in the beginning God created heavens and the earth, but before the earth was spoken into existence evidently angels were created. And the reason we know that is a passage in Job 38. So if you'll open your Bible to Job 38, that's where we'll begin in the scriptures tonight. We'll have some verses on the screen. We'll have some passages we want to have you turn to because maybe they're a little longer or just don't want you to forget where those places are in your Bible. So we'll turn to some of them as well. Job 38. This is the end of the book of Job where you know in Job, Job and his friends have had this ongoing dialogue about why is Job going through all these trials and his friends given numerous suggestions and criticisms and so forth. And then in chapter 38 the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said, who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall answer me. Now look at verse 4, where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me if you understand who marked off its dimensions. Surely you know who stretched a measuring line across it on what where its footings set or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy. So God asks Job a number of questions about where were you when I created the earth? And he gives a number of descriptions of the creation of the earth and then he says when the earth was created the morning stars which is a reference at least in the book of Job to angels that they sang together and all the angels shouted for joy. Now again remember Job is one of the poetic books what you've got here is Hebrew poetry. Remember one of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry is two lines and sometimes the two lines are saying the same thing sometimes they're saying contrasting things sometimes the second line completes the first line those are the three kinds of Hebrew poetry. It's clear in this one they're saying the same thing. So that's why most Bible scholars believe the morning stars here in Job are referring to angels because these two lines are saying the same thing. The point is that when God created the earth the angels were already in existence. They had already been created because they're singing with joy at the magnificent power of God in creating the earth. So they're created beings we've already seen that they were created so they couldn't have been existence before God started creating but when God created the earth on day one the angels were singing so that kind of narrows it down doesn't it? They were created on day one before the earth was spoken into existence or before the earth was created. Okay comments or questions there. Okay just a little more fuel a little more added information and that is that by day three Satan is already an excuse me by Genesis three Satan is already in existence. Okay so by the time you have man falling into sin and we don't know how we don't know how long of time period there was between the creation of man and his fall into sin but it couldn't have been too long because Adam and Eve had not had any children yet. There are no children which is there it couldn't have been too long but there was some period of time between the creation of man Adam and Eve and the fall but by the time you get to Genesis three Satan is already in existence which means Satan's fall from being a good angel is rebellion against God and his fall must have already taken place. Now we'll tie all this together later on when we begin to talk about Satan and demons and how they originated but just a little clue Satan was at one time a good angel one of the angels created by God but he led a rebellion against God took some angels with him and that all happens before Genesis three because by Genesis three he's already Satan. So there's that little bit of information we know that angels were already in existence the rebellion in heaven had already occurred so put all that together and you come up with the fact that angels were created created on the first day before the earth because they're singing at the creation of the earth. Now the method of creation it was by direct command and again we know that from Psalm 148 verses 2 and 5 we looked at that passage last week but look at it again praise him all his angels praise him all his heavenly hosts let them praise the name of the Lord for at his command they were created. So we're pulling together these scriptures to get us information about where did angels come from Christ created them it's clear they were created on day one before the earth was created and it's clear they were created by the direct command of God God spoke and angels came into existence. Okay? Questions so angels don't come from you know angels are not little babies in heaven. Tommy? That is right in fact I don't want to jump into this too much now but we will see when we begin talking about Satan we're going to we're going to talk about good angels for quite a while and then we'll get into Satan and the demons but in order to understand some of the things about the good angels we'll have to refer to some of this about Satan from time to time. So it's a fair question. Satan was actually one of the angels with a good angel with one of the highest positions and we'll see that in Ezekiel 28 a little bit later when we talk about Satan's origin and his fall he was a very he had a very high position among the angels and letter of billion against God. Okay so angels are created they were created on day one now what is the aim of their creation? Why were they created? Why did God create angels? Well look back again at Colossians 1 and verse 16 for in him all things were created things in heaven on earth visible invisible for the throne's powers rulers authorities all things we created through him and here it is and for him. All things created for him including the angels why were the angels created for the glory of God so that they would glorify him and and God the Father and Christ they would glorify him. One of the examples of that is in Revelation chapter 4 and you might want to turn there Revelation chapter 4 where the angels are seen actually doing what they were created for at least some of the angels. Revelation 4 verses 6 through 11 verse 6 says also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass clear as crystal in the center around the throne were four living creatures. Now again we'll come back to what living creatures are but just to jump ahead a little bit let you know these are angels. Living creatures are angels they were covered with eyes in front and in back the first living creature was like a lion second was like an ox third had a face like a man fourth was like a flying eagle each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around even under its wings day and night they never stopped saying holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. They give thanks verse 9 to him that was on the throne and the elders also joined them in that worship and say in verse 11 you are worthy our Lord and God to receive glory and power and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being. So these angels are singing in heaven about the fact that God created all things and they are giving him glory honor and power proclaiming his worth and that's what the angels were created to do. Now we'll see later on again when we get to this a little bit more the living creatures are a special group of angels that seem to be around the throne of God. Okay my point is angels were our created beings and we kind of even can nail down when they were created. Questions? Walt? Yeah we don't know how long it was after creation but I did not correct myself as in Genesis 3 the third chapter of Genesis when we find Satan has already fallen and we don't know how long it was how much time was you know after the six days of creation man's created on the sixth day we don't know how long it was between his creation and his fall but you are exactly right it is from a human standpoint actually incredible and I want to say a little bit more about this when we get to their original condition the the original condition they had why would anyone rebel against that and you're you're right it's hard to understand but the Bible tells us there was a reason why and again we're jumping ahead of ourselves a whole lot tonight but the reason is pride pride and we'll see that in just a little bit okay original creation now let's look at their original condition what were angels like when they were created well I want to make the point first of all that they were holy so let's look at their holy state okay we've established the fact that angels were created they were created on day one of creation and when they were created they were all good angels now we know that now there are good angels and bad angels good angels and evil angels good angels sir god evil angels are demons and they serve Satan again I'm jumping ahead a little bit but we have to kind of pull together some things that we'll look at more carefully later in order to understand but in the beginning they were all good angels how would we know that exactly exactly gene when god finished the six days of creation he stepped back and said it is very good all all is good he wouldn't have said that if there were already evil angels if there had already been a rebellion in heaven so all of the angels were created holy they were created good and to get to to walk point just a moment ago they are surrounded in heaven by every good thing by perfection they are they are influenced by all that is holy in heaven they're in the presence of a perfect holy god which makes any rebellion that that they had all the more amazing and all the more sinful too we know that now there are two classes of angels good angels and evil angels but in the beginning they were all good something happened and we'll see what that was as we study on but originally all angels created holy and good serving god in heaven comments questions they were in elective motion of will and in a few moments when we get to the personality of angels will flesh that out will show in the scriptures they have intellect they have emotion they have will which means the capacity to choose which I think I know where you're headed with that Jim that's that's why the rebellion right that's why the rebellion they were given the capacity to choose yes right right now we'll get to more of that later it's not too far ahead with too much but but I don't want to get too far with this but angels are created in what is what is theologians call unconfirmed holiness all the angels are created good but what is called unconfirmed holiness which means all of them are holy but that is not confirmed and set in stone forever they still have a choice but once that choice was made when Satan led the rebellion once they made the choice then they are confirmed either in holiness or unholiness either good or evil so you're right no evil angels can ever get saved they are confirmed in their state of rebellion and wickedness and will all end up in the lake of fire right neither neither one can change the good angels cannot fall and bad angels cannot be redeemed okay we're getting way ahead of ourselves but that's okay that's all right because I want to be able to show all these things in scripture but we're not at that point yet we're we're slowly inching our way forward starting with their creation let's talk a little bit more about their their original condition not only their holy state but we need to understand their creaturely state it's important that we understand that angels are creatures God is the only creator God is the only God angels are creatures in other words they're they're created they're made by God so they are not God they are not like God they do not share the same qualities of God now it is true that they had great privileges in heaven with all of them being holy originally all of them being perfectly in relationship with God knowing him fully worshipping him directly in his presence witnessing his creative power able to serve him you think of all of those privileges of heaven they had great privileges but don't ever forget they also have certain limitations angels have certain limitations they are not God do you know that angels have limitations of space in other words even though they are spirit beings they can only be in one place at one time let me show you why we believe that look at Daniel chapter nine at least this is an example of what we're talking about here Daniel chapter nine angels have limitation of space they cannot be in more than one location at a time even though even though their spirit beings they are not omniscient or excuse me omni present only God is present everywhere at the same time angels are not they're located in one place at one at a time Daniel chapter nine verses 21 to 23 Daniel is in prayer confessing the sins of his people realizing the seven to years captivity is almost up praying for wisdom as to what is coming in the future verse 21 while I was still in prayer Gabriel the man I had seen in the earlier vision came to me and swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice he instructed me and said to me Daniel I have now come to give you insight and understanding as soon as you began to pray a word went out which I have come to tell you for your highly esteemed therefore consider the word and understand the vision so this angel Gabriel moves from one location to another he moves from heaven the presence of God to Daniel so it means he changes location he's not in every place at the same time like God he changes location he moves from one place to the other and even in chapter 10 angels can be delayed look at chapter 10 verses 10 to 14 Daniel is is having another vision revelation given to him from the Lord in chapter 10 and verse 10 says a hand touch me and set me trembling on my hands and knees he said Daniel you who are highly esteemed consider the carefully the words I'm about to speak to you and stand up for I have now been sent to you and when he said this to me I stood up trembling then he continued do not be afraid Daniel since the first day you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before God your words were heard and I have come in response to them but the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days then Michael one of the chief princes in fact Michael is the chief prince of the nation of Israel we know that from from other passages like chapter 12 and at that time Michael the great prince who protects your people protects Israel okay but back in chapter 10 then Michael one of the chief princes came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future for the vision concerns a time yet to come so this angel's telling Daniel when you started praying I was sent to bring you the answer to your prayer to to give you a revelation as to what's going to happen in the future and by the way that revelation went in that being the great prophecy of the 70 weeks of Daniel in verses 24 to 27 but he says I was sent when you started praying that was three weeks ago I was held up three weeks by the prince of the kingdom of Persia that's probably a demonic spirit a demonic angel demon who is trying to keep him from getting to Daniel this is really important stuff that Daniel is being revealed what's being revealed to him is what is going to happen with the nation of Israel what is their future going to be this is really critical stuff for even us to understand and so Satan is fighting this information getting to Daniel and so he the good angel who's coming to give this information to Daniel is resisted there in a battle in in the heavenlies and finally he calls for reinforcements and Michael who is the chief prince of Israel comes and and helps him out okay this is this is the the most complete window as small as it is that we have in the scriptures except maybe revelation 12 about angelic warfare and how angels and demons actually battle one another that leads us to believe that behind international affairs on planet earth there is also angelic warfare the good angels who serve God and seek to carry out his will on this earth are being battled by demons and Satan's angels who are trying because Satan is their master trying to resist God's program so for example if events in the middle east in Daniel 9 were the object of great interest in the heavens and angelic warfare you you can be guaranteed that it's the same day when there is controversy and conflict in the middle east there is angelic warfare going on behind the scenes as well Satan and his angels trying to thwart God's purpose on planet earth why does every nation on earth with very few exceptions hate Israel and our nation seems to be headed more and more that way doesn't it certainly withdrawing its support from Israel why why is that why is that so because Satan hates God's program and for God's program in the future to be carried out there has to be a national entity of people in that land named Israel in order for God's purpose and the tribulation to take place for a temple to be built which initiates the tribulation time in fact that's part of what the prophecy in Daniel 9 that is given to Daniel about 70 weeks is all about the the beginning of a peace treaty which starts with the building of a temple and that will kick off the the Antichrist world peace program there's intense interest in what happens in Israel not only by us but also by the angels so my my whole point I didn't want to get into all that my whole point was that angels have limitation of space they move from one location to another and can even be delayed even though their spirit beings they are not omnipresent like God is they move from one place to another okay secondly they also have a limitation of power angels are powerful they're more powerful than we are but they are not as powerful as God they do not have all power they do have great power but not all power even Satan is limited in his authority Job one and two he had to ask God permission to inflict Job with the various catastrophes that Job experienced only by God's permission could Satan act in that way so Satan has power but not all power only God has all power right I mean that's a good example of what we're talking about Tommy and when when Christ was born Satan did try to put him death didn't he Satan tried to to derail the the plan and purpose of God by putting him to death through Herod but it was an angel of the Lord that warned Joseph to get Christ down to Egypt so there again you see in the spiritual warfare well so Satan does not have all knowledge okay so but he has a plan that he's trying to work out and and his plan was to keep Christ from going to the cross he tried that he tried to keep him from going to the cross when he tempted him in the wilderness and and possibly even in the Garden of Gephsemane there may have been some of that involved as well in the the struggling in prayer of Christ but Satan was defeated he was defeated yeah okay um another evidence that that angels do not have all power is the passage we just read in Daniel 10 the angel who was carrying the message to Daniel got in trouble and needed help so he called Michael to come help him so that indicates that angel did not have all power so that they their powerful beings but they do not have all power and then quickly they also have a limitation of knowledge Satan and his angels do not know all things I want you to look at this one passage there are several that would indicate this but they do not have all knowledge um first Peter chapter one first Peter chapter one Peter says in verse 10 of first Peter one concerning this salvation the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently with the greatest care trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow there was the Old Testament prophets were prophesying about the Messiah who would be in glory but a Messiah would also suffer and the prophets who were giving these messages did not understand the timing of that they seemed like contradictory pictures of the Messiah and they didn't understand the timing of all that so they're questioning even though they're writing under inspiration they're questioning all that verse 12 it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven now here's here's what we're looking for at the end of verse 12 even angels long to look into these things in other words angels are fascinated by the story of the Messiah and the whole story of redemption angels themselves do not experience redemption angels are not saved they they're not you know evil angels cannot get saved and become good angels so angels have never experienced redemption the good angels have always been good they were created that way so they've never experienced redemption they are fascinated by God's plan of redemption and what he's talking about here the prophets predicting the glory and the sufferings of Christ that would result in our salvation the angels long to look into these they're fascinated by it if Ephesians 3 talks about that God displays to the angels his manifold wisdom through the church do you know when we have church services there angels watching to see what we're doing what's going on down here they're fascinated by it because they're seeing what it means for a fallen and yet redeemed humanity to worship God and they're fascinated with that they they love to learn about that I wish I had this song right now Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a song I think it's the angel's story or something like that talking about there's some things that angels know that I don't know you know did God laugh when he created the earth what does God sound like when he's angry you know he mentions a number of things if the angels know that I don't know and we would love to ask them but then he turns around says there are some things that I know that angels don't know and would love to know and that is what it means for a fallen center to be redeemed by the grace of God it's a great great song and it capitalizes on this particular truth so angels do not know all things either they they are creatures they are limited in in in space in power and in knowledge we know all right that's that's the origin of angels created beings created all holy creatures not not God not having the same power as God or knowledge as God but having some limitations as well right any questions before we talk about the personality of angels for a few minutes all right want to turn the corner just a little bit and move from the the origin of angels to the nature of angels and what we're going to do now is we're going to spend some time probably two or three weeks talking about what sort of beings angels are what is their nature what what are they like how would we explain angels and we're going to begin with the fact that angels have personality and whenever we talk about that in relationship to angels we have to define it first so let's begin with the definition of personality we're not talking about personality in terms of temperament or attitude like this person has a nice personality an outgoing personality and that person has a sour personality dislike you know don't just tasteful personality that that's not what we're talking about we're not talking about attitude or temperament what we're talking about when we're talking about the personality of angels is the same thing we were talking about when we were talking about personality of God Christ the Holy Spirit and that is the essence of a person which distinguishes a person from things or animals there is something about personhood that makes a person different from a plant flower or an animal and and most often those qualities are defined there are lots of ways you can define it and lots of detail you can get into but most often those qualities are defined as intellect, emotion and will intellect, emotion and will are the three qualities that define a person so a person has intellect a person thinks and is self-determining thinks through situations and thinks about their future and what they will do a person also has emotion person feels and is self-conscious and then thirdly a person has will a person can choose and I'm talking about choosing within the context of morality okay able to make moral choices determine right from wrong we've seen in the book of Genesis chapter one that that's part of what it means being the image of God created an image of God means that we have the capacity to make moral choices we can determine right from wrong that's a characteristic of a person now we are persons God the father is a person God the son is a person God the Holy Spirit is a person and also angels are persons in that sense they are distinct from other creatures animals and also inanimate creatures rocks and dirt and so forth so let's let's give a description of angels personality that they have intellect the emotion and will so let's begin with intellect angels do have intellect they do think they they we just saw in 1 Peter chapter one they have a desire to learn about salvation they have a desire to intently look into these things that the prophets wrote about they have a desire to learn about that angels can also communicate intelligently remember at the resurrection when the women come to the tomb Matthew 28 and verse 5 why are you looking for the dead among the or the living among the dead he's not here he's risen as he said they're able to communicate intelligently the bible describes satan before his fall as being full of wisdom look at these two verses they'll be on the screen for you in Ezekiel 28 son of man take up a lament concerning the king of tire and say to him and when we get to this later when we're talking about Satan we'll deal with his description as the king of tire why that said that way this is what the sovereign lord says you were the seal of perfection full of wisdom and perfect in beauty and then in verse 17 he says your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor so I threw you to the earth I made a spectacle of you before kings he's described as being perfect in wisdom but he corrupted that wisdom so satan does have intellect and this is a description of him before his fall as a good angel he had intellect he had perfect wisdom demons have intellect as well look at mark chapter 1 so even bad angels demons indicate that they are persons because they have the ability to think they have intellect mark chapter 1 verse 24 verse 23 just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out verse 24 what do you want with us Jesus of Nazareth have you come to destroy us I know who you are the holy one of God so this demon has intellect he knows who Jesus is he knows some things and then in verse 34 Jesus healed many of various diseases he also drove out many demons but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was and then in chapter 5 also of mark and verse 7 he shouted the top of his voice this is the Dvani Akka Guderra the man who's living in the tombs he shouted the top of his voice what do you want with me Jesus son of the most high God in God's name don't torture me so he knows who Jesus is he knows that Jesus is the son of the most high God so good angels Satan demons all have intellect they have the ability to think they know but their intelligence is limited they are not omniscient remember they're not God so although they have intellect they are they don't have all knowledge and we know that from a couple of passages the one we just saw in first Peter 1 they do not understand everything about redemption because the reason they've never experienced it so they look intently into these things they long to learn about this so they don't understand all about redemption they also do not know the day or the hour of Christ's return look at this passage in Matthew 2436 it's on the screen but what but about that day or hour no one knows not even the angels in heaven nor the sun but only the father so it's clear the angels do not know the time of the coming of Christ now know what you're thinking well it also says the sun doesn't know remember back when we did our study on what the Bible teaches about Christ you remember that don't you you remember how to answer that don't you of course you do we'll just move on we all need to be reminded right remember that Jesus in his humanity the very common statement of theologians to describe his humanity in his humanity he voluntarily laid aside the independent use of his divine attributes he did not lay aside his deity but in order to be submissive to his father's plan for redemption he voluntarily it wasn't taken away from me voluntarily laid aside the independent use of his divine attributes so his divine knowledge at times he voluntarily laid aside the right to know some things while he was here on earth in his humanity in order to be submissive to the father's plan so yes while he was here on the earth in his humanity Jesus did not know the time of his return he chose to voluntarily lay aside that knowledge okay but that's not the same as angels angels don't know when it's going to happen they don't know at all so angels have intellect but it is limited they do not have all knowledge care our time is is gone so we're gonna have to stop them come back to the other two qualities of personhood next week to show that angels really are persons they think they feel they decide they make decisions but before we go any quick question that will haunt you on the way home all right let's pray