The Nature of Angels (4)

All right. We're studying angels, of course, and we've been looking at the nature of angels. And we've looked at several things in regard to their nature, what they're like, how we explain angels, what their characteristics are. We've looked at their personality, the personality of angels. We've looked at the properties of angels. And by that, we've seen the fact that they are spirit beings. And although they are spirit beings, they do not have a material body unless God allows them to appear. Although they are spiritual beings, they do make special appearances. God sometimes allows them to appear in a form that is visible, can interact with humans, and so forth. And we looked last week at whether or not angels have wings. And I remember saying last week that this is the $64,000 question. And once people learned the answer to that question, they wouldn't show up again. I think a few folks may have taken me up on that. We're down tonight. But anyway, we talked about the fact that angels sometimes are portrayed in Scripture as having wings, but they are spirit beings. So wings are not an essential normal part of angels because they do not have a body. But when God allows them to appear in human form, they typically have wings. Not always though. There are some occasions in the Bible where they do not have wings. And we saw that as with other characteristics of angels, when they appear in a human form or a body form, the different bodily characteristics are designed to symbolize something about the angels. And so wings probably symbolize the fact that they move swiftly and quickly to do God's bidding. Then we talked about the spiritual condition of angels. The fact that there are two different spiritual categories, holy, good angels, and evil, wicked angels. And we saw how that happened with Satan's rebellion in heaven just briefly touched on that. And the fact that that division continues, evil angels do not become good angels. And good angels do not fall any longer to become evil angels. And so those two categories are constant. And there is a continual conflict between the two because of that division. Then we touched last week on the powers of angels, at least enough to see that the source of their power is God. They get their power from Him. And their power is not only granted by God, but it's governed by God. They can only exercise their power under his authority and control. And so their power is governed by God. Now that's where we left off last week. So tonight we're going to begin with that same concept of the powers of angels. But we're going to talk about the spheres of their power in what spheres, in what different relationships, in other words, do they exercise that power? Well, first of all, let's talk about their power in relation to the human world. It's obvious that angels do relate to humans. Sometimes in the Bible, quite often, in fact, and they do exercise their power in relationship to humans. There are several things I want to say about that, and obviously will entertain your questions along the way if you have some. But it's clear in the Bible that angels can exercise human functions. In other words, when they appear in a bodily form, they function much like humans do, at least to some degree, in some ways. For instance, a good example of that is the story in Genesis 18. We haven't taken the time to read that story, but it's a very familiar story where the three angels, one of them turns out to be the angel of the Lord, an appearance of Christ himself. But the other two are normal angels. These three men appear to be men, appear to Abraham and Sarah. Remember, they're walking by the tent. Abraham stops them, says, come on in. We'll fix a meal and have a meal with you. And it was at that time that they announced to Abraham and Sarah that within a year, they will have a son. And you remember the story of Sarah laughing inside the tent, the angel's cauldron, that and so forth? Well, it's clear that in that story, angels appear, they walk, they talk, they eat, so they carry on some very normal human functions. So they exercise their power in the sphere of the human world. But although in a case like that, they seem to carry on very normal human functions. And other times, we find that they exercise much greater power than humans could. A couple of passages I want to call your attention there and they'll be on the screen. Second Peter chapter two is the first one and verses 10 and 11. This is in the context of Peter talking about false teachers and how they ridicule Satan. He says, this is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority, bold and arrogant. They are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings. Yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. And then he would go on to talk about even Michael, the archangel does not heap abuse on Satan that says the Lord rebuked you. But notice for our purposes tonight, he talks about the angels are stronger and more powerful than these teachers. So angels have more power. They are stronger than humans. And a good example of that is in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 2 at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on it. Now this was a large stone made of rock that would be rolled in front of the opening and kind of down into a carved out depression in the rock where it would just kind of lock in place. And it would require several men of considerable strength to move that. Well, one angel rolls it back and sits on it like man, that was easy. So that's an example of their strength and their power. So they can assume human functions, but it's clear they exercise greater power than men. They also exercise their power in the sphere of mankind in the human world to restrain evil. Sometimes their power is used to restrain evil. A few moments ago we were talking about the story in Genesis 18. Do you remember what happens at the end of that story? The Lord kind of hangs back with Abraham and they have this discussion about the judgment on Sodom and Abraham says Lord, if you find 50 people, will you spare the city? And he works him all the way down to 10. You remember that? While this conversation is going on between the Lord and Abraham, the other two angels go on to Sodom. And you remember the men of the city come to Lot, Lot takes them in because he realizes how wicked and dangerous the city is, takes them into his home. And the men of the city come to Lot's house at night demanding that he turned them over so that they can have sex with them is what these men want to do. And it is partially because of that homosexual behavior and sin that the city is judged. Well, you remember the situation gets out of control. Lot tries to stop them and they say, will treat you worse than them if you don't let us have them. And it is at that point you remember the two angels reach out and pull Lot back in and you remember what they did next? They blinded the men who were trying to get in so they couldn't even find the door. The Bible says so they exercised their power in judgment on those men at Sodom. Another example would be the story of Balum. You remember that? We've already talked about that story with Balum being commissioned by the King of Moab to try curse Israel and he says I can only do what God will allow me to do. He doesn't want to go at first and then finally goes and God seeks to interrupt his journey by an angel appearing to his donkey. Remember the donkey goes off the road a couple of times and so forth. So he makes clear to Balum that he can only say what God wants him to say. So sometimes their power is used to restrain evil. Sometimes their power is used to exercise judgment on men and their power in the human world. Remember when David numbered the nation of Israel numbered the army and we've talked about that in 2 Samuel 24 and an angel was sent by God to send death into the nation of Israel. When King Herod in Acts 12 made a speech in Tyre and Sidon and they proclaimed him to be a God and he said well you're right I think I am about that level. And because of his usurping the reverence that only goes to God the Bible says an angel struck him immediately and he was eaten up with worms and died. So it was an angel that carried out that judgment and then of course one very familiar one the story of the slaying of the Assyrian army and put this one on the screen for you in 2 Kings chapter 19. That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp when the people got up the next morning there were all the dead bodies. So those remaining Assyrian soldiers wake up and realize most of their army is decimated and it was done by an angel. The angel of the Lord so and we'll talk about the angel of the Lord a little bit later. So sometimes the execute judgment and then sometimes angels exercise their power in the human sphere in the human world by delivering people from danger. Again lot they delivered him from Sodom. Peter in Acts 12 and also in Acts 4 delivered from prison by an angel coming down and ushering him out of prison and then of course the three Hebrew children. Shadrach Meshach and Abednego notice what Nebuchadnezzar says about them in Daniel 3. The Nebuchadnezzar said praise be to the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who has sent his angel and rescued his servants. Now this is Nebuchadnezzar speaking and all he knows is this is some kind of divine being he refers to him as an angel. It probably was again another appearance of Christ but maybe in his role as the angel of the Lord hard to know. So clearly angels exercise power in the realm of the human world in many different ways. Those are just some of the examples of it. Let me stop and ask if you have any comments or questions at this point. Yes did you did you find something to light and one of the songs that Jim picked about angels? Okay yes our name will be recognized before the angels that was in the first song we sang tonight. Okay good good Tommy you were looking. I almost almost thought about giving you another quiz on that this week and then I thought not to rather talk about the cup shirt. Yes nothing wrong with categorizing as supernatural because supernatural this means above that which is normal or not. Which is normal or natural to us and certainly they they have power above what we would have. Now the only danger would be is if you begin to raise them another level to the level of God and obviously they're not on that level. But they do have more power than we do so in that sense they would be supernatural. Okay anything else. Alright they also exercise their power in relation to the material world not only in relation to the human world but also in relation to the material world. And there are several evidence of that just mention one or two and that is they can control the elements of nature angels are sometimes given the ability to control the elements of nature. Now obviously that's given to them by God so it's under God's control as we've already seen. But there are times when angels are very active in producing or withholding weather phenomena. For instance Revelation 7-1 I think it is on the screen after this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea. Or on any tree. This is before some of the judgments are poured out on the earth but you see angels literally stopping the wind from blowing. God gives them that authority to do that but he does it through through the angels. And then in chapter 16 verses 8 and 9 just one of the example of the judgments of bold judgment here. Fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat they cursed the name of God who had control over these plagues but they refused to repent and glorify him. Now this is only one of the 21 judgments that are poured out on planet earth during the tribulation time. One of the seven bold judgments this one is specifically referenced with an angel but most of them are. It is the angels that open the seals. It is the angels that blow the trumpets. It's the angels that pour out the bowls. All three of those series of judgments are initiated by angels. Obviously God is using them. God is actually the source of the judgment but he uses angels to do his bidding in that regard. So in relation to the material world they are very active in the judgments particularly in the tribulation that destroy the natural resources of this world. And then in relation to the angelic world they also exercise their power in relation to the angelic world. And one of the ways they do that is it's clear in the Bible that angels can communicate with other angels. You might not think about that. You might just think of them communicating with God carrying up God's bidding and interacting with people but angels also interact with other angels. One of the examples of that is in Satan and his rebellion. We're going to cover this in much more detail when we get to the section of our study of angels that we're dealing with Satan and how he fell and so forth. But I just want to reference this in Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel 28 verse 16 says, through your widespread trade you were filled with violence and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God and I expelled you guardian cherub which is a word for angel from among the fiery stones. Now again we'll look at that passage more carefully later but I just want you to I believe it is a reference to the fall of Satan and why he fell, how he fell. I want you to notice this through your widespread trade. Whatever violence and sin and being cast out of heaven and so forth it involved some kind of trade. And it was not trade of material goods. It was it was sweet talking the other angels. It was convincing, convincing other angels to follow him in his rebellion. And that's I think also referenced in Revelation, Revelation chapter 12 where the Bible talks about and we saw this passage earlier. You might want to turn there by the way, Revelation 12. Remember the metaphor that used the word pictures that are used of the great sign that appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun. It was pregnant. This is a picture of Israel giving birth to the Messiah and another sign verse three appeared in heaven an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. It's tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. Now a lot of symbolic language there but we know that this dragon is identified a little bit later in verse seven as the devil. And so this dragon being cast out of heaven but his tail dragging a third of the stars that probably is a symbolic picturesque reference to a third of the angels. And so it seems to be that Satan in his rebellion communicated his plan, his desire to take over from God and some other angels followed him. Maybe a third of them followed him. So angels can communicate with other angels Satan apparently did. And then if you look back at chapter seven, Revelation seven, you find good angels communicating with other good angels. Revelation seven, verse two, remember the four angels we saw a moment ago in verse one that are holding back the winds from the four corners of the earth. Then verse two, then I saw another angel coming up from the east having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and see do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God. And that's when the 144,000 Jews who are God's evangelists during tribulation time are sealed and protected from any harm during that time. So here's a good angel communicating with other angels as to what they are to do or not do. So in relation to the angelic worlds clear angels communicate with each other and they exercise their power in that way, but it's also clear they battle each other. We're not going to turn to it. Remember the story in Daniel 10 we've looked at it before where Daniel's praying God sends an angel to answer his prayer. And when he finally gets there three weeks later he says I got held up I got held up by the prince of the kingdom of Persia which is a demon evidently who has governance over the kingdom of Persia. Very powerful demon and this angel could not break through that opposition and finally says Michael came and helped me and he was able to get on through and get the answer to Daniel. So there's there's spiritual warfare between good angels and bad angels again we see it in the book of Revelation chapter 12. We looked at this before verse 7 war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back. So there's warfare in heaven and then there's one other interesting battle between angels in Revelation 20. In Revelation 20 verse 1 and I saw an angel coming down out of heaven having the key to the abyss or the pit and holding in his hand a great chain he seized the dragon that ancient serpent who is the devil or Satan and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended after that he must be set free for a short time. So here's an angel who grabs Satan throws him into the pit to lock him up to disable him during the thousand year millennial reign of Christ on the earth so that Satan cannot go around deceiving the nations anymore. So there's a lot of warfare a lot of battling in the Bible between angels so angels exercise their power in the spirit of the human world in the spirit of the natural world and in the spirit of the angelic world lots of evidence of the power of angels. Any comments or questions before we move to a different topic regarding angels. Having looked at several things regarding angels their personality their properties their power let's look at their position and that's the last thing about the nature of angels that we'll look at is the position of angels. We won't get through it all tonight because there's good bit of material in the Bible about their position in relation to first of all Christ and then later we won't get to it tonight we'll talk about their position in relation to man. But let's let's spend some time talking about where do angels fit in position as regards Christ where do they rank in relation to Christ. The reason why this is so important to see is because there are and we're going to spend a little time on it tonight there's a lot in the Bible about this the reason why it's so important is that there are those who teach that Christ is the first and highest of the angels or at least Jehovah's Witnesses for instance taught that more clearly in the past they've adjusted their teaching a little bit in some new doctrinal things you put out in the name of Christ. It's in 1997 but it's they still teach that Jesus was a spirit created by God like the angels they may not call him the first and foremost angel anymore but they do see him as equivalent on the same plane and level as angels. And Mormons basically do the same thing Mormons have pretty much a very similar idea regarding angels and Christ. So it's very important in order to understand how do we combat the cultists views that angels and Christ are kind of on the same level it's very important that we see what the Bible teaches about the position of angels in relationship to Christ. First of all we're going to look at the contrast between their positions in essence the contrast in essence. Now when you talk about the essence of a person you're talking about who they really are their inherent properties their characteristics that are inherent that are a part of the makeup of who they are. Okay that's their essence that's what theologians use that term to mean the contrast in essence between angels and Christ is seen in two ways. First of all the contrast is seen in their natures. There is a difference in the nature of angels and the nature of Jesus and the best way to see that is in John chapter one. So I want you to turn over to John chapter one. What we're going to see in John chapter one versus one through three very familiar passage five statements about the nature of Christ that obviously distinguish him from angels that lift him to a level far above angels. So there are five statements about the nature of Christ that angels cannot share from what we've already seen about the fact that they're created beings and so forth. Let's look at it in verse one John one one in the beginning was the word. Now it's clear when he says the word he's speaking about Christ because then in verse 14 the word became flesh made his dwelling among us we've seen his glory the glory of the one and only son. So the word is Christ. So in the beginning was the word in other words he was already in existence. This is a statement of the eternal existence of Christ in the beginning in other words when time started Christ was already there which means he existed in eternity past. We know that's not true of angels don't we we've already seen they were created in time. Okay in in the six days of creation they were created in time so that separates Jesus from the angels. Then he goes on to say and the word was with God. Now this is in the beginning the word Christ was with God and the concept of with the Greek preposition literally means face to face with and it always communicates close fellowship. So in the beginning when time started Christ was already in existence and he was already in close fellowship with the father and obviously the spirit would have been there as well. It's just not mentioned here. So he is he is in God's presence as a distinct person in the Trinity. Okay the third thing that's said about Jesus is and the word was God stressing his divine nature. Now when we when we talked about the doctrine of Christ what the Bible teaches about Christ we spend a lot of time here refuting what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach about this. They basically say he was a God little G. He was a spirit being that had a lot of power but he was not God the true God. And we saw that that's not what John is saying John is saying he was God in the sense that he had the nature of God his nature was divine. That's not true of any angel. So in the beginning was the word word was in a face to face relationship with God the father already and he was deity. He was he shared the same divine nature as the father. Okay so none of those three things could be said about angels the fourth thing that said about Jesus verse two he was with God in the beginning. Eternal fellowship with the father is again stated in verse two similar what it was in verse one and then verse three says through him all things were made without him nothing was made. That has been made. He created all things the word Christ created all things that certainly is not true of any angel the angels are created beings themselves they couldn't create anything. Because they were created themselves but Christ is above the angels he created all things so very clear in these first three verses the contrast in the very nature of the angel. And in the very nature of Christ and angels these five statements about Jesus clearly set him above the angels in nature. But the contrast let me pause there any questions about that that clear the contrast is not only seen in their natures it's also seen in their names. Now we're not going to go through all the names of Christ but just a couple of names that kind of compare with angels first of all Christ is called the only begotten son of God. Angels are sometimes referred to as sons of God always in a group but Christ is called the only begotten son which makes him unique different category than angels. Let's take a look at a couple of those passages it's since we're here in John 1 verse 14 the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us we have seen his glory the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. You see that expression one and only son the expression one and only is translated in the King James the only begotten son. Now only begotten is a good translation of the Greek word it's a very literal translation the Greek word is monoghenace monomines one or only genace means generated from or begotten. So only begotten is a good translation the problem with that is those words only begotten led to confusion about where Jesus came from. And actually has contributed to the Jehovah's Witness argument that Jesus was actually created or produced born from the father. Okay but that is not what the Greek word means the Greek word monoghenace does not have anything to do with generation or birth it has to do with uniqueness. He is the only begotten in the sense that the only son the only son in a unique category of relationship to the father father and son doesn't mean he was born that he didn't exist and then started doesn't mean that it's not at all what the Greek word means it always has to do with uniqueness in relationship a unique son. That's why the NIV has chosen to translate it in a way that is not as confusing one and only that really captures the essence of what the word monoghenace means one and only son unique no one else like him no one in the same category at all. And the same expression is used in verse 18 and also in John 316 for God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son or one and only son you'll find in the NIV the idea of that term is a unique relationship with the father he is the only son that has that relationship with the father. So even though angels can sometimes be called sons of God in the Bible it's not the same thing as the one and only the unique son of God not the same thing at all. All right. One of the places where angels are called sons of God is in joke chapter 1 and verse 6. Sorry I know I skipped a verse to him I missed you up there sorry about that but in in joke chapter 1 the Bible says one day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came with them in chapter 2 verse 1 it says the same thing that on another occasion another day the angels came to present themselves in both cases the NIV translates the word angels and that's what it means but the Hebrew expression is literally sons of God remember that's the way the King James translated sons of God. sons of God come to appear before before God and these sons of God are angels that's clear from the way Job uses that term he uses the same term in Genesis in joke 38 remember when we we saw that the angels rejoiced at the creation of the earth it's literally the sons of God well the only people who were in existence when the earth was created would have been the angels had to be the angels. So Joe uses the term that way sons of God of refers to angels in our he just goes in translates the angels because that's what that's what it's referring to but again sons of God always plural always as a group is not the same thing as the one and only unique son of God with a unique relationship to God so even in their names it's clear that Christ is far above the angels they're in separate category. Christ is not one of the angels and then there are other contrasts and names Christ is called the image of God look at these verses Colossians 115 the son is the image of the invisible God the first born over all creation by the way don't get confused by that word first born either the word first born simply means the highest the highest rank or highest. Order of being the exalted position over all other beings so Christ is in a category all of his own so he's in the image of God Hebrews one three says much the same thing the son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being so in other words he shares the same nature as the father now that is never set of angels and could not be said of angels because they're created beings angels are created in the image of God like we are if you understand that to mean they were created with the capacity of a relationship with God and sharing the same personal characteristics they were also created in the image of God but they are not the image the exact representation of God that's different so Christ is the image of God angels are created in his image like we are and then Christ is called the first born there in Colossians 115 if you can back up to that again to him the first born over all creation which means he has the exalted position over all creation he's not a part of the creation he has an exalted position over all of the creation so it's very clear both in their natures and in their names that Jesus is separate from the angels in the Bible they're not in the same category so what Jehovah's Witnesses teach what Mormons teach other cults teach to try to dilute the deity of Christ is just not biblical it is clear that angels and Christ are on a different plane altogether not in the same category at all so in relation to Christ angels and angels have a different kind of a relationship so the position of angels is lower than that of Christ all right any comments or questions there yes Jean it's a great question why do they want to dilute the deity of Christ or deny the deity of Christ it's because they can't grasp or don't want to grasp the concept of the Trinity and so they the job is witnesses accuse us just like Muslims do of worshipping three gods the father sign in Holy Spirit and because we believe all three are God but there's only one person or only one God but in three persons they say that can't be it just can't be so they don't want Jesus to be equal to God they want to be a great teacher and a prophet and so forth but not God because in their minds if Jesus is God then you've got at least two gods and if the Holy Spirit's got you got three gods now what are you doing three gods the Bible teaches is only one God that's the reason why they do that now admittedly the Trinity is a difficult concept to understand and communicate and we've talked about that before in these studies that's one of those evidence one of those instances where you just there's plenty of proof for it in the Bible you just believe what the Bible says even if you can't explain it logically you believe it but that's the reason they do it they don't want in their minds to have more than one God do it yes that's at the root of a lot of what the cult's teach is a works based religion so our view the Bible's view of Christ being uniquely the son of God who was alone qualified to pay for our sin as the only way of salvation that I mean they'll talk about the death of Christ and they'll talk about it's contributing to pleasing God and so forth but not in the same way we do so that is a huge part of it they do not see Christ in the same category as the Savior only the Savior yes I do there are there are several different beliefs that the Mormons have that are that would categorize them as a cult now you have to be careful with the use of that word and the word cult sometimes is used in our culture just to speak of way out radical people who you know are waiting for Jesus to come back and they end up killing each other and that kind of thing I don't mean that when I say the Mormons are a cult Mormons who believe what the Mormon Church teaches would not be saved they're good people many of them but if they believe what the Mormon Church teaches about the fact that we were all spirits before we were sinned here to the Earth and we we will become gods later on and there's a lot of works involved in our salvation the Mormons will talk about the death of Christ and they present themselves as Christians but they have some very serious departures from the Christian faith as far as the way of salvation is concerned and the person of Christ the uniqueness of Christ so if I think I would answer that kind of like I would Catholics if a Catholic believes exactly what they believe believes exactly what the Roman Catholic Church teaches, that in order to be saved, I have to take mass, I have to pray to Mary, I have to get my sins forgiven by a priest before I die, that's works. And nobody gets to heaven by their works. But I do believe there are a lot of Catholics who although they're in the Catholic Church, they've placed their faith in Jesus Christ only for their salvation. There may be some Mormons who've done the same thing, but if they believe what the Mormon Church teaches, that can't save you. Okay? All right? Any other questions? Those are good ones. All right, I'm not going to jump into this next section. It has to do with the contrast in position between angels and Christ, and that deals primarily with the book of Hebrews. We're going to just go through Hebrews 1 and look at seven Old Testament quotes that are designed to show how Christ in his position is higher than the angels. We'll get to that next week, okay? All right, let's close in prayer. Father, thank you for your grace to us through Christ. Thank you for all that he has done to save us. And Lord, I pray that we will be clear in our thinking about the difference between Christ and angels, that Jesus is uniquely your son equal to you in nature, fully God, who came to this earth to be our Savior. Lord, I pray that we would always keep that clear distinction between him and angels. Thank you for your word. Help us to do our best to understand it and to believe it and live by it. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.