Definitions (05/04/11-05/05/11)

Mal’ak [OT:4397]: A messenger or one deputized. With God as sender, this refers to prophets, angels, priests or teachers. An ambassador or representative, a message bearer. | a messenger, particularly an angel, but also used of prophets, priests and teachers.

Qadiyshiyn [OT:6922]: (from Daniel) sacred, pure, holy. | holy, separate. Used in reference to both angels and saints. |

`iyriyn [OT:5894]: (from Daniel) | a watcher, a guardian angel. | a wakeful or watchful one.

angelos [32]: a messenger. The term refers to the office held, not the nature of the being holding it. Angels are always spoken of in the masculine. As such, it is applied to bishops and elders as well as the spiritual creations known to us as angels. The angel of the Lord specifies a human form surrounded by the light of glory in which God was present. | a messenger, an angel, a pastor. | an envoy. One who is sent. Angels are subject to God and Christ. Specific angels have charge of specific elements. References to guardian angels are found in places such as Matthew 18:10 – Don’t despise these youngsters, for their angels in heaven are ever before the face of My Father in heaven, and Acts 12:15 – They thought Rhoda deranged, but she insisted she had seen Peter. They concluded that it must have been his angel. The ‘angels of the churches’ that are found in Revelation are heavenly overseers, not bishops. As the church in their care earns praise or censure, so do they also. A heavenly spirit who serves the Lord, being sent by Him and for His purposes. These are subject to God and Christ.

The primary Hebrew term for angels agrees with the Greek. Both are terms bespeaking one sent as a messenger, one deputized. In terms of Scriptural usage, both of these terms are primarily used as reference to those heavenly messengers from God. But, both terms are occasionally applied to such human agents as God chooses to employ: prophets, priests, teachers, and elders – all those whom He has assigned to speak His word or to advance specific of His purposes. In as much as both terms have their place in the language of civics, I don’t think we need make much of the fact that some of those in God’s service are spoken of by the same terms. In this regard, I think the point Zhodiates makes is worth bearing in mind: The term is primarily a statement of office, not a description of the nature or character of the office holder. To speak, then, of elders or bishops or prophets as angels is not to assign them some more spiritual nature, but to indicate their authority as men sent by God.

This brings me to an interesting thought to consider. In most of the Church today, it would be unusual to hear any officer of the church spoken of as an angel of the church. There are those who will lay claim to such title, and such as do are more likely than not to assign far more significance to it than they ought. But, for the rest of us, for those of us who speak of pastors only as pastors, who speak of elders only as elders, I wonder: Do we lose sight of the authority in which they serve? Do we lose some degree of respect for their office in doing so?

One thing is certainly clear from the Scriptural record: God is deeply concerned with the character of those who would serve in such positions. Even teachers, perhaps the least in terms of any official authority, are warned of the standards to which they will be held. I think particularly of James 3:1, a message that burns in my ears whenever I am called upon to teach. “Let not many of you become teachers, brothers, knowing that we who teach incur a stricter judgment.” I say this is on my mind whenever I teach, but that’s not entirely true. I am as forgetful of such realities as anybody else. But, I can say this: When you teach under this awareness, there is a definite sense of fear and trembling. There is a definite awareness of the responsibility that comes with the opportunity.

If we can become too casual by far about this when it is only ourselves we are concerned with, how much more when it is those others in our churches who bear authority? To what degree do we see our elders as men bearing the authority of God? To what degree (seeing we are in the process of nominating new men to these posts in our church), do we even consider that they are to be men on His mission? The pastor, we may be more inclined to view in this light. But, even there, I think our particularly American view of things, and particularly our post-sixties sensibilities, lead us to question his authority every bit as much as we would an officer of the government. And, truth be told, our pastor is an officer of the government, but not the civil government.

This capacity to hold our leadership as having the authority of God and wielding the authority of God becomes the more difficult in a denomination with such democratic processes as persist in the Congregational denominations, for example. If the elders serve at the whim of the congregation, and the pastor likewise serves as a man under the authority of the elders, how then is the pastor to deploy the authority vested in him by God? How the elders? Yet, our governance, though it bears so many similarities to the civil system, is inherently different in most critical ways, or it certainly ought to be so. If anything, the process of selecting a new elder, a new pastor, is a matter of deeper concern and deliberative prayer for us than is the election of a president over the nation. The nation, after all, is subservient to God’s kingdom, whether it recognizes this truth or not.

I say this, and as I say it, it occurs to me that this is not necessarily as it should be. True, the leadership of our church is the most local of government for us. But, as we are told in Scripture that the civil authority is as much a delegated authority from God as is the authority of these church leaders, surely our concern for the selection process that elects our civil authorities ought to be just as much a matter of prayer and deliberation for us.

I had not intended to spend quite so much time in considering those who share somewhat in the office of the angels of heaven, but this is where I have been led today, so here I am. God has a reason for this, as He has a reason for all that I do, whether I am keenly aware of this fact or not. This morning, I sense that His reason is that I have lost my sense of His authority in those who are elders and pastors in my own church, and I have certainly grown lax in considering that when I teach, I too am a man under authority.

Lord, keep me mindful of these things. In particular, I would ask that You restore to me that sense of responsibility, of ensuring that what I speak is from You and not just my own thinking. I ask this both for those more frequent occasions of late when I am teaching under the auspices of the church, but likewise for these more personal times. It is easy, my God, to slide into the speculative, the imaginative, and lose sight of the fact that even when I am, as it were, teaching only myself, that warning to the teachers is well to keep in mind.

I pray, also, for an increased determination to uphold the elders and pastors in our church both in prayer and in respect for the authority in which they walk. I know that I do not always view them in this light, but tend to see them as just men like myself. And, this is true, Lord, but yet it is not. They are men like myself, and as such, are as needful of prayerful support as I am. May I, by Your presence and power, find it in me to pray the more for them. May I also find it in me to pray more for those civil authorities who are certainly no angels, but yet are intended to serve in Your authority.

From an admittedly brief survey of the references, it seems there is but one other phraseology that is translated as referring to angels. In this case, it is a two word phrase, and it is used only by Daniel. The phrase is Qadiyshiyn `iyriyn, and may be understood as ‘holy watcher’. The first of these two terms might be more familiar to us as Kaddosh. It’s a term most often applied to God Himself, as being holy and separate (although this particular term is utilized more often in reference to saints and angels). The term bespeaks the purity, the sacred nature of that which is it describes. Sacred: Devoted to God for His exclusive use. Pure: having not even the slightest hint of sin or admixture. Even though it is such a settled certainty within me that these adjectives shall indeed apply to my final state, it remains a matter of mystery to me how this shall ever come about. All I can say is praise God that He sees the end from the beginning, because even this middle in which I live is far from that final goal!

In this sense, if no other, we could certainly recognize the truth of Psalms 8:4-5, when it speaks of man being made rather lower than God (or, than angels as the author of Hebrews quotes it in Hebrews 2:6-7). In that quotation, the author stresses that this holds ‘for a little while,’ perhaps finding cause in the mention of a crown of glory which follows in David’s original thoughts. It may be premature to make such a certain statement this early into a study, but I’ll do so anyway. Angels are ever in the presence of God, in the presence of The Holy. This is to say that they are before the One Who can not abide the presence of sin, Who turned Himself away from His own Son in dealing with the sin He took upon Himself on our behalf. If, then, the angels are before Him, they must surely be as pure as Himself, as holy as Himself. We, if we are to join this heavenly scene, must be so as well, however unlikely it seems to us now. Can it be that this is the crown of glory of which David was thinking? That we, such as we are, sinful as we are, would yet find ourselves brought before Him a pure and spotless bride! It defies the imagination, and yet this is our promise and assurance from the only One in Whom the impossible can be possible.

The second term bespeaks the specific assignment of these beings Daniel is describing, as well as their diligence in pursuit of that assignment. The term describes a watcher. (I wonder if it might be the same term used to speak of the watchman on the wall, but no: I see it is not. In fact this word is unique to Daniel.) They are watchers, ever wakeful. One might sense in this a reference to guardian angels, but let’s hold any such opinion until we come to consider the setting Daniel provides to the words. Whether or not there is that sense of guardianship, there is certainly a sense of guarding. Though the watcher on the wall is spoken of by different words, there remains something shared between the two: They watch. The watchman on the wall is there in particular to raise the alarm at the first sign of trouble. Can the same be said of these heavenly counterparts? Perhaps. Then again, these being the agents of God Himself, I should think it might be said that they watch for greater purpose: to ward off and thwart any such trouble as defies God’s perfect plan.

One final, preparatory point to consider along the lines of setting forth definitions: Particularly in the Old Testament, there are a couple of phrases that show up with great regularity. The first is ‘the angel of the Lord’, and the second is like it: ‘the angel of God’. Much is made, particularly of that first phrase, with the suggestion held out that this is typically a reference to a theophany as opposed to an ambassador of heaven. As a starting point for explorations, I shall attempt as survey of those verses in which these particular phrases arise, to see what they might tell us in this regard.

The Angel of the Lord - Old Testament (05/05/11-05/09/11)

NOTE: Lord == Yahweh (3068).

[Clearly God]

Ge 16:7-13 – The Angel of the Lord found Hagar in the wilderness and asked her where she was going. Hagar answered that she was fleeing from Sarai. The Angel commanded her to return in submission to Sarai’s authority, and then added this promise: “I will greatly multiply your descendants. The child you bear is a son, whom you shall name Ishmael, who will be a wild man at odds with all men. He will live to the east of all his kin.” In response, Hagar declares, “You are a God who sees.”

Ex 3:2 – The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a blazing fire in the very midst of a bush. Moses looked closely, and saw that the bus, though burning, was not being consumed by the flames.

Jdg 2:1-4 – The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into this land sworn to your fathers. I said, “I will never break My covenant with you, and you shall not make any covenant with the inhabitants of that land, but will destroy their altars. But, what you done? You have not obeyed Me. Recall that I also told you that I would not drive them out before you, but they would become thorns in your sides, their gods becoming a snare to you.” When the angel of the Lord spoke these words before all Israel, the people lifted their voices in weeping.

Jdg 6:11-22 – The angel of the Lord was sitting under an oak tree in Ophrah. This was on the property of Joash the Abierzrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine press, hoping to avoid being noticed by any Midianite raiders. The angel greeted Gideon, saying, “The Lord is with you, valiant warrior.” Gideon replied, “Honored sir, if the Lord is with us, what gives? Where are those miracles we heard about from our elders? He brought us from Egypt, but now He leaves us to the Midianites?” [Notice the shifting of references] And the Lord [no angel of: Yahweh] said, “Go in your strength and deliver Israel. I am sending you.” Gideon reacted. “Me? How shall I deliver Israel? I am but the youngest son of the least significant family in Manasseh.” But, the Lord said, “But, I will be with you, and you will certainly defeat Midian single-handed.” Gideon said, “If I have truly found such favor with You, give me a sign by which to be certain it is truly You speaking. Don’t leave! Let me prepare a proper offering to lay before You.” God promised to remain, and Gideon went to prepare a goat and unleavened bread. He brought both meat and broth, and laid all this out beneath the oak, presenting it to Him. And the angel of God [haa-‘Elohiym – the supreme God] said, “Take the meat and the bread and array them on this rock. Then pour out the broth.” He did so. Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and bread with the end of his staff and fire sprang from the very rock and consumed the offering. With this, the angel of the Lord disappeared. When Gideon recognized that this truly was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God [Adonai Yahweh], for I have been face to face with the angel of the Lord.”

[Ambiguous]

Ge 22:11-17 – The angel of the Lord called from heaven: “Abraham, Abraham!” Abraham replied, “Here I am.” He then instructed Abraham not to complete the sacrifice of Isaac, saying, “For now I know that you fear God.” After the ram God provides for the sacrifice is offered up, the angel speaks a second time. “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have withheld not even your son from Me, I will greatly bless you and multiply your seed beyond the number of the stars in the heavens, or he sands in the sea. And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” [seed & his both singular.]

Jdg 5:23 – [part of Deborah’s song to the Lord, God of Israel] The angel of the Lord said to curse Meroz for not coming to the Lord’s help against the warriors of Sisera.

Jdg 13:1-22 – Israel returned to its evils, so the Lord was punishing them by the hands of the Philistines, and had been some forty years. There was a man, Manoah of Zorah, amongst the Danites. His wife being barren, they had borne no children. But, an angel of the Lord came to here and said, “You are barren, but you shall conceive and birth a son. Be careful, then, to drink no wine nor eat anything unclean, for this son you shall conceive: no razor is cut his hair. He shall be a Nazarite to God even from the womb, and he shall begin the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines.” She returned to her husband and told him how this man of God had come, and how like the angel of God he appeared in his awesomeness. She admitted she had not thought to ask where he was from, nor had he volunteered his name. Then she relayed the message he had given her. Manoah prayed, “Lord, let this man of God come again and teach us how to care for this boy that is to be born.” God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came back to the woman while she was in the fields, but Manoah was not there. The woman ran to tell her husband that he was back, so Manoah returned with his wife. “Are you the man who spoke to her?” “Yes.” “When your words come to pass, how shall this boy spend his life? What shall be his vocation?” The angel of the Lord said, “Let the woman heed well what I said. She shouldn’t drink from the vine, nor of wine or strong drink. She shouldn’t eat anything unclean. Just obey what I commanded.” Manaoh said to the angel of the Lord, “Please, let us detain you for a time, that we may prepare a kid for you.” The angel of the Lord replied, “Though you do so, I will not eat your food. But, if you prepare a burnt offering to the Lord…”. For Manoah still didn’t realize that he was speaking to the angel of the Lord. He asked, “What is your name, so that we might honor you when these things transpire?” But, the angel of the Lord replied, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful [Peliy’ – remarkable, difficult]?” So Manoah made an offering to the Lord, laying it out upon a rock, and He [unspecified in text] performed wonders [same root as the wonderful of his name] in their sight. For flame went up from the altar, and the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife, seeing this, fell prostrate. The angel of the Lord was no longer seen. Then Manoah knew that he was indeed the angel of the Lord, and said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God [‘Elohiym].”

1Ki 19:7 – The angel of the Lord came a second time and touched Elijah, saying, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”

2Ki 1:3-4 – The angel of the Lord told Elijah to go meet the messengers of the king of Samaria with this message: “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Hear what the Lord says, then. ‘You shall not come down from your bed, but you shall surely die.’” Elijah went. [There ensues the story of several military contingents being consumed by fire at Elijah’s prayer, until at last the captain of one such contingent came begging for his life.]

2Ki 1:15 – Then, the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go meet the man without fear. So Elijah did so, and then went with him to the king.

2Ki 19:35 – It happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out to the camp of the Assyrians and struck down 185,000. By morning, all of them were dead.

Isa 37:36 – The angel of the Lord went out and struck the Assyrian camp, killing 185,000. By morning, all were dead.

Ps 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.

Ps 35:5-6 – Let them be like chaff in the wind and let their way be a dark and slippery path, with the angel of the Lord driving them on and pursuing them.

[Clearly not God]

Nu 22:22-35 – God was angry with Balaam, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in opposition to him. Balaam was riding his donkey, accompanied by his two servants. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord there, sword in hand, and turned off into a field. But, Balaam struck the donkey until she returned to the road. The angel of the Lord stood again, this time in a narrow path through the vineyards, walled in on either side. The donkey, seeing this, pressed herself to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot so that he struck her again. The angel of the Lord moved again, to a place so narrow that there remained nowhere to turn. When the donkey saw this, she lay down in the road. Balaam was so angry! He began striking the donkey with a stick. Now, the Lord gave speech to the donkey, and she said, “What have I done to you to deserve being struck these three times?” Balaam answered [!], “Because you mock me. Had I a sword, I would have killed you.” The donkey continued. “Am I not the donkey that you have ridden all your life? Have I ever acted like this before?” “No.” Then, the Lord granted Balaam to see the angel of the Lord still standing there in the way, sword drawn, and he prostrated himself. The angel then took up the donkey’s plaint. “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Look! I have come out to oppose you as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me. The donkey saw and turned aside. Had she not, I would surely have killed you just now, and let her live.” Balaam answered the angel of the Lord. “I have sinned, for I did not know you were athwart my way. If my way displeases you, I will turn back.” But, the angel of the Lord said otherwise. “No. Go with the men. But, you will speak only what I tell you to speak.” So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak.

2Sa 24:16 – When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the angel, “Enough! Relax your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

1Chr 21:8-30 – David confessed his sin to God, and prayed that He would take away the guilt of it. The Lord therefore sent Gad David’s seer, with His reply. Gad therefore said to David, “The Lord says to choose: Three years of famine, three months of losing against your enemies as their swords overtake you, or three days of pestilence with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout Israel’s territories. Consider well, and I shall bring back your reply.” David told Gad he was deeply distressed by this, but he gave his answer. “Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.” So the Lord sent pestilence and 70,000 Israelis died. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but just as it was about to be done, the Lord saw the calamity and was sorry for it. He told the destroying angel, “Enough! Stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, sword drawn, and hand outstretched over Jerusalem. David, therefore, together with the elders, covered themselves with sackcloth and fell prostrate. David said to God, “It is I who commanded the count, I who has sinned wickedly. These sheep have done nothing to deserve this. Lord, my God, please! Let your hand be against me and my household, but not against the people with this plague.” The angel of the Lord passed word through Gad that David was to go build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and David complied. Ornan, seeing the angel, had hidden his for sons away, while he continued to thresh his wheat. When he saw David coming, he prostrated himself before his king. David said, “Give me this threshing floor for an altar to the Lord to end the plague, and I shall pay you its full price.” Ornan offered that he could just take and do as he pleased, and even offered his own oxen for the burnt offering. But, David insisted on paying for the worth of it, “for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer an offering that costs me nothing.” So, David paid Ornan, built an altar and made his offering, calling on the Lord to answer with fire down from heaven. The Lord commanded the angel, and the angel sheathed his sword. When David saw that the Lord had answered him, he offered further sacrifices right there, for the tabernacle of the Lord and its altar were at Gibeon at the time. But David could not go there to inquire of God, for he was still terrified by the sword borne by the angel of the Lord.

[Prophetic Vision]

Zech 1:8-21 – I saw a man upon a red horse, and red, sorrel and white horses behind him where he stood amidst the myrtle trees. I said, “My lord, what are these?” The angel speaking with me said, “I will show you.” And the man amidst the trees said, “These are those whom the Lord sends to patrol the earth.” They answered the angel of the Lord who was there amidst the myrtles, saying, “We have patrolled the earth and behold, all is peaceful and quiet.” The angel of the Lord answered, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and Judah? Your indignation has been towards them lo, these seventy years?” And the Lord answered the angel with gracious and comforting words. The angel, therefore said to me, “Proclaim this: ‘The Lord of hosts says, “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem, for Zion. But I am exceedingly wroth against the nations which are at ease. For while I was but slightly angered, they labored to further the disaster. Therefore, I will return with compassion to Jerusalem and build My house there. And a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem. My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and I will again comfort Zion, again choose Jerusalem.”’” I looked again, and beheld four horns, so I asked the angel with me what these signified. He said, “these are the powers that have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.” The Lord then showed me four craftsmen, and I asked what they would be crafting. “These are the powers that scattered Judah. But, the craftsmen come to terrify them, to throw down the nations that lifted themselves up against Judah to scatter it.”

Zech 3:1-10 – He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan was at his right hand to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! This is a brand plucked from the fire!” Joshua was, at that point, wearing filthy garments as he stood before the angel. He spoke to those before him, saying, “Remove his filthy garments.” Then, he said to Joshua, “See? I have taken away your iniquity and will clothe you for the feast.” Again, he commanded: “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So, they clothed him as commanded while the angel of the Lord stood by. Then, the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua. “The Lord of hosts says, “if you will walk in My ways, and perform My service, then you shall govern My house and My courts, and you will have free access among these who stand here. Listen, then, you and your friends who are with you. These men are a symbol, for I am going to bring My servant the Branch. See, therefore, the stone I have set before Joshua. There are seven eyes upon it, and I will engrave on it an inscription, and I will in one day remove all iniquity from the land. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come join him under his vine and his fig tree.”

Zech 12:8 – In that day, the Lord will defend Jerusalem, and the weakest of its residents will be like David. The house of David will itself be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.

[Observations]

Looking across the references to the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, I find what I would perceive to be four categories of usage. The first category, including the first use of the term, consists of those few cases in which the events related clearly indicate that this angel of the Lord is in fact the Lord God Himself. The second category is therefore that which consists of cases wherein the angel of the Lord is clearly not God Himself. The third collects together those cases where it is not entirely obvious whether the angel is or is not God. The fourth, I am reserving for the use of the term by Zechariah, given that it is a particularly prophetic usage, and, if I am not mistaken, entirely consisting of visions.

So then, in the first category we have, rather surprisingly, the story of Hagar in the wilderness as the earliest example of Scripture speaking about the angel of the Lord, and in this case, the conversation between this angel and Hagar would seem to make clear that it is indeed God she is talking with (Ge 16:7-13). It is clear in that this angel speaks of her future generations as something He will do. There is no, “Thus says the Lord.” It is simply, “I will.” Further, there is her response: “You are the God who sees,” which the angel does not reject or repudiate. Surely no mere agent of God would accept credit for being God.

The second entry in this category of theophany is that of Moses and the burning bush, the very passage Jesus speaks of in His defense of the afterlife (Ex 3:2). This is so clearly a case of God’s presence as over against a messenger only as to require no further explanation.

The remaining two entries are both from the book of Judges. This first of these is included on much the same basis as that of Hagar’s tale: that the angel speaks of God’s accomplishments as first person accomplishments. I brought you out of Egypt. I told you what to do. You disobeyed Me (Jdg 2:1-4). What I find particularly significant about this particular passage is the fact that this particular theophany occurred in the sight of the whole people. Note the concluding statement in verse 4. “The angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel.” And hearing it, they wept.

Finally, there is the case of Gideon, relayed to us in Judges 6:11-22. There is much to say of this passage. For one thing, there is a confluence of terms used in speaking of this one being. We find Him referred to, of course, as the angel of the Lord. We also find Him referred to simply as the Lord: Yahweh. Then, too, He is spoken of as the angel of God, of haa-‘Elohiym, the Supreme God. Gideon, at least, appears to recognize with Whom he has been dealing (although he did not at first). “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” If this were but an angel, then as awesome as the event was, there would be no cause for such concern on Gideon’s part. But, the common belief was very clearly that to see God face to face was to die. We hear that same sense of fearful recognition of what has just happened when we read of Isaiah’s account of his calling.

There are, between these four accounts, a number of things we might say as regards the nature of these theophanies. The first thing I might note is that there is no such consistent characteristic to them as that all-encompassing flame of glory, as Zhodiates suggests. Perhaps this was something he intended to reserve to New Testament usage. We shall see. Second, one cannot say that the heavenly nature of even this aspect of the angel of the Lord as theophany was always, or even usually obvious to the beholder, at least at first. Gideon, in particular seems to have no idea Who he is talking to. Notice his response to the greeting of the angel. “If the Lord is with us, sir, then why are things like this?” This is not the response, I think, of somebody who is aware he is speaking with God face to face. It is not even the response of one who recognizes that he is speaking with something more than human. This is the response of one who thinks himself speaking to just another man, albeit perhaps one of greater stature than himself. Recognition comes as postscript to this account. It is only when the angel of the Lord vanished that he realized Who he had been with, and with that realization came shock and fear, which the Lord immediately put to rest. “Peace, Gideon, do not fear. You shall not die” (Jdg 6:23). Indeed, it seems God had not departed, merely disposed of this human form that Gideon might more completely realize Who was with him, for He continues to instruct Gideon as to what he is to do, and Gideon continues to speak with Him.

This same lack of recognition seems to be there in the account of Hagar. Her reaction to this angelic visitation is not one of being overcome by dread. She does not fear for her life, although that could be simply because she figured herself for a dead woman already. But, there is that same sense of dawning recognition, or of a recognition that comes more from having had one’s eyes opened than of having deduced the reality of the situation.

As to the account of God before His people in Judges 2, I would note that this comes when Joshua is still alive, and as such, the people might be expected to have been more used to having God’s presence in the area. There is also the curious introduction of this passage. “The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim.” We are not told anything further about that pillar of fire by night and cloud by day which stood as a particularly clear indicator of God’s presence after the defeat of Egypt’s armies in Exodus 14:24. But, I would note this: Where it is first mentioned is included this statement: “He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people” (Ex 13:22). Moses speaks once more of it in Numbers 14:14, as he prays, and after that, it is not mentioned. I would note, however, Moses’ prayer that he would not go except the Lord go with him.

I belabor this point because it is left as a question for us what happened to that visible presence afterwards. Was God still presenting in this fashion as Joshua picked up the mission from Moses? We don’t know. But, the fact that this account in Judges 2 speaks of the angel coming from one place to another would seem to indicate a visible presence. Over against this, I am reminded of that encounter Joshua had with the angel commanding the Lord’s armies (Josh 5:13-15). This captain of the Lord’s hosts was clearly not the Lord of hosts Himself. He was also clearly not something Joshua had encountered before. I suppose, though, that even were that Presence in the pillar something still familiar, the captain of the hosts might remain unfamiliar, even shockingly so. It could, however, be more easily accepted by one for whom the pillar of the Presence was still a familiar sight.

This is admittedly speculative. How could it not be? With all things angelic, I fear, the evidence we have is more a sketch than a tapestry. But, I shall continue endeavoring to understand what I may from the evidence provided.

Let me turn, then, to those three cases I would say are clearly not a theophany. These are actually but two, for in two cases, it is the same event being discussed. I’ll start with the earlier, which is the story of Balaam and his ass (Nu 22:22-35). Looking more closely, I’m not sure I should include this as a clear case. But, let me make my defense of the claim. Primary to this defense is the statement that the Lord granted Balaam to see the angel of the Lord (Nu 22:31). This has the feel of describing three separate entities. However, that may not truly be the case. By way of further evidence, it strikes me that this is not a matter in which God would find it necessary to intervene personally. Is Balaam really worthy of such attention? Surely the least of His angels would suffice for such as this man.

Over against this suggestion that the angel is, in this case, not God, I could offer that final command from the angel: “Go, but you will speak only what I tell you.” One could choose to see that as indicating we are back at a first person reference by God. On the other hand, what is the primary office of the angel, by definition? It is to serve as a messenger, to relay the message. In that light, it makes perfect sense that those men who are given to speak for God in life are very likely to be informed not directly by Him but by His messengers. It is not a necessary understanding, to be sure, but it hardly seems unreasonable that He might assign intermediaries in such dealings, particularly with so poor a prophet as this Balaam.

That actually raises one further argument against thinking this was God Himself. God Himself cannot tolerate sin. Balaam is very clearly sinful, and did not change his ways after this encounter. While the same could be said of those to whom He clearly did appear face to face, there is a distinction one could make. They are among the elect whereas Balaam is not. God, Who sees the end from the beginning, could therefore deal with them knowing their final estate. For Balaam, no such final purity could be found. It would seem to me, then, that God could not or would not bring Himself into the proximity of such a sinful being, but would instead operate through emissaries.

The remaining example is found in 1Chronicles 21:8-30, and its parallel account in 2Samuel 24. Here, we are dealing with David’s sin in having taken a census of Israel, and God’s punishment. David is given a choice between three punishments and selects the one in which the hand of man does not play a part, knowing that God is merciful. In the ensuing record, we are told that God sent an angel, a destroying angel, to inflict His judgment. This angel is then referred to as the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, sword drawn and pointed at Jerusalem. Given the proximity of the reference to sending and the reference to standing, it seems reasonably clear that the angel of the Lord is in this case not the Lord, but an angel in His service.

In this instance, the angel is clearly recognized as angelic by not only David, but also by Ornan, by whose threshing field the angel took his stand. Curiously, though Ornan hides his sons at sight of this angel, he himself continues his work. As for David and his entourage, they fall prostrate at the sight. I note that the angel does nothing to discourage this, but then, neither does he deign to speak directly to David, passing word through Gad the seer instead. As further evidence that the angel is not the Lord, we have a statement towards the end of the account that the Lord commanded the angel and the angel therefore sheathed his sword. Even so, we are told, David was terrified by the presence of this sword-bearing angel. I would note that in this case there is no voice coming to tell him he need not fear.

Are there any conclusions to be drawn from these two additional vignettes? For one thing, they contribute the recognition that these particular angels at least, if not others as well, inspire the same sense of awe and fear as does the visible presence of God Himself. This is as it should be, of course, for they are His emissaries, His ambassadors, and the swords they bear might give us reason to understand the nature of their embassy. The setting of these two accounts likewise makes their purpose clear. They are sent as ambassadors of corrective punishment, enforcers if you like, nor are they likely to be repulsed in their purposes. Of course there will be a fear upon those to whom such corrections officers are sent! How could their not be? Yet, I would note David’s plea does not go to the angel, but to the Lord. God, Who alone commands these His messengers is the appropriate one to address as concerns their orders, don’t you think?

As to those cases where the reference seems more ambiguous, as to whether it is an angel or the Lord that is in view I don’t see much additional information to be gleaned from these, other than to recognize that when the angel of the Lord speaks to the man of God, the man of God receives his word as command. This holds with Abraham (Ge 22:11-17) and with Elijah (1Ki 19:7, 2Ki 1), as well as with Deborah (Jdg 5:23). The one case from this category that I should like to consider at greater length is that of Samson’s parents (Jdg 13).

His mother, given no name, but spoken of simply as Manoah’s wife, was the first to encounter this particular angel, and received from him what we might think of as a prophetic word, akin to that heard by Sarai before her and like Elizabeth long after her: In spite of your barrenness, you shall bear a son. Also, much like Elizabeth, she is given strict instructions as to how she is to comport herself during her pregnancy, as well as how the son to come is to be raised. Now when she goes home to her husband, she does not go on about having met an angel. She speaks of meeting a man of God, although she does volunteer that he was ‘like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome’ (Jdg 13:6). Now, I think we can be clear that she did not mean by this that he stood like a pillar of flame, nor that he had some brightly glowing aura about him. If this had been the case, I don’t suppose for a minute that she would be speaking of him as a ‘man of God’.

At their second meeting, there is as yet nothing to dissuade Manoah or his wife from thinking of this being as a man. They accept that he speaks with an authorization from God, but they do not take him to be more than perhaps a prophet or holy man. Even so, they are willing to vest his instructions with authority, and to treat him with a degree of honor as God’s man. So, they offer hospitality after the fashion of their nature. Here, the angel indicates he will not eat, but would that they instead offer what they wanted to give him as an offering to the Lord.

Let’s stop there, for a moment. Is this (Jdg 13:16) to be understood as telling us that angels do not eat? I will note that the angel says, “I will not eat,” as opposed to, “I do not eat.” I suppose, given that they still didn’t realize his nature, this may have been but a kindness, an accommodating of their limited lights. I am not certain that we ought to draw any sort of conclusion as to the culinary practices of angels based on this statement. Perhaps if other corroborating evidence should arise, it would be worth reconsidering, but as it stands, it is hardly conclusive.

Returning to the scene, though, we find Manoah still seeking a way to honor this man of God, at least if his question be taken at face value, and I have no cause not to do so. He asks the angel’s name, “that we may honor you when your word comes to pass.” Now, I have been told enough times that the ancient cultures of this region considered that there was power in the naming of another. It is suggested that this is why Jacob sought the name of the one he wrestled. It is suggested that this is why we find God changing names, or decreeing the names of strategic individuals in His unfolding plan. This would be the only cause I have for suspecting anything other than Manoah’s stated purpose.

At any rate, the angel’s reply must surely nudge one’s perceptions somewhat. “Why ask me my name? It is wonderful.” Or, we might say, remarkable, difficult, or, maybe even remarkably difficult. This is where the ambiguity of the passage sets in. For one, we can see a certain parallel here with Isaiah’s familiar words in Isaiah 9:6: “His name will be called Wonderful Counselor.” Some, at least, would suggest that this is actually two names being given, rather than one. The point is that there is this hinting, if you will, that this angel speaking with Manoah and his wife also goes by the name Wonderful. If that is indeed his intended meaning, then I would have to conclude that he is He Whose name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord.

Were this the only thread of suggestion here, I would discount it. However, it is not. We also see this same angel of the Lord ascending in the flame of the altar that Manoah sets up (Jdg 13:20). It is at this point, in spite of the angel having performed certain wonders beforehand, that Manoah and his wife finally realize what they’re dealing with, and they prostrate themselves, having come to that knowledge. That ascent in flame seems to echo Jacob’s dream of the ladder between heaven and earth, which is itself a foreshadowing of Jesus. Could it be? Again, this is no more than circumstantial evidence. But, then, we arrive at Manoah’s conclusion from all this: “We shall surely die, for we have seen God” (Jdg 13:22). His wife speaks some sense back into him in this regard, but the response is not one we have heard (at least not as yet), in reaction to a merely angelic appearance. If I am not greatly mistaken, there was no such belief that seeing an angel was a basis for death. This was to do with seeing God face to face. That Manoah speaks thus would seem to indicate he at least supposed himself to have been in that position.

As to the prophetic visions from Zechariah, I don’t think much needs to be said here. That the angel with whom he converses in his visions is other than the Lord is clear. That he is a messenger of the Lord is equally clear. He is sent, in this case, both to deliver a message and to explain the message. This is in perfect keeping with our understanding of the angelic office. But, the passages at hand offer us no further details that might add to our understanding. No, I take that back. There is one point worth noting here, although it is somewhat tangential to the topic. In Zechariah 3, we are given seats to observe the judgment of a certain Joshua the high priest. Now, as he is high priest, we must certainly understand that this is not intended to reflect Joshua who succeeded Moses, for such was not his office. We might be inclined to see Jesus, who from our perspective would become high priest, and that, for all time. There may also have been another Joshua who had served in that office more nearly to Zechariah’s time.

What I want to focus in on, though, is the words spoken to the Accuser. “The Lord rebuke you, Satan” (Zech 3:2)! Notice from Whose mouth these words come. It is not the angel of the Lord. It is the Lord. It is the same Lord Who then issues commands for Joshua’s attire. But, it is the angel of the Lord that addresses Joshua, and it is the angel of the Lord who speaks of the coming Servant, the Branch (Zech 3:8). My point is this: this example of rebuking the devil, which so many draw heavily upon, is not even set in the mouths of angels, much less of men. It is the Lord Himself who rebukes by the invocation of His own name. If, then, we seek authority to do likewise, we must seek elsewhere, for in this passage at least, the authorization does not exist. With that, I shall begin turning my attention to New Testament references to this angel of the Lord.

The Angel of the Lord - New Testament (05/10/11-05/11/11)

Mt 1:20-25 – While Joseph was thinking about what he ought to do with Mary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him to go ahead and marry her, seeing the baby she had conceived was of the Holy Spirit. He further instructed Joseph to name the child Jesus, as He would save His people from their sins. This fulfilled the prophet’s words regarding the virgin found with child, whose son was to be named Immanuel – God with us. Joseph woke up and did as the angel of the Lord had commanded. He took her as wife, but kept her a virgin until after the birth of Jesus.

Mt 2:13-20 – Later, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in another dream, warning him to take Mary and Jesus into Egypt to avoid what Herod was doing He did so by night, and remained in Egypt until he learned of Herod’s death. This also fulfilled prophecy, for the prophet had said, “Out of Egypt did I call My Son.” Meanwhile, Herod, learning that the magi had evaded him, determined to have all the male children of Bethlehem slain, all who were two years old or younger, and this likewise fulfilled prophecy. Jeremiah wrote of a voice in Ramah, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, for they were no more. Eventually, though, when Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared once more to Joseph in dreams, telling him to take the Child and His mother back to Israel, as those who were seeking to kill Him were now themselves dead.

Mt 28:1-7 – After the Sabbath, towards dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and another Mary came to the grave. But, a severe earthquake had occurred because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled away the stone from the grave. And upon that stone he sat, his appearance like lightning, his garments white like snow. And the guards were so shaken with fear that they passed out, lying like dead men. The angel, though, said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified, but He isn’t here. He has risen as He said He would. Come. You can see where He was lying. Now, go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and precedes you to Galilee where you will see Him. There! I have told you.”

Lk 1:11-20 – An angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias, standing next to the altar of incense, which shocked Zacharias. Fear gripped him. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayers have been heard. Your wife will bear a son. Name him John. You will have joy and gladness. Many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the Lord’s sight. He will drink no spirits, but he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother’s womb. He will cause many of God’s sons to repent and return to the Lord God. He is the forerunner before Messiah, in the spirit of power of Elijah to return the hearts of the fathers to their children, and bring the disobedient back to seeking righteousness. Thus he makes ready a people for the Lord.” Zacharias asked the angel, “How can I be certain of your words? For I am old, as is my wife.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel, and I stand in the presence of God. I have been sent to tell you this good news. But, now you will be silent, speechless until the day these things happen, because you didn’t believe me. But, my words will surely be fulfilled in their proper time.”

Lk 2:9-15 – An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel spoke comfort. “Do not be afraid, I’m here with good news, great joy for all people! Listen! In the city of David the Christ of the Lord has been born for you, a Savior! You will see. Here is a sign by which to know Him. You will find him a baby wrapped in cloths and lain in a manger.” Now a whole host of angels appeared, praising God. “Glory to God in the highest, and peace among men on earth with whom He is pleased.” When the angels had departed into heaven, the shepherds determined to go straightway to Bethlehem and see this thing the Lord had made known to them.

Jn 5:3-4 – The sick and lame came to wait in the porticoes of the pool of Bethesda waiting for something to stir the waters. For an angel of the Lord came down at certain times and stirred those waters, and the first to step into the waters thereafter was healed of whatever disease afflicted him.

Ac 5:17-21 – The high priest and his gang (the Sadducees) were jealous of the Christians and took action against them, arresting the apostles and throwing them in jail. But an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates in the night and took them out. He told them to go and speak the message of Life to the people right there in the temple. With these instructions, they were in the temple courts at daybreak teaching.

Ac 8:26-30 – An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, telling him to take the road south to Gaza. Philip did so and encountered an Ethiopian eunuch en route to the courts of Candace, queen of Ethiopia. He had charge of her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship. As Philip caught up to him, he was reading from Isaiah, and Philip had his in. “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

Ac 12:7-11 – An angel of the Lord appeared in Peter’s cell, and light shown. He woke Peter somewhat roughly, telling him to get up quickly. Peter’s chains fell from his hands. The angel told him to dress for action, and to put on his sandals. Peter did so. Then, the angel told him to wrap his cloak about himself and follow. They went out, and Peter continued to follow the angel, not quite believing this was all real. He thought he was having a vision. They passed the first guard and the second, and came to the iron gate beyond which was the city, and that gate opened of its own accord! They went out along the street and immediately, the angel was gone. Peter, as he came to his senses, said, “Now I am certain the Lord sent His angel to rescue me from Herod, and from what the Jews thought would be done to me.”

Ac 12:22-23 – On one particular day, Herod donned his royal outfit and sat on the rostrum addressing the people. And the people cried out, “The voice of a god, not a man!” Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him down for failing to give God the glory, and he died, eaten by worms.

In all of these references, it is clear that the angel is not, as in some of the Old Testament passages, a theophany. I could note, for instance, that in every case, it is an angel of the Lord, and not the angel of the Lord. Further, in the case of Mary and Zacharias, the angel identifies himself by name. Compare and contrast that with the case of Manoah, Samson’s father, which I considered yesterday. He had asked the angel’s name and been told it was wonderful, beyond his capacity to speak. Here, however, we have Gabriel volunteering his name, and it does not seem a name beyond the speech of man.

What, if anything, should we make of this point? It is possible that Gabriel, in thus naming himself, gives a name by which men might know him, but has another which only God knows. I can think of no particular grounds for supposing this. However, we must either revise our understanding of Manoah’s encounter and accept that it was indeed a theophany, or we must suppose that some angels have names comprehensible to men and others names beyond our capacity to speak, or we must suppose that the angels have different names in heaven than are used in dealing with man. Are there other possible answers to this seeming conundrum? My inclination in this moment is to accept that it is not a matter of particular import. There are those angels whose names we are given in Scripture, and there are others whose names we never learn. So be it.

There is another insight that has been in mind these last few minutes, that I would like to explore although it is once again tangential to the topic of angels. Looking at the accounts of God’s dealings with Mary and Joseph, and His dealings with Zacharias and Elizabeth, there is something of a pattern that emerges, and I wonder if it ought not to be understood as more than just a pattern. Notice that, particularly with Mary and Joseph, God does not speak to the one and leave the other to accept the spouse’s word. Joseph was not given only the unanswerable argument of Mary saying, “God told me.”

Perhaps you’ve been in such a situation with your own spouse, or with another member of the church. It happens entirely too often that somebody will start their point with those words or words very much like it. They may seek to couch it in something a little less definite, saying, “I feel God is telling me.” And, you know, sometimes they may even be right. But, it’s an unanswerable point. How can you gainsay it, unless it has managed to clearly and bluntly contradict the written Word? Honestly, though. If your wife comes to you saying, “Honey? An angel came and chatted with me last night and told me we should sell the house and become missionaries,” how do you possibly confirm this or oppose it? On what basis would you look at her and tell her that there’s no way she was talking with an angel? Barring that, what sort of argument could you offer that’s on the same level of authority as an angelic visitation?

This is the problem I see with such an approach as prefixing this sense of God speaking to whatever pronouncement we wish to make: It winds up being a means of shutting down debate. Frankly, unless you are deadly certain that what you have to say is the word of God, so certain as to subject yourself to the full penalties of prophetic malfeasance, don’t even hint at having such authority behind you! What you have is a feeling, an opinion. It may even be a well-reasoned, Scripturally sound opinion, and you should certainly feel free to offer it, and to offer such arguments as bolster your position. But, leave the authorizing voice of God out of it unless you have actually, undeniably heard it!

As for you being faced with such an argument, I think I find in these examples a good cause not to accept it at face value. Joseph certainly was not left to accept Mary’s words on their own merit. He had confirmation of his own from God. Elizabeth, although we don’t hear of her having any visitation of this like, had the evidence of her husband’s muteness to confirm at least in some degree what had happened. If I look back through other such visitations, do I not see the same sort of mutual informing of husband and wife in these matters of direct information from heaven? We saw it with Manoah and his wife. She may have heard it first, but both were given the message. Abraham and Sarai were likewise both witnesses to the word given them. Abraham didn’t come to her with passion in his eyes and her knowing only that they were old enough to be past this amorousness. No. Both had heard what was said.

It seems to me that there is indeed more than a mere pattern to this, but something reflective of God’s Being. He is, we are told, a God of order, or of peace (1Co 14:33). He will surely not so move in pursuing His purposes amongst His children as to sow discord between them. Bear in mind that in all the cases I am considering, we’re dealing with believing couples, not the mismatched. What I am seeing, then, is that if God speaks thus directly to one spouse, He will confirm it to the other, that there be no doubt or suspicion between the two, and that there be no disunity caused. To me, this answers a longstanding concern. I have oft times worded it to the effect of, “If God wanted to speak something to me, would He not just speak it to me rather than passing it through you?” The answer is thus: If indeed I am listening to Him, and it is He Who is speaking, He will indeed speak to me even as to you. He will speak to both that both may be in one accord. But, the reality is that I often am not listening. Like David, though I be a man of God, I am not always godly. I need that outside voice of correction to break through my deafness. In such cases, at least once the fleshly reactions have subsided, the godliness of the message is plain. There is no disunity caused by such loving rebuke. Tension, yes. Fits of pique, yes. But, no disunity.

I must admit, though, that when those rebukes are prefixed with, “I feel the Lord says,” it makes it, if anything, harder to swallow. Show me the Word and I cannot but accept the validity of the message. But, come with nothing more than voices in your head? I’ll be needing something a tad more concrete – at the very least, confirming voices in my own head. And, based on this emerging pattern, I think I am on reasonable ground to take such a stance. If it is of God, we will surely both hear it. If we don’t both hear it, we may be sure it isn’t God speaking. It may yet have validity, but it doesn’t have that backing authority.

Okay, another point to take from this: Angels are clearly not limited to physical manifestations. This is rather interesting. Angels can invade our dreams, or at least such dreams as may be cast as visions. This is Joseph’s experience. He is not granted a personal, visceral audience with the angel. Repeatedly, it’s a matter of dreams. Yet, he knows no less sense of authority in the message for that. This, too, must raise a few questions for us perhaps some dark concerns.

To begin with, I think we do well not to discount the power of dream and vision, to take them too lightly. True, too much is made of them by many, but to overreact to that by rejecting such means of God speaking outright is equally invalid. God does not change. This is a foundational understanding for us, a primary support for our certain hope. If He is not changeless, then His promises have no more value than a politician’s. If He is not changeless, then we cannot know Him, cannot hope to please Him, for we are but seeking to appease a mood. If He is not changeless, we are hopeless.

I stress that because we have this mindset that, though He is changeless, much of what we hear about Him doing in Scripture is all stuff of the past, stuff He no longer does. Sure, He’s changeless, but He just doesn’t do those sorts of things anymore. The real reason for this mindset is we’ve been trained to think we’re beyond that, too advanced to fall for that kind of stuff. Miracles? Visions? Come on, man! We’re rational beings, logical to a fault. How can you expect us to continue believing such stuff and nonsense! What? Oh, certainly God’s real. But, this? This was for those primitive cultures, not us. For shame! That we should suppose ourselves so grand that God cannot function amongst us as He wills.

Listen! These things, these spiritual, mystical activities of God are real. They will be counterfeited, to be sure, and much of what is passed off as spiritual activity is likely fraudulent. God warns us of that, as well. But, the fraudulent counterfeit does not negate the real. No more would you cease spending real dollars simply because there are counterfeit dollars. The real dollar retains its real value. Why would we suppose it different with matters of spiritual gifts, angelic visitations, dreams and visions? There is a reality to these things that we do well to recognize and respect. We do so with discernment, with the acknowledged warning that fakery abounds. But, we retain the real.

Now, then: I mentioned a somewhat dark concern raised by this point. Let me get to it. If angels can indeed enter our dreams, our mental life, then does this not indicate clearly that the minions of Satan can do likewise? He is, after all, a fallen angel as are many of his cohorts, yes? What, then, applies to the good, does it not also apply to the bad? I have heard it bandied about that one reason for praying aloud, for speaking in audible tongues is that the devil can’t hear your thoughts. This would seem to countervail that opinion, wouldn’t it? If angels can interact with me in dreams and visions, then I would have to suppose that they can interact with my thoughts.

I do not raise this as a reason for us to fear the night. Far from it! No, it is quite clear from Scripture that our enemy can only operate within the bounds proscribed for him by God. Indeed, we ought to be quite well aware that these dreams and visions are the exception, not the rule. Not every dream is a message from on high, or from below. To attempt to invest every dream with the power of vision is to play the fool. Yet, many do, or at least invest more in these dreams and visions than is wise. Scripture warns us against such nonsense. “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasements, in worshiping angels, in stands taken based on visions he has seen, of which it can be said he has inflated the significance of these visions without cause, assigning spiritual validity to a fleshly mind” (Col 2:18). Yet, do not on this account discount the possibility that maybe, just maybe, God has instructions to impart in your own dreams. Only know that such instruction, while it may challenge you, will not challenge the Word. Only know that such instruction, if it impacts more than yourself, will be delivered to more than yourself.

Contemplating the examples from the book of Acts, it seems we see more to do with the mission of the angels than we do their nature. That mission, as seen there, would seem to be threefold. First, we see the angels serve in defense and protection of the saints. This is seen in the deliverance of Peter from prison (Ac 12:7-11), as well as others among the apostles (Ac 5:17-21). Second, we see the angels giving direction to God’s men. This is again evident in the scene of the apostles being delivered from prison, where they are given instruction as to what they ought to be doing with their freedom: Go and preach. It is also, of course, there in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Ac 8:26-30). Finally, there is the role of avenger, as we see in the relating of Herod’s death (Ac 12:22-23).

I should say that certainly both the protective and directive aspects of the angelic office are equally visible in those visitations experienced by Mary and Joseph, as well as Zacharias. These roles are also fully in evidence in the record of the Old Testament. In short, the activities seen in the book of Acts, and in the New Testament more generally, are not some new revealing of the angelic order. If anything, it is evidence of a particularly concentrated burst of manifest angelic activity surrounding the events of Christ on earth and the birth of His Church. I choose to stress the point of this being manifest activity, for I’ve little doubt that the activity level has been present throughout the ages, but more behind the scenes. It may be allowing my opinion to supersede the evidence at this point, but I’ll leave it as my active hypothesis, allowing for the fact that full consideration of the Scriptural record may yet cause me to discard this hypothesis.

In this brief survey of the New Testament usage of “angel of the Lord” there remains the one occasion in John’s Gospel, when he discusses the pool of Bethesda (Jn 5:3-4). If ever there was a passage in the Gospels that had the feel of mythology to it, this would probably be it. There may, perhaps, be good reason for this. It is noted that the verses in question are of dubious authenticity. In the NASB this is demonstrated in that they are included as a parenthetical statement. Other translations add a note to the point that the validity of that parenthetical statement is debatable, and others still, like the NET, remove the passage outright, leaving a footnote to explain the excision.

That said, the passage, where it is included, reads more as a statement of fact than a description of popular belief. Consider the opening of verse 4: “For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons”. It is not that people believed this to be the case. It is that this was the case. That’s the way it reads. If we take this passage as a declaration of Truth, then we are left to suppose that angels share in the healing power that was and is vested in Jesus, in the Godhead. However, this, if I am not mistaken, is a capacity not found in any other account of angelic activity. As I say, it sounds more like a description of widely held beliefs than it does a declaration of the real situation. It may be, though, that this is just my modern incredulity towards things inexplicable coloring perceptions. Were it not for the fact that the passage is so widely viewed as a spurious addition, I would be more inclined to suspect my own sensibilities intruding.

Given the state of the passage, and the uniqueness of the effect assigned to this angel, let me determine that the jury is still out. Barring further evidence confirming such activities on the part of the angels, I should be inclined to reserve this healing power to God Himself, the creator of the bodies He heals, and not a thing generally relegated to others. True, we have evidence of His earthly representatives healing, as it were, by proxy, as part of His embassy. Perhaps it could be supposed that His other ambassadors, the angels, are likewise given to heal by proxy on certain occasions.

Even then, this is more like the establishing of a miraculous hospital. Neither does it seem consistent with the character of God to play this lottery game with healing. Yet, how much of the modern practice of divine healing plays rather like the lottery seen here? Oh! You must hurry to be the first into the presence, into the visitation. He who hesitates is lost! Now, there is much to be said against passivity in pursuit of God, and that can be well supported from the events of that lame man at the pool. There is also much more that could be said in regards to his story, on the topic of ingratitude for instance. Certainly this much can be said: The reason John determined to relay these events was not to validate the theory of angelic visitation at the pool. I would also note that it the only place this particular phrasing shows up in John, and one of a very few references to angels at all in his gospel. There are but three others, and all of these are directly related to announcing Jesus, first at His birth (Jn 1:51), later as a public misunderstanding of the Father’s thundering approval of His Son (Jn 12:29), and finally, in declaring Christ restored to life (Jn 20:12). Considering only the two declared statements of angelic activity, note the majesty and significance of their assignment. They are here as heralds to the Christ, the King of all kings! These are services worthy of their office and standing. To play healthcare lotto? Not so much.

I am put in mind of Gabriel’s words to Zacharias in that one’s unbelief. “I am Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God” (Lk 1:19). We cannot hear the tenor of his voice in this statement, but the outcome of that encounter might give us a sense of what he means to say. I don’t suppose there is disdain in his voice. But, there is certainly a dignity, and a pointed rebuke of the indignity supposed by Zacharias. Zacharias, by his unbelief, has as good as accused Gabriel of lying, or if we wish to be more polite, of making this whole thing up. That statement Gabriel makes, of being in God’s presence, makes such a thing impossible. Lie to you while I am even now standing before His throne? It’s unthinkable! Oh, and let me just note that we, too, stand in that very position, though we rarely recognize the fact. Would that we took it so seriously as Gabriel did!

To my current point, though, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that there is also a sense of Gabriel making it clear that he doesn’t play games. He’s not here on some frivolous pursuit, that he might toy with Zacharias. He’s here on specific assignment by that very One before Whom he stands. Dignity: To suppose him to be other than fully and diligently on point in his mission is to deny him his dignity. It is not that he is jealous of that character of his. It is that his dignity is fully wrapped up in the fact that he is standing before God. It is God’s dignity reflected in his, and so, it is God’s dignity that is denied, that is defended.

The Angel of God (05/11/11-05/13/11)

Ge 21:17-18 – God heard Ishmael crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. “What is wrong with you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the boy’s cry. Get up, and lift him up by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

Ge 31:10-13 – In that dream, the angel of God called to me, and I answered, “Here I am.” He told me to look at the goats, and note that all the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled or mottled. He continued, “For I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed that pillar and made a vow to Me. So, arise and leave this land. Return to the land of your birth.”

Ex 14:19-20 – The angel of God, who had been before the camp of Israel, moved to the rear. And a pillar of cloud moved from before them to behind them, coming between the camps of Israel and of Egypt. That cloud was there in darkness, yet it gave light at night. So, neither camp came near the other throughout the night.

Jdg 6:20 – [the Gideon account. Already covered]

Jdg 13:6-9 – [the Samson account. Already covered]

1Sa 29:9 – Achish spoke to David, “Though you please me, and are like an angel of God to me, still my commanders have said that you must not go with us to battle against Israel.”

2Sa 14:17-20 – “May the king’s words be comforting, for my lord the king is like the angel of God in discerning good and evil. And may the Lord your God be with you.” The king told her to speak freely in reply to his questions, and she acceded. So, he asked, “Is this Joab’s doing?” She answered, “Truly, my lord the king, nobody can hide the truth from you. Yes, your servant Joab commanded me, and told me all that I should say to you, so that you might see his actions in a different light. But my lord is wise, with wisdom like the angel of God, to know all that happens in the earth.”

2Sa 19:27 – [Mephibosheth to David] My lord the king is like the angel of God, so do as seems good to you.

Ac 10:3-8 – Cornelius clearly saw an angel of God in a vision. He came to him and told him his prayers and offerings had ascended before God, and he ought now to send some men to find Peter in Joppa. He told him where exactly Peter would be found. Then the angel departed, and Cornelius summoned two of his servants, together with a soldier who was himself devout, told them the instructions he had just received and sent them off to Joppa.

Gal 4:14b – You received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.

As concerns the angels, there does not seem to be anything new in the use of this phrase, with the exception of the passage from Exodus, which I’ll get to momentarily. There is that same variation of use, with some cases seeming clearly to refer to God Himself, others not, and many uncertain in that regard. There is the same capacity of angelic appearances in dreams and visions, as we see with Cornelius (Ac 10:3-8), and with Jacob (Ge 31:10-13), although in Jacob’s case it seems likely that it was God Himself making an appearance by dream. In general, then, it seems that the angel of the Lord, the angel of God, the angel period are used quite interchangeably. We saw that in the unfolding of many of the narratives pursued in regard to the first of these phrases. In fact, we have seen all three used in the course of one such narrative.

There is one way, however, in which the usage of ‘angel of God’ is used which is never seen with ‘angel of the Lord’, and that is the way we see it applied as a descriptive for David. Three times we see this happen. “You are like an angel of God” (1Sa 22:9, 2Sa 14:17, 2Sa 19:27). This could be taken as showing a certain higher regard for that other phrase, ‘angel of the Lord’. It could also be the distinction between Yahweh and Elohim, where the former term emphasizes rule and lordship and the latter emphasizes primacy. There seem to be slightly differing meanings present in the way the three users of this adjectival phrase use it. On the tongue of Achish, it’s unlikely that he was describing David as his superior, for Achish was king and David but a foreign soldier in his army. More likely, Achish is referring to a sense of outsized knowledge, of cunning wisdom in David, for David had been a very successful commander for him, seemingly able to think the thoughts of his enemies and thereby outsmart them.

This same sort of meaning seems to be in view with Joab’s messenger to David. She is indeed rather explicit as to the nature of comparison she is making. In his capacity to discern good and evil, to perceive the hidden things. Indeed, she proceeds to say, “nobody can hide the truth from you.” Let’s pause on that thought for just a moment. Is this an ability we are right to place in the arsenal of the angels, this capacity for seeing the hidden thought, the hidden motive? If so, it is a further cause to revise our estimate of not only their abilities, but also those of our enemy and his minions. If not, then it would suggest that the phrase at hand is a circumlocution for attempting an even higher point of comparison. The latter is certainly fitting with the Jewish character. One would not so much as speak the Lord’s name, nor spell it in any language for concern over using it inappropriately. One would certainly not speak of any mere man as being like God. Nor would any man of sense allow such a comparison to stand! Look how well that played out for Herod, after all!

But, to speak to David of his being like an angel of God, even though the characteristics being compared would seem to be attributes better relegated to God alone, allows the comparison to be made without fear, and to be received without fear. At least, so would go the thinking of the time. A more appropriate sensitivity would seem to require that the intent that is clear in the comparison would disallow any willingness to accept the comparison. But it seems no harm came of it, so I might suppose it was acceptable.

Let’s take it back on that other tack, though. If this is really meant as a comparison to the angels as opposed to God, then we are seeing three major attributes assigned to them: There is the wisdom and might displayed in Achish’s appraisal of David’s military value. There is the discernment displayed in this woman’s measure of David’s ability to see through her deception. Then, there is the statement made by Mephibosheth. It could be that he means much the same as the woman did, given that he has just relayed how his own servant had been able to deceive him (2Sa 19:26-27). On the other hand, he may well have much more in mind, for in a very real sense, David held the power of life and death when it came to Mephibosheth. As descendent of the king David replaced, he had every reason to expect that David or one of his agents would dispose of him. And, being lame, he was hardly in a position to defend himself against any such attack. Neither, in that condition, did he have much reason to hope for a place at the royal table, even if lineage were not a consideration.

Let’s take one more look at that passage, though. Notice the immediate predicate for Mephibosheth’s comparative statement. “Moreover, he [that servant] has slandered your servant [me] to my lord the king.” Then, he immediately adds the notice, “However, you are like the angel of God, so do what you see as good.” This tilts me back towards the aspect of discernment. Yes, David holds power over Mephibosheth, and yes he, as king, holds a place of primacy at least in the earthly realm. However, there are these things to counterbalance that perspective. First, David had already demonstrated a remarkable capacity for clemency in this man’s case, had gone out of his way to preserve him alive out of a respect and love for Jonathon. Second, David’s devotion to God was clear and common knowledge. This is not to say David was without sin, obviously. But, his proclivity for submitting his plans and purposes to God, and seeking God on all things was proverbial even then. David may have held primacy in his earthly realm, but nobody could doubt for a moment his clear sense that he, too, was a man under authority, that his reign and rule depended utterly upon the support of God Most High, of this very Elohim whose angel he is being compared to.

The three combined lead me towards viewing discernment as the primary point of comparison, a common denominator to the three occasions. That discernment is close-coupled to wisdom, as we learn from Solomon’s story. What was it that made his wisdom so renowned? He could see through. He could get to the bottom of the story and cause the good and the evil to be clearly seen. Things could not be hidden from his perception. It is this same clarity of perception that is assigned to David in all three cases. Again, I am returned to the question of whether this is an attribute reserved to God or an attribute understood as applying also to the angels.

If it is fitly applied to angels, then we can suppose that they have that capacity to a degree that excels even that of David and of Solomon. After all, as Gabriel proclaims: “I stand before the throne of God.” Even if he does not have that ability to perceive the inner thought, the motivation, he has his ear to the One Who does. If we consider the spiritual gift of discernment as applies to man, should we not understand this same causation? It is not that the man is suddenly granted some telepathic ability to read the thoughts and feelings of those he encounters. It is that there is One who, as it were, whispers the truth in his ear, makes known to him what it is that the other keeps hid within. David is surely no different in this regard, nor Solomon his son.

This strikes me as being that wisdom which James speaks of as “wisdom from above” (Jas 3:15-17), and such wisdom, according to his writing, has certain specifics to it. It is pure. It is peaceable. It is gentle, reasonable, and full of mercy and goodness. Nor is there any doubt or duplicity to be found in the expression of such wisdom. That last alone would suffice to distinguish this sort of wisdom from the wisdom of man. The best of man’s knowledge and understanding remains ever subject to change. The scientific method, for all its value, rarely if ever gets us beyond theory. It cannot arrive at impervious fact. It reveals the clearest understanding at the time, but time very often proceeds to prove that understanding utterly incorrect. The wisdom from above is never thus. What it perceives as truth, declares as truth, remains Truth unchanging.

I belabor this point for a reason. If we are to attribute this power directly to the angels, this power to see the inward thought – indeed to invade the inward thought, if I add that issue of their populating dreams and visions – then I must assign that same capacity to those angels which fell. That, if it applies, is a fearsome thought. To suppose that our adversary can thus perceive our every thought, our every motivation, can play us like a fiddle, is not something I’d wish to contemplate.

I recall a sermon from very early in my years as a believer. The devil, that preacher said, has but one avenue of attack, and that’s the mind. It’s something that’s stuck with me. His biggest weapon, if not his only one, is to plant those thoughts in us that will fester and grow into a malignant cancer of sin. To him we could attribute our propensity to welcome all temptation. To him we could attribute our propensity to doubt the power of God. To him we could attribute our unwillingness to really stand up and stand out for Jesus. We could… but would it be right to do so? Seems to me that assigns way too much importance to him, almost becomes a form of that very worship he so craves. No. I am inclined to think we ought to cease from looking for some outside cause for our own moral failures, and accept that we do these things quite competently and freely without his assistance.

Furthermore, I could not the buffeting that Paul spoke of in his own case: a thorn in the flesh. That is not a mental attack, is it? Whatever it may have been, it certainly has the sound of a physical affliction, some manner of chronic ailment. We could add to this the several cases of demonic possession that Jesus dealt with, which also had certain physical manifestations to them, whether in deafness, muteness, blindness or palsy. No doubt, these things can have purely physical causes as well, but the fact remains that by the testimony of God in the flesh, there are cases which are of demonic sourcing. Again, these are not merely mental assaults. The afflictions are not psychosomatic. They are quite real.

Where am I left with this? I suppose it’s inconclusive. That our enemy can get inside us in a very real sense seems clear enough. That we ought not to give him any great amount of credit for our own moral failings also seems very clear. As to the capacity for discerning the hidden thought, for inhabiting the dreamscape, the realm of vision, I think the evidence a bit more murky. Is it a firsthand ability, or a delegated knowledge from God Most High? If they are in the dreams is it because they are really present, or because this is part of the vision God Himself has woven? I will say, though, that barring evidence to the contrary, whatever we find we can assign to the abilities of the angels must be assumed as an ability of our soul’s enemies as well.

One last aspect of the passages utilizing this phrase ‘angel of God’ remains that I should wish to pursue. That is the unique usage I see from Exodus 14:19-20. Here, there seems to be a direct parallel being drawn between the angel of God and the pillar of cloud and fire which was clearly the manifest presence of God Himself. At least that is my reading of the thing. Then angel of God, which had been going before the camp, moved to take up a rearguard position. And this point is followed with, “and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.” This strikes me as a standard bit of Jewish parallelism, the two statements describe a single point.

Having been required to stop on that thought yesterday, I’ve had the evening to think about my statement. I said the pillar was ‘clearly the manifest presence of God Himself.’ However, it strikes me that this may only be clear because it is assumed. In reality, if I look a little farther on in that chapter, I find the text saying, “The Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud” (Ex 14:24). That would seem to imply that the pillar was not a manifestation of God’s presence, and perhaps not even of an angelic presence. It is interesting, though, to find such an ingrained presupposition as regards that pillar. It comes, I think, of the closing words of the preceding chapter. “And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light. Thus they were able to travel both day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor of fire by night, from before the people” (Ex 13:21-22).

The picture becomes rather more confused now. The Lord goes, but the angel of God is there. He goes in the pillar, but He is not the pillar. He looks through the pillar. Okay, granted that the author is seeking to describe that which defies description, seeking to put the incomprehensible into comprehensible words. So, we must assume a degree of personification and imprecision in how these events are relayed to us. After all, it is unlikely that God held a class with Moses at some point to explain the exact relationship of all these things. Neither, it strikes me, was Moses likely to be asking about such fine points of theology. He had rather more urgent concerns to occupy himself with. It does strike me, though, that after all this, he would still be asking God to show him His face. That is the expressed desire of one who has not yet seen His face, even after talking with Him ‘face to face’ all those years.

The upshot of this would seem to be that, though we may have grounds for supposing that God and the angel of God are, in this instance, one and the same (and even that is subject to some debate), the pillar itself should not be seen as a manifestation of God. It is assuredly a very fine and unmistakable evidence of His involvement, even His nearness and presence. But, it is not Himself. It behooves me, I think, to consider that more completely.

The signs are not God. The miracles are not God. They are evidence of Him, but they are not Him. If this holds with such an incredible thing as this moving pillar that shifts from cloud to fire and back again as the need dictates, and that also moves across the desert to stand as a signpost that could not possibly be missed; if this marvel is not God made manifest, then certainly those exercises of the and miracles that we have perhaps witnessed in our day are surely not God either. Oh, but to what degree have we who accept the validity of these modern day manifestations vested in them more than we ought?

It strikes me more and more of late that in large part, those portions of the church that lean toward the charismatic or Pentecostal side raise up the gifts and the miraculous to a completely untoward level, to a level that borders on the idolatrous if it has not long since stepped over that line. If this is the case, it is a deadly serious problem. I come back to that serpentine standard that Moses was told to raise up in the desert for one specific occasion to deal with the fallout from one particular outbreak of sin amongst the people of God. But, we learn that this standard was then preserved for all time, and what happened? People began to idolize the standard, to develop a bit of a cult following for the serpentine standard, and in doing so, they left God. The upshot was that this standard had to be destroyed, because it was leading God’s people astray. Yet again, a thing granted for the good of the people had been made by the people a grounds for sin, and God must purge it from their midst lest the damage spread.

I know I have considered before, but it bears consideration again in this light: The temple, the holy city, Shechem before that, Shiloh, even the ark of the covenant: All of these were markers of God’s involvement, His intimate care for His people. All of these stood as representations of His presence amongst His people. Over and over, God says, “I will dwell among the sons of Israel” (Ex 25:8, for example). There, he is making the point that this is why the tabernacle is to be made: as a statement of His presence. But, the tabernacle is not His presence. The temple was not His presence. Those places which He marked out as the particular places where one ought to meet with Him, whether Mount Sinai or Jerusalem or Shiloh or Shechem: None of these were Him. All of these, as time progressed, took on a significance to the people that exceeded the God they were intended to remind the people of. All of these became idols, and God was, as it were, forced to eliminate them, lest His people be led further astray.

Arguably, all of these things were but for a time and a season, and only vested with permanence in the thoughts of man. So, too, it strikes me, with God’s favor upon this nation or that. There is a season of blessing upon the nation, and it seems the nation inevitably begins to take that blessing for granted. But, nations are for a time, and God decrees that time. In the time that the nation loses sight of God and presumes to be master of its own destiny and all but eternal in its own right, know that His favor has departed, and the closing days of that nation approach swiftly!

This same pattern emerges rather strikingly in the history of the Church itself. The Church finds itself established in a certain pattern, and becomes perhaps too comfortable in that pattern. It ceases to function in dependency upon God, and becomes a complacent participant in the ways of the world. Reform happens. Sometimes reform happens from within. Sometimes it is thrust upon the Church from without. Look at the history! See that where once the Church was powerful we find it fading from the pages of history. Yet, at the same time, we discover it is flourishing anew in some unexpected corner of the world. What has happened? Man has presumed too much, and God has required that he learn once more that it is God Who is in control, not man. Man has made an idol of his chosen order of worship, his chosen organization of the church body, and has left God rather out of the equation.

One looks at the self-destruction of certain of the mainline Protestant denominations in our own day and yes, there is a sadness in standing witness to the event, a deep sorrow. But, surprise? There ought not to be. Whenever the body becomes too august and self-reliant, too full of itself, it must become empty of God, and God will not be mocked, certainly not by that which claims to stand as His representation on earth.

Surely, the same must also be said of those branches which pride themselves in the free exercise of the gifts. Just look back at the church of Corinth. If ever there was a church proud of its charismatic prowess, this was it! And what did it earn them? It earned them a stern rebuke and lengthy discipline from the very apostle to the Gentiles! Why? Because the gifts had become an idol, and God was left almost completely out of it. They weren’t worshiping God. They weren’t honoring God. They were entertaining themselves.

This may actually be the greater danger of the gifts in the hands of fallen man. It’s not that they are subject to counterfeit and fakery. It’s that they draw our attention away from the One we ought ever to be focused on. The pillar seems likely to have had a similar effect. It was there. It was visceral. It was monumental, and the eye could hardly help but be drawn to it. But, did it continue to remind of God’s involvement in the present? Or, did it become in thought the actual power? Did the pillar become the point? No doubt it did for many, particularly after that spectacular defeat of the Egyptian army. Look what the pillar did! It required Moses to sing a particularly mighty praise, that the people might remember that it was not the pillar that acted, but God.

So, with the gifts. For all our careful assigning to God the things that transpire, it’s not really God we’re thinking of, but the things that transpire. Oh, listen! A prophecy! Bow in silence before it. Indeed, let us go forth and seek out prophecy, turn our eyes and ears to the broadcasting thereof. Aha! A healing ministry! Let us go on pilgrimage to meet the man in charge. Oho! Gold dust falls from the sky, bars of light dance during worship, all manner of inexplicable (and unsupportable) manifestations. Let’s go see! Oh, it’s possible that some of this is legitimate. It’s possible, as well, that some of those who pursue the spiritual hotspots actually do so in a desire to draw nearer to God. But even those with purist motive at the outset are likely to discover themselves far afield eventually, and wondering how they got there.

It is possible – I don’t say this as some theological certainty, but simply note a certain similarity – that the gifts as evidence of God’s nearness and involvement may likewise have been a matter given for a specific time in history. It is possible that they were intended, as that serpentine pillar, as the temple, as so many things, as a provision for the moment that man took to be a permanent installation. I cannot say that I read anything in the New Testament account that would require one to understand the gifts as having passed from experience. Indeed, I would have to say that on at least some rare occasions I could claim to have experienced the activity of these gifts in a fashion clearly not counterfeit in nature. I would say that’s been the exception, probably, rather than the rule. But, they are things. They are icons after their own fashion. They are to be used, but they are not to be exalted. They are to be accepted, but not so much pursued.

I say that with a keen awareness of Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians. There is a sense, particularly amongst those more enamored of the charismatic gifts, that he is instructing us to pursue such practices, that he is telling us we ought to do whatever we can to become exercisers of the gifts. My, but how we need to read without coloring the word with the crayon of personal opinion! “Earnestly desire the greater gifts”, he writes (1Co 12:30). And immediately, he launches into a litany to the primacy of love. Is this not the greater gift to which he is directing the church? Returning from that litany, Paul says, “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophecy” (1Co 14:1). Is he, then, placing the gifts above love? No. They remain subservient. We cannot come through the message of chapter 13 without recognizing that all these gifts either serve the goal of love of God and man or they are nothing. As to his promoting prophecy over other matters, his reason is made clear in 1Corinthians 14:4. One who prophesies edifies the church. He is, if truly prophesying, outwardly focused, and of value to the body at large. He must be. For, if he truly prophesies, he is speaking God’s thoughts. He is otherwise a liar of the most dangerous sort, but let us stick with the valid.

Overall, it strikes me that Paul is not particularly arguing for a greater presence of the gifts in the life of the church, but rather almost a subduing of the gifts. At the very least, they are to be exercised in orderly fashion, within bounds. The charismata are not an opportunity for a spiritual free for all. They either serve the body, submit to the primacy of love and thus to God, or they serve as an idolatrous distraction. This is, I think, where I shall leave the discussion at present, for it is also become a distraction from the purpose of this phase of study.

Angels in General - Old Testament (05/14/11-05/15/11)

Ge 18:1-19:15 – The Lord appeared to Abraham under the oaks of Mamre. He was sitting in the door of his tent when he saw three men coming. He ran to meet them, bowing before them, and invited them to come for refreshments, to which they acceded. Abraham set Sarah to making bread while he selected a calf to have his servants prepare. He set all this before his guests. They asked after his wife, and he said she was in the tent. And he [text switches to singular] said he would return next year and that Sarah would have a son by that time. Sarah, hearing this, laughed at the thought that she, old as she was, would bear a child. The Lord [Yahweh] heard and asked why she laughed, saying, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?” Sarah denied that she had laughed for fear of the man, but He insisted she had. The men left for Sodom, and Abraham walked with them to send them off. The Lord spoke to Abraham about what was coming upon Sodom and Gomorrah. The men went on as Abraham and the Lord continued speaking. Abraham pled for mercy on those cities, yet he knew that God was right about their wickedness. Having promised He would stay the destruction were so few as ten righteous men found there, the Lord left and Abraham went back to his tent. (19:1) The two angels, meanwhile reached Sodom in the evening and met Lot in the gate. Lot likewise bowed to them and invited them to his house. They at first declined, saying they would just stay in the square, but Lot insisted, and they relented. He made them a feast and they ate. Before they had retired for the night, men from the city cam surrounding Lot’s house insisting that he send out the two men that they might have their way with those two. They became belligerent when Lot refused to comply, and all but broke the door in their effort against him. But the men in his house drew Lot back inside and shut the door. Then, they struck those in the doorway with a blindness so great they could no longer locate the door. Then, they told Lot why they were in the city and warned him to get his relations out of town to avoid the destruction. Lot spoke to his sons-in-law, who were yet to marry his daughters and warned them, but they thought he was joking. In the morning, the angels urged Lot to go swiftly, he and his wife and his daughters, but he was hesitant. So the two took Lot and his ladies in hand, for the Lord’s compassion was upon him, and they pretty much dragged the group out of the city.

Ge 24:40 – Abraham had said to me, “the Lord before Whom I have walked will send His angel with you to ensure your success. You will surely find a wife for my son among my relatives.”

Ge 28:12-15 – Jacob dreamt of a ladder between heaven and earth, angels ascending and descending on it. And he saw the Lord standing above it, and the Lord said, “I am the Lord, God of your father Abraham and God of Isaac. I will give this land where you are lying to your descendants, and they shall be as numerous as the dust of the earth, spreading to the four horizons. In you and your descendants, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And I am with you. I will keep you. And wherever you go, I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until this promise has been fulfilled.”

Ge 32:1 – As Jacob departed Laban, the angels of God met him.

Ge 48:15-16 – [the blessing on Joseph] The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. May I live on through them, and my fathers Abraham and Isaac as well. And may they become multitudinous on the earth.

Ex 23:20-23 – I am going to send an angel ahead of you to guard your way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Guard yourself in his presence, and obey him. Don’t rebel against him for he will not pardon your crime as My name is in him. If you obey him completely, I will be enemy to your enemies. For My angel will precede you through the lands of the several ites, and I will destroy them utterly.

Ex 32:34-33:2 – Go lead these people as I told you. My angel shall continue to go before you. Even so, I shall surely punish this people for their sins. Now go, you and those you brought out of Egypt. God to the land I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the ites.

2Sa 24:17 – Then David spoke to the Lord, seeing the angel was striking down the people. He confessed his own sins, and sought the safety of the people.

1Ki 19:5 – Elijah fell asleep under a juniper, and woke to an angel telling him to get up and eat.

Job 4:17-19 – Can man be just before God? He doesn’t even trust His servants the angels, charging even them with error. So, how much more likely this outcome for those who live in the clay, whose foundation is dust. [Spoken by Eliphaz]

Job 33:23-26 – If there is an angel to mediate for him, to remind him what is right for him, then let him be gracious. Say to him, “Deliver him from the pit. I have found a ransom!” Restore him to the vigor of youth. Then he will pray to God and God will accept him. Then he will see God’s face with joy, and God will restore His righteousness to man. [Spoken by Elihu]

Ps 78:25 – Man once ate the bread of angels, which God sent in abundance.

Ps 78:49 – God sent His burning anger: Fury, indignation and trouble. He sent a band of destroying angels.

Ps 91:11 – He will charge His angels concerning you, to guard you wherever you go. They will bear you upon their hands lest you strike your foot on a stone.

Ps 103:20-21 – Bless the Lord, you His angels, you mighty in strength who perform His command and obey His voice! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, who serve Him and do His will.

Ps 148:2, 5 – Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, all His hosts! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.

Isa 63:9 – In all the affliction of His people, He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them. He redeemed them in love and mercy. He lifted them and carried them as long as history remembers.

Dan 4:13-17 – In mental visions, I beheld an angelic watcher, a holy one come from heaven. He spoke loudly, saying, “Chop down the tree! Cut off its branches, strip its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from its shadows, and the birds from its branches. But, leave the stump. Leave its roots. Nevertheless, band it round with iron and bronze. Let the dews drench him and let him share the grass with the animals. Let his mind be changed from a man’s mind to that of a beast for seven periods of time. That is the sentence decreed by the angelic watchers. That is the command of the holy ones, that the living will know that the Most High rules over the realm of mankind, giving the run of it to whom He wills, and setting over it the lowliest of men.”

Dan 4:23-25 – When you saw that angelic watcher, that holy one, and heard his message, O king, it was to tell you of the decree of the Most High. These things will come upon my lord the king, and you will be driven away from mankind to dwell amongst the beasts until you finally realize that the Most High rules the realms of mankind, and gives them to whom He chooses.

Dan 6:22 – My God sent His angel to shut the lions’ mouths. They have not harmed me for I was innocent before Him. Neither have I committed any crime towards you, O king.

Hos 12:4-6 – Jacob indeed wrestled with the angel and even prevailed. He wept, seeking God’s favor, and found God at Bethel, where He spoke with us. Yes, the Lord, the God of hosts! The Lord is His name! So, return to your God and pursue kindness and justice. Wait for your God continually.

Zech 2:3-4 – The angel who had been speaking with me was leaving when he was met by another angel coming to speak with him. This second angel told him, “Run and speak to that man! Tell him that Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of both men and cattle living there.”

Zech 4:1-6 – The angel speaking to me returned, rousing me as if from sleep. He said, “What do you see?” I saw a lampstand with a golden bowl at its top, and seven lamps upon it, with spouts. I saw also two olive trees beside it, one to either side. Then, I asked the angel, “What are these things, my lord?” The angel replied, “Don’t you know?” I said, “No, my lord.” So he explained that it was a message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit”. That was the message from the Lord of hosts.

Zech 5:5-6:7 – The angel who was speaking with me went out, saying, “Look up now. See what this is which goes forth.” I said, “What is it?” “This is the ephah going forth. This is their appearance throughout the land.” Now a lead cover was lifted up, and revealed a woman sitting in the ephah. “This is Wickedness!” said the angel, and threw her down in the midst of the ephah, and sealed the opening with lead once more. I looked again, and two women were coming on the wind with wings. Their wings were like those of storks, and the bore the ephah up between heaven and earth. I asked the angel where they were taking that ephah, and he said, they were going to build a temple to the woman of Wickedness out in the land of Shinar, where she would be placed on her own pedestal. I then saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains of bronze. The first chariot had a team of red horses, the second black, the third white and the fourth dappled. I asked the angel what it signified, and he told me. “These are the four spirits of heaven, gone forth after standing before the Lord of the whole earth. They go out to the four horizons, and when they are sent, they are eager to go patrol the earth, as He commands them.” And this, they do.

What, if anything, is added to our understanding by these additional references to angels? Well, from the account of Abraham and Sarah, we discover that angels can eat, for whatever value that might have to us. It at least serves to balance any misconception we might have developed from their refusal to eat on other occasions. The point, then, was not that they could not, but that the acknowledgement of God was more important. In the case of Abraham, it seems that the Lord was present with the angels, so there was no immediate need to defer or re-orient the focus of those they met. That may very well be the sum total of the matter, that they would not in any way accept honor, feeling that all of man’s honor ought properly to be directed to their Lord God.

Abraham’s encounter also bolsters the point that neither the Lord nor His angels are necessarily recognizable as such, at least upon first encounter. In this case, we are not told when Abraham clued in. But, it is clear that he first took them to be simply a group of men. One offers hospitality to visitors. One offers rather more to God. Neither could one reasonably suppose that Sarah would have been laughing at the message had she recognized that it was God Himself sitting outside the tent with her husband. Perhaps that moment when He said, “Is anything impossible for God?” was the moment of recognition. Yet, even then, we don’t find Abraham or Sarah overawed by the realization. Of all those of whom we read these encounters, it seems like these two are the only couple that did not come away convinced of their own demise. Of course, with such a promise as was delivered to them, it would have been a rather foolish conclusion to draw. But, I would venture that their calm acceptance of God with us was maybe more to do with that sacrifice of covenant God had already made with Abraham before. Abraham knew God. It was that knowledge that allowed him to approach God with respect, and yet with a boldness of request.

From Psalm 148, I garner the fact that angels share this much in common with man: They, too, are created beings. They, too, therefore have every cause to praise God. This is not to declare that they are our equals. It is, however, a keen reminder to us that they are not the rightful objects of our worship. He whom they themselves worship is the only One worthy of ours.

That said, there is one overwhelmingly clear message to receive from what Scriptures tell us about these angelic beings: They are not ours to command. I have seen absolutely nothing in all that I have reviewed thus far that would give the least support to our supposing we can call them into position, send them on mission, or any other such thing. If anything, it seems abundantly clear that the case is exactly opposite such thinking. Angels, being as they are agents of God’s own authority, are to be heeded and obeyed. Think about the instructions given to Moses there on the Exodus journey. “Guard yourself in his presence, and obey him. Don’t rebel against him for he will not pardon your crime as My name is in him” (Ex 23:21). That’s pretty strongly stated, don’t you think? Don’t rebel against him, because it’s not in him to even consider pardon. Why? Because My name is in him. He is acting on My full authority.

I considered already how this angel and the pillar of fire and God Himself relate. This seems to clarify the case somewhat, though. This angel, this pillar, were not God. That still leaves possible that the pillar and the angel were one, and this seems not unreasonable. It’s also a pretty convincing argument for heeding God’s instructions. A being that towers like that, that can shift form from cloud to flame, and can move about: is that really a being you’d willingly cross?

The point resounds, and the Psalmists reinforce it. The angels are God’s to command and His alone. They serve Him and do His will. I cannot help but think once more of that commander that Joshua encountered. Here was the man set in charge of all Israel, and placed there by the word of God Himself. But, when he encountered this commander, he recognized immediately that he was subordinate to the commander. This mighty one, and the host he represented, was not Joshua’s to direct, but Joshua’s to obey. Again, unless something arises in considering the New Testament’s treatment on the subject, I must conclude that this situation has not been changed, and will not this side of the Second Advent.

Angels in General - Gospels (05/16/11-05/17/11)

Lk 2:15 – When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds determined to go to Bethlehem immediately and see the things the Lord had revealed to them.

Mt 4:6, Lk 4-9:11 – If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down. For it is written that He will give His angels charge concerning You; that they will bear You up on their hands lest Your foot strike a stone.

Mt 4:11, Mk 1:13 – The devil left Him, and angels came to minister to Him. Forty days He was in the wilderness, tempted by Satan, company to wild beasts, and ministered to by angels.

Jn 1:51 – Truly I tell you that you will see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Mt 13:39-43 – The enemy that sowed those tares is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angles. Just as the tares are gathered and burned, so the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels and they will gather all stumbling blocks out of His kingdom, all who are lawless, and cast them into the fiery furnace. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.

Mt 13:49 – At the end of the age, the angels will come take the wicked out from among the righteous.

Mt 16:27 – The Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory, with His angels. He will repay each man as his deeds deserve.

Mt 18:10 – Don’t dare to despise one of these children, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in My Father’s presence in heaven.

Mk 8:38, Lk 9:26 – Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous, sinful place, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of Him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

Lk 12:8-9 – Of everyone who confesses Me before men, I say: The Son of Man will likewise confess him before the angels of God. As to those who deny Me before men, they shall be denied before God’s angels.

Lk 15:10 – There is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.

Lk 16:22 – When the poor man died he was carried to Abraham’s bosom by the angels.

Mt 22:30, Mk 12:25, Lk 20:36 – The resurrected are like the angels in that they do not marry. Neither can they die anymore. They are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

Mt 24:31-36, Mk 13:27-32 – He will send His angels forth to the sound of a great trumpet. They will gather His elect from the ends of the earth, from one end of the sky to the other. So, learn from the fig tree. When it first puts forth leaves, you know summer is near. Just so, when you see these signs, know that He is near, at the door. I tell you, this generation will pass away but My words shall not. Still, no on knows the day or the hour of these events, not angels in heaven nor even the Son, but the Father alone.

Mt 25:31-32 – When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, and the nations will be brought before Him and He will separate them out, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Mt 25:41 – He will say to those on His left, “Depart from My presence, accursed ones! Into the eternal fire with you, together with the devil and his angels.”

Mt 26:53-54 – Do you suppose I could not make appeal to My Father? Did I so, He would surely set twelve legions and more of angels at My disposal immediately! But, how would Scripture then be fulfilled? It must happen this way.

Jn 20:11-13 – Mary was outside the tomb weeping and stooped to look inside. There she beheld tow angels in white, one sitting at the head and one at the feet of that place where Jesus had been lying. They asked her why she wept, and she told them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve laid Him.”

Lk 24:22-24 – Some women of our number came with this shocking story of how they had gone to the tomb early in the morning and found His body missing. They came back telling us how they had seen a vision of angels claiming that He was alive. Some of us went out to the tomb and found that it was just as the women had said. But, nobody saw Him.

There are a few things to be stressed in what we find said of angels in the Gospel record. The most important point I see is that they God’s angels. Inasmuch as they are God’s they are Jesus’. They serve Him. They answer to Him. They are at His command. Note this well. When they appear to Mary, to Joseph, to the shepherds, they appear to announce Jesus, to make certain that His birth is brought about according to plan, to ensure His safety until the human body in which He has been born is grown enough for Him to hold His own.

One side effect of this point that I should like to note is how this serves to seal the point that Jesus knew Who He is. This is particularly evident in Matthew’s account, which would make sense, given that he is primarily addressing a Jewish audience. If any group would need stronger proofs that this man was God – a thought unthinkable! – it would be them. So, we see it stated: “The Son of Man will send forth His angels” (Mt 13:41), “The Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels” (Mt 16:27). This is establishing a point, declaring an equation. The Son of Man’s angels, His to command; This in the Father’s glory, His Father’s glory. Get it, guys. He Is I AM. This is repeatedly stressed, that the angels are His to command, that they go forth on His bidding and shall right up to that final day. They do as He commands, bringing the nations before Him, and taking out the trash, all by His order alone. Once again I find absolutely no grounds for us to suppose we can do so.

The second point we find in this coverage is that the devil does indeed have angels of his own. The particular terms by which I’ve been searching the Scriptures do not turn up the Old Testament account of his fall from heaven, or of the host that joined him in his fall, but this will suffice to make the point. There are two things I would say on this matter, perhaps three. First, as I have already commented in the course of this study, if there are angels in the service of our enemy, we do well to remain mindful that what we read of those angels in Jesus’ service must apply equally well to those serving our enemy. To this I would add one counterpoint, though, lest we allow fear to creep in: In the final tally, Jesus is in control even of these fallen ones. They may act willfully and rebelliously, seeking ever and always to throw off His rule, but they cannot. No more can they exceed the bounds set by His authority than could Satan in harassing Job, no more than the sea can exceed the bounds He has set, when He said, “Thus far and no further” (Job 38:11). As with the waves, so with these fallen ones.

The fact that there are fallen ones tells us one other thing that we ought to take to heart. Angels are not perfect. Like the greatest heroes of the Bible, they are flawed beings. If they remain true it is by God’s grace, just as it is with us. If there was a time in which the angels could pride themselves in their fidelity to God’s service, that time surely passed with Satan’s fall from grace. As Paul warns us, so it was with them: “There, but for the grace of God go I.” No. They were just as capable of sin as was Adam, and perhaps more terrible yet in their capacity for great harm in falling.

Let me just add a corollary to that. If they’ve no room for pride, then surely we have no room for it either! Even in that time when we are restored to our fullness as sons of God, there will be no place for pride, not in comparison with each other, not in comparison with the fallen, and not with the angels. How can there be any place for pride when all must recognize that their presence before the throne of the Perfect and Holy God has been arranged and preserved by His power and His power alone?

All of this combined serves to underline the point that these are not beings for us to worship or hold in reverential awe, even as we are assuredly to respect and heed them as God’s messengers. In that regard, it strikes me that to whatever degree we would honor and obey the angels, we ought to honor and obey our pastors in equal part, for they are likewise messengers bearing God’s word and command to us. We find, with this review, no grounds for adjudicating any sense that maybe the pastor’s a tad less binding as he’s a tad more fallible. Not at all. I cannot, with this, advocate blind unquestioning obedience to the pastor, anymore than I would advocate blind unquestioning obedience to whatever spiritual sensations one might experience and deem to be angelic in origin. No! The warnings of Scripture are too clear to allow any such thing. We shall, I’m sure, be encountering Paul’s warnings in that regard in the next portion of study, but for now, suffice it to take note that, as I said, our enemy and his minions have much in common with the hosts at Jesus’ command, so far as capabilities go. That invites, almost assures, counterfeiting operations, attempts to delude the faithful with messages of seeming validity that are, however, pure misinformation and lies from the father of lies.

My point in this is simply that apart from God, all information is fallible, every bearer of even His Word is fallible. I return to my favored adage from the Pilgrims, and resolve myself once more to follow no man (not even myself) farther than he follows God. How do we measure this? By the Word in which He has perfectly revealed Himself; by a continued devotion to studying that Word so as to know it and so as to recognize the counterfeit by its failure to align with it; and by praying His wisdom imparted to me, that I might not only know how to live in accord with His Word, but find it in myself to actually do so.

Having mentioned how Matthew’s text reflects his purpose, even in covering the angels, I would make a similar point with regard to John’s coverage of angelic activities. This, it seems to me, is far and away less prevalent than the other Gospels. There is but the one reference to the angel of the Lord, and that questionable, and there are only a few mentions of angels in any other regard. In fact, in terms of real appearances of angels, there is only the reference to those two at Jesus’ tomb. This, it strikes me, is likewise reflective of John’s purpose in writing, and the issues prevalent in the time he wrote. Those issues, as we sense from his letters, are not unlike much of what Paul was countering – the incursion of Gnostic thinking into the church. Given the propensity of that thinking for dealing in emanations and layers of spirit life, it’s perhaps not surprising to find John downplaying this aspect of the events of Jesus’ ministry.

I suppose a similar point could be made about Luke, that he is more comfortable writing of such angelic interventions. Perhaps its his Greek upbringing. The idea of such injections of the heavenly realms into the affairs of man would seem almost commonplace to one raised on Greek mythology as truth. To such a one, the events of Jesus early days might seem more like the truth upon which the fabrications of mythology had been based, the real that shimmered behind the haze of invention.

I want to go back, though, to that earlier mention of angels in John’s account. Here, we are brought to the words of Jesus Himself, addressing one of His own, Nathanael. Nathanael has been amazed to learn that Jesus already knew who he was, and blurts out, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel” based on nothing more than this surprise (Jn 1:49). Jesus, we can sense, is rather amused by this. “I say that I saw you under the fig tree, and on this fact alone you believe? Oho! But, you shall see far greater things than that! Indeed, I tell you truly that you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (Jn 1:50-51).

The allusion to Jacob’s ladder (Ge 28:12-15) in this is plain to see. It may very well be that I already explored this in detail back when I was studying that passage of John’s account, but it bears a revisit here. The allusion is clear, but what is His point in making that allusion? Well, in His use of the statement, He sets Himself in the place of that ladder. I see two points here, first that He is the channel of command for these angels, reinforcing an earlier point made. Second, He is speaking of Himself as that which bridges heaven and earth, the sole means of crossing the divide. In relaying this point, then, He is declaring His mission, His purpose, and the great reality of the Gospel message. God has provided reconciliation. It is also, as we should see, a confirmation that Nathanael was entirely and precisely correct in his statement. It may have been the outburst of an excited spirit and may have held little of real understanding (or he may have understood full well), but it was accurate nonetheless.

There remains the question of how we should understand this as it applied to Nathanael, and how, if at all, we ought to recognize it as applied to ourselves. It seems clear enough that this is not a statement to be taken literally, at least not as applied to life on earth. Nathanael was not being told that he would personally see Jesus grown so immense as to connect heaven and earth as a physical bridge, nor that he would see these angels clawing their way up Jesus’ back, or clinging to His garments on the way down. Neither is this intended to inform Nathanael of a dream or vision to come. On what occasion has there been precedence for any such pre-dream show? I can think of none. No. Jesus intends to put Nathanael in mind of exactly that vision of Jacob’s, and more critically, of the point behind that vision.

The point, in this case, is manifold. First, the Son of Man, Jesus, is to be associated with the ladder of that vision. The connection of Jesus and Son of Man may not have been immediately clear to Nathanael, as he had only just met the Son. But, as a follower, he would recognize soon enough that this was a title Jesus took upon Himself. So, this Son, this Jesus, was and is the connection between heaven and earth. He is the dia, the channel of action, as well as the Logos of God’s expressed will. He is the dialogos, the very reasoning of God, the intelligent discourse of God with man, the thought of God and the reasoning behind it made clear. In this I see as well that He is the very expression of God’s grace in that particularly Old Testament sense of the Superior stooping down to His subordinates, His inferiors. God chose to make Himself comprehensible to man, to make His plans and purposes understandable by man, and Jesus is the means, the channel through which He has done so.

In the image of the ladder, we also find Jesus expressing Himself as the channel of blessing and provision. God is our provider. Jesus is again the means. I could further note that there is and ever has been but that one ladder, and in that we can reinforce Jesus’ own words that He is not a way to heaven, but the Way, the only and exclusive means of access to the courts of God’s domain.

Turning attention to the matter of angels ascending and descending upon Him, there is room to question the intended image. Given the allusion to Jacob’s ladder, I lean towards that understanding which places Jesus in the role of ladder. In that case, as I have said, He is the bridge by which the angels come to aid man in the purpose of God, or to punish as the case may be, and He is the bridge by which they return to the throne to report their accomplishments and receive their orders.

The alternative would be to see this as indicating something more like the descending of the Holy Spirit in form of a dove that marked Jesus’ baptism. That is, we might choose to understand this as indicating that Nathanael would witness a fairly constant parade of angelic visitors to the Son. This, however, would be a rather questionable interpretation given first the allusion to Jacob’s ladder and second the lack of any followup in the text suggesting that such an event had at some point transpired.

Let us, then, focus on the significance of Jesus as the bridge by which the angels come and go among man. That is highly significant and further solidifies a point I have stressed on a few occasions now. They are not ours to call up. They do not answer to our beck and call. They answer to God and God only. They array themselves by His command and His command only. Yet, there is this: Jesus is the way, the channel of action, the diangelos, if I might mint a new Greek term here. They are sent at the Father’s word, and they are sent by the Father’s Word. Put this another way. Where He is, the angels can be expected. They may not be visible or recognizable, but they are there.

This would seem to be a point relayed in Jesus’ comments about the little children (Mt 18:10). Their angels are constantly and continually before the face of God. They are ever in His presence. Let me make a couple of points here. First, when Jesus speaks of them as being ‘their angels’ it is not by way of indicating that they are the children’s to command. It is by way of indicating that they have a specific assignment to care for those children. We can accept, then, that there are indeed guardian angels. That seems sufficiently clear. However, to say this is not to say that they are to be prayed to, nor to be commanded by those they guard. May it never be! They would never accept such nonsense from their charges anyway, although by God’s grace we do not generally receive stern rebuke in our foolishness of trying so to treat them.

The second point I would stress in this is the duality of existence that is suggested here, as concerns the angels. This echoes something in Gabriel’s words to Zacharias. “They continually behold the face of My Father in heaven.” Think about that. “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God” (Lk 1:19). That’s a perfect participle, that ‘stands’: an action complete and with continual, lasting effect. At risk of overstressing the point, what I sense in this is that the angels, though on assignment, are yet present before God. They do not depart from being before Him, though they roam the earth in His service. This could be attributed to God’s omnipresence, to be sure. Yet, were that the implication, then it says nothing of them that is not true of us and even of the lowest orders of insect; not an unreasonable point to make when Jesus reminds us He takes care of the sparrows and the grasses of the fields right along with taking care of us. But, if that were the sum of the meaning, I can think of no reason for Gabriel to bring it up. It adds nothing to his dignity, nor does it give Zacharias reason for pause. The same can be said of Jesus’ point about these guardian angels. Of course they’re always before God. Everything is. So what?

It is not in Jesus’ nature to make a point so frivolous. As such, it seems that the way in which these angels experience their continual presence with God even while out and about the earth is a way that far exceeds our own understanding of God’s omnipresence. I am inclined to say that it exceeds even their simply remaining more aware of that Truth than we generally manage. Honestly, how far into the day do you proceed before you’ve all but left thought of God behind? The day’s activities and needs tend to swiftly push such high thinking from our thoughts, as we become distracted by the busyness. I don’t say it should be that way, but I find it often is that way. But, applied to the angels, I think there is a deeper reality being described.

It’s almost like the way one might see an object at high rate of vibration, seemingly at both extremes of that vibration simultaneously. If I might offer a particularly weak analogy, think of something like a fan. As the fan rotates, its blades appear to occupy all locations within the circle they inscribe simultaneously. At the same time, they seem to occupy none. If the fan rotates with sufficient speed, it becomes impossible for the eye to discern where exactly the blades are in any moment. Apart from a strobe light or some such apparatus, one will never perceive anything so distinct as a blade. Are those blades actually, physically, in two or more places at one time? Of course not. But, the shifting from place to place is sufficiently fast that we perceive it as if that were the case.

Here, I am not sure that we can assign the duality of the angels to a matter of our weak perception. I am not clear at all that we should suppose them to be shuttling betwixt heaven and earth with such frequency that to our limited senses they appear to be in both places at once. Indeed, I should think not. Gabriel is not speaking of how we would see him, how Zacharias saw him. Zacharias had no sense of a shimmering, gossamer figure before him, didn’t become concerned because he could see the walls of the temple through this Gabriel who stood facing him. No. Gabriel seemed perfectly solid. Rather, then, he is speaking of his own perception of reality. Let’s say that rather more concretely. He is speaking of his own reality, of reality period. He is stating a fact. Though I am here, I am standing in the presence of God. I am both. I speak to you, but I hear from Him. The communication is that immediate.

In the image of the guardian angels, that same immediacy is implied, but in the opposite direction. They witness all that transpires in the life of this child to whom they are assigned. And, they report immediately and directly to God Himself on all that they witness.

We will come, in due time, to the evidence for there being angels assigned to specific church bodies. Here, that same immediacy of duality is to be understood and in both directions. They hear from God and relay to the body. They observe the body and report to God. Such a responsibility they bear! And we can add to this that rejoicing that is heard among them when a single sinner is brought to grace. Imagine! That one angel on the scene reports immediately to the throne room of heaven, and every angel of God is there, hearing the news as it happens. What a volume their joy must achieve! How it must be transmitted to those to whom they are themselves assigned, such that every believer, every congregation must get a sense of it.

We, in our age of information and instantaneous communication, have not even begun to touch on God’s network! No, nor shall we. For all that we can flash news and data about the world in moments, we remain by comparison a primitive backwater when measured against what the Omnipotent and Almighty God has established for His communications. Amazing!

Angels in General - Apostolic Usage (05/18/11-05/21/11)

Ac 6:15 – Those on the Council saw Stephen’s face like the face of an angel.

Ac 7:30-32 – Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses there in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. Moses marveled at the sight and drew closer, when the voice of the Lord came, saying, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Moses shook for fear, and dared not so much as look.

Ac 7:38 – This is the same Moses who was with the congregation in the wilderness, to whom the angel spoke on Mount Sinai. He was with our fathers, and he received living words to pass to you.

Ac 10:7-8 – When the angel had finished speaking and gone, Cornelius summoned two of his servants together with a devout soldier to send to Joppa.

Ac 10:22 – These relayed Cornelius’ story to Peter, explaining how this holy angel had told him to seek Peter out.

Ac 11:13-15 – Peter, in turn, told the story to the others in Jerusalem, along with the outcome; in particular, that the Holy Spirit had clearly fallen on those of Cornelius’ household.

Ac 12:15 – Those who heard Rhoda’s report that Peter was at the door thought her mad, but she insisted. So, they suggested perhaps she had seen Peter’s angel. [And how was that meant?]

Ac 23:8-9 – The Sadducees claim that there is no resurrection, that there are no angels, no spirits. The Pharisees, on the other hand, acknowledge all these things. So, there was quite the uproar in the Council, as the Pharisaic scribes offered heated defense of Paul’s words. “We find no wrong with this man. What if a spirit or angel has spoken to him?”

Ro 8:38-39 – I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither matters of the present nor the future, no powers, no height or depth, not any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1Co 4:9 – I think God has chosen to put us apostles on display as a finale, men condemned to death. For, we have become a spectacle to the world, to both angels and men.

1Co 6:1-6 – If you have a legal case against your neighbor, do you truly dare go before the unrighteous for justice, rather than before the saints? Don’t you realize that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, surely you are competent to deal with these lowest of court cases! Don’t you know that we shall judge angels? Then, how much more should we be able to judge matters of this life? Well! You have law courts to deal with these matters. Do you appoint judges to these courts who are not held to account by the church? Shame! Is there really no man among you wise enough to decide between his brothers, that you must instead drag your brother before such courts, airing these things before unbelievers?

1Co 11:7-12 – A man ought not to cover his head, being he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man, for man did not come from woman, but woman from man. Man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man. Therefore, the woman should bear the symbol of being under authority upon her head because of the angels. Even so, in the Lord, neither man nor woman is independent of the other, for woman may originate from man, but man is birthed by woman, and all things ultimately originate from God.

1Co 13:1 – Though I were to speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I don’t have love, I am just a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.

2Co 13:-15 – Such men are false apostles, workers of deceit. They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ, and no wonder! For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So, it’s hardly surprising if his servants likewise disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end shall be according to their deeds.

Gal 1:8 – Even if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, comes preaching a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

Gal 3:19 – The Law was added because of transgressions. It was ordained through angels by way of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made.

Col 2:18 – Don’t let anybody defraud you of the prize of faith by their delight in self-abasements, by promoting angel worship, by basing belief on visions he has seen (the significance of which he has inflated in his thinking for no sound reason).

2Th 1:6-8 – It is only just that God would afflict those who afflict you and give relief to you, the afflicted – and to us as well! – when the Lord Jesus is revealed together with His mighty angels, proceeding from heaven in flames of fire to deal out retribution to those who do not know God and don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

1Ti 3:16 – Great is the mystery of godliness! He who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the Spirit and beheld by angels. He was proclaimed among the nations and believed upon in the world. And, He was taken up in glory.

1Ti 5:21-22 – I charge you in the presence of God, of Christ and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles in unbiased fashion, doing nothing whatsoever with partiality. Be not hasty to lay hands upon anyone, lest you share the responsibility for their sins. Keep yourself free from sin.

Heb 1:3b-8 – When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He had become as much better than the angels, as He inherited a more excellent name than they. Really, to what angel did God ever say, “You are My Son. Today I have begotten Thee”? Or to which angel did He say, “I will be Father to Him and He shall be Son to Me”? But, when He again [!] brings the first-born into the world, He says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” While, of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, His ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son He says, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.”

Heb 1:13-2:9 – To what angel has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet”? Don’t you know? They are all ministering spirits, sent out to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation. So we must pay much closer attention to what [the Truth] we have heard, lest we drift from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved infallible, and every transgression against that word received just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? After it was first spoken through the Lord Himself, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. God also bears witness together with them, both by signs and wonders and by miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit as He has willed. This world to come: God did not subject it to the angels. But somebody once said, “What is man, that You remember him, or the son of man that you care about him? You made him lower than the angels for a season. But, you have crowned him with glory and honor and appointed him over the works of Your hands. You put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things, nothing is left which is not thus subjected. Yet, we don’t see that yet, all things subjected to him. But, we do see Him Who has been made for a time lower than the angels: Jesus! Because of His suffering of death, He is crowned with glory and honor, that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone.

Heb 2:16 – Jesus does not give help to the angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.

Heb 12:22-24 – You have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels, the general assembly, the church of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks infinitely better than the blood of Abel.

Heb 13:1-2 – Let love continue in the church. Never neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for some in so doing have entertained angels unknowingly.

1Pe 1:12 – They came to know that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these very things which have now been announced to you through the preaching of the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things into which angels long to look!

1Pe 3:21-22 – Baptism saves you, but not by removing dirt from the flesh. Rather, it is an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, Who is at God’s right hand, He having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

2Pe 2:4-11 – If God didn’t spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell, committing them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment; if He didn’t spare the ancient world, preserving only Noah, a preacher of righteousness, together with seven others, when He flooded the ungodly world; if He condemned Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction for an example to those who chose ungodly living thereafter; if He rescued Lot from his oppression by their conduct (for surely his righteous soul was tormented daily by what he witnessed of their lawless deeds), then the Lord surely knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, as well as how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for judgment day – especially those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh, despising all authority. Daring and self-willed, they don’t even tremble to revile angelic majesties. Imagine! Even these angels, much greater in might and power, dare not to bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

Jude 6-10 – Angels who did not keep to their place, but abandoned their proper home; these He has kept in eternal bonds and darkness to await the judgment day. Just like Sodom and Gomorrah, they are exhibited as an example in that they are undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet these men defile the flesh in like manner with their dreaming. They reject authority and they revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he and the devil fought for the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce railing judgments against Satan. He said only, “the Lord rebuke you.” But these men! They revile what they do not understand. They act by instinct, like unreasoning animals, and by this they are destroyed.

What I find in reviewing the little discussion of angels that comes from the apostolic period is a distinct sense that they battled against the same sort of over-inflated perception of the angelic that continues in our own day. Some of this is almost assuredly the effect of dealing with the errors of Gnosticism. That false philosophy thought it had found a certain symbiosis with the emerging Christianity, sought to shape the growth of this new sect to its own systems of thought. This issue is particularly evident in some of Paul’s letters. In writing to the Colossians he is particularly blunt on the subject. “Don’t let anybody defraud you of the prize of faith by their delight in self-abasements, by promoting angel worship, by basing belief on visions he has seen (the significance of which he has inflated in his thinking for no sound reason)” (Col 2:18). Notice the point. These false teachers were trying to appeal to a certain angelic authority as backing for whatever they were promoting. This applies as well to their promotion of beliefs which had no further foundation than their own visions. How better to inflate the value of one’s dreams than to insist on angelic sourcing? It had, they might suggest, worked so well for the patriarchs.

By way of contrast, Paul makes it clear that no truly angelic source, no message delivered by any messenger of God, would ever differ from the message of the Gospel. Sense the power of Paul’s message. “Even if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, comes preaching a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:18). Think about that for a moment. Paul is essentially saying, even if you hear it from me. Even if I should come back to you at some future date and my preaching should be found changed from the message of Truth I gave you at the start, let me be accursed. I wonder how many ministers would be willing to speak such a thing today? Yet, if it is Truth in which we are dealing (and it is), then we ought to be so certain in what we claim to speak as truth.

Admittedly, certainly on my part, we will tend to recognize our understanding as incomplete and imperfect. As such, there is room for us to correct our views as understanding grows. I often find that what I thought I understood changes even in the course of one of these sectional studies. On the other hand, I can say with absolute certainty that I do not write with Apostolic authority. I do not write with the certainty of one through whom the Holy Spirit has determined to reveal the Truth to mankind. Even so, to the degree that I teach, I remain held to the teacher’s higher standard. If there is the least doubt in my mind as to the validity of what I claim as truth, then I must be careful not to promote it as established truth, but as one man’s opinion or best understanding of the matter. Here, I would do well to pursue the path Paul demonstrates. “I have no command of the Lord on this, but offer my opinion” (1Co 7:25). “I give my opinion in this matter, to your advantage” (2Co 8:10).

Further, when I discover my supposed knowledge to have been incorrect, especially if it is a matter I have taught as truth, I have a duty to admit to the error and to offer that correction to those I have taught. Here, I might point to the example of Peter and Cornelius. That vision which Peter had while he was in Joppa was a correction to his understanding. He had, like any other Jew of his time, the sense that God’s purposes were for the Jews alone, that what the Christ of God had accomplished was still their exclusive province, not a thing to be dirtied by passing it on to the Gentiles. He was wrong, but so he doubtless taught if the subject came up. Then came the vision, and then the agents Cornelius sent, followed by the clear confirming evidence of the Holy Spirit in action among Cornelius’ family. Peter had to recognize his error, update his views. He also found it necessary to relay this new understanding to his peers back in Jerusalem. Now, Peter’s understanding and acceding to this truth was still imperfect. Paul would find it necessary to remind him at a later date that his knowledge of that truth precluded his kowtowing to Jewish traditionalist sensibilities amongst the Gentiles. Again, Peter would find it needful to acknowledge his error and make corrections.

Now, then: there are certain references to the angels amongst the apostolic writings that are rather obscure, or troubling. There are others that I would suspect have been completely misunderstood or misapplied such that they are utilized to support views that are completely orthogonal to the point the apostle was making. Chief among these, I should think, is the passage in which Paul is addressing the church in Corinth in regard to their litigious behavior (1Co 6:1-6). Here, we find him asking the question, “Don’t you know that we shall judge angels?” Those to whom power is rather more important than salvation latch onto this verse with a vengeance! See? We shall be judges, every man jack of us! We’ll be lording it over the angels! Imagine that! Yes, do. But, recognize that it’s only an imagination, and a particularly vain one at that.

To begin with, let’s consider what the point is that Paul seeks to make in this passage. He is discussing an apparent propensity amongst the members of that church to drag one another before the public magistrates on one charge or another. But, Paul says, the saints will judge the world! The saints will judge angels! How is it possible, then, that you saints can’t even deal with such trivial cases as these? You would allow a citizen of heaven to be tried in a court that has no accountability to heaven? The shame of it! And, that shame is not yours. You shame heaven by airing your issues before unbelievers.

One thing we ought immediately to ask ourselves, then, is whether Paul isn’t practicing a bit of hyperbole in the course of making his primary point. The things he says about the saints acting in the role of judges may very well express a truth about the coming age, but I’m not willing to declare that with any great degree of certainty. As concerns the saints judging the earth, Calvin points us to the heavenly tribunal of the last day as the proper point of reference; with Christ seated upon His throne of judgment, and His own seated with Him (Mt 19:28). He further points out that to suppose Paul speaks of us judging by way of a contrast with our own example, as opposed to an active rendering of judgment renders this line of argumentation invalid to his point. As such, we must assume that active role is intended.

Concerning the matter of judging angels, Calvin arrives at the conclusion that Paul is speaking specifically of those fallen angels of the devil’s camp. He notes that some have thought this was intended to refer to pastors, but dismisses that as baseless. The sum of it seems to be that we ought not to arrive at some over inflated sense of our importance based on what Paul is saying here. Yes, as we sit with Christ on His throne on that day, we shall indeed participate. We shall indeed view the evidence with a clarity of judgment. Most critically, we are to understand that the foundation for our clear judgment is found in knowledge of the Word of God. This goes back to that amazing statement of Paul’s to the Galatians. Even if I myself come speaking contrary to the revealed Word! Even if an angel comes with a message contrary to the Word! Judge the new message for what it is, a lie, and may God curse the one who brings it.

Let me turn to the book of Hebrews for further support in rejecting such an overblown sense of our importance. We ought need no such support, given the clear thrust of the Scriptures. Who is man that You consider him, what reason does he give You to care about him (Ps 8:4)? Walk humbly before your God (Mic 6:8). Apart from Me you can do nothing (Jn 15:5). In Him we live and move and exist (Ac 17:28). And yet, we would inflate ourselves, boost ourselves, set ourselves up as gods before Him! How can we even think such a thing?

As the author of Hebrews lays out his case for Christ, one of the first points that he stresses is the superiority of Jesus to the angels. This may be by way of countering another aspect of the Gnostic encroachment upon Christianity. Jesus was not just another angel, not even just a particularly important angel, anymore than He was just a prophet or even the prophet. No, by God’s own acclamation, He is uniquely God’s Son. No angel was ever given such recognition (Heb 1:1-8). Indeed, the angels are instructed by God to worship Jesus, the Christ of God, and to serve Him at His instruction.

The author continues by pointing to the promises made by the Father to His Son, promises never given to any angel. The promise, for instance that He should sit at God’s right hand, that God would make all His enemies a footstool for His feet. But, let me focus momentarily on the closing verse of Hebrews 1. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb 1:14). Some read this lightly and find it to support the idea that we, the inheritors, can command these angels. They were sent to serve, right? So, we can instruct them in that service. But, it says no such thing! It says that they render service for our sake, but it distinctly does not say that they render service to us, that they operate in servitude to us. Not at all. They are Christ’s to command and none other. They are ministering spirits, leitourgika pneumata. In this sense of ministering, we understand that they are beneficent, they operate in ways beneficial to our case. Thayer’s Lexicon emphasizes that in this passage, the angels who so minister do so as “executing God’s behests”.

One will doubtless notice the term as being the root of our English liturgy, by which we speak of the rites, or repertoire, or format of our public worship. And, what is the purpose of public worship, or why do we observe such practices? First and foremost, we do so because it is God’s express instruction. One hopes that the content of our liturgy is fashioned with an abiding concern that it be conformed to His instruction. Secondly, the liturgy, the whole practice of public worship, is provided as a means of grace. It is an aid to faith, a means of feeding our spiritual well being, and maturing into the full measure of our heavenly citizenship. It is one of the major means by which God reshapes us as fit members of His household, as able to serve Him as are His angels. When we consider these ministering spirits, then, we ought to understand that their purpose is very much the same: to serve God, to further His purposes. Those purposes happen to involve us, the redeemed, the inheritors of eternal life. But, those purposes are not so very much ours to direct. We, who like sheep oft go astray are not in any great need of being self-determinant. We are far more in need of our Good Shepherd and the angels He sends to act, as it were, as His under-shepherds.

The author of Hebrews continues, arriving at that passage from Psalm 8. “What is man, that You take though of him? What is the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty” (Ps 8:4-5)! Our author quotes this with a bit of variation to firm up his point, giving the reading as, “You made him for a little while lower than the angels,” and brings in verse 6 of the psalm: “You make him to rule over the works of Your hands. You have put all things under his feet.” From this, the author draws a point for amplification. If all is subjected, there can remain nothing that is not thus subjected. In fine rhetorical form, he proceeds to note that we clearly do not find that this describes our present situation. “We do not yet see all things subjected to him.” To whom? As yet, the reference is not entirely clear. However, the inferences that one can draw from God’s work on behalf of this one the Psalmist speaks of ought to point us away from a sense of it being man in general.

Surely, if we attempt to set man as the pinnacle, and apply this thought that all things are put in subjection to us, we will rapidly discover the error of our thinking! We may have mechanical means of maintaining an effective might that exceeds the rest of earth’s creatures, but they are certainly not subjected to us. Greet the polar bear in his domain, and he will not bow to you except to snatch a meal from your bones. Swim to the shark and insist that he do your bidding, and you will not find him terribly keen to serve at your beck and call, although you will find his teeth keen indeed. This idea of submission and superiority, then, is not a description of our own estate; certainly not in this present age.

For all that, we don’t see it as the case for Jesus, do we? Looking about the world today, one cannot draw the conclusion that all mankind, let alone the animal kingdom, is submitted to the reign of Christ. And this draws us to the author’s counterpoint: “But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, Jesus! Because of the suffering of death, He is crowned with glory and honor, and by the grace of God, He thereby tasted of death on behalf of everyone” (Heb 2:9). What we must understand from the conclusion is that the one in view when the Psalmist wrote was not just any man, not even (viewed in total), just a man at all. It was this very Son of God, the One whom God had pointed out and of Him said, “This is My Son.” It is this One who, as Paul tells us, emptied Himself of His Godly prerogatives, became as a bond-servant in human form (and human reality). It is this One who humbled Himself in obedience, as the Son of Man to the Father in heaven, up to and including the point of death, even though that death would be by the most horrendous and humiliating means known to that time, death upon a cross (Php 2:7-8). That’s the one the Psalmist saw. That’s the One. He was, for that brief thirty odd years, made lower than the angels, but He is in reality so far superior to them in honor, in glory, in power, in name, as bears no comparison.

Now, there is a secondary point drawn out of this discussion, which hinges on the position the angels do hold in the service of this Son of God. Because they are sent on His command and sent for our benefit, we have that much greater reason to pay even closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift in our faith. “For if words spoken by angels proved unalterable, and if every breach of their commands receives full punishment, how much more if we neglect the word of salvation first spoken by the Lord Himself and then confirmed by His witnesses” (Heb 2:1-3)?

Notice this: We are considering how we ought to understand and deal with angels according to the Scriptural record. In that regard, the point made in Hebrews is something we ought take to heart, even stress firmly to ourselves. Their words proved unalterable. We might choose to render that, “they spoke infallible truths.” These, as the context would convey, were not merely grand philosophical systems, not merely intellectual exercises that were being handed down. They were law and rule. They were commandments. In that they were infallible, we must recognize that those who spoke infallibly spoke God’s Word, and having spoken God’s Word, they spoke by His command. Again, we cannot make of this a cause for angel worship. The author is removing any such possibility, as if the angels would not be swift to do so in their own right.

Neither, given the whole counsel of Scripture, can we find in this line of argumentation a support for blithely accepting whatever spirit-breathed messages we think to have perceived. We’ve been over that. We must remain aware that the enemies of our soul are fallen members of this same angelic rank. If one can speak to us in dreams and visions, so too can the other. If one can appear to us so can the other. It does not follow, though, that if one is to obeyed without question, so is the other. Indeed, it does not follow that either is to be obeyed without question. Test the spirits to see if they are from God (1Jn 4:1). Confirm the command with the Commandment. There’s a reason we are handed this revealed will of God in the Bible. It is precisely because in that revealed will we have the means to test whatever instruction may follow. If it be contrary to what is written, let its bearer be accursed, angel, pastor or whoever it may be.

As to the chain of command in heaven, we can find Peter affirming the point we have considered from Hebrews. In discussing the point of Christian baptism, Peter notes that the power and value of baptism is not in the water or the washing. It is in the resurrection of Jesus the Christ: He who sits at God’s right hand, having gone to heaven (and note this well) after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him (1Pe 3:21-22). May I just stress this point? It was after that subjection, but He is seated. In short, though we don’t see it in this light today, as Hebrews pointed out, it is nonetheless a finished work. It is the Truth even if it is not the present-day perception of reality.

Secondly, and more pertinent to our current study, the angels are included in that subjection. I do not suppose this to indicate that this order was reversed at any previous time. Indeed, I think we can argue that neither was the order ever reversed with regard to authorities and powers. He is the eternal supreme Authority, for though in person He is distinct from the Father, yet our God He is One. The Three is One. Yet, there is the sense that, for a time and for a season, those angels, authorities and powers who sought to usurp the Son’s throne were allowed their way. Again, looking around the world today, it seems as if that continues unabated. But, something changed significantly in those days surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection. That something is the fact that all possibility of success for these rebels had been cut off once and for all time. There remains to them no path to victory. There remains no faintest glimmer of a chance for them to disrupt the eternal purpose of God. Not, I should say, that there ever really was any such chance. But, so long as the advent of the Son and the perfect completion of His mission remained future tense in our linear sense of time, there was the appearance of a chance He could be stopped. He is now unstoppable, and even His fiercest opponents know this with a dread certainty. They have been subjected. They may still have their plots and plans, but these now proceed solely at the permission of the very One they would strike against.

As a final consideration as regards the apostolic discussion of things angelic, I arrive at two passages that make the same two points on this topic. The first comes from 2Peter 2:4-11, the second from Jude 6-10. In the case of Peter’s letter, the focal point is on the certainty of judgment as an argument for the certainty of salvation. To make his point, he begins with a list of judgments and rescues that God has long since accomplished: the Flood and Noah’s preservation, Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s preservation. But, the opening entry on his list is this: God didn’t spare the angels that sinned, but cast them into hell to remain there until final judgment (2Pe 2:4). Jude describes this contingent as “angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode” (Jude 6).

I said there were two points to draw from this, as regards the angels. The first is that there assuredly is this class of angels who are no longer in the service of our Lord, the ones Peter speaks of as angels that sinned and Jude says abandoned their proper abode. We needn’t speculate, here, whether Jude meant to suggest the Nephilim or some such. Inasmuch as they no longer abide in Christ, they have departed their proper abode. They are no longer in His service and have followed that devil that Michael would not assume to rebuke into hell. There, as Jude and Peter affirm, they are bound against the day of judgment. But, I would note that duality of presence that was seen with Gabriel. That they are bound and their final end certain does not, sadly, prevent them from promulgating and pursuing terrible mischief in the world.

This point, which I have been stressing throughout the study, is something that ought to serve to curb our appetite for being angelically informed – at least by some degree. At the very least, it must caution us to heed John’s advice, testing any such information we receive to confirm which boss the angelic voice speaks for. We, who are as Peter says, far less in might and power, are hardly fit to suppose we can make snap judgments on things thus perceived. We can hardly suppose, with sound reason, that we are so sharp as to immediately distinguish the true from the counterfeit, that we would recognize error so immediately, even in such a supernatural source of data, as to need never fear.

I dare say this same caution ought to apply to those who lead their flock in such fashion as to try whatever smacks of spirituality and leave it to God to sort out the results. This may sound good, this trusting God to preserve us from our errors. Indeed, we must assuredly count on Him to do so, for we remain terribly fallible in our judgment and weak to the point of enfeeblement when it comes to pursuing the course of righteousness. But, that promise, as Jesus taught us, is not such as should allow us to presume upon the protection. “Thou shalt not test the Lord thy God” (Mt 4:7). It’s one thing to know He will keep you. It’s another thing to so presume upon His keeping power as to take no care for yourself. How much more, in the case of the shepherd and his care for the flock which is not his, but his Master’s? Presume that every spirit-drenched innovation is truly of the Spirit? On what grounds? By what instruction? Everything we find the Apostles writing teaches us to go the exact opposite route. Test everything. Confirm everything, not against further dreams and visions, not via some other spiritist’s supposed word of knowledge, but by the Word, by the Gospel once for all delivered. What aligns to the Word keep. What opposes, contradicts or corrupts that Word, curse along with its bearer. There is the preservative power the Church is called to exercise for itself!

OK, the second point that we need to draw from these two passages concerns our boundaries in the course of battling sin and evil. Notice the closing points stressed by both of these men. “Even angels dare not bring reviling judgment against their fallen brethren before the Lord” (2Pe 2:11). Yet, these corrupt and despising men throw up their reviling measure of the angels. Given context here, I am not entirely positive, but am inclined to think that Peter has that same subset of fallen angels in view. It’s possible that he is looking rather at sinful man’s potential for reviling the steadfast angels, certainly. But, given the closing point, it seems to me that he is thinking of those sinning angels with which he began his argument.

Likewise, Jude looks to the case of Michael, the archangel, a leader amongst the ranks of God’s legions, and notes that even such as he would not think to personally rebuke the chief of the fallen. This, in spite of clear knowledge that the devil and all his host are assuredly cast into and bound in hell. Even so, Michael would not presume to say, “I rebuke you,” for he recognized that his rebuke had no power, no authority, and therefore would express only an overweening pride. Rather, he speaks from the authority he wields, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9).

Let me make a bit of a tertiary point on this. The instruction being imparted here is more than simply ensuring that one uses the appropriate phrase. The correctness of Michael’s choice is not in his having invoked the Lord’s name rather than his own. The effectiveness of his rebuke did not lie in him having tacked God’s name to it. That is of no more value than our habit of hanging “in Jesus’ name” on the tail end of our every prayer. Just adding that phrase does not somehow make our prayer enforceable. It is not the God-housekeeping stamp of approval that makes whatever we have prayed a matter now guaranteed to come true. No. What gave credence and power to Michael’s proclamation was that he spoke truly. He did not speak in an outburst of emotion, nor did he merely express his preference as to the outcome. He spoke as a messenger, as an ambassador truly and accurately representing the will of the Throne. His word had power because it was not his word, but the word of God being relayed on the matter.

We do well to consider this when we toss around our, ‘in the name of Jesus’. It is not that applying His name to our whim makes it so. Indeed, if this is our habit, we ought to consider that we are likely earning a greater judgment for ourselves. No, the intent of that phrase is to relay that what we have spoken is no more and no less than a relaying of His own pronouncement. In other words, in applying that label to our prayers we are, for all intents and purposes, assigning to our prayers certain prophetic aspect, claiming to speak for Him. As such, we ought to consider, have we earned a prophet’s judgment in the things we have claimed to speak ‘in the name of Jesus’? Here, it seems to me, is a cause for most if not all of us to repent!

Notice where Jude takes this point. These me! These men who would speak as if judgment were theirs to wield, who would presume a knowledge and power beyond their capacity: They revile, but they don’t even comprehend what they revile. They do not act from knowledge (and certainly not from inspiration), but only from instinct (Jude 10). Stop there. This acting on instinct is, I think, tightly coupled to acting on emotions. When we respond to things from an emotional stance we are most assuredly not assessing our inputs and testing them against the Word. We are on auto-pilot as it were. Or, as Jude expresses it, we are acting on instinct. We are letting the neurons firing off within us to make us jump as they will. The flesh is fully in control. Not only is the spirit disengaged, but also the mind. In short, we are acting as a being in full-fledged rebellion. We are not only failing to love the Lord with all our heart, our mind, or soul and our strength. We have set all of these aspects into actions directly opposite to this calling.

I look at the closing point of Jude’s line of reasoning and I cringe. “By these things they are destroyed” (Jude 10). I cringe because, for all my tendency to think of myself as something of a cold, analytical sort, the last several weeks have reminded me just how much I am inclined to fall into that very same error, of allowing emotion and instinct to occupy the driver’s seat. It may not have been in matters of rebuking demons and devils, or of claiming the authority of heaven in what was only my own opinion, but the crime is no less criminal for that. As I have just been seeing, the crime lies in having acted in exact and complete opposition to the prime commandment.

I begin to understand, as I’m not sure I’ve ever really understood before, that cry of David’s heart. “Against You and You only I have sinned” (Ps 51:4). It is not that he had not done wrong to Uriah in sending him to his death. But sin, in reality, is ever and always against God not only primarily, but exclusively. In a sense, our brother cannot sin against us, nor we against him. We can assuredly wrong one another, and do on a regular basis. But sin is a matter of God’s Law. He, as possessor and promulgator of that Law is the proper object of its keeping or breaking. The crime His Law reveals is ever and always a crime against Him, whoever else may be involved. Consider: If it were a matter of keeping His Law, though it be in dealing with our neighbor, we would not think of it as having obeyed our neighbor, but as obeying God. Likewise, the breach of the breach of that same Law.

Lord, I’m seeing it. The things which came to a head last night, the way I’ve been reacting to the load of the last several weeks; it has been awful. It has been awful because for all that I’ve continued to study, continued to serve, my heart has been far from You, hasn’t it? Against You – all this raging and frustration and impatience and impotence has been against You. I have been run by instinct and it has clearly been to my detriment. Yet, did I come to You? No. I’ve been silent and in my silence I have but demonstrated my powerlessness, Your Truth that I can do nothing apart from You. Surely, I have sinned against You. I come to You now, seeking Your forgiveness, seeking to believe that I could walk forward from this point more able to cling to Your ways, more able to heed that primary commandment of loving You. Yet, I confess I don’t feel more able. Here, I am trusting You, though, that You will assuredly not allow this test to exceed my ability (in You). Here, You will preserve if I will but look to You, and to You I am looking as best I know how, Father. I lay myself upon Your mercy, and cry the tears in my inner man that don’t seem to come in the outer. Break once for all this pride of mine, Lord, that I might finally understand how to walk humbly before You.

Angels in General - Apocalyptic Usage (05/22/11-05/24/11)

Rv 1:20 – The seven stars you saw are the angels of seven churches, and the lampstands are those churches. (Rv 1:12 – I saw seven lampstands and one like a son of man standing in their midst. Rv 1:16 - in His right hand, He held seven stars.)

Rv 2:1 – Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: The One who holds the seven stars amongst the seven lampstands says this.

Rv 2:8 – Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna: The First and the Last, who was dead but lives, says this.

Rv 2:12 – Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this.

Rv 2:18 – Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: The Son of God, whose eyes are as flames of fire, and His feet like burnished bronze, says this.

Rev 3:1 – Write to the angel of the church in Sardis: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says this: “I know your deeds. You are known as being alive, but your are dead.”

Rev 3:5 – I will clothe the overcomer in white, and I will not erase his name from the book of life. I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.

Rv 3:7 – Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: He who is holy and true, having the key of David, He who opens and none shall shut, who shuts and none shall open, says this.

Rv 3:14 – Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this.

Rv 5:2 – I saw a strong angel, speaking with loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book, to break its seals?”

Rv 5:11-12 – I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, together with the living creatures and the elders. They were beyond numbering, thousands of thousands, and all said with loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

Rv 7:1-3 – I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds., such that no wind blew on earth, sea or tree. And I saw another angel ascending from where the sun was rising, bearing the seal of the living God. And He commanded those four angels, who had been authorized to harm the earth and sea, saying, “Do no harm to earth or sea or trees until we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.”

Rv 7:11-12 – All the angels were gathered around the throne, around the elders and the four living creatures, and they all fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Rv 8:1-9:2 – When He broke the seventh seal, there was a half hour or so of silence in heaven. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and each given a trumpet. Another angel stood at the altar with a censer. Much incense was given to him to be added to the prayers of all the saints upon the altar which was before the throne. The smoke of that incense and those prayers went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled with the fire of the altar, and threw it to earth. Peals of thunder, flashes of lightning and an earthquake followed. Then, the seven angels with their trumpets prepared to sound, and the first did so. Hail and fire, mixed with blood were thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth burned up; a third of the trees and all the grasses. The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. And a third of the sea became blood; a third of the creatures of the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning bright, and it fell on a third of the rivers and springs. That star is called Wormwood, and those waters became wormwood. Many men died from the waters, for they were made bitter. The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun, the moon and the stars were destroyed, darkened so that daylight was shortened by a third, and even the dim lights of the night were reduced by a third. Looking upon all this, I heard an eagle, flying in midheaven, and saying loudly, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on earth, because the remaining three angels are about to sound their trumpets.” And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to earth. And the key of the bottomless pit was given to him, and he opened the pit; and smoke came up from the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, so thick that sun and air were darkened by it.

Rv 9:11-15 – These things released from the pit have a king over them, an angel from that same abyss, whose name is given in Hebrew as Abaddon, and in Greek as Apollyon. The first woe is done, but two remain to come. And the sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the altar before God, saying to this angel, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And those four angels, prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.

Rv 10:1-11 – I saw another strong angel come down, clothed with a cloud and with a rainbow upon his head. His face was like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire. He held a small open book in his hand. He placed his right foot upon the sea and his left upon the land, and he cried loudly, like a roaring lion. When he cried out, seven peals of thunder resounded, and when they had finished, I was preparing to write. But, I heard a voice from heaven: “Seal up that which the thunders spoke and do not write them.” Then, this angel lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever, who created heaven and all that is in it, earth and all that is in it, and the sea with all that is in it, that there would be no more delays. But, in those days when the seventh angel is about to sound, then the mystery of God is completed, just as He preached it to His servants the prophets. That voice which I had heard from heaven spoke again, saying, “Go and take the book which is in the angel’s hand.” I went to him and told him to give me the book. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but it will be sweet tasting in your mouth.” So, I took the little book and ate it, and it was as he said. Then, they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations, many tongues and kings.”

Rv 12:7-9 – There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels battling the dragon and his angels. And the dragon’s forces were not strong enough. There remained no place for them in heaven, and the dragon was thrown down, who is that serpent of old called the devil and Satan; he who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and all his angels with him.

Rv 14:6-10 – I saw another angel flying in midheaven, bearing an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. He said loudly, “Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of His judgment is come. Worship Him who made heaven and earth, who made the seas and the springs of water.” A second angel followed, saying, “Fallen is Babylon the great, who has made the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.” Then, a third angel, saying, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, receiving a mark upon forehead or hand, he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger. He will be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb.”

Rv 14:15-19 – Another angel came from the temple, saying loudly to Him who sat upon the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour of reaping is come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.” He who sat on the cloud did so, and the earth was reaped. Another angel came from the temple in heaven, bearing a sharp sickle, and another, with power over fire, came out from the altar. This one called loudly to the other, “Put in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for her grapes are ripe.” And the angel did so, and threw the clusters into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

Rv 15:1 – I saw another sign in heaven, seven angels bearing seven plagues, the last. Because, in them the wrath of God is finished.

Rv 15:5-16:17 – The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, and the seven angels with their plagues came out, clothed in bright, clean linen and girded about with golden girdles. One of the four living creatures gave out the golden bowls of God’s wrath (He who lives forever and ever) to the seven angels, and the temple was filled with smoke because of the glory of God and because of His power. No one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues were finished. A voice from the temple: “Go and power out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.” And the first angel poured out his bowl. It became loathsome and malignant sores on those men who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The second poured his bowl into the sea, and it became like dead men’s blood. Every last thing that lived in the sea died. The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs, and they likewise became blood. I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, Who are and Who was, O Holy One, because You judge these things. For, they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” The altar answered, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” Then, the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it became so heated that it scorched men by its fire and fierce heat. And these blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues and did not repent, giving Him glory. The fifth angel poured his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened, so that they gnawed their tongues for the pain, and they, too, blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They did not repent. The sixth angel poured his bowl upon the Euphrates and its water dried up, preparing a way for the kings from the east. Then, from the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet came three unclean spirits like frogs. They are spirits of demons, performing signs, and they go to the kings of all the world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (“Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who is awake and keeps his garments, lest he be found walking naked and men see his shame.”) These armies gathered together at Har-Magedon. Then, the seventh angel poured his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came from the temple, from the throne: “It is done.”

Rv 17:1-2 – One of those seven angels came to me, saying, “Come. I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot, with whom the kings of the earth committed their immorality, and those who live on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

Rv 17:7 – The angel said, “Why do you wonder? I shall tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, with its seven heads and its ten horns.”

Rv 18:1 – I saw another angel come from heaven with great authority, and the earth shone with his glory.

Rv 18:21 – A strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus will the great city of Babylon be thrown down with violence. It will no longer be found.”

Rv 20:1-3 – I saw an angel come from heaven with the key to the abyss, and with a great chain in his hand. He grabbed the dragon, the serpent of old, the devil, Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, throwing him into the abyss and shutting and sealing it over him. No more could he deceive the nations until those thousand years had passed. Then, he must be released for a brief period.

Rv 21:9 – One of those seven angels who had borne the bowls of the plagues came and said, “Come. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Rv 21:12 – The new Jerusalem had great high walls with twelve gates, and at each gate an angel. And names were written on them, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Rv 21:15-17 – The one who spoke to me had a gold measuring rod, and he measured the city, its gates and its walls. The city was square, and he measured it: fifteen hundred miles to the side, and the wall seventy-two yards as we would measure it (and the angels use the same measurements.)

Rv 22:8 – I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and having done so, I fell to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown me all these things, but he said, “Don’t do that. I am but a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of all who heed the words of this book. Worship God.” He told me not to seal up the prophecy of this book since the time was near. “Let the one who does wrong continue to do so. And let the filthy remain filthy. But, let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy keep himself holy.”

Rv 22:16 – I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify of these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.

This being prophetic text, a relaying of visions, one wants to be careful of taking its descriptives more literally than suits the style. That said, one particular thing stands out for me as regards the way angels are described here, as opposed to their descriptions in other places in Scripture. What I notice is that the angels as seen in the Revelation are far more awesome, far less human in appearance. Looking back across those encounters between man and angel, even where those were theophanies, the appearance of these heavenly visitors was near enough to human as to be mistaken for the same. Abraham and Sarah, for example, were not immediately aware that they had God and two angels coming to dinner. Jacob, wrestling in Bethel can hardly have understood who he was wrestling with. Likewise, the few encounters we see in the New Testament, other than the surprise of finding anybody else present at all, were not cases of people overwhelmed by the appearance of the being they found themselves sharing space with. With the exception of the shepherds, it seems the angels were still at first taken to be but men.

I have had it told me that the Biblical norm for angelic encounter is that the angels are so overwhelming in appearance as to push men to the state of worship. I have to say that based on the efforts I’ve extended on this survey, this statement does not appear to hold. Where there have been theophanies, yes, in the end man must bow in worship before God revealed. But, that has not been the typical immediate response. It seems to me that those shepherds in the field, who seem to have seen the angels in something nearer their heavenly aspect, are pretty much the only such response angels as they come upon the earth.

This, it seems to me, rather makes sense anyway, as they are not come to earth for their own amusement, nor for the amusement of men. They are primarily messengers on God’s service. If their major purpose is to inform man of God’s decrees, it hardly serves the purpose to have the recipient cowering in abject terror, does it? How shall one hear the message with clarity through the mental alarms? No. There are occasions of awed response, requiring that initial reassurance of peace, but these seem more common when it is God Himself who is suddenly recognized as being present.

By contrast, the way in which we find the angels described in John’s vision must necessarily give us pause. These are beings of overwhelming power, and seemingly devoid of such emotions as beset man. These are beings that defy our meager comprehension. This, I think, lies at the basis of that purported Biblical norm. Were we to encounter an angel in its full panoply, I dare say we would indeed react much like John himself did, falling to worship what is so grand as to be mistaken for the Lord (Rv 22:8). However, measuring by the Scriptural record, we are far more likely to encounter angels, if at all, in a guise more suited to our acceptance. We are far more likely to recognize the nature of our encounter only as it develops, perhaps only after it is over.

Though this be the case, it is certainly no leave to take such encounters any more lightly. Whatever the appearance, the reality remains nearer to what John describes. However human and humanly frail they may seem in any such immediate encounter, the reality remains that they are powerful beyond our capacity to fully recognize. They are not, nor would they accept being, objects for our worship. They are, by the very confession we hear from one representative near to the close of the text, ‘but a fellow servant of yours’ (Rv 22:9).

Much of what we find in the angelic presence in John’s Revelation but confirms what we have already uncovered. We see the angels serving as messengers of God. This is particularly evident in those who explain to John what it is he is witnessing. This, I should note, is reminiscent of what was seen with Zechariah. Indeed, the whole theme upon which John’s vision opens returns us to that older prophet and the vision he was shown. Let me return there momentarily. “The angel speaking to me returned, rousing me as from sleep. He said, ‘What do you see?’ I saw a lampstand with a golden bowl at its top and seven lamps upon it with spouts. I saw beside this lampstand two olive trees, one to either side. I asked the angel what these things meant, and he explained” (Zech 4:1-6). The vision is to do with Zerubbabel’s reconstruction of the temple, and an assurance that the Lord is in that work. As to the seven lamps, “These are the eyes of the Lord which range throughout the earth” (Zech 4:10), and the trees are, “the two anointed ones standing by the Lord of the whole earth” (Zech 4:14).

Snap forward to John’s view of the end, and we have the seven stars, being the angels of the seven churches (Rev 1:20). This, as well as ‘the seven angels who stand before God’ (Rev 8:2), which is an even more direct reference back to Zechariah’s vision. We might well ask if Michael and Gabriel are to be found in that number. I’m not sure. But, we do have Gabriel’s statement that he stands before the face of God. At the same time, we see these seven sent out on mission, as well as others.

There is this repeated image in John’s text of the angels coming forth from the temple, from the tabernacle of the testimony. I would note that in every case these angels come forth to execute God’s justice (Rev 15:5-6). The testimony, then, is not only the record of those covenant promises God has made to His children, but it is also the testimony of man’s unfaithfulness to that covenant. It is the record upon which His judgments are shown righteous. As dire, as awful as those judgments are, utterly terrifying to behold or even to consider, yet the resounding assessment in heaven is that they are absolutely and completely deserved by those upon whom judgment has come.

Herein we are given to understand yet another primary aspect of the angelic office. They do not only bear the message of God, they are entrusted with implementing His judgments upon the earth. This bespeaks the high degree of trust which is rightfully assigned them by God. Whether or not it reflects an emotionless coldness about the angels, it certainly declares a steadfastness about them. They are the express fulfillment of that model prayer, “Thy will be done.” When we seek that His will would be done amongst us as it is done in heaven, this view would be well to have in mind. Even if His will requires such destructions as we see laid out in this text, even if we are required to take an active hand in that destruction, we are to act without pause and without question. Indeed, like Aaron when his sons were killed for their impious actions in the priesthood, we are not even to mourn, but rather to glorify God for His righteousness, knowing that the vengeance which is His alone to impose has been imposed with perfect justice.

The angels are also shown once again as the military wing of God’s administration. In particular, we have the scene of Michael and his forces sent out to battle and defeat those angels in Satan’s employ (Rev 12:7). This role is in keeping with the previous assignment as imposers of justice. Indeed, the whole serves to demonstrate an order in heaven quite like that which Paul lays out for earthly conduct. Just as the magistrate, although a civil servant, is yet vested with a godly authority to punish the lawbreaker, so the angels. This also gets to the heart of the just war concept, I think. That war is just which is not fought as a means of expansion – territorial or economical – but rather as a defense of the right or a recompense to the unjust and abhorrent.

As regards the heavenly battle, I would just note the recognition once more that the enemy of God and man has also his angels. Indeed, one point John makes clear is that this enemy is himself an angel. “These things from the pit have a king over them, an angel from that same abyss” (Rev 9:11). He goes on to clarify that this ruler is the one we have previously met in the guise of Apollyon or Abaddon. He is also seen to be that dragon whom Michael’s forced defeat, whereby he is identified as being one and the same as that serpent met in Eden, as the same Satan who was found receiving permission to test Job, the same devil that instigated the death of Jesus.

In including Satan in this list, John clarifies further that not only is this enemy an angel, but he is an angel once found in heaven’s courts. This is, as I have previously commented, cause for some alarm in us, as we recognize that the same power we see in the angels of heaven are necessarily to be assumed in this enemy of our soul and his minions as well. However, that alarm must be tempered with the clear lesson of Job, that even he, in his rebellion, is finally and firmly bound by the limits God sets in place. Like it or not, he remains subject to the Lord of all creation, for as much as he seeks to convince us the case is otherwise, he is but one more creature of that creation, as much dependent upon God for his existence as you and I.

There is another aspect of the angelic activities of the Revelation which strike me as being directly counter to this fallen enemy of ours. For this, I must thank a certain serendipity by which God arranged that my daily reading in Table Talk should coincide with this study. There is this rather amazing statement given in the midst of the destruction and judgment that generally prevail in that text. “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people” (Rev 14:6). The connection, which I had not made when first reading this, is to something Paul explains in Ephesians 2:2. There, Paul is discussing the former existence (I shall not call it life) of the believer, that period before faith came and belief was possible. He speaks of how we used to be just like the rest, just as dead in our own sins, “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that spirit which is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

Do you see the contrast here? On the one hand, the prince of the power of the air, which we understand to be that same dragon who is cast down in the Revelation, is ever whispering of rebellion to all who listen. And, apart from the grace of God, all listen terribly well. You know, we speak often of our concern for our youth, how the culture that they find themselves in is so permeated with sin and temptation to sin that it is all but impossible that they should resist. And, hopefully, we pray often as a result, that God would counteract this terrible weight of influence. Well, let me just say that it’s not clear to me that the assault of temptation today is truly any more or less than it has ever been. True, the forms have changed, and technology has certainly had an impact, but temptation has ever been the way of the world, and opportunity to sin has never been in short supply.

It should hardly come as a surprise to us that the worldly influence for ill is great in every age. After all, we are told point blank that there is this prince of the power of the air, this spirit working upon the sons of disobedience (who are in the majority in this world). Being the prince of the air, he has the power of broadcasting, and he broadcasts on a channel to which the receivers of mankind are naturally tuned. So, of course he has this awful influence. And so, it is not really surprising to see that our children walk in many of the same ways that we formerly walked. They are under the influence just as we once were. We can but pray that God will have mercy on them as He had mercy on us.

But, here is the word of hope! Look at what John was seeing in that interjection: An angel flying in midheaven, preaching the Gospel! What is that midheaven? Well, earlier we were shown an eagle flying in that same region, which ought to give us a hint. It is the very air that surrounds this fine planet, the same air into which that fallen prince has long spoken his lies. The Truth is being preached! The Truth is being spoken so as to permeate the very air we breathe just as the lies of Satan have done for so many years! God has not only thrown down that dragon, that serpent of old, but He has arrayed certain of His forces to swiftly cleanse the land in the aftermath of that victory. He is moving to directly counter the primary means of this defeated enemy’s propaganda machine. He has heard our prayers, seen the situation for our youth (which was and is the situation of our youth), and He has brought the antidote.

It would be easy, tempting perhaps, to look at the broadcast media of our day as being the fulfillment of this imagery. We could decry the evils of the airwaves, of radio and television, of media in all its myriad forms, whether wired or wireless. Yes, and we could find cause to celebrate those small islands of purportedly Christian broadcasting that make their way into the media maelstrom. Of course, we might be wise to wonder what sort of Christians the devil would allow to make such inroads into his most effective of weapons. But, then, not all that is media is necessarily evil. The angel of God also uses the media to broadcast the True and Eternal Gospel! On this line of thought, I would stop with the same admonition we have from Scripture in regard to all things angelic: Test the message against the Word, hold to that which is shown to be True and revile that which is revealed to be false.

Next, let me turn to that particular role of the angels which we appear to be shown in both the opening and the closing of Revelation. The book, as is well known, opens with messages to be delivered to the seven churches. John specifically identifies these as ‘the seven churches that are in Asia’ (Rev 1:4), and indicates that he does not write in isolation, but with greetings, as it were, from ‘the seven Spirits who are before His throne’. Why the letter is thus localized to this portion of the Church I cannot say with any great certainty. It is perhaps no more than the reflection of where John had been ministering. Whatever the case, I think we ought to take the list of churches directly addressed and recognize in their number a relatively complete survey of the state of the Church at wide and through the ages. The numbering of them as seven, particularly given the prevalence of that number in the text, is a bit of a hint as to the symbolic nature of the list given.

John moves from noting these seven Spirits as his coauthors in this letter, to relaying specific messages which the Lord Himself dictates. Each of these seven dictations is addressed to one of the seven churches he has listed, and each is addressed primarily to ‘the angel of the church in’ whichever city is currently addressed. Now, notice the introductory comment made before these letters are dictated to John: “The seven lampstands are these churches, and the seven stars in My right hand are the angels of those churches” (Rev 1:20).

The question must arise as to how we ought to understand these ‘angels of the churches’. I am well aware of a certain tradition that supposes them to be the pastors of those churches. Why else, we might reason, would God have John writing to them? After all, if He meant to address those angels that were already right there, what need for a letter? Strong’s is one that supposes this as an implied sense of the word. Thayer’s, on the other hand, emphasizes that this is certainly not the case in the text before us, that the reference is plainly to ‘heavenly spirits who exercise superintendence and guardianship over [the churches]’ to the degree that they share in whatever praise or censure the churches under their care accrue to themselves. I am inclined to agree with Thayer on this count, particularly given that no other text appears to support an understanding of the term as being applicable to any human, pastor or otherwise.

Accepting this, there remains the question as to why the letters? The angels are, after all, standing right there. I will say I am not at all certain that we should equate the seven angels present as the stars in His right hand with those seven Spirits standing before His throne. Given that both are part of the same general image, I suppose it would make more sense to keep them distinct. But, still, those angels to whom John is given the task of writing are there, in God’s right hand. (And I dare say the fact that they are in His right hand as opposed to his left is quite probably of significance as well.)

In answer to this question, given but a very little consideration, I would propose that the writing is not for the benefit of those angels, nor even solely for those churches over which they are set. It is written, as is all of Scripture, for our benefit and edification. It is written that we, seeing the perils and pitfalls as well as the successes represented in these churches, might steer a truer course. It is written that we, as we look at our own local congregation, might more truly take their measure, repent of those things in which we have strayed and strengthen those things in which we have held true.

I have to say that it is somewhat reassuring to realize that there is this heavenly stewardship over our earthly worship. Yet, I would have to stress that it is only somewhat reassuring. After all, the evidence of these letters would seem to indicate that the stewardship of these angelic watchers is not an insurance policy of any sort. They are not instantaneous in applying the crook of their shepherd’s staff to dragging us back into line, but are thus arrayed as gives us perhaps greater leeway in our faith pursuits than we might prefer. We, as moral agents, as beings with moral responsibility for our decisions, must be allowed the liberty to decide. Such oversight as becomes micromanagement, leaving us no decision of our own but to follow or be dragged would negate responsibility. And, where there is no responsibility there can be no maturity, can there? But, God seeks our maturity, labors for our maturity. The whole of this journey is to see us brought into the full maturity of the image of Christ. That is the fundamental charge of the church, to facilitate just such a maturing process in us.

So, then, the text opens with these reminders addressed to the angels of the churches, but really directed at the Church itself – clearly so. That there is an angel of the church serves more to solemnize the importance of the message delivered, I think. It is a reminder for us that our congregations are not just a bunch of humans with their standard human foibles and their inevitable human limitations. There is a greater representation present. We truly do join with the angels as we worship, and we are thus also under angelic scrutiny. That, I should think, ought to sober our pursuits in worship, oughtn’t it?

As John closes out the grand letter which is the Revelation, he does so, as he began it, in a style typical to the time. As he opened with greetings of a sort from his co-writers, those seven Spirits before the throne, so he closes with a salutation from the One for whom he has been the amanuensis, giving the true Author’s personal seal on the message delivered. “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches” (Rev 22:16).

Here, apart from putting His personal seal on the text, Jesus notes this singular angel being sent to the churches. This reference, then, would seem to be to an angel apart from those already pointed out as being assigned to specific congregations. It might be that we should see this as referring to a spirit of higher authority, an overseer of the overseers. On the other hand, it might be well to understand this as emphasizing the unity of the Church. “There is one body, one Spirit, one hope of your calling,” Paul told the Ephesians (Eph 4:4). “Let me hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, laboring as one for the faith of the gospel,” he sought of the Philippians (Php 1:27). What Paul expressed was no less than the heart of Jesus for His Church. Thus, there is one angel sent with one testimony. There is no diversity of messages, no proliferation of gospels emphasizing this or that as the regional culture might dictate. The Lord your God, He is One, and so, necessarily, is His Truth.

I have already considered, after a fashion, the purpose behind Jesus dictating letters to angels who are right there with Him. This, I think, is also something of a reinforcement for that suggestion of a duality of presence. There does seem to be this sense that the angels are simultaneously there in the presence of God and here on mission, or as near to simultaneously as makes little difference. I see this in the presentation of these angels of the churches, who are there in His hand, yet here in His church. I see this reflected as well in the sort of duality which defines our own existence as Christians; that sense which is sometimes expressed as being the already and the not yet. We are already present before Him, but we are not yet wholly and exclusively home in heaven. We are already saints but we are not yet free of being sinners. We are already home but we are not yet done with our travels. We are already saved yet we are not yet so fully delivered as to be unaware of our bonds.

I get this same sense of duality considering those seven angels of the trumpets that John presents to us in Revelation 8 and 9. These are introduces as the seven angels who stand before God (Rev 8:2). Again, I have no clear reading as to whether these should be thought of as distinct from the seven Spirits of the opening chapter. But, they stand before God – the perfect indicative, suggesting an act complete but with continuing repercussions. Yet, they go forth to their duty. Granted, there is no great going forth necessarily evident in sounding the trumpets, yet the earthly impact of those soundings suggests, at least, that there may have been such a departing. Still they stand before God. It may well be that we should read this as ‘who have stood,’ but the number of translations assigning such a past tense to the phrase are few indeed. The great majority remain with the present. The Message, for what it may be worth, makes the matter plainer, at least as its author sees things. Those seven angels, he writes, ‘are always in readiness before God’.

While I am hardly inclined to base my conclusions on one man’s paraphrase, yet I see a certain rightness to it in this case. They are, after all, messengers, servants of the Most High God, even as ourselves, but with a much better track record. Of course they are there and on the alert for any assignment. The question remains, for me, whether they are both there and elsewhere when those assignments come. I cannot draw a firm conclusion on this, but the propensity for this relatively present tense reference to standing even when we meet (to repeat my worn example) Gabriel in the private chambers of Mary’s house, or in the Holy of holies speaking to Zacharias, I am inclined to retain this view. At the very least, I think we ought to understand that the lines of communication between God and His angels is such that, even though they be on assignment, they continue to hear Him with immediacy and He is equally immediate in receiving their reports.

The last point I shall take from the Revelation concerns that final encounter John has with the angel that’s been explaining things to him. He notes how, having taken the transcription, he was so whelmed by the matters revealed and by that one who was revealing them that he fell at the angel’s feet in worship. And immediately, that angel rejected the act (Rev 22:8). Here, then, is a particularly clear admonition for us. As the angel says to John, so we are instructed, “Don’t do that.” Only God is to be worshiped. For all their awesome power and for all that they are impressive, the Truth remains as this angel tells John, “I am a fellow servant of yours” (Rev 22:9). We understand, of course, that they are not to be worshiped. And yet, we have a propensity for idolizing them, for making them out to be more than is right. We, in this regard, must present them with a temptation in our own right, don’t you think? This is the very pride which led Satan to his fall, and took so many along with him. Clearly, they are not immune to sin any more than we are.

The saddest part of the whole thing is, though, the remarks with which the angel finishes up. He tells John to go ahead and publish the things revealed to him, to make it known. But, he simultaneously makes it pretty clear that the impact will not be as great as one would wish. Those who do wrong will continue to do so. The filthy will continue in their filth. By the same token, the righteous will maintain their righteous ways and the holy will remain unstained (Rev 22:11). The sum of it seems to be that the prophecy is given no so much to change hearts as to remove the last remaining appearance of any excuse.

One could wish that God would simply work His ways such that all men truly were saved, that every last vestige of our fall were removed from every last member of the species. Many point to the express desire of God that it could be so and see in this a promise that it will be so. Such an idea is, however, insupportable. There is an overwhelming body of evidence to the contrary both in Scripture and in experience. Were the end of the story revealed as salvation for all men without exception, then absolutely! We could rejoice in that. Yet, there would be little point to all the fuss, would there? We could have as easily been left to our own devices and relaxed in the knowledge that none of it really mattered. But, the whole thrust of Scripture is that it absolutely does matter. We are responsible beings, like it or not.

Here at the close of the Book, we find the point reiterated. With the full terror of that final judgment laid out in particularly stark fashion – so terrible that even the saved are disinclined to look too closely at it – the conclusion handed down is that it will change nothing. The condemned will continue to pursue the acts for which they are condemned. The justified will continue to pursue acts worthy of their justification. The Truth will set you free, but only if you are given to receive that Truth. The Gospel will permeate the air and yet, the fallen will become just that much more determined to remain fallen. Like Pharaoh whose heart was hardened lest he repent, they will hear the Truth, they will have no choice but to recognize the Truth, yet they will reject it and choose the lie. Even granted to recognize that the choice is between life and death, that the choice bears eternal consequence, they will choose the lie. Can there be a more sorrowful epitaph for man?

Specific Angels - Cherubim (05/25/11-05/27/11)

Keruwb [OT:3742]: | an imaginary figure. | an angelic being. There appears to be a connection with the next word listed – same spelling but capitalized, which is said to mean ‘blessing’. | BDB indicates that indeed that sense holds, or perhaps the sense of great, mighty.

Ge 3:24 – Cherubim were stationed at the east end of Eden, armed with the flaming sword, to block access to the tree of life.

Ex 25:18-22 – Make two cherubim of hammered gold and set them at the ends of the mercy seat. Their wings shall spread upward so as to cover the seat as they face one another across the seat. The seat shall be atop the ark, and you shall put into the ark that testimony which I give to you. I will meet with you there, from above the mercy seat, from between the cherubim, and I will tell you all that I am commanding for the sons of Israel.

Ex 26:1 – The tabernacle shall consist of ten curtains of fine linen twisted with blue, purple and scarlet materials. Make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them.

Ex 26:31 – Likewise the veil of the tabernacle.

Ex 36:8 – Bezalel made the curtains as described, he being a skillful workman.

Ex 36:35 – and the veil, too.

Ex 37:7-9 – Bezalel also made the golden cherubim for the mercy seat.

Nu 7:89 – Moses went into the tent of meeting when he was to speak with God. There he heard the voice speaking from above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim. Thusly did God speak to him.

1Sa 4:4 – They sent and retrieved the ark of the covenant from Shiloh, the ark upon which the Lord of hosts sits above the cherubim. Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas were there with it.

2Sa 6:2, 1Chr 13:6 – David joined the people bringing up the ark of God, the ark called by His Name, the Name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above he cherubim.

2Sa 22:11, Ps 18:10 – He rode upon a cherub, and He flew. He appeared on the wings of the wind.

1Ki 6:23-35, 2Chr 3:7-14 – He fashioned a pair of cherubim from olive wood, each ten cubits in height, with a wingspan of ten cubits. These were placed in the inner house, wings outspread, such that they touched tip to tip in the center, and brushed the walls at the edges. These cherubim he overlaid with gold. He further carved the walls of the house with engravings of cherubim, palm trees and flowers. This was done both in the inner and the outer sanctuary. The floors of both were overlaid in gold, and he made olive wood doors for the inner sanctuary, similarly carved and overlaid in gold. The doors of the outer sanctuary were similarly fashioned, but of cypress.

1Ki 7:27-29 – The ten bronze stands had borders between the frames which were fashioned like lions, oxen and cherubim.

1Ki 7:36 – He engraved them with lions, oxen and cherubim.

1Ki 8:6-7, 2Chr 5:7-8 – The priests brought in the ark of the covenant and placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim in the inner sanctuary, such that the cherubim made a covering over the ark.

2Ki 19:15, Isa 37:16 – Hezekiah prayed. “O Lord, God of Israel, Who art enthroned above the cherubim; Thou alone art God of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth.”

1Chr 28:18-19 – There was gold for the altar of incense, and for the model of the chariot, and even for the cherubim whose wings covered the ark. All of these plans for the temple, David indicated, were given him by the Lord in great detail.

Ezra 2:59, Neh 7:61 – One of those who came, but could not clearly set forth their lineage was named Cherub.

Ps 80:1 – Give ear, Oh Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who art enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!

Ps 99:1 – The Lord reigns! Let the nations tremble. He is enthroned above the cherubim. Let the earth shake!

Eze 9:3 – The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had been and moved to the threshold of ht temple.

Eze 10:1-22 – I saw something like a sapphire throne above the heads of the cherubim. He spoke to the man in linen, “Enter between the wheels under the cherubim. Fill your hands with coals from between them and scatter those coals over the city.” The cherubim stood to the right of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. The glory of the Lord then went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple and the temple filled with cloud, the court was filled with the brightness of God’s glory. And the sound of the cherubim’s wings could be heard even to the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks. When He commanded the man in linen to take fire from between the wheels, the man came and stood beside a wheel, and a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to reach the fire there. He took some and put it in the hands of the man, then departed. The cherubim seemed to have hands like those of man under their wings. Next, I saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. The wheels shone like Tarshish stone, and the wheels were identical in appearance. When they moved, they could go in any direction without turning, but they followed in the direction they faced, never turning as they went. Their whole body – backs, hands and wings – as well as the wheels were full of eyes all over them. I heard these called whirling wheels. Each one had four faces, one that of a cherub, one the face of a man, the third of a lion and the fourth of an eagle. The cherubim rose up. These are the same living creatures I saw when I was by the river Chebar. When they moved, the wheels went along beside them, and when they rose on their wings, the wheels remained beside them. When they stood still so did the wheels, and when they rose up, so did the wheels, for the spirit of the living beings was in them. Then the Lord’s glory departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. When they left, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth, the wheels with them, even as I watched. They stood still at the east gate of the Lord’s house and the glory of God hovered over them. These are the living beings I saw beneath God in that vision by the river Chebar, so I knew that they were cherubim. Each had four faces, four wings, and beneath the wings hands. Their faces were like those I had seen by the river. Each one went straight ahead.

Eze 11:22 – The cherubim rose on their wings, the wheels beside them, and the glory of God hovered over them.

Eze 28:12-19 – You had the seal of perfection, were full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. You were there in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone served as your covering, set in settings of gold, gold which was in you. On the day that you were created, these were prepared for you. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I set you in place. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the firestones. You were blameless in all your ways from the moment of your creation right up to that point when unrighteousness was found in you. The rich gains of your trading filled you with violence such that you sinned. Therefore I have cast you from the mountain of God as a thing profane. I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the firestones. Your heart was lifted because of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. But, I cast you down to the ground before kings, that they may all see you. By the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries. So, I have brought fire from your very midst and it has consumed you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in sight of all who see you. All who know you are appalled at you. You have become terrified, and you will be no more.

Eze 41:18-20 – The inner house was carved with cherubim and palm trees, a tree between each pair of cherubim, and each cherub had two faces – a man’s face toward one tree and a lion’s face toward the other. Thus, the place was carved all around from the ground up and over the entrance. And this was done on the wall of the nave as well.

Eze 41:25 – The doors of the nave were carved in similar fashion.

Heb 9:5 – Above the ark of the covenant were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. But time does not permit us now to speak of these things in any great detail.

A few comments on this category of the angelic: First, it strikes me as inappropriate to suppose that this describes some imaginary or mythical being, as is suggested by some sources. Let me make one simple case for this: It is highly improbable that God would require His tabernacle to be decorated with such mythical creatures, particularly given that every other aspect of its decoration seems to celebrate the works of His own hands in creation. Palms, pomegranates and the like are by no means mythological. In a house designed to accentuate the glory of God, and of a God who particularly decries the vain imaginations to which man is prone, is it really to be supposed that He would require just such imaginations from those charged with the construction of His house? Note well that He did this not only with the tabernacle in the wilderness, but the décor persists through Solomon’s temple right into the temple Ezekiel saw in his visions. It is, perhaps, the single unchanging feature of that place God causes to be constructed for His worship.

Setting this aside, we have the meaning of the term by which they are named, which seems to have the major definition of blessing. These creatures, then, are created as a blessing. To whom? To God, I should think, first and foremost, as all things were created by Him and for Him. But, we are also taught that these angels are assigned to minister to God’s people, or to be a blessing to His people. If I can assume that the cherubim are indeed a category of, or even a synonym for angels, then that point applies. The term also admits of meanings to do with greatness and might, which would certainly seem to apply in this case.

However, let me focus on that root meaning of blessing, and with that in mind, consider the first introduction we have to these cherubim. That occasion is found with the expulsion of man from Eden, where we are informed that cherubim were stationed at the garden’s entrance to guard the way to the tree of life (Ge 3:24). The author of the ISBE article on the topic of cherubim chooses to view this as just one more bit of mythology. Yet, nothing in the context suggests that it is intended to be thus understood, and again, I note the consistent inclusion of their likeness amongst the other decorative touches in the temple, touches which otherwise consistently depict real representatives of nature. Fine. Set that aside. Here are these beings whose very name declares them great and mighty, set to guard the entrance to Eden, the garden of God. Note very briefly that there are multiple of these beings set in that place. Somehow we have the image of one huge angel with that flaming sword, but the term is in the plural. Anyway, it’s easy enough to see these beings as mighty, certainly, and it takes very little to consider them as being great. But, a blessing? How was it a blessing to be banned from God’s garden? How was it a blessing to be relegated to the curse which is upon this life we live?

Ah, but here we begin, perhaps, to glimpse just how weak our understanding of true goodness is! I am quite sure that what I am about to launch into is nothing original to myself, although I cannot recall where I came upon the idea, but it serves well to explain the scene. The stated reason for this stationing of an angelic guard was to prevent Adam, Eve and their offspring from finding their way back to eat of the tree of life. What was that tree of life about? It would seem that the fruit of that tree imparted eternal life in the same fashion that the fruit Adam and Eve partook of imparted the knowledge of good and evil. Were one to insist on allegory here, I suppose he would say that the tree of life is a symbol of the Christ. Who, then, is the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Never mind. It remains the wrong direction. The point I seek, here, is that Adam and Eve, having sinned and thereby earned for themselves the due penalty of sin, which is and always has been death, even without the institution of Mosaic Law; their sin had earned them spiritual death, separation from God. This was certainly the symbolic significance of their real expulsion from the real garden. No more would they enjoy such a direct and immediate fellowship with their Creator.

What, then, would have come of their having also eaten from that other tree? There could be no physical death for them. There would be for them the same state we are told applies to the sons of the resurrection: they cannot die. To taste of the fruit of that tree of life, then, would have made their experience of separation from God their permanent condition, a matter of eternity with no hope of parole. In this sense, it was indeed a blessing that they (and we) were thus prevented from tasting that fruit. In forbidding our access to life from the tree, God made possible our access to Life from the Son. This was, after all, the promise He made to Adam and Eve even as He spoke to them of the consequences of their sin. One would come and defeat the serpent who had talked them into their own rebellion.

In barring the way back, God had created a way forward. There is a way back to the garden and by His own power, He brings us along that way. Jesus is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Light. He is, if you please, the tree of life, for He is the Life. In Him, by Him, through Him, we are brought home to that garden in which God produced us. By the Way and by no other way are we able to return to that intimacy of fellowship abandoned by our forebears. The way back is shut off to this day, the cherubim still standing. But, the Way forward has been opened, that we might first be shorn of the sin of that knowledge of good and evil, leaving only good, before we are blessed to partake in a life of eternal permanence. Thus, and only thus, are we granted to live an eternity of fellowship with God, rather than the eternity we have earned for ourselves, an eternity of separation from Him.

As concerns the cherubim, then, the greater part of their mention in Scripture by far is in connection with descriptions of God’s earthly tabernacles. Given that He dictated the details of these tabernacles repeatedly, one might be inclined to think that there is a certain heavenly counterpart to be understood from, particularly, those aspects that are common to all descriptions of that tabernacle. We have, after all, the instructions to Moses for the original, portable model. We have the details of that more permanent structure that David financed and Solomon constructed. We have, also, the vision of Ezekiel regarding the temple rebuilt. In each of these cases, the idea of an inner area, a Holy of holies, within a Holy place, within a courtyard remains a constant. So, too, does the inclusion of the ark and the cherubim who stand at its sides. This, from first to last, is set forth as the judgment throne of God, the mercy seat. In every case, these cherubim are spoken of as covering that seat, and in each case God is spoken of as being seated above the cherubim. So, then, let us understand one thing: The mercy seat is not the throne. They are two separate features. God does not sit on the mercy seat.

His representative, perhaps does. Was this not also spoken of as the seat of Moses? I believe that is a description of the same device. Here, then, was a place for pronouncing the judgments of God, and it is spoken of as a seat of mercy. This is not to indicate in any way that God is required to be merciful. He is not. But, it certainly gives insight into the qualities God expects of His judges. Righteousness and justice are to be served absolutely! But, like God Himself is shown to act, His representatives are to exercise mercy even in serving righteousness and justice. It is no cold dedication to the word of the law. It is understanding the law applied. It is understanding the nature of those to whom you would apply it. It is to represent the authority of God Himself, but ever with the understanding that, “There, but for the grace of God, go I”.

So, His appointed judge sits upon the seat of mercy, and what overshadows him? The wings of cherubim, of blessing! Is that not a marvelous thing to recognize? God’s blessing is over the merciful exercise of justice. I recall, as well, studying the idea of the Atonement, and learning that there was a correlation of that idea and the point of the mercy seat. If memory serves, there was so great a correlation that one could recognize Jesus as being the mercy seat, or the mercy seat as being yet another shadow of the Christ to come, and the pouring out of His blood was the pouring out of the mercy found in the blessing of God. But, God Himself is seated above those wings, for He Himself is higher than the cherubim. And, Jesus, of course, has ascended to that same place in which is the true throne of God.

So, what should we make of the décor of this holiest of earthly places, where God indicates that He is camping in our midst? I note that those cherubim who decorate the walls of the place are constantly being interleaved with more mundane features of earthly life, whether palm trees or lions or some such. Could it be the very simple purpose is to remind us that spiritual life and physical life are just as tightly interwoven? Could it be to keep us mindful that as we walk this earthly life, with eyes that fail to see beyond the physical, even so, those servants of God are there around us, everywhere around us? And, the eyes which Ezekiel saw as their most remarkable feature, eyes on every surface of them, such that whichever way they faced at the moment, yet there was no smallest arc of their surroundings which was blocked from their view. Nothing could possibly escape their notice. And here, in the walls of the temple, we are given the firm reminder that they are ever near us, these eyes of heaven. Truly, we never walk alone.

There remains little more that need be said on this aspect of the angelic record. As concerns Ezekiel’s vision; the eyes, as I have said, seem the most significant aspect. Apart from that, all that he describes paints a picture of power and grandiosity such as would dwarf the ambitions of the greatest of earth’s empire-builders. This is clearly done to establish that God truly is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. None can ever hope to compare, however hard many have tried. The courts of Babylon might be ever so splendid, and its rulers ever so powerful. But, measured against the heavenly throne and the One sitting thereupon, they are as nothing.

Then, of course, there is that message delivered in Ezekiel 28:12-19. This is spoken as being directed against the king of Tyre. Yet, the descriptives given in that message make it very plain that it is addressed to somebody whom we might think of as being behind that king. It is addressed, it seems very clear, to the same one Paul speaks of as being the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). When God says, “You were there in Eden”, it becomes exceedingly clear that this is no earthly creature He is speaking to. When He further indicates that this one He is speaking to was a cherub, and ‘the anointed cherub’ at that, this is no petty tyrant of the earth He is describing, certainly. No, the reference is clear enough, it seems. And the reference is to that fallen angel, that star that plummeted to the earth, who is our enemy as he has made himself God’s enemy.

This would seem to establish a very clear tie between that which is referred to as a cherub and that which is referred to as an angel. Whether subclass or synonym, there is a distinct commonality here. It also becomes evident from this passage that Satan, in the time before he chose to sin, was not just an angel, but an angel of some distinction; the covering cherub, a cherub of particular splendor and even the keeper or container of that every flaming fire which Ezekiel had seen in other visions. And it is from that very fire that God draws forth the consuming eternal flame of Satan’s destruction.

Oh! How pride shows itself as the foundation of sin in this one’s fall! “Your heart was lifted because of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” God created the being and provided the splendor, but the being looked at itself and thought only, “look at me! Ain’t I grand?” And, from that point onward, the being resented the idea that there was some God that was grander. The fire within became the fire that consumed, turning that being’s grandeur to ashes. Here is warning for us all. What pride lifts up in us will, if left untreated, consume us utterly, leaving no good thing behind.

As a final thought here, I would emphasize the end of that message from Ezekiel. “You will be no more” (Eze 28:19). This is a marvelous, most wonderful promise for those who believe, for the sons of the Resurrection! The end of this most powerful rebel is decreed and is therefore certain. He whose influence is to be seen as moving the throne of Tyre, and of all unscrupulous powers, will cease to have any such influence. Even his most ardent followers will, in the end, be appalled by the one they chose to follow. Whether this will come in time for repentance on their part I cannot say. I would note, however, a recurring message of Scripture that the condemned are given time primarily to fully lay upon themselves the weight of their condemnation. The unrepentant sinner continues in his days not, in this case, that repentance may come to him, but that the enormity of his sins may become fully realized. Thereby is the justice of his eventual punishment made the more just, the more glorious. With our modern sensibilities, as we like to think of them, this seems harsh and almost unjust. But, then, we are forever finding ways to dull our knowledge of good and evil, that sad gift from our father, aren’t we?

Specific Angels - Seraphim (05/28/11)

Saraph [OT:8314]: burning, copper colored. | a fiery serpent. A being with six wings that attends upon God. |

[Fausset’s] The same term is used to describe the fiery serpents that were inflicted upon the Israelites (Nu 21:6-8). This is one constant in the nature of these servants of God; their ‘serpent-like rapidity’ in serving. There is some suggestion that the form Satan took in the garden is connected with his having been such a servant to that point. The glimpse we have of them in Isaiah’s description of the heavenly court describes them as having six wings, of which only two serve for flight, the remaining four for covering; two the face, and two the feet. This reflects a common practice of those presenting before Eastern monarchs, that they would so cover even their feet in his presence. Their service is less in the active performance of tasks than in the reverent waiting upon Him, proclaiming His holiness. These are also the ‘medium of imparting’ from the spiritual fire to God’s prophets. [Me] It also shows up in Isaiah 14:29, and Isaiah 30:6, describing first the offspring of the cockatrice, and as one of several issues with the ‘land of trouble and anguish’, Egypt.

Isa 6:1-7 – I saw the Lord sitting enthroned, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each with six wings – two covering the face, two the feet, and two for flight. One called to another, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” The very foundations trembled with the voice of him who called out, and the temple was filling with smoke. I said, “Woe is me! I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips. Yet, my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, bearing a burning coal in his hand, taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “This has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is forgiven.”

There is some notice of the ways, both linguistically and visually, the seraphim appear to derive from the mythos of other regional powers. This leads some to conclude that the seraphim are themselves a mythological imagination of man. If, however, we bear in mind the roots of our enemy, Satan, and the teaching that he did not fall alone, but taking some portion of the heavenly host with him, then it should hardly surprise to find such images in courts set up under the guidance of his false and misleading counsels. Even he takes on the guise of an angel of light, as Paul reminds us (2Co 11:14), so it ought hardly to surprise that we find certain threads of commonality between the false beliefs of the nations and the true vision of the Scriptures. This may seem little more than a justification for blind faith, but I do not believe that to be the case. It simply stands to reason that the counterfeit would seek to appear as near to the real as possible.

Apart from this, there does not seem to be a great deal to be said on the topic of the seraphim. They are apparently a different category than the cherubim, being different both in form and in position. God is enthroned above the cherubim, we are told, but the seraphim are positioned above Him, a holy air force, if you like. Given the view of them that we have from Isaiah, it would be easy to perceive them as the heavenly worship team, although such a description doubtless fails to do them justice. But, that does seem to be their primary role, the declaration of God’s worth and the praises of His glory. There can be, it seems to me, no greater role.

As to Fausset’s suggestion that Satan in the garden was showing something of his true form by appearing as a serpent, it seems to me the Biblical evidence is either contradictive or at best ambiguous. If it is accepted that Ezekiel, in his woe against Tyre, was actually addressing Satan, then we must accept that he is therein counted a cherub. If I am furthermore correct that cherub and seraph are two distinct categories of angelic beings, which would seem to be supported both in description and in position, then he cannot also have been a seraph. That is not to say he could not take on the form thereof, which would indeed fit Paul’s description of an angel of light. And, I would note, if this was indeed his ploy, it becomes rather less surprising that Eve would listen. After all, as residents of God’s own garden, the sight of these six-winged and shining attendants upon God would quite likely have been a regular feature of her day. If, as we are told, they wait upon Him, hover over Him, then where He is, surely they are as well. Given that, one coming in their guise would be more likely to find an ear ready to listen.

This is interesting, and indeed ought to lead us to take that much more seriously the admonition Paul gives. Be not fooled by appearances! Do not take any messenger at face value, nor accept any message uncritically. Truly, there is no place in Christianity for blind faith. Blind faith is, if this line of thought has been correct, at the very root of the fall of mankind from grace. Adam, in that case, and Eve as well, had the clear declaration from God firsthand. This you shall not do. Yet, because this whisperer in the garden had the guise of one of God’s nearest companions, his words were taken on faith, not checked against God’s own word. Thereby did doubt and confusion find entry, carrying sin hid behind their backs.

We, if we simply soak up whatever preaching we come across, accept whatever is said in the near vicinity of the name of Christ, are in exactly the same danger. That’s at the heart of Paul’s point. Test things! Measure against the one Gospel revealed for all time. The strength of that statement when Paul makes it is difficult to match. Even if angels come telling you a different and conflicting message, listen not, but rather curse them! Even if I come to you with a message that has changed from what you were taught, treat me likewise. Were he a more profane man, he might well have invited the same reaction even if God Himself came with a different claim. Given the propensity of the father of lies to mimic what is true and good, to put on whatever disguise he must to slip past our guard, we would do well to think of it in those terms.

Look back at those visions of the end that John relayed, and how much like God this false one seeks to appear. Look at how many respond to him as if he truly were the God of all creation. This is, after all, exactly the sort of perception he has wanted for himself all along. This is the pride of place that led to his fall from grace, and he has never changed, never repented. He has wanted the throne from that first encounter in Eden, and in that Adam and Eve took his advice, they abdicated their throne to him. But, he still has not attained to God’s throne, and that remains his objective, even as he realizes the futility of it. So, he is willing to accept our delusion of seeing him thus enthroned, that being the nearest he can hope to come to his desire. To that end, what better tool for him than to appear not only as an angel of light, but as the Lord Himself? I know not if he has it in himself to pull off such a charade, but we do well to consider the possibility. Many will come claiming… But, we, whoever may bring word to us, are called to be true to the Word alone, to reject and even curse any being, however majestic and awesome in appearance, that presents a truth claim that does not perfectly align with the Word.

Indeed, the advice of John applies. “Do not even greet such a one” (2Jn 10), for to do so lends him credence, and thereby you participate in his evil. Let us be sufficiently wise as to recognize that this admonition applies not only to the human messenger, but also the angelic.

Specific Angels - Nephilim (05/28/11)

Nephiyl [OT:5303]: a bully or tyrant. | giants | [TWOT] It may be more fitting to render this as ‘heroes’ or ‘fierce warriors’, as the etymology is quite debatable.

[ISBE] There are only two references to this term in Scripture. The author here suggests that they ought not to be identified as the product of those comminglings of God’s sons and man’s daughters, but as specifically distinct. Whether to be taken as giants or merely as mighty men is debatable, given the two references. That the Israelites saw themselves comparatively as grasshoppers suggests that large stature was indeed part of their description.

Ge 6:4 – The Nephilim were on the earth then, as well as later, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and bore children to them. Those were the mighty men of old, men of renown.

Nu 13:33 – We saw the Nephilim (of whom the Anak are a part), and were as grasshoppers in our own sight, as well as theirs.

There is very little that needs to be said on this topic, apart from making clear that these beings, were not angelic in nature, nor in origin. The tendency to suppose some supernatural (and therefore abominable) intercourse between angels and human women comes back to Genesis 6:4, but a more careful reading does seem to indicate, as the ISBE notes, a distinction between the Nephilim, and the sons of God mentioned thereafter. Furthermore, I would note the passage that has launched me into this lengthy study, wherein Jesus notes the lack of marriage in the resurrection life, and indicates that in this regard, we are to be like the angels. Given that the marriage relationship is the one place that God sanctions intercourse as a holy thing, it seems to me that such intercourse is thereby ruled out for those creatures created for a life in heaven. In short, it would seem to indicate that the angels are not equipped for such activities.

That being the case, we must understand the Genesis passage as indicating something else by that phrase “sons of God”. The argument that the phrase was meant to indicate those descended from the holy line of Seth as opposed to those of other lineage. It would then describe, those whom Augustine describes as belonging to the city of God intermixing with those who are citizens of the city of man. We might, then, take the Nephilim, particularly given that note that they were ‘the mighty men of old, men of renown’, to represent those who had refused to lower themselves in this fashion, who had kept their bloodlines pure. That, I would note, coincides well with the New Testament teachings on marriage, whereby we are encouraged to marry not the unbeliever, lest we find we are ‘unequally yoked’ (2Co 6:14).

Specific Angels - Michael (05/29/11)

Dan 10:2-21 – I, Daniel, had been in mourning several weeks, not eating anything tasty – no meat, no wine. Neither did I use ointments during that entire time. On the twenty fourth day of the first month, I was beside the river Tigris when looking up I saw a man in linen, with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body was like beryl, his face like lightning, and his eyes burned like torches. His arms and feet were like polished bronze, and when he spoke, it was like the sound of a tumult. Only I saw this vision. Those with me did not; yet such a dread fell upon them that they fled to hide, leaving me alone with this great vision. No strength remained in me, I was pale as if dead. But, I heard his words, and as soon as he spoke, I fell into a deep sleep, face to the ground. Then, a hand touched me and lifted me up on hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you of high esteem, understand what I am going to tell you. Stand up straight, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this, I stood up, but still trembling. He said, “Don’t be afraid. You were heard from the moment you began to pray before your God, and I have come in response to what you prayed. But the prince of the Persian kingdom opposed me for twenty one days before Michael, one of the chief princes, came to my aid, for I had been left with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to give you understanding as to what will happen to your people in later days. The vision I impart pertains to days yet future.” Hearing this, I was speechless, and faced the ground. Then, one of human appearance was touching my lips, and I spoke, saying to this being before me, “my lord, these visions bring me anguish and I am left without strength. How can somebody like you talk with so low a creature as myself? No strength remains in me. I am breathless.” Then, that human-like one touched me again, and I was strengthened. He said, “Man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you. Take courage! Be courageous!” No sooner did he speak than I was indeed strengthened. I said, “May my lord speak. You have strengthened me.” He said, “Do you understand why I have come? But, now I must return to fight the prince of Persia. I am going, but behold, the prince of Greece is coming. But, I will tell you what is written in the Truth. Even so, there is on one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.”

Dan 12:1-3 – At that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over your people, will arise. There will be such distress at that time as has never before occurred and your people, all who are found written in the book, will be rescued. Many who are dead and in the ground will arise to everlasting life. Others will arise as well, but to everlasting contempt. And those with insight will shine like the brightness of heaven, leading many to an eternal righteousness.

Jude 9 – Michael the archangel did not rail against the devil in judgment as they argued over the body of Moses. He said only, “the Lord rebuke you.”

Rev 12:7-9 – There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels battled the dragon and his angels, and the dragon’s forces were not strong enough to win. No place remained for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down; that serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels with him.

There is very little I need to write on this. I will but notice this: Michael does not personally appear in the Scriptures. It is interesting; I came in with the impression that Michael had appeared to Daniel, but this is not the case. That one who appeared did so in magnificent form, but it was not the archangel. He but spoke of Michael. What we read there in Daniel’s experiences tells us two things about this Michael.

First, and of paramount import for us, he is appointed as the prince of God’s people. In Daniel’s visions, this idea of angels being assigned to specific nations is particularly prominent. It is noteworthy that several of these angels are not in the hosts of heaven, but rather in the employ of the dragon that John speaks of in the Revelation. Michael, we are also told, via Jude, is ‘the archangel’. He is the chief of the angels, then. His, as we see in John’s vision, is perhaps the greatest task assigned by Christ, the defense and protection of His own people. We, of course, will understand this as being something more than a matter of national borders. He is not prince of a land, but of a people. Given that, we should probably understand the princes of Persia and Greece in a similar light, as being less to do with nations or empires, and more to do with the sorts of people who compose those empires.

The second point I would make from this is that Michael, though he be charged with our protection, is hardly to be thought of as being at our beck and call. Consider that Daniel, whom this messenger repeatedly refers to as ‘highly favored one’, does not merit a personal visit from Michael, but only this unnamed representative. If he, having been thus assessed by heaven, was not worthy of such an honor what possible cause do we have to suppose ourselves worthy? Very few, I dare say none amongst ourselves, take faith in the Living King as seriously as did Daniel. Few if any have a faith such as he displayed repeatedly. There is a reason why his example is so well noted. It is because his example is so rare.

My point remains. Michael is not a protective force we can deploy as we wish. He is not a police officer that we can call in when we perceive a crime against us. He is not our man. He is God’s. When we speak of the angels as holy, that is one implication of what we are saying. They are God’s holy angels, His exclusively, thoroughly and unequivocally devoted to His service and His command – His alone. In the end, this angel who spoke to Daniel did not come because Daniel called him. Indeed, we have nothing in Daniel’s words to suppose such a calling down of angels. Rather, this angel was sent. Daniel’s words were heard, but they were heard by the One Who matters. God heard, and in response, HE sent. HE alone has the authority. Indeed, apart from His command, no angel would ever come.

I feel it needful to stress this point, though: I have still not come across any least example of any man, woman or child of God calling for angels either directly or indirectly. Neither can one find an example in Scripture of anyone calling on the angels directly, nor can one find an example there of anyone praying that God would send his angels. It doesn’t happen. No, one prays to God because He alone is worthy, as every angel in heaven knows far better than we. This habit of prayer that some teach, that we should be calling angels into place as if we had the power or the right to command them, is errant nonsense, and if it has entered our thinking, we need to show it the exit.

Specific Angels - Gabriel (05/29/11)

Dan 8:15-18 – Having seen the vision, I sought to understand it. Then, one was before me who looked like a man, and I heard the voice of a man speaking. He called out, saying, “Gabriel, give this man understanding of what he has seen.” So he came to where I was standing. When he came, I was frightened. I fell prostrate. But, he said, “Son of man, understand the vision, which is about the end times.” While he was talking, I fell into a deep sleep, still on my face before him. But, he touched me and made me stand upright.

Dan 9:21-23 – While I was yet in prayer, this same Gabriel I had seen before came to me. Great was my weariness at the time, and it was just about time for the evening offering. He instructed me talking with me. “Daniel, I have come to give you insight and understanding. When first you began to pray, the command was issued, and on that command I have come to tell you about the message of this vision, for you are highly esteemed.”

Lk 1:19 – I am Gabriel, who stands in God’s presence. I have been sent to speak to you of this good news.

Lk 1:26-28 – In the sixth month Gabriel was sent from God to Galilee, to a town called Nazareth and to a virgin in that town who was engaged to one Joseph, a descendant of David’s. That virgin’s name was Mary. Coming in, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

Gabriel, it seems, has an office as one of the most important messengers from God’s throne. Each of the four times we are introduced to his work, he speaks to impart understanding of things beyond the ken of man. It is of some interest, at least, that with the exception of Zacharias, he tends to come with a rather formulaic style. He comes to those who are particularly esteemed or favored by heaven. In both visits to Daniel, he makes this point. In introducing himself to Mary, it is the first thing he says. Zacharias alone does not hear this message. I don’t know that we need to read anything into that.

I would note, however, that the messages with which Gabriel is found to be involved are singularly focused on the culmination of God’s planning. He speaks to Daniel about the end times, but the culmination of his message points firmly to Messiah (Dan 9:25), and the doings of His time. This message is also front and center in his dealings with Zacharias and Mary. Everything has to do with Messiah. That is only fitting, as it is the greatest Truth of life. Everything does have to do with Messiah. This is our great hope and joy. It is also the great dread of the angels in the dragon’s employ. For, in that this Truth is known to them, so is the ultimate failure of their purpose known to them.

Specific Angels - Ariel & Raphael (05/29/11)

Ari’el [OT:740]: “Lion of God”. The name is applied to Jerusalem.

Isa 29:1-7 – Woe to Ariel, the city where once David camped! Add to your years, observe your feasts. Yet, I will bring distress to Ariel. She will become a city of lamenting and mourning. She shall be like an Ariel to me. I will camp against you, lay siege to you, and raise battle towers against you. You will be brought low. You will lie prostrate in the dust and from thence will your words come. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground, a whisper from the dust. Yet, your enemies in their multitudes shall become like fine dust, like chaff which blows away. And, it shall happen suddenly, of an instant! Your punishment shall be from the Lord of hosts, by thunder and earthquake, by whirlwind and tempest and flame of consuming fire. As for the numerous nations that war against Ariel, all who do so shall be as a dream, as a vision of the night.

These are two names I have heard levied as belonging to angels specifically mentioned in the Scriptures. However, of Ariel, this is the sole reference that is not immediately applied to a man, and of Raphael, I can find no mention whatsoever. That one comes, apparently from Tobit, one of the extra-canonical writings, where he is noted as an angel of the Lord sent to heal Tobias and his bride (Tbt 3:25). He also declares himself to be one of the seven who stand before the Lord (Tbt 12:15). This does show a certain alignment with John’s vision. However, the text remains outside of the canon of Scripture and I shall not comment further upon it.

Closing Thoughts (05/30/11)

Having spent this time considering matters angelic, where have I arrived? Well, one simple impact of this is that I have found answer to the question of the Nephilim, which I had posed before the outset of this excursion. The Nephilim, while sometimes supposed to be of angelic origin need not be understood in that fashion. Indeed, as I had formulated when first thinking about this, the fact that angels do not marry, per our Lord’s own teaching, makes it more difficult to read of that unfortunate commingling of the sons of God with the daughters of man as inferring some sort of angelic involvement. Further, as we saw, the text does not actually implicate the Nephilim in that action, but mentions only that they were extent both before and during the time of these events.

It occurs to me that the whole point of their being noted at all may be to indicate that the end of these ‘mighty men of old’ was in some way due to the sins of these sons of God. Yet, the sons of God, it would seem, are to be understood as being those of godly lineage, sons of Seth, if you will. There, I think, I shall leave that topic and consider it closed unless God should prompt me to pursue it again at some later date.

There are a couple of bits of Scripture that I have been carrying along throughout this consideration of the angels which address the point that originally triggered me to pursue such considerations. The main impetus was a desire to grasp the meaning of Luke 20:36 more clearly. There, as the NKJV translates it, Jesus tells us that the sons of the resurrection ‘are equal to the angels’. Contextually, the specific reasons for bringing this up lay in His point that these same sons no longer marry (the point which then led to considerations of the Nephilim), and that neither can these sons die.

As we have seen throughout this study, the form of the angels is a varied thing. We have the descriptions of these angels with fiery serpentine bodies. It is highly unlikely, I should think, that our resurrection bodies are to take such form. We have angels with four wings, angels with six. We have angels armed for battle, and angels arrayed for praise. Given the variety of both form and office that we see amongst them, it seems that much more unlikely that Jesus intended a full and complete equality here. Equal to which? To a Gabriel, say, or to a seraph? Which form would be ours? The one with four heads? But, these questions, and others like them, should fade as we consider the Son Himself. He, when revealed in His glory, is not described with any such inhuman features. True, His glory far outshines the earthly state of man, but there is no concrete indication that He had developed body parts that were totally incongruous with the form of man. And this is to be expected! God, we are told, made man after His own image. We are not told that He fashioned angels after His own image. If, then, we are fashioned in His image, what cause have we to think our resurrection body will be that different in form from the present? Perfected, yes. Purified, yes. But, altered? On what basis?

The other passage I have been carrying along is that from Hebrews 2:7-9, which takes the passage from Psalms 8, that which speaks of him who was made for a time lower than the angels, and makes it clear that this applies specifically to Jesus, the Christ of God. Whether or not this should be taken as an argument for exclusive application of that passage to Him, it certainly acts as a strong deterrent to pride if we understand it so. There is that tendency to want to apply it personally. Hah! I shall be higher than angels. I shall be a judge over them. But, where is room for pride in that? We’ll make it, to be sure, but it’s not really there. If indeed we find ourselves in that position, which is questionable already, at least a we tend to conceive the thought, it is still through no merit or skill of our own that we are thus placed, but solely by His work in us.

The greatest conclusions that I have come to, or found reinforced throughout this study are that the angels are not only first and foremost, but exclusively God’s to command and direct. They may minister on our behalf but they serve at His orders. I can find no Scriptural backing for the tendency to call upon God to array His angels at our behest. Indeed, I can find no prayer that even chooses to note their existence. It may be my own weakness, but I think not, that causes me to see such prayerful demanding or even requesting that God dispose His forces according to our weak lights as the height of arrogance. Do we really think we have a better sense of what’s needed in the spiritual realms than He Who is all knowing? Are we truly that inflated in ego?

What we do see is that these angels refuse worship. If they are bowed down to, they will see to it that the bower stands up like a man. If they are given vocal worship, they will make clear that they are not the fit recipients of such things, that God alone is to be worshiped. This attitude surely requires us to reject all thought of praying to the angels. We have no more cause to pray to them than to the saints who have passed into the next life ahead of us. They are not the ones to whom we address our prayers, but God alone. I am strongly inclined to say that this same line of reasoning ought to preclude us from praying for them as well. It is not their presence that preserves us and saves us. It is God and God alone. He may, in His wisdom, choose to utilize these angelic beings as agents of His purpose, but they are not necessary to His purpose. His purpose is necessary because it is His, and because it is His, it will be done. He Who is all powerful has no cause to depend on the aid of any other to see His will enforced. He is sufficient in Himself. This does not preclude Him from including either angel or human or even ass or frog in His planning, but it does preclude the necessity of any such inclusion.

Where I am arriving at is this: Whether we tend to think it is what we are doing or not, this tendency to insist upon or even request angelic interventions on our behalf or on behalf of those we are praying for really is a form of angel worship. It makes them out to be the important, deciding factor in that situation for which we are praying, when such is absolutely not the case. This in no wise eliminates the possibility of angelic interventions and visitations. Indeed, I would have to admit to having the impression of such a visit, if no outright sighting, myself. But, we must needs recall to mind the nature and purpose of these beings. They are messengers and servants of the Most High God, not of any man, nor even of any church.

That the church has its angel assigned as overseer and director is clear enough. But even here, though that angelic presence is for the benefit of the church, it is not in such a way as leaves the church as director of the angel, but quite the opposite. And, as we see with painful clarity from the message of John’s Revelation, their presence and their efforts for our benefit do not in any way ensure that we shall realize the benefit. Those churches we see in the text are off course even though there is this angel of the church to which Jesus addresses Himself. They share the responsibility, it would seem. But, how this can be when it is we who turn a deaf ear atop a stiff neck is beyond me to explain.

Angels, if indeed we should ever encounter them in so clearly recognizable a fashion, are to be heeded, obeyed as the messengers of God that they are. Yet, they are not to be obeyed blindly for the simple reason that there are too many false messengers extent. They are to be obeyed, but only insofar as their instructions accord with the revealed will of God in Scripture. They are not the final word. That, too, is reserved to our Lord and Christ, Jesus, the Living Word of God.

Lord, as I close out this study, I thank You that You provide this Word, these Scriptures for our understanding. I thank You that in Your grace You stooped down to our level, made Yourself understandable to our limited intellect. I pray, as well, that where such correction to prayer life is needed, be it in myself or in those over whom You have given me this temporary charge, that I would be both courageous to bear Your Truth to the matter and lovingly merciful in how I bring that word. You know better than I whether that correction is truly needed, but all that You have been showing me through this long study suggests that is indeed the case. Grant me, oh loving Christ, to bear Your message with the Love that I ought, and to abide in Your peace if there is opposition to what You require me to say. And, in all things, Lord, may You first correct my heart and my mind that I may more fully represent Your goodness to the world in which I live.