The Doctrine of Angels
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The Christmas season has arrived
Common thread weaved throughout the story of Jesus’s birth—angels
o Luke 1:11 – angel tells Zechariah that Elizabeth will bear a son
o Luke 1:26 – angel tells Mary she will conceive of HS and bear Messiah
o Matt 1:20 – angel tells him not to divorce Mary
o Matt 2:13 – angel tells him to flee with family to Egypt
o Matt 2:19 – angel tells him to return to Israel
o Luke 2:9, 13 – multitude of angels appear shepherds announcing Jesus’s birth
Key: There’s something significant about angels for them to appear so prominently in the gospel narrative
· Surprisingly, many theology books don’t treat the subject of angels thoroughly or at all
· Liberals: often deny existence of angels – anti-supernaturalists – modern-day Sadducees
· Admittedly, angels are mysterious – often misunderstood – warped by popular culture
o Sometimes they appear like to look like men (Gen 18-19) – confused Sodomites
o Other times they appear as other-worldly creatures (Isa 6; Ezek 1; Rev. 4)
· Result:We tend to fall into one of two extremes
o Overemphasize
§ John 5:3b-4 – superstition ascribed to angels
§ Col 2:18 – idolatry and veneration of angels
o Underemphasize
§ Jude 8-9 – arrogantly assume a false authority over them
§ Sadducees – totally deny them altogether
What we want is a BIBLICAL understanding of angels
· Angels are REAL
o Eph 1:21 Christ is “all rule & authority & power & dominion”
o Rev 5:11 heaven filled with ‘myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands”
· Angels appear INFREQUENTLY in Bible
o Only 26 angelic encounters recorded in Bible
o 10x in OT
o 16x in NT
o Takeaway: Angelic appearances are
§ Infrequent
§ Reserved for significant events
§ Reserved for significant individuals (most of us NOT significant indiv!!)
o Counters popular claims of everyday and casual sightings
[TRANS] Reality is that angels are prob. far different in reality from the idea we have in our heads
· GOAL: Let’s make sense of angelic world
· NOTE:Not specifically going to talk about Satan and demons – only in general with angels
APPROACH: Answer some questions of the Bible about angels
1. WHAT ARE ANGELS & WHAT ARE THEY LIKE?
1. WHAT ARE ANGELS & WHAT ARE THEY LIKE?
· “Angel”= מַלְאָךְ (Heb) and αγγελος(Gk)
o Meaning = “messenger,” “envoy,” “ambassador”
o 389x in Bible – sometimes human, frequently nonhuman
§ 24x in OT = angelic beings
§ 152x in NT = angelic beings
· Basic DEF:Heb 1:14 – 2 elements
o “ministering” = function
o “spirits” = nature
Angels = spirit beings
· Why are angels denied by many? they rep. supernaturalism in a naturalistic world
· Humans = complex unity of body and soul
· Angels = spirit only – non-corporeal (Lk 24:39 = “spirit does not have flesh and bone”)
· Result:visible or invisible
o Gen 19 – Sodom
o John 20:11-12 – Christ’s tomb
o 2 Kgs 6:15-17 – Elisha’s servant
Angels = personal beings
· They have intellect
o Wise (2 Sam 14:20)
o Conversant (Matt 28:5)
o Sing (Job 38:7)
o Worship (Heb 1:6)
· They have emotion
o Joy (Luke 15:10)
o Fear of God (Jas 2:19) – “demons believe and shudder!”
· They have will
o Worship (Heb 1:6; Rev 5:11)
o Long to understand salvation (1 Pet 1:10-12)
o Can rebel (Satan/demons)
Angels = created beings
· Job 38:4-7 – implies angels were created at outset of creation week
· Ps 148: 2 – subservient to God
· Col 1:16 – created by Christ
· IMPORTANT: This is why angel veneration and worship is wrong
o Judaism = some elevated and worshiped angels (Col 2:18)
o Mormonism = lowers Christ and elevates angels
· Hebrews 1 = makes big point that Christ is superiorto angels
· How many did God create?
o 1 Kgs 22:19 – “all the host of heaven” – implies innumerable amount
o Dan 7:10 – “a thousand thousands…ten thousand times ten thousand”
o Rev 5:11 –myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands”
o NOTE: these numbers refer to elect angels – ONLY 2/3 of angels God created!!!
Angels = moral beings
· Called “holy” (Mk 8:38; Lk 9:26)
· Created morally pure – praising God/shouting for joy
· Satan’s rebellion indicates moral agency
NOTE: All fallen angels will be held morally accountable for their rebellion
- 1/3 of angels followed Satan in rebellion
- NO REDEMPTION FOR ANGELS – Matt 25:41 – “eternal fire prepared for devil and his angels”
Angels = ageless beings
· Created individually – not born
· They do not procreate or reproduce after their kind
ILLUST: “Uncle Screwtape” technically inaccurate
o Matt 20:30/Mk 12:25 – often misunderstood to indicate that people will become angels when they die
o NOTE: “like angels” = “neither marry nor are given in marriage” after glorification
o REMEMBER:He’s catching Sadducees in their own trap! They don’t believe in resurrection or angels!!! A double whammy!!
Angels = powerful beings
· Supernatural strength and power
· Gen 19 – blinded Sodomites
· 2 Sam 24:10-17 – slaughtered 70,000 men in Jerusalem
· Matt 28:2 – moved large gravestone blocking Jesus’s tomb
· Acts 12:23 – struck King Herod with fatal case of worms
· 2 Thess 1:7 – called “mighty”
· 2 Pet 2:11 – called “greater & mightier” than humans
· NOTE:this is why they’re often venerated and worshipped
**SUMMARY = angels are spirit beings—personal, moral, ageless, powerful, innumerable, and created by God**
2. WHAT DO ANGELS DO?
2. WHAT DO ANGELS DO?
Heb 1:14 – “ministering spirits”
· “ministering” = λειτουργικος > “liturgy” = “special service”
· **angels = spirits created by God to engage in special service**
What kind of special service?
Angels = praising God
· Job 38:7
Angels = guarding
· Gen 3:24 – 1st explicit mention of angels = “cherubim” – stationed to guard the way to tree of life
· Ezek 20:14 – Satan described as an “anointed guardian cherub”
· Cherub = apparently a special class of angel tasked with guarding
· Exod 25:18-22 – cherubim guarding the ark of the covenant
· Rev 21:12 – presumably cherubim guarding 12 gates of New Jerusalem
Angels = messengers of divine revelation
· OT often implies direct revelation from God to man, but apparently angels were often involved
· Acts 7:38 – angel at Mt. Sinai giving Moses the law
· Acts 7:53 – law was delivered by angels
· Gal 3:19 – law put in place by angels
· Heb 2:2 – message (of the law) declared by angels
· Angels also personally delivered messages to various individuals
o Daniel
o Zechariah (OT and NT)
o Mary
o Joseph
o John
· Rev 14:6-11 – angels to deliver gospel message in last days (tribulation)
Angels = agents of judgment
· Heavily involved in the future judgments of the tribulation
Angels = protectors of God’s holiness
· Isa 6:4 – Seraphim – “burning ones” – hapax
· Singing “holy, holy, holy” with feet and faces covefed
· Tasked with maintaining purity of God’s holiness?
· Touched coal to Isaiah’s filthy lips to purify him
Angels = serving Christ
· Announced his birth
· Protected him as a baby
· Ministered to him in the wilderness after his tempting
· Communicated his resurrection and ascension to his disciples
· Will return with him at his second coming
· Will bind Satan in preparation for Messianic Kingdom
Angels = serve Christians
· Heb 1:14 – minister to believers
· Lk 15:10 – rejoice with sinners repent
· Matt 18:10 – provide protection
o Often misunderstood to teach individual guardian angels
o Not teaching guardian angel theology – at most indicates that believers are “collectively served by angels”
o Guardian angel theology = distraction from true Christian life
o Some believers wait for when God reveals the “name” of “their” angel – indicates higher level of spirituality
Angels = serve the nations
· Dan 10:1-9 – Daniel’s vision which causes great fear and turmoil
· Dan 10:10-14 – angel comes to explain vision
o Delayed 21 days by “the prince of the king of Persia”
o NOT a human prince… “Michael” called “one of the chief princes”
o “Prince” = angel apparently a demon trying to influence Persian leadership against the nation Israel
· Passage describes cosmic angelic warfare at the socio-political level
· Angels battling one another for control of nations and their leaders
John Walvoord: “Although the entire subject of the unseen struggle between the holy angels and the fallen angels is not clearly revealed in Scripture, from the rare glimpses which are afforded, as in this instance, it is plain that behind the political and social conditions of the world there is angelic influence—good on the part of the holy angels, evil on the part of the angels under satanic control. This is the struggle to which Paul referred Ephesians 6:10-18” (p. 247).
NOTE: There is clear spiritual warfare occurring in the world today…God’s armies and Satan’s armies are in constant conflict over the control of the nations of the world
· Jude 9 – Michael the archangel contended with the devil over the body of Moses
· Rev 20:1-4 – reason why Satan must be bound during messianic kingdom so as not to deceive the nations
Conclusion
Conclusion
What do we take away from this?
· Walk the fine line between overemphasis and underemphasis
· Overemphasizing angels leads to…
o Distraction from true spirituality
o Manipulation and deception – Satan disguises himself as an angel of light
o Fear – Rom 8:38 – “For I am sure that neither death nor life, angels nor rulerswill be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”
· Underemphasizing angels leads to…
o Arrogance and self-entitlement– man may be God’s image and the objects of redemption, but we are not special in ourselves and we’re not the most powerful creatures in this world
o Useless fighting - Eph 6:12 – “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”