THE STUDY OF ANGELS

WHY DID GOD CREATE ANGELS?

To amaze them...

Ephesians 3:8–10 NLT

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 3:8–11 NLT

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

WHAT ARE ANGELS?

1) Angels are finite

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

NOTE: Angels had a beginning. They are eternal but not infinite

2) Angels are spiritual

Eph 6:

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For 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.

NOTE: Angels do not have bodies, but they can occasionally enter the physical universe

3) Angels are vast

Revelation 5:11–12 ESV

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

NOTE: Angels could number in the thousands, millions, or billions

4) Angels are powerful

2 Kings 19:35 ESV

And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

NOTE: Angels are much stronger than humans, at least for now

5) Angels are servants

Hebrews 1:14 ESV

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

NOTE: Angels play music, send messages, and project God’s people

6) Angels are free

Jude 6 NLT

And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.

NOTE: Angels had one choice to seal their fate immediately and eternally

7) Angels are ranked

Daniel 10:13 NIV

But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

NOTE: There are Archangels, Principalities, Seraphim, Cherubim, etc.

8) Angels are divided

Revelation 12:7 ESV

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,

Revelation 12:3–7 ESV

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,

NOTE: Michael the Archangel will defeat Satan

9) Angels are accountable

Job 1:6 ESV

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

NOTE: Angels cannot act until God allows

10) Angels are curious

1 Peter 1:10–12 NIV

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Hebrews 13:1–2 ESV

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

NOTE: Angels are cheering you on