Understanding Angels

Introduction

This week is going to be a little different. Instead of moving on to chapter 25, I wanted to focus on one small detail in chapter 24. As Abraham was in the house of Bethuel talking about his mission to find a wife for Isaac. As he tells this story, he is not shy to include his perspective of faith in YHWH and his active role in bringing him to the right house and to the right girl for Isaac. As he was recalling the instructions that Abraham had given him, and how he had asked what he should do if the woman wouldn’t go with him. Verse 40 gives us an interesting answer, “But he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s house.”

This reflects what we read of the original conversation in verse 7 when Abraham said, “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.”

Already in the book of Genesis we have seen angels taking an active role in God’s communication and provision for the righteous. Two angels had accompanied the “Angel of the LORD’ who embodies a physical representation of the very presence of God. These same two angels had been the ones to warn Lot and his family, and it was by their hand that the city was destroyed according to Genesis 19:21. Even before Abraham, we saw that one interpretation of Gen 6:1-4 is that fallen angels did take human wives, although these were not the fathers of the mythical gods of old, who were really mere men known as the Nephilim who were there both before and after the days that the angels fell.

Throughout Scripture we see angels appear with some regularity. In church history, angels appear in theological writings quite frequently. Even in the reformed tradition, angels have always been an important part of Christian theology. Jonathan Edwards, the American puritan and one of the more important figures in the last 300 years, had an extensive theology of angels and sought to understand what their role was and how Christians should think about them. But in recent years, there has been little if any discussion and teaching about angels. In fact, in my five years at seminary I can only think of brief references to angelic beings and never a thorough look at who these beings are.

Nevertheless, they are mentioned very often throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testament. They obviously play an active role in the world, and they clearly interact with human beings at various times. I suspect there are a couple of reasons why we don’t talk very much about angels in reformed circles.

First, I think it is sometimes difficult for us to see the significance or need for these heavenly beings in the light of God’s sovereignty. Why does God need angels if he controls all things anyway? Although we believe that God uses means, it can be hard for us to comprehend spiritual means like angels whom God uses to do his will.

Second, I think there is has been a bit of a reaction to angelic mysticism. New age groups, catholics, and hyper-charismatics all like to talk about angels all the time, and maybe that puts our guard up. Today I want to take the time to look at what angels are, what their purpose is, and how we, as believers should think of them. Last week we saw how we are on a mission just like Abraham’s servant was, and if he was counting on help from the Angelic beings it is worth asking the question, should we be expecting that same kind of help?

What are Angels?

So let’s start with the most basic question, what are angels? The idea of some kind of angelic beings who operate in another realm can seem like something from either an ancient myth or modern science fiction, and yet it is clear through the Scriptures that these beings are real, personal entities who at times come into contact with human beings.

The first thing that Scripture establishes about angels is that they are created beings. They are not eternal, which means they are not gods. They were created as part of the created order of the universe from the beginning. They did not exist in eternity past and are not comparable in any way to God. On top of that. we know that they were created by Christ. Listen to the words of Col 1:16

Colossians 1:16 ESV

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Now while angels are not mentioned explicitly there, the “invisible” things, the things in “heaven” and the corresponding thrones and dominions, which exist in both the earthly and spiritual realms, are in view here. This is the realm angels inhabit, and this text makes it clear that everything from either world is created by God. As Created beings, we can safely assume that God created them for the same reason as he created everything else: for his own glory. Indeed, this is what this text tells us. How exactly do angels bring glory to God? What do they do and what roles to they fill to accomplish the glory of God in their own spheres?

The Divine Council

First, Scripture describes angels as part of a divine council. Although we know God has no need of help or service, he includes angels in part of a heaven council from which he sits enthroned sovereignly making decisions. This is most clearly demonstrated in 1 Kings 22:19-22. In this text, Micaiah the prophet is prophesying against the evil king Ahab and as he does so, he describes a scene in the heavenly council. We read,

1 Kings 22:19–22 ESV

And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’

In this text, God is not lying to Ahab, since Ahab had willingly persecuted all of the real prophets of God who were speaking the truth. God is sending a spirit to give Ahab the prophesies he wants to hear as a form of judgement. But what’s interesting is the way God makes this decision, asking the council who would go and entice Ahab, and a spirit volunteers to carry out God’s will. This is also similar to the scene in Job 1. This is also where we read one of the common OT names for angels clearly given

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.

These angelic beings come to present themselves before God as a kind of heavenly congregation, and apparently even Satan is allowed to attend these meetings. It makes one wonder if the spirit mentioned in 1 Kings was a demon, remember that God is lord even of satanic forces and they cannot do anything without God’s permission.

However, there is also a part of God’s presence where only special heavenly beings are allowed to be. This is demonstrated in Isaiah 6. The angelic beings in this scene are seen as being present in the throne room of God but covering their face and feet in the glorious presence of God. This reminds us that God is not among equals in his council, he is still the sovereign God.

The Heavenly Army

Another role that angelic beings play in Scripture is the heavenly army. This is a very common role they play in the OT. In fact, one common name of God throughout the OT is Lord of Hosts, or Lord of Armies. This heavenly army is described in Deut 33:2

“This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. He said, “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.”

When Jesus was defended by Peter in the Garden in Matthew 26:53, Jesus responds to Peters actions by saying

Matthew 26:53 ESV

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

A legion was a military division consisting of between 4 to 6 thousand, highlighting just how big a military force was at Jesus command at any moment. Think also of Joshua’s encounter with a heavenly being in Joshua 5:14

Joshua 5:14 ESV

And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Along with these, there are several examples of angels engaging in battle and violence throughout the OT, such as the judgement of Sodom, the defense of Jerusalem against the Assyrians, to the army Elisha saw in 2 Kings 6. Although God in himself has all the power in the universe and needs no army to carry out his will, again God is a God who uses means. We also see both angelic and demonic beings referred to as powers and even kings and rulers in both the Old and New Testaments, giving us the idea that there is some spiritually geographical nature in how spiritual warfare works. We cannot begin to understand how all that works, but this is what we read.

Messengers

Arguably their main role, as least as revealed in Scripture. This may also be because it is the role that most often concerns human beings. In fact, the word angel comes from a greek word which means messenger. The fact that angels are often used as messengers is very important for us because we are the ones receiving these messages. Gabriel is perhaps the most famous angel in the Bible and he is a messenger, both to Daniel and to Mary. Angels deliver all kinds of messages. Jewish tradition claimed that the Ten Commandments had been mediated to Moses by angels. Angels appear in dreams, like they did to Daniel and John, and this is usually to give some kind of divine revelation. As Christians, we don’t need to seek angelic encounters of this nature since we have the completed Scriptures. This doesn’t rule out ever meeting an angel, but certainly makes it much less likely or needed. Some of the revelations we read about were personal, such as Gabriel’s visit to Mary, others are more broadly theological, such as the words Daniel and John. Indeed, it was angels that first announced the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as we read in Matthew 28:6. Angels also announced the return of Christ In Acts 1 and we know that Angels will be present when Christ returns as well.

God has several ways of communicating with people, and angels have been one of those key ways. When angels appear as messengers, they almost always appear as human beings, and are even called men. The only time we see angelic beings having wings are the saraphim and cherubim who dwell in the presence of God. Often when someone encounters an angel, they think they are just talking to a human beings. One interpretation of Heb 13:2 would suggest that we could run into an angel as a stranger we are showing hospitality to and not know it.

Now since we are looking at the messenger role that angels play, it is interesting to look at one angel that is often mentioned, called the “Angel of the LORD.” There are some different thoughts about who this angel is, and it is very likely that it is some manifestation of God himself. This is because when the Angel of the LORD was talking with Abraham in Genesis 18, it suddenly switches to God himself speaking in the first person. The other theory is that this is a special angel who speaks as the mouthpiece and representative of God. People who hold this theory would point out how odd it would be for God to refer to himself as a messenger, however the author of Hebrews refers to Jesus as a messenger in Hebrews 3. This has led to the third theory, which is really just a variant of the first, that the Angel of the LORD is the preincarnate Jesus Christ. Whichever of these theories you think is most plausible, what is clear is that when the Angel of the LORD appears, he appears in human form and as one bringing a message from the very lips of God. It was the Angel of the LORD that appeared to Hagar in the wilderness, that promised Abraham a child within a year, and who stopped Abraham from killing his own son in Gen 22.

Servants

The final way that angels are portrayed in the Bible is they are ministers and servants both of God and of God’s people. We already saw how they serve in the presence of God in Isaiah 6. But look at what Hebrews 1:14 says about the angels,

Hebrews 1:14 ESV

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

One of the main jobs of the angels is to minister to believers. How do they minister to believers? It is safe to assume that the way they serve us is similar to how they served Abraham’s servant. We are told that an angel went before him. A similar thing is said in Numbers 20:16, how an angel brought Israel out of Egypt. From this we can gather that God often helps his people through the work of angels. In our text, God sends and angel before Abraham’s servant so that his mission would be successful and the promise of God would be kept by preserving the godly line of Isaac. What exactly that angel did to facilitate that isn’t clear, but what is clear is that an angel had an active role is serving God and Abraham by giving Abraham’s servant success. With that being the case, it seems clear that God uses angels to help bring success to God’s people as they carry out God will. When God’s people are doing God’s will, there is another party working behind the scenes to make those things happen.

How should we relate to angels?

And that leads us to ask the question, how is all of this relevant to us? I’m up here to preach the Word of God for your benefit, not to give you a lecture on heavenly beings. We know there must be an application for us, because angels are not merely mentioned a handful of times. They are present throughout the Scriptures, in both the Old and New Testaments, and we know that 2 Tim 3:16 tells us that all of Scripture is valuable to help us live Godly lives. So what does the mention of Angels do for us? How does it help us live godly lives?

It gives us insight into how God works. This puts a certain amount of tangibility in God’s promises. We are always much more comforted when someone we trust explains how they are going to do something they have promised. It gives us an ease. If your internet is down and your on the phone with your provider, hearing them say “we’ll sort it out” is not nearly as comforting as hearing, “we have a guy on the way right now to fix the issue.” So God doesn’t merely tell us that he is working things out for our success in our mission to bring the Gospel to the world, but he tells us of these spiritual servants who are also mighty warriors and wise counsellors who are actively at work to bring success to our own mission. This was the comfort Abraham have his servant, and that same comfort is for us as well.

Angels remind us of the centrality of the Gospel. They aren’t like the angel in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” who is mainly concerned with showing the protagonist how important he is. Instead, they are constantly engaged in the business of the Kingdom. This is true even though we know from Hebrews 2:16 that Jesus did not die for angels, nor does he help them the way he helps human beings. They will not inherit an eternal Kingdom like we will because they are not bound to Christ like we are. Like Abraham’s servant, they have much less of a personal interest in the Kingdom of God than we do. We have the promises, we are in Christ, we are in the position that even though we we were created lower than angels (Psalm 8) we will judge them in eternity (1 Cor 6:3). Therefore, since they are about God’s business and are ministering to God’s people, we should be likewise motivated to proclaim the Kingdom of God with eagerness to this lost and dying world. They are ministers of the Gospel just like us, though in a different way. While we preach and live consistent lives, they are preparing the way for us in some mysterious fashion so that our labour may be successful in bringing the lost to Christ. All this is done, of course, by the grace and power of God.

Angels make us aware of the spiritual nature of our warfare. Eph 6:12, “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.” This cosmic warfare is represented in the military role that angels take on. Michael the Angel is called a great prince in Daniel 12:1 and back in Daniel 10:13 we read of an angel who was opposed by some power identified as the kings of Persia, and is helped by Michael. It is difficult for us to truly understand what kind of conflict we are involved in. It is one we cannot truly grasp and yet we are called to fight in this conflict. However, there are fellow servants of God in that spiritual realm that give us confidence and make us more aware of the spiritual nature of this conflict. Historically, when Christians have forgotten this simple truth, all kinds of things go wrong. But remembering that our true enemies are not human beings, but spiritual forces reminds us to engage in that spiritual battle by preaching the Gospel, nourishing our souls through the Word and prayer, and by supporting the work of the Church on the mission field.

Scripture’s teaching on angel reminds us that worship is reserved for God alone. Biblical Christianity is not the only place where we hear about angels. The amount of adoration given to them from many who call themselves Christians is on the verge of worship. When John is in the presence of an angel in Revelation 22:8-9 he falls down to worship the angel and is quickly rebuked by the same angel, who says that he is a fellow servant with him and the prophets who keep the words of God. Angels are not gods, they are fellow servants of God. We don’t need to think of them mystically. They are real beings who have the same goal of glorifying God that we should have. They want to Gospel to go forth because they want all the focus and all the worship and all the praise to go to Christ. There are many people who put way too much focus on angels, when really these beings and the work that they do should ultimately be pointing us back to Christ. This is a helpful warning against all idolotry. If there is anything worth worshipping in Creation, surely it is an angel. In their heaven glory, they are magnificent. One angel has the power to take down a huge chunk of the Assyrian army. There is no man or animal or think in all of creation that could compare to an angel, and yet we are sternly warned not to venerate or worship them. If we should not worship these glorious beings, surely we cannot worship any other created thing. All glory and honour and value and worth must be attributed to Christ. That is their purpose, and that is our purpose, and nothing in the created world must distract us from that end.

Conclusion

As Christians, we should think of Angels and fellow workers and soldiers of Christ. Like them, we wage a heavenly warfare. Like them, we are created beings. But unlike them, we are covered by the blood of Christ. While they are sometimes referred to as sons of God in the OT, that sonship is not nearly as real as the relationship that we have with the Lord. The NT tells us that fallen angels wait in chains for judgement. There is no repentance for them. If they sin, that is it. They are lost for eternity. How grateful this should make us for the cross, and what a mystery this is. That even though our sins are so many, Jesus didn’t die for the fallen angels, he died for fallen human beings. We are weak and sinful, but Christ has given us a grace that even that angels who stand in God’s presence every day don’t get. What a glorious realization that is, the Gospel is truly beautiful when we can see how precious the blood of Christ really is. He became, not an angel to save angels, but a human to save humans. Let us close by reading the Hebrews 2:16 but this time down to verse 18

Hebrews 2:16–18 ESV

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

We are the children of Abraham, we are the children of the promise, let us never lose sight of the treasure it is to have Christ.