What Does the Bible Teach About Angels?

 

The following is an excerpt from my book Creation in the Crossfire: A Study of the Genesis Debate in the Church, and has to do with what the Bible teaches about angels. I’ve received a good bit of positive feedback on this and have been encouraged to share it, so here it is for whoever is interested.

On the whole, the Bible tells us relatively little about angels. The following are some of the more important things that it does tell us concerning them:

 

1. They existed before the creation of the earth (Job 38:7), and in all likelihood, before the creation of the universe itself (see Ephesians 3:8-11, John 17:5). John 17:5 is particularly important here given Jesus’ statement that he wished to return to the “glory” that he shared with the Father “before the world [kosmos] was.” The word “glory” is translated from the Greek word doxa, which in the New Testament always refers to something held in a position of honor. For the Son to be held in a position of honor with the Father “before the kosmos was” implies that others were present from whom the Son was differentiated and before whom he was exalted.
2. They are intelligent beings with will and a moral capacity. The Bible records several instances of angels talking with humans, conveying messages, and engaging in activities such as warfare. Some angels are holy and serve God, while others have fallen and are now under the sentence of condemnation, meaning that they have free will and are held responsible by God for their actions (for example: Psalm 82, Job 4:18, Luke 1:8-20, Jude 1:6-9, Revelation 12:7-12; 9:13-15).
3. They were created to serve God in both heaven and on earth, and they are divided into ranks with varying areas of responsibility and degrees of power and authority (Daniel 10:10-13; Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 12:7-12). They bring regular reports to God of their doings (Job 1:6-7, 2:1-2; Matthew 18:10) and are at times employed to carry out judgment on humankind (Genesis 3:24, 19:1-22; II Samuel 24:15-17; Psalm 78:48-49; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43).
4. They are not all-powerful, nor are they of one mind, nor do they possess perfect wisdom. In Daniel 9, the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that he was held at bay for twenty-one days by a supernatural being called the Prince of Persia, and required assistance from the archangel Michael in order to break through, indicating that some angels are more powerful than others. In I Kings 22, the Lord puts the question of how to kill Ahab to his heavenly host, “and one said this, while another said that” (v 20), indicating that angels think as individuals rather than as members of some kind of supernatural hive mind. The imperfect wisdom of angels is seen in Matthew 13, where Jesus gives his Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. In this parable, a farmer (who represents the Lord) rejects a suggestion by the reapers (who symbolize angels) to root up tares from his field, on the basis that they might accidentally damage the wheat as well.
5. They watch over human nations to some extent and engage in warfare over the affairs of mankind (Daniel 10:12-13, 20-21). Gabriel specifically mentions that Michael (one of the “chief princes”) “stands” or contends for the people of Israel (Daniel 10:21, 12:1). Following the Tower of Babel incident, God apparently gave the rebellious nations over to the rule of various angelic powers (see Psalm 82, along with the Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 32:8-9)[1], while setting aside the Hebrews for himself. We seem to find a glimpse of this in Daniel 4, where Nebuchadnezzar describes a dream in which “an angelic watcher, a holy one,” descends from heaven and decrees judgment against Nebuchadnezzar, stating, “This sentence is by decree of the angelic watchers, and the decision is a command of the holy ones” (Daniel 4:13-17).[2] Finally, although it isn’t mentioned in Exodus, Paul and the writer of Hebrews tell us that angels actually facilitated the giving of the Law to Israel at Sinai (Galatians 3:19, Hebrews 2:2).
6. They engage in the worship of God, and appear to act in a priestly role to at least some degree (Isaiah 6:1-7, Revelation 8:3-4).
7. At least some angels are part of what has been referred to as “the divine council,” an angelic body that sits as a type of court, sometimes assisting God with decision making (I Kings 22:19-23, Psalm 82:1 (LXX), Daniel 7:9-10, 21-22). It’s my opinion that the twenty-four elders of Revelation are in fact the divine council, the same heavenly court for which thrones are set up around the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7.[3] [4]

As these scriptures demonstrate, angels do not simply stand around in heaven looking spiritual. They are actively involved in the plan and purposes of God in the creation. They are also keenly interested in the affairs of mankind. In fact, the New Testament tells us that God is demonstrating certain things to the angels via his dealings with the church, and that the ministry of Christ had effects that resonated in the spiritual world as well as in the physical:

 

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the whole world, both to angles and to men. – 1 Corinthians 4:9

 

To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Ephesians 3:8-11

 

For by Him [Jesus Christ], all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him…When He [God] had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him [Christ]. – Colossians 1:16, 2:15

 

It was revealed to them [the Old Testament prophets] that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look. – I Peter 1:2

 

The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. – 1 John 3:8

Indeed, the apostle Paul tells us that, in spite of how things may seem to us on the physical level, the warfare in which we are engaged is primarily “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Thus, it is plain from scripture that the human side of the story is only part of the whole picture of creation. The angelic realm is playing a major role in the eternal drama as well. Angels were on the scene before man, and given what little we know of the role they play now, we can only wonder what role they might have played in ages past. God’s purposes include them as well. In fact, given that God is testing and refining man through his experiences in this world, it seems at least plausible that the angels may be experiencing a similar work of God in their own affairs.

 

* All scriptures are taken from the NASB. 

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[1] “When the Most High divided the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. And His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel was the line of His inheritance.” The Translation of the Greek Old Testament Scriptures, Including the Apocrypha. Compiled by Sr. Lancelot C. L. Brenton, 1851.

[2] The word angelic is added by the translators in these instances in order to clarify what is meant by the term watcher.

[3] For a detailed explanation, see the following article by the author: “The Rapture and the Church in Revelation, Part Three: Who are the Twenty-Four Elders?” at:

https://takeupyourcross73.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-rapture-and-church-in-book-of.html

[4] Dr. Michael Heiser is probably the foremost expositor of the divine council worldview amongst evangelicals. For more information on the subject, see the following introductory presentation by Heiser: “The Divine Council 101”: https://youtu.be/CGU9v7Ik20g, and/or his book The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible.

The Inner Rot and Torment of Unforgiveness

When an animal is killed on a highway and the body is not cleaned up or dragged off into the woods by something, as often happens on secondary roads, driving through the area can be a pretty stomach-turning experience. The process of decay isn’t pretty, and the aroma it produces isn’t exactly something they typically bottle and sell at Dillard’s. Even after the body finally decays into an unrecognizable mess and the smell dissipates, the side of the road often bears the stain of its decomposition for a long time afterward, and a lot of people avoid even looking at it.

A similar process takes place in the human heart.

Unless tended to quickly, anger and wounded emotions can ripen into bitterness, which can then fester and putrefy into hatred. Anger, bitterness, and hatred are forms of spiritual death and decay. As a deer carcass rotting on the side of the road fills the immediate area with the stench of its decomposition, these destructive emotions and attitudes can quickly permeate an entire personality, to the point where everyone around the affected person can see and feel the results, even if they don’t know the cause (ever drive through a particular area, wrinkle your nose, and say “What died here?”).

The results of emotional death and decay are equally unmistakable. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets, the more thoroughly it permeates everything around it, and the more difficult it is to clean up completely. It leaves a stain on the personality that repels even the person who carries it. Who among us would take a rotting deer carcass home, sleep in the same room with it, bathe with it, tie it onto our backs and take it with us from place to place? The very idea is vomit-inducing. A person could not do such a thing and remain sane.

It’s little wonder then that wounded people so often hate themselves, engage in self-destructive behavior, tend to destroy all of their relationships (no matter how desperately they may want to love and be loved), and hate those around them who seem to be leading normal lives. They are walking tombs; they carry death and decay inside of themselves. It has come to saturate their every emotion, every reaction, and every thought process. Often, they are obsessed with death, pain, violence, the trappings of death, the occult and supernatural, spirits, death-related imagery, and wanting to die.

It’s little wonder that in the New Testament book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul warns us: “Do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Ephesians 4:26). In other words, don’t let your anger fester; you can reach a point where it literally takes a miracle to set you free.

Yet, freedom is possible. Christ can deliver a person from anger, bitterness, and hatred, and can clean up the darkest heart, but he will not do so against our will. If you want to be free, you must determine to forgive all who have ever hurt you. The anger you feel toward those people is source of the problem, and as such it has to go, or it will just continue to poison you.

“But what they did to me was WRONG! It was TERRIBLE! I CAN'T forgive them!”

If this is your objection—and believe me, I understand it, as I’ve been deeply hurt by people myself and held on to that anger for a long time—you’re not understanding what I mean by ‘forgiveness’; what God means by it.

Forgiving a person does not mean that what they did to you was okay. It does not mean that they were right and you were wrong. It does not mean that you deserved what happened to you. It does not mean that you will forget what happened. It does not mean that you have to become their best friend or even speak to them again. It simply means that you cancel the debt they owe you. It’s just like tearing up an I.O.U. Think of what they did to you as a legal debt they owe you, like a large sum of money. Forgiving them is tearing up the bill, releasing them from your demand that they pay, that you be allowed vengeance on them. It means that you leave the question of payment, of vengeance, to God.

This is a decision, an act of the will, not a feeling, not an emotion. You may feel like killing them, and you can’t help the feeling, but what you choose to do is another matter. You can choose freedom, or you can choose to carry spiritual death and decay around in yourself until it saturates every area of your life, destroying you and those around you.

Adding to this, there are evil forces that will walk through what is essentially an open door in your life and do their best to see to it that you never get free; they will subject you to all manner of mental, emotional, and physical torment (see Matthew 18:21-36). In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul follows his admonition to “not let the sun go down on your anger,” with: “Do not give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). The word “place” in this verse is translated from a Greek word that means ‘a particular, reserved, or marked-off place.’ Today, we would use such a word to designate something like a reserved parking spot. In other words, the New Testament warning is that festering anger in us sets aside a place in our lives for the devil to operate in us. It would be like giving him a room in your house, or an office in your building, for him to use as he sees fit, and as the Lord Jesus himself warned us in John 10:10, the devil comes only to “steal and kill and destroy.”

Is it any wonder then that so many who carry hatred and deep emotional wounds are also involved with the occult, obsessed with death, and seem to be caught up in the midst of perpetual ruin? It’s no coincidence.

If someone hurt you, what good do you do yourself by allowing what they did to continue to hurt you, to keep you from every good thing that might otherwise enter your life—even to allow evil spiritual forces to enter and control you? You’re not hurting the person who hurt you; you’re hurting yourself, but Christ can set you free if you’re willing to take the first step and make the decision to forgive.

Further, to become permanently free, make the decision to give your life to Christ, to make him Lord. Only by the Spirit of God in your life can you successfully overcome and be healed from the wounds of the past. Why give a place, room, or office space to the devil when you can give it to God instead? This doesn’t mean that you have to run right out and join a church, give up a bunch of money to some guy on TV with a $100 haircut, or live in a cave somewhere like a monk. It simply means that you give up control of your life to Christ and trust him to work out what is best for you as you follow him. Ask him to forgive you of every sin, to give you a new life, to cleanse and heal you, to lead you in the way you should go, to help you to overcome everything that has hurt you and held you back in the past, to give you hope and a future. Jesus came and died for us, in our place, taking the wrath of God for everything we have ever done wrong or ever will, in order to give us life, to provide for our deliverance and healing. When we come to him, turning away from our old life (what the Bible calls ‘repentance’), he takes our guilt and gives us his righteousness. His resurrection from the dead was not just a good way to end a tragic story; it’s the proof that God the Father accepted what he did on our behalf and will grant life to all who come to him and obey him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” - Matthew 11:28-29

“If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” - Romans 10:9-10

“Because I live, you will live also.” - John 14:19

Maybe you want to take this step but you’re confused and conflicted, you don’t know what to say, how to start. Here’s a model prayer that will help you, if you’re sincere:

“God, I don’t really know what to say to you. I don’t know that I’m even sure that you’re there and listening to me. I’m talking to you because I know I can’t go on like this. I’m coming to you because you say you will help me. If what the Bible says about Jesus is the truth, if he is really your Son, if he died in my place and came back to life so that I could be reconciled with you, then I give you my life right now. Take it and be my Lord. Forgive me and wipe away all of my sins. And because I ask you to forgive me, I choose, as an act of my will, to forgive all of those who have hurt me, especially...[name the people and what they did to you] and I ask you to change my heart toward them however you will. I give them over to you. I ask you to heal me inside, to deliver me from the death and rottenness that have festered in my heart, and from any and all evil spirits that I have given a place to in my life. I take back those places and give them over to you. Take full possession of every part of me. Give me your Spirit with all of the gifts he brings, fill me with your peace, and teach me how to live for you.”

Don’t let your heart, mind, and emotions become just another lonely stretch of highway where something died and was left to rot. Give it to the one who can clean up anything, who can restore you, who can fill you with life and make you a blessing to the whole world.

“He who believes in me, just as the scriptures have said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” – John 7:38

Prepare for Opposition

"Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, 'What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?' Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, 'Even what they are building—if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!'” - Nehemiah 4:1-3

As a Christian, whenever you begin to do any kind of work for the Lord - whether it's getting your own life together, engaging in some form of ministry that honors the Great Commission, or teaching people to follow Christ - you will inevitably come under fire. The Bible is clear that "the whole world lies in the power of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). This world and the influences that saturate it are at war with God. As a believer, you are in occupied territory, wearing the uniform of a detested enemy. And if you take that role at all seriously, you will be attacked, just as any human army would immediately attack and to try either kill or capture the soldiers of an opposing force that had entered their territory. It's not a question of 'if', but 'when'. It will begin with ridicule and then progress to direct opposition. But then most wars of men progress in this way, don't they? The propaganda starts long before the shooting does.

"So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. All of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it." - Nehemiah 4:6-8

It's important that this be understood. Many who try to live for God often wonder why it seems that everything in their life goes wrong, and why they can't overcome addictions, emotional problems, and other "hang ups." The western church as a whole has been remiss in teaching about the reality of spiritual warfare beyond one's personal struggle against sin, and even this has been reduced to a mere consideration of the flesh. Satan has been largely reduced to a figurehead, an ethereal placeholder for whatever we find disagreeable, more of an idea than an actual person. He is, in fact, intelligent, powerful, and a wonderful organizer. He was created to be one of the chief administrators of creation, and while he has fallen and evil has dimmed his understanding, he is not to be taken lightly. In the words of Martin Luther:

"His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate.
"On earth is not his equal."

If you're a disciple of Christ, and serious about following Him, understand that you are in a real war with a real enemy who will attack you in very real ways, drawing on thousands of years of experience in dealing with human beings. Fully 1/3 of Jesus' ministry involved direct confrontation with Satan's kingdom, and are we to believe that he and his hosts have simply gone away since then?

     Study the Bible to understand how your enemy works. Do not be "ignorant of his schemes" (II Corinthians 2:11). Do not think that you "wrestle" only with "flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12). And do not think that religious works, counseling, and man-made programs are sufficient to withstand the enemy. The modern approach to spiritual warfare has largely amounted to holding self-help classes in the middle of a battlefield. No wonder we're seeing so many casualties. Again, in the words of Luther:

"Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing..."

Christ must be our never-ending focus. We should have a proper understanding of our enemy, and maintain a healthy respect for what he is capable of, but always in light of his defeated state. As Luther put it, we have the "right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing":

"Dost ask who that may be; Christ Jesus it is He!
"Lord Sabaoth His Name, from age to age the same.
"And He must win the battle."

How, then, are we to respond? How do we engage with this enemy?

"...this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." - 1 John 5:4

Hold fast to Christ, no matter what. Do not let the battles you face dim your faith. An army that loses confidence in its commander and begins to fight as each soldier sees fit will be slaughtered in the face of an organized foe. This is why Satan comes against our faith, first and foremost: to separate us from Christ, whom he knows he cannot defeat.

     Further, respond with the Word of God. This is what Jesus did when He was personally confronted by Satan in the wilderness. In response to each temptation, His reply was: "It is written..."

     Get into the Word. Memorize those passages that have to do with victory in Christ, and repeat them often when you face hardship: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31); "We are more than conquerors," (Romans 8:37); "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world," (1 John 4:4); "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil..." (Ephesians 6:10-18), etc. Command the enemy to leave you in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Learn how to apply the victory that Christ has already won on our behalf.

"That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
"The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
"Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
"The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
"His kingdom is forever."

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." - Revelation 12:11

Further resources: 

- "Basics of Deliverance": http://youtu.be/Ec_NgpvS2os
- "Release from the Curse": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkQn30Qt1Cc
- "They Shall Expel Demons": http://www.amazon.com/dp/0800792602/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

- sword image courtesy of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Scottish_claymore_replica_(Albion_Chieftain)2.jpg)