As in
previous studies, we will look at
definitions,
scriptures, lexical, and commentary evidence
and confessional support for the
purpose to glorify God in how we live.
Definitions:
Angels:
Angel
means messenger. Angels are created (Psalms
148:2; Psalm 148:5; Colossians
1:16), non-human, spirit beings (Hebrews
1:14). They are immortal (Luke 20:36),
innumerable (Hebrews 12:22), invisible
(Numbers 22:22-31), sexless (Matthew
22:30), and do the will of God (Psalms
103:20). These angels have a ministry to
believers. They guide (Genesis 24:7; Gen
24:40), protect (Psalms 34:7), and comfort
(Acts 27:2; Act 27:24).
There are
good angels (Genesis 28:12; Psalms 91:11)
and bad angels (2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:1:6). The
only angels mentioned by name are
Gabriel (Daniel 8:16; Dan 9:21), Michael
(Daniel 10:13, 21; 112:1), and Lucifer
(Luke 10:18). Michael is always mentioned in
the context of battle (Daniel
10:13) and Gabriel as a messenger (Luke
1:26). Of course, Lucifer, who became
Satan, is the one who opposes God.
Angels
were originally created for the purpose of
serving and carrying out the will of God.
The fallen angels rebelled and became
evil angels. Satan is such an angel (Isaiah
14:12-16; Ezekiel 28:12-15). *
Angels:
God
created two sorts of personal beings: angels
(from the Greek term meaning “messenger”)
and human beings. There are many angels
(Matt. 26:53; Rev. 5:11). They are
intelligent moral agents, without bodies and
normally invisible, although they
are able to show themselves to men in what
appears as a physical form (Gen.
18:2-19:22; John 20:10-14; Acts 12:7-10).
They do not marry, and are not
subject to physical death (Matt. 22:30; Luke
20:35-36). They can move from one
point in space to another, and many of them
can congregate in a tiny area (Luke
8:30, where the reference is to fallen
angels).
The
Scriptures honor all holy angels as glorious
creatures. They are called “sons of God”
(Job 1:6; 2:1) and “mighty ones” (Psa.
29:1). They are said to be radiant and
powerful (Isa. 6:1-4; 2Thess. 1:7; 1Pet.
3:22; 2Pet. 2:11; Rev. 15:8) even forming
the victorious army of God (Exod.
14:19). Yet, Scripture also points to the
honor and splendor of being holy
human beings. The Psalmist said we were made
“a little lower than the heavenly
beings” (Psa. 8:5), which is an honorable
position. Yet, the apostle Paul noted
that this would not be the final order
between angels and humans. He told the
Corinthians that when Christ returns we will
“judge the angels” (1Cor. 6:3).
The human race - the image of God - will one
day rule over not only the earth
and its creatures but also the angels. **
From
the Scriptures about angels:
“Bless
the LORD, ye his angels that excel in
strength,
that do his commandments, hearkening unto
the voice of his word.” (Psalm 103:20)
From
the Geneva
Study Bible on Psalm
103:20:
“Bless
the LORD, ye his angels that excel in
strength,
that do his commandments, hearkening unto
the voice of his word.
In that
we, who naturally are slow to praise God,
exhort the angels, who willingly do it, we
stir up ourselves to consider our
duty and wake from our sluggishness.”
From
Strong’s
Lexicon:
“All His
angels
מַלְאָ֫כָ֥יו
(mal·’ā·ḵāw)
Noun -
masculine plural construct | third person
masculine singular
“And the
angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for
thou
hast found favour with God. And, behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and
bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
JESUS.” (Luke 1:30-31)
From
the Geneva
Study Bible on Luke
1:30-31:
“And the
angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for
thou
hast found favour with God.
So the
Hebrews said, saying that those men have
found favour
who are in favour.
And,
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and
bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
JESUS.”
From
Strong’s
Lexicon:
“Angel
ἄγγελος
(angelos)
Noun -
Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's
Greek 32: From aggello; a messenger;
especially an 'angel'; by implication, a
pastor.”
Regarding
the Angel of the Lord:
“And it
came to pass that night that the angel of
the
LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians an hundred fourscore and
five thousand: and when they arose early in
the morning, behold, they were all
dead corpses.” (2Kings 19:35)
From
Ellicott's
Commentary for English Readers
on 2Kings 19:35 and the angel of the LORD:
“(35-37)
THE CATASTROPHE. SENNACHERIB’S RETREAT, AND
HIS VIOLENT END.
(35) And
it came to pass (in) that night.—This
definition of time is wanting in the
parallel text; but it is implied by the
phrase in the morning (Isaiah 37:36; 2Kings
19:35). The night intended can
hardly be the one which followed the day
when the prophecy was spoken (see
2Kings 19:29). The expression “in that
night,” may perhaps be compared with the
prophetic “in that day,” and understood to.
mean simply “in that memorable
night which was the occasion of this
catastrophe.” (Theuius sees in this clause
an indication that the present section was
derived from another source,
probably from the one used by the chronicler
in 2Chronicles 32:20-23. Reuss
thinks this confirmed by the fact that
neither the prediction in 2Kings 19:7,
nor that of 2Kings 19:21-34, speaks of so
great and so immediate an overthrow.)
The angel
of the Lord went out.—the destroying angel,
who smote the firstborn of the Egyptians
(Exodus 12:12-13; Exodus 12:23), and
smote Israel after David’s census (2Samuel
24:15-17). These passages
undoubtedly favour the view that the
Assyrian army was devastated by
pestilence, as Josephus asserts. Others have
suggested the agency of a simoom,
a storm with lightning, an earthquake,
&c. In any case, a supernatural
causation is involved not only in the
immense number slain, and that in one
night (Psalm 91:6), but in the coincidence
of the event with the predictions of
Isaiah, and with the crisis in the history
of the true religion:
“Vuolsi
così
colà dove si puote
Ciò
che si vuole; e più non dimandare.”
In the
camp of the Assyrians.—Where this is was not
said. That it was not before Jerusalem
appears from 2Kings 19:32-33; and the
well-known narrative of Herodotus (ii. 141)
fixes Egypt, the land of plagues,
as the scene of the catastrophe. “Of the
details of the catastrophe, which the
Bible narrative is content to characterize
as the act of God, the Assyrian
monuments contain no record, because the
issue of the campaign gave them
nothing to boast of; but an Egyptian
account, preserved by Herodotus, though
full of fabulous circumstances, shows that
in Egypt, as well as in Judea, it
was recognized as a direct intervention of
Divine power. The disaster did not
break the power of the great king, who
continued to reign for twenty years, and
waged many other victorious wars. But none
the less it must have been a very
grave blow, the effects of which were felt
throughout the empire, and
permanently modified the imperial policy;
for in the following year Chaldea was
again in revolt, and to the end of his reign
Sennacherib never renewed his
attack upon Judah” (Robertson Smith).
And when
they arose early.—The few who were spared
found, not sick and dying, but corpses, all
around them. (Comp. Exodus 12:33:
“They said, we be all dead men.”) (1)
Strong's
Hebrew 3068: Jehovah = 'the existing One' 1)
the proper name of the one true God 1a)
unpronounced except with the vowel
pointings of H0136
Regarding
Archangels:
“Yet
Michael the archangel, when contending with
the
devil he disputed about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a
railing accusation, but said, The Lord
rebuke thee.” (Jude 1:9)
From
Matthew
Poole's Commentary regarding
an Archangel:
“Michael
the archangel: either this is understood of
Christ the Prince of angels, who is often in
Scripture called an Angel, or of a
created angel; and that either:
1. One of
the archangels: Daniel 10:13, Michael is
called one of the chief princes, which
though the word archangel be not found
in the plural number in Scripture, may well
imply a plurality of them; for what
is one of the chief princes among the
angels, but an archangel? Or:
2. A
principal angel, or one that is chief among
others.
When
contending with the devil; it may be meant
either
of Christ contending with the devil, as
Matthew 4:1-25, in his temptation, and
Zechariah 3:1,2, and Revelation 12:7; or
rather, of Michael, a created angel.
He
disputed about the body of Moses:
1. If
Michael the archangel be meant of Christ,
then
the body of Moses may be taken figuratively,
for that body whereof the Mosaical
ceremonies were shadows, Colossians 2:17,
i.e. the truth and accomplishment of
the law given by Moses; that accomplishment
was to be in Christ, who is
represented by Joshua, Zechariah 3:1-10: him
Satan resists in the execution of
his office, and by him strikes at Christ,
whose type he was, and whom he
afterward opposeth in the execution of his
office, when he was come in the
flesh. Or:
2. If we
take Michael for a created angel, which
agrees best with the parallel place in
Peter, then the body of Moses must be
taken properly, (as most take it), and the
dispute seems to be: Whether Moses’s
body should be so buried as to be concealed
from the Israelites? Deut. 34:6, it
is said God buried him, (which might be by
the ministry of Michael the archangel),
and that no man knoweth of his sepulchre.
The devil opposeth the angel,
desiring to have the place of his burial
known, that in after-times it might be
a snare to that people, and a means to bring
them to idolatry. And this seems
very probable, if we consider what work the
devil hath made in the world with
the bodies of saints and martyrs, and how
much idolatry he hath brought in
thereby. This passage Jude, most probably,
had (as was observed in the
argument) from some known tradition among
the Jews, the truth of which we are
now sure of, because certified here
concerning it.
Durst not
bring against him; or, could not endure, (as
the Greek word is often taken among profane
writers), or find in his heart, not
from fear of punishment, but by reason of
the holiness of his own nature, and
to give an example to us. And this sense
agrees to the scope of the place,
whether we understand it of Christ, or of a
created angel, Hebrews 12:3 1Peter
2:23.
A railing
accusation: see 2Peter 2:11.
But said,
The Lord rebuke thee; i.e. put thee to
silence, restrain thy insolence, hinder thy
design, &c.: hereby the angel
refers the cause to God.” (2)
Regarding
Cherubim:
“Thou art
the anointed cherub that covereth; and I
have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy
mountain of God; thou hast walked up
and down in the midst of the stones of
fire.” (Ezekiel 28:14)
From
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on
Cherub:
“14.
Anointed cherub—Gesenius translates from an
Aramaic root, "extended cherub." English
Version, from a Hebrew root,
is better. "The cherub consecrated to the
Lord by the anointing oil"
[Fairbairn].
covereth—The
imagery employed by Ezekiel as a priest
is from the Jewish temple, wherein the
cherubim overshadowed the mercy seat, as
the king of Tyre, a demi-god in his own
esteem, extended his protection over
the interests of Tyre. The cherub—an ideal
compound of the highest kinds of
animal existence and the type of redeemed
man in his ultimate state of
perfection—is made the image of the king of
Tyre, as if the beau ideal of
humanity. The pretensions of Antichrist are
the ulterior reference, of whom the
king of Tyre is a type. Compare “As God … in
the temple of God” (2Th 2:4).
I have
set thee—not thou set thyself (Prov. 8:16;
Ro
13:1).
Upon the
holy mountain of God—Zion, following up the
image.
in …
midst of … stones of fire—In ambitious
imagination he stood in the place of God,
"under whose feet was, as it
were, a pavement of sapphire," while His
glory was like "devouring
fire" (Ex 24:10, 17).” (3)
Regarding
Seraphim:
“In the
year that king Uzziah died I saw also the
Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
and his train filled the temple. Above
it stood the seraphims: each one had six
wings; with twain, he covered his
face, and with twain, he covered his feet,
and with twain, he did fly. And one
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy,
holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole
earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:1-3)
From
Ellicott's
Commentary for English Readers
regarding Seraphim from Isaiah:
“(2)
Above it stood the seraphims . . .—it is
noticeable that this is the only passage in
which the seraphim are mentioned as
part of the host of heaven. In Numbers 21:6,
the word (the primary meaning of
which is the burning ones) occurs as
denoting the fiery serpents that attacked
the people in the wilderness. Probably the
brazen serpent which Hezekiah
afterwards destroyed (2Kings 18:4) had
preserved the name and its significance
as denoting the instruments of the fiery
judgments of Jehovah. Here, however,
there is no trace of the serpent form, nor
again, as far as the description
goes, of the animal forms of the cherubim of
Ezekiel 1:5-11, and of the “living
creatures” of Revelation 4:7-8. The “burning
ones” are in the likeness of men,
with the addition of the six wings. The
patristic and mediaeval distinction
between the seraphim that excel in love, and
the cherubim that excel in
knowledge, rests apparently on the etymology
of the former word. The “living
creatures” of Revelation 4:7-8, seem to
unite the forms of the cherubim of
Ezekiel with the six wings of the seraphim
of this passage. Symbolically the
seraphim would seem to be as transfigured
cherubim, representing the “flaming
fire” of the lightning, as the latter did
the storm-winds and other elemental
forces of nature (Psalm 104:4).” (4)
Angels
are not to be worshiped:
“And I
fell at his feet to worship him. And he said
unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow
servant, and of thy brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus: worship God:
for the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:10)
Rarely
does one find an entry as detailed as the
following.
Angel
from the International
Standard Bible
Encyclopedia:
an'-jel
(mal'akh;
Septuagint and New
Testament, aggelos):
I.
Definition and Scripture Terms.
The word
angel is applied in Scripture to an order of
supernatural or heavenly beings whose
business it is to act as God's messengers
to men, and as agents who carry out His
will. Both in Hebrew and Greek the word
is applied to human messengers (1Ki 19:2; Lu
7:24); in Hebrew it is used in the
singular to denote a Divine messenger, and
in the plural for human messengers,
although there are exceptions to both
usages. It is applied to the prophet
Haggai (Hag 1:13), to the priest (Mal 2:7),
and to the messenger who is to
prepare the way of the Lord (Mal 3:1). Other
Hebrew words and phrases applied
to angels are bene
ha-'elohim (Ge
6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1) and bene
'elim
(Ps 29:1; 89:6), i.e. sons of the 'elohim
or 'elim;
this means, according to a
common Hebrew usage, members of the class
called 'elohim or 'elim,
the
heavenly powers. It seems doubtful whether
the word 'elohim, standing by itself, is
ever used to describe angels,
although Septuagint so translates it in a
few passages. The most notable
instance is Ps 8:5; where the Revised
Version (British and American) gives, “Thou
hast made him but little lower than God,”
with the English Revised Version,
margin reading of “the angels” for “God”
(compare Heb. 2:7,9); qedhoshim
“holy ones” (Ps 89:5,7), a
name suggesting the fact that they belong to
God; `ir, `irim,
“watcher,” “watchers”
(Da 4:13,17,23). Other expressions are used
to designate angels collectively: codh,
“council” (Ps 89:7), where the
reference may be to an inner group of
exalted angels; `edhah and qahal,
“congregation”
(Ps 82:1; 89:5); and finally tsabha',
tsebha'oth,
“host,” “hosts,” as in
the familiar phrase “the God of hosts.”
In New
Testament the word aggelos, when it refers to a
Divine messenger, is frequently
accompanied by some phrase which makes this
meaning clear, e.g. “the angels of
heaven” (Mt 24:36). Angels belong to the
“heavenly host” (Lu 2:13). In
reference to their nature they are called
“spirits” (Heb. 1:14). Paul evidently
referred to the ordered ranks of
supra-mundane beings in a group of words
that
are found in various combinations, namely, archai,
“principalities,” exousiai,
“powers,”
thronoi,
“thrones,” kuriotetes,
“dominions,” and dunameis,
also translated “powers.” The
first four are apparently used in a good
sense in Col 1:16, where it is said
that all these beings were created through
Christ and unto Him; in most of the
other passages in which words from this
group occur, they seem to represent
evil powers. We are told that our wrestling
is against them (Eph. 6:12), and
that Christ triumphs over the principalities
and powers (Col 2:15; compare Ro
8:38; 1Co 15:24). In two passages the word archaggelos,
“archangel” or chief angel, occurs: “the
voice of the archangel” (1Th 4:16),
and "Michael the archangel" (Jude 1:9).
II.
Angels in Old Testament.
1.
Nature, Appearances and Functions:
Everywhere
in the Old Testament, the existence of
angels is assumed. The creation of angels is
referred to in Ps 148:2, 5
(compare Col 1:16). They were present at the
creation of the world, and were so
filled with wonder and gladness that they
"shouted for joy" (Job
38:7). Of their nature, we are told nothing.
In general, they are simply
regarded as embodiments of their mission.
Though presumably the holiest of
created beings, they are charged by God with
folly (Job 4:18), and we are told
that “he putteth no trust in his holy ones”
(Job 15:15). References to the fall
of the angels are only found in the obscure
and probably corrupt passage Ge
6:1-4, and in the interdependent passages
2Pe 2:4 and Jude 1:6, which draw
their inspiration from the Apocryphal book
of Enoch. Demons are mentioned (see
DEMON); and although Satan appears among the
sons of God (Job 1:6; 2:1), there
is a growing tendency in later writers to
attribute to him a malignity that is
all his own (see SATAN).
As to
their outward appearance, it is evident that
they bore the human form, and could at times
be mistaken for men (Ezekiel 9:2;
Ge 18:2, 16). There is no hint that they
ever appeared in female form. The
conception of angels as winged beings, so
familiar in Christian art, finds no
support in Scripture (except, perhaps Da
9:21; Re 14:6, where angels are
represented as "flying"). The cherubim and
seraphim (see CHERUB;
SERAPHIM) are represented as winged (Ex
25:20; Isa 6:2); winged also are the
symbolic living creatures of Ezekiel
(Ezekiel 1:6; compare Re 4:8).
As above
stated, angels are messengers and
instruments
of the Divine will. As a rule they exercise
no influence in the physical
sphere. In several instances, however, they
are represented as destroying angels:
two angels are commissioned to destroy Sodom
(Ge 19:13); when David numbers the
people, an angel destroys them by pestilence
(2Sa 24:16); it is by an angel
that the Assyrian army is destroyed (2Ki
19:35); and Ezekiel hears six angels
receiving the command to destroy those who
were sinful in Jerusalem (Ezekiel
9:1,5,7). In this connection should be noted
the expression “angels of evil,”
i.e. angels that bring evil upon men from
God and execute His judgments (Ps
78:49; compare 1Sa 16:14). Angels appear to
Jacob in dreams (Ge 28:12; 31:11).
The angel who meets Balaam is visible first
to the ass, and not to the rider
(Nu 22:1-41 ff). Angels interpret God's
will, showing man what is right for him
(Job 33:23). The idea of angels as caring
for men also appears (Ps 91:11 f),
although the modern conception of the
possession by each man of a special
guardian angel is not found in Old
Testament.
2.
The Angelic Host:
The
phrase “the host of heaven” is applied to
the
stars, which were sometimes worshipped by
idolatrous Jews (Jer. 33:22; 2Ki
21:3; Zep 1:5); the name is applied to the
company of angels because of their
countless numbers (compare Da 7:10) and
their glory. They are represented as
standing on the right and left hand of
Yahweh (1Ki 22:19). Hence God, who is
over them all, is continually called
throughout Old Testament “the God of
hosts,” “Yahweh
of hosts,” “Yahweh
God of hosts”; and once “the
prince of the host” (Da 8:11). One of the
principal functions of the heavenly
host is to be ever praising the name of the
Lord (Ps 103:21; 148:1 f). In this host,
there are certain figures that stand out
prominently, and some of them are
named. The angel who appears to Joshua calls
himself “prince of the host of Yahweh”
(Jos 5:14 f). The glorious angel
who interprets to Daniel the vision which he
saw in the third year of Cyrus (Da
10:5), like the angel who interprets the
vision in the first year of Belshazzar
(Da 7:16), is not named; but other visions
of the same prophet were explained
to him by the angel Gabriel, who is called
“the man Gabriel,” and is described
as speaking with “a man's voice” (Da 9:21;
8:15 f). In Daniel, we find
occasional reference made to “princes”: “the
prince of Persia,” “the prince of
Greece” (Da 10:20). These are angels to whom
is entrusted the charge of, and
possibly the rule over, certain peoples.
Most notable among them is Michael,
described as “one of the chief princes,”
“the great prince who standeth for the
children of thy people,” and, more briefly,
“your prince” (Da 10:13; 12:1;
10:21), Michael is therefore regarded as the
patron-angel of the Jews. In
Apocrypha Raphael, Uriel and Jeremiel are
also named. Of Raphael it is said
(Tobit 12:15) that he is “one of the seven
holy angels who present the prayers
of the saints” to God (compare Re 8:2, “the
seven angels that stand before God”).
It is possible that this group of seven is
referred to in the above-quoted
phrase, “one of the chief princes”. Some
(notably Kosters) have maintained that
the expressions “the sons of the 'elohim,”
God's
“council” and “congregation,” refer to the
ancient gods of the heathen,
now degraded and wholly subordinated to
Yahweh. This rather daring speculation
has little support in Scripture; but we find
traces of a belief that the
patron-angels of the nations have failed in
establishing righteousness within
their allotted sphere on earth, and that
they will accordingly be punished by Yahweh
their over-Lord (Isa 24:21 f; Ps
82:1-8; compare Ps 58:1 f the Revised
Version, margin; compare Jude 1:6).
3.
The Angel of the Theophany:
This
angel is spoken of as “the angel of Yahweh,”
and “the angel of the presence
(or face) of Yahweh.” The following passages
contain references to this angel:
Ge 16:7 ff--the angel and Hagar; Ge
18:1-33--Abraham intercedes with the angel
for Sodom; Ge 22:11 ff--the angel interposes
to prevent the sacrifice of Isaac;
Ge 24:7,40--Abraham sends Eliezer and
promises the angel's protection; Ge 31:11
ff--the angel who appears to Jacob says “I
am the God of Beth-el”; Ge 32:24
ff--Jacob wrestles with the angel and says,
“I have seen God face to face”; Ge
48:15 f--Jacob speaks of God and the angel
as identical; Ex 3:1-22 (compare Ac
7:30 ff)--the angel appears to Moses in the
burning bush; Ex 13:21; 14:19
(compare Nu 20:16)--God or the angel leads
Israel out of Egypt; Ex 23:20
ff--the people are commanded to obey the
angel; Ex 32:34 through Ex 33:17
(compare Isa 63:9)--Moses pleads for the
presence of God with His people; Jos
5:13 through Jos 6:2--the angel appears to
Joshua; Judges 2:1-5--the angel
speaks to the people; Judges 6:11 ff--the
angel appears to Gideon.
A study
of these passages shows that while the angel
and Yahweh
are at times distinguished
from each other, they are with equal
frequency, and in the same passages,
merged into each other. How is this to be
explained? It is obvious that these
apparitions cannot be the Almighty Himself,
whom no man hath seen, or can see.
In seeking the explanation, special
attention should be paid to two of the
passages above cited. In Ex 23:20 ff God
promises to send an angel before His
people to lead them to the promised land;
they are commanded to obey him and
not to provoke him “for he will not pardon
your transgression: for my name is
in him.” Thus, the angel can forgive sin,
which only God can do, because God's
name, i.e. His character and thus His
authority, are in the angel. Further, in
the passage Ex. 32:34 through Ex. 33:17
Moses intercedes for the people after their
first breach of the covenant; God responds
by promising, “Behold mine angel
shall go before thee”; and immediately after
God says, “I will not go up in the
midst of thee.” In answer to further
pleading, God says, “My presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Here
a clear distinction is made between
an ordinary angel, and the angel who carries
with him God's presence. The
conclusion may be summed up in the words of
Davidson in his Old Testament
Theology: “In particular providences one may
trace the presence of Yahweh
in influence and operation; in
ordinary angelic appearances one may
discover Yahweh present on some side of
His being, in some attribute of His
character; in the angel of the Lord He is
fully present as the covenant God of
His people, to redeem them.” The question
still remains, Who is theophanic
angel? To this many answers have been given,
of which the following may be
mentioned: (1) This angel is simply an angel
with a special commission; (2) He
may be a momentary descent of God into
visibility; (3) He may be the Logos, a
kind of temporary preincarnation of the
second person of the Trinity. Each has
its difficulties, but the last is certainly
the most tempting to the mind. Yet
it must be remembered that at best these are
only conjectures that touch on a
great mystery. It is certain that from the
beginning God used angels in human
form, with human voices, in order to
communicate with man; and the appearances
of the angel of the Lord, with his special
redemptive relation to God's people,
show the working of that Divine mode of
self-revelation which culminated in the
coming of the Saviour, and are thus a
fore-shadowing of, and a preparation for,
the full revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
Further than this, it is not safe
to go.
III.
Angels in New Testament.
1.
Appearances:
Nothing
is related of angels in New Testament, which
is inconsistent with the teaching of Old
Testament on the subject. Just as they
are specially active in the beginning of Old
Testament history, when God's
people is being born, so they appear
frequently in connection with the birth of
Jesus, and again when a new order of things
begins with the resurrection. An
angel appears three times in dreams to
Joseph (Mt 1:20; 2:13, 19). The angel
Gabriel appears to Zacharias, and then to
Mary in the annunciation (Lu 1:1-80).
An angel announces to the shepherds the
birth of Jesus, and is joined by a
"multitude of the heavenly host," praising
God in celestial song (Lu
2:8 ff). When Jesus is tempted, and again
during the agony at Gethsemane,
angels appear to Him to strengthen His soul
(Mt 4:11; Lu 22:43). The verse
which tells how an angel came down to
trouble the pool (Joh 5:4) is now omitted
from the text as not being genuine. An angel
descends to roll away the stone
from the tomb of Jesus (Mt 28:2); angels are
seen there by certain women (Lu
24:23) and (two) by Mary Magdalene (Joh
20:12). An angel releases the apostles
from prison, directs Philip, appears to
Peter in a dream, frees him from
prison, smites Herod with sickness, appears
to Paul in a dream (Ac 5:19; 8:26;
10:3; 12:7 ff; Ac 12:23; 27:23). Once they
appear clothed in white; they are so
dazzling in appearance as to terrify
beholders; hence they begin their message
with the words “Fear not” (Mt 28:2-5).
2.
The Teaching of Jesus about Angels:
It is
quite certain that our Lord accepted the
main
teachings of Old Testament about angels, as
well as the later Jewish belief in
good and bad angels. He speaks of the
"angels in heaven" (Mt 22:30),
and of “the devil and his angels” (Mt
25:41). According to our Lord the angels
of God are holy (Mark 8:38); they have no
sex or sensuous desires (Mt 22:30);
they have high intelligence, but they know
not the time of the Second Coming
(Mt 24:36); they carry (in a parable) the
soul of Lazarus to Abraham's bosom
(Lu 16:22); they could have been summoned to
the aid of our Lord, had He so
desired (Mt 26:53); they will accompany Him
at the Second Coming (Mt 25:31) and
separate the righteous from the wicked (Mt
13:41, 49). They watch with
sympathetic eyes the fortunes of men,
rejoicing in the repentance of a sinner
(Lu 15:10; compare 1Pe 1:12; Eph. 3:10; 1Co
4:9); and they will hear the Son of
Man confessing or denying those who have
confessed or denied Him before men (Lu
12:8 f). The angels of the presence of God,
who do not appear to correspond to
our conception of guardian angels, are
specially interested in God's little
ones (Mt 18:10). Finally, the existence of
angels is implied in the Lord's
Prayer in the petition, “Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so on earth” (Mt
6:10).
3.
Other New Testament References:
Paul
refers to the ranks of angels
(“principalities,
powers” etc.) only in order to emphasize the
complete supremacy of Jesus
Christ. He teaches that angels will be
judged by the saints (1Co 6:3). He
attacks the incipient Gnosticism of Asia
Minor by forbidding the, worship of
angels (Col 2:18). He speaks of God's angels
as “elect,” because they are
included in the counsels of Divine love (1Ti
5:21). When Paul commands the
women to keep their heads covered in church
because of the angels (1Co 11:10)
he probably means that the angels, who watch
all human affairs with deep
interest, would be pained to see any
infraction of the laws of modesty. In
Hebrews
1:14 angels are (described as ministering
spirits engaged in the service of the
saints. Peter also emphasizes the supremacy
of our Lord over all angelic beings
(1Pe 3:22). The references to angels in
2Peter and Jude are colored by contact
with Apocrypha literature. In Revelation,
where the references are obviously
symbolic, there is very frequent mention of
angels. The angels of the seven
churches (Re 1:20) are the guardian angels
or the personifications of these
churches. The worship of angels is also
forbidden (Re 22:8 f). Specially
interesting is the mention of elemental
angels—“the angel of the waters” (Re
16:5), and the angel “that hath power over
fire” (Re 14:18; compare Re 7:1;
19:17). Reference is also made to the “angel
of the bottomless pit,” who is called
ABADDON or APOLLYON (which see), evidently
an evil angel (Re 9:11 the King
James Version, the Revised Version (British
and American) “abyss”). In Re 12:7
ff we are told that there was war between
Michael with his angels and the
dragon with his angels.
IV.
Development of the Doctrine.
In the
childhood of the race, it was easy to
believe
in God, and He was very near to the soul. In
Paradise, there is no thought of
angels; it is God Himself who walks in the
garden. A little later, the thought
of angels appears, but, God has not gone
away, and as “the angel of Yahweh”
He appears to His people and
redeems them. In these early times the Jews
believed that there were multitudes
of angels, not yet divided in thought into
good and bad; these had no names or
personal characteristics, but were simply
embodied messages. Till the time of
the captivity the Jewish angelology shows
little development. During that dark
period they came into close contact with a
polytheistic people, only to be more
deeply confirmed in their monotheism
thereby. They also became acquainted with
the purer faith of the Persians, and in all
probability viewed the tenets of
Zoroastrianism with a more favorable eye,
because of the great kindness of
Cyrus to their nation. There are few direct
traces of Zoroastrianism in the
later angelology of the Old Testament. It is
not even certain that the number
seven as applied to the highest group of
angels is Persian in its origin; the
number seven was not wholly disregarded by
the Jews. One result of the contact
was that the idea of a hierarchy of the
angels was more fully developed. The
conception in Dan of angels as “watchers,”
and the idea of patron-princes or
angel-guardians of nations may be set down
to Persian influence. It is probable
that contact with the Persians helped the
Jews to develop ideas already latent
in their minds. According to Jewish
tradition, the names of the angels came
from Babylon. By this time the consciousness
of sin had grown more intense in
the Jewish mind, and God had receded to an
immeasurable distance; the angels
helped to fill the gap between God and man.
The more
elaborate conceptions of Daniel and
Zechariah
are further developed in Apocrypha,
especially in 2Esdras, Tobit and 2Macc.
In the
New Testament, we find that there is little
further development; and by the Spirit of
God its writers were saved from the
absurdly puerile teachings of contemporary
Rabbinism. We find that the
Sadducees, as contrasted with the Pharisees,
did not believe in angels or
spirits (Ac 23:8). We may conclude that the
Sadducees, with their materialistic
standpoint, and denial of the resurrection,
regarded angels merely as
symbolical expressions of God's actions. It
is noteworthy in this connection
that the great priestly document (Priestly
Code, P) makes no mention of angels.
The Book of Revelation naturally shows a
close kinship to the books of Ezekiel
and Daniel.
Regarding
the rabbinical developments of angelology,
some beautiful, some extravagant, some
grotesque, but all fanciful, it is not
necessary here to speak. The Essenes held an
esoteric doctrine of angels, in
which most scholars find the germ of the
Gnostic eons.
V.
The Reality of Angels.
A belief
in angels, if not indispensable to the faith
of a Christian, has its place there. In such
a belief there is nothing
unnatural or contrary to reason. Indeed, the
warm welcome which human nature
has always given to this thought is an
argument in its favor. Why should there
not be such an order of beings, if God so
willed it? For the Christian the whole
question turns on the weight to be attached
to the words of our Lord. All are
agreed that He teaches the existence,
reality, and activity of angelic beings.
Was He in error because of His human
limitations? That is a conclusion, which
it is very hard for the Christian to draw,
and we may set it aside. Did He then
adjust His teaching to popular belief,
knowing that what He said was not true?
This explanation would seem to impute
deliberate untruth to our Lord, and must
equally be set aside. So we find ourselves
restricted to the conclusion that we
have the guaranty of Christ's word for the
existence of angels; for most
Christians that will settle the question.
The
visible activity of angels has come to an
end,
because their mediating work is done; Christ
has founded the kingdom of the
Spirit, and God's Spirit speaks directly to
the spirit of man. This new and
living way has been opened up to us by Jesus
Christ, upon whom faith can yet
behold the angels of God ascending and
descending. Still they watch the lot of
man, and rejoice in his salvation; still
they join in the praise and adoration
of God, the Lord of hosts, still can they be
regarded as “ministering spirits
sent forth to do service for the sake of
them that shall inherit salvation.” John
Macartney Wilson (5)
Notes:
1.Charles
John Ellicott, Bible Commentary for
English Readers, 2Kings, Vol.3,
(London, England, Cassell and Company),
p.182-183.
2.Matthew
Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible, Jude. Vol. 3. (Peabody,
Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 1985)
p. 945.
3.Jamieson, Fausset and
Brown, Commentary
on the Whole Bible, (Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 1977) p. 710.
4.Charles John Ellicott, Bible
Commentary for English Readers, Isaiah,
Vol.4, (London, England, Cassell and
Company), p.432-433.
5.Orr, James, M.A., D.D.
General Editor,
Entry for “ANGELS,” “International
Standard
Bible Encyclopedia,” (Grand Rapids,
Michigan, Eerdmans, reprinted
1986), pp. 132-135.
“To God,
only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ
forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27) and “heirs
according to the promise.” (Galatians
3:28, 29)
Mr.
Kettler has previously published articles in
the
Chalcedon Report and Contra Mundum. He and
his wife Marea attend the
Westminster, CO, RPCNA Church. He served as
an ordained ruling elder in the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He worked in
and retired from a fortune five
hundred company in corporate America after
forty years. He runs two blogs sites
and is the author of the book defending the
Reformed Faith against attacks,
titled: The Religion That Started in a Hat.
Available at:
www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com