Angels: August 2011
Table of Contents
Angels
In heaven we shall be in the presence of an innumerable company of angels. Every class and order of these glorious beings will be there. This company exists already, and in the faith of our souls we have come to the conscious knowledge of their existence.
Angels are the divine guardians of God’s people. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them” (Psa. 34:7). Elisha’s life illustrates this guardian care. When compassed about by his enemies, Elisha says to his servant, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” The whole mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. An angel was sent to shut the lions’ mouths that Daniel would not be hurt (Dan. 6).
The Lord as Man was in the guardian care of angels, as we read, “He shall give His angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways” (Psa. 91:9-12). Angels waited upon Him at His birth; angels ministered unto Him in the Garden of Gethsemane; angels guarded His tomb and were in attendance at His ascension.
At the present time believers are under the guardian care of angels, as we read, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” In the world to come, they will still exercise their guardian care, for they stand at the gates of the heavenly city.
H. Smith, adapted
Angels
The creation of the visible universe is recorded in Scripture, but not the creation of angels. However, it is evident that they were created before the world as a separate body of beings, for they are present at creation and show their interest in the work of God. At that time Scripture says that “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). Satan and his hosts were originally among these angels, but at some point before the creation of man they rebelled against God and fell. At a later date, prior to the flood of Noah, other angels “kept not their first estate” and became involved with the daughters of men in a sinful way. Scripture tells us that they are now confined in “chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4). Those who did not sin are referred to as “elect angels” (1 Tim. 5:21) and are God’s messengers and administrative power in the world. In relation to man, they are “greater in power and might.” They went as God’s emissaries to Sodom, to investigate the iniquity there; an angel smote 185,000 men in the Assyrian army, in the time of Hezekiah; angels were involved in the giving of the law. An angel also delivered Peter from prison, and they will be involved in the dispensing of judgment in a coming day. In every way they are the servants of God, doing His will instantly and acting for Him both in His government of this world and the care of His own.
The Invisible World
Most of this work is carried on unseen by men. However, Scripture occasionally gives us a glimpse into this invisible world. When Daniel prayed to the Lord, an angel was sent to him, but he was delayed “one and twenty days” by “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” (obviously a fallen angel). When Michael, “one of the chief princes,” came to help, the angel was able to speak with Daniel, but then had to return “to fight with the prince of Persia.” Also, he tells Daniel that “the prince of Greece shall come” (Dan. 10). So there is often a struggle between the elect angels who do God’s will and those of Satan’s hosts who oppose them.
A Hierarchy
It appears that there is also a hierarchy among angels. Gabriel evidently has a prominent place and is mentioned by name in Daniel’s time, as well as in announcing the births of both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus. Michael is called the “archangel” (Jude 9), and he also appears to be especially associated with Israel — “Michael your prince” (Dan. 10:21). When Satan and his demons are cast out of heaven in a future day, Michael seems to be at the head of those elect angels who carry this out (Rev. 12).
The Role of Angels
When Christ was born into this world, angels celebrated His birth with praise, gazing in wonder and adoration at their Creator become man. They take delight in God’s ways with man; there is no envy in their hearts, even though God is reaching out to sinful creatures and bringing them into a greater place of blessing than angels enjoy. During our Lord’s earthly ministry, angels were His servants—“the angels ministered unto Him” (Mark 1:13) When God’s Counsels in grace towards man are revealed, Peter says, concerning the gospel of God’s grace, “Which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12). When the gospel is preached, there is rejoicing among them over every sinner that repents. When the truth of Christ and the church was revealed by God through the Apostle Paul, we read that “unto the principalities and powers [the angels] in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3:10). A sister praying or prophesying is to “have power on her head because of the angels” (1 Cor. 11:10), for the angels see in the deportment of a Christian woman a type of the church. They see God’s wisdom in redemption and His glory in bringing lost sinners into marvelous blessing. To the believer today, the angels are “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1:14), as well as continuing their role in administering the government of this world. How many times in the history of the church has God intervened on behalf of His own, using angels to guard and protect them!
Their Future Role
However, their role will not always be the same. We read in Hebrews 2:5, “Unto angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” God is going to rule “the world to come” [the millennium] through man — “the man Christ Jesus.” When Christ comes back to reign, He comes “in His glory, and in that of the Father, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26 JND). When He appears with His church, He will first of all execute judgment; then the glorious kingdom will be set up, and Christ and the church will rule. For this reason, Paul says to the Corinthians, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6:3). When this transition takes place, it is recorded that “the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matt. 24:29), for the present administration of the world under the angels will give way to Christ and the church. One form of reward for the faithful believer will be administrative responsibility in that kingdom: “Have thou authority over ten cities”; “be thou also over five cities” (Luke 19:17,19).
But will angels be of no further use at that time? On the contrary, we read that they mingle their praise with the redeemed for all eternity. They do not have the nearness that the believer will have in that day, nor can they sing the song of the redeemed. But their praise will resound in heaven, along with “every creature which is under heaven.” “I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and their number was ten thousands of ten thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:11-12 JND).
W. J. Prost
Ministering Spirits
Both in the past and in the future the Lord manifests Himself as the One who serves. But a new thing was inaugurated when He went on high as a Man, crowned with glory and honor, serving God’s saints on earth. That heavenly beings should minister to men in their mortal state was nothing new, for as soon as Adam and Eve fell and expulsion from the garden was found to be part of the consequences of their sin, the cherubim, placed eastward in the garden, guarded with the flaming sword every way to the tree of life. This was a ministry of goodness and mercy to the fallen pair. From that day till the time of the patriarch Abraham, we read nothing about angelic ministry to men, but from his days and onward to the close of Scripture, we meet with statements of their service and intervention, providentially and judicially, or otherwise, in the affairs of men. By the visit of two angels to Sodom, Lot was rescued, and by one Peter was brought out of prison. By the destroying angel the firstborn of the Egyptians were smitten, and by an angel was Israel chastised in the reign of David. An angel ministered to Elijah in the desert and appeared to Paul on board ship in the storm. The angels of God met Jacob at Mahanaim and surrounded Elisha and his young man on the mount. An angel was sent to Daniel to tell him about the future, and the revelation of Jesus Christ was signified to John by one of those heavenly messengers. To men in general, without distinction of race or spiritual condition, do they attend, it would appear, for the Lord acquaints us with the fact about little children that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of His Father in heaven. But to God’s people in particular do they minister. Thus Messiah was to be the object of their providential care, as the psalmist declared (Psa. 91:11), and the nation of Israel, as God’s earthly people, is specially cared for by Michael their prince (Dan. 10:21; 12:1). And now, that Israel and God’s people are not one and the same class, we learn from Hebrews 1:14 that the angels are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Thus, men, Israel, and God’s saints, though inferior to angels in rank and power, are cared for by them.
The Lord’s Present Service
Since the Lord Jesus went on high, a new thing has been instituted — His service, while in heaven, to souls upon earth, not superseding in the least angelic ministry to men, as the Acts of the Apostles abundantly evidences, nor carrying on exactly the same service in which He engaged when on earth. Personal service it was then; personal service it is now. He as much concerns Himself with individuals as ever He did, we have to say with reverence and with thankfulness. To heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people is not the special feature in His ministry now; to restore the dead to desolated homes and hearts is not His present service. He may and He does answer prayer for bodily wants, but since to depart and be with Christ is the better thing for God’s saints, we look not for Him to restore the dead to life, unless, as in the case of Dorcas, for a testimony to the reality of His power and exaltation to God’s right hand, yet the Lord’s ministry is as real and as constant now as ever it was, though only on behalf of His own, for, though on earth He ministered to men irrespective of their soul’s condition, since He was rejected by the world, He carries on His service, while on high, on behalf of His saints.
Words of Truth
Angelic Protection
(2 Kings 6:8-23)
In the episode of Elisha being surrounded by the Syrian army, we are reminded of how our Lord spoke of having at His disposal twelve legions of angels. Thus the mountain was full of horses and chariots waiting on the prophet. The simplicity of Elisha’s faith is very remarkable. He needed not pray for himself; he had already seen the “chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” at the ascension of Elijah (2 Kings 2:12). He rested in the certainty that they were always ready for his use. And now in the time of his need, he knew that they were at hand. While he is in great danger for his life, he has no fear for himself. His desire is that his servant may stand on the same elevation of faith. He would have him in the same sense of this divine security.
Chariots and Horses of Fire
These chariots and horses of fire, which filled the mountain and which in the day of the translation of Elijah were accompanied by a whirlwind, were, I doubt not, a host of angels. These heavenly creatures, excelling in strength, stand in the presence of God and go forth to minister on account of those who are heirs of salvation. We read of them that God “maketh His angels spirits [winds] and His ministers a flame of fire” (Heb. 1:7); also, “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels” (Psa. 68:17). At the divine command, they are ready to serve in whatever the exigency of the saint or the occasion under the throne of God may require. They formed a traveling chariot to convey Elijah to heaven and to carry Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom. They now form chariots of war, when Elisha is beleaguered by the hostile bands of Syria. They visit the elect on earth and, either alone or in concert, celebrate the joy of heaven in the audience of the earth. They have drawn the sword to smite a guilty city, or with the strong hand of love dragged the reluctant man Lot forth from the doomed city. They are either as winds or as fire. They are messengers of mercy and executors of judgment, as “the Lord” who “is among them” may command. They attended on Mount Sinai when the law was published, and they hovered over the fields of Bethlehem when Jesus was born. And here, in their order and strength, they are as a wall of fire, a wall of salvation, around the prophet.
This is very blessed! And still it is more blessed to know that before long the hidden glories, which are now only known to those who have faith like Elisha, will become widely manifested. Then the threats of the enemy, the noise, the din and the clang of arms, which are the present apparent things, causing fears and sorrows for the heart, shall have rolled by, like the past thunderstorm, only to leave the bright sunshine.
Power and Grace
But there is more here than this calmness and certainty of faith. We have traces of the power and of the grace of Jesus in the path of our prophet. “When the wicked ... mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.” Thus David spoke concerning Jesus (Psa. 27). And accordingly, in the garden, when the band of men and officers came to lay hold on Him, “As soon as He had said unto them, I am He, they went backward and fell to the ground” (John 18). So it is here with the prophet. The bands of Syria came to Dothan to fetch him, but the Lord smote them with blindness, as they were making ready to make him their prey.
Elisha demonstrates grace, as well as power. He overcomes evil with good. The King of Israel says to him, “My father, shall I smite them?” for he had the Syrian bands caught in the net of Samaria. But the prophet answered, “Thou shalt not smite them. ... Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”
Blessed and precious expression of the mind of God! What constellations of moral glories shine in His ways! And these ways of the Lord, in combined power and grace, are displayed in this honored prophet. How much he was in the intimacy of God, if I may so speak! How fully his friendship with the Lord gave him to know His secrets! And how largely does his history illustrate those words, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). He knew of mountains of strength and salvation that were altogether invisible to others; he knew of abundance at the doors tomorrow, though today all was famine and death in the city. Oh, for power in our souls to value such goodness in Him and such dignity and blessing for us!
J. G. Bellett, adapted
The Anthem of the Angels
Two things are presented in Luke 2:13-14. The angel who comes to the shepherds of Judea announces to them the fulfillment of the promises of God to Israel. The choir of angels celebrate in their heavenly chorus of praise all the real import of this wondrous event. “Unto you,” says the heavenly messenger who visits the poor shepherds, “is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” This was proclaiming good tidings to them and to all the people.
The Fullness, Sovereignty and Perfection of God’s Grace
But in the birth of the Son of Man, God manifest in the flesh, the accomplishment of the incarnation had far deeper importance than this. The words, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure [of God] in men,” embrace such widely extended thoughts that it is difficult to speak suitably of them. First, it is deeply blessed to see that the thought of Jesus excludes all that could oppress the heart in the scene which surrounded His presence on earth. Alas, sin was there, but if sin had placed Him there, grace had placed Him there. Grace super-abounds; that which God is in grace absorbs the mind and possesses the heart and is the heart’s true relief in a world like this. We see grace alone, and sin only magnifies the perfection of that grace. Jesus, come in grace, fills the heart. It is the same thing in all the details of Christian life. It is the true source of moral power, of sanctification, and of joy.
“Glory to God in the Highest”
We see, next, that there are three things brought out by the presence of Jesus born as a child on the earth. The first is glory to God in the highest. The love of God, His wisdom, His power, the fulfillment of His eternal counsels, the perfection of His ways where evil had come in, the manifestation of Himself amid the evil in such a manner as to glorify Himself before the angels — in a word, God had so manifested Himself by the birth of Jesus that the hosts of heaven, long familiar with His power, could raise their chorus, “Glory to God in the highest!” What love like this love? What a purely divine thought, that God has become man! What supremacy of good over evil! What wisdom in drawing nigh to the heart of man and the heart of man back to Him! What fitness in addressing man! What maintenance of the holiness of God! What nearness to the heart of man, what participation in his wants, what experience of his condition! But beyond all, God above the evil in grace, and in that grace visiting this defiled world to make Himself known as He had never yet been known!
“Peace on Earth”
The second effect of the presence of Him who manifested God on the earth is that peace should be there. The heavenly choir is occupied with the fact of His presence, and they celebrate these consequences. Manifested evil should disappear; Jesus, mighty in love, should reign and impart His character to the whole scene, according to God’s heart.
The means of this — redemption, the destruction of Satan’s power, the reconciliation of man by faith and of all things in heaven and earth with God — are not here pointed out. Everything depended on the Person and presence of Him who was born. Presented to the responsibility of man, man is unable to profit by it, and all fails. But, grace and blessing being attached to the Person of Him just born, it was the intervention of God accomplishing the counsel of His love, the settled purpose of His good pleasure. And, Jesus once there, the consequences could not fail; whatever interruption there might be to their fulfillment, Jesus was their surety. The presence of the Son of God in the midst of sinners said to all spiritual intelligence, “On earth peace.”
“the Good Pleasure
of God in Men”
The third thing was the good pleasure of God in men. This is the same word as when it is said of Christ, “In whom I am well pleased.” It is beautiful to see the unjealous celebration, by these holy beings, of the advancement of another race to this exalted place by the incarnation of the Word. It was God’s glory, and that sufficed them. This is very beautiful.
It was a glorious testimony that the affection, the good pleasure, of God was centered in this poor race, now far from Him, but in which He was pleased to accomplish all His glorious counsels. So in John 1 the life was the light of men. In a word, it was the power of God present in grace in the Person of the Son of God taking part in the nature and interesting Himself in the lot of a being who had departed from Him and making him the sphere of the accomplishment of all His counsels. What a position for man! The whole universe was to learn in man that which God was in Himself, and the fruit of all His glorious counsels, as well as its complete rest in His presence, according to His nature of love. All this was implied in the birth of that child of whom the world took no notice. Natural and marvelous subject of praise to the holy inhabitants of heaven, unto whom God had made it known! It was glory to God in the highest.
J. N. Darby, adapted
Cherubim and Seraphim
We have cherubim as well as seraphim. What is the difference? The cherubim are connected with present judgment on the earth; they are the seat of God’s judicial power on earth. The seraphim covered their faces, crying, “Holy, holy, holy.” They are connected with God revealed, so as to bring man as man into His presence. In Isaiah 6 we find the seraphim. Here we see government in respect to the holiness of God’s nature, not so much His revealed ways. God comes out according to His nature. Anything not according to that nature I cannot have. We find the incompatibility of God’s nature with sin — the contrariety of an unholy nature with a holy Being. The living creatures here are cherubim, the attributes of God and the heads of creation — cattle, beasts of the field, birds, and man. The lion was the symbol of strength; the calf, firmness; man, intelligence; the eagle, swiftness of judgment. The seraphim in Isaiah 6 have nothing to do with grace, only with judgment. The coal of fire is grace, but burning grace. Cherubim are the government of God on earth; seraphim cry, “Holy, holy, holy.” The living creatures here (Rev. 4:6-9) illustrate the cherubic character, while “Holy, holy, holy” illustrates the seraphic character, and the seven Spirits of God the attributive character. The seven lamps are the seven Spirits; they are in connection with God’s government of the earth and similar to Isaiah 11, “the spirit of wisdom,” and so on. The rainbow (Rev. 4:3) is God’s covenant with creation. You find judgment, but not yet the Lord until the next chapter. The living creatures in Ezekiel 1 are the attributes of God, the pillars of the throne. “The Lord reigneth. ... He sitteth between the cherubims” (Psa. 99:1). Man made gods of the attributes to worship.
J. N. Darby, Collected Writings
Obedience
We all know the character of the first sin that entered the world, which has made it a scene of violence, corruption, sorrow, death and judgment; it was disobedience. Pride and independence had led Satan, the prince of this world, to disobedience, and thus brought him to fall. That once exalted and bright angelic spirit, whose name was “Lucifer” or “Day Star,” and “Son of the Morning,” had said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. ... I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isa. 14). He was perfect in his ways from the day that he was created, till iniquity was found in him. And what was his iniquity? “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee” (Ezek. 28:17). There is no doubt that this passage from Ezekiel refers not merely to the then king of Tyre, but to Satan, the prince of this world, of whom the prince of Tyre is a figure. Tyre represents the world as to the “lust of the eyes” (in commerce and traffic); Sodom, as to the “lust of the flesh”; Nineveh, as to the “pride of life”; Babylon, as to spiritual or religious pride and whoredom.
That sin of disobedience turned that beautiful “covering cherub” into the arch deceiver, and “that old serpent” and his bright fellow-angels into “wicked spirits” — “rulers of the darkness of this world.” The fall of Satan and his angels took place before he, as the serpent, tempted Adam and Eve in the garden. And after God had commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and finished “the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them,” it was again the same spirit of disobedience that led to the fall of another number of those bright angelic beings. They “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” and are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude). They “saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Gen. 6). Their offspring were the “giants in the earth,” a race characterized by self-confidence, pride and self-will.
Strength and Obedience
After these solemn accounts of the fall of those once-perfect, heavenly beings, it is a relief to turn to the same divine record as to the character of the good angels, so beautifully and concisely given at the end of Psalm 103. We find they “excel in strength” and “do His commandments.” Unlike their fallen former companions and fallen mankind, where strength and disobedience go hand in hand, there is strength combined with obedience. But there is a third characteristic given us in this psalm as to those bright angelic beings; they “excel in strength”; they “do His commandments”; they are also “hearkening unto the voice of His word.” Their obedience is not a lukewarm, mere dutiful obedience, but it is an obedience of the heart. They “hearken,” that is, they incline their ears, not only to “His word,” but to “the voice of His word.” Their hearts, as well as their ears, love to hear the voice of their divine Sovereign, and they take an interest in everything that concerns His glory. As to creation, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God [that is, the angels] shouted for joy” (Job 38:7); as to salvation and redemption, “which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12); also, they may be engaged in learning in the church “the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3). With them it is the same hearty obedience to the will of God, the same heartfelt interest in all the counsels of His divine will, even where the objects of those counsels belong to a fallen and rebellious race and even though they themselves remain but “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1:14). There is no envy with those blessed attendants at the heavenly courts above, where everything is perfect and every heart has but one object and motive — the glory of God and His Christ and to do His will, hearkening to the voice of His Word.
J. A. Von Poseck, adapted
Fallen Angels
It appears there were at least two falls of angels; one was the one we call Satan, who, when man was made, tempted man through Eve. With regard to these evil angels, of which we read in the Bible from Genesis down to Revelation, they are not under everlasting chains at all. They are roving about the world continually, and so far have not been reserved in chains of darkness; they are allowed access to heaven. You will see that in a very marvelous way in the history of Job. You will see there “the sons of God” referred to. They are the angels of God. The angels of God appeared before God. We learn from this that they have access, and they include not only the good angels but also the satanic angels. Satan was a fallen angel, but still he was an angel, and when “the sons of God” came, Satan was there too, so that it is evident, from the Book of Revelation more particularly that Satan will not lose that access to the presence of God until we are actually in heaven. It has not come to pass yet. People have an extraordinary idea in their heads that whatever access Satan had before that time, he lost it — either when our Lord was born or when our Lord died — but there is nothing of this in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where, on the contrary, it is expressly stated that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against wicked spirits in the heavenlies. We are not like the Israelites fighting against Canaanites. Our Canaanite is a spiritual enemy in heavenly places, that is, Satan and his host of demons or angels.
Angels in Chains
In Jude 6, we read of “angels which kept not their first estate.” These angels fell into a very peculiar iniquity, which is in a general way spoken of in Peter, but in a special way in Jude. In consequence, they were put under chains of darkness and not allowed to stir out of their prison. They are not the angels that tempt us now; they did their bad work just a little time before the flood. We do not know just how it was done, but Genesis 6 says that there were “sons of God” upon earth at that time who acted in a way which was so offensive to Him that it brought on the flood. No doubt man in general was very corrupt and vile, but besides that there was, in some mysterious manner, this awful violation of the marks that divide the creatures of God. As a result God completely destroyed the whole framework of creation, so that every one of them perished. Those angels that behaved in that tremendously wicked manner became prisoners. They are not like Satan and his host that tempt us to this day; these particular angels were not allowed to tempt men anymore. They had done too much, and God would not allow these things to go on any longer; therefore there was this mighty interference at the time of the flood. Their falling was a departure from their first estate, but in this particular case Satan had not done so, nor the angels that fell with Satan. These angels left their own habitation and preferred to take their place among mankind to act as if they were men on earth. Accordingly, God has now reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day.
What makes the matter so striking is that Jude compares this awful conduct with Sodom and Gomorrah. The enormity of this wickedness exceeded that of all wicked people, and this is what brings them into a position with Sodom and Gomorrah: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).
In Peter, it is general: “If God spared not the angels that sinned” (2 Peter 2:4). He cast them down into chains and darkness, but that description does not apply to Satan and his host. Therefore it seems there were two different falls of angels; one, Satan and his followers mounting up in the pride of their hearts to God; the other, these angels sinking down in the wickedness of their heart to man, in a very low condition indeed. The difference therefore is most marked. God “delivered them unto chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world.” There is a connection between the two narratives (that is, the judgment of these angels and the flood of Noah), as they took place about the same time. Peter marks this very point and puts it along with God’s dealing with the angels. In keeping with this theme of unrighteousness and judgment, Noah is described as a “preacher of righteousness,” not as a preacher of grace.
Obedience
We come now to the bearing of Peter’s words upon the present time. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2:9). The analogy is that this particular form of evil requires a particular form of discipline, and that the world will be destroyed not by water but by fire from God in heaven. Now when we come to Jude, it is a great deal closer than all this. What he says is, “Likewise also these dreamers” — those who live in the imagination of their own hearts instead of being guided by the Word of God. The Word of God is an expression of God’s authority, and His will is the only thing that ought to guide us, whether believers or unbelievers. If I were to give, in one word, in what all practical Christianity consists, I should say obedience, the obedience of faith, not law. It is characterized by Peter in his first epistle as “the obedience of Christ.” Fallen angels failed in their obedience, and fallen man has failed in his. It is a privilege, as believers, to seek to be characterized by the obedience of Jesus Christ.
W. Kelly, adapted
Angel As Representative of the Lord
We know that angels act as God’s messengers or administrators in this world and are occupied in carrying good news or executing judgment. In fact, the Hebrew word for “angel” signifies “messenger.” Also, the term “angel” is often used in the Word of God to speak of one who represents another, without his being personally there. For example, those who were praying for Peter (Acts 12:12-17) did not believe that it was Peter who knocked at the door, but said, “It is his angel.” We also read of little children that “in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10).
However, there are many times in Scripture when the word “angel” is used to signify the divine Presence, although it may be at times a literal angel, or angelic power, that carries out the act. Concerning this use of the word, J. N. Darby makes this comment: “In Exodus 23:20-21, the Lord says, ‘Behold, I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for My name is in him.’ God goes before them by angelic power, by what He calls Mine Angel (vs. 23) — that is, an intervention of God in that way which was really Himself, only in the way of angelic power. Thus Jacob says (Gen. 48:15-16), ‘God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.’ So also where God, as I AM, manifested Himself in a flame of fire in the bush, He is called ‘the Angel’ in the bush (Ex. 3:2). Where Jacob declares at Peniel (that is, the face of God) that he had seen God face to face, and lived, Hosea says, ‘He had power over the angel and prevailed’ (Hos. 12:4). So in the case of Manoah it is said, ‘The angel of Jehovah did wondrously,’ and Manoah says, ‘We have seen God,’ and the words are received as Jehovah’s, telling them such and such things (Judg. 13). He is called all through the passage the ‘Angel Jehovah,’ as many translate it. Subsequent to what is spoken of in Exodus 23, Israel made the golden calf. The Lord would have refused to go with them, for, if present, He must consume them, and declared He would send an angel with Moses. Moses intercedes, and the Lord says His ‘presence shall go with’ him.”
We find the same use of the word in the New Testament, for there is no doubt that the “strong angel” referred to in Revelation 10:1 JND is the Lord Himself. He is “clothed with a cloud,” which is indicative of the divine presence, and His subsequent claim to the earth and the sea leave no doubt as to who He is. Also, in Acts 7:38, Stephen refers to “the angel which spake to him [Moses] in the mount Sina,” and this is clearly a reference to the Lord.
The Face of God
We may well ask why the Lord would choose to work this way. Surely the Lord can and does intervene in the lives of His own or execute judgment through the power of angels. Sometimes they are visible, but often their work is done outside of the view of man in general. But sometimes the Lord Himself wishes to make His presence known and uses angelic power or the form of an angel to do this. If He appeared in His glory as God, man could not look upon it. Moses’ face shone when He had been on the mount, so that the children of Israel could not look upon it, although he had not looked directly on the face of God. So also at any other time, man could not look on God’s face and live. But in acting through angels and in angelic power, He could manifest Himself clearly at times, while remaining hidden, as it were, from the eye of man. In such cases He made it clear, by His voice and His words, that it was God Himself who was speaking. What grace, that God would deign to speak to man and do it in a way that clearly showed who He was, yet also in a way that man was not consumed.
W. J. Prost
Angel of the Church
The significance of this expression in Revelation 2-3 must be gathered from the use of the symbolism of the star in Scripture and should not be confused with the heavenly angelic beings. As may be gathered from Revelation 12:1-4, a star (or stars) signifies subordinate authority; we read expressly in Psalm 136:9, “The moon and stars to rule by night.” Comparing this passage with Genesis 1:16, it is evident that the sun sets forth supreme authority, the moon derived authority, and the stars subordinate authority. Now “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1), and this is true of the church, as of the kingdoms of the world; hence it is that Christ had the seven stars in His right hand. The angels of the churches, as symbolized by the stars, signify those whom God has set in the church for light-giving and for rule, and as such they are His representatives. It is on this account that the Lord holds them responsible for the state of the assembly, that He addresses them in these letters, and that He gives to them rebuke or commendation according to their condition. Sometimes a faithful remnant is distinguished from the angel, as in Thyatira; sometimes, as in Smyrna, where there was nothing to blame, the angel and the saints can be addressed interchangeably. But it is the angel who is held to be responsible, and this is the reason it is those who give light (teach) and those who rule who form the state of the assembly. It is these who are represented by the angel. However, it must not be forgotten that the assembly itself is also responsible and that all who compose it are accountable for the assembly’s spiritual state. Three considerations will explain this. In verse 5, though the angel of Ephesus is addressed, the term “thy candlestick” is used, when manifestly it is the candlestick of the assembly; second, the proclamation is made in verse 7, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”; third, there is the promise to the individual overcomer. On these grounds we do not hesitate in our remarks to speak of the assembly’s condition and responsibility, as well as that of the angel. The same thing is found in the history of the kingdom of Israel. God held the kings as responsible for the state of the people, but, as the prophets show, He did not absolve the people from guilt. Still the kings, as the angels, were those who were set in responsibility as God’s representatives.
E. Dennett, adapted
Do Angels Sing?
When the Lamb comes out, the elders sing a new song. Notice that the angels never sing. People speak of them as singing, but they never do in Scripture. Angels shout and cry, but there is only one note found with them. Man has all kinds of infirmities, but he can be tuned; it takes such as man to be tuned. The angels shout and praise, and that is lovely.
J. N. Darby
Angels
The creation of angels is not recorded historically, but that of this visible universe; they, having been already created as a separate body of beings, show their interest in the works of God — “the morning stars sing together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7).
When Christ is born, first the Jewish aspect is announced to the shepherds, and then a multitude celebrating it — their public delight in God’s ways and with unjealous delight in them — declare that God’s good pleasure is in man. It is the heavenly aspect of it — they see God’s mind in it — not the conscience part or man’s evil. They chant glory to God, for His love is here, peace on this ruined earth — the place of their service.
When Christ enters on His ministry, they are His servants in the wilderness and in Gethsemane. The gospel revelation, which does not have them for its object, they desire to look into. The sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow bring a more solemn apprehension to their minds; it is not simple joy like creation or incarnation and its natural fruits; over every sinner that repents they rejoice; it is joy to them. In the church they learn, as in heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God; they had seen the glory of God’s revelation on earth; they are to us, in love, ministering spirits; they praise, in a circle outside the redeemed, in the Apocalypse.
J. N. Darby
Angels and the Law
It seems clear from Psalm 68 that the display of external glory of fire on Mount Sinai was by the ministration of angels. This was the solemn sanction given to the law and its promulgation (Ex. 19:16-18). This is fully confirmed by Deuteronomy 33:2. Psalm 104:4 and 2 Kings 1:10; 6:17 afford analogous examples of Jehovah’s making His ministers a flame of fire. So even in the bush, when there was, as to its form, an angelic manifestation of God, the bush burned with fire. Moses spoke with the angel in the bush. What is particularly referred to in the passages we are considering is that the angels were the immediate instruments through which they received the law, the manifest glory which gave it its sanction — not that they spoke or personally addressed the people. That is, the functions of ambassadors are treated as akin to those of the angels, or divine legates. The character of authority attached to the law was angelic, not the incarnation of God Himself whether speaking on earth or from heaven. The whole of the first two chapters of Hebrews is to show the superiority of the Christian revelation to Judaism by that of Christ to angels, first as a divine person and second in the counsels of God as to the exaltation of man.
J. N. Darby
The Angel of the Lord
This expression, “The Angel of the Lord [Jehovah]” occurs many times in the Old Testament, meaning messenger or agent. Sometimes it describes an angelic messenger, and sometimes it refers to the Lord Himself. The context easily makes it clear, which is indicated. The context of Genesis 16:7, for instance, clearly proves the Angel of the Lord is the Lord Himself. None but a divine Person could say, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude” (Gen. 16:10).
That Hagar recognized this is clear. We read, “She called the name of the Lord [Jehovah] that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after Him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi [margin, the well of Him that liveth and seeth me]” (Gen. 16:13-14).
A striking case of the Angel of the Lord being Jehovah Himself is seen when the Lord called to Moses out of the burning bush, saying, “I AM the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6).
There is a very beautiful variation of this title found in Isaiah 63:9. “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”
None but a divine Person could use words such as these. Referring to a day yet future, we read, “In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them” (Zech. 12:8).
The Face of an Angel
“All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15).
He is accused of blasphemy
Towards Moses and towards God;
The crowds are stirred,
Their voices heard;
Anger pervades the place;
False witnesses are summoned and
They look upon his face.
It seems that words are absent
To scribe the peaceful pose;
“An angel’s face,”
Of fear no trace,
But calm upon his brow;
He knew the One who held the world,
Upheld him even now.
What a wondrous commendation
In conflict and in trial ...
A peaceful glow,
The world to show —
The calm within the heart;
Oh, may we have that “angel face”
His presence can impart!