09. Angels
ANGELS Will you tell us something about the angels so frequently mentioned in Scripture?
Angels are mentioned about three hundred times in the Bible. There are at least three strong reasons why we should seek to know about them: (1) Because the Bible speaks about them so frequently; (2) because of their present ministry amongst us; (3) because we are to live with them throughout eternity. The word “angel” means “messenger.” The term is a designation of an office, rather than the description of a person. An angel might be one of the “sons of God”—heavenly, as for instance, the seraphim; or earthly, as the human prophets of God. In Malachi 3:1 the Lord Jesus is called “the Angel of the covenant;” and yet in Hebrews 1:5-6; Hebrews 2:16 we learn that the Lord Jesus never took on Himself the nature of angels. The word “angels” is employed in seven senses in Scripture: (1) as referring to human messengers (2 Samuel 2:5; Luke 7:24); (2) for human messengers bearing a divine message (Haggai 1:13; Galatians 4:14); (3) for impersonal providences, as the “thorn in the flesh, the messenger (angelos) of Satan to buffet me” (2 Corinthians 12:7); (4) for bishop or pastor of the churches (Revelation 2 nd and 3rd chapters); (5) for demons without bodies, infesting the air and seeking to take possession of men (Matthew 12:24; Matthew 25:41); (6) for heavenly beings such as Jacob met on the way back home (Genesis 33:1-2); and (7) for one particular heavenly messenger, called distinctively “the angel of the Lord” (Exodus 3:2) which usually refers, without doubt, to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself in His preincamate manifestation or theophanies. Who or what are the fallen angels?
There are two classes of fallen angels mentioned in Scripture: (1) ‘The angels which kept not their first estate [place], but left their own habitation,” are “chained under darkness,” awaiting judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Judges 6; 1 Corinthians 6:3; John 5:22). (2) The angels who have Satan (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 20:10) as leader. The origin of these is nowhere explicitly revealed. They may be identical with the demons (Matthew 7:22). For Satan and his angels everlasting fire is prepared (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10). Do you believe that the angels referred to in2 Peter 2:4, and Judges 6, may be those who are called “sons of God” inGenesis 6:2?
No, I do not believe that the “sons of God” of Genesis 6:2 are angels. I agree with Dr. Scofield that it was a matter of the marriage of believers and unbelievers, which has always been, and still is, the curse of God’s people.
I recently heard a preacher refer to Gabriel as the archangel. Was he right in this? The title of archangel is applied in Scripture only to Michael (Judges 9). The word “archangel” occurs elsewhere only once. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16 we read of “the voice of the archangel.” Notice that it says, “the archangel,” and not “an archangel.” The prefix “arch” means “first,” and it would seem that there could not be two first angels. And yet Michael is referred to in Daniel 10:13 as “one of the chief princes.” In Daniel 10:21 he is referred to as “Michael your (that is, Israel’s) prince.” In Daniel 12:1 he is referred to as “the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people,” that is, Israel, Daniel’s people. In Revelation 12:7 we read that “there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.” This again seems to put Michael in the place of leadership over the angels of heaven as their archangel. The name Gabriel occurs four times in Scripture: Daniel 7:16; Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:19; Luke 1:26. The same Gabriel who ministered to Daniel came also over five hundred years later and ministered to Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, and to Mary the virgin mother of our Lord. Who were the angels of the seven Churches of the second and third chapters of the Revelation? The word “angel” means “messenger”; and these “angels of the churches” were doubtless messengers from the churches sent to visit John in his exile on Patmos, and it was by their hands that John returned his message to the churches. In this sense anyone is an angel to the church who bears a message from God to the church.