ANGELS
DR. JIM DIXON
HEBREWS 1:1-14
DECEMBER 26, 1993
When you stop to think about it, Christmas has a lot to do with angels. It was angels who announced the birth of Christ to Mary and Joseph. It was angels who announced the birth of Christ to shepherds on a Judean hillside. It was the angelic host that sang, “glory to God in the highest” on the occasion of Christ’s birth. This past week, hundreds of millions of people the world over sang Christmas carols in celebration of Christmas. They sang carols like Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. They sang phrases like Angels We Have Heard on High. Yet, the truth is that very few of these people have heard angels and fewer still have seen angels. Yet, according to Time Magazine, angels have never been more popular than they are right now in America. Have you seen the cover of Time Magazine this week? It has an angel, or at least their concept, someone’s concept of an angel on the cover of the magazine.
The subject of the cover story is the subject of angels. The cover story is entitled Angels in Our Midst and according to Time Magazine, 69% of the men and women in America today believe in the reality, the existence, of angelic beings. According to Time Magazine today, there are angels-only boutiques. There are angel newsletters. There are angel seminars. Bookstores across America now have angel sections. According to Time Magazine, colleges and universities, reputable colleges and universities across the United States, many of them now offer courses on angelology, the study of angels. Incredibly, according to Publishers Weekly, of the best religious paperback books now out, five of the top ten have angelic themes.
Billy Graham once wrote a book about angels. In that book, he said that in his entire life he has not once heard a sermon on the subject of angels. This may yet be true of Billy Graham, but after today it will not be true of any of you because our subject today is angels.
This morning I would like us to seek to answer three questions concerning angels, seek to answer these questions from the Bible. The first question is this: what are they? What are angels? Of course, there is the secular view and the secular view is that angels are mythological. They do not exist. They are simply the fabrication of uneducated and ignorant minds. There are some people in the sanctuary this morning who likely will regard what I say as uneducated and ignorant garbage today. Yet I believe with all my heart that what I’m saying is true and real and is squarely based on the Word of God.
Of course, by the secular view, there is no God. There are no angels, there is no supernatural. Life holds no true mystery. There is no God. But man, if man is to be saved, must save himself. That’s the secular view. But there’s a certain arrogance about the secular view, a certain arrogance about the belief that there is no reality outside of what mankind can observe. A certain arrogance in the belief that the only intelligent being is a human being. There is a certain arrogance in all of that. Of course, a secular view is antithetical to the teaching of Holy Scripture. The truth is with respect to the subject of angels, the secular view is not the popular view in America today.
Now, there are some people who believe angels are deities. There are some people who believe angels are gods. It’s a curious fact that angels are prominent in all the major religions of the world. I mean, all the religions of the world believe in the existence of angels. This is true of Islam, it’s true of Judaism, it’s true of Christianity, it’s true of Buddhism, it’s true of Hinduism. It’s even true of true animism. They all believe in angels. But you see, some of the religions of the world are polytheistic. They’re polytheistic. So they believe in many gods. Many of these religions view angels as gods. They view angels as deities. But the Bible is clearly monotheistic. There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is absolutely clear. Angels are not gods. They are the created. They are not creators.
Now, there are some people who view angels as spirits of people who died. In fact, according to Time Magazine, 15% of the people in the United States, millions of people in the United States, believe this: that angels are spirits of people who have died. If you die and you’ve been good, your spirit leaves your body and goes into heaven and becomes an angel. Of course, that is not a biblical concept of angel. It is true biblically that each of us has a spirit and when we die, the spirit leaves the body. But the Bible nowhere teaches that that spirit becomes an angel.
So what are angels? What are angels biblically? Biblically, angels are spiritual beings, spiritual beings of a higher order than human beings, spiritual beings created by God to do the will of God. Throughout the creation, throughout the cosmos, spiritual beings of a higher order than human beings created by God to do the will of God throughout God’s creation.
Now of course, if we’re faithful to the Scriptures, we must acknowledge that not all angels do the will of God. There are some angels that have fallen, and the Bible speaks of the angelic fall. You can read about it in a veiled way in Isaiah chapter 14, and Ezekiel 28. You can read about the fall of the angels in various passages throughout the Bible. It was Satan who led that angelic rebellion. If we understand the book of Revelation properly, it seems as though when Satan fell, he took a third of the angelic host with him, a third of the angels of heaven. So we are to understand if we have a biblical view, that there are holy angels that exist to do the will of God created before mankind was ever created. We are to understand that there are also unholy fallen angels with sworn allegiance to the prince of darkness.
Now, what do angels do? It’s one thing to ask what are they. But what do they do? If we study scripture, we soon understand that not all angels do the same things. There are various ranks within the angelic order. There is, as some have said, an angelic hierarchy. In later Judaism and in early Christianity, a great deal of effort was made by the people of God to understand the nature of the angelic hierarchy. From para-biblical literature, from non-biblical literature, we can see what the early church thought. We can see what Christians in the first and second centuries believed. They believed that the angelic hierarchy ranked angels in the following way: they believe that at the top there were seraphim and cherubim. These angels were those angels closest in nature to God and these are the angels who surround God in perfect worship. These are, according to the view of the early church, the angels who worship God as described in Revelation 4 and 5.
The next highest rank among the angelic hierarchy is the angelic category called thrones. Throne angels are those angels, it was said, who implement divine justice wherever it was needed. The next ranking of angels was called dominions. Dominions were those angels that governed life in heaven. The next ranking of angels was called authorities, and these were the angels who were miracle workers and worked the miracles of God wherever they were needed. The next ranking of angels were called powers. This group of angels were said to protect people from evil. The next ranking of angels was called principalities. These angels are said to be the angels that were given charge over the nations of earth. The next ranking of angels were called archangels, and the archangels were the angels who were given authority over common angels. The lowest ranking was common angels. Common angels were those angels who serve individual human beings, those angels who serve individual people in this world.
Now, this angelic hierarchy, this ranking of angels sounds kind of nifty, but the problem is it’s not clearly taught in scripture. You cannot find this clear delineation of the angelic order on the pages of the Bible. The Bible does speak of cherubim and seraphim. The Bible does speak of principalities and thrones and authorities and powers and archangels. The Bible does speak of these things, and it is clear from the Bible that there is an angelic hierarchy. There is a ranking of angels, but the Bible does not make that ranking clear. We do, however, from the pages of Scripture, know much of what angels do.
One thing that angels do is they deliver messages. They are God’s messengers. In fact, the Greek word “angelo,” from which we get the word angel, literally means messenger. The Hebrew word” malaki,” the Hebrew word for angel, also means messenger. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, time and again we see angels delivering messages. And in conjunction with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with regard to Christmas, again we see angels delivering messages. But it seems to many Christians today that with this regard, angels have kind of gone the way of the Pony Express. I mean, the Pony Express used to deliver messages, but it’s been a long time since anyone received a message from the Pony Express. A lot of people feel like this is true of angels too.
But I think in fairness we must say, if you look at the Old Testament and the New Testament, if you really look at the pages of Scripture, clearly angelic visitation for the purposes of delivering messages were rare, very rare. There’s no reason to assume that they are any rarer today. I think it is also true that sometimes God’s angels deliver messages with a still small voice. I believe sometimes the angels of God deliver messages in a more internal manner as opposed to an external one. Angels are oftentimes, most of the time, invisible rather than visible in their ministry.
A second function of angels biblically is that of guarding. Angels in the Bible are guardians. There is no question the Bible teaches this. In some places in the Bible, angels are called watchers. This is particularly true in the book of Daniel. Angels are called watchers. The Hebrew word that is used there is a Hebrew word that was used to describe military guards. There is no question that biblically angels are guardians. In Psalm 91, the Bible says, “He gives his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
In the year 1870, a train was racing towards the city of London in England. Onboard that train was Queen Victoria. Suddenly, the engineer noticed in the middle of the track there stood this large giant of a man, and he seemed to radiate a kind of light, and his arms were outstretched. The engineer in shock tried to stop the train as fast as he could. When he stopped the train, he and others got out of the train to try to find this large man, this mysterious person who had stood in the track and they could not find him anywhere. They began to look around and they walked a hundred yards up the track and then they were stunned, stunned to see that the bridge which had spanned this great canyon had been washed away. If the train had continued, everyone on that train would’ve died in 1870, including the Queen of England. Later Queen Victoria said, “People can say whatever they want to say.” She said, “As far as I’m concerned, God sent an angel, a guardian angel to deliver us.”
I have sometimes had the privilege of talking to some of our missionaries. I sometimes wish that you could sit in my office and hear what I get to hear. I suppose there’s times I’m glad you can’t, but I sometimes wish you could. You know, one of the privileges I have is of talking from time to time with some of our missionaries. Many of them share stories relating to the ministry of angels. I’ve heard this too from many individuals by virtue of counseling.
I remember one story that Paul, I believe it was Paul Ply, told me. Paul’s one of our missionaries in India. Paul and some of his friends were on a ministry assignment in southern India, and they were preaching the gospel to a militant Hindu community. When they were done, there was no response. No one came to receive Christ. When they were done, they became very much afraid because dozens of the more militant local citizens began to rally. They came with arms against them. Paul and his missionary friends were just standing there when all of these people armed began in a mob to come at him. Paul and his friends just fell down on their knees and they began to pray and they thought their life was over. I mean, they said, “Lord, if this is the time that you want to take us home, take us home. We love You, we long to see You.” On the other hand, he said they prayed, “If it be Your will that we have further labor in this world, protect us.”
Well, as they were praying and just holding hands in prayer, suddenly they heard shouts and they heard screaming and they looked up. All of the people in this mob, all of these armed militant Hindus were just running as fast as they could away from Paul and his friends. Later, some of those people who had once been in that mob accepted Jesus Christ. Paul and his friends had a chance to ask them why they ran away that day. They said, “We ran because suddenly you were surrounded by these giant men radiating light in full battle armor with drawn swords.” What an incredible image. When you hear something like that, do you believe it, or do you not believe it?
The challenges are rationalistic minds, and yet I believe it. I believe God’s angels do indeed guard. You know, the Bible speaks of guardian angels in a way that would sometimes imply that perhaps we all have guardian angels. Our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of children, made this statement: he said, “I tell you truly their angels,” and the Greek word implies that each individual child possessed one, “their angels constantly behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.”
Do you believe in guardian angels? Do you believe that there is a guardian angel, an angel who has been assigned to guard you in any sense until your work on earth is done? You know, my father just a couple of weeks ago was riding his bicycle. My dad is about 80 years old and I sometimes wish that he didn’t ride his bike. He loves to ride his bicycle and he was in Pasadena and he was riding his bicycle there in the city. Unfortunately, he was launched by an automobile, collided with a car. My dad woke up in the hospital and did not remember the accident in any way, but was very grateful to be alive. My dad had another time when he hit a car on his bicycle. My dad flew right over the car, landed on his head, cracked the helmet open. My dad I think would admit to you that even in a car he’s not always a great driver. Sometimes he’s been known to just pull out into traffic and you see cars scrambling to miss him. Now you see, I believe my dad is living proof that there are guardian angels, and I believe my dad’s angels are exhausted.
But you see, biblically angels are involved in this ministry of protection and it’s not an easy ministry. You know, we said earlier that there are a variety of angels in the angelic hierarchy. We said that they have been given various assignments. What is true of the holy angels of God is also true of the fallen angels who serve the dark lord of this world. They have a hierarchy. They have various assignments. Sometimes when the Bible speaks of principalities, powers, authorities, thrones, sometimes the Bible is speaking of the holy angels of God, and sometimes it’s speaking of the fallen powers of darkness in the heavenlies.
What we are to understand biblically is that angels are at war. Holy and fallen angels are at war. I know that’s hard for you to believe living as we do in this day-to-day world. But the Bible says there is a spiritual war of a supernatural nature in the heavenlies. That this spiritual struggle very much impacts the realities of our life on earth. These angels that seek to guard and protect, it is a great labor. They’re involved in a great struggle according to the Bible.
You know, you read the book of Daniel in the 10th chapter and it’s kind of a fascinating little passage there. Daniel is fasting and praying, and he’s been praying for 21 days when suddenly this angel manifests himself. This angel appears and his countenance is celestial. Earthly words sometimes fail to describe adequately an angelic personage. Now this angel appears to Daniel and the angel says a strange thing. The angel says, “When you first prayed 21 days ago, we heard your prayer. From the moment you first began to pray, I was sent forth. But on my way here, I encountered some fallen angelic powers. I encountered some powers and principalities of darkness and it was a great war. If Michael had not come with his host, I would not be standing here today. Michael came with his host and relieved me that I might come and be here with you.”
Now, when you read a passage of scripture like that at the end of this 20th century, enlightened as we are, scientific as we are, you read a passage like that, you don’t know what to do with it. But if you believe in the authority and the inspiration of holy scripture, you believe it. You believe it. I tell you on the authority of the Word of God, there is a great war of a spiritual nature, supernatural in the heavenlies and it affects what we experience on earth.
Angels are not simply guardians and messengers, but the Bible tells us that they are also encouragers. I don’t have time to describe in any detail these additional ministries of angels, and yet it is clear in the scriptures that angels are sometimes involved in ministries of encouragement. Perhaps this is why they’re called ministering servants. The Greek word “diakonos” from which we get the word deacon, they’re sometimes involved in encouragement. You see this in the life of Elijah in the Old Testament, as Elijah is just exhausted and an angel comes and ministers to him. You see this in Matthew chapter 4 as our Lord Jesus Christ has just gone through the temptation in the wilderness and He is spent and an angel of God comes and ministers to Him.
I believe in this ministry and I think sometimes it is a hidden ministry. I mean, I think sometimes when we are just worn out and exhausted, God does send angels to minister to us. Though they are unseen, I think we feel their touch. It is true too that sometimes biblically angels are involved in judgment. We see this on the pages of scripture. We see this with regard to Sodom and Gomorrah. There’s one passage in 2 Kings chapter 19 where a single angel bringing the judgment of God attacked the armies of Assyria and 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died in a moment in time, the power of the angels of God.
Well, what is this to you? What is this to you? That would be the third question as we close, what are they? What do they do? But perhaps most importantly, what is this to you? Now, God wants us to understand that as we have seen, there are angels both holy and fallen. I think what we have studied and what we have learned this morning in the will of God is both a promise and a warning. It’s a promise because there are holy angels who serve God and by the will of God serve us. It’s also a warning because there are fallen angels who live to serve the prince of darkness and they are malignant. There is a warning here in this great struggle between the forces of light and darkness in the cosmic, in the heavenly places. In this great struggle, we are not simply observers or spectators. We are not simply victims.
God wants us to know, and in the Bible it is clearly revealed, we have a role to play. We have a part to play in all of this. We are not simply victims in this cosmic struggle. That is why Paul wrote to Christians in Ephesus and Paul said, “Be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against all the wiles of the devil. For we do not contend against flesh and blood, but against the powers, against the principalities, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies. Therefore, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand therefore having girded your loins with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace. Besides all this, taking the shield of faith, with which you are able to quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, and pray at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To this end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me.”
You’re not just victims. You have a role to play. You’ve been called to put on the whole armor of God and you’ve been called to take the offense. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and pray. Pray with prayer and supplication with perseverance. I tell you, and I know this is a great mystery, but I believe it is true. It’s only as we pray as God’s people, we learn to pray, that God fully unleashes the power of the holy angelic realm in the protection of His churches and the protection of His people. He wants to teach us to pray.
As we close this service, I want to make a couple of additional comments. I hope you understand that there is one mediator between God and man and that one mediator is Jesus Christ. In the first and second centuries, some Christian men and women made a mistake. They began to view angels as mediators. They began to pray to angels thinking that, you know, if they made their requests known to the right angels, those angels would tug on the robes of God and their requests would be answered in the affirmative.
Of course, today I think few Christians pray to angels, but I think we have a similar problem today and perhaps particularly with Christians in the Roman Catholic heritage. I’m not here to knock Roman Catholicism. I know there’s many wonderful Christians in the Roman Catholic Church, but you see by some Christians there is a tendency to pray to the saints, to view the saints as mediators, just as the first and second century Christians viewed angels as mediators. So some Christians today pray to the saints thinking that if they pray to the right saint, that saint will tug on the robe of God and they’ll get their will done.
There is a book that has just been published called Saints and Angels and the book attempts to delineate the specific responsibilities of heavenly saints and angels in order that you might know who to pray to. Avoid that, it is garbage. There is one mediator between God and man. Pray to the Father in the name of the Son, focus on Christ and let Jesus be your Lord. Don’t get overly caught up, overly fascinated with the subject of angels.
You know, Time Magazine makes I think a wonderful statement with regard to this whole subject of angels. Time Magazine points out that angelology is a poor substitute, Time Magazine says, for true spirituality. It’s an interesting statement here. In their modern incarnation, these angels, these mighty messengers and fearless soldiers have been reduced to bite-sized beings, easily digested. The terrifying cherubim have become Kewpie doll cherubs. For those who choke too easily on God and His rules, angels are the handy compromise, all fluff and meringue, kind, non-judgmental, and they are available to everyone like aspirin.
You see, in the new age movement, that’s what they’ve done with angels. They’ve become a kind of substitute for true spirituality. We live in a world where not many people want to embrace the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The truth is, most people do not want a God who sits on the throne. Most people do not want to submit to the authority of God. Yet most people want to feel spiritual. They want to feel spiritual and they want to have some touch with the supernatural. So many have kind of today gotten into angelolatry as a substitute for true spirituality. Don’t let this be true of you.
There’s this warning given: don’t be overly fascinated with angels because sometimes that’s just a doorway into occultism. Satan himself can disguise himself as an angel of light. Focus on Christ and your walk with Christ. But we do have this teaching in scripture as to what angels are. They do exist, they are spiritual beings created by God to do the will of God throughout the cosmos. Some angels are fallen. Satan has servants too.
What do they do? The angels of God are messengers. They are guardians, they are encouragers. They sometimes implement justice. They are involved in a great struggle. We are not simply victims in that struggle, but we have a role to play. As Christians, we’ve been called to be people of prayer, people of the Word, people of the book. Let’s close with a word of prayer.