Good Afternoon and Evening to All!I had started my next post on Angels when I began to think about how it seemed that I had "jumped the gun" on it. I started my "series on Angels" with the Ministries of them rather than explaining how they are described in God's Word.
I don't know about the majority of you, but I came up lacking in my understanding of them. Yes, I knew that they were heavenly beings created by God. I also knew that they were spiritual, yet could manifest themselves in human form.
In this post, I will attempt to describe them in a more complete sense, as they are seen in the Word of the Lord.
I won't be able to go into detail about each and every one of the descriptions because there are so many. I will list the descriptions which are given, but will only detail a few.
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. 2 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. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
They are described as being spiritual beings Hebrews 1:13-14and being created Psalms 148:2, 5 and according to Colossians 1:16,
it tells us; For by him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones,
or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by
him, and for him. (KJV)They are immortal Luke 20:36 and holy as it states in Matthew 25:31, When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. It says they are innumerable, or according to Webster's dictionary (to many to count). The Bible tells us they are wise according to 2 Samuel 14:17-20, powerful Psalm 103:20. God describes them as being elect or (chosen) according to 1 Timothy 5:21. He goes on to say they are Respectful of authority, sexless, invisible, obedient, and possessing of emotions. Now I read these with an "uh-huh and ok" attitude until I came to this one about emotions. I always pictured angels as monotone beings because of them being created to nothing but God's bidding. I mean as shameful as I am to say it, more like spiritual "robots". That is until I read this scripture about them having emotions. God's Word actually says In Luke 15:10 The Message: “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”
They are to be judged in the future by Christians: 1 Corinthians 6:3 says: Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
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God's Angels are even concerned in human things: It was then disclosed to them that the services they were rendering were not meant for themselves and their period of time, but for you. [It is these very] things which have now already been made known plainly to you by those who preached the good news (the Gospel) to you by the [same] Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Into these things [the very] angels long to look! (1 Peter 1:12 Amp.Ver.) This means that the angels envy us because of our relationship with God and our Salvation.Genesis 18:2-8 is one passage which speaks to the truth that angels can be incarnate in human form at times. He even tells us that His angels aren't perfect in Job 4:18.
Last but not least, He tells us that His angels are organized in ranks or orders. In Isaiah 6:1-3; 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. (2)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.
(3 ) And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Good Night to All and May God Bless!
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4 comments:
Hi PJ.
Another very interesting post about angels.
But the verse which struck me was Job 4:18 which tells of God "charges his angels with error."
This has got me thinking: If angels in heaven are prone to error, how are they still there in heaven? According to Paul's letter to the Galatians, if we who keep the Law yet stumble at just one point, we then become guilty of breaking the whole Law, which would result in a lost eternity.
The angels who Job were referring to here, it seems to me, are those who chose to follow Lucifer's rebellion - a third of the whole population, a huge percentage indeed, although they still have access to heaven. So it looks to me that like with us, God created angels with a freedom of choice and not as robots.
Also, the idea of a guy like me to be judging angels in the afterlife seems astounding! Would beings such as Michael and Gabriel really submit to one as me?
An excellent post.
Very interesting study, PJ. Angels have always been a favorite subject of mine. There is alot more to angels than what is commonly taught. It just takes time to go through all the references to see all that is said about them.
Also, over the years I have begun to see that the word "angel" means "messenger" and many times the term angel is used to describe the HUMAN messengers that God sends to His people. It is not necessary for the term angel to always describe the spirit beings we commonly think of.
Hope you and your family had a good holiday season. I'm just getting back from my hiatus from the computer and trying to get caught up. I really needed the break.
Lord bless you my friend and keep on keeping on in His service.
Hi Pj,
The confusion stems on the meaning of the word "error".
The Heb word translated error is the word "toholah". It is NEVER translated sin or transgression or any other term that means sin.
The basic idea is a comparison of God's greatness to that of the elect angels. Although the angels are very wise, compared to God's wisdom they are fools. Although God is the greatest being who has ever existed, He also displays a very humble, kind attitude towards those who are beneath Him. Compared to His humility, the angels are not nearly as humble.
If the angels of God cannot claim to be His equal how can sinful man begin to claim He is on the same level with God. That is the ocontext of what is being said in Job 4:17-19. Hope it helps PJ. Lord bless you.
Hi Pj,
The confusion stems on the meaning of the word "error".
The Heb word translated error is the word "toholah". It is NEVER translated sin or transgression or any other term that means sin.
The basic idea is a comparison of God's greatness to that of the elect angels. Although the angels are very wise, compared to God's wisdom they are fools. Although God is the greatest being who has ever existed, He also displays a very humble, kind attitude towards those who are beneath Him. Compared to His humility, the angels are not nearly as humble.
If the angels of God cannot claim to be His equal how can sinful man begin to claim He is on the same level with God. That is the ocontext of what is being said in Job 4:17-19. Hope it helps PJ. Lord bless you.
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