ANGELS

What are Angels?  Are they for real?  Are they a figment of the imagination?  What a great topic to think about.  This subject came about as a result of our morning men’s quest to truly seek out the heart of God.

We plan to be very deliberate in this coming year on discovering what God wants and expects of us as his disciple.  We want to go full range from understanding the Word, and growing in the faith, to the ability to take it out to rub shoulders with the dying masses.  We want to learn how to share our faith with those in our (daily grind) in such a way that they can see God at work in our lives.   We were all in agreement to begin our next study from the book of Matthew, Scott Leuchter set us on a perfect (course) by asking some riveting questions from Matthew 2 and 3 such as:  How does God speak to you?  Does he speak through dreams, men, our conscience, or perhaps even through angels?   Out of chapter 3, in looking at the life of John the Baptist, Scott asked; do we practice what we preach?  How are we preaching and living out God in our lives, and would our friends and family concur with our answers to these questions. 

From our first study, emerged an interesting conversation around the study of angels, thus creating a spark, for the topic of our next study.  Let’s take a deeper look at angels, from the scripture particularly from chapters 3 and 4 of Matthew.   Note the words, voices, prophets, dreams, and demons; can any or all of the above be angels?   Exactly what are angels?  Dr. Paul Eymnann and Dr. john Bechtel put together a study from which much of the content in the following outline was taken. 

Angels are mentioned 108 times in the Old Testament, and 165 times in the New.  So where did they come from?  What do they look like?  Do they have bodies?  These and thousands of other questions could be asked on the subject.  As we attempt to answer a few questions, on this topic, we need to be very careful, to stay right with the scripture, and not reach out to hear say, or revert to stories that are unconfirmed.

Where did Angels come from?  Below you will find notations of scripture that touch on the reality of angels. 

  I.              They are usually described as a range of Spirits (both good and evil) that God created. 

II.            Do they have bodies?  Hebrews 1:14; Luke 24:37-39.

III.         They can take on many appearances.

A.   Ordinary people: Job 1:14; Luke 7:24; & 9:52.

B.   Prophets: Isaiah 42:19; Malachi 3:1

C.    Priests: Malachi 2:7

D.   Church leaders:  Revelation 1:20

E.    Pillars of cloud: Exodus 14:19

F.    Pestilences and plagues: 2^nd Samuel 24:16-17                     

IV.          What do they look like? Col. 1:16; 2^nd Kings 6:17; Genesis 18

A.   Appear as male and female: Zechariah 5:9

B.   Sometimes pictured with wings.  Isaiah 6:2-6; Daniel 9:21; Zechariah 5:9.

V.             How do they compare to humans?

A.   Stronger, but not omnipotent.  Psalms 103:20; 2nd Peter

                         2:9

                   B.  Greater in knowledge, but not omniscient.  2^nd Samuel.  

                   C.   Able to move around, but not omnipresent.  Daniel 9:23 

                          Daniel 10:14.                    

   VI.      Some Angels are elect: 1st Timothy 5:21; Matthew25:31;                                                   

              Mark 8:38; Matthew 12:32               

  VII.     There are bad angels under leadership of Satan (demons,                   

              minions) Matthew 25:41; 2^nd Peter 2:4; Jude 6;          

              Ephesians 6:12                    

VIII.     Job description:                        

A.   Cherubim:  Ezekiel 1

B.   Seraphim:   Isaiah 6

C.    Notable names:  Michael, Daniel 10:13; Jude 9

D.   Gabriel:  Daniel 9:21; Luke 19:26

  IX.     Their tasks:

A.   Worship / Praise:  Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4:5

B.    Reveals: Acts 7:52,53; Daniel and Revelation.

C.    Guides:  Matthew 1 & 2 about the birth of Jesus.

D.   Provides:  Genesis 21:17-20;1^st Kings 19:6; Matthew 4:11

E.    Protects:  Daniel in the lion’s den; 3 friends in the fiery furnace.  Daniel 3:6.

F.    Delivers:  Acts 5 & 12

G.   Strengthens and encourages: Matthew 4:11; Acts 5:19-20; &12:1-17

H.   Answers prayers:  Daniel 9:20-14; 10:10-12;  12:1-17.

I.     Cares for believers at the moment of death: Luke 16:22

             

From this simple outline, a lot can be learned, but we cannot even begin to think we have captured the fullness of what angels really are, and what they do.   We can only look to the words of Daniel for a glimpse of what our true feelings and actions should be.  We see what happened to him in Daniel 10:7-12.  He had no strength.  He turned deathly pale, he felt helpless, and then he heard someone speaking.  He went trembling to his hands and knees.         He then stood up still trembling.  Then He heard the voice of God: “Do not be afraid Daniel.  Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.”

That’s the kind of disciple I long to be, and I pray that we all will set our goals and visions to be men of God, leaders of our Church and family that will take on such a prayer life, that the dreams, the voices, the messengers and angels, will speak back and say that He has come in response to our words.