Angels

Angels

Angels appear throughout the Bible.  In fact, the word “angel” appears in one hundred and ninety-four verses of the Bible; the word “angels” appear in ninety-three verses of the Bible; the word “angel” and the word “angels” combined occur in thirty-four of the sixty-six books of the Bible; the word “angel” appears in ninety-nine verses of the New Testament; and the word “angels” occurs in eighty verses of the New Testament. 

With the statistics aside, what is an “angel” and what characteristics do they possess?  According to the Hebrew word “mal ‘ak” and the Greek word “aggelos,” angels are messengers of God.  “Angels” are a class of created beings which currently possess a higher position than man.[1]  They possess no creative power because only God possesses creative power.  Scripture contains proof that God alone is the creator of all things and not angels.[2]  Psalm 33:6 states, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”  Christ created every visible and invisible creation.[3]  This invisible creation included angels.  Angels are not eternal because God created them, therefore, they had a beginning.  They were created before the earth and are occasionally referred to as “the sons of god.”[4]  The Bible clearly informed us of the attendance of the angels when God laid the foundations of the world.  Job 38:6-7 states, “Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”  God created the angels before the creation of our universe because they rejoiced when God laid the foundations of the universe.  Nevertheless, whenever God created angels, He fashioned them with a free will.

Angels possess free-will.  Some cannot fathom that angels contain a free-will.  “Free will” can be simply defined as “the ability to choose between right and wrong.”  The term “free will” is interchange-able with the term “sovereign will.”  Free-will was the product that allowed angels the ability to choose to follow right or follow wrong, which allowed Lucifer and one-third of the angels to fall.  God never predestined them to fall but they fell because of their own choices.  However, their decision to rebel against God led to their expulsion from the presence of God and He never provided them a means of restoration.

God excluded the angels from ever acquiring any means of redemption when they fell.  As a result of this exclusion, angels desire to enquire into man’s salvation.[5]  God excluded angels from redemption for several reasons.  First of all, they were created perfect.  Angels were originally perfect in every way.  They retained a perfect knowledge of all things, both earthly and heavenly.  Secondly, angels dwelt in the presence of God.  God hid nothing from them.  In this capacity, the angels knew more than Adam and Eve.  Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the evening in the Garden but the angels saw God in all of His majesty and power.  It is for these reasons that God excluded angels from the plan of redemption.  Some may ask, “Is it not unfair to the angels that God gave man the option of redemption but not them?”  The answer resounds no.  God always allows people to make decisions.  But they must obtain the opportunity to make that decision.  Angels cannot procreate, man can.  Therefore, there exists no new angels to our knowledge, unless God created them.  However, people have been born since the time of the Fall of Adam and they deserve the option of choosing right or wrong.  If God damned Adam’s seed based on his sole decision to sin, then God is unjust for sending all those people automatically to hell without them choosing between right and wrong for themselves.  This would also eliminate man’s free-will, which God instilled within man.  People may also ask, “How do we know that no more angels will rebel against God?”  The answer remains simple.  God already judged the devil and his followers, thus the remaining angels already made their decision to dwell with God and no more angels will fall in the future because they have already made their decision to serve God.

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[1]Psalm 8:4-5 “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

[2]Revelation 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

[3]John 1:3 “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

John 1:10 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

Ephesians 3:9 “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:”

Colossians 1:16 “For by him [Christ] 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:”

Hebrews 1:2 “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

[4]Job 38:6-7 “Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

[5]I Peter 1:12 “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”