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God’s Ministering Spirits

What is the role of angels in God’s Master Plan? The world’s churches have universally misunderstood who and what angels are and what they do. But God’s Word reveals the truth about these spirit beings. To many people, the word “angel” conjures up images of winged, harp-playing, halo-endowed, perhaps mischievous beings romping around on clouds. Images and statues of angels (as envisioned in the minds of men) are found almost everywhere—in churches, books, magazines, greeting cards, etc. Angels have also been popular subjects in films, television and music. They are often portrayed as emotional entities having common human frailties. These and other such misconceptions serve to terribly blur the purpose for which God created angels.

Today, there are perhaps as many wrong concepts of angels as there are church denominations. As with most spiritual matters, people generally accept and believe, without question, what they hear preached from the pulpit.

Why? Because most ministers in this world only preach what they know their congregations want to hear. (Notice Ezekiel 13:1-23.) The god of this world, Satan the devil (II Cor. 4:4), has blinded the world to God’s Purpose. This includes the truth about angels, as well as the ultimate role that human beings can have in God’s Plan.

To begin to understand who and what angels are and their role in God’s Plan, notice Hebrews 1:14: “Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

Who are the “heirs of salvation”? Romans 8:16-17 provides the answer: “The [Holy] Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that WE are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that WE may be also glorified together.” Christians are those called by God (John 6:44, 65) to one day “inherit all things” (Rev. 21:7).

So then, angels are spirit beings with greater knowledge and power than human beings (II Pet. 2:11), created for the purpose of assisting those called and begotten by God. (To learn more about what it means to be spiritually begotten, read our free booklet What Does “Born Again” Mean?) The Greek term translated “to minister,” in Hebrews 1:14, is leitourgeo, meaning “to worship, obey, relieve.”

Also notice the apostle Paul’s words in I Corinthians 6:3: “Know you not that we shall judge angels?” When placed together, these verses show that angels serve God’s people now and will also serve and answer to them in the future.

Hebrews 2:1-18 sheds even more light on the relationship between angels and mankind: “For unto the angels has He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that You are mindful of him? Or the son of man, that You visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honour, and did set him over the works of Your hands: You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb 2:5-9).

This article will examine many common misconceptions concerning angels and show the truth from God’s Word.

Begin at the Beginning

To understand the origin of angels and God’s purpose for them, the place to start reading is where their first appearance is mentioned in God’s Word. The Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle; the pieces (“here a little, there a little”—Isaiah 28:10) fit together to form a complete picture. The first time we find angels mentioned in Scripture does not necessarily indicate their first arrival on the scene.

One scripture that provides a key to unlocking the mystery is found in Job 38:1-41. There, we find “the LORD” (the One who later became Jesus Christ) asking Job a series of “Where were you…” questions. This was done to bring Job to an understanding of his “importance” in the overall scheme of things. Notice Job 38:7: “[Where were you] when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

This verse reveals that the ones referred to as “morning stars” and “sons of God” existed prior to the creation of the physical universe. God created angels long before He created the earth. It also shows that, prior to Lucifer’s rebellion, there was unity among the angels.

God is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33), and His word does not return to Him void—empty-handed (Isa. 55:11). Isaiah 45:18 sheds even more light on the subject: “For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He has established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” Also notice that God says that Lucifer, who later rebelled and became Satan, was “perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (Ezek. 28:15). This shows that Satan (originally called Lucifer) was not created a devil. He rebelled, and became Satan the devil. (Notice Isaiah 14:12-15.)

“Sons of God”

As in Job 38:7, other scriptures refer to angels as “sons of God,” who appear before God’s heavenly throne (Job 1:6; 2:1). These verses cannot be talking about mere physical human beings. Notice John 3:13: “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” Angels are called God’s sons because He created them, not because they were begotten of God, as was Christ, “the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

Many read Genesis 6:1-2 and conclude that this scripture is also talking about angels: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.”

According to pagan mythology, men of normal human physical form, but “god-like” in strength and ability (Hercules, Achilles, etc.), were born as a result of angels (“sons of God”) marrying human women. Of course, this is false—these could not have been angels, because Mark 12:25 plainly says angels do not marry!

In verse two, “God” should be god (small “g”). These were not angels, nor even God’s people (who, as Christians, are begotten sons of God).

Rather, these were sons of this world’s god (II Cor. 4:4). It is important to note that they were not his sons through any kind of physical lineage, but by virtue of their obedience to him (see John 8:44). History shows that an apostasy occurred at this time, led by Methuselah and Lamech, Noah’s grandfather and father. Only Noah held fast to God’s Way.

How Many Angels?

After creating the earth, God put Lucifer, one of three archangels, in charge of caring for and tending it. Lucifer was, as God puts it, “…the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty…perfect in [his] ways from the day [he was] created…” (Ezek. 28:12, 15, New King James Version). Eze 28:15 continues, “…Till iniquity was found in [him].” Lucifer went bad. He sinned—rebelled against God and His government. During this insurrection, he drew away with him one third of all the other angels (Isa. 14:1-32, Jude 6, Rev. 12:4). After this rebellion, God changed Lucifer’s name to Satan—meaning “destroyer or adversary.” All of the fallen angels then became known as demons. Since the creation of man, Satan and his demons have sought to destroy human beings and to thwart God’s plan of reproducing Himself.

Before going any further, let’s do some math. No one knows for sure how many angels were actually created. The Bible is not absolutely clear on this. However, Revelation 5:11 states, “…ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands [plural] of thousands [plural].” The Adam Clarke Commentary says, “Myriads of myriads and chiliads of chiliads;” means “…an infinite or innumerable multitude.” Then Clarke references a similar saying in the book of Daniel.

In Barnes’ Notes, Albert Barnes says of Daniel 7:10, “The mind is stuck to the fact that there are thousands present—and then the number seems as great as if those thousands were multiplied a thousand times. The idea is that there was an immense—a countless number” (“Daniel,” vol. 2, p. 60).

Now let’s multiply this equation from Revelation and see how immense this number could be:

10,000

x 10,000

100,000,000

countless millions* (*“thousands of thousands”)

At least hundreds of millions! Can you grasp this? And this is just the number of faithful angels! (Remember, Revelation 12:4 states that one third of the angels rebelled.) Now, if over one hundred million is two-thirds of the total number of angels, then that would bring the grand total, of good and bad angels, to over one hundred and fifty million, at the most conservative estimate. (This is by no means established doctrine, only an estimate to give a general idea of the numbers involved.)



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