Ask The Chaplain

Ask The Chaplain

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

What Does the Bible say about Angels?




God's angels are described as:
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Heb 1:14)

Angels are ministering spirits; this means they are celestial servants of God. While we serve God here on earth, Angels serve God in the spirit realm and serve us in the natural. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane the Angels MINISTERED to Him, they comforted Him. They do the same for us as well. We don’t have to summon Angels, God SENDS THEM! The Bible says the Angel of the Lord encamps around them that FEAR Him! Because we are God’s servants He dispatches Angels for our support and strength.

All of the angels were created by Jesus:
For by him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. (Col 1:16 )

Many false religions teach that Jesus is not God but an angel, this would make Colossians 1:16 a LIE! The Bible clearly states that JESUS created the Angels (See John 1:1) The Lord Jesus created all of the angels. This even includes Michael the archangel, which some cults wrongly think is Jesus! Jehovah’s witnessing teach this falsehood and Mormons teach that Jesus is Lucifer’s brother.
Angels are powerful spirit beings:
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. (2 Th 1:6,7)

Many artists have portrayed angels as cute rosy cheeked infants, but the reality is that Angels are probably very terrifying to look at. Angels wiped out whole armies in the Old Testament, they probably looked more like Conan the barbarian with wings than a cute little baby.

Angels are primarily warriors, they do battle in the spirit realm; Remember Gabriel when he met Daniel? The enemy had held up Daniels answer after 21 days of fasting, and Gabriel needed help in the spirit realm in battle against the King of Tyre, a demonic principality. The Lord dispatched Michael to assist him. If we could see in the spirit realm we would be shocked and amazed at the warfare on our behalf. Demons are constantly after our souls and testimony. Angels are always interceding on our behalf. When King Hezekiah was about to be attacked by enemy forces, The Angel of the Lord (Michael) destroyed the Assyrian army BY HIMSELF!

Yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. (2 Pet 2:11)
Angels do not marry and have baby angels:
At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. (Mat 22:30)
Since angels are created beings there are no baby angels, in spite of all the pictures you might have seen that show otherwise. Artists that draw fat, little, baby angels do this without any Biblical support at all.
God's angels worship Jesus:
False religions are constantly trying to attack the deity of Jesus Christ. One of the first thing that happened after Jesus virgin birth was the Angels WORSHIPPED Him.
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him [Jesus]." (Heb 1:6)
God's angels obey Him:
Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. (Psa. 103:20)
God's angels praise Him:
Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. (Psa. 148:2)
God's angels refuse to receive worship:
Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' “And he added, "These are the true words of God." At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev 19:9,10)
And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!" (Rev. 22:8,9).
Dear reader, it is vitally important that you worship ONLY the true and living God. NEVER would an angel or any servant of God ever direct you to worship an angel, any person or creation itself.
Angels attended Jesus after the devil's temptations:
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Mat 4:11)
Jesus could have been delivered by legions of angels from his cruel death on the cross:
Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? (Mat 26:53)
Angels were present after Jesus rose from the grave:
But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. (John 20:11,12)
Angels can guard the righteous:
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; (Psa. 91:11)
Angels can bring deliverance:
My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king. (Dan 6:22)
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. (Acts 5:19)
God executes His Judgment through angels:
He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility -- a band of destroying angels. (Psa. 78:49)
Angels will be used to find everything that causes sin and all who do evil (the unsaved):
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. (Mat 13:41)
Angels will throw people into the fiery furnace:
This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mat 13:49,50)
When Jesus returns He will come with angels:
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels; and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. (Mat 16:27)
Angels will gather the righteous at the point of the rapture:
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Mat 24:31)
And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. (Mark 13:27)
Upon their death, angels carry the righteous to their home in the afterlife:
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. (Luke 16:22)
Angels observe the servants of God:
For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. (1 Cor 4:9)
Angels will be judged by Christians:
Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! (1 Cor 6:3)
There are only two angels that are specifically given names in the Bible. The angel Gabriel is one and he is always bringing a message:
The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. (Luke 1:19)
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, (Luke 1:26)
(Gabriel is also mentioned in Dan 8:16; 9:21.)
The only other angel named in Scripture is Michael.
The archangel Michael (Jude 9) is a warring angel, but there are other archangels too (Dan. 10:13). Yet in the future, Michael and his angels will fight against Satan [the dragon] and his angels:
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down -- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev 12:7-9)
Children all have personal angels that appear before God:
See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Mat 18:10)
Angels can appear as people undetected:
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. (Heb 13:2)
An angel of God appeared to an unsaved man and accurately told him how to learn about God's salvation:
One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!" Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: (Acts 10:3-5).
This is a key passage, for in it we learn that an angel from God will always promote the message found in the Holy Bible! The unnamed angel in the above passage did this by telling Cornelius how to find Peter, one of the Lord's disciples, who could tell him the truth about salvation. See Acts 10:43. When a "spirit guide" communicates a message, we can unmask the veil by learning what such a spirit being says about the Lord Jesus and the salvation he provided for all of mankind when he shed his precious, cleansing blood on the cross. If such is denied in any way or would promote any unscriptural message or practice, then that spirit being is a demon trying to deceive people. Hence, there exists an incredible need to know the Bible to safeguard against such. The end result of the angelic visitation to Cornelius was Biblical salvation for him and all of his household!
Angels are immortal:
And they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. (Luke 20:36)
One solitary angel of God will seize Satan, the great deceiver, and throw him into the Abyss during the 1,000 year reign of Christ:
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, which is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended (Rev. 20:1-3).
During the Perfect Age, angels will be stationed as guards at the twelve gates entering New Jerusalem:
It had a great, high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. (Rev 21:12)
There are multitudes of angels in heaven in joyful assembly:
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, (Heb 12:22)
Some people in Jesus' day did not believe in the existence of angels like in our day:
The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. (Acts 23:8)
False teachers can be involved in the worship of angels, which is always forbidden:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. (Col 2:18)
It is also important to know that you should NEVER CALL ON AN ANGEL for guidance, deliverance, etc. To do so will open yourself up for spiritual deception. According to the Bible, we should ONLY call on God. We are also to TRUST ONLY IN GOD for deliverance, NOT AN ANGEL. While it is true that God might deliver us with angels it is still God who is our Rock, Fortress, Deliverer, etc. God commands his angels what to do and they obey Him.

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