A Divine Revelation of Angels (3 page)

We are never to pray to angels or to call on angels for guidance or deliverance. We are to pray only to the Lord Himself. Praying to an angel may open you up to spiritual deception, especially if you are a new Christian or are not walking close to God. You won’t be able to spiritually discern the true nature of an encounter with an angel. When you talk to a being that appears or claims to be an angel, you may be talking to a deceiving spirit masquerading as an angel of light. (See 2 Corinthians 11:14.)

However, when you talk to Jesus, you never go wrong. When you ask God to guide or deliver you, He may use an angel to help you. Yet make no mistake—it is God who is delivering you, even though He may do so through His angels.

It is God whom we are to trust, not angels. The Bible doesn’t tell us to love angels; it tells us to love God (Matthew 22:37). All the attention, emphasis, and glory should go to God, not to His servants! God Himself says, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8).

As great as angels are, therefore, we are never to worship them. False teachers will draw you into the worship of angels, which will lead you away from God’s truth and into deception. The Bible warns us about this:

Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to [Christ].(Colossians 2:18–19)

We should respect angels, admire their dedication to God, and appreciate their ministries to God and to us, but we are forbidden to worship them.

One thing I have noticed about real encounters with angels is that God’s holy angels never bring attention to themselves. They usually just do their work quietly, often behind the scenes and unnoticed, and they leave when the work is done. Their lives and actions are always consistent with the character of Christ. They always glorify God, not themselves. Therefore, a true angel of God will not accept worship from a human being. Instead, he will always tell you to worship God. In Revelation 19, the apostle John wrote that when he encountered an angel, he was so awed that he “fell at his feet to worship him” (v. 10). However, the angel told John,

See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.(v. 10)

Again, in Revelation 22, John wrote,

Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”(vv. 8–9)

Angels are fellow servants and co-worshipers of God with human beings. In his vision of heaven, John saw all the angels giving glory, honor, and praise to the One who sits on the throne. (See Revelation 5:13; 7:11–12.) He described heavenly beings praising God and exalting Him with the words, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8). He saw the twenty-four elders fall down in worship and cast their crowns before the throne. (See verses 9–10.) Then he heard their shouts of praise: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created” (v. 11). When the prophet Isaiah described his vision of heaven in chapter 6 of his book, he said that the cherubim angels were crying out in a continual litany of worship, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

The favorite activity of all the angels I have seen in my visions of heaven seems to be the worship of God. Angels worship Him constantly. Without ceasing, they sing God’s praises. They bow down before Him and worship Him. They obey Him, carrying out His commands and doing His will.

Again, we are not to worship any other person or creature, no matter who tries to persuade us to do so. God alone is worthy to be worshiped and praised! However, we should know that He provides us with divine help in the form of angels. God is with us. He will never leave His children alone. Sending His angels to help us is one of the ways He shows us that He is present with us.

Jesus Christ Is Greater than the Angels

Third, some people believe that Jesus Christ is on the same level as angels, or that He is lower than they are. They may have come to that conclusion after reading this Scripture passage:

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.(Hebrews 2:9)

In this passage, the writer of Hebrews is quoting from Psalm 8:4–5, which talks about God’s creating mankind with great worth and dignity:

What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

Jesus came to earth as a man, but He is both fully human and fully God. He voluntarily set aside the splendor—but not the reality—of His deity. The Scriptures say that He,

being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.(Philippians 2:6–8)

Christ became “a little lower than the angels” (became a flesh-and-blood man) for our sakes so that He could achieve our salvation. His glory was then restored to Him. The passage in Philippians continues,

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(Philippians 2:9–11)

We also read in Ephesians,

[God] raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.(Ephesians 1:20–23)

First Peter 3:21–22 says, “Jesus Christ...has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” Christ is forever higher and greater than all angels! The Word of God says in Hebrews that Jesus is “so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Hebrews 1:4). The passage continues,

For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.”...But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”?(vv. 5–8, 13)

Do not let anyone tell you that Jesus is an angel, that He is on the same level as angels, or that He is lower than the angels. Jesus Christ is Lord over all the angels, and all the angels worship Him as God.

Angels Are Distinct from Humans

Fourth, there is a popular idea that human beings become angels after they die. Yet the reality is that angels are completely distinct from people. A human is always a human—whether he or she is on earth or in heaven—and an angel is always an angel. People who belong to Christ immediately go to be with Him when they die. They will receive a glorious, resurrected body when Jesus returns for the church, but they do not become angels.

The apostle Peter said that angels “are greater in power and might” than humans (2 Peter 2:11). Angels were created before mankind, and throughout the Word of God, they are depicted as existing on a level somewhere between God and man.

Billy Graham, in his best-selling book Angels, said this about God’s special agents:

Angels belong to a uniquely different dimension of creation that we, limited to the natural order, can scarcely comprehend....[God] has given angels higher knowledge, power and mobility than we....They are God’s messengers whose chief business is to carry out His orders in the world. He has given them an ambassadorial charge. He has designated and empowered them as holy deputies.

Angels are a higher form of creation than humans in this sense: Right now, they have higher spiritual knowledge, power, and mobility than we do. In addition, God’s holy angels never sin against Him. As long as we are on earth and not yet totally free from “this body of death” (Romans 7:24), which is the way the apostle Paul described our tendency to sin, then we are not as morally good as God’s holy angels. We still sin and go against the will of God at times. Angels always work directly for God and with God, and they don’t sin; therefore, they are “higher” than we are.

When we acknowledge that angels are higher than we are, we are not putting humanity down. King David recognized the dignity and glory of mankind:

You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.(Psalm 8:5–6)

This passage was so beautiful and important to the early Christians that the New Testament writer quoted it in his letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 2:7–8), as I talked about in the previous section.

Notice that mankind is “crowned...with glory and honor.” We were crowned with glory and honor because, first of all, we were created in the image of God. “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). The Bible doesn’t say that angels were created in God’s image—only that we were. That makes us precious to Him. Next, mankind was given dominion over all the works of God’s hands on earth. God honored humanity by entrusting it with the stewardship and development of the entire world.

Also, we are so important to God that He sent His Son to earth to die for us! He didn’t do that for the angels who fell and rebelled against Him. (I will talk more about that shortly.) Hebrews 2:16 says, “For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.” When mankind fell, God provided a way for us to be forgiven and restored to Him. We have been redeemed through the blood of Christ. This gives us a high and exalted position with God:

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?(Romans 8:31–32)

Because Christ redeemed us, we have the righteousness of Jesus Himself! “Christ Jesus...became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Paul wrote of the time after Jesus comes back when Christians will exist in a glorified state:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us....Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.(Romans 8:18, 30)

At that time, we will be higher than the angels, and we will even judge them. The Bible says, “Do you not know that we [believers] shall judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3).

Some of God’s Angels Rebelled against Him

Fifth, as I said earlier, many people think all angels are benevolent. However, we must realize that some of God’s angels rebelled against Him, and that is the reason that they will one day be judged. They will be eternally punished at the end of the age.

If all angels were created holy, as God is holy, then what happened? The Bible indicates that, at some point, Satan—who is also referred to as Lucifer or the devil—rebelled against God and was expelled from heaven. Ezekiel 28 is apparently alluding to Satan before he fell when it talks about one who had been “the anointed cherub who covers [“a guardian cherub” niv]” and who had been “on the holy mountain of God” (v. 14). Satan seems to have been one of a special group of angels known as cherubim, but his heart apparently became corrupted by pride:

You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground....I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you.(Ezekiel 28:12–18)

Notice in this next passage from Isaiah that pride is again mentioned as being Satan’s downfall:

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.(Isaiah 14:12–15)