About God

Angels

The Angels

The Bible tells us of an order of beings that are subordinate to the Creator and yet of a higher nature than ourselves. The Lord Jesus was made " a little lower than the angels" and for the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honour. We find that from Genesis to Revelation reference is continually made to the existence and work of the angels.

These angelic beings do the will of God and execute His commandments perfectly. They were his agents in the work of creation. God asks Job "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?... When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy" at the work of creation. (Job 38:4)

Ever since creation the angels have directed affairs, unseen - or at least unrecognised - for the most part, yet active in pursuing the Divine purpose. The Book of Daniel draws aside the veil with regard to their activities, and we see their control of events related to the Kingdom of Persia. (Dan 10:19-21). This aspect of their work is summed up in the words of the apostle: "the world to come hath He not put in subjection to the angels". The present order then is subject to them.

Their other main role revealed to us is their work on behalf of those individuals who are the subject of God's favour; in the words of the Psalmist "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them" (Ps 34:7). The NT counterpart of that expression is in Hebrews 1:14 where Paul says, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"

Angel - Meaning

That in outline is the role undertaken by the angels but we would like to look a little more closely starting with the original Hebrew and Greek words. The Hebrew is mal-ahch and the Greek angelos The word simply means, in both Hebrew and Greek, "messenger".

Angel - Usage

Therefore in some passages we find it used of human messengers. The judges, Jephthah and Gideon send messengers, as do the kings Saul, David, Amaziah, and Ahaz. See eg Jud 7:24,11:12; I Sam 16:19,25:14;II Kings 14:8,16:7. God's prophets are also called his messengers, of whom it is recorded that Israel mocked the messengers of God and despised his words, while Malachi, the last prophet of the OT, simply means my messenger. In his prophecy he refers to the priest as being the messenger of the Lord of Hosts. (Mal 2:7) However in addition to these human messengers we have recorded the appearance of others clearly distinguished by their acts of power as superior beings from heaven itself. These are generally distinguished as angels of the Lord.

In the NT, although the word angelos simply means a messenger, derived from angello, to deliver a message, it generally refers to this superior order of created beings.

Salient references to the appearance of angels recorded in scripture are:

Gen 16	Angel appears to Hagar - Prophecy and promises respecting Ishmael
Gen 16	Angel appears to Hagar - Prophecy and promises respecting Ishmael
Gen 18/19	Angels sent to foretell birth of Isaac, save Lot and destroy Sodom
Gen 21	Angel again appears to Hagar
Gen 22	Angel calls to Abraham from heaven
Gen 27	Jacob's vision of a stairway to heaven with angels ascending/descending upon it
Gen 32	Angels meet Jacob at Mahanaim, Angel wrestles with Jacob (Hos 12:4)
Exo 3	Angel appears to Moses in burning bush
Exo 14	Angel accompanies Israel from Egypt, Ex 23:20-23 "My Name is in him", Num 20:16
Num 22	Angel opposes Balaam
Judg 6	Angel sent to Gideon
Judg 13	Angel sent to parents of Samson
II Sam 24	Angel sent against Israel to bring pestilence and destruction
Kings	Angels minister to Elijah and Elisha
Kings	Angels minister to Elijah and Elisha
Dan 6	Angel sent to preserve Daniel from lions
Dan 8-12	Gabriel sent to Daniel
Zech	Angel communicates visions
Mt/Luke	Appearances to Zechariah, father of John the Baptist to Mary the mother of Jesus and to Joseph in a dream
Luke 2	Angel appears to shepherds, with great multitude of the heavenly host
Luke 22	Angel strengthens Jesus in Gethsemane
Mt/Luke	Angels at tomb at resurrection
Acts 1	Angels at ascension
Acts 5	Angels releases Peter and John from prison
Acts 10	Angel sent to Cornelius
Acts 12	Angel releases Peter from prison
Acts 27	Angel reassures Paul before shipwreck

From the references we see that over the course of the centuries their appearance to man has been very restricted, occurring at times of crisis or great importance in the furtherance of God's plan.

It is clear that they are very numerous, a reference in Daniel refers to thousands of thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, Jesus declared that he could instantly summon 12 legions of angels - ie 72,000, and as we have already seen a multitude appeared to shepherds at the birth of Jesus.

The world will in the future bear witness to these glorious beings at the return of Christ Jesus prophesied "He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Mt 24:31) They will witness the judgement of the believers for the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him (Mt 25:31).

Now in addition to their visible work, we may rest assured that these hosts are active, unseen and unsuspected by mortals.

In the second book of Kings, chapter 6, there is an incident in the life of Elisha when he and his servant were surrounded by the Syrian army. It was a great host pitted against the Man of God and his servant. The prospect was terrifying:

II Kings 6:15 - 17

Here is the practical exhibition of the statement in the Psalms that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth him. (Ps 34:7)

Psalm 91 provides the reassurance for those who make God their refuge, a passage pre-eminently applying to the Lord Jesus Christ. "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone". (Ps 91:11,12) A passage in Matthew implies that each true child of God has a guardian angel, Christ instructs "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven (Mt 18:10).

Angels Comprised In The Hebrew Elohim

Now these beings on active service, as it were, are designated messengers, but we also find that they are included in the more comprehensive Hebrew word elohim which is translated 'God'.

In the epistle to the Hebrews we find quotations from the Psalms. In Hebrews 1:6 the apostle quotes "let all the angels of God worship him".The most likely source of this quotation is Psalm 97, which alludes in verse 5, to the Lord of the whole earth. The context is of the Lord reigning and fits in well with the theme of Hebrews of a new world to come. When the son of God is brought into the world, again, that is a second time, he will be accompanied by the mighty angels. Now in the Psalm, verse 7 we read "Worship him all ye gods". The Hebrew word for gods is elohim.

In the Hebrews the apostle is showing the superiority of the Son of God over the angels and for a further conclusive reference we look at chapter 2 where the apostle quotes from Psalm 8. He says, verse 7

"Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour" (Heb 2:7)

The inspired comment follows, verse 9,

"But we see Jesus Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." (Heb 2:9) Now if we look back at Psalm 8, we read these words in verse 5, for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. When we check what the Hebrew word is, we find it is elohim.

So on the authority of scripture we find that the word elohim can certainly include the angels.

The word is plural and its literal meaning mighty ones. In translation it is unfortunate that the meaning of the different names and titles used for God has been obscured.

Lord and God as employed in the English versions do not always signify the great Increate but sometimes, in fact almost generally, those glorious beings who act and speak in his name and with his authority. Elohim, besides being translated, judges, and gods, is most frequently translated God.

Now we said that the angels were active in creation, and so when we read in Genesis 1:26 that God said, Let us make man in our image, we see that the great and only Potentate, was acting through his instruments, and man was made in the image of the elohim, God's mighty ones. When we read that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, clearly the angels were active. The Psalmist describes the work of the angels in Ps 103:20,21

Thus we find in Job their delight in creation. God says that when he laid the foundation of the earth, the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.