THE DOCTRINE OF ANGELS
Part 3
February 18, 2018
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
As we continue to look at the Doctrine of Angels, we will note some interesting facts about them. They are intelligent beings who experience emotions. They also intelligently worship God: Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! (PSA 148:2) We also see this in REV 5:11-12: Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
According to MAT 18:10, Angels see the face of God: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones [children], for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
MAT 24:36 teaches us that angels are limited in their knowledge: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” This is an important fact to learn as many people of other faiths (or with no faith at all) think angels have all sorts of power and abilities – even believing they have some of God’s attributes and they DON’T! In fact, angels know their inferiority to the Son of God: having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”? And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.” And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; And they all will become old like a garment, And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” But to which of the angels has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies A footstool for Your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? (HEB 1:4-14)
It is assumed that all angels were created simultaneously. Similarly, it is assumed that their creation was completed at that time and no more were or will be added. This is taught in COL 1:16-17: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Angels are not subject to death the way humans are, nor are they subject to any form of extinction. They do not increase, nor do they decrease in number.
Now let’s look at GEN 6:2-4 (The Message Bible): When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters being born, the sons of God [angels] noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves. Then God said, “I’m not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they’re going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years.” This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones. So, although, the angels had sex with women and had offspring of a mixed race, it appears that they cannot conceive angelic children on amongst themselves.
An important fact is that angels are individuals, yet they are subject to classifications and varying ranks of importance. First, let’s look at Fallen Angels.
There are two categories of fallen angels under the command of Satan. The first includes those who are actively involved in the invisible war surrounding planet earth. The second includes the incapacitated (non-operational) fallen angels imprisoned under the earth. We will first study the non-operational demons. These include two groups of angels who are in prison at this time and will be released in the future.
The angels of GEN 6 (above), who were involved in the angelic attack designed to infiltrate the human race, are now incarcerated underneath the ground in the third compartment of Hades called Tartarus. These are the angels who had children with human women and conceived super-creatures who were half angel and half human (see GEN 6:4 above)
The second category of incapacitated angels is the first demon assault army currently incarcerated in the abyss. They are not permitted to come out of the abyss until the middle of the Tribulation period. The abyss holds “criminal” demons who violated the boundaries of the angelic conflict, and is the location of Satan’s second-in-command, called Abaddon in the Hebrew (Apollyon in the Greek), who will play a major role in the Tribulation.
Abaddon is mentioned once in the New Testament and six times in the Old Testament. In REV 9, Abaddon is allowed to leave this prison when Satan is cast out of heaven with the key to the abyss, never to return to heaven again. As we learned, in MAT 8:32, the demons who indwelt the man called “Legion” begged our Lord not to send them to this place called the abyss when He cast them out. The abyss is the fourth compartment of Hades. The angels who have disobeyed the rules for the Angelic Conflict in human history all end up there. It is translated the “bottomless pit” and the “abyss” in the Book of Revelation.
This first demon assault army will invade the earth during the Tribulation period. They are released from their prison to become part of the administration of discipline to cosmic believers and punishment to unbelievers. At that time, the invisible Angelic Conflict will become visible. There will once again be visible heroes among believers, like Moses and Elijah and the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. These events indicate a tremendous change in God’s plan after the Rapture of the Church occurs. When Satan is cast down to the earth, he will be permitted to release his three “hard-core” demon armies, and they will physically attack human beings. These demons will torture members of the human race to the point that they will want to die but will not be permitted to die. The attack will be made over a period of five months against man with only two restrictions. The first restriction is that only those in the cosmic (world) system can be attacked. Believers in the Plan of God are protected by the “wall of fire”. The second restriction is they cannot be killed. See how important it is to be in God’s Plan???!!!
{to be continued}