TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
THE DOCTRINE OF ANGELS
Part 5
March 4, 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).
In last week’s Teen Tree of Life, we learned there are three titles that have been given to angels: Cherubim, Seraphim, and Living Creatures. They are also called Heavenly Hosts. Heavenly Hosts are the rank and file angels, which includes all guardian angels. Rank and file means the ordinary ones. The Heavenly Hosts are mentioned in LUKE 2:13-14: At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises: Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him. (The Message Bible) PS 91:11 describes the guardian angels: For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.
The function of the angelic armies (or Heavenly Hosts) described in PS 148:2 is to praise the Lord: Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! They are also seen as the “river of fire battalions” in DAN 7:10: “A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.”
Now, let’s look at HEB 1:14 (The Message Bible): Isn’t it obvious that all angels are sent to help out with those lined up to receive salvation? The ministering spirits mentioned in this verse are also rank and file angels.
In the Old Testament, the angels are sometimes called “Sons of God,” while men are called “Servants of God.” GEN 6:-4 (The Message Bible) says this: 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. In Job 1:6; 2:1, we see angels being called “Sons of God” as well: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
In the New Testament, angels and man are joined together in that both are called servants and sons of God: For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (ROM 8:14) And this appears in GAL 3:26: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. This may be because in the Old Testament, men are seen as related to this world over which angels are superior; while in the New Testament, believers are seen as related to their final exaltation into the likeness of Christ, compared to which the angels are inferior. This is covered in 1 COR 6:1-4 (The Message Bible) puts it really well: And how dare you take each other to court! When you think you have been wronged, does it make any sense to go before a court that knows nothing of God’s ways instead of a family of Christians? The day is coming when the world is going to stand before a jury made up of followers of Jesus. If someday you are going to rule on the world’s fate, wouldn’t it be a good idea to practice on some of these smaller cases? Why, we’re even going to judge angels! So why not these everyday affairs? As these disagreements and wrongs surface, why would you ever entrust them to the judgment of people you don’t trust in any other way? What you can take away from this is what’s important is not the relation to the inhabitants of the earth, but rather the service to God, the service of worship.
Angels are not mentioned in the Bible until GEN 16:7: Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. They are mentioned next in GEN 19:1: Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. Angels are mentioned next in GEN 21:17 where one comforts Hagar: God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
And of course, angels are prominent during the time of Christ. They are mentioned the most in the GOSPELS, REVELATION, ZECHARIAH, and HEBREWS. Angels are not prominent during the Church-Age. The Church-Age is the age in which we live. Angels may not be prominent now because of the Ministry of God the Holy Spirit indwelling every believer which occurs during this dispensation only. In the Church-Age, there is a more permanent, vital, exalting and perfect Ministry than the angels could render because it belongs to Our Beloved Holy Spirit. But at the end of this age, angels are prominent once again in the calling home of the believers at the Resurrection of the Church (The Rapture) and on into the Tribulation and Millennium.
1Thes 4:16 tells us about the Rapture: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. As you can see, an angel plays a prominent role. The Rapture is also mentioned by Jesus: “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” (MAT 24:29-31)
Now let’s look at the various acts of angels. Angels transported a soul at death into another sphere according to LUKE 16:22: Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom… In ACTS 12:7, an angel comes to Peter’s aid: And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.
Angels delivered messages to the saints. In LUKE 1:19, Zacharias is spoken to by an angel when he expresses his disbelief that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son: The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. In LUKE 26-28, Gabriel comes to Mary, the Mother of God: Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Can you imagine what that was like for Mary???
Angels protect God’s people. DAN 6:16-23 tells an amazing story of how Daniel is protected by an angel: Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lions’ den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.” A stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel. Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him. Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions’ den. When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.” Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
{to be continued}