Angelic Conflict part 71: Angelology 101 – Heb 1:14; Mat 18:10; Psa 103:19-21; Gen 3:1-7; 2Co 2:11; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6.
length: 60:48 - taught on May, 7 2013
Class Outline:
Title: Angelic Conflict part 71: Angelology 101 - HEB 1:14; MAT 18:10; PSA 103:19-21; GEN 3:1-7; 2CO 2:11; JOB 1:6-12; 2:1-6.
So far we have looked at practical reasons why we study angels. Elect angels serve believers, praise God, serve God, and are messengers of God and so they give us an example (though we are higher than angels) of what an elect creature does.
When studying fallen angels It is sobering to realize that even angels who were close to God succumbed to temptation and fell. And though we cannot lose our salvation, and we are as close to God as any creature can be, being in union with Christ, it is important to remember that we can fall into a lifestyle of darkness even though we are children of light.
Knowledge about the schemes of the devil and his fallen angel organization serves to alert us to the danger and the subtlety of temptation which can be expected to come from satanic forces, and gives insight into the devil’s ways of working.
And also we gain confidence from the realization that powerful though satan and his accomplices are, there are definite limits upon what they can do. We can, therefore, by the grace of God, resist him successfully. And we can know that his ultimate defeat is certain.
Confidence in our position in Christ further comforts us when satanic opposition and accusation confronts believers, ZEC 3:2.
ZEC 3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
Satan does this all the time. He’s probably already done it to you.
"Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
ZEC 3:2 And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you [Joshua is the spiritual representative of Israel]! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?"
Zechariah had returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile, and brand plucked from the fired means that he had narrowly escaped destruction.
ZEC 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.
ZEC 3:4 And he spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes." [this means Joshua and Israel]
Festal robes is a Hebrew word referring to luxurious apparel and refers not only to cleansing of sin, but also to Israel’s glory.
ZEC 3:5 Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.
ZEC 3:6 And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua saying,
ZEC 3:7 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'If you will walk in My ways, and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here [amongst angels, probably in the Millennial temple].
We do not walk in a way so as to become righteous, rather we reason, in which way we should walk as those who are made righteous by Christ’s propitiation.
Fallen angels illustrate the real nature of sin, and the depth of the ruin to which it may bring the soul, to reflect upon the present moral condition and eternal wretchedness to which these spirits, so highly endowed, have brought themselves by their rebellion against God.
It inspires a salutary fear and hatred of the first subtle approaches of evil from within or from without, to remember that these may be the covert advances of a personal and malignant being, who seeks to overcome our virtue and to involve us in his own apostasy and destruction.
1PE 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
1PE 5:7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.
1PE 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about [restless walking about and insatiable for prey] like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour [with worldly anxieties].
1PE 5:9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
1PE 5:10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
We watch and resist our foe and God will do the rest.
1PE 5:11 To Him be dominion [all rule and authority and not any angel] forever and ever. Amen.
It shuts us up to Christ, as the only Being who is able to deliver us or others from the enemy of all good, ROM 11:32; GAL 3:22.
GAL 3:15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.
GAL 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.
GAL 3:17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
GAL 3:18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
There is no Mosaic Law in the Millennium when the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant will be fulfilled.
So though the Jews didn’t keep it, and satan continually accused them of that before God, that does not invalidate God’s unconditional promises to Israel.
GAL 3:19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made.
GAL 3:20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
GAL 3:21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.
GAL 3:22 But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.
It strengthens our faith in God’s providential care, to know that spirits of so high rank are deputed to minister to creatures who are environed with temptations and are conscious of sin.
HEB 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
HEB 1:2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
HEB 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high;
HEB 1:4 having become as much better than the angels [in His humanity], as He has inherited a more excellent name than they [King of kings and Lord of Lords, the Word of God, and a name only He knows (Rev 19)].
HEB 1:5 For to which of the angels did He ever say,
"Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee"?
And again,
"I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me"?
HEB 1:6 And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says,
" And let all the angels of God worship Him."
HEB 1:7 And of the angels He says,
"Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire."
Angels are servants and messengers, who obey God as the wind and the fire, but the Son is Lord of all - and we are in union with Him.
HEB 1:8 But of the Son He says,
"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
HEB 1:9 "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God [deity of Christ], Thy God, hath anointed Thee With the oil of gladness above Thy companions."
HEB 1:10 And,
"Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Thy hands;
HEB 1:11 They will perish, but Thou remainest; And they all will become old as a garment,
HEB 1:12 And as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; As a garment they will also be changed. But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end."
HEB 1:13 But to which of the angels has He ever said,
"Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies A footstool for Thy feet "?
HEB 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
Yet, have the angels not also inherited salvation? Though the Bible intimates in certain passages that angels have received salvation it seems with a deeper look that they did not and that only man is the recipient of God’s grace for salvation.
HEB 2:5 For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.
HEB 2:6 But one has testified somewhere [PSA 8:4-6], saying,
"What is man, that Thou rememberest him?
Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him?
HEB 2:7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels;
Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor,
And hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands;
HEB 2:8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. "
[pause]For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
It’s important to look at this quotation from its source in order to fully understand this passage:
PSA 8:1 For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth, Who hast displayed Thy splendor above the heavens!
PSA 8:2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes Thou hast established strength, Because of Thine adversaries,To make the enemy and the revengeful cease [reference to satan and fallen angels].
This exact thing occurred to our Lord:
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant,
The Savior was once a suckling child, as this word states, and though orders were given to kill the male children of Bethlehem the adversaries did not succeed.
This also refers to man at his weakest, who through the redemption of Christ, are made stronger than God’s adversaries - God chose the weak ones of the world to shame the wise.
PSA 8:3 When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;
What a contrast to the most ingenious work of man’s fingers.
PSA 8:4 What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? And the son of man [lit: son of Adam - any generations - Christ does not yet have this title, but in this title He does identify Himself with us], that Thou dost care for him?
PSA 8:5 Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God [elohim, plural, here refers to angels], And dost crown him with glory and majesty!
PSA 8:6 Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet,
PSA 8:7 All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field,
PSA 8:8 The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
PSA 8:9 O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth!
Before Christ, anyone reading this Psalm probably wouldn’t connect it with Him, especially since God did give man dominion over the earth.
It would not occur to anyone probably in reading the Psalm that the verse here quoted had any reference to the Messiah. It seems to relate to the dominion which God had given man over his works in this lower world, or to the fact that he was made lord over all things.
GEN 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
GEN 1:27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
GEN 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Originally this control was given to man. It was absolute and entire. All things were subject to him, and all obeyed.
Man was made a little lower than the angels, and was the undisputed lord of this lower world. He was in a state of innocence. But he rebelled, and this dominion had been lost.
And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
The dominion of man was lost to an angel, a fallen angel, the fallen angel, who we can be sure relished his new kingdom.
in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
He relished in his kingdom, and not just that, but the people in it were under his power.
EPH 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
EPH 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Even after being dethroned by Christ at the cross, those remaining in the world, refusing salvation, or believing in Christ but walking in darkness still find themselves subject to him.
The greatest subjection was in what satan promised the woman would not happen, spiritual and subsequently physical death.
Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;
And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die!
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