I Believe In Angels

I BELIEVE IN ANGELS

There are many people who will tell you they believe in angels, and even the singing group Abba sang those very words, and titled their song thusly. But what do we know about angels? How do we understand what they're all about? Well, of course, we can go to the bible and see what the word of God has to say about them.

The word 'angel' appears 201 times in the bible, the first in Gen. 16:7-11, where it is recorded of an angel of the Lord visiting the earth. In this instance, the angel was sent to give Hagar instruction and peace of mind. The angel's words gave direction and hope, and even told her what name to give her child, born Ishmael. An angel spoke to her one more time in Gen. 21:17 to again give her hope, instruction, and peace of mind. She had the promise of a great nation made of her son!

Isn't it something that the first appearance of angels should be to take daughters of men as wives? (Gen. 6:2) Another occurrence of angels is in Gen. 18:1-33, where it is written the Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, where three men stood before him. Abraham gave them food and the typical courtesies, and as they ate, he knew they were not just a vision. The Lord did all the talking of the three of them, but the two with Him are believed to be angels. In Gen. 19:1 - 22, these same two angels visit Lot, who presses hard on them to enter the protection of his house, where they again eat, but before they can even lie down, the city's wicked men want to be carnal with them. The angels blinded them, and explained to Lot their mission to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his wife and daughters were led out of the city by the same angels, and then God utterly destroyed the cities. So here we have more involvement with mankind where they interacted eating food given of men and struck men of evil blind!

One of the jobs of angels is to minister; " But to which of the angels said He at any time, 'Sit on My right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?' Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb. 1:13 - 14)

Did you know that we who believe in Jesus shall judge angels? "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:3)

Angels would interact with man throughout the Old Testament and into the New. Gen. 22:11, 15 - 16 has an angel halting Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac to God and informing him of another blessing from the Lord; multiplying his seed as the stars of heaven! Angels were in the dream of Jacob in Gen. 28:12, going between heaven and earth up and down a ladder, and meeting Jacob on his way to Esau in Gen. 32:1 - 2. In the New Testament, they are referred to in Matt. 4:6 - 7, 11 by the devil himself when he was tempting Christ, saying that the angels would bear Him up, lest at any time He dash His foot against a stone; and it is written they came and ministered to Him after the temptation. They are further spoken of in Matt. 13:39 - 42 as Christ's reapers that shall "...gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity..." by Christ Himself. Also in John 20:12 - 13, two spoke to Mary at the sepulchre of Jesus. Beyond the Gospel, they are referred to by Stephen in Acts 7:53, by Paul in Rom. 8:38, and in 1 Cor. 4:9, 6:3, 11:10, 13:1, Gal. 3:19, Col. 2:18, 2 Thess. 1:7, 1 Tim. 3:16, 5:21, Heb. 1:4 - 7, 13, 2:2, 5, 7, 9, 16, 12:22, 13:2. 1 Pet. 1:12, 3:22 has also Peter speaking of angels looking into God's work, and being subject under the authority of Jesus Christ. Peter further refers to the evil ones in 2 Pet. 2:4, 11 being cast into hell for their sins, and the holy ones not bringing railing accusations against false teachers. Jude, too, made reference to angels in Jude 6, those who also went to hell and await their judgment day. Finally, angels are referred to a number of times in the Revelation of the apostle John in Rev. 1:20, 2:1,8, 12, 18, 3:1, 5, 7, 14, 5:11, 7:1 - 2, 11, 8:2, 6, 13, 9:14 - 15, 12:7, 9, 14:10, 15:1, 6 - 8, 16:1, 17:1, 21:9 & 12. The angels starting in chapter 7 begin having tasks to perform regarding the Tribulation and wrath of God, interacting with those left on the earth in those fateful days.

Jesus was referred to as an Angel of God in such parts of Scripture as Gen. 31:11 - 13, 48:16. Israel even said of the Angel in the latter verse that He "...redeemed me from all evil"! Other references to the Lord being as an Angel of the Lord appear in Scripture after Gen. 18:1 - 33 in Gen. 3:2 - 4:17, where initially it is written an Angel of the Lord, but later written as God speaking to Moses with instruction; in Exod. 14:19, as the pillar of cloud between the Israelites and the Egyptians; and in Exod. 23:20 - 23, to keep them in the way. The Lord is similarly referred to as "an angel of the Lord" in Judg. 2:1 - 4, where He rebukes the people of Bochim.

Num. 22:22 - 35 has an odd story of an angel of the Lord ready to smite to death Balaam, but he was saved by his ass. because the donkey saw the angel in the way, she impeded Balaam's progress where he wanted to go to the point Balaam hit her three times. The Lord opened the mouth of the donkey so that she had a short dialogue with Balaam, after which the angel of the Lord was made visible to him by the Lord Himself. The angel explains to Balaam his fortune of having the ass keep him from being slain by the angel, and Balaam confessed his sin and expressed repentance that he should get back, but the angel told him to go with the men he was with and to speak only what the angel gave him to say. So here we have an incident of interaction between a man, his donkey, and an angel of the Lord.

Judg. 5:23 has an angel of the Lord cursing bitterly the city of Muroz for its inaction in assisting Israel against the Canaanites. Again in Judg. 6:11 - 23, the angel of God called Gideon to action against the Midianites, amazingly causing fire to consume kid flesh and cakes with the touch of his staff! Still in Judg. 13:3 - 23, another theophany occurred with the announcement of the birth of Samson to a Danite family deemed barren until the angel of the Lord visited Manoah's wife with instructions against alcoholic beverages and unclean food throughout her pregnancy and that he is to be a lifelong nazarite to God. Manoah asks God to send the angel again, and God did so, and the angel restated to Manoah that which was first stated to his wife.

While not an actual angel, king David was referred to as being like an angel in such passages of Scripture as 1 Sam. 29:9, 2 Sam. 14:17, 20, and 19:27. In 2 Sam. 24:10 - 25, however, Gad, David's seer, after David realizes his sin, comes to him with three consequences for his sin. David mentions the greatness of God's mercy, and wisely picks the third choice. An angel of the Lord destroys 70,000 people from Dan to Beer-sheba with pestilence, but the Lord halted the angel at Jerusalem. David speaks to the angel, asking that his hand be against David and his father's house rather than against the people, and Gad comes to David with instructions to build an altar to God in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. David obeys, buying the property and some oxen for 50 shekels of silver. This purchase has become the most contested piece of real estate on the face of the earth, because if you read 2 Sam. 24:16, you will realize that purchase has become...Jerusalem!

An unusual lesson is given concerning angels in 1 Kings 13:1 - 32. Two men of God are mentioned in this passage, one of Beth-el, and one of Judah. The prophet of Judah was obeying the word of the Lord up to the point until he met the prophet of Beth-el. At that point, the prophet of Beth-el lied to the other, and told him an angel of the Lord spoke to him. He said the angel instructed him to bring the prophet of Judah back to his house to eat bread and drink water, and so the prophet of Judah heeded the other prophet, because he said he received such instructions from an angel of the Lord. After eating, the prophet of Beth-el gave the prophet of Judah a prophecy of his death. After leaving, a lion met the prophet on his way, and slew him, but left his carcase uneaten, and his ass stood there, unmolested by the lion, a clear testimony of God's divine judgment against the prophet of Judah. The lesson here was obvious; believe an angel in person, not an angel in the mouth of a man or woman!

In 1 Kings 19:5, 7 an angel twice tells Isaiah to arise and eat. Apparently this angel brought him food and drink. It is the first example of an angel ministering to a human.

There are few angels named in the bible; angels' names, in general, are supposed to be a secret (see Judg. 13:18). The first is Gabriel; his name first appears in Dan. 8:16, then 9:21. His name also appears in Luke 1:19, 26, and the fourth and last time it appears is when he tells Mary about having a son, the Son of God. Another angel, and the only other good one named in the bible, is Michael. His name appears in Dan. 10:13, 21, 12:1, Jude 1:9, and Rev. 12:7. Now there are also named two evil angels, and the first one is Satan. He first is identified by the name Satan in 1 Chron. 21:1; prior to that, he is known as the serpent in Gen. 3:1, who tempted Eve in the garden of Eden. He pops up again in Job 1:6 - 9, 12, 2:1 - 4, 6 - 7, and of course we know what trouble he made for Job. He again appears in Ps. 109:6, Zech. 3:1 - 2, and Matt. 4:10. He is mentioned by Jesus in Matt 12:26 and Mark 8:33, and Jesus turns to Peter and addresses him by the name Satan in Matt. 16:23. His name also appears in Mark 1:13, 3:23, 26, 4:15 in Jesus' parable, Luke 4:8, 10:18, 11:18, 13:16, 22:3, 31, John 13:27, Acts 5:3, 26:18, Rom. 16:20, 1Cor. 5:5, 7:5, 2 Cor. 2:11, 11:14, 12:7, 1 Thess. 2:18, 2 Thess. 2:9, 1 Tim. 1:20, 5:15, Rev. 2:9, 13, 24, 3:9, 12:9, 20:2, and 7. And that's only using his name of Satan. Then there's his name Lucifer; that only appears once in Isa. 14:12; Beelzebub, which means lord of the flies, appears in Matt. 10:25, 12:24, 27, Mark 3:22, Luke 11:15, 18, and 19. Satan appears a number of ways more, such as by the name devil, serpent, dragon, etc., but for you and I it's only more of the same being. One last other angel is named, and he has two different names, actually depending on whether you speak Greek or Hebrew. It is in Rev. 9:11; "And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."

So we see that the bible is saturated with both good and evil angels. For all who believe in the bible, like me, they, too, believe in angels.