Angels Lesson 1: The Nature and Origin of Angels

this is a production of world video Bible School to God be the glory you hello and welcome to this special series of lessons on what the Bible teaches about angels produced by world video Bible School my name is Travis elkwood Hermus and I'll be your teacher for this series of lessons the subject of angels has fascinated our society for the past 20 years or so in that time a number of best-selling books movies documentaries have been produced regarding this subject unfortunately much of what has been produced is not sound from a biblical perspective angels have fascinated me as well in 2002 I published a book entitled the hosts of heaven a biblical study of angels to help people understand what the Bible teaches on this subject it is available from Hester publications and it is widely sold in a number of our Brotherhood bookstores and I would encourage you to get a copy of it because there is a lot in the book that we will not be discussing in this series of lessons but we do hope to study enough that you will gain a thorough understanding of what the Bible teaches on this subject and perhaps as well to correct some of the false doctrine and misinformation that is widely propagated in our society during this series of lessons I will be teaching from the New King James Version of the Bible I hope you'll have an open Bible as well as an open mind as we study what the Bible has to say on this subject you know many people are convinced that angels are strictly an Old Testament subject and therefore that we as New Testament Christians really don't need to be very concerned about God's heavenly host the truth of the matter is however that the Bible mentions angels some three hundred times in and in the and the standard copy of the Bible that would be about one mention on average every four pages about half of those 300 references are in the Old Testament but about half of them are in the New Testament and so we as New Testament Christians certainly need to be concerned and to have a greater understanding of what the Bible teaches on this important subject we're going to be asking and answering a number of questions in this initial lesson about angels we'll be studying in Lesson number one the nature and origin of angels and the first question I would like us to consider in this lesson is what do engines look like if I asked you to close your eyes and visualize what an angel looks like what would you see would you perhaps see a beautiful woman in a white gossamer gown beautiful halo adorning her brow with resplendent white wings from her back you might say no brother Travis that's not the image that I have in my mind when I think of an angel when I think of an angel I think of an adorable little cherub a little child or an infant floating on a cloud a cute little pair of wings coming from his back perhaps strumming a harp well if this is your conception of an angel then you're going to be quite surprised by some of the things that we learn from the Bible in this first lesson about what an angel looks like for example did you know that in the Bible angels are always referred to in the masculine gender they are referred to in other words as men with pronouns like he and him now that surprises many people because after all in our culture angel is a woman's name is it not but the truth of the matter is that in the Bible the only two angels that are named Michael the Archangel and Gabriel have of course masculine names and always appear in the form of men in the Bible angels never appear as women and God's cherubs are never childlike we also learn from the Bible that angels don't have halos the closest we come to the stereotypical golden circle of light the halo traditionally associated with angels is in Revelation chapter 10 verse 1 where the Apostle John in one of the visions he sees notes a gigantic angel that has a rainbow at his head the halo is not associated with angels until we come to the early medieval period when artists began to paint angels with halos but we never see that in the Bible another interesting fact in the Bible angels only have wings when they are pictured in a vision or when they are pictured in artwork for example consider the Seraphim that the prophet Isaiah saw in his vision of the throne of God in Isaiah chapter 6 there he saw angels called Seraphim flying above the throne of God they had three pairs of wings but that is in a vision we might also think of the Ark of the Covenant that is described in the book of Exodus chapter 25 the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant had a pair of winged cherubs but again this is an artwork when angels appear his store in a historical text to people and interact with them they almost always appear as young men in shining white garments consider for example the very first time they so appeared along with God himself to Abraham on the plains of Mamre in the book of Genesis chapter 18 verses 1 & 2 Moses recorded then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of memory as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day so he lifted his eyes and looked and behold three men were standing by him and when he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground the context 2 goes on to reveal that one of these three men was in fact Jehovah God Himself appearing to Abraham in human form he sent the other two men after conversing for a while with Abraham down to the wicked city of Sodom where Abraham's nephew lot lived in chapter 19 verse 1 regarding these two men listen to what the Bible says in Genesis 19 verse 1 now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom when lot saw them he rose to meet them and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground so in Genesis chapter 19 verses 18 verses 1 & 2 we see they appeared in the form of men and yet two of these men are identified later as two of God's angels in Luke chapter 24 in verse number 4 at the empty tomb of Christ the angels that appear to the women who discovered the empty tomb are described by Lucas follows and it happened as they were greatly perplexed about this that behold two men stood by them in shining garments now that's typically though not always the way angels appear in the Bible as young men dressed in shining white robes again they never appear as women they never appear as children they do not have halos they do not have wings and moreover they do not they never play harps harps are again associated in popular artwork with angels but in the Bible angels are never said to play harps and despite all we hear about angelic choirs and people with angelic voices angels are said to sing only one time in the Bible and that's in job chapter 38 where God is in essence taking job to school you remember that the patriarch of us had said a number of things about God in his pain and suffering charging the Almighty with being unfair to him and unjust with him in his dealings in order to demonstrate how unqualified and how in fact ignorant job was concerning God and his dealings he began to ask him a series of questions in job chapter 38 beginning in verse 1 the Bible says then the Lord answered job out of the whirlwind and said who is this who darkens counsel by words without College now prepare yourself like a man I will question you and you shall answer me where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth tell me if you have understanding who determined its measurements surely you know or who stretched the line upon it to what were its foundations fastened or who laid its cornerstone now note verse 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy in job chapters 1 and 2 when God calls the Angels into a heavenly audience they are described there as the sons of God and so we learned that is the meaning here in job 38 verse 7 here we are told that the sons of God also figuratively described as the morning stars sang together when God laid the foundations of the earth in the beginning so that is the only passage in the Bible where angels are explicitly said to sing and so the biblical picture of an angel is far different than what we typically see in artwork or on television or that many people think of in their minds I let's think about a second question now concerning the nature and origin of angels namely just what is an angel in both the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament the word translated angel simply means a messenger the context must tell us whether the messenger in question is human or heavenly now typically translators of the Bible trying to help us understand the difference in this regard if a human messenger is indicated by the context then typically the English word messenger will be used to translate the Greek word Angelus on the other hand if a heavenly messenger is indicated then they will use the word angel and so from the context and the word used is often easy to see whether or not a human or a heavenly messenger is under consideration the 4th century church father Augustine once wrote the name angel refers to their office not their nature you asked the name of this nature it is spirit you asked its office it is that of an angel which is a messenger if you were to accept quertermous definition of an angel based on all that the Bible tells us about these heavenly beings then I would define angels as a class of immortal spirit beings neither human or divine who live in heaven and were created by God to do his will now that's a lengthy definition let's see if we can't unpack it a little and see what the Bible has to say regarding each point first of all the Bible teaches us that angels are spirit beings by nature if you have your Bibles with you turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 1 where the inspired writer shows us that Jesus Christ the Son of God is greater than the Angels in Hebrews chapter 1 in verse 7 the Bible says of God and of the Angels he says who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire and then in verse 14 the Bible says are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation now in John 4 verse 24 Jesus reminds us that God is a spirit and so his angelic servants are of the same nature that their creator is they are spirit beings now someone might say well brother Travis that doesn't help me very much what is a spirit being like well spirit beings are different from we mortal flesh and blood beans in two essential ways in the first place spirits are not flesh and blood beans spirits are noncorporeal they are non-physical consider for example that what the Bible says in Luke chapter 24 regarding the resurrected Christ here in Luke 24 we have the inspired historian Luke recording one of Jesus's post-resurrection appearances to his disciples by the sea of galilee beginning in verse number 36 the Bible says now as they said these things Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them peace to you but they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen market please a spirit and he said to them why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have and in order to make the point with them he even ate breakfast with them so what did Jesus say about the nature of a purely spirit being they do not have flesh and bones now we have a spirit a soul within our physical bodies that is made in the image and likeness of God but man is a dual beam we are part physical part spiritual an angel is purely spiritual as is God the Father as is the Holy Spirit and so we see that angels then do not have flesh and bones they are spirits now that is not to say they cannot assume a mortal body if in fact that was the will of God for them and in fact they did so on a number of occasions as for example when the angels as well as God appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre as we read a moment ago in Genesis chapter 18 but normally speaking naturally speaking they are beans in the second place a spirit beam is by nature invisible that is one cannot detect them with the naked eye or even with the telescope or a microscope for that matter consider what is said about angels by the Apostle Paul in this regard in the book of Colossians chapter one and we'll read together in verses 15 and 16 here the Bible says of Christ he is the image of the invisible God notice that the invisible God the firstborn over all creation for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth visible notice it pleased and invisible whether Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him as well study in more detail in a later lesson in this series when Paul here speaks of Thrones and principalities and powers he's talking about different ranks of angels they are among the invisible creation of God why are they invisible because they are spirits and spirits by definition like God Himself who is a spirit are invisible to the naked eye consider a couple of biblical examples along this line you might remember in numbers chapter 22 that God sent an angel to deal with the rebellious Prophet Balaam Balaam at first could not see this angel his donkey was allowed by God to detect the presence of the angel but Balaam was not finally God allowed Balaam to see the angel he opened Balaam XY's but prior to that time the angel was invisible we see a similar scene in 2nd Kings chapter 6 where the king of Syria try her sends his army to arrest the prophet Elijah or Elisha his servant gehazi Penix at the presence of these enemy soldiers but Elisha is quite calm now why well he being a prophet was enabled by God to see what his servant who was not a prophet could not see namely the invisible hosts of heaven who had in fact surrounded the enemy army sent by God to deliver his faithful servant but the servant could not see them the people of Dauphin could not see them the enemy soldiers could not see them why because they are invisible angels are spirit beings in the next place the Bible teaches that angels are immortal now what we mean by that is simply this once created by God angels never die now how do we know that's the case well because Jesus himself said so in the Book of Luke chapter 20 and verse number 36 here Jesus is discussing the resurrection of the Dead and we learned beginning in verse 34 and jesus answered and said to them the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage but those who are counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage nor can they die any more for they are equal to the Angels and our sons of God being sons of the resurrection so those of us who are fortunate enough to attain the resurrection to life eternal jesus said we will be like the angels in what sense that we do we will not die anymore just as they do not die anymore now we would hasten to point out to say that angels are immortal does not mean they are eternal what is the difference an eternal being is one without beginning or ending and who is unaffected by the passage of time God alone is eternal sometimes you will see God depicted as an old man floating on a cloud with a long white beard but the truth of the matter is that God being eternal does not grow old only God is eternal at one time there were no Angels in existence anywhere God brought them into being but once created they do not die they do not experience death and so they are immortal in the fourth place as we consider the nature of angels we need to point out that angels are neither human nor divine again please remember the words of Luke chapter 20 and verse 36 when Jesus said of those human beings those faithful children of God who are resurrected to life eternal in the last great day he says nor can they die any more for they are equal to the Angels notice we become equal to the Angels but of necessity we see there are two different classes being spoken of on the one hand human beings who attain to the resurrection and are blessed with eternal life and thus they do not die any more being equal to the second group the angels of heaven and so we do not become angels when we die neither do little children become angels when they die now I know that's a very popular idea we see it in a number of popular Hollywood movies like It's a Wonderful Life for example but it's always a bad idea to get our theology from Hollywood we must depend upon the Bible to instruct us along these lines consider for example whether we are what we read in Psalm chapter 8 and verse number five turn with me if you will to that passage of Scripture Psalm chapter 8 and verse number 5 here we read of mankind for you have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor what is God done for mankind he has made us a little lower than the Angels so in the present age if we had to construct sort of a hierarchy we would have of course the Godhead the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit at the top and then we would have the Angels and then beneath the Angels we would have human beings we've been made a little lower than the angel but of course is Jesus taught in Luke 20:36 in the resurrection that inequality will be remedied and we will be equal to the Angels but not so in this present age so human beings are neither our angels rather are neither human nor divine now based on the fact that angels are spirit beings and based on the fact that they are immortal and do not die and based on the fact that they do not reproduce and they are always spoken of in the masculine gender many Bible scholars have concluded that in fact angels are genderless creatures and that they do not reproduce and therefore their numbers always remain static that is angels do not die there are not new angels being born they do not marry they are not given in marriage they are spirit beings and so gender being a product of our physical bodies they are in all likelihood genderless creatures although we were we remind ourselves that whenever they do appear in historical texts to people in the Bible they always took the form of young men and never the form of women or children now let's ask ourselves a third question as we continue to study the nature and origin of angels namely just where did angels come from now we've already alluded to the fact that angels are created by God but let's note what the Bible has to say along that point in the book of psalms chapter 148 beginning in verse number one the psalmist extols the creation that God that God himself has made beginning in verse one the Bible says praise the Lord praise the Lord from the heavens praise Him in the heights praise him all his angels praise him all his hosts praise Him Sun and Moon praise him all you stars of light praise him you heavens of heavens and you waters above the heavens let them praise the name of the Lord now listen carefully for he commanded and they were created so the angels were created by God just as everything else was created by him again you might remember from Colossians chapter 1 in verse 16 where Paul spoke of the creation of God both visible and invisible and we saw how that in fact included angels there was a time when not a single angel walked the golden streets of heaven that leads naturally to this question when were angels created some Bible scholars believe the creation of angels is implied in the use of the word heavens in Genesis 1 verse 1 you remember there the Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth note that the word heavens there is plural some Bible scholars believe that includes not only the heavens the atmosphere that surrounds our planet that it includes not only the cosmos beyond the second heaven but that it also includes the third heaven where God and his angels live and so some conclude from that that the creation of angels is implied in the use of the plural word heavens in Genesis 1 verse 1 however you will recall in job 38 verse 7 we learned there that God himself said that the Angels the sons of God the morning stars sang for joy when they saw the foundation of the earth laid by the Almighty that leads us to conclude that angels were already in existence when God created the heavens in the earth that are mentioned in Genesis 1:1 and that they rejoiced and sang the praises of their creator how long before the creation of Genesis 1:1 did God create the Angels the answer to that question is we simply don't know as far as I am aware there is not a single verse in the Bible that addresses that question it is one of the secret things that belong to God that Moses mentioned in Deuteronomy 29 verse 29 we can be assured that if that was information that was essential to our salvation that God would have told us but the best we can conclude from the Bible is that some time before the creation that is recorded in Genesis chapters 1 & 2 the creation of our material universe that God created the angels how many angels did God create that is a question the Bible does address in a number of different places you might consider with me for example what the psalmist says in Psalm chapter 68 and verse number 17 here we have the psalmist harkening back to the giving of the law of Moses at Mount Sinai to the children of Israel and here the Bible says the chariots of God are 20,000 even thousands of thousands the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place here the angels are referred to as the chariots of God how many are there 20,000 even thousands of thousands more than 20,000 thousands more you remember in Matthew chapter 26 in the Garden of Eden when the overzealous Apostle Peter attacked the servant of the high priest with his sword and cut off his ear in a misguided attempt to defend his Lord Jesus there reminded him that he could have called upon the Heavenly Father who could have placed at his disposal more than twelve legions of angels our song 10,000 angels which is one of my personal favorites is based upon that statement by Jesus in Matthew 26 verse 53 but the truth of the matter is it is a woeful under estimate of the number of angels that were at the Lord's disposal had he so requested of his heavenly father a Roman legion typically numbered anywhere between 3,000 and 6,000 soldiers so Jesus is saying he could have summon anywhere between 36 and 72 thousand soldiers far more are angels rather far more than he would have needed of course to defend him on medication in the book of Revelation chapter 5 there is a fascinating vision of the throne of God in heaven that God shows to the Apostle John in verse number 11 the Bible says John writing then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands well if you do the math on that you're quickly into the millions of angels but the writer of Hebrews summed it up very succinctly in Hebrews chapter 12 beginning in verse 22 the inspired writer reminds us but you have come to Mount Zion into the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels now innumerable does not mean that there is an endless number of angels at God's disposal it simply means like the sand on the seashore or the stars in the sky there are far more than we could ever begin to count God created an innumerable company of angels to be his heavenly messengers and servants one might raise the question in the last place why did God create the angels we're gonna have more to say on this when we discuss the work of angels in a later lesson but we can say this God created the Angels to serve him and to carry out his will now not because God needed them to do so but because he being all-knowing knew that that was the right thing to do consider for example again in the Book of Psalms Psalm chapter 103 and we'll read verses 19 through 21 Psalm chapter 103 and begin reading with me please in verse number 19 the Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all bless the Lord you his angels who excel in strength who do his word heeding the voice of his word bless the Lord all you his hosts you ministers of his who do his pleasure what do we learn here about the purpose for which angels were created by God they were created to serve him to be his ministers to carry out his commands to do his word not because God needed them but because he be knowing and perfect in all that he does knew that was the right thing to do the right thing for you and the right thing for me and for all of his creation well thank you so much for watching this very first lesson on this special series of lessons on what the Bible teaches about angels we hope it has been an enlightening and edifying experience for you and that you'll come back for lesson number two wherein we will study the characteristics of angels thank you you

Channel: World Video Bible School (WVBS)

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Keywords: WVBS, World Video Bible School, Angel, Angels, Bible, Angelic, Truth about Angels, Angel Wings, Guardian Angel, Archangel, Nature Angel, Origin Angels

Id: 4z18SGibdUI

Length: 34min 6sec (2046 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 18 2016