Angels, Who They Are and What Is Their Role On Earth

Angels

By Scott MeehanDailybibleverse23.blogspot.com

Daily Bible Verse

Questions?

• What are angels?• What are the angels roles on earth?• Is worshipping angels allowed?• Do angels entice people to do evil?• How are the angels involved with Jesus?• Who is the Angel of the Lord?

What Are They, Revelation 5:11

• Revelation 5:11, “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.”


God created spiritual beings, called angels, to help carry out His work and His will on earth. The Greek word for “thousands” is myriads, however, in this instance the number is simply meant to stress the amount of how many there are. While the Bible is not clear on exactly how many angels there are, what is clear is that they are “innumerable,” as is written in Hebrews 12:22, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.” Also, innumerable does not mean that there is an infinite amount, as we have seen in Revelation 12:4, “His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”

What Are They, Revelation 5:11Angels bring messages, such as in Luke 1:26-28, “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’” The protect God’s people, such as in Daniel 6:22, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.” They give guidance, such as in Exodus 14:19, “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.” They bring punishment, such as in 2 Samuel 24:16, “And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, ‘It is enough; now restrain your hand.’ And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” They patrol the earth (see Ezekiel 1:9-14). Finally, they fight the forces of evil, such as in 2 Kings 6:16-18, “So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.’ And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.”


Revelations 12:7 tells us that there are both good and bad angels: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought.” However, since evil angels have chosen to side with Satan, they have considerably less authority and power than those who chose to praise and worship God. One day, the main purpose of angels will be to continually offer praise to God, as is written in Revelation 19:1-3, “After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.’ Again they said, ‘Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!’”

What Is Their Role, Hebrews 1:14

Hebrews 1:14, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”

What Is Their Role, Hebrews 1:14God’s messengers are called angels, spiritual beings created by God and under His authority, as written in Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” The primary reason why God created the angels is so that they could serve to implement His purpose in creating and redeeming men and women in His image. Angels’ most important role in the lives of believers is to serve as ministering spirits, as written in Psalm 91:11-12, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Also, as told in this verse, “minister for those who will inherit salvation.” In fact, one day we will be put above the angels, as written in 1 Corinthians 6:3, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?”

What Is Their Role, Hebrews 1:14

Angels possess great wisdom, as written in 2 Samuel 14:20, “To bring about this change of affairs your servant Joab has done this thing; but my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that is in the earth.” They possess great strength, as written in Psalm 103:20, “Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.” They possess great speed, as written in Daniel 9:21, “Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.” They possess great numbers, as written in Hebrews 12:22, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.”

What Is Their Role, Hebrews 1:14They accomplish their ministry through instruction, as written in Acts 10:3-6, “About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming and saying to him, ‘Cornelius!’ And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, ‘What is it, lord?’ So he said to him, ‘Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.’” They accomplish their ministry through deliverance, as written in Psalm 91:11, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” They accomplish their ministry through comfort, as written in Luke 22:43, “Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” Lastly, they accomplish their ministry through reception at death, as written in Luke 16:22, “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.” Aside from their ministering duties they also protect the helpless, as written in Matthew 18:10, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” They also proclaim God’s message (see Revelation 14:6-12), and they execute God’s judgment, as written in Revelation 20:1-3, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.”

What They Are And Their Role, Summary

Here is a quick summary of what angels are and the role they play in our lives:

• Possess great wisdom.• Possess great strength.• Possess great speed.• Possess great numbers.• Serve to implement His purpose in creating and redeeming men and women in His image.• Serve as ministering spirits.• Accomplish their ministry through instruction.• Accomplish their ministry through deliverance.• Accomplish their ministry through comfort.• Accomplish their ministry through reception at death. • Protect the helpless.• Proclaim God’s message.• Execute God’s judgment.

They Should Not Be Worshipped, Revelation 22:8-9

Revelation 22:8-9, “Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’”

They Should Not Be Worshipped, Revelation 22:8-9

When John writes the words “heard” and “saw,” he is authenticating that the words were spoken by the Lord. He then makes the mistake of worshipping the messenger instead of worshipping the One from whom the message was sent. The first of the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God states, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). In Matthew 22:37, Jesus also explains that the greatest of God’s commands is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Here at the end of the Bible the angel instructs John to only “worship God,” and that God is the only one worthy of our worship and adoration. As Christians we cannot allow anything to distract us from worshipping only God, and giving our devotion to someone or something else, instead of to Him.

Entice People To Do Evil, 1 Kings 22:20-22

1 Kings 22:20-22, “And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’”


The question posed towards these verse is does God allow angels to persuade people into doing evil? Let’s first look at the context of these verses. King Ahab is asking his 400 prophets whether to go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or to refrain. All the prophets tell him to fight, while the prophet Micaiah tells him that God has sent a spirit to persuade the 400 prophets into lying to the king so that he may fall in battle. These verses are what the prophet Micaiah tells directly to Ahab, and that they are the words of the Lord. For that, the king has Micaiah locked in prison, and the king goes to fight, and does wind up dying. When Ahab dies, it is not because of God’s angelic deception toward him, it is his own foolishness that does him in as the Lord revealed everything to him, but yet he still did not listen.


In order to understand evil you have to understand how God is associated with evil. Let’s list six relationships betweenGod and evil:

• In Psalm 11:7 it is written that God Himself is good, “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.”

• In Romans 5:12 it is written that God created a good world that fell because of Adam’s sin, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

• In Revelation 21:1 it is written that God will one day recreate the world and it will be good again, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.”

• In Matthew 13:41-43 it is written that God is stronger than evil, “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

• From number 4 we can therefore come to the conclusion that God allows evil, and thus has control over it. In Matthew 11:28-30 it is written that He offers help to those who wish to overcome such evil, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

• Finally, in Romans 8:28 it is written that God uses both good and evil for His purposes, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Another verse to look at is Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”


It is very possible that the lying spirit that was sent to the 400 prophets was a demon or even Satan himself, as is written in 1 Corinthians 5:5, “Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” These verses are similar to the situation when Satan went before God and asked Him permission to afflict Job. In this we are also assured that Satan and his evil spirits can only pursue their evil goals to the extent that God allows them to do so. Regardless of the identity of the spirit sent by God, what is clear is that God nor His angels were responsible for the evil in King Ahab’s life, or in this particular situation. God does not ever change, therefore, He and His angels can never be responsible for the evil that occurs in our lives.

Entice People To Do Evil, Summary

In summary, God hates all evil and will one day rid the world of it completely and forever (see Revelation 20:10-15). God does not entice anyone to become evil, but He does use those who commit evil to sin even more in order to hurry their deserved judgment, as written in Exodus 11:10, “So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his hand.” One of the ways God brings this judgment on people is to give them over to their persistent sins, as is written in Romans 1:24, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” We are not meant to understand how and why God works the way He does in our lives and in the lives of those around us, but we can still rest easy in the knowledge of His absolute power over evil, and His total goodness towards us.

Relationship With Jesus, Matthew 4:11

Matthew 4:11, “Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”


• The main question to ask with this verse is what kind of role did the angels play during Jesus’ time on earth? Let’s begin with the context of this verse. The devil had been tempting Jesus continually in the wilderness for 40 days and could not get Him to sin. After those 40 days passed the devil gave up and left, and angels came down from heaven to minister to Christ. It is interesting to note that the Greek word translated minister implies that the angels fed Him.


This is not the first instance, however, that the angels were involved in Jesus’ life. Let’s look at sixdifferent places, in just the early parts of the New Testament alone, where angels were involved inChrist’s life:

• Announcing Jesus’ birth to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:31).

• Reassuring Joseph, “But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit’” (Matthew 1:20).

• Naming Jesus “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

• Announcing Jesus’ birth to shepherds, “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger’” (Luke 2:9-12).

• Protecting Jesus by sending His family to Egypt, “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him’” (Matthew 2:13).

• Ministering to Jesus in Gethsemane (Matthew 4:11).


I have given you six instances of the angel’s involvements early in Jesus’ life, but they were active in His life all the way until His death and resurrection: Matthew 28:5-6, “But the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.’” Just pertaining to Matthew 4:11 though, Jesus fulfilled Psalm 91:11-12, the verses Satan tried to twist against Him in the wilderness, which enabled the angels to come down and minister to Him:– Psalm 91:11-12, “For He shall give His angels charge over

you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

Angel Of The Lord, Genesis 16:7

Genesis 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.”

Angel Of The Lord, Genesis 16:7There are actually several records in the Old Testament of appearances made by the Angel of theLord:

• Genesis 22:11, “But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’So he said, ‘Here I am.’”

• Genesis 31:11, “Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’”

• Exodus 3:2, “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.”

• Exodus 14:19, “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.”

• Judges 2:1, “Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: ‘I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, “I will never break My covenant with you.”’”

• Judges 6:11, “Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.”

• Judges 13:3, “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.’”

Angel Of The Lord, Genesis 16:7

The phrase, Angel of the Lord, strongly suggests a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. This is confirmed a few verses later in Genesis 16:13, “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’” In this way it seems that the phrase, Angel of the Lord, refers to Christ Himself in a theophany, or a physical manifestation of God. It is also interesting to note that this phrase does not appear after the birth of Christ, adding further testimony that it is indeed Christ that is referred to as the Angel of the Lord throughout the Old Testament.

Angels, Who They Are and What Is Their Role On Earth

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