{"id":18265,"date":"2019-06-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/angelology-002\/"},"modified":"2019-06-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T05:00:00","slug":"angelology-002","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/angelology-002\/","title":{"rendered":"Angelology 002"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[103],"series_event":[499],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18265","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-hebrews","series_event-angelology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Angelology 002","sermon_date":"20190623","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6832,"sermon_slides":6833,"sermon_mp3":6834,"sermon_id":"6231943537516","series_or_event":499,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":103,"chapter_and_verse":"1:14","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nAngelology Lesson 2\n\nColossians 1:16,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6-23-2019\n\nLet\u2019s open in a word of prayer.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re thankful for this morning, thankful for this opportunity to come before You, worship You, lean of Your truth.\u00a0 I specifically pray You\u2019d be with us during Sunday School as we look at a pretty big issue that Your Word has revealed; we couldn\u2019t understand it any other way; that\u2019s the realm of the invisible or the realm of the angels.\u00a0 And so, I just pray that Your Spirit will guide us as we study this morning.\u00a0 I pray that You\u2019ll be with the main service that follows.\u00a0 I pray You\u2019ll be with our youth because many of them, even as I\u2019m speaking, are on their way to the ark trip and I just pray for traveling mercies for them and everybody that\u2019s involved with that.\u00a0 I ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Hebrews, chapter 1 and verse 7.\u00a0 You\u2019ll recall that last week we started looking at another major area of systematic theology, so this would be Part 2 in a series on angels, which is basically the study of what the Bible reveals about the doctrine of angels.\n\nWe began looking at part one and we\u2019re going to continue with part one of four parts today, starting with the good angels.\u00a0 And when we look at the good angels as compared to the demons or the fallen angels here\u2019s the different categories that we look at.\u00a0 The last time we were together we looked at the existence of angels.\u00a0 You all believe in angels?\u00a0 I believe in them because the Bible tells me they\u2019re there.\u00a0 There\u2019s a number of references, Old Testament and New Testament, to angels.\n\nAnd then from there we began to look at the origin of the angels.\u00a0\u00a0 We saw that angels by nature are not eternal beings.\u00a0 They should not be confused with God in any sense because they are created by God.\u00a0 And I took you into a little bit of the debate concerning when the angels were created but the important thing to remember is that they were indeed created.\u00a0 And then we took a look at the fact that the angels are created as angels, they\u2019re not people. \u00a0I remember the movie by Nicolas Cage called City of Angels.<\/em>\u00a0 Did anybody see that\u2026 don\u2019t put your hand up because that\u2019ll reveal our carnality if we all say yeah, those were great movies (and I did watch it, [laughter] only for purposes of opposition research.\u00a0 [louder laughter]\n\nBut it was basically the story of an angel, Nicolas Cage, fell in love with a human woman, Meg Ryan, and he to be with her had to become a man and sort of vacate his status as an angel.\u00a0 And then the tragedy of the story is he didn\u2019t count on his own mortality and he died as a\u00a0 human being and the relationship that he wanted with her couldn\u2019t prosper.\u00a0 But it\u2019s this idea that an angel can become a person and that, of course, is Hollywood and it sells a lot of movie tickets but there isn\u2019t any biblical basis for it.\u00a0 Angels don\u2019t become people; people don\u2019t become angels.\u00a0 When we die we don\u2019t become angels, etc.\n\nAngels are created as angels.\u00a0 Angels are clearly not deity, they\u2019re not meant to be worshiped as deity, and in fact if you ever worship an ordinary angel the angel will tell you stop doing that, unless of course we\u2019re dealing with the Angel of the LORD which is different; that\u2019s a Christophany or a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not dealing with that then you should not confuse angelhood versus deity.\n\nAnd then we talked about how angels are created constant, they don\u2019t die, Luke 20:35-36.\u00a0 [Luke 20:35-36, \u201cbut those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; [36] for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.\u201d]\u00a0 They don\u2019t reproduce with one another so we don\u2019t have really an idea of baby angels.\n\nSo, if they don\u2019t die and if they don\u2019t reproduce and if God is finished doing what He\u2019s done in creation then whatever number of angels there are is a fixed number, which leads into how many angels are there?\u00a0 Well, the Bible analogizes them to stars.\u00a0 Just as it\u2019s impossible to number the stars from a human point of view it\u2019s impossible to number the angels.\u00a0 Daniel 7:10, Revelation 5:11.\n\n[Daniel 7:10, \u201cA 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.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 5:11, \u201cThen I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands.\u201d]\n\nSo this takes us to the next major area or bullet point that we have underlined here, angels are created as servants and that\u2019s why I had you open up to Hebrews 1:7.\u00a0 You want to keep your Bible open because when you do systematic theology you\u2019ve got to look up several passages to get the mind of God on a subject.\u00a0\u00a0 And it says in Hebrews 1:7, \u201cAnd of the angels He says, \u2018WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Notice that they\u2019re called \u201cministers.\u201d\u00a0 What is a minister?\u00a0 A minister is a servant.\n\nAnd if you drop down to verse 14, the very end of Hebrews 1, it says of angels, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Are they not all\u00a0ministering spirits<\/u>, sent out to render service\u201d that\u2019s what ministers do, \u201crender service\u201d now this makes me feel good at the end of the day, \u201cfor the sake of those who will\u00a0inherit\u00a0salvation?\u201d\u00a0 So apparently angels exist, one of their primary roles is to help us as those who are inheritors of salvation.\n\nWhen the angels were created they were created in a state of holiness.\u00a0 God did not create fallen angels.\u00a0 We know that when God finished His work in which He brought the heavens (plural) and earth into existence in the six days of creation He looked back on the six days, Genesis 1:31, and he said what?\u00a0 Anybody remember?\u00a0 He didn\u2019t just say it\u2019s good, He said it\u2019s what?\u00a0 It\u2019s very good.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Genesis 1: 31<\/a>, \u201cGod saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.\u201d]\n\nNow if the angels came into existence during this creation week, I tried to make the case last week that I think they did, then when it says everything is \u201cvery good\u201d that would include the angels. So you don\u2019t have Satan at the beginning, you don\u2019t have demons, you don\u2019t have fallen angels, you don\u2019t have the entities that we wrestle with.\u00a0 God did not create things that way, as we\u2019re going to be talking about when we get to Satanology and demonology; those things only came into existence when the creation in the angelic realm, part of it, a third of it, exerted their will against God.\n\nSo that\u2019s why we find these designations in Scripture, like \u201choly angels,\u201d Acts 10:22.\u00a0 Jude verse 14, holy ones.\u00a0 [Acts 10:22, \u201cThey said, \"Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well-spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Jude 1:14, \u201cIt was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, \"Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones.\u201d]\n\nAnd when the Lord brought the angelic realm into existence they were brought into existence in a highly organized fashion.\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s interesting that when you go through the Bible God is a God of order.\u00a0 Have you noticed that?\u00a0 You look at the tabernacle constructed under Moses and you see how highly organized everything was.\u00a0 You look at how God wants the church to function, as we studied ecclesiology and you see how organized the layout is of what a church is and what it\u2019s supposed to do and what its leaders are like.\u00a0 And so, if that\u2019s God\u2019s nature and since God is not a God of confusion it would stand to reason that the angelic realm also came into existence by the hand of God in a very orderly manner.\n\nAnd you see that in a passage we looked at last time, Colossians 1:16.\u00a0 Notice what it says again,\u00a0 you remember we used that verse to demonstrate that angels are created.\u00a0 And then take a look at Colossians 1:16, it says, \u201cFor by Him all things were created, both in the heavens\u201d plural, \u201cand on earth, visible and invisible,\u201d so it\u2019s talking about how Jesus brought the angels into existence, and then it talks about their ranks or their battalions for their organization, \u201cwhether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities---all things have been created through Him and for Him.\u00a0 [17] He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.\u201d\n\nYou\u2019ll notice this expression \u201cthrones,\u201d \u201cdominions,\u201d \u201crulers,\u201d \u201cauthorities,\u201d and as you go through the Scripture what you\u2019ll discover is this is a normal way of how the angelic hierarchy is described.\u00a0 You might want to jot down Ephesians 1:21, it says basically the same thing.\u00a0 1 Peter 3:22 says basically the same thing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:21, \u201cfar above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.\u201d\n\n1 Peter 3:22, \u201cwho is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.\u201d]\n\nAnd you remember that Jesus made this very interesting statement; I believe that this statement was made in the Garden of Gethsemane, related to Peter, sort of trying to protect Jesus from His crucifixion.\u00a0 Remember Peter got out his sword and took a swing and zipped off the ear of a Roman soldier named Malchus.\u00a0 [John 18:10, \u201cSimon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave's name was Malchus.\u201d]\n\nAnd in the context of all of those events over in Matthew 26:53 Jesus is explaining that Him going to the cross is the preordained plan of God and if He wanted to He could have stopped it and so could have the Father as a rebuke to humans that were trying to stop this.\u00a0 [Matthew 26:53, \u201cOr do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?\u201d]\n\nAnd then in the whole context of this Jesus says this: \u201cOr do you not think that I can appeal to My Father and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels.\u201d\u00a0 Now what is a legion?\u00a0 Well, if he\u2019s using \u201clegion\u201d the way the Romans used legions, I have a little note here in my Ryrie Study Bible and it says Christ meant simply a very large but not exact number; a Roman legion varied in numbers somewhere between 3,000 to 6,000.\u00a0 So, Jesus says I can stop this whole thing if I wanted to or if My Father wanted to with twelve groups of 3,000 to 6000 angels.\u00a0 So it demonstrates again this point that angels seem to be ranked according to military organization.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what we mean when we say they were created orderly.\n\nAnd because angels are creatures they have creaturely limitations.\u00a0 And this is kind of the foolish\u00ad\u00adness of trying to talk to an angel, worship an angel.\u00a0 I mean, why would you do that?\u00a0 Why would you talk to the lady behind the counter when you can talk to the CEO.\u00a0 You want to go to Jesus because He\u2019s the creator of the angels because He\u2019s not bound by these creaturely limitations.\u00a0 So the moment the Bible says God created them you know right off the bat that they have creaturely limitations, meaning they lack the three omnis: omnipresence (everywhere at once); omnipotence (all powerful); and omniscient (all knowing).\u00a0 Angels don\u2019t have any of those three characteristics just by virtue of the fact that they\u2019re creatures or creations of God.\n\nAnd I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too difficult for the Bible to prove this.\u00a0 You remember Gabriel came to Daniel to deliver to him the prophecy of the seventy weeks and in Daniel 9:22-23 it says this:\u00a0 \u201cHe gave me<\/em>\u00a0instruction and talked with me and said, \u201cO Daniel,\u201d look at this, \u201cI have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.[23]<\/a> \u201cAt the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell\u00a0you,<\/em>\u00a0for you are highly esteemed; [so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.]\u201d \u00a0\u00a0So obviously what happened here is Gabriel had to do some traveling.\u00a0 I mean, he just couldn\u2019t speak from heaven to Babylon and it was done, because Gabriel is a creature and he\u2019s not omnipresent so Gabriel, as an angel, had to travel.\n\nAnd you see this also in the New Testament.\u00a0 You go over to Luke 2:15, and I told you guys we were going to use our Bibles a lot, some of your fingers might start bleeding after while turning so many pages.\u00a0 Luke 2:15, it says, \u201cWhen the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, etc.\u00a0 [\u2018\u2026Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 So, when the angels came to deliver to the shepherds the information about the birth of Christ it says very specifically \u201cWhen the angels had gone away,\u201d it certainly gives you the impression that they are traveling.\n\nAnd going over one book to the right, the Gospel of John, chapter 1 and verse 51,\u00a0 you remember Jacob\u2019s ladder and how Jesus sort of used that in John 1, Jacob\u2019s ladder related to how he was bridging heaven and earth; he was sort of analogizing himself to that ladder and it says something very interesting in John 1:51.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd He said to him, \u2018Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened\u201d and then it says, \u201cand the angels of God ascending\u201d that\u2019s going up the ladder, \u201cand descending on the Son of Man.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So Jesus says I am the ladder, I\u2019m bridging heaven and earth and in the process of using that analogy he talks about angels going up the ladder and going down the ladder, ascending and descending.\n\nSo obviously angels are going up and going down but they lack what?\u00a0 They lack omnipresence because they are bound by creaturely limitations.\u00a0 Because angels have creaturely limitations they\u2019re not omnipotent either; they\u2019re not all powerful.\u00a0 And over in Daniel 10:13 is sort of that story of the angel that was dispatched from heaven to give Daniel final insight about the end time, the final vision. [Daniel 10:13, \u201cBut the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.\u201d]\n\nWe studied all this, you might recall, in the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 And yet Daniel did not receive that information for a period of twenty-one days, or three weeks.\u00a0 And so what\u2019s the holdup God, I prayed for insight and it took you twenty-one days to get me the information.\u00a0 Well what you learn in Daniel 10:13 and verse 21 is there\u2019s a fight. [Daniel 10:21, \u201cHowever, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 There was a fight between the good angels, who I think was Gabriel who was dispatched from heaven to answer Daniel\u2019s prayer request but Gabriel was resisted by the prince over Persia, a fallen angel, and the two of them duked it out for three weeks.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing insight, isn\u2019t it, into spiritual warfare.\u00a0\u00a0 You wonder why your prayer requests aren\u2019t answered immediately, maybe it has something to do with this.\n\nAnd so, they\u2019re fighting with each other for actually three weeks, twenty-one days, and then God finally has to dispatch Michael to assist Gabriel and the two of them kind of tag team, the fallen angel over Persia, Persia being the government in power when Daniel was having this vision and praying this prayer.\u00a0 And so the two of them, Gabriel and Michael, had to fight their way through and they beat back over a course of time, three weeks, the fallen angel over Persia and so Gabriel finally got through to answer Daniel\u2019s prayer request and give him the insight that we have in Daniel 11 and 12.\n\nAnd so it\u2019s an amazing portrait, if you will, of spiritual warfare.\n\nBut if you look at verse 13 it says, \u201cBut the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me,\u201d this is (I think) Gabriel speaking, \u201ctwenty-one days, when behold Michael, one of the chief princes,\u201d now you might want to underline that, \u201cone of the chief princes,\u201d because there\u2019s a controversy brewing today where people are starting to say Jesus is Michael, the archangel.\u00a0 And that is NOT true just based on that verse; it says it right there, \u201cMichael is one of the chief princes.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus could not be Michael the archangel for the simple reason that Jesus is the monogen\u1e17s<\/em>, the only begotten, one of a kind; mono <\/em>means only, you recognize that word \u201conly\u201d as in monopoly, and gen\u1e17s<\/em> you recognize the word species or kind; monogen\u1e17s<\/em> is what\u2019s translated \u201conly begotten\u201d in John 3:16.\u00a0 Jesus is one of a kind.\u00a0 [John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d]\n\nSo obviously Jesus could not be Michael the archangel even as the angel of the LORD in the Old Testament because Michael, it\u2019s very clear here, is one of the princes.\u00a0 Jesus is not one of anything, He is unique by Himself.\u00a0 But we\u2019ll say more about that later.\u00a0 \u201cWhen He had spoken this to me according to these words I turned my face towards the ground,\u201d whoops, wrong verse there, verse 13, but we can try to tie that one in too, that\u2019s a good one also, \u201cBut the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 10:13]\n\nAnd then when you go down to Daniel 10:20, \u201cThen He said to me, \u2018Do you understand why I came to you?\u00a0 But now I shall return to fight against the Prince of Persia; so, I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.\u2019\u00a0 [21] However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, Michael, Gabriel says, had to help me fight my way in to get you this message.\u00a0 And now that the message has been delivered I\u2019ve got to what?\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to fight my way back out just like I had to fight my way to get in here.\n\nSo that whole disclosure reveals that an angel obviously is not all powerful, or there wouldn\u2019t be a fight, right?\u00a0 I mean, omnipotent beings don\u2019t have to fight someone for twenty-one days.\u00a0 And so this is another example of their creaturely limitations.\n\nSomething else to understand about angels in terms of their creaturely limitations is they are not omniscient.\u00a0 They don\u2019t know everything.\u00a0 In fact, over in Matthew 24:36 Jesus made a statement concerning His own return and He\u2019s basically saying there in My humanity I don\u2019t even know when I\u2019m coming back.\u00a0 Now Harold Camping thought he knew but I guess Harold Camping is smarter than Jesus, right?\u00a0 I mean, not even Jesus understood the exact date of His own return in His humanity, and then He says the angels don\u2019t know either.\n\nLook at what it says there, Matthew 24:36, it says, \u201cBut of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.\u201d\u00a0 So Jesus, in His humanity, I think Christ has two natures, His humanity and His deity, sometimes He speaks out of His deity but other times He speaks out of His humanity and what He\u2019s saying is in His humanity He didn\u2019t know when He was coming back; in His deity He did but not in His humanity.\u00a0 And even beyond that the angels didn\u2019t know when He was coming back either.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a very profound statement that the angels are limited in terms of their knowledge.\n\nAnd you see the same kind of thing over in 1 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 12 concerning the lack of complete knowledge that we have in the angels.\u00a0 1 Peter 1:12, notice what it says there, towards the end of the verse. It talks about the grace that\u2019s been given to us and then it says, \u201cthings into which angels long to look.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:12, \u201cIt was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-- things into which angels long to look.\u201d]\n\nIn other words, the angels themselves, some versions put it this way, they stoop down intently to study.\u00a0 So as God is pouring out His grace in unprecedented fashion upon an unworthy group of people (i.e. the church\u2026 us!) the angels themselves can\u2019t even get enough of this and they\u2019re sitting there watching and studying and observing what God is doing.\u00a0\u00a0 So obviously an angel wouldn\u2019t have to sit and stoop and study and observe if they knew everything because they have to study to pass their exam just like you have to study and pass your exam in school or whatnot because angels are not omniscient.\n\nAnd it is a very interesting thing to watch, the Bible describing how the angels keep looking at the church.\u00a0 You find that in many, many places, here, 1 Peter 1:12, you find it in Ephesians 3:10, and we kind of have this idea of secret sins, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 [Ephesians 3:10, \u201cso that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Well, if all the angels, two thirds of them anyway, and there\u2019s a lot of them, are watching us all the time there\u2019s no such thing as a secret sin; every secret sin in heaven is an open scandal.\u00a0 That\u2019s maybe a good deterrent for us to maybe avoid sin.\n\nBut it\u2019s interesting to me that the angels are always watching.\u00a0 Now the Bible never really tells you why they\u2019re watching so I have to kind of theorize why I think the angels are watching.\u00a0 Why do they keep studying us so intently?\u00a0 Well I think they\u2019re watching us because they understand creation, God\u2019s power in creation because Job 37:4-7 talks about how they were praising the Lord when creation came into existence.\u00a0 [Job 37:4-7, \u201c\"After it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.\u00a0 [5] God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.\u00a0 [6] For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,' And to the downpour and the rain, 'Be strong.'\u00a0 [7] He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work.\u201d]\n\nThey clearly understand the holiness of God because what do the seraphim say twenty-four seven in the presence of the Lord, Love, love, love is the Lord God Almighty\u2026. NO, they don\u2019t say that!\u00a0 They say God is love but they draw attention to His dominant attribute of holiness, Isaiah 6, \u201cHoly, holy is the LORD God Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 My father-in-law is a retired dentist and that\u2019s his favorite verse, \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy is the LORD God Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 That ought to keep you guys awake somehow, jokes.\n\nAnd so the angels clearly understand holiness, they clearly understand God\u2019s creative power, they clearly understand judgment because they lost one of their own in the Luciferian rebellion.\u00a0 And they watch Lucifer, Revelation 12:3-8, deceive a third of the angels into rebelling with him against God.\n\n[Revelation 12:3-8, \u201cThen another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were<\/em> seven diadems. [4] And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.\u00a0 [5] And she gave birth to a son, a male child,<\/em> who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. [6] Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.\u00a0 [7] And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8] and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.\u201d]\n\nSo they understand judgment for sin, they understand holiness, they understand God\u2019s creative power.\u00a0 What is one of the things I don\u2019t think they fully understand?\u00a0 It\u2019s grace, unmerited favor.\u00a0 This is a part of God that they\u2019re just sort of learning about.\u00a0 And what better way to watch God\u2019s grace, which is also part of His character, come to the surface and seeing God in the present church age pour out His grace upon unworthy sinners in an unprecedented fashion.\u00a0 You know, today in the age of the church we don\u2019t just have grace but we have what John\u2019s Gospel calls \u201cgrace upon grace.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [John 1:16, \u201cFor of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.\u201d]\u00a0 Grace lavished.\n\nSo the angels are observing and that may be why, I\u2019ll give you a picture of it a little bit down the road but the cherubim are inscribed over the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies observing or watching the sacrifice that was made one day a year on the day of atonement which postponed the note of indebted\u00adness for the nation of Israel, for their sins, for one year.\u00a0 When God told Moses to put together the Tabernacle and the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, and the very place where this sacrifice was to be administered he was specifically told to put two cherubs, we would say in English cherubs, Hebrew cherubim as inscribed over watching what was happening because those are subjects that I think the angels are very interested in because they\u2019re learning about grace and how God used grace.\u00a0 They know about holiness, they know about His creative power, they know about any number of subjects but they\u2019re learning about grace.\n\nAnd I think that\u2019s why the angels are always watching the church, because God is actually using the present age of the church to complete gaps in the systematic theology of the angels.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that an amazing thing?\u00a0 And God wouldn\u2019t have to do that and they wouldn\u2019t have to observe, they wouldn\u2019t have to watch if they knew everything.\u00a0 So the fact that they\u2019re studying all these things and learning about God\u2019s character is demonstrative of the fact that the angels lack omniscience.\u00a0 So, they are created and as they are created they are created with creaturely limitations, lacking the \u201comni\u2019s\u201d omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience.\n\nMoving on in our outline, talking just for a little bit here about the nature of angels.\u00a0 And one of the things to talk about related to the nature of angels is the personhood of angels.\u00a0 These are actual personages, personalities.\u00a0 You shouldn\u2019t look at angels as some kind of, you know, like The Force, some kind of impersonal source of energy.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re talking about an actual person with an actual personality.\u00a0 And generally, when people define personhood they look at three things: intellect, emotions, and will.\u00a0 And what we discover is angels have all three.\u00a0 They clearly have an intellect because they\u2019re studying, 1 Peter 1:12.\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:12, \u201cIt was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-- things into which angels long to look.\u201d] It\u2019s hard to do that if you don\u2019t have a mind or a brain, or an intellect.\n\nInterestingly enough, the angels have emotions, just like you have an emotional reaction to this or that, angels have an exactly the same response.\u00a0 They have built within them a capacity for emotions.\u00a0 You say well how do you know that?\u00a0 Well, if you go to Luke 15:10 you\u2019ll see it very clearly.\u00a0 Luke 15:10, concerning the salvation of people.\u00a0\u00a0 When someone gets saved what exactly do the angels do?\u00a0 Well, Luke 15:10 says, \u201c'In the same way, I tell you, there is joy\u201d in other words rejoicing, in other words euphoria, \u201cIn the same way there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.\u201d\u00a0 So obviously for an angel to rejoice, for an angel to experience joy they obviously have some kind of an emotional composition, emotional makeup just like you have that as well.\n\nI remember when I first got saved in 1983 I went to this home Bible study and the fellow could obviously tell I wasn\u2019t saved, he took me kind of in the back there in his living room and shared the gospel with me, I got saved.\u00a0 And I remember him coming back to the rest of the group and saying we\u2019ve got a new brother here.\u00a0 And it was sort of a happy time.\u00a0 And I can\u2019t remember if it was him or one of the people in the Bible study saying \u201cthe angels are rejoicing.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s kind of always stuck with me concerning the happiness, the rejoicing of angels over the salvation of a lost sinner.\n\nSo, if you want to make the angels happy spread the gospel and see people get saved.\n\nSo, they clearly have intellect, they clearly have emotions, and I think they were created with a will as well.\u00a0 If you go over to Psalm 103:20 you kind of get a hint of this, It says, \u201cBless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word,\u201d and look at this, \u201cObeying the voice of His word!\u201d\u00a0 When it says \u201cobey\u201d that means they must have some sort of choice to obey, if you have a choice to obey you have to have a choice to do what?\u00a0 To disobey or else why would you highlight the fact that they\u2019re obeying.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of a verse that I think can be used to demonstrate that the angels, like human beings, are not robots.\u00a0 And so when a third of the angels fell they made a decision to fall with Lucifer.\n\nSo clearly angels have the attributes of personhood, intellect, emotions and will.\u00a0 And they actually carry on many of the activities that people with personalities carry on.\u00a0 For example, they have desires, just like you have desires in your heart angels have the same thing because in the 1 Peter 1:12 verse that we read just a moment ago concerning angels stooping down to observe, it mentions the word \u201cdesire\u201d related to the angels.\u00a0 1 Peter 1:12 \u201c\u2026things into which angels long\u201d see the word \u201clong\u201d there, that\u2019s desire, \u201cthings which in which angels long to look into.\u201d So obviously there is a desire in their heart, a desire to learn, a desire to complete their knowledge of God that forces them, or maybe I\u2019d better say causes them to observe God\u2019s grace pouring out upon humanity.\u00a0 So angels have desires.\n\nNow angels talk to each other, they communicate back and forth.\u00a0 In fact, they can talk to people and people in the Bible, although we\u2019re not exhorted to go do this, do talk to angels and angels talk to people.\u00a0 Notice Luke 1:13, \u201cBut the angel said to him,\u201d now who\u2019s \u201chim\u201d?\u00a0 I think in context, if I\u2019m not mistaken, Zacharias, \u201cBut the angel said to him,\u201d and then the angel gives a statement, \u201cDo not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.\u201d\u00a0 So how did Zacharias know to do this?\u00a0 Because an angel told him.\u00a0 So obviously an angel has the capacity to talk.\u00a0 An angel has the capacity to communicate.\n\nAnd so you sort of look at all these things and they\u2019ve got the attributes of personality, intellect, emotions and will, and they carry on the activities which you would think in a person.\u00a0 They have desires, they\u2019re able to talk or they\u2019re able to communicate.\u00a0 And one other fascinating thing concerning their nature, whatever decision related to the Luciferian rebellion that the angels made, we know that a third of them fell with Lucifer and two-thirds did not.\u00a0 Whatever decision that they made that decision is now in cement, it can\u2019t be undone.\n\nThe plan of salvation is not open to the angels.\u00a0 If the plan of salvation was opened to angels Jesus would have had to become a what?\u00a0 An angel, which He did not.\u00a0 And this is why at the presence of Jesus Christ in the Gospels the angels are always fearful.\u00a0 Here I\u2019m not speaking of the good angels, I\u2019m speaking of the fallen angels and they\u2019re basically saying things to Christ like \u201chave you come to Son of God, Son of Man, have you come to torture us or to torment us before the appointed time.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s very interesting how good the theology is in the demons.\u00a0 Their theology is probably better than most theologians.\u00a0 They know exactly who Jesus is, as the eternally existent member of the Trinity.\u00a0 They know all about hell and judgment, their eschatology is very good.\u00a0 And they say \u201chave You come to torture us before the appointed time.\u201d\n\nSo it\u2019s sort of a statement that whatever decision was made has been finalized, the good angels are always good, the evil angels will always be wicked.\u00a0 And in fact, very late in human history, Revelation 14, a passage we\u2019re going to start looking at this morning in the main service, you see the good angels being described that late in the game as the \u201choly angels.\u201d\u00a0 So the fancy name for this is confirmed; the good angels we\u2019re speaking of here primarily are confirmed in their state of holiness.\u00a0 The evil angels are confirmed in their state of unholiness.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you\u2019ve got to be really careful with James 2, you know the passage, James 2, what good does it do to believe, \u201ceven the demons believe and tremble.\u201d\u00a0 [James 1:19, \u201cYou believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.\u00a0 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.\u201d]\n\nAnd people try to develop a lot of soteriological teaching around that James passage, never telling their audience this, that you\u2019re making an apples and oranges comparison there, because the plan of salvation is not even open to the angels.\u00a0 So, you\u2019ve got to be very careful how you handle James chapter 2.\u00a0 But they, in terms of their nature, not only come out as personhood but they are what we would call confirmed in their state of holiness.\n\nLet\u2019s talk a little bit about their power.\u00a0 What kind of power do these angels have?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s two areas to think about; how much power do they have relative to man.\u00a0 I mean how much stronger are they compared to you.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is it\u2019s no match at all, they\u2019ve got way more power than you do!\u00a0 According to Isaiah 37:36 one angel of the LORD killed one evening after dinner 185,000 Assyrians.\u00a0 [Isaiah 37:36, \u201cThen the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s one versus 185,000 and the angel had no problems dealing with that number.\n\n2 Thessalonians 1:7 makes a reference to the good angels.\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 1:7 and what does it say there concerning the good angels returning with Christ in His Second Advent.\u00a0 It says, \u201cand to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His\u201d what kind of angels, \u201cmighty angels in flaming fire.\u201d\u00a0 So they\u2019re very, very powerful, these angelic beings are.\n\nOver in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 11, you get some more information about the strength and the power of these angels. 2 Peter 2:11, it\u2019s talking about how foolish these false teachers are to slander demons, to slander angels.\u00a0 It says, \u201cwhereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 Why are you doing this, Peter says, because even the angels themselves don\u2019t do that practice, you false teachers, and those angels are far more powerful and far mightier than you are; they\u2019re far more powerful than human beings are.\u00a0 So, this sort of demonstrates the power of these angels, how strong they are relative to us.\n\nAnd in fact, over the tomb of Christ wasn\u2019t there a large stone placed there, and the stone was intentionally so big that obviously you couldn\u2019t argue, somebody came in and stole the body in the middle of the night, maybe Jesus wasn\u2019t dead and He kind of broke His way out in the middle of the night.\u00a0 The Biblical record makes it very clear that it was a massive stone placed over the tomb of Christ.\u00a0 And yet on Sunday morning, resurrection Sunday, what does it say there in Matthew 28:2? \u201cAnd behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the LORD descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.\u201d\u00a0 Was he tired?\u00a0 I don\u2019 t know, but apparently it wasn\u2019t much of a problem for him, this one angel to take this massive stone and just roll it away.\n\nSo these are all Scriptures that can be used to demonstrate the strength of angels. They are far stronger than human beings.\u00a0 But obviously they\u2019re created by God so they\u2019re not as strong as God Himself.\u00a0 Over in Psalm 8:5 notice what it says.\u00a0 Psalm 8:5 says \u201cYet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty!\u201d\u00a0 Actually, that may not be the greatest verse in the world to defend what I\u2019m trying to say.\u00a0 Let\u2019s scrap that one.\n\nLet\u2019s go to 1 Peter 3:22, I think that\u2019s a better one.\u00a0 1 Peter 3:22, talking about the strength of angels relative to God.\u00a0 It says, of Jesus Christ, \u201cwho is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been\u201d what? \u201csubjected to Him.\u201d\u00a0 So, when you look at the strength of an angel what you have to understand is an angel is far stronger than a person but obviously since angels are created by God they\u2019re no match for God Himself.\u00a0 So they are weak in comparison to God.\n\nWhat about their material, their essence?\u00a0 What is their composition?\u00a0 What are they made up of?\u00a0 Well, I would say this, their composition is highly what we would call spiritual.\u00a0 A spiritual composition that\u2019s of such it\u2019s not easily recognizable; in fact, it\u2019s outside of the purview of human observation.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we call angels invisible.\u00a0 Numbers 22, notice, if you will, verse 31.\u00a0 This is the Balak and Balaam story.\u00a0 And what does it say there?\u00a0 \u201cThen the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground.\u201d\u00a0 So, notice that God here is revealing to Balaam that an angel is there assisting in the things of God.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that Balaam had no ability to see this unless the Lord opened his eyes.\n\nYou have this very interesting story of Elisha over in 2 King 6:17 Remember the army was surrounding Elisha and the servant comes to Elisha in a state of panic, we\u2019re being surrounded, we\u2019re going to lose this battle, etc. etc. etc. and Elisha says to the servant, don\u2019t worry, those that are with us are more than those that are with them.\u201d\u00a0 Remember that story?\u00a0 And of course, the servant had no idea what Elisha was talking about and this is when the Lord prayed that Elisha\u2019s eyes could be opened for an instant and he could see the invisible spiritual realm and how the mountains were filled with angelic beings.\n\nNotice again 2 Kings 6:17 describes this and notice what it says, \u201cThen Elisha prayed and said, \u2018O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.\u2019\u201d And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.\u201d\u00a0 So just like in Numbers 22:31 the angel or the angels weren\u2019t discernable unless God did some kind of prevenient work and opened people\u2019s eyes to see it.\u00a0 That\u2019s basically what you have happening in 2 Kings 6:17.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that in Psalm 104:4, Hebrews 1:7 and verse 14, that they\u2019re called mistering spirits.\n\n[Numbers 22:31, \u201cThen the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed [<\/sup>a<\/sup><\/a>]<\/sup>all the way to the ground.\u201d\n\nPsalm 104:4, \u201cHe makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fire His ministers.\u201d\u00a0 Hebrews 1:7, \u201cAnd of the angels He says, \u201cWho makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.\u201d\n\nHebrews 1:14, \u201cAre they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?\u201d]\n\nSo their primary composition seems to be spiritual in the sense that it\u2019s not easily observable to the human eye unless God does a work and allows us to see that realm.\u00a0 Ephesians 6:12 says, \u201cFor we wrestle not against flesh and blood\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 So, if angelic conflict was \u201cflesh and blood\u201d you could see it, right?\u00a0 Just like you can see human conflict.\u00a0 But because angels are what we would call a spiritual composition they\u2019re not easily\u2026 I might even say it\u2019s impossible to recognize them through the human eye unless God does a miracle.\n\nNow that\u2019s NOT to say that an angel can\u2019t appear in human form, at least they look an awful lot like a person.\u00a0 Hebrews 13:12 says, \u201cSome of you have entertained\u201d what? \u201cangels unaware.\u201d\u00a0 Now how in the world could that happen unless an angel can take on at least what looks like the appearance of humanity.\u00a0 But normally their composition is that of a spiritual quality but the Bible is very clear that they can take on what looks like human form.\u00a0 In fact, you remember what Jesus said; He said, \u201cAbraham saw my day and was glad.\u201d\u00a0 I think that\u2019s in John 8.\u00a0 [John 8:56, \u201cYour father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 And I think he\u2019s referring to three visitors that Abraham had; one of those visitors, I think, in Genesis 18, you might slip back there just for a minute, was what we call a Christophany or a Theophany or a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The other two visitors, now we\u2019re not told that right off the bat, but the other two visitors just look like human beings.\n\nAnd notice what it says there in Genesis 18:1-8.\u00a0 And I think this may be what Jesus was referring to in John 8 when He said, \u201cAbraham saw my day and was glad.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, Jesus was one of the three; he was the angel of the LORD, the other two were just ordinary angels.\n\nIt says, \u201cNow the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. [2] When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them,<\/em> he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, [3] and said, \u201cMy Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. [4] \u201cPlease let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; [5] and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.\u201d And they said, \u201cSo do, as you have said.\u201d [6] So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, \u201cQuickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it<\/em> and make bread cakes.\u201d [7] Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it<\/em> to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. [8] He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it<\/em> before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.\u201d\n\nSo, here\u2019s Abraham having a conversation with three people; one of them is perhaps a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The other two just look like people or human beings, they take on human form. They\u2019re actually having a meal together. The three are eating and doesn\u2019t eating imply digesting and metabolizing?\u00a0 That seems to be going on.\n\nAnd then you go to Genesis 18, same chapter, and you slip down to verse 22 and it says this: \u201cThen the men turned away from there and went to Sodom while Abraham was standing before the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 So, two of the three head off to Sodom and Gomorrah.\u00a0 And then you get to chapter 19 verse 1 and your eyes almost fall out of their sockets when you realize who Abraham was actually talking to.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them,<\/em> he rose to meet them and bowed down with his<\/em> face to the ground.\u201d\u00a0 So here you have two angels, two human beings departing, going to Sodom.\u00a0 And then you get to chapter 19 and you actually learn that these human beings are not human beings at all but they\u2019re angelic beings.\n\nAnd then drop down to Genesis 19:5 and the Sodomite crowd surrounds Lot\u2019s house and they demand that the two guests be released for sexual purposes, in other words, the crowd was physically attracted to these two men and you can\u2019t really be physically attracted or you can\u2019t really rape or molest a spirit, can you.\u00a0 So, these two angels must have taken on human form.\u00a0 And it says, this radical crowd, they called to Lot and said to him, \u201cwhere are the men.\u201d\u00a0 Now we just learned they were angels, verse 1.\u00a0 \u201cWhere are the men who came to you tonight, bring them out to us so that we may have relations\u201d that\u2019s sexual relations, \u201cwith them.\u201d\n\nSo, it\u2019s an interesting thing that\u2019s happened here, you\u2019ve got two human beings talking with Abraham, having a meal with Abraham, then they kind of go to Sodom and Gomorrah and suddenly we learn that these two men are angels, but they still appear as men because the crowd surrounds the house for purposes of sexual molesting these two men.\n\nSo, you put all of this data together and then what do you say?\u00a0 Well, angels are primarily spiritual entities; their composition is spiritual, you can\u2019t really see them unless God does some kind of work and opens one\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not to say that angels can\u2019t at least take on the form of human beings.\u00a0 And if that were not true, or at least appear to have the form of human beings, if that were not true you can\u2019t make any sense of Genesis 18 and 19, and you certainly can\u2019t make any sense of Hebrews 13:2 which says some of you, just like Abraham, \u201chave entertained angels\u201d what \u201cunaware.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 13:2, \u201cDo not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by this some have entertained strangers unaware.\u201d]\n\nVery fast, what about the gender of angels?\u00a0 Are they men or are they women?\u00a0 Well, a lot of people think that they\u2019re men because even in the passage we just looked at they were two men, weren\u2019t they, when they appeared to take on human form.\u00a0 And the masculine pronouns \u201chim\u201d or \u201che\u201d are typically used to describe angels.\u00a0 So there\u2019s a strong thought or perspective that angels are probably masculine.\u00a0 But I\u2019m sort of the perspective that they\u2019re really not masculine, they\u2019re probably neuter.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because we learned last week in Luke 20:35-36 that they don\u2019t what?\u00a0 \u201cMarry nor are given in marriage with each other.\u201d\u00a0 [Luke 20:35-36, \u201cbut those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; [36] for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.\u201d]\n\nTo my knowledge the Bible doesn\u2019t give us any corresponding female angels, does it.\u00a0 There\u2019re not male angels over here and female angels over there.\u00a0 So, if there\u2019s no corresponding opposite gender I guess I\u2019m of the perspective that angels are primarily of the neuter gender.\u00a0 And you say well why are they described with the pronoun \u201che\u201d then, if they\u2019re genderless?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s kind of a lot like thinking about the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The Greek noun for spirit is pneuma<\/em>, which is a neuter noun, and yet didn\u2019t Jesus describe the Holy Spirit as \u201cHe\u201d frequently in John 14:16, in the Upper Room, and many places.\u00a0 [John 14:16, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; [17] that is<\/em> the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but<\/em> you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.\u201d]\n\nSo just because you describe something as \u201che\u201d doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s of a masculine gender.\u00a0 Jesus described pneuma<\/em>, a neuter noun, as \u201che,\u201d the Spirit, in John 14:16.\u00a0 So I\u2019m just wrestling with the same limited information that you have in your Bible, and I guess I would have to say given their gender and given the limited information that we have I think angels, in terms of their gender, would be what we call neuter, genderless in other words.\n\nHow about their appearance?\u00a0 What do they appear as?\u00a0 Well, when they\u2019re on earth and making earthly appearances many times they look like ordinary human beings or men.\u00a0 Remember the two angels that were observing Christ\u2019s ascension in Acts 1?\u00a0 I think it says they\u2019re in white, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 [Acts 1:10, \u201cAnd as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.\u201d]\u00a0 It describes them as two men.\u00a0\u00a0 However, when the angels are described in heaven many times they\u2019re described as creatures that seem strange to us because we don\u2019t have a parallel as a similar creature on earth.\n\nFor example, we have the Seraphim, Isaiah 6:2, that have \u201csix wings.\u201d\u00a0 [Isaiah 6:2, \u201cSeraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Has anybody seen a six-winged creature lately?\u00a0 If you have let me know what you\u2019re smoking. It\u2019s a creature that mystifies what we understand here on the earth.\u00a0 They are also called cherubim, and we\u2019ll be defining seraphim and cherubim a little latter, but cherubim, Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 10, are strange looking creatures, four wings, four faces, now we say a lot of people have two faces, right, these have four faces.\u00a0 Four faces, four wings, four lives, Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10.\u00a0 A wheel below them that\u2019s sort of intersectional so that it can move from place to place without ever having to turn.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a strange creature in heaven that really has no parallel to what we observed on the earth.\n\nSometimes they\u2019re called \u201cliving creatures\u201d as we saw in the Book of Revelation, many eyes, Revelation 4:6-8; \u201csix wings, faces on each side.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 4:6, \u201cAround the throne were<\/em> twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw<\/em> twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.\u00a0 [5] Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were<\/em> seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; [6] and before the throne there was something<\/em> like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. [7] The first creature was<\/em> like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was<\/em> like a flying eagle. [8] And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, [8] \u201cHOLY, HOLY, HOLY is<\/em> THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.\u201d]\n\nAnd sometimes we run into an angel that is described this way in Revelation 10:1-3, clothed with white cloud and a rainbow for a crown.\u00a0 [Revelation 10:1-3, \u201cI saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; [<\/strong>2] <\/strong>and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; [3] and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.\u201d]\n\nSo, put yourself in my position in trying to summarize this to people.\u00a0 How would you summarize this?\u00a0 The best I can come up with in terms of their appearance is when you see them on earth in the Bible they look like men, ordinary human beings, but when you see them in heaven they look like, many times, creatures that you don\u2019t really have a parallel with down at the Houston zoo.\u00a0 They\u2019re creatures that defy description based on what we know all around us.\u00a0 So really that\u2019s the best I can do with their appearance. And I think it\u2019s time for me to stop talking, so let\u2019s do that.\n\nFather, we are thankful for angelology, the doctrine of angels, we pray that we\u2019ll be good stewards of this invisible spiritual realm.\u00a0 I pray that some of the problems we\u2019re having with the sound system would not be a problem in the service that follows so we can give our undistracted attention to Your Word.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name.\u00a0 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t