ANGEL
There is harmony between the teachings of our Lord
upon this subject and those of the apostles and other Scripture
writers. Many questions that may be raised can receive no answer
whatever from the Scriptures. Of the history of the angels we can
know but little. It is clear that Satan and the fallen angels
(demons) were created sinless and later fell (Isa 14:12-15; Rev
12:3-4). Some of their number "did not keep their own domain" but
fell under divine displeasure and are reserved "for the judgment of
the great day" (Jude 6).
Aside from the teachings of Scripture there is
nothing irrational, but quite the opposite, in believing in the
existence of creatures superior to man in intelligence, as there are
many inferior. But we depend wholly upon the Scriptures for our
knowledge. The denial of the existence of angels, as that of a
personal devil and demons, springs from the materialistic,
unbelieving spirit, which in its most terrible form denies the
existence of God.
The revelations of Scripture concerning angels are
few, but nevertheless have great value:
1. They furnish a necessary safeguard against
narrowness of thought as to the extent and variety of the creations
of God.
2. They help us in acquiring the proper conception of
Christ, who is above the angels, and the object of angelic worship.
3. They give a wonderful attractiveness to our
conception of that unseen world to which we are hastening.
4. They set before us an example of joyous and
perfect fulfillment of God's will. "Thy will be done in earth as it
is in heaven," i.e., by the angels.
5. They put to shame the horrible indifference of
multitudes of mankind with respect to the great work of conversion.
"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
who repents" (Luke 15:10).
6. They broaden our view of the manifold mercies of
God, whose angels are "sent out to render service for the sake of
those who will inherit salvation" (Heb 1:14; cf. 12:22).
7. They remind us of our high rank as human beings,
and our exalted destiny as Christians. We, who are made but "a
little lower than the angels" (KJV, Ps 8:5; NASB, "lower than God")
may become "like angels in heaven" (Matt 22:30).
(from The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally
published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright © 1988.)
Angel
Superhuman or heavenly being who serves as God's messenger. Both the
Hebrew malak and the Greek angelos indicate that these
beings also act decisively in fulfilling God's will in the world.
But these two terms also apply to human beings as messengers (1
Kings 19:2; Hag 1:13; Luke 7:24). "Angels" are mentioned almost
three hundred times in Scripture, and are only noticeably absent
from books such as Ruth, Nehemiah, Esther, the letters of John, and
James.
The
Old Testament From the beginning, angels were part of the divine
hierarchy. They were created beings (Psalms 148:2 Psalms 148:5), and
were exuberant witnesses when God brought the world into being (Job
38:7). By nature they were spiritual entities, and thus not subject
to the limitations of human flesh. Although holy, angels could
sometimes behave foolishly (Job 4:18), and even prove to be
untrustworthy (Job 15:15). Probably these qualities led to the
"fall" of some angels, including Satan, but the Bible contains no
description of that event. When angels appeared in human society
they resembled normal males (Genesis 18:2 Genesis 18:16; Ezek 9:2),
and never came dressed as women.
In
whatever form they occurred, however, their general purpose was to
declare and promote God's will. On infrequent occasions they acted
as agets of destruction (Gen 19:13; 2 Sam 24:16; 2 Kings 19:35,
etc.). Sometimes angels addressed people in dreams, as with Jacob
(Gen 28:12; 31:11), and could be recognized by animals before human
beings became aware of them, as with Balaam (Nu 22:22). Collectively
the divine messengers were described as the "angelic host" that
surrounded God (1 Ki 22:19) and praised his majesty constantly
(Psalm 103:21). The Lord, their commander, was known to the Hebrews
as the "Lord of hosts." There appears to have been some sort of
spiritual hierarchy among them. Thus the messenger who instructed
Joshua was a self-described "commander of the Lord's army" (Jos
5:14-15), although this designation could also mean that it was God
himself who was speaking to Joshua.
In
Daniel, two angels who interpreted visions were unnamed (7:16;
10:5), but other visions were explained to Daniel by the angel
Gabriel, who was instructed by a "man's voice" to undertake this
task (8:15-16). When a heavenly messenger appeared to Daniel beside
the river Hiddekel (Tigris), he spoke of Michael as "one of the
chief princes" (Daniel 10:13 Daniel 10:21). This mighty angel would
preside over the fortunes of God's people in the latter time (12:1).
Thereafter he was regarded by the Hebrews as their patron angel. In
the postexilic period the term "messenger" described the teaching
functions of the priest (Mal 2:7), but most particularly the
individual who was to prepare the way for the Lord's Messiah (Mal
3:1).
Two
other terms relating to spiritual beings were prominent at various
times in Israel's history. The first was "cherubim, " a plural form,
conceived of as winged creatures (Exod 25:20), and mentioned first
in connection with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden (Gen
3:24). Apart from their functions as guardians, however, nothing is
said about their character. When the wilderness tabernacle was being
fashioned, God ordered two gold cherubim to be placed on top of the
"mercy seat" or lid of the covenant ark to screen it. These came to
be known as the "cherubim of the Glory" (Heb 9:5). Cherubim designs
were also incorporated into the fabric of the inner curtain (Exod
26:1) and the veil of the tabernacle (Exod 26:31).
Solomon
placed two wooden cherubim plated with gold leaf in the Most Holy
Place of the temple, looking toward the Holy Place. They stood ten
cubits (about fourteen feet) high and their wings were five cubits
(about seven feet) long. Near Eastern archeological excavations have
shown how popular the concept of winged creatures was in antiquity.
The throne of Hiram at Byblos (ca. 1200 b.c.) was supported by a
pair of creatures with human faces, lions' bodies, and large
protective wings. It was above the cherubim that the Lord of hosts
sat enthroned (1 Sa 4:4).
The
seraphim were also thought of as winged, and in Isaiah's vision they
were stationed above the Lord's throne (6:1-2). They seemed to
possess a human figure, and had voices, faces, and feet. According
to the vision their task was to participate in singing God's praises
antiphonally. They also acted in some unspecified manner as mediums
of communication between heaven and earth (Isa 6:6). The living
creatures of Ezekiel 1:5-14 were composites of human and animal
parts, which was typically Mesopotamian in character, and they seem
to have depicted the omnipotence and omniscience of God.
The
Apocrypha In the late postexilic period angelology became a
prominent feature of Jewish religion. The angel Michael was deemed
to be Judaism's patron, and the apocryphal writings named three
other archangels as leaders of the angelic hierarchy. Chief of these
was Raphael, who was supposed to present the prayers of pious Jews
to God (1 Tobit 2:15). Uriel explained to Enoch many of his visions
(1 Enoch 21:5-10; 27:2-4), interpreted Ezra's vision of the
celestial Jerusalem (2 Esdras 10:28-57), and explained the fate of
the fallen angels who supposedly married human women (1 Enoch
19:1-9; cf. Gen 6:2). Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel (1 Enoch
40:3, 6) reported to God about the depraved state of humanity, and
received appropriate instructions. According to contemporary
thought, Gabriel sat on God's left, while Michael sat on the right
side (2 Enoch 24:1). The primary concern of these two angels,
however, was supposedly with missions on earth and affairs in
heaven, respectively. In rabbinic Judaism they assumed a character
which, while sometimes dramatic, had no factual basis in divine
revelation.
The
New Testament Against this background of belief in angels who
were involved in human affairs, it was not surprising that the angel
Gabriel should be chosen to visit Zechariah, the officiating priest
in the temple, to inform him that he was to become a father, and
that he had to name his son John (Luke 1:11-20). Gabriel was not
referred to here as an archangel, the Greek term archangelos,
appearing only in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 to describe an otherwise
unnamed executive angel, and also in Jude 9, which refers to
"Michael the archangel." Six months after his announcement to
Zechariah, Gabriel appeared to Mary to inform her that God had
selected her to become the mother of Jesus, the promised Messiah
(Luke 1:26-33).
Nothing
in Gabriel's behavior is inconsistent with Old Testament teachings
about angels. It has been pointed out frequently that, just as they
were active when the world began, so angels were correspondingly
prominent when the new era of divine grace dawned with the birth of
Jesus. On three occasions an angel visited Joseph in a vision
concerning Jesus (Matt 1:20; Matthew 2:13 Matthew 2:19). On the
first two occasions the celestial visitor is described as "the angel
of the Lord, " which could possibly be a way of describing God
himself. On the last visit the heavenly messenger was described
simply as "an angel of the Lord." In the end, however, the celestial
beings were most probably of the same order, and were fulfilling
among humans those duties normally assigned to such angels as
Gabriel (Luke 1:19).
There
is nothing recorded about the actual form of the latter, but
Zechariah appears to have recognized the angel immediately as a
celestial being, and was terrified (Luke 1:12). His penalty for not
having learned anything from his ancestor Abraham's experience (Luke
1:18; cf. Gen 17:17) would only be removed when his son John was
born (Luke 1:20). When Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear
Jesus (Luke 31), she seems to have been more disturbed by his
message than his appearance. The birth of Jesus was announced to
Bethlehem shepherds by the angel of the Lord, and since he was
accompanied by the divine glory he may well have been the Lord
himself. The message of joy having been proclaimed, the heavenly
host of angels praised and glorified God (Luke 2:13-14) for a short
period, as they had done at the creation of the world (Job 38:7),
after which they departed.
During
his ministry, angels came and ministered to Jesus after he had
resisted the devil's temptations (Matt 4:11). Again, when Jesus was
submitting himself to God's will in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke
22:40-44), an angel came from heaven to strengthen him. At the
resurrection, the angel of the Lord rolled back the stone from
Jesus' burial place (Matt 28:2), and he was described as having a
countenance like lightning and garments as white as snow (Matt
28:3). Again, this celestial being performed a service of
reassurance and love for Mary and Mary of Magdala, who subsequently
reported seeing "a vision of angels" (Luke 24:23). In John's Gospel
Mary Magdalene saw two angels in white clothing, sitting in the
empty tomb, just before she met the risen Lord (John 20:12-16).
In
Acts, the imprisoned apostles were released by an angel (5:19).
Philip was ordered by an angel to meet an Ethiopian official
(8:26-28), while another celestial being appeared to Cornelius
(10:3). The angel of the Lord released Peter from prison (12:7-11),
and subsequently afflicted Herod with a fatal illness (12:23). When
Paul and his companions were about to be shipwrecked the apostle
assured them of the presence of a guardian angel (27:23-24).
Paul
referred subsequently to angelic hierarchies ("thrones, powers,
rulers, or authorities") when proclaiming the cosmic supremacy of
Jesus (Col 1:15-16; cf. 1 Peter 3:22), and prohibited the worship of
angels in the Colossian church (Col 2:18) in an attempt to avoid
unorthodox practices. His reference to "angels" in 1 Corinthians
11:10 may have been a warning that such things observe humans at
worship, and thus the Corinthians should avoid improper conduct or
breaches of decency.
The
angelology of 2 Peter and Jude reflects some of the intertestamental
Jewish traditions concerning "wicked angels." In Revelation there
are numerous symbolic allusions to angels, the worship of which is
forbidden (22:8-9). The "angels of the seven churches" (1:20) are
the specific spiritual representations or personifications of these
Christian groups. A particularly sinister figure was Abaddon (Apollyon
in Greek), the "angel of the bottomless pit" (9:11), who with his
minions was involved in a fierce battle with Michael and his angels
(12:7-9).
Jesus
accepted as valid the Old Testament references to angels and their
functions (Matt 22:30), but spoke specifically of the "devil and his
angels" (Matt 25:41) as destined for destruction. He fostered the
idea of angels ministering to believers (cf. Heb 1:14), and as being
concerned for the welfare of children (Matt 18:10). He described
angels as holy creatures (Mark 8:38) who could rejoice when a sinner
repented (Luke 15:10). Angels were devoid of sexual characteristics
(Matt 22:30), and although they were highly intelligent ministers of
God's will they were not omniscient (Matt 24:36).
Christ
claimed at his arrest in Gethsemane that more than twelve legions of
angels (numbering about 72, 000) were available to deliver him, had
he wanted to call upon them for assistance (Matt 26:53). He taught
that angels would be with him when he returned to earth at the
second coming (Matt 25:31), and that they would be involved
significantly in the last judgment (Matthew 13:41 Matthew 13:49).
Finally, angels set a model of obedience to God's will in heaven to
which the Christian church should aspire (cf. Matt 6:10).
Some
writers contrast the celestial beings with "fallen angels, " of
which there are two varieties. The first consists of unimprisoned,
evil beings working under Satan's leadership, and generally regarded
as demons (Luke 4:35; 11:15; John 10:21). The second were imprisoned
(2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6) spirits because they forsook their original
positions in heaven. For New Testament writers they were
particularly dangerous. The precise difference in function and
character is not explained in Scripture, but some have thought that
the latter were the "sons of God" who cohabited with mortal women
(Gen 6:1-2). This view, however, is strictly conjectural. Presumably
the imprisoned angels are the ones who will be judged by the saints
(1 Cor 6:3).
In a
material world that is also populated by good and evil spirits, the
Bible teaches that the heavenly angels set an example of
enthusiastic and resolute fulfillment of God's will. They
acknowledge Jesus as their superior, and worship him accordingly.
Angels continue to perform ministering duties among humans, and this
function has led to the concept of "guardian angels, " perhaps
prompted by Christ's words in Matthew 18:10. It is not entirely
clear whether each individual has a specific angelic guardian, but
there is certainly no reason for doubting that an angel might well
be assigned to care for the destinies of groups of individuals such
as families. These celestial ministries will be most effective when
the intended recipients are receptive to the Lord's will for their
lives.
R. K.
Harrison
From
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
