Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Session 73:Angels
Angels! This is a topic that almost everyone has an opinion about. But, that's just it. Be careful with this lesson. It's ok to have an opinion as long as it is the same as the Bible. We have been mislead by the world's opinion in so many ways and this is another one of those issues. I'm sure many of our students will be very opinionated about this subject due to things they have heard or seen on television. Angels are an interesting topic to study. The writer points out three things that stuck out to me. Angels are God's messengers. Is that not what we are supposed to do as well? They also serve God. Finally, they are used to minister to us. We can learn a great deal from studying how angels are. They also never want the attention to be on themselves. I think that is one area in which a lot of christians, including preachers, struggle with. We tend to want to be God's messengers, serve God and even minister to others but not unless we get noticed doing it. It is my prayer we would all live our lives to serve God no matter what the reward. Angels.....
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6 comments:
1. That answers why we see the root word angel in evangelize.
2. As a former Christian Book store owner, Vickie and I can both tell you that a large majority of "Christians" idolize angels. They love buying the pictures of cute cuddly ones and books about them.
3. The common denominator that has always struck me through encounters in the bible is the shear terror of inhalation that grips anyone who comes in contact with an angel. So what does that tell us about people that see them today?
We were talking about this today. What about when Sara laughed at what the messengers told her. Did she know who they were?
Vickie
Joyce says....
Angels – God’s Secret Agents……Okay…..studying angels has answered many questions for me, but I also have some unanswered questions. Do angels always appear as males?? Reading Zechariah 5:9, it seems as at least once they appear as female…??? I also understand that angels in the Bible never appear as cute, chubby infants! They are always full-grown adults. As people in the Bible come in contact with angels they don’t reach out to tickle a cute infant, but they fall flat on their face in fear and awe. Angels were also “created” by God; they have not existed from all eternity. Angels are spirits and do not have physical bodies, but can take on the appearance of men (women?) How do angels compare to us and God?? They are greater in power and might than us, but are not omnipotent like God. They know all things that are in the earth, but are not omniscient. Angels are spirits, but not omnipresent. Are all angels good?? Wooo….ABSOLUTELY NOT….they appear as males, how could they all be good...JUST TEASING!! No, honestly, you can’t trust all, who are they working for…..all angels were originally good, but there are those that fell under the influence of satan. There is a great unseen conflict raging that goes beyond anything we can imagine and they’re not of equal or eternal forces. Kinda makes me think of the often seen representation of the angel on one shoulder and devil on the other. Remember that God is in charge and can use wicked angels for His purpose but will bring them to their final defeat. Huh….wonder what final defeat means for a wicked angel???
Angels have several jobs….worship and praise of God (first and foremost), revelations, guidance, provision, protection, deliverance, strength and encouragement, Gods means of answering prayers, caring for believers at the moment of death and whatever else God chose for them to do. Does sweet Aunt Pauline become an angel when she dies?? Does the small child that passes away at birth?? Does the pastor that is taken at an early age??? ABSOLUTELY NOT….angels is not glorified human beings. They do not marry or reproduce. Hebrews 12:22-23, gives a distinct separation of groups when it comes to angels and the spirits of righteous men made perfect. No new angels are being made and they don’t die or are not subject to any other form of extinction, so they do not decrease in number. So, I would say that with this knowledge, its all the more reason to be careful how you treat others, you never know (Hebrews 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”).
A few things I discovered about angels this week…
1. Angels are superior to humans, and very powerful.
2. Angels are inumberable.
3. Angels are spirits, but may take on many forms, especially human form.
4. Angels appearing in human form, have male traits, except in Zach. 5:9.
5. Angels possess free will, emotions, and intellect just like we do.
6. Angels never die.
7. Angels were created before the earth was.
8. Angels sometimes have wings and can fly.
9. Angels do not reproduce.
10. Angels are without gender.
11. Angels don’t marry.
12. Angels don’t grow or age.
13. Angels speak a unique language.
14. Angels may be “Guardians”, depending upon your interpretation of Matt. 18:10.
15. Angels may eat, depending upon your interpretation of Psalms 28:75.
16. Angels may sing, depending upon your interpretation of Job 38: 6,7.
17. Angels were involved in Christ’s birth, His temptation, His agony in the garden, His arrest, His resurrection, and His ascension.
18. Angels are involved in the life of the Church. Angels witness what we do for the Lord. Angels learn of God’s wisdom through the Church. Angels will be judged by the Church.
19. Angels are ranked, according to their responsibilities. I’m not arguing this, but the rank may be as follows. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. Their responsibilities are also debatable.
Questions:
1. Do fallen angels have a means of forgiveness?
2. How does man rank in relationship to angels? Angels are more powerful, but so are elephants. Does power equal authority? Man was made in God’s image and likeness. Angels were not. So is it God, Angels, Man, Animals?…….or is it God Man, Angels, Animals?
Vickie, I think Abraham and Sarah were entertaining the preincarnate Christ and two angels unaware. I don’t think they had at clue. By the way Abraham felt the same way in 17: 17. He just didn’t laugh aloud.
1. Angels do not have a means of forgiveness, thats why they marvel at man with the gospel
2. On earth man is lower than angels in our glorified bodies we will judge them.
John I would add to your list: Terrifying!
Who ever knew there was so much to learn about angels? I think most everyone believes in angels (even the Hollywood crowd) even when they do not believe in Jesus or at least don’t want to change their ways and live a Christian life. My thought is that they want to believe there is someone watching over them even if their drowning in sin.
I researched some of the questions that John asked – Why doesn’t God give the fallen angels a chance to repent? Because Lucifer and all the angels were continually in God’s presence and had a complete knowledge of the glory of God. Therefore, they had no excuse for rebelling against God and turning away from him. For Lucifer and the other angels to rebel despite what they knew about God is the utmost of evil, and this most likely results in God’s not giving Satan and the other fallen angels the opportunity to repent Second, God did not provide a plan of redemption for the angels as He did for mankind. The fall of the human race necessitated an atoning sacrifice for sin, and God provided the sacrifice in Jesus Christ. In that plan of redemption, God redeemed the human race and brought glory to Himself for His grace, love and mercy. Finally the Bible gives no reason to believe they would repent even if God did give them a chance (1 Peter 5:8). The fallen angels seem to be completely devoted to opposing God and attacking God’s people.
As for John’s second question—How does man rank in relationship to angels? I found the following information: First, angels were created as a higher order of creatures in the universe than humans are. Therefore, innately they possess greater knowledge. Second angels study the Bile and world more thoroughly than humans and do gain knowledge from it. Third, angels gain knowledge through long observation of human activities. Unlike humans, angels do not have to study the past, they have experienced it. So, angels have more knowledge than us. I still think the ranking would be God, man, angels because he made the ultimate sacrifice for us. We were created in God likeness and angels were created beings but yet so different from us. I guess this is another one of those lessons were we learn more about faith. We can never begin to understand the complexity of the heavens God created. I guess when we get to heaven we will have to ask.
Crystal
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