What Are Angels?
Angelology
We have officially reached October! This month is definitely a month that I have planned for a while and is one that I am looking forward to studying with you all. Of course, this month is when fall really sets in and everyone seems to look forward to spooky season in our culture. So what better month to study angels and demons than the month of October? That’s right, all throughout this month we will be dissecting what God’s Word tells us about angelology and demonology and how this applies to us today. Every Tuesday we will be discussing and studying a certain aspect of angels and every Thursday we will study that exact same principle about demons. So as we kick off today asking, ‘What are angels?’, you can correctly assume that this Thursday we will be breaking down, ‘What are demons?’. The final week is one that I really look forward to as well. With it being a shortened week and Halloween falling on a Tuesday, we take that day to look at the most dreaded question of all which deals with Christians and Halloween.
Gathering all the knowledge we’ve accumulated over the weeks, we will end October talking about the relationship Christians should have with this holiday. Should we stop freaking out all the time a Christian allows their kid to go trick-or-treating? Or was your mama actually on to something when she didn’t want you to partake in this demon-worshiping day? We will discuss all this at the end of the month, but for now, let’s dive into today’s study. What are angels? Are they people who have died and passed on into eternal life? Can we or should we pray to them? What even is their purpose? All of these questions about angels can have a clearer answer when we first realize what angels actually are. Dr. Wayne Grudem describes angels as ‘created beings with moral judgments and high intelligence, but without physical bodies.’ Dr. John MacArthur has a similar description of these beings when he lists out 3 concepts of Holy Angel realities. Those 3 concepts are intellect, emotions, and will. All 3 of these aspects of angels are backed by scripture and fit Dr. Grudem’s definition to a T. With that being said, let’s see what scripture has to say about the reality of angels.
Intellect & Emotion
Nehemiah 6:9 is one of the most telling passages about angels. It says, “6 “You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them.” Here we can clearly see that angels have not always existed. These ‘hosts of heaven’ even had a beginning and they were created by God Himself, just as everything else was. These are not eternal beginning beings or gods. This is vital to understand because if angels were eternal from the start, one could argue that the Christian faith is not monotheistic and that we serve and worship a plethora of gods. However, this is not the case, because even angels had a beginning. When it comes to intellect, we can see that while these beings are not as wise as God, knowing everything, God has given these spiritual beings incredible wisdom in comparison to mankind.
Many times when angels appear, they introduce themselves by telling the said person they are conversing with to ‘not be afraid’. Not only that, but these beings will oftentimes claim they are sent by God and show this by either stating a fact about a person that no stranger could possibly know or by foretelling what will happen in this person’s life according to God’s plan. Matthew 28:5-6 is a perfect description of this. “5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” Angels are indeed created beings and are not omniscient like our Lord, but their intellect and knowledge as spiritual beings who accompany God in the heavens far surpass ours. Even from an emotional standpoint, we can see angels are joyful, fearful, and offer praise. Dr. MacArthur notes, “Angels are joyful over the repentance of sinners (Luke 15:10). They fear God in worship with awe, wonder, and respect (Heb.1:6). They also find God preeminently praiseworthy (Ps.148:2; Luke 2:13-14).”
Physicality & Morality
What about the physical aspect of angels? As Dr. Grudem notes earlier in his definition, we see that angels are without physical bodies. Does this mean they can never take a physical form or be visible to the human eye? Not at all. We see angles show up throughout the bible all the time revealing themselves to human beings with some sort of physical appearance. We can see from examples like Sodom and Christ’s tomb that angels can choose to reveal themselves. On the contrary, we also see examples like the story of Balaam in Numbers 22 and Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6 that angels can choose to remain invisible to the human eye. This is because as heavenly hosts of God’s Kingdom, these beings are not limited by physical boundaries that we are limited by. We can see this further when we notice that angels are without gender (Matt.22:30), multilingual (1 Cor.13:1), and are immortal in their future existence. This is seen nowhere clearer than in Luke 20:36. When talking about salvation, Jesus Himself notes, “36 for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Finally, we see that angels have a will. This will is a great desire to worship God.
Revelation 5:11-12 paints a beautiful picture of this. “11 Then 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, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” We can see from these aspects alone that angels are immortal in the future and their desire is to worship at all times. Even fallen angels (demons) will not experience death and will be left to worship their god (themselves, Satan). More on this Thursday. For now, I hope through this study of God’s Word, we can see angels more clearly from a physical, spiritual, and moral aspect, that far surpasses us, but never surpasses our Lord. These beings are created by God as spiritual beings and hosts with Him in the heavens. Their intellect, emotion, and will show exactly what they were created for, and that purpose is what we will discuss next week. Today, however, may we study God’s Word in awe of these creatures and prepare for this Thursday as we tackle what demons really are.
Sources
[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023.
[2] Grudem, W. (1994). Systematic Theology : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA79455700
[3] MacArthur, John & Mayhue, Richard. A Systemic Summary of Bible Truth: Biblical Doctrine. Wheaton, Crossway, 2017
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