Our duty as Christians is to disciple new
believers. The more new believers see our love for God and the Word, the more
their love will grow too! This is our responsibility!
For the past several weeks, we’ve been discussing angels and
demons. I’ve waited until we’ve finished everything to post, so this will
probably be long (but definitely good!). When discussing the realm of the
spiritual, we must be fully aware that there are two opposing armies warring
over our very souls. So as we begin, let us pray that we go through life with
eyes wide open.
*
2 Kings 6:15-17 - Now when the attendant of the man of God had
risen
early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots
was circling the city. And his
servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 So
he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are
with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then
Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord,
I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” 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.
ANGELS
- Defined as created, spiritual beings with moral judgment,
and high intelligence, but without physical bodies.
- They
haven’t always existed. Like humans, they are created beings. Unlike
humans,
they are not created in God’s image. They, like us were made purely
for God’s
pleasure.
**
How much more must God love us than the angels, since He chose
to
make us in His image!!
**
When Satan was cast out of heaven, God showed no mercy to him
and
the other angels who disobeyed. When man disobeys, God
continually
shows mercy!
- Their purpose:
1. They show God’s love and plan.
Angels are like humans in that they can
exercise
moral judgment and have high intelligence; therefore, we can
understand
much about God’s love and plan by studying the angels.
2. They are a reminder of the realness
of the unseen world. Scripture
frequently
calls our attention to angels, whether through actual visits from
angels or
descriptions of their characteristics.
-
Luke 2:13 - And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God.
* There is so much more
to Christianity than we can see
– there is a whole
spiritual realm!
3. They are an example of a correct
relationship with God.
*
Angels were created specifically to worship God.
Rev.
4:8-11 - 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,
“Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was
and who is and who is to come.”
9 And when
the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on
the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four
elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will
worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns
before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are
You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for
You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and
were created.”
*
Sola de gloria de Dios! – everything
for God’s glory
* The angels are
committed to serving God.
-
God is always faithful to us, so we should always praise Him!
*
Angels are faithful in their humility.
-
Is. 6:2-3 - Seraphim 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. 3 And one called out to another
and said,
Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of
hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”
* We are unworthy to
come before God, but we
are always welcome!
- The different types of angels:
1. Cherubim:
-
Gen. 3:24 - So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of
Eden
He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned
every
direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
-
Ps. 18:10 - He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon
the wings
of the wind.
-
Ez. 10:1-22 - Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over
the heads of the cherubim
something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne,
appeared above them. 2 And He spoke to the man
clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the whirling wheels under
the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the
cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my
sight.
3 Now the
cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man
entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then
the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold
of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud and the court was
filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. 5 Moreover,
the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court,
like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.
6 It came
about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from
between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood
beside a wheel. 7 Then the cherub stretched out his
hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim,
took some and put it into the hands of the
one clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 8 The
cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
9 Then I
looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each
cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of
a Tarshish stone. 10 As for their appearance,
all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another
wheel. 11 When they moved, they went in any
of their four directions without turning as they went; but they
followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they
went. 12 Their whole body, their backs, their
hands, their wings and the wheels were full of eyes all around, the wheels
belonging to all four of them.13 The wheels were called
in my hearing, the whirling wheels. 14 And each
one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub,
the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a
lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 Then the
cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river
Chebar. 16 Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels
would go beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from
the ground, the wheels would not turn from beside them. 17 When the
cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they
rose up, the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living
beings was in them.
18 Then the
glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and
stood over the cherubim. 19 When the
cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my
sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the
east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of
Israel hovered over them.
20 These
are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the
river Chebar; so I knew that they werecherubim. 21 Each
one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the
form of human hands.22 As for the likeness of their
faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river
Chebar. Each one went straight ahead.
- Assyrian
definition: something great and mighty
- Babylonian
definition: perpetual and blessed
- They are a
protective deity often found in pairs
- Associated with
fire and movement
- Surround God’s
throne and even hold the throne
2. Seraphim:
-
Is. 6:2-7 - Seraphim 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. 3 And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is
the Lord of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”
4 And
the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called
out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then
I said,
“Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one
of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken
from the altar with tongs.7 He touched my
mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips;
and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
-
The seraphim are in constant worship. Their one purpose is to stand
around
God’s throne calling out, “Holy Holy Holy!”
-
They surround God’s throne calling out God’s glory
**
We must always look on the holiness of God to realize our
own
wretchedness.
-
Hebrew definition: burning ones
*
They are burning with passion for God. They cannot stop
saying,
“Holy Holy Holy!”
**
We are able to come into God’s presence. We, too, should be
constantly
looking to God’s holiness and praising Him!
3. Living Creatures:
-
Ez. 1:5-14 - Within it there were figures resembling four living
beings.
And this was their appearance: they had human form. 6 Each
of
them had four faces
and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight
and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed
like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on
their four sides were human hands. As for the faces
and wings of the four of them, 9 their wings
touched one another; their faces did not turn when they
moved, each went straight forward. 10 As for
the form of their faces, each had the face of a
man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull
on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such
were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching
another being, and two covering their bodies. 12 And each
went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go,
without turning as they went. 13 In the midst of
the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals
of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings.
The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. 14 And
the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning.
-
Rev. 4:6 - and before the throne there was something 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.
-
These creatures are part human and part animal with multiple wings
and
eyes.
-
Their existence shows God’s majesty and creativity.
- The Bible also notes that there is rank among the angels.
Michael, the archangel, is the highest of the angels and is the leader of them.
The Bible does not state whether or not Michael is the only archangel.
- A Few Questions
about Angels:
* Are
angels everywhere? Angels are created beings. Just like humans, they
can only be
in one place at a time. Only God is omnipresent.
-
Daniel 10:12-14, Luke 1:26
* How many
angels are there? Scripture does not give us an exact number of
angels.
-
Deut. 33:2 – uses the phrase “ten thousands of holy ones”
-
Ps. 68:17 – states that the “chariots of God are tens of thousands of
thousands
of thousands”
-
Heb. 12:22 – says that the angels are “innumerable”
-
Rev. 5:11 – uses the phrase “myriads and myriads and thousands of
thousands”
to indicate an amazingly large number of angels
* Do people
have individual guardian angels? There is no specific place in
Scripture that states every person
has one guardian angel. It does, however, say that one job of the angels is to
provide protection. Grudem gives this athletic analogy: “The angels may be
playing ‘zone’ rather than ‘man-to-man’ defense.” They come when they are sent;
they aren’t hovering around us waiting for the moment to come to our rescue.
*** If you have more questions
about angels, please leave a comment, and I’ll be sure to do some research on
it. ***
Satan and Demons
Is. 14: 12-15 - “How you
have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
- Demons defined – evil angels who sinned against God and
who now continually work evil in the world.
- 2 Pet.
2:4 - God did not spare angels when they sinned, but
cast them
into hell
and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.
**
God didn’t spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into
hell.
How much greater must God love us, for He doesn’t cast us off
immediately
when we sin.
- Jude 6 - And angels
who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned
their
proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the
judgment of
the great day.
- Satan’s main pursuit is to be better than God. Since God’s
main pursuit is to display his own glory, they are in constant battle.
- 1 Chron. 21:1 - Then Satan stood up against Israel and
moved David to number Israel.
- Satan
constantly stands against those whom God loves.
- Zech. 3:1 - Then he showed me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his
right hand to accuse him.
- Satan is
the accuser. He stands ready to point out our sins crying, “Guilty!
Shameful!
Unworthy!”
- The name Satan means adversary. In every way he is the
enemy. His purpose is to oppose every work of God.
* He and
the demons are limited by God’s control and are helpless in
comparison
to God’s power!
- They can only go so far. Every
temptation or trial caused by this evil realm cannot happen without God’s
permission (i.e. Job). We can always remember 1 Cor. 10:13 - No
temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is
faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but
with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be
able to endure it.
- Nature of Satan:
- He is a deceptive tempter. Gen. 3:1-6 - Now the serpent was
more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat
from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman
said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may
eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in
the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it,
or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman,
“You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in
the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and
that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from
its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
- He is a murderer and a liar. John 8:44 - You are of your father
the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there
is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his
own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
- He is a sinner from the beginning. 1 John 3:8 - the one who
practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the
beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy
the works of the devil.
** We have all the same characteristics before grace!
- Characteristics shared by Satan and the Demons:
- Desire failure. Matthew 4:1-11 - Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And
after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became
hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him,
“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But
He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” 5 Then
the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle
of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the
Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels
concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So
that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus
said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the
Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took
Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and
their glory;9 and he said to Him, “All these things I
will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then
Jesus said to him,“ Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord
your God, and serve Him only.’” 11 Then the
devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to
minister to Him.
- Gains joy through destruction. Rev. 12:9 - And the
great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the
devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he
was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
- They blind people and keep them in bondage. 2 Cor. 4:4 - in whose
case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- They enslave people. Gal. 4:8 - However at that time, when you
did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no
gods.
- Longs to devour us. 1 Pet. 5:8-11 - Be of sober spirit, be
on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But
resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the
same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who
are in the world. 10 After you have
suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called
you to His eternal glory in Christ, will
Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish
you. 11 To Him be dominion forever
and ever. Amen.
- Incapable of competing with God’s power. James 4:7 - Submit
therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
- Luke 9:1 - And He called the
twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to
heal diseases.
- Luke 10:17 - The seventy
returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in
Your name.”
** The realm of the spiritual
is real and powerful. We must acknowledge its existence as well as its power. Scripture
is our greatest ally. We learn from Scripture how to praise God like the angels
and how to defeat Satan and his demons with the powerful two-edged sword!
* Please leave a comment if there is a question you want answered. I'll do my best to research it and post as quickly as possible!
Notes for this lesson were taken from Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology and the NASB.
