This summer, Stephen Hawking, the
wheelchair-bound physicist, helped launch a major new effort to search for
signs of intelligent alien life. “The new initiative is scheduled to operate for 10 years and will search for signs of non-naturally occurring communications in both radio frequencies and laser transmissions. The initiative will scan the 1 million stars closest to earth in the Milky Way, as well as the 100 closest galaxies.” At a media event for this project,
explaining why he thought it was important and why he was personally supporting
it, Hawking said, “We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know.”
Well, we do
know. We are not the only intelligent
beings in Creation. Apart from God Himself, there are also angelic beings. And
so today we are going to look at what Scripture tells us about these beings.
There is a lot we don’t know about angels. We do know that they are spiritual beings,
whose purposes include helping us:
We can safely say that there are different kinds of angels, although it’s not
entirely clear how big a distinction that really is. There’s a much bigger
difference between a lion and an elephant than between a blond-haired blue-eyed
person and a black-haired brown-eyed one. What we can say is that certain kinds
of angels are given different names describing their kinds.
One group are called in Scripture cherubim. The “im” is the Hebrew form of
a plural, much like how we add an “s.” So we have one cherub, but many cherubim. The
first mention of this kind of being is given after the fall and God’s
pronouncement of the punishment (the curse) on Adam and Eve.
After He
drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim
and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of
life. – Gen. 3:24
And so the purpose of these cherubim was
basically to serve as guards; to approach cherubim, at least for Adam and his
first generations of descendants, was to go where God said not to go. Between
the cherubim and the sword, the message was that to proceed was to die. If you
picture cherubim as cute chubby babies, I think you should probably reconsider.
It is interesting that God similarly
instructed the Israelites to depict cherubim on an atonement cover for the ark,
the ark in which the two tablets of the 10 commandments were to be placed:
Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half
cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.
Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other;
make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing
the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the
cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the
ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the
ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for
the Israelites. – Ex. 25:17-22
You can imagine
how solemn and even terrifying this prospect must have been for the Israelites,
who knew that cherubim were associated with the Eden events and the terrible consequences
of Adam’s sin. They had to understand that they were about to experience a
pivotal moment in history, apparently only the second such moment involving
cherubim. (It was their representations, this second time around, but the real
God was coming!) Cherubim were also to be depicted on the tabernacle (the ten
curtains surrounding the area of the ark) and on the special curtain that was
to separate the holy place from the most holy place. It was God’s own
instructions that these depictions be made. What was the message? Similar to
that of the cherubim at Eden: keep out! There were strict regulations about who
could enter the most holy place and when; the message was that to violate these
was to sacrifice your life.
It also served as
a warning to those other than Israelites; at the time of Samuel, as described in
I Samuel 4 through 6, the Philistines defeated Israel; the Israelites then
brought the ark into the camp where they were. The Philistines were terrified
when they saw the images of the Cherubim, understanding that “a god has come
into the camp.” They understood that this was the god who had destroyed the
Egyptians and they were afraid. They were right to be afraid, because capturing
the ark led to the destruction of their idol Dagon and to plagues on their
people. The Philistines moved it from city to city, and in each place, there
was more death. They finally sent the ark back to the Israelites, along with
gold made in the shapes of their plagues (rats and tumors).
As described in I Kings 6, Solomon also
had depictions of cherubim made when he built the Temple. These were carved in
wood, more than 10 feet high, and overlaid with gold. He also
had cherubim carved on the walls, on the door to the inner sanctuary, and on
the outer doors, similar to the depictions on the tabernacle.
In Ezekiel 1, the prophet Ezekiel has an
incredible vision involving a windstorm/firestorm – words fail here, and in the
fire were “what looked like” four living creatures. These creatures were
human-like but they each had four faces and four wings, with hands underneath
their wings. The faces were of a human, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. There were
also strange wheels, and above them was something “sparkling and awesome,” seemingly
a representation of God’s presence Himself. Ezekiel does not call these
creatures cherubim in this chapter, but in Ezekiel 9 he has another vision,
recognizes the same creatures, and because they seem to replace the statues of
cherubim in the temple, he calls them living
cherubim. Although not specifically called cherubim, we see similarly but not
identically described creatures in Revelation 4:
In the center, around
the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in
front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an
ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was
covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never
stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and
is to come.” – Rev. 4:6-8
Another kind of angelic being mentioned
are the seraphim; again, seraph is the singular form of the word.
Seraphim, from a root word meaning fiery, are only mentioned in Isaiah 6:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and
exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above
him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their
faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And
they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full
of His glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook
and the temple was filled with smoke. – Isaiah 6:1-4
But beyond cherubim and seraphim, most
discussions of angels in the Bible are of spiritual beings neither specifically
cherubim nor seraphim who can take various forms, but seemingly do not ordinarily
possess physical bodies. Normally they are invisible to us, but at special
times God gives some people a special ability to see them. Some examples:
Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the
angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he
bowed low and fell facedown. – Num. 22:31
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early
the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh
no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the
prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with
them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord,
so that he may see.” Then the Lord
opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and
chariots of fire all around Elisha. – 2 Kings 6:15-17
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But
the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will
cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You
will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great
company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his
favor rests.” – Luke 2:8-14
Scripture uses multiple words for angels
beyond, well, angels, including “sons of God” (Job 1:6, 2:1), “holy ones” (Ps.
89:5, 7), “spirits” (Hebr. 1:14), “watchers” (Dan. 4:13, 17, 23), and “thrones,”
“dominions,” “principalities,” and “authorities” (Col. 1:16).
Scripture is clear that angels are
organized such that some have authority and rule over others. Jude 9 mentions
one angel by name, Michael, and calls him an “archangel.” Michael is also
mentioned in Daniel 10:13 and there he is called “one of the chief princes.” He
is mentioned one more time in Rev. 12:7-8, and there, in the war against the
dragon, he is again described as a leader because it says “Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon.” One other verse that mentions an archangel
is I Thess. 4:16:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with
a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of
God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. – I Thess. 4:16
One other angel is mentioned by name,
Gabriel. He comes as a messenger to speak to Daniel in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21,
and he similarly comes as a messenger to speak to Zechariah and Mary in Luke 1.
He describes himself to Zechariah (before making him unable to speak because of
his unbelief) as follows:
The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the
presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good
news. – Luke 1:19
Angels are part of creation; that is, they
were created by God along with the rest of creation. They are not gods;
although they are clearly very powerful, they do have many limits that God does
not have. For example, they can only be in one place at one time; this is made
clear in Daniel when an angel says:
Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since
the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble
yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to
them. But
the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one
of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the
king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what
will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to
come.” – Dan. 10:12-14
This also shows that
angel’s power is limited and can be resisted (by other angelic beings, at least
– see also Revelation). 2 Peter 2:11 does describe angels as stronger and more
powerful than people, and Hebrews 2:6-8 (quoting Psalm 8) calls man created “a
little lower than the angels.” The implication of the Hebrews 2 passage (and
Psalm 8) is that man is not just lower in strength, but even in the “whole
package.” Given this fact, the following verse is pretty surprising:
If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare
to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s
people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not
competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that
we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! – I Cor. 6:1-3
Why is this? Why would God have us judge
angels? It is only His grace. In fact, this grace is evident now, in that, as
our first passage said,
Are not
all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
– Heb. 1:14
Angels, despite their superiority to us,
serve us because God wishes it. Ultimately it is all up to God, but perhaps
part of it is that whereas we are said to have been made in the image of God,
no such description is made of the angels. Perhaps too this helps to explain
why Christ died for us but not for the angels; 2 Peter 2:4 reminds us that God
did not spare angels when they sinned, but condemns them to hell, to be held
for judgment. It is among the mysteries of God why this is so, but it should
make us very sober-minded about the incredible and undeserved grace God has
shown to us through sending Jesus to die for our sins and redeem us.
Before moving on to talk about fallen
angels (demons), I want to give a few boundaries about what we think about
angels. First, we are warned not to worship angels. In the book of Revelation,
John started to do this and warned, “Don’t do that! I am a
fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the
testimony of Jesus.” (Rev. 19:10). Second, we are not to pray to angels. We
should only pray to God; Paul tells us,
For there is one God and one mediator between God and
mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for
all people. – I Tim. 2:5
To pray to an angel would put him in that
role of mediator. Scripture has no examples of praying to angels or even asking
angels for help; our help comes from God. He may choose to send angels or use
another means, but that is up to Him. And I would say it is an error to
actively seek out angelic experiences today. Again, God may choose to do this,
but our goal and desire should be to know God,
not angels.
Do angels still work today? I absolutely
believe so. Angels were very active in
Acts (see Acts 8:26, 10:3-6, 12:6-11, and 27:23-24), and note Hebrews 13:2
which says that by showing hospitality to strangers we might even entertain
angels without realizing it. But throughout scripture most of the work of angels
has been behind the scenes, and it is still true today. One other caution I
would add is that the idea that each person has a particular “guardian angel”
is not an idea we can find in Scripture. My personal opinion is that angels are
using zone rather than man-on-man defense.
With that being said, let’s look at fallen
angels, demons. In Genesis 1:31, God, after finishing His creation of the
world, saw everything He had made, and He declared it “very good.” But in
Genesis 3, we see Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempting Eve to sin. So
somewhere between creation and Genesis 3, there was a point in which Satan and
many other angels rebelled against God. Jude 6 describes them as the angels who
did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling,
and 2 Peter 2:4 describes them as “angels when they sinned”. Isaiah
14 also appears to refer to Satan’s fall:
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of
the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the
nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my
throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the
clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the
realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. – Isaiah 14:12-15
The context of
this passage is a reference to an earthly human king of Babylon, but this
language seems to go far beyond that, much like some of the Psalms seem at
first to refer to David but them seem to clearly point to the Messiah. Another
passage that at first seems to point to a king but goes far beyond that,
seemingly pointing to Satan’s fall is this:
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone
adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis
lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on
the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian
cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked
among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were
created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you
were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the
mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
– Ezek. 28:12-16
Satan is the name of the leader of the
demons. The Hebrew word satan means
adversary, or accuser. He is mentioned by name in Job, where he argues that Job
is only righteous because God has shielded him from trials. In I Chron. 21
Satan is named as the one who incited David to number Israel. In Zech. 3, the
prophet Zechariah has a vision of Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And in
the gospels, Satan is the one who tempts Jesus to sin.
The Bible has a number of other names for
Satan, the devil (in Matthew and Revelation), the serpent (in Genesis, 2
Corinthians, and Revelation), Beelzebul (in Matthew and Luke), the ruler of
this world (in John), the prince of the power of the air (in Ephesians), and
the evil one (in Matthew and I John).
John tells us that he was a murderer from
the beginning and is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44) and that he has
sinned from the beginning (I John 3:8). “From the beginning” should not be
taken to mean from the moment of creation, but that he sinned before man and
led man into sin.
In Old Testament times, the Israelites
often sinned by serving false gods, which may from one viewpoint been images
carved in wood and stone, but in reality, when people worshiped these things
they really worshiped demons. The Hebrew word shayd is translated false gods in the NIV, but it really means
devils. This word appears in the following verses:
They made Him jealous with their foreign gods and
angered Him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to false gods [shayd],
which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods
your ancestors did not fear. – Deut. 32:16-17
They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to
them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods [shayd]. –
Ps. 106:35-37
Satan’s goal really was (and is) to
destroy all the good works of God. It is not surprising then that worship of
demonic idols was often accompanied by child sacrifice, self-mutilation, and
cultic prostitution. Each of these activities reveals Satan’s hatred of the
body, soul, mind, and spirit of man. Each of these activities are as far from
loving God and loving your neighbor as you love yourself as one can get.
People were amazed when Jesus came on the
scene began casting evil spirits (that is, demons) out of people. This was
unprecedented and believed impossible. Jesus spoke on this, saying,
But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons,
then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or again, how can anyone enter a
strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the
strong man? Then he can plunder his house. – Matt. 12:28-29
By the "strong man," Jesus meant Satan. Jesus
was saying that He had in effect tied
up the strong man. He was plundering his house, freeing people from satanic
bondage and bringing them into “the kingdom of God.” And, really, He does this today any time an
unbeliever turns from his sin to faith in God, trusting Jesus for his
salvation. As it says in Galatians,
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves
to those who by nature are not gods. – Gal. 4:8
And in 2
Corinthians:
The god of this age has blinded the minds of
unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the
glory of Christ, who is the image of God. – 2 Cor. 4:4
But Jesus is, today, still in the business
of plundering the strong man’s house and carrying off his possessions. Praise
God!
C.S. Lewis makes a good point in the Screwtape Letters (an entire story told
from the point of view of demons trying to get people to sin):
"There are two
equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is
to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an
excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased
by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight."
I mention this because there is always a risk of imbalance when talking about demons and their power today. Are demons active in the world today? Absolutely! Our entire worldview as a country and as a world is being shaped and changed by demonic powers. This is true today and has been true throughout history. But at the same time, there are three sources of evil in the world, and demons are only one of them. (I am speaking of the world, the flesh, and the devil.) In fact, if I understand Revelation 20 correctly (which is a big if), demons seem to be bound and halted during the 1000 year reign of Christ, yet at the end of that reign, there will be plenty of sin and evil in the people who remain, enough so that they release Satan from his prison and invite him to lead the resulting rebellion.
There are some who think the answer to
every sin in a believer’s life is to determine the demon responsible and cast
that demon out, but I find it interesting that this is not the approach Paul
recommends, even to the very-messed-up Corinthian church in I Corinthians. In
regards to the factions and dissensions, Paul says to become united in spirit.
In regards to the problem of incest, Paul tells them to practice church
discipline until the offender repents. In regards to the believers suing each
other, Paul tells them to settle the cases within the church. In regards to the
disorder at the Lord’s Supper, Paul tells them to be patient, and he tells them
to each examine themselves before partaking of the bread and cup. In no case
does he suggest identifying and casting out demons. That isn’t to say that
demonic spirits and forces weren’t at work behind the scenes tempting people to
sin in all these ways; I have no doubt that they were. But the implication is
that casting out demons was not a normative behavior for believers. Many would
say that believers simply cannot be possessed. However, I think we need to be
careful with that word “possessed” because it doesn’t really appear in
Scripture. Can even believers be strongly influenced by demons? Absolutely!
For those who might swing too far the
other way, I would remind you of this passage from the book of Acts. Note that
this is not Jesus we are talking about, but one of His followers!
Those who had been scattered preached the word
wherever they went. Philip
went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they
all paid close attention to what he said. For with
shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame
were healed. So there was great joy in that city. –
Acts 8:4-8
And so understand this kind of activity
can and does accompany sharing the gospel. Many people who have shared the
gospel in third-world countries have stories along these lines.
Now the New Testament does give ample
instructions on how to resist the devil and his demons. We could spend an
entire message, or multiple messages, on this (and we have in the past). But I
will remind you of several verses you all should know. I would point out that
these verses should encourage you; they are powerful promises!
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and
he will flee from you. – James 4:7
Isn’t that an
amazing promise? The devil, that ancient serpent, flee from us? Yes! We are not
alone! The Holy Spirit is in us; God is with us; He sends angels to assist us.
We are far from alone! We have extraordinarily powerful friends. We need to
submit and resist. This is a both-and kind of thing. The verse right before
this speaks of humility. This is not something we do in our own strength, but
in brokenness, true repentance for our sin, repentance to God, not repentance
as a “concept.” We seek a relationship with Him, as we talked about last week.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the
world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. – 2
Cor. 10:4
What are these
weapons? They certainly include the “armor” mentioned in Eph. 6:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put
on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s
schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on
the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to
stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm
then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes
from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And
pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. –
Eph. 6:10-18
People often end this quote at verse
17, but I think verse 18 is equally essential. Pray!
From what I have read of Stephen
Hawking, I think he would reject most of what we have talked about today, even
though he has said that it is “perfectly rational” to expect that life exists
elsewhere. But I do find it interesting that although he greatly desires to
search the universe for alien life, he has also said that he doesn’t want to
meet them for fear that they would seek to destroy us. On that point he is also
correct, although not in the way he imagines!
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