Transcription
This morning is week two, and our series on the subject of angels and demons. Now, last week I explained why it's important to study angels and demons. And basically, there are two reasons.
The first reason is because it helps us to understand the world around us. You see, we wouldn't be them, we wouldn't be in the mess that we're in if it wasn't for Satan, because he played an important role in the fall of man. But he's also playing an important role in the world today. It wasn't just back then. In fact, according to Paul, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places. So we need to know what we're fighting against and how we can win when we are experiencing this battle.
The second reason it's important to study angels and demons, it's because there is an invisible world all around us, and most of us aren't even aware of that, because it's in a different dimension. But people, it is real, and it impacts us every day. You see, sometimes we think that if it's spiritual, then it's not real. But I assure you that it is. In fact, if you could see into that other dimension, you'd realize just how real it is, and we're going to talk about that at the end of the sermon this morning.
Now, we're gonna study angels this morning, and hopefully, we'll be able to move on to the subject of demons next week. And then after demons, we're going to talk about the spiritual armor of God. So let's begin with the basics. And what are the basics? Well, what are angels? Anyone know? What are angels? Well, if you look it up, you're probably not going to get the definition that I'm going to give you. But let me tell you first what they're not, because if I just tell you what they are, then I'm really not going to come in and help you with the confusion that most people have. So let me begin by telling you what angels are not.
They are not the souls of the dearly departed. The belief that they are can be traced back to a man by the name of Emanuel Swedenborg. He taught that God never created angels as a separate race of supernatural beings. Instead, human beings turn into angels when they die, if they're going to heaven, and demons if they're going to hell. Now, he based his teaching on the fact that the creation story in Genesis doesn't mention angels. In fact, he made the claim that nowhere in the Bible does it ever mention that God created angels. Therefore, it's logical to assume that people turn into angels when they die, unless, of course, they're going to hell, and in that case, they turn into demons.
Now, here's what's interesting. Emanuel Swedenborg, who lived from 1688 to 1772, wasn't a theologian. In fact, he wasn't even a pastor. Instead, he was an inventor/scientist. But on April the 6th, 1717, he began having dreams and visions which culminated in this spiritual awakening inside of him, whereby he received revelation, but he was supposed to reform Christianity. Yeah, right. Well, according to him, the Lord opened his spiritual eyes, and from that time on, he could freely visit heaven and hell whenever he wanted to. And he also had this supernatural ability to be able to talk with angels and demons.
Now, just about everyone who knew him thought he was mentally ill. And he was mentally ill because he talked about conversing with spirits from Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Venus, and the moon. In fact, he believed that all of the planets in our solar system were inhabited by another race of people. But he also wrote a book, and this book was entitled Heaven and Hell. And in this book, he laid out his belief that human beings become angels when they die, unless, of course, they're going to hell, and in that case, they turn into demons. But what he taught caught on with people who were irreligious, people who were skeptics of the Bible, people who were agnostic. And today, you still have people who believe what he taught. They don't believe anything else that he taught, because of course, he was crazy, he was mentally ill. But they believe the part about humans turning into angels when they die.
Now, had he actually studied his Bible rather than relying on his dreams, visions, and conversations with the spirits, he would have found that angels were created before God ever laid the foundation to this world. Look with me, if you would, in the book of Job, chapter 38, verses 4 through 7, and I'll show you what I'm talking about. Now, in this particular passage of scripture, God is talking to Job. You know, Job has been complaining. I think we can safely say that if we'd been in Job's situation, we would have been complaining too. But the main reason that he was complaining is because Job believed that we're rewarded by our righteousness, that the reason we get to go to heaven is because we've kept God's commandments, we've kept his laws. Now, of course, Job was written before the Mosaic Law, but there was also this moral law that everyone believed, and he believed that by his works, he could earn God's favor. And so, good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people. So when these bad things start happening to him, he starts complaining. So the, so at this point in the book, God's having a conversation with Job, and this is what he says, or this is what he asks Job: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined the dimensions and stretched out their surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone? As the morning stars sang together, and all the angels shouted for joy."
So, as you can see, the angels were created before God ever laid the foundation to the earth, the cornerstone, because they were rejoicing as he was creating the earth. And yes, the Bible states that God created them as a separate race of supernatural beings. Look with me, if you would, in the book of Psalms, chapter 48, verses 2 and 5. It says, "Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created." In other words, they didn't turn into angels; they were created to be angels.
In fact, had Emanuel Swedenborg continued reading in his Bible after he finished the creation story in Genesis chapter 3, he would have came across the story of the fall of Adam and Eve. Now, Adam and Eve failed before they ever had any children. And so when they failed, God expelled them from the Garden of Eden. But when he expelled them, he actually placed two cherubim there to guard the way to the Tree of Life, lest they came to the Tree of Life, ate of the Tree of Life, and lived in that sinful condition forever. Now, up to this point, no human being had ever died. No one had ever been born yet. Cain and Abel were not born at this time. They sinned before any children were ever born, before any human being ever died. And yet, there were cherubim. Why? Because the Bible clearly tells us that the angels were created before the earth was created. Does that make sense?
Now, what's sad is we still have people today that believe that we turn into angels when we die. I know it's ludicrous, but there are still people today that believe that. In fact, let me read two points for you that are commonly printed in the handouts that you normally receive when you go to a funeral. You know what I tell you who's officiating the service? Sometimes it has the obituary in it. And I've always wondered, as a pastor, why if they have the obituary in the handout, why do we read the obituary when we're doing the funeral service? And we'll know why, because the family wants to see their names and they want to hear it read. So we do that. Anyway, we do that in the South. They don't do that in the North. But anyways, normally in this handout that you receive, sometimes there's a poem. Let me read the two most common poems that are put in, and I see them all the time. I do quite a few funerals. Notice the first one: "Heaven needed an angel, and God had sent for you. You're gone from me forever, now what am I to do? I miss you now like never before, but I have to let you go. I will never forget you, and this I need you to know. My heart it broke with sadness for the one that I adore. When our Heavenly Father sent for you, He must have needed you more." So heaven needed a new angel, and that's why they died. That's what the poem is basically saying, right? Yeah.
Here's another poem. This is probably the second most common poem that you'll find in the handouts. Here it is: "Heaven has a new angel. Your pain is gone. Your stay was short. Your memory will last forever. But so many you were loved by all. Bear for us we were about to fall, and angels whisper, 'Your words will be our new guardian angel.' You will be. Heaven has a new angel." You know, every time I read those type of poems, I just cringe because I know that when we die, we don't turn into angels. People, we don't get wings, we don't get a halo, we're not issued a harp, we're not gonna be floating around on the clouds all day long. No, that's, that's what, that's not what's gonna happen. People, we were born as humans, and we die as humans, and we're gonna remain as humans after death. Yes, we receive a glorified body, but it's a glorified human body, an immortal, extra-dimensional body.
In fact, let me expand on that just for a second. When you die, let me tell you what happens. Your soul goes to heaven, but your body goes into the ground, and it begins to, let's just be honest, right away, it begins the corruption process and begins to disintegrate. But one day, when Jesus returns, and we're not talking about his physical return when he's on the earth, we're talking about the rapture, when he brings all of those who died with him, the souls that have died, back to him. He is going to do what we know as the rapture, and all of the people who have died who are believers, their body is going to be resurrected to join in to meet the Lord in the air, and their body is going to be joined and reunited with their soul. And at that point, everyone is going to have their glorified, immortal, extra-dimensional body. Now, the Christians that are on the earth at that time, they're going to be caught up in the air to meet the Lord in the air, and their bodies are going to be changed. Our bodies are going to be changed into glorified, immortal, extra-dimensional bodies. Now, why in the world do we need this body? Because when Jesus does return, he's going to rule on this earth for a thousand years, and we're gonna rule and reign with him. So we're gonna have the type of body that's able to operate in the spiritual realm, but also able to operate in this three-dimensional world. Yeah, and that's what the Bible teaches.
So, what are angels? If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. It's kind of a lengthy definition, so I'm going to say it twice. Angels are celestial beings created by God to serve Him in different capacities, depending upon what type of angel they are. Let me say that again. Angels are celestial beings created by God to serve Him in different capacities, depending upon what type of angel they are. There's not just one type of angel; there are many different types of angels. They serve in different capacities because they have different purposes or different functions.
Now, when I say that they are celestial beings, what I mean by that is that they are supernatural, spiritual beings that exist and what we call the spiritual realm. But as I said last week, the spiritual realm is in a different dimension than us. It's in a higher dimension, and that's why we can't see them unless they manifest themselves in our three-dimensional world. And sometimes angels do that. They are able to exist and even manifest themselves in this three-dimensional world, but their normal habitation is in the spiritual realm.
Now, let me give you some facts about angels. First of all, there's a hierarchy when it comes to angels. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verse 16, and I'll show you what I'm talking about. It says, "For through him, who is him? Jesus Christ. For through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth." You see, Jesus existed before the incarnation. Jesus has always existed. That's why we worship Him. He's part of the Godhead, part of the Trinity, and he was never created. Jesus always existed. But he humbled himself, made himself of no reputation, and he came in the form of a man. That's what the incarnation is all about. That's why we celebrate Christmas. But you need to understand something: everything that was created in this world, the things that we see, the things that we don't see, they were created by Jesus. Now, here it is, and notice this: "For through Jesus, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things that we can't see." What are the things that we can't see? Well, now he's going to list them: "such as thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers in the unseen world." Everything was created through Him and for Him.
Now, if you study the Greek words for thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, you'll see that this is a ranking of angels in descending order. You have thrones at the top, and then you have dominions, and then you have principalities, and way down at the bottom rung of the ladder, you have powers. Now, let me go a little bit more in depth in this. Thrones is the Greek word *thronos*, and that's referring to Archangels. So the ones at the top, thrones are at the top. All right? It's the Greek word *thronos*, and they're Archangels. Dominions is the Greek word *kurios* and *kyriotes*. It refers to the angels that rule over nations or large geographical areas. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Daniel, chapter 10, verse 3, and I'll show you what I'm talking about. Everyone remembers this. Daniel has been praying, but it takes three weeks before the angel, or before his prayers are answered. But notice what it says: "But for twenty-one days the prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was left there with the king of Persia." Now, of course, if you read this in context, you realize that this is referring to a demonic spirit. But this demonic spirit holds the very same rank as a *kyriotes*, because it means lord or ruler over a kingdom. And as you read this, you realize this *kyriotes* is ruling over the kingdom of Persia. Yeah. But this is why the NLT translates it as kingdoms. If you read the NLT and you're reading Colossians chapter 1, verse number 16, and it's giving you the ranking of angels in descending order, the second one will say kingdoms, why? Because it's the Greek word *kurios*, and it's referring to the type of angels that rule over a kingdom or a very large geographical area. Do you realize that there are demons that rule over America? Yeah, or trying to influence the rulers. That's what was happening there.
Then you have principalities, which is *archē* in Greek. They rule over smaller geographical areas, like a state or a province. And finally, you have powers, which is *exousia* in the Greek. They're either individual angels or those who rule over localities, like neighborhoods. So, as you can see, there's a hierarchy among the angels with different ranks and different classifications. And of course, we're going to find this out next week when Lucifer fell, and you had a third of the angels follow him. Those classifications, those ranks remain the same, but it also gives us insight into which of the angels followed him and which of the angels did not. But anyways, that's next week.
Anyway, now we know for a fact that Michael is an archangel. Turn to the book of Jude, verse number 9, and I'll show you how we know that. Here's what it says: "But even the Archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" Now, the word Archangel is translated from the Greek word *archangelos*, and *archangelos* is a compound word that simply means that's made up of more than one word. In this case, it's made up of two words: the word *archē*, which means to rule or to lead, to be the chief, in other words, the head honcho. When you see *archē*, it means he's the leader, the head honcho. And then you have *angelos*, which means angel. Now, you'll see a lot of theologians saying that angel means messenger. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it simply means representative. So we can't always say that. Now, if it refers to a human being, because sometimes they're referring to human beings, angels, and they'll use that word *angelos*, then in that case, it does mean messenger. But it does not always mean messenger. Basically, what it means is representative. All right? Now, when you combine these two words, it literally means the chief angel, or the lead angel, or the one who rules over other angels. So Michael is the top guy when it comes to the angels who are warriors. That's the category of angels that Michael is over. In fact, he's the leader of God's angelic army. Look at Revelation chapter 12, verses 7 through 8, and I'll show you what I'm talking about. Notice what it says: "Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven."
Now, notice that it says, "Michael and his angels," indicating that they're underneath his command. We do that today, you know? If you go back to World War II, you talk about Patton's army, or John MacArthur's army. Or you might talk about Admiral Nimitz's fleet or his navy. Or today, you know, or Desert Storm, it was Schwarzkopf's army. Now, let's be honest, those armies were not Schwarzkopf's, they weren't Patton's, they weren't John MacArthur's. Now, the United States of America. But why do they say Patton's army? Why do they say things like that? Well, I'll tell you why, it's because they're under his command. And so when it says, "Michael and his angels," what it's telling you is he's the general, he's the top guy when it comes to the angels that are warriors. He is the person over God's angelic army.
Now, Daniel tells us that Michael is just one of the chief princes, which means that there are other chief princes, or what Jude would call Archangels. Turn with me, if you would, back to the book of Daniel, chapter 10. This time, let's read verse 13. I'll show you what I'm talking about: "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." This implies that there are other Archangels, but we're not told who they are.
I grew up hearing that there were three Archangels. How many grew up hearing that there were three Archangels? Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer, until he fell, right? How many grew up hearing that? I mean, never heard that? What church did you go to? Oh, you didn't go to church? Okay, that's all right. You're in church now. I'll tell you what else I heard growing up. I heard that there were three Archangels, and basically these three Archangels actually were head over the different angels that represented by the Godhead. You had God, and his Archangel was Michael. You had the Holy Spirit, and its Archangel, shouldn't say it, but it's actually neuter in Greek, so we say it, so it's Archangel was who? Gabriel, right? And then you had the Morningstar, you had Jesus, and who would his Archangel be? Lucifer. And so when Lucifer fell, that's why Jesus was the one in the Trinity, Jesus was the one in the Godhead that had to come and suffer for us and die on the cross, pay for our sins so that we could go to heaven, because it was his Archangel that failed. I've ever heard that one? No one? I don't know where I was, but I heard some crazy things.
But anyways, for those of you heard that there were three Archangels, and they were, of course, Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer. I hate to burst your bubble. The Bible doesn't say that Gabriel is an Archangel. We get that from the Book of Enoch, and Jewish tradition says that there are seven Archangels, and Gabriel just happens to be one of the seven. But Michael is actually the only one that's listed in the Bible that's named and we're told is an Archangel. So we really don't know the names of the other Archangels. Gabriel might be one, but we're really not sure. In fact, the reason we think that is because of the Book of Enoch, as I said, and because of Jewish tradition. And Lucifer was never an Archangel, or so it seems. Maybe he was, maybe not. But the Bible never says that he was. The Bible categorizes him as a cherub.
Turn with me, if you would, to the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 28, verses 13 through 16. I'm gonna prove this to you. If you remember, this was the passage of scripture we read last week. In the very beginning of this passage, starting in verse number 1, Ezekiel chapter 28, he is actually addressing the king of Tyre, or the prince of Tyre. That's a physical human being. But then when it gets to verse number 13, he starts addressing someone else, even though he calls him the king of Tyre, who he's now talking about is Satan, or Lucifer, because he wants us to understand, he does this quite frequently in the Bible in the Old Testament. He wants us to understand that there are demonic influences that's behind these people in authority or power. And so, let's read this starting in verse 13, we're going to 16. "You were in Eden, the garden of God." So you can see who this is talking about. This is talking about Lucifer, who we would call Satan. "Every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of your settings and your mountings was prepared on the day that you were created." That's why some theologians believe that he led worship in heaven. Let's keep going. "You were the anointed cherub that covers, and I have set you so. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you." Wow. Who could this be? Only one person. He's talking about Lucifer, Satan. Then it goes further: "By the multitude of your iniquities, in your trafficking, you filled your marketplaces with violence, and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire."
In verses 14 and 16, we're told that Lucifer was a cherub, and cherubim are guards. Now, I want you to understand the difference between a cherub and a cherubim. A cherub is singular. So if you're only talking about one, it's cherub. If there's more than one, you don't say cherubs, you say cherubim, because cherubim is the plural of cherub. So the Bible tells us that Lucifer was a cherub, and cherubim are guards. If you remember, I've already talked about this. When Adam and Eve sinned, cherubim were placed at the east end of the garden to guard the Tree of Life, so that Adam and Eve would not sneak back in, eat of the Tree of Life, and then live forever in their sinful condition. So they were placed there to guard the tree. That's no longer necessary. We'll never know where the Garden of Eden was. You can speculate all that you want, but after the flood, new rivers could have been created, all the topography changed. So we have no idea where the original Garden of Eden was. But this passage of scripture tells us that Lucifer was the anointed cherub that covered God's throne. So there's a possibility that he was one of the chief princes before he rebelled. So he could have been over all of the cherubim, which would make him an Archangel. But we really don't know for sure. If you speculate, he probably was an Archangel, and his responsibility, just like Michael's was over the angelic army of God, his job was to be head over all of the guards, the cherubim. Anyways, that's just speculation. But that's the first fact that I wanted to give you about angels: there's rank and order among the angels, and there are different classifications of angels with different functions.
As you read through the Bible, we won't go through this, you'll find out there are those of their hosts of the army. That word host is a military term. It means that there are warriors. Then you have messengers, and then you have cherubim, which are guards, and then you have seraphim, and then you have what the Bible calls living beasts, and then there's a few more Christian creatures that would probably all fall underneath this. So we know that there's probably six, possibly more, different classifications of angels. But that's the first thing you need to know about angels: there are different ranks and different classifications.
Now, let's move on to the next fact about angels. Angels have superhuman strength and intelligence. Psalms chapter 103, verse 20 says that angels excel in strength. Notice what it says: "Bless the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word." Now, the word strength in the Hebrew is *oz*, or I should say, the word strength is translated from the Hebrew word *oz*, and it refers to physical strength. So they have superhuman strength. They excel in physical strength. Second Thessalonians chapter 1, verse number 7, refers to them as powerful angels, and again, this is referring to physical strength. They are powerful, and the Greek word for powerful is *dunamis*. Our our English word dynamite is transliterated from this Greek word. Now, what do we do with dynamite? We blow things up, we bring things down, we crush things, we blow it apart, we move mountains, we split mountains, we make mountains. In fact, most of you don't know this, but we're built on a rock here. Yes, the rock of Jesus Christ. But when we decided to build this building, we bought this twenty acres. It literally was a hill up here. You can see it as you look back here, you can see how we went down, then we flattened this out, and then we took all of this rock and we pushed it in for a parking lot. This is the only place we could really build, or at the other end of our property. We owned 20 acres here because that's where the rocks were. Well, here's what's interesting. We brought a dozer in here, and we couldn't even scratch the rocks. So we had to pay $75,000 for a person to come in and blast. They drilled all these holes, they put all this dynamite down, and let me tell you, it was a process because this was after, of course, 9/11, and you know, after then, you couldn't go down to Master's Hardware and just buy dynamite anymore. How many remember being able to do that? Go fishing? Yeah. Anyways, blasting it. But that's what dynamite does. But you need to understand what Paul is saying when it refers to them as powerful angels. What it means is they can move mountains. These people are maybe they have supernatural strength. In fact, it only took one angel to roll back the stone at Jesus' tomb. That was a three to four man job, because the average stone at the entrance of a tomb was 4,000 pounds, two tons. It normally took three to four men to do that. Look at Matthew chapter 28, verses 2 and 3. It says, "And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow."
Now, do you see that? One angel rolled back the stone and sat on it like no big deal. Now, you really don't understand this unless you ever go to Israel, you get a chance to go study the way they did this. They would carve out for a tomb, they would carve out of solid stone, kind of a cave, and it literally had two places in it, many times it had six or seven, because sometimes you had multiple people in the family died. But they were those were family tombs. So when a person died, you would actually put them in, and they would lay it down here, you would anoint them and do everything you needed to, and then you'd roll the stone over. And in about six months, you would go back because of the environment of the climate there, they'd be completely gone except for the bones. And then you would gather the bones and then you would stack them in another room, and all of the father's bones would be there, or all of the family's bones would be there. In fact, that's why the Bible says they were gathered unto their fathers. What that meant is they were buried, and then when all of the flesh and all of the other gunk had already corrupted and was gone, and all you had bones, you went back and you gathered them to their fathers, you placed them in all of the family's bones. But here's what's interesting. You didn't want that smell coming from these tombs. So when they carved this out, they also carved out this huge stone, and it would roll over the opening to the tomb. Now, to keep that 4,000 pound stone from falling out or from tipping, they also would carve into the stone this groove, and it was pretty deep, and it was the groove that the stone would roll in. It would keep it from falling out. Everyone with me? But you didn't want it to just roll really easy. So right in front of the opening to the tomb, you were coming, and you would carve out what was called the seat, and you would seat the stone. So literally, it was sitting down in this little place that was carved out. So in order to move the stone, you had to push it up to get it out of the seat and rolling down. Now, something weighs 4,000 pounds. Let me tell you, one man couldn't do it. Two men usually couldn't do it unless it was closer to one ton, maybe if they were strong, they could. Normally, it took four men. You had one man that would get down low, you had another that would get down mid-level, and you had someone that's got a high, and then on the other side, they usually had a hole drilled in that they took a metal bar and put in, and these people would pull as someone pushed. Now, the Bible tells us that this angel comes down and he moves the stone, and then he sits on it like it's no big deal. He's sitting on top of it. That's how strong angels are.
Yeah, they also have superhuman intelligence. Turn to Matthew chapter 24, verse 36. And I'll show you what I'm talking about: "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen—not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Now, the implication is angels know just about everything, but they don't know that they don't know when Jesus is going to come back. But do you see what I'm talking about? It's like, wow, even the angels don't know that. And the reason this makes this so special is because, man, the angels know everything. Yeah, people, they were with God when he created this earth. They were with God when he created Adam and Eve. They've always been here. In fact, we're gonna find this out in just a minute. They're called watchers. They've seen everything. There's nothing new for them. Just like it says there's nothing new under the sun, those angels know it, and they know it all. And so to emphasize just how stinking smart these guys are, it says, "even the angels don't know that," because the implication is they know just about everything. In fact, let me show you something interesting, because there's one thing that really puzzles angels. I mean, you know what it is that puzzles angels? Well, let me show you. Turn with me, if you would, to First Peter chapter 1, verses 10 through 12. It says, "Concerning this salvation—in other words, concerning salvation—so this passage of scripture is talking about salvation. So now you know what I'm going to talk about. They, you know, it really puzzles angels. Salvation. And I'll show you what puzzles them about it just a second. Let's keep reading. "Concerning this salvation the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and the circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah." Wow. Now keep reading. "And the glories that would follow." What are the glories that follow the sufferings of the Messiah? Why did Jesus die on the cross? Why did he descend into hell? Why did he have to suffer those things? So that we might be saved. That's the glory that follows the Messiah's suffering. So this is all talking about salvation. Let's keep reading. "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you." What's the gospel? It's all about salvation. Jesus died for you. Jesus so went to hell for you. He paid the penalty for you. God raised him from the dead, and now you get a chance to go to heaven because of what Jesus has done for you. But let's see what else it says. "By those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." In other words, salvation is of particular interest to angels. It's like, I can't grasp it. But do you want to know why they can't seem to grasp salvation? It's because they can't understand why God would want to save such stupid, weak creatures. Think about it. These angels have superhuman strength, they have super intelligence, they do what God wants. Yes, there's a third of them that rebelled, they've been cast down, they're fallen. But the ones that follow God continue on. They're watching God create this earth. They're watching God create Eve. They're watching all of this take place. And think about this: they're watching you right now, many of you fall for the very same sin over and over again. You just keep circling that mountain, remember? Yeah. And every time you do, "Oh God, forgive me." And the angels go, "Really? Couldn't you learn about it from the first time and stop doing it?" And then there's some of you, they're just whiners. "Oh God, what this happened to me?" And angels are going, "Really?" And so they've been watching all of this, and they still can't quite grasp why God would love these stupid, weak creatures called humans. To love them so much that he sent Jesus, his own Son, to come in the form of a human, to come as a human, to become our sin, die for us on the cross, descend into hell, pay the penalty for our sin, and then be resurrected so we could be resurrected in him. Man, they can't grasp that. That's why they, they just keep looking into it because it's like, why would God do that? But the reason they think like that is because they have superhuman strength and intelligence compared to us. And God wants us to know that I understand what they're thinking, and sometimes I probably think that, but anyways, why do I love them so much anyways?
Before we run out of time, let me answer the one question that I know everyone here wants me to answer. What would that be? Do we all have guardian angels? How many want to know that? All right. Do we all have guardian angels? Well, the answer is yes, definitely. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Matthew chapter 18, verse 10. "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." Now, I want you to zero in on that last part: "always see the face of my Father in heaven." This is a figure of speech. It doesn't mean that these angels are always in the face of God. No, what this means is a figure of speech. It means that they have unlimited access to God. You see, not every angel gets to come into the presence of God. That's why you have cherubim, their guards. Yeah. And depending upon your rankings, depending upon your classification as the angel, that determines your function. But here's what's interesting. It's talking about these little ones. It says their angels have unlimited access to the Father. That's how important their job is to God. But I want you to notice what else it says. It says, "For I tell you that their angels." Notice that it says "their angels." That word "their" is translated from the personal pronoun *autos*, and it's possessive, which tells us that every one of us has our own personal angel watching over us. In fact, in Daniel chapter 4, verse 17, angels are called Watchers. You go home and read that. In fact, read it in the King James Version, and then when you see it other places, if it's in OT, to see messengers. But look at that word in the Greek. You know what it is? It's not even a Hebrew word. Guess what it is? It's an Aramaic word, and it literally means Watchers. Now, why are they called Watchers? They are called Watchers because they watch what's going on, and they watch over us.
Now, let me give you two more scriptures to prove that we all have a guardian angel. The first one is Hebrews chapter 1, verse 14. Notice what it says: "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" Do you see that? Angels are sent to serve those that are saved. In other words, God sends them to earth to help us. The second scripture is found in Psalms chapter 91, verses 11 through 12. Notice what it says: "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. In fact, this is where we get the term guardian angels. If you say, if you want to know where do we get this term guardian angels? Psalms chapter 91, verse number 11: 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
Now, I'm going to be honest with you. Knowing this affects the way that I pray for my kids. Let me tell you how I pray for my kids. I've been doing this for years. When I get, when I get to the end of the Lord's Prayer, when it gets to that part, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." I pray that they won't be tempted, because I understand what my kids' shortcomings are, and I know that we are tempted when we are drawn away of our own lust and enticed. So I understand their shortcomings, so I'm praying for that. But did I get to this last part, "and deliver us from evil"? So this is what I pray to God. You could get a little insight into my prayers. God, I'm just asking you, Lord, for you to put a hedge of protection of guardian or angel angels around Michael, Julian, makes, Michelle. God, I ask that you would instruct those guardian angels as to where danger is and where danger will be in the future. God, I also ask you, Lord, to instruct them on how to manipulate the situations that they find themselves in, and the circumstances surrounding them, and even people in time, so that Mike and Macy are never in the same place at the same time that danger keeps them from evil. God, you have charge over them. Command those angels to manipulate these things, instruct them on how to do it. And then I go further, but I won't go into that because I don't have time to do that. But I want you to understand one of the reasons we study this, and so that we can apply the principles. Psalms chapter 91 says, "He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." But in order for God to allow that to happen, you have to channel his will in through prayer. I'll go further. "God, hold them in your right hand." Father, I thank you, Lord, that you're hiding them from wickedness and wicked people. And God, you're bestowing upon my children favor. I thank you, Lord, that they have favor as Joseph had favor. I thank you, God, that they have favor as David had favor. I can't tell you the number of things that my kids have had the honor of doing simply because I pray that God will do that. But God has given us the ability to know these things so we can pray. Anyways, meeting office, I'm gonna finish in about three minutes. Let me give you their job description as guardian angels, and we're gonna close with this.
Number one: They provide for us. Genesis chapter 21, verses 17 through 20. First Kings chapter 19, verse 6. You need me to give you those scriptures again? Genesis chapter 21, verses 17 through 20, and First Kings 19:6. The first one is Hagar and Ishmael. They're thrown out. If you remember, they think they're going to die. Hagar leaves the baby. He's not David anymore, 17 years old, but he's over there. She goes, "Oh, there's such cries." And an angel appears and says, "No, there's water." Same thing with First Kings. It's Elijah. He's running from Jezebel. He wants to die, and he just wants it to be over, and he goes to sleep, and an angel picks him up, shakes him, says, "You need to wake up and eat. You still have more to go." And the angel has cooked him some food, got some water, and tells him what to do.
Number two: They protect us. Daniel chapter 6, verse 22. Daniel chapter 6, verse 22. The angel shut the lion's mouth when Daniel was in the lion's den. Matthew chapter 26, verse 53. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter pulls out the sword, he cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Jesus says, "Put your sword up. Don't you know I could call 12 legions of angels?"
Number three: They deliver us. Acts chapter 5, verses 18 through 19, and Acts chapter 12, verses 7 through 11. Let me give you those again. Acts chapter 5, verses 18 and 19. Acts chapter 12, verses 7 through 11. The first one has to do with the Apostles being arrested. They're in prison. The angels let them out. The second one, Peter's in jail. The whole church starts praying for them. An angel doesn't just open up a door, he opens up a door, he takes them through to different levels because they learned the first time that when they put the Apostles in, someone let them out. So this time they put him so down at the very bottom, he's got to go to three stations. Doesn't matter, angel gets him out.
Number four: They strengthen and encourage us. Matthew chapter 4, verse 11. Jesus is fasting 40 days and 40 nights. He's tempted by the devil. He overcomes those temptations, doesn't give in to them. Angels come and they strengthen and encourage him. Acts chapter 27, verses 23 through 24. Acts 27:23-24. Paul is an "I-told-you-so" kind of person. He's getting shipped to Rome. Everyone's kind of hands-off on him because everyone knows what Paul's been doing, they understand how powerful he is, so he's given special treatment. So he's on this ship, and he tells them, "We need to stop here. There's going to be a storm." They don't stop because he's got a command to get him to Rome. So they keep going, run into a storm, and when they're in this storm, it looks like they're gonna die, the ship's gonna burst up, everyone's gonna drown, it's gonna be over. And an angel comes to Peter, I mean, to Paul, and he says, "Hmm, and not one person will be lost." So Paul goes to tell the captain what the angel told him. But here's what's interesting about that. He said, "I told you so" kind of. So he says, "I told you we shouldn't have done this. I told you it's going to be bad. But I'm also telling you right now that we'll all be saved." All right. That angel came to strengthen, encourage.
And last but not least, number five: This is what guardian angels do. They're used by God to answer certain prayers. Acts chapter 10, verses 1 through 7. Acts chapter 10, verses 1 through 7. And Acts chapter 12, verses 5 through 11. Now, in Acts 10, Cornelius is praying, and an angel comes and tells him what to do. He tells him exactly what to do: "Send some men to Joppa. You're gonna find this man called Simon. Here's where you find him. He's at a tanner's shop. You tell him to come with you." All preparing for it. Then you find in Acts chapter 12, verses 5 through 11, Peter's in prison. The whole church is praying, man, there's, there's no, they know that he's dead, they're gonna kill him the next morning. They all start praying. Angel lets them out.
Now, next week we're going to talk about demons. But as we close, let me say this: If you could look into the next dimension, if you could look into the spiritual realm, you know what you would see right here? You would see angels all in this room. You'd see some big honking angels up here at the stage because my angels are bigger. That's teasing. You would seriously, you would see angels here. You'd see angels kind of around it. But you would also see some demons. And that's what we're going to talk about next week.