Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20010520.htm

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY (ORGANIZED BIBLE KNOWLEDGE)
Part III: Angelology (Study Of Created Spirits)
A. Godly Angels
  1. Introduction
    1. With the New Age emphasis on "channeling," and a growing tendency in Christian circles on interacting with demons and Satan, a study in Angelology is necessary for our beliefs and actions.
    2. We begin a study on godly angels with a goal of seeing what Scripture reveals on interacting with them:
  2. Godly Angels (I am heavily indebted to Lewis Sperry Chafer's work, Systematic Theology, vol. II)
    1. Godly angels are variously described in Scripture as follows:
      1. Michael is the only named archangel (Jude 9) whose assignment is to preserve the nation Israel (Dan. 12:1). He will drive Satan out of having access to heaven during the Great Tribulation, Rev. 12:7-8.
      2. The other named angel is Gabriel who gives significant messages to people, Lk. 1:19, 26-38; Dan. 9:21
      3. Other groups of angels exist and we comment on them with limited knowledge as follows:
        1. Four living creatures, Seraphs, surround God's throne to worship Him; these have various faces, feet, wheels, eyes and wings, Ez. 1:4-21; Rev. 4:7.
        2. Cherubs are pictured physically in connection with the furniture of the ark in the temple, Exodus 25:18-22. We assume cherubs are a lower level of angel order to the seraphs.
        3. There is an extended array of angelic ranks, Col. 1:17; Eph. 6:12. We know there are great numbers of angels of God, an innumerable company of them, Hebrews 12:22c.
      4. Godly angels have the following known personal characteristics:
        1. They can appear or disappear in various forms to humans for various divine assignments, cf. Heb. 13:2; Luke 2:9, 13-14; Ez. 1:4-21 versus Rev. 4:6-8.
        2. Angels are asexual, not having the ability to reproduce, Mtt. 22:28-30.
        3. Angels are so powerful that some can cause humans to feel faint and near death due to their very presence, Dan. 10:7-9. They can fly at great speeds, Dan. 9:21.
        4. Godly angels have some knowledge of future events, Dan. 10:21-11:2a.
        5. Godly angels continually lock horns in combat with demons to carry out God's will in a world controlled by Satan, cf. Dan. 10:12-13, 20 with 2 Cor. 4:3.
    2. Godly angels minister in the following ways:
      1. They worship God in heaven, Rev. 4:8; Ps. 148:1-2.
      2. They carry out God's specific order to them, Ps. 103:20.
      3. Godly angels minister to help little children (Mtt. 18:10) and believers (Heb. 1:14).
      4. Toward believers, godly angels provide physical strength (1 Kings 19:5-8) and spiritual, emotional strengthening after Satanic attacks (Mk. 1:13b) along with general encouragements, Dan. 10:15-19. They can and have appeared unawares to Christians for these ministries, Hebrews 13:2.
      5. Godly angels transfer the believer's soul from the body to heaven at death, Luke 16:22.
      6. They earnestly strain to look into the matters regarding the believer's salvation, 1 Pet. 1:12; Lk. 15:10.
      7. Godly angels will observe the plight of the lost souls in hell, Revelation 14:10-11.
    3. The closest Scriptural relation between angels and a believer is supplied in Daniel 10 with these lessons:
      1. Daniel never asked God for an angel to help him, nor did he implore any angel for help. He sought God in prayer for his needs, and God dispatched the angel(s) to assist Daniel, Daniel 10:2, 12.
      2. The angel's help to Daniel was only to equip Daniel to obtain the information God wanted him to have in response to Daniel's prayer for that information, Daniel 10:12, 14-21.
      3. Though there were powerful demons around Daniel (10:13, 20), he never sought to interact with them.
Lesson and Application: (1) Godly angels are mighty spirit beings God created to do His bidding. (2) Since the believer is never told to seek the help of even God's good angels, but to look only to GOD to arrange for how the angelic world would function around him, the believer is not to seek to interact with angels, good or bad, but focus ONLY on relating to GOD in a BIBLICAL way! (3) IF God sends us an angel who appears to us UNAWARES, and we LATER discover the "being" was an angel, we should not get infatuated with the event itself, but focus on God's lesson FOR us IN the event!