The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Ministry of Angels: Origins

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Angels are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14) which were created by God (Genesis 2:1 and Colossians 1:16). Exactly when they were created is not clear, but they pre-date the creation of the material universe because the Scriptures say that they witnessed the creation and rejoiced over it (Job 38:4-7).

One of the greatest myths concerning angels pertains to their origin. Many people are convinced that when a saved person goes to Heaven, he or she becomes an angel. There is no biblical basis for this belief. Angels and humans are two separate entities. The Bible says that Man is slightly lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:5-7), but the Bible also teaches that through redemption Man becomes superior to angels and that the saved will one day judge the angels — most likely the fallen angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).

Jesus spoke of two kinds of angels — the “angels in Heaven” (Matthew 22:30) and “the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). The latter seem to have originated from Satan’s rebellion against God.

Satan was originally one of God’s most glorious angels, “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12). But his heart became lifted up because of his beauty (Ezekiel 28:17), and his pride motivated him to try to take the throne of God (Isaiah 14:12-14). Due to his rebellion, he was cast out of Heaven, down to earth, and one third of the angels were cast out with him because they joined his rebellion (Revelation 12:4).

The Bible does not tell us when this revolt took place, but it was most likely after the end of the creation week because at the end of that week God pronounced all of His creation to be “good” (Genesis 1:31).

I believe these fallen angels are the demons that are referred to in both the Old and New Testaments. Satan, in fact, is called the “ruler of the demons” (Matthew 9:34).

Three places in the Hebrew Scriptures we are told that people sacrificed to demons (Leviticus 17:7, Deuteronomy 32:17 and Psalm 106:37). With the opening of the New Testament, there is an explosion of demonic activity, undoubtedly in response to the First Coming of the Messiah. Jesus was often confronted by demons who recognized who He was (Mark 3:11), and much of His healing ministry was directed at casting demons out of people (Matthew 8:16).

The Bible teaches that some of these fallen angels did not keep to their properly assigned domain (Jude 6), and they were thus bound in a place called Tartarus, probably a compartment in Hades, possibly even the abyss or chasm that exists in Hades (Luke 16:26). What is meant by “not keeping to their own domain” is not clear. Some believe this is a reference to Genesis 6 where we are told that “the sons of God” had sexual relations with “the daughters of men” and that their union produced a race of giants known as the Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4).

What is the nature of angels? What forms do they take? How many are there? Just how powerful are they? Find out in the next segment of this series on the ministry of angels!

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

11 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • 2 thimgs 1)dont post the other conference presentations on my account only 2) do angels have free will? if so then whats to prevent them from rebelling again and if not then how could they have rebelled in the 1st place?

  • Hartdawg, since the angels did rebel I think we can conclude they have free will. But, it would appear they do not have the opportunity for salvation, probably because they see God everyday and should know better.

  • Nathan and all,

    I Would very much appreciate your prayers. I have a interview with a good company on Tuesday which would go a long way towards getting us back on our feet and hopefully they'll think I look younger than I really am, like my wife keeps telling me. 😉 Age discrimination is an ongoing but mostly unprovable problem…

    I really appreciated the Howse expose' of the prevailing occultic / Marxist mindset of the elitist leaders of this age; – "Sustainable Development"…The highest calling in life is to serve the State. Nihilism means life has no meaning aside from serving the State, and when you can longer serve the State, you are not a productive human resource. You are just in the way, and the right to die is now becoming the duty to die."

    Has anyone wondered why the change a few years back from "Personnel Dept." to "Human Resource Dept.", and made the connection: You are just another material resource like coal, iron ore, trees, etc…

    Yet I couldn't help notice that even Brannon felt pressure to hedge his comments on demonic activities:

    "Now, I don't want to give too much credibility to demons, but I do want to show you some of the things that she said so you can understand just how serious this spiritual battle really is."

    It's a shame that more ministers in our "enlightened" Europe and America don't come up to speed on the truth of God's Word concerning their reality and activities instead of believing and spouting worldly psycho-babble about "mental illness", which for some reason, I can't find in the Bible…

    And I think it was a good choice to follow it with this series on Angels and their fallen counter-parts.

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