Angels are all ministering spirits, sent forth to
minister for those of us who will be heirs to salvation. In this passage we are
plainly taught that ministering to the saints is a constant employment of
angels throughout the ages. In accord with this we see them in Jacob's dream of
a ladder as "ascending and descending " from heaven to earth and from
earth to heaven continually in the discharge of their great duties. The word
for ministering, λειτουργικὰ / leitourgika (from which we get the word liturgy/service), is not classical, but it is drawn from the Septuagint
and it implies "sacred service." Heirs of salvation...because
salvation is both a present state and a final destination. The ministering from
angels is ongoing from that point forward or from the point of conversion
forward to the believers introduction in glory on the presence of the Lord.
According to this declaration we are also furnished
by the Scriptures with numerous examples of their actual ministry in the lives
of the children of God. Therefore angels instructed as they comforted with
their presence (after the initial shock of their arrival).They appear as a presence around us, but they are not unconcerned spectators watching in silence. Michael
"who is as God(?)", Gabriel "the
strength of God" and Raphael, "the healing of God " bear right
within their names hints to their very nature. They are ministering spirits
sent by God and are virtually shades or a shadow of God's presence. God has chosen through
verse like this in Hebrews to reveal to us their deep concern for our welfare,
their active attentions to us both day and night. They pay particular regard
for those who are of a meek spirit and are the despised of the world.
Like the angels we must see that service must be
rendered even at the cost of our own will. Angel strive to serve with their will in alignment
with God. They make conscious effort to get and to stay in harmony with God's
will. This of course is a direct reflection of Jesus Christ’s active and
passive obedience to the Father’s will. If Jesus and the angels conform to the
will of the Father we absolutely should also.
Angels are without exception, ministering spirits. Their duties are ever in reverence
to God but never lordly or regal. They render service in droves to the Lord of
the universe, and are constantly busied at the footstool of the Almighty, while
Jesus sits on the throne. Service is not a single incident in the history of angels; it is their
whole history and primary purpose from God, for God. They are unfixed in form,
appearing as winds, fires, etc.
Angels as messengers of God can be extremely
personal in the case of Mary and Zechariah but they can also be extraordinary impersonal
when carrying out the Lords will as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. We must
realize that angels often carry out the judgments of God and will do so in the
future (Revelation). We must never take lightly beings with supernatural power
and a duty to herald judgment that can annihilate entire populations. They may
think on their own but their will is to serve the Sovereign God. They do not rule
but they are angel-princes and are
behind a nation's character. They are
blind to partisanship, but on a spiritual level are personifications of
national spirit. A prince of Persia is on the side of Persia, and the prince of Greece on the side of Greece
(Daniel 10:20). A human will is the meeting-place of many forces brought into harmony but still under
the volition and control of man but an angelic
will seems almost non-existent but is instead a single force moving in a straight
line towards a point as directed by God. In this respect angels are merely a manifestation or
expression of God’s will. To attribute or ascribe to them dominion and
authority is to infringe on the territory of God. It is why Christians are
warned against worshiping them in Colossians 2:18 and implied in Revelation
19:10.
2
Peter 2:4 ~ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent
them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment…
Ah yes, the bad angels or those
that were cast down from their former estate. In God’s economy, being a rebel
is not cool, it is unholy and risks certain damnation. We can easily learn that lesson
from the fallen ones in the Bible. Still there are people that strive against God vainly, just
as Lucifer did in his foolish pride.
The sin of the angels was the self-will
that found expression in self-indulgence. Instead of keeping dignity as the servants of
God they asserted a dignity for themselves in defiance and independence of
God. The Bible is replete with what happens to angels and people that do this. When
the self-dignity of angelic and human depravity works itself out, it always showed
itself as immoral sensuality/sexuality, and moral evil, upon which the judgments of God must
come. We see it as clearly today as Peter did writing.
We will find nearly every false
teacher of false teaching finds as its driving force self-willed men, teaching self-willed
opinions total AWOL of the Bible. We need only look at people like Joyce Meyers
and Joel Osteen. The fruit of such teaching is precisely what you might have expected
it to be, it is a license to self-indulgence and sinful self-centering - so
with the angels, so too with people. With catchphrases such as “Your Best Life
Now”, “I Declare” and “Become a Better You” the self-aggrandizing becomes callously
obvious in its godlessness.
It is therefore ironic that a city like Sodom was destroyed by angels sent to it. It was a cesspool of immorality that was the end result of self-will,
which manifested itself in horrible immoralities of the most repugnant type…just
like today’s culture with its murder on demand (abortion), rampant sexual deviancy
(adultery and homosexuality) and materialistic greed that is so bad we have
made our children wage slaves to China. Sodom fell under judgment because it had been given over to the same sins that we are guilty of.
Jude
9 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!”
Even empowered by his status as
one of God’s elite angels, Archangel Michael had enough sense to allow the
rebuking of a demon or fallen angel to the Lord Jesus Christ. When dealing with fallen angels (demons) we are dealing with no small spiritual power and we are better off
leaving these things to God Himself as He is all powerful and sovereign. There
is a startling truth revealed here by Jude. In a nutshell, to deny the reality
of spiritual beings battling beyond our sight is to deny Scripture which is to
deny the truth of God. This is not a myth recounted by Jude, it is a fact.
Considering the exact form of Moses departure is not entirely clear the possibility
of what Jude narrated here is highly probable when cross-referencing Old
Testament Scripture for validation. In this passage Jude is essentially
rebuking the false teachers who brought railing accusations against the apostles
(v.10). Jude then alludes to the fact that even a celestial being like the
Archangel Michael would not be foolish enough to rebuke the Devil in a
slanderous matter. What we learn primarily from this passage is not so much
about the angels but rather about judgment. Not even the angels are capable of final
judgment. Humans should not be so foolish to assume they could. Higher judgment
from a higher authority await all including Lucifer. Judgment is reserved for
God alone who is the only one worthy or capable of doing so in a perfectly just
manner.
This passage also teaches that there
are two categorizations of spirits in conflict relating to matters affecting people.
Not only do angels minister to the needs (sometimes dire ones) of the Saints. The demons and devils use
their demonic and evil influence to try and destroy the saints. But God being
all-wise and all-powerful lifts the curtain to show us the world behind the
world and reveal the mechanics of the spiritual battlefield so we do not remain
in a spiritual blackout. God wants us aware of the
spiritual elements that effect our daily lives.
That scum Satan and his acolytes
brings accusations against us (Joshua) ; but the angels defend us, and hands over the accuser to
a higher judgment exactly as it should be. We should discern what is right or
wrong based on the truth of Scripture and the conviction of the Spirit but in
the end judgment is left to the Lord. If we as believers are going to stand and
fight we need to know our limitations in the overall battle or it could mean
our demise. This goes for our political battles and how we in the church drag
our politics into the pulpit and how we
drag our personal grudges into the church where they do not belong. Many in the
church assume so much undeserved authority to themselves that they often
condemn people to literal fire and an eternal hell here and now when
they have no authority to do so. We assume the position of judge and in so
doing bring judgment on ourselves…just like the fallen angel that Michael is in conflict
with here. It is just another sad irony of how the angelic domain mimics or
parallels the human one.
Finally, the word rebuke here is
ἐπιτιμήσαι / epitimesai and means much more than correction or admonishment.
It means to censure or to find definitive fault in something...to judge This prerogative is only ascribed to God and
if an archangel understands this…so should we. What should we learn from this
fact? We should humble ourselves to realize that in situations where it is
clearly someone in the wrong and judgment is needed or seems inevitable, we
should always appeal to God. Why should we do this? Simple…we then take
ourselves and our adversary into God’s presence. Once there, our adversary does
not stand a chance in Hell...literally.
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