If you have not read part 1 yet, go to Angels -Part 1.
In part 1, we learned that the evil angels mislead us and are dangerous because they hate God. We also started on the topic of the Nature of Angels and saw that they are: created by God; spirit beings; are immortal and do not propagate; and, are higher than man but lower than God. We will continue with the Nature of Angels here in part 2.
Part 2
Possess a Personality
Charles Ryrie explains what is meant by personality:
“Personality means to have personal existence; thus we mean that angels have personal existence and possess the quality or state of being persons. Commonly, the essential facets of personality are considered to involve intelligence, emotions, and will.”1
- intelligence -2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
The serpent is understood to be the evil fallen angel, Satan. Intelligence is shown here by his ability to deceive Eve by his craftiness. - show emotion Luke 2:13-14 “And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.””
Luke 15:10 “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The angels express emotion in praising God and experience joy when a person repents. - exercise will -2 Timothy 2:26 “and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
Jude 6 “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”
The devil fell by putting his will over the will of the Father. He uses that same will to deceive and set snares for mankind. The angels making a choice to reject God demonstrates an act of their will.
Curious
1 Peter 1:12 “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”
Peter is pointing out that the prophets were serving those who were to receive the gospel. About these things, the angels are curious -wanting to understand the plan of God and how humanity will respond to it. Since the angels are not omniscient2 like God, they have to wait to see how everything turns out.
Moral -Will to Obey God or Not
2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;”
Some of the angels made a choice to not follow God. These, God judged.
Wings?
If we include the cherubim and seraphim in the angelic ranks, then some angels do have wings. The Bible does not specify that the seraphim are angels, but some scholars regard them as part of the angelic hierarchy. Assuming that Ezekiel 28:11b-19 is referring to Satan, then the cherubim would be classified as angels.
Seraphim
Isaiah 6:1b-7
“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said,
“Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.””
This Isaiah passage contains all we know about the seraphim. The passage does not say how many seraphim there are, and their appearance is different than the other angels. In this scene in the temple, they are giving praise to the Lord exclaiming His holiness.
One of these powerful beings caused the foundations of the temple to shake from the sound of his voice. They have six wings and use two of them to fly. One seraphim dispensed the mercy of God to Isaiah when he touched his lips to take away his sin. Forgiveness was necessary for Isaiah because no one who is unholy can stand in the presence of the Lord.
Cherubim
The first time we encounter cherubim in the Scriptures is in the Garden of Eden. Man had just been cast out of the garden for rejecting God. To prevent man from returning to the garden and possibly eating of the tree of life, God placed cherubim and the flaming sword at the entrance of the garden.
In Genesis 3:24, God took man out of Eden. “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
We get a description of the cherubim in Ezekiel chapter 1 and chapter 10: Four wings and four faces and “appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.”3 There were wheels beside them that went with them when they moved. They also were full of eyes all around their “whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels.”4 The faces were that of a cherub, a man, a lion, and an eagle (Ezekiel 10:14.)
The cherubim, “seem to function as guardians of the holiness of God. [Their use] in the decoration of the tabernacle and temple may also indicate their guarding function.”5 Two cherubim also were used to overshadow the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. These two cherubim seemed to have a different appearance than the others; each seemed to have only two wings and one face.6
Ways Angels Minister
The angels work on God’s behalf in a number of ways. Here are a few:
Deliver Answers to Prayer
Acts 10:1-6 “Now there was a certain man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man, and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in to him, and said to him, “Cornelius!” And fixing his gaze upon him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now dispatch some men to Joppa, and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter;””
Cornelius’s prayer was answered and Peter was sent to preach to gospel to him and his family. God used an angel to bring this great news to Cornelius in a vision.
Observe God Working in People
1 Corinthians 4:9 “For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.”
1 Corinthians 11:10 “Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.”
Ephesians 3:10 “in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”
God demonstrates to everyone in the world, and the heavenly realms, the outworking of His plan for His creation. He does this so that everyone can see His wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and grace through His mercy and judgment of the world.
Encourage Believers
Psalms 34:7 “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.”
Daniel 6:22 “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”
Acts 27:23-24 “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’”
It is rare to have an angel speak to us as the Apostle Paul experienced or to have an angel close a lion’s mouth to protect us. Even so, by faith we have the promise of Psalm 34 which gives us courage.
End of part 2. For part 3, go to Angels -Part 3.
1 Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1986), 143
2 Omniscient: All-knowing
3 Ezekiel 10:8
4 Ezekiel 10:12
5 Ryrie, 148
6 Exodus 25:20 The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat.