08) Identity and Angels

Identity and Angels (click the arrow to listen)

Angels have long produced fascination in humans. We associate the adjective ‘angelic’ with someone who is especially good. Traditionally, there has also been a belief that there are some angels who are committed to evil. The bible mentions angels in all kinds of situations and contexts. I shall explore only a few here in order to give a basic understanding of what angels are. Then I shall concentrate on our main theme of identity.

serve

From the start, it has to be said that there is some speculation about angels, their origins, their purpose and their destinies. I will try to distinguish between what is clear and what is conjecture. However, I shall make the assumption that it was in God’s original plan in creation for there to be some interaction between angels and humans. From this we could imagine that before Adam sinned, there might have been a real awareness of the presence of angels. CS Lewis seemed to develop this idea in his science fiction book ‘Voyage to Venus’. On this planet were the ‘eldils’: they were invisible spirits which in some situations became visible to the innocent occupants. Jesus, of course, did experience the reality of angels:

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:11)

In Hebrews, we see the purpose of angels in God’s creative plan:

To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’? Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:13-14)

Here is a distinct statement that their purpose is to serve. It chimes well with my overall point about identity: our identity and purpose are found in service to the will of God. In general, in the bible, angels are not individually identified (more on this later): their individual ministry is the most significant thing.

role

We see this specifically when Jesus is teaching about children:

‘See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)

From this we have understood that children each have a guardian angel. Furthermore, the bible speaks of angels having a specific connection with a church:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1)

This restrictive idea will sound very strange to the modern mind. We might find being tied down to a small, specific responsibility offensive to our personal liberty.

It appears from the bible that certain angels have greater responsibilities. In some cases, they do seem to have names. It is possible that all angels have names but the bible doesn’t give any direct indication of this. Here is an interaction between Daniel, the prophet, and an angel named Gabriel:

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, ‘Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.’ (Daniel 8:15-16)

Gabriel was a very important angel who spoke to significant people in God’s will. Gabriel returned to Daniel at a later time too while he was praying:

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill – while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, ‘Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. (Daniel 9:20-22)

messenger

Many of us will recall this angel’s name from the Christmas story. Firstly, he spoke to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, to tell him that his wife Elizabeth would become pregnant:

The angel said to him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. (Luke 1:19)

Then he visited Mary to announce that she would become pregnant with a son to be called Jesus:

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. (Luke 1:26-27)

In a way which we cannot understand, Gabriel, a spirit being, became visible to them in some kind of human form.

Gabriel also made reference to another powerful angel called Michael in his conversation with Daniel:

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. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.’ (Daniel 10:13-14)

This suggests that angels might have some kind of geographic jurisdiction. In this case, it refers to a hostile angel which is trying to oppose God and prevent His will from being carried out.

rebellion

In the New Testament, we are given more information about this angel, Michael:

In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 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!’ (Jude vv8-9)

It seems that Michael is a higher-ranked angel and called an archangel. We see also the angelic responsibility for Moses. In this case, because Moses did not die in the presence of people, and because his dead body was never found, it appears that there was an angelic dispute over him. This is a mystery to us and I won’t speculate further about what it all entailed.

In other bible passages we meet this angelic conflict:

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. (Revelation 12:7-8)

This chapter then gives the dragon a specific name:

The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation 12:9)

We are meeting allegory and metaphor in this passage, yet from it we see more about what happened in the heavenly, spiritual realms, and the characters involved.

rebellion

The naming of this evil angelic being is also seen with Jesus in his temptations:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” (Matthew 4:8-10)

The devil, who personifies and practises evil is named Satan. Later in Revelation we see how he is destined for destruction. And as we saw earlier, the devil was accompanied by other angels when he was thrown down to earth. They too are destined for the same judgment:

And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling – these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (Jude v6)

At this point as we try to understand this angelic rebellion, we need to engage in some inference. There is a passage in Isaiah which many bible teachers see as applying to Satan and his expulsion from heaven:

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)

This passage reveals that this important being, ‘son of the dawn’, developed a rebellion against God in his heart.

Fall

In some bible versions, ‘morning star’ is translated as ‘Lucifer’. This parallel with stars is also found in Revelation 12 where Satan and his angels were thrown down to the earth:

Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. (Revelation 12:3-4)

Without wanting to draw too much from these metaphorical bible passages, it appears that a very important angel, Lucifer, became dissatisfied with his place and ministry, and deceived himself and other angels into rebelling against God’s will. He had pretensions about himself that he could be like God in power and authority. In terms of our subject matter, Lucifer sought an individualistic, self-important identity.

When viewed in this way, the Fall of mankind, the destructive power of sin in the world, and the rampant expression of selfishness in human community all have their origin in Lucifer’s dissatisfaction with the identity he was given by God. In his determination to create a self-serving identity, he polluted the heavenly kingdom and became the source of evil in our world. God had no option but to expel him and all those angels who craved an identity other than that which God had granted them in his perfect will.