A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord, a
wonderful Savior to me.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
where rivers of pleasure I see.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
and covers me there with His hand,
and covers me there with His hand.
When clothed in His brightness transported, I
rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky.
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I'll
shout with the millions on high.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
and covers me there with His hand,
and covers me there with His hand.
We welcome you to this morning lecture. I
thought maybe our singing together might help
to wake us all up.
I'm Charles Rudolph, Director of Testing and
Career Planning here at the ACU,
and I'm happy to introduce to you Dr. Ed Myers.
I had not met him until this morning, and I
kept looking around and looked up, and suddenly
there were two of them here.
And I'm assuming we have some twins, right?
We're, I think, indeed blessed to have Dr.
Edward Myers, who will be presenting the lesson
this morning.
He has been in school most of his life, but
some way or another he found time to teach and preach
and be an administrator at a number of
institutions in about five or six different states.
And I'll not go through all of these kinds of
things except just to mention to you that he's
been on the campus of a number of our schools,
has spoken to the lectures, and so with his
preparation and his experience,
we're very happy to have him here to talk on
the topic of angels.
Thank you very much. He read that just like I
wrote it.
How many of you were here last year and were in
my class?
Didn't take, huh? So you came back for more. Is
that what...
I had to say that, really.
Last year we were over in the old Bible
building and just had a room full of people.
I was delighted about that because I had told
my wife that probably six or seven people would
show up.
In fact, on the way to class last year, she was
debating whether she was going to come or not,
and she had pity on me because at least there'd
be at least me and her in class.
And we had a room full. And when I got home
after lectureship last year,
Carl McKean wrote on the bottom of the letter,
and thank you for last year's lectures.
Please come back next year and we'll put you
somewhere where there'll be plenty of room.
And, of course, he has here, and I'm delighted
to see this many people show up this year.
You always wonder what's going to happen at
8:30 Monday morning.
I mean, that's the wildest time, I think, to
give anybody a class to teach.
But maybe I think the topic itself is something
that will be interesting to each of us.
Let's bow together for prayer and ask our
Father to bless us as we study together.
Our God and Father, we're grateful for the
privilege that's ours
as we're here at the beginning of this day as
we begin our study on angels.
We pray, Father, your blessings on us that what
we learn will be helpful to us.
We pray, Heavenly Father, in a very special way
that our hearts might be blessed
and our faith in you might be strengthened when
we become more and more aware
of the power and the source that is available
to us and for us
at your disposal and our disposal in these
beautiful beings called angels.
And so, Father, bless the endeavors of this day
as we go through these three classes
that the things that we say will strengthen our
faith in you and in your Word.
And we're grateful, Father, for the privilege
that's ours at this time.
In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Let me take care of a couple of three household
things that we need to
and putting the house in order this morning.
I do have outlines that are available of every class.
The one you have now will give you an overview
of what the three classes today are going to be like.
Every class is different. Each one builds sort
of on the other.
And yet, if you miss a class and maybe miss the
second one, come back for the third one,
that'll be fine as well.
And then ACU tape service is taping all these classes.
So if you have to miss a class, you can get a
copy of the tape.
I'm sure they won't mind selling you a copy to
take home and to use.
Several years ago, I began an interesting study
on angels.
It happened at a request of a church where I
was working with at that time
and asked to deliver a series of lessons on it
on Wednesday night.
And the demand got to be so great for
information that I shared at that time.
We put the material together in a little book
just entitled,
The Study of Angels.
This book is out of print now. You can't buy a copy.
But the reprinting will be available in one month.
It's been totally revised. I'm not kidding you.
Last year when I finished the lectures here, I
went back to Memphis
and I began to work as diligently as I possibly could
and keep up with all my other responsibilities
in the local church,
trying to get that book ready for this lectureship
because I knew I was coming back to speak on it again.
But about a month ago, my publisher said it'll
be March the 20th
before they'll be off the press.
In fact, I have the galley proofs with me to be
reading this week
to make sure all the mistakes that we can catch
at least are there.
So they're not available for us this year at
the lectures.
But if you want to order a copy, I'll be glad
to take your name and address
and send you a copy later on and let them bill
you for it.
I think it's going to sell for $6.95.
Now, I'm not positive about that price.
It's either going to be $6.95 or $7.95, but
it's been totally revised.
And as far as I know, there are only three men
in our Brotherhood
that have written on the topic.
Several of you may be familiar with this little
booklet by Charles Hodge.
It's about 20, 21 pages talking about angels.
And then there's a little study guide written
by Howard Blasier on angels.
This is some material that he delivered at
Alabama Christian College
several years ago at one of their lectureships,
now called Faulkner University, by the way,
and put that material together.
And then my little book, as far as I know,
that's the only one that's available.
Now, a man by the name of Victor Knowles, who
is a member of the Christian Church,
has written a book in the College Press series called
What the Bible Says About Angels and Demons.
It's a rather large book and has an awful lot
of information in it,
but it is dealing not only with angels but with
demons as well
and has some other studies in it.
You might want to avail yourself of that
particular study.
The first thing I want you to do just a minute
is turn to the second page here
where we've got an outline of what we're going
to do today.
I want to just kind of tell you where we're going.
If you don't have an outline, raise your hand,
and my faithful, trusty twin brother will see
to it that you get one.
Or if you're close enough, I want to walk up
here and get one.
That's what these are stacked right up here.
All right?
This morning in our first class, we want to
look at six different areas.
First, the major area of theology that has been
affected by this study.
In other words, what all does study of angels
involve and how does it affect us?
Then secondly, why study angels?
Third, we'll try to give a definition of angels.
Fourth, we'll look at a biblical perspective
and then look at the sevenfold use of angel in Scripture.
That is, the different ways that word is used.
And then last, the biblical titles that are
given to angels.
That'll compose most of our class period this morning.
In the first class, we may have a little bit of
time at the end of class
for some question and answers, at least I hope
we're able to do that.
Class number two, that's the 11:00 hour.
We'll be looking at the origin of angels, the
form of angels,
the nature and attribute of angels, and then
the classification of angels
and their work, that is good angels and their
work and bad angels and their work.
Now, by bad angels, I'm not going to be going
into a study there of demonology.
There is sometimes a distinction made between
demons and wicked angels or bad angels,
and I want to try to make that distinction for
you as we study at the 11:00 hour.
And then the class this afternoon at 3:30,
we'll talk about basically
the activities of angels, the fall of angels,
and then we'll discuss Satan
as to whether he is a fallen angel or not.
I do have an outline on the special studies
there on the angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament,
the question of the sons of God in Genesis
6:1-4, who marry the daughters of men, etc.
That always comes up.
And then a question, are there guardian angels?
I'll touch on those briefly and give you an
outline that you can have for that a little bit
later on.
So that'll tell you where we're going today and
what we're going to be trying to do in our study.
Now let's look at the first page as we start
our study together.
What do you think about when you read the word angel?
Frances Farr began a small series of studies
that she did
that appeared in Christian Woman magazine last
year with the following.
She said, quote,
Do you see a beautiful woman with long golden hair,
a full flowing white robe and lovely shining
wings that flutter gracefully
propelling this wonder along, her voice soft
and gentle?
Other times the picture is of a fat pink baby
with a crossbow and heart-shaped arrows
aiming at some hapless fellow who, unknown to
him, is the object of some girl's affection.
According to the Bible, both of these images
are almost totally inaccurate.
But many people share these misleading pictures.
Angels are mentioned throughout the scriptures
and everybody is aware of their existence,
at least during Bible times.
Unless these passages are read with specific
purpose of learning about angels, however,
we tend to skim over them, concentrating
instead on the circumstances in which they are involved.
Let's take a closer look.
And I thought that was an interesting way for
her to begin her series and study together.
Angels are God's servants, especially created
by God,
and render a work and a service for the people
of God.
That has always been true. That is true today.
And if I can do nothing more in this series of
studies together
than to heighten your appreciation for the fact
that God's angels are present in our life.
They assist and aid us, and they surround us daily.
If I do nothing more than cause your
appreciation for God's angels to be heightened,
I would have accomplished what I wanted to do
in today's study together.
Because I want us to be aware of the fact that
the forces of God are much greater than the
forces of Satan.
I believe God's angels work supernaturally today.
Now I don't know why we have to do this, but
generally in our brotherhood we have to,
when we make a statement like that, make some disclaimers.
For instance, one of my disclaimers is I do not
believe in miraculous power of God being worked today.
I do not believe in speaking in tongues and
other such phenomenon as that that people describe.
I do believe that God supernaturally works and
uses his angels to minister and to serve his people.
I will not take the position of a deist who is
one described as a person that believes
that God sort of made the world and wound it up
like a clock and hurled it out there into space,
kind of waiting for it to tick down like the
last tick on one of the old wind up clocks,
and he is far removed. I believe God is near. I
believe he is eminent as well as transcendent.
That is, he is near as well as above and beyond.
And yet I think that God ministers to us today
in a very special way through his servants
called angels in a supernatural manner.
Systems of biblical studies generally include
very little about angels and demons or Satan.
In fact, until the mid-twentieth century, very
few volumes were written at all that dealt specifically
with these doctrines. But a few years ago, the
rise of the interest in the occult and demonology
and Satanology became very prominent in our country.
In fact, it was in response to that that I
began my study of angels and the series of
first lessons
that I ever presented about it in the local
church there that caused this material then
to begin to take shape and form because there
was so much going on in our world about the occult
and what was happening with demonology, etc.
There were people who were wondering
what in the world are we as Christians going to
do? And we had neglected, I think to a large degree,
looking at the promises of Scripture regarding angels.
Now why these biblical doctrines like the
doctrines of angels related to the Spirit world
came in so late in study is a little difficult
and not altogether clear to understand.
It is not difficult to understand why in the
early centuries of the church some of the
doctrines rose to the top.
For instance, if you've done just any study in
church history at all, you're aware that
in the 1st few centuries of the existence of
the church, there were certain doctrines
that were always prominent at their early
lectureships. They called them church councils
at that time.
And they talked about the doctrine of the
Trinity or the doctrine of God or the doctrine
of Christ.
Was he human or divine? And all these things
were discussed and worked out at least
to some people's satisfaction for a long time.
And the study of angels just sort of took a
side seat to that.
And yet major areas of theology are affected by
the biblical teaching on angelic beings.
I've listed them here on your outline. For
instance, bibliology is certainly involved.
Bibliology is the study of the doctrine of
Scripture as the Word of God.
Now listen, these words that are here, by the
way, don't let them frighten you, but you need
to be aware of them
if you do any reading at all in areas that's
called systematic theology, which we call basic
Bible doctrines.
Systematic theology simply means systematizing,
putting together according to topics, the
topics of the Bible
like God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church,
the doctrine of last things and all that sort
of ideas.
Bibliology is the doctrine of Scripture as the
Word of God. Since information to formulate the
doctrine of angels
has got to be gathered from the Bible,
certainly our bibliology is affected by a study
of angels.
Secondly, theology proper, that is a study of
the doctrine of God is involved because
holy angels are His ministering spirits. After
all, angels are His angels.
Christology, that is the doctrine of the person
and the work of Christ, is affected by this because
when you study about angels, particularly as
you look to the New Testament and just take
that section of Scripture,
angels are always involved in the life of
Christ from beginning to the very end.
That's a beautiful study within and of itself.
Pneumatology, the study of the doctrine of the
Holy Spirit
also touches on one's view maybe of Satan and
Satan's forces as well as God's spirit and the
forces of the Spirit.
Holy Angels minister to the redeemed as Satan's
angels influence and harass them.
Anthropology, the doctrine of the study of man
also is related to our study of angels because
Hebrews 1:14 talks about angels being
ministering servants that are sent forth to
minister to them that are redeemed.
And I'm going to be mentioning that verse more
than one time today as we study together.
And the doctrine of eschatology, that is the
study of last things, is affected by angelology.
After all, when Jesus returns, the angels will
be with him at that return.
And so the doctrine of last things as well is
affected by a study of angels.
All that simply to put together in our own
minds that you really can't study the Bible
in much detail at all without being affected in
one way or another by what it has to say about angels.
Now in the Old Testament language, that is the
Hebrew, the word is malak, M-A-L-A-K, it is
transliterated as.
In the New Testament, it's the word angelos,
spelled A-N-G-E-L-L-O-S.
Both of them can be translated either from the
Hebrew or the Greek simply as minister, or
servant, or messenger.
But the word occurs over 300 times in the Bible.
And we need to be aware of that as we enter
into this study together.
So I've asked the question, why study angels?
And I've given several responses there.
First of all, we study angels because it is a
biblical topic.
2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, you're familiar with it.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction,
for instruction which is in righteousness that
the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished under every good work.
Since angels are a topic that's mentioned in
the Bible, it does deserve then our open consideration.
Secondly, the number of times a word is
mentioned, I think, demands equal time.
Now don't take that to the absurd.
I've got a little computer program that has all
the Bible on it.
You know what you do when you get one of those
little new computer programs.
You say, I wonder how this really works because
it's one of these where you put a word in
and it'll tell you every verse it's found in.
So you say, well, I'm going to see how this
thing works.
I'll just pick the word and, A-N-D, and put it
up, you know.
And it'll list how many, several thousand
times, you know, it's listed in the Bible
and give you every verse and things like that.
I did that with the word angels.
And 300 times in that neighborhood area, okay.
300 times, depends on what English translation
you're dealing with.
I've got one that deals with New Testament.
Greek don't have a Hebrew one.
But it depends on which English translation
you're dealing with.
The word angel comes up 300 times.
And I think that means we really ought to study it.
Let me ask you a question.
How many of you have ever heard a sermon or
been to a class about angels before?
Well, that's a little more than what I
expected, maybe, might have done so.
We don't really deal with it.
And yet, here is something that is mentioned in
the Bible 300 times.
And yet, we don't spend too much time talking
about it.
Third, angels are interested in us.
Turn to Luke 15.
You're already familiar with the story there in
Luke 15.
There are three things that are mentioned by
Jesus in this chapter.
It is the story of a lost sheep, a lost coin,
and a lost son.
And verse 7 and 10 are two interesting verses.
In verse 7, it says,
Now, the word angels isn't mentioned there.
But it's joy that's going on in Heaven.
But look at verse 10.
Angels, you see, are vitally interested in
God's creation.
In fact, we'll study later on that when the
world was created,
the sons of God shouted for joy.
And I think the context there in the book of
Job and the Psalms itself
indicates there that these were God's angels as
God created the world,
and particularly when God created man made in
his own image after his own likeness.
I can just close my mind based on what these
verses have to say
and visualize the joy that is in Heaven over
all the angels
because God has created his world and he has
created one in his own image
after his own likeness, by the way, which is
not even said about angels.
It's just said about you and me.
Fourth, we study angels because we shall be
like them.
Luke 20 and verse 36 is the verse to look at.
And while you're turning to that passage,
let me make you aware of what that point is
that I'm trying to make.
I'm not saying we will be angels or become angels.
I read recently of a story of a little girl who
was talking to her mama and said,
Mama, I'll be so glad when I die so I can
become an angel.
Well, the fact of the matter is you don't.
The Bible says in Luke 20 and verse 36, Jesus says,
Neither can they die anymore, for they are
equal unto the angels
and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
We will be like angels but not become angels.
So keep that distinction in your mind.
But inasmuch as we will be like them,
that is there'll be something that we share
together one day with them
in a unique special relationship.
And I think that has to do with the
relationship of creation itself,
for angels are created beings. We'll see as we
study today.
But since there will be something that we are
like them in some way or another,
we ought to study and find out what they're
going to be like.
Next, angels minister to us.
Hebrews 1:14 speaks of angels.
And as the Hebrew writer pins these words,
he's talking about, of course, the superiority
of Jesus Christ over everything.
But talking about angels, of which God never said
what he said in the previous verse to any angel,
that is, he was speaking this to his son, sit
thou on my right hand.
But talking about angels, are they not all
ministering spirits
sent forth to do service for the sake of them
that shall inherit salvation?
Now, I don't know what all it is that angels do.
In our afternoon class today, we're going to go
through the Bible
and look at what all the Bible has to say about
the work of angels,
the activities of angels.
But what all it is that angels have to do that
we can put our finger on
as to what they may or may not do today, I'm
not sure and not clear about
because the Bible doesn't make a specific deference
in what something, you know, angels one time
did and no longer do
or anything like that, but I do know this.
Hebrews 1:14 says that in some way, angels
minister to the saints of God.
Now, rather than try to explain that, why don't
we just appreciate it
and thank God for it?
I sometimes wonder how we can get so confused
on trying to explain
every little thing.
Deuteronomy 29:29 says the secret things belong
to God,
the things that reveal belong to us and our children.
Now, the context there is talked about that we
might continue to do the things
that are written in the book of the law, but
the principles are the same.
We only know what God has revealed to us and I
know this.
By inspiration, the Hebrew writer said that
angels somehow minister
to the saints of God.
Now, if you walk up to me and you ask me,
Brother Myers, such and such happened, do you
think that's an angel?
I'll have to tell you, I don't know.
I couldn't tell you that it's not an angel.
You know, about 10 or 15 years ago, we had a
considerable discussion
in our brotherhood about the work and activity
of the Holy Spirit.
And we went from one extreme to another.
We went from the extreme of blaming the Holy
Spirit on everything that happened
to the other extreme of denying that He does
anything at all today.
And I often wondered even in the middle of that
particular controversy
that we were involved in, why didn't anyone
talk about angels
and the work and activity of angels?
For I'm firmly convinced from a study of Scripture
that angels are active and much more active
than what we think about today.
They minister to us in some way.
And more than anything else, I don't want us to
deny that.
Now, as I've said before, I don't know that I
can explain it totally.
Look, I don't know how you can...
You know, I can't explain how you can go over
and flip a little switch
and all of a sudden currency goes through
things we call wires
and we have lights in this building.
But I appreciate the fact that we have lights.
I don't know that I can explain to everybody's satisfaction
exactly how angels minister to God's people,
but I appreciate the fact that they do.
F on your outline there says, entertaining
angels unaware.
Since you're in the book of Hebrews, look at
chapter 13:2,
which in all probability is at least an
allusion to Genesis 18:1-16,
where Abraham met three men coming on the plains
and one remained and talked with him,
called incidentally the Angel of the Lord or
the Angel of Jehovah,
and two men went on to Sodom and Gomorrah to
tell about the destruction,
the impending destruction that was coming upon
the city,
and Genesis 19 calls the men angels.
And in all probability what that was was sort
of a theophany,
that is a manifestation of a heavenly being on earth.
Hebrews 13:2 says,
Forget not to show love unto strangers,
for by this thereby or in some way have some
entertained angels unaware.
Now, before somebody asks me when we have a
break or when the class is over today,
let me go ahead and answer.
Do you believe we entertain angels unaware today?
I don't know. I really don't know.
I know this. I don't know that we don't.
And I think that's what the Hebrew writer is
trying to say.
Our obligation or responsibility is to do good
to who? Everybody.
See, that's what Galatians 6 says,
for every opportunity let's do good unto all men,
especially those that are a household of faith.
But the point is being made by the Hebrew writer,
and of course here's the emphasis that's there,
be good to everybody.
I mean, after all, somebody one time,
and I think he's talking about Abraham,
entertained angels and wasn't even aware of it
when it happened.
In fact, I'm not even sure he was aware of it
later on.
We're aware of it because God told us about it
in his book.
And then G, angels provide rapid transit to Heaven.
You're familiar with the story, rich man Lazarus.
Rich man died, lifted up his eyes being in torments.
Lazarus, it says, was escorted or carried away
by angels
to a place called Abraham's bosom, a place of blessing.
They do serve as our escorts as we enter the
world that is to come
as the redeemed of God.
And I anxiously await the day when they carry
me into the presence of Jesus
and of God the Father and the Spirit of God
and all the redeemed of all the angels
and all the angelic hosts that are there.
So that's some of the reasons I think it's
important for us to study about angels.
Now, if you had a list, your list might be a
little different than mine.
Thirdly, what is an angel?
I began looking this word up in several Bible
dictionaries and encyclopedias
just to see exactly what definitions were given.
I came up with several, two that I put on your
outline here.
The word is chiefly used in the Bible to
represent those superhuman beings
whose abode is Heaven and who function as the
unseen agents
in the execution of the will of God.
That comes from Herbert Lockyer's everything
that Jesus taught about.
And he's got a little chapter there, everything
Jesus taught about angels.
There's another one I haven't listed there. Let
me read this to you.
This comes out of Smith's Bible dictionary.
By the word angels, i.e. messengers of God, we
ordinarily understand
a race of spiritual beings of a nature exalted
far above that of man,
although infinitely removed from that of God,
whose office is
to do service in Heaven and by his appointment
to succor, that is to aid,
and defend men on earth.
I suppose the one that I like the best is that
letter B that I've listed there,
which comes from Millard Erickson's book.
By angels, we mean those spiritual beings which
God created higher than man,
some of whom have remained obedient to God and
carry out his will,
and others of whom disobeyed, lost their holy condition,
and now oppose and hinder his work."
There are several things that when you read
different definitions
are similar in all of them.
One, they're spiritual beings.
Secondly, they are servants of God.
Third, they are created by God.
And I think that's a good way at least of
looking at it,
and notice how certain things are always
mentioned by everybody
who talks about or tries to define an angel.
Room number four is a biblical perspective.
And what I've done there is simply go through
the Scripture
to show you exactly what the Scripture has to say
in sort of a broad overview of what's there
about angels.
Oh, by the way, I almost forgot this.
I've got to share this with you.
There is a fellow who came out with a book last year.
He used to be connected with the University of
Southern California,
Gettys McGregor, called Angels, Ministers of Grace.
Now, don't go out and buy the book, all right?
I'm not trying to recommend the book.
And I think I can explain to you why when I
read a little part of something that's here.
McGregor is a philosopher and a theologian
out at the University of Southern California.
I was talking to Jimmy Jibbon last night.
Jimmy studied under him and was telling me some
interesting things that happened out there.
The guy is wild on some stuff.
But he proposes a hypothesis about who angels are.
And let me read to you part of what he has to
say, okay?
This present study is divided into two parts.
Part one, our subject will be treated historically
showing the development of the concept of angels
both in folklore and in theologically
reflective religion.
Now he means by that just world religion, okay?
Part two, in part two I shall propose the
following hypothesis.
Listen to this carefully.
We know nowadays that the universe contains so
incalculably great a number of galaxies
each containing vast numbers of solar systems
that even if not a single other planet in our
own system is hospitable to intelligent life
the likelihood of such life on other planets
among the trillions of possibilities is overwhelming.
True, we have no empirical proof of it.
We may lack such a proof for a long time to come.
It might not even be that our planet Earth is
among all the stupendous array of others
in the unthinkably immense reaches of outer space
and the only one that has developed any kind of
intelligent life.
Theoretically, it might be so.
But if it were so, it would be much more than
ordinarily surprising
for all that we know of, quote, the way things
are, end quote.
For the laws of nature, whatever they are, are universal.
They apply to Mars and every planet in the
entire universe
as they apply to our own planet Earth.
And so although no proof of intelligent life
beyond our planet
has been established so far, the probability is
so great
as to make the hypothesis plausible in the most
imminent degree.
And before I go on, does anybody know where
he's going?
Can you guess where he's going?
Let me tell you.
Keyword of what he picks up on, evolution.
That it will vary in quality as indeed it does
even among us humans on this planet Earth.
Some forms of such extraterrestrial life are
likely to be far behind
even the lowest manifestations of it on our planet
and other forms of it likely to be far more
advanced than ours.
What I am suggesting, parenthesis as a
worthwhile hypothesis
and obviously no more in parenthesis, a
hypothesis by the way
that he takes 220, 230 pages to write about.
That's an awful lot of writing about a
hypothesis by the way.
What I am suggesting is that angels as they are
represented in the Bible
and religious tradition might be such more
advanced forms of intelligent life.
Extraterrestrial beings who far from being the
little green men of science fiction
could have developed along another evolutionary
line to a higher form than ours
and be more rational, more benevolent, so
capable of helping humans
in the way that angels in traditional religious
lore are said to do.
Very interesting, very intriguing, but it's a hypothesis
and one that I was intrigued by when I started
reading this.
I also thought I was interested in the chapter
that he has here on angels in the Bible.
He has one, two, three, four and a half pages.
I thought that was rather interesting.
I believe it's a little weighted in the wrong direction.
But it is one of the most recent books at least
that has come out in the scholastic realm.
Now, the book that has come out that's more
popular than the others
that has sold in the hundreds of thousands is
Billy Graham's book of course,
Angels, Angels, Angels. Many of you may have
read that.
It's all right if you go to about the middle of
the book and read the last half
because the first half of the book is nothing
more than stories of people
who believe angels have done certain things.
The only problem is you can't prove that they did.
I know you can't disprove that they did as well,
but the first half of the book is simply people
who think that angels have done certain things.
It's nice, interesting reading, but it goes far
more on the experiential side
than more the biblical side.
When you go to about the middle of the book and
read from there to the end,
he goes into a biblical study and does a pretty
decent job, by the way, in what's there.
All right, the biblical perspective in what's
there, I'm not going to read through this.
You can read that material yourself, but it
sort of gives you an overview
at least of what's happening in Scripture from
Genesis 3 Revelation
in as succinct a way as I could, put it together,
of material that talks about angels and what's
taking place.
Look over on page 4 to Roman numeral 5.
There is a sevenfold use of angels in Scripture
that was given in a book written by Mrs. George
C. Needham.
That's on the footnote there, number 5 down at
the bottom.
She wrote a book of hers called Angels and Demons.
I disagree with letter D where she mentions
bishops or pastors,
and I added preachers there.
Now, this listing is her listing, okay,
the way she categorized the use of angels in Scripture,
and I just want you to know I disagree.
I put it down there the way she had it
because she's writing from a denominational perspective,
and when she mentioned bishops or pastors, she
meant by that preachers.
Okay, so you need to be aware of that.
I don't agree with everything she has to say.
If I invite you to my house to eat fish, I want
you to spit out the bones.
Okay, so when you read material like that,
at least be aware from the denominational perspective
in which they may be addressing any issue at all.
Anyway, she gives this sevenfold use of angel
in Scripture.
First of all, from 2 Samuel 2:5,
the word malak there in the Hebrew is a word
that is simply used for human messengers.
After all, the word angel itself means messenger,
and it's more about a context than anything else
that you can determine whether or not it's
referring to a human messenger
or a heavenly messenger,
and by far the more occurrences of the word
malak or the word angelos
have reference to the angelic messengers more
than to just a human messenger being sent.
B, for human messengers bearing a divine message.
That's in Haggai 1:13 and Galatians 4:14.
C, for impersonal providences.
2 Corinthians 12:7 reads,
By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations,
that I should be exalted over much,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to buffet me.
That is, there was something that was a force
that Satan was using to buffet Paul in his life
and in his body.
Letter D, for bishops or pastors or for preachers.
Revelation 2 and 3.
Almost without exception, in fact I can't think
of one,
and I've got, I probably have 35 books on the
book of Revelation in my office,
and almost without exception,
people take, at least in the denominational world,
take that angels to the, I mean letters to the
seven churches
and to the angel of the church at Sardis,
they say well he's writing to the pastor there, see,
he's writing to the bishop of that church, etc.
We would say to the preacher of that church.
Now, let me clarify this.
I don't believe it's written to the pastor or
the preacher.
I believe personally that the angel of the
church at Sardis
is talking about the spirit of the church itself,
more than anything else, and that's a
contextual study,
but we're not here to study Revelation 2 and 3
this morning.
But that's at least the way some people look at it,
and I want you to be aware of that.
In Revelation, angels refer to demons without bodies
who roam the air in partial bondage and take
possession of men,
Matthew 12:24 and Matthew 25:41.
I thought it was interesting in another study
that I did on demonology
that demons are believed by some people to be
the evil spirits of,
I mean the spirits of departed, wicked men.
That was a view Alexander Campbell took, by the way,
from, he said, well, when wicked people die,
their spirits are the demons and floating
around doing everything.
Interesting idea, you just can't prove it from Scripture.
Letter F, angels are used for heavenly beings,
such as guarded Jacob, Genesis 32:1 and 2.
And then letter G, for one of preeminent excellency,
named distinctively the angel of the Lord,
or I use the American Standard Version, it uses
the angel of Jehovah,
used over and over and over in the Old Testament,
who I think has a special identity.
Then Roman numeral 6, biblical titles that are
given to angels.
Now, the reason I added this one is because I
want you to be aware of the fact
that angels are not always called angels.
Sometimes there are synonyms that are used,
but the context indicates that it must have
reference to angels,
because that's what we know was created
and what exists in Heaven with our Father.
And when they're called holy ones,
the word angelos or the word malach itself
might not be used,
but the context indicates that these are angels
in Heaven
while they may be called by a different word.
Like letter A, angels are called holy ones.
In Daniel 4:13 and 4.23, in Psalm 89, verses 5
and 7.
B, angels are called saints.
Deuteronomy 33:2, in Daniel 8:13.
C, angels are called sons of God and sons of
the mighty.
Job 1:6, chapter 2, verse 1, and chapter 38,
verse 7.
Now, there's a footnote on that.
I want you to drop your eyes to the bottom of
the page
and read the footnote with me.
A.C. Gabaline, in his book, What the Bible Says
About Angels, says,
quote, six times we read of the sons of God in
the Old Testament,
and each time it means these supernatural beings.
Then he lists them there.
But it must be noted that while angels are
called sons of God,
they are never called sons of the Lord.
It is in the Hebrew always, benai Elohim.
Elohim is God's name as creator.
Never benai Jehovah.
The benai Jehovah are sinners redeemed and
brought into the filial relationship
by redemption.
Filial means family relationship.
The benai Elohim are fallen beings, sons of God
by creation.
The angels are sons of God in the first creation.
Sinners saved by grace are the sons of God in
the new creation.
End quote.
I thought that was an interesting observation
that he makes.
Now, I'm listing it there for you to at least
be aware of it.
I must tell you also I haven't been able to
thoroughly check that out.
I do know this.
Gabaline is a scholar of first repute,
and I have little reason to disagree with him
at this point
until I'm able to check it out myself from the
original language.
But I thought it's a nice distinction that he makes.
Okay, back up to the outline.
Letter E.
Letter D. Angels are called ministers of God.
Psalm 103, Hebrews 1:7, and Hebrews 1:14.
Angels are called watchers of God's interest in
Daniel 4:13 and Daniel 4:23.
Angels are called heavenly hosts in Luke 2:13.
Angels are called hosts as in the Lord of Hosts
in 1 Samuel 1:11.
And then angels are called heavenly beings in
Psalm 29, verse 1, and 89, verse 6.
So that at least maybe introduces for us a
study of angels itself
and what Scripture has to say at least as an overview.
Now, at 11:00, is that the next class, 11? 11.30.
At 11:00, we're going to look at the origin of angels.
Where did angels come from?
What about the form of angels, the nature and
attributes of angels,
and classification and work of angels?
And I've saved about three minutes for any
questions anybody has.
If you'll raise your hand if you have a
question, I'll try to see if I can address it.
I get scared when that happens.
Nobody says...
That means that either came through loud and
clear or everybody's going...
It went way over my head.
I don't know what he's talking about, one or
the other.
Question or comment, all right?
Genesis 6, the sons of God and the angels of God.
Okay, sons of God in Genesis 6:1-4.
I'll have an outline on that this afternoon.
Let me just tell you specifically what I
believe it refers to.
There's only three choices you've got.
It's either angels in Heaven, it's either the
godly seed of the Sethites,
or it may be the princely tribe as opposed to
commoners that are marrying there.
I personally think it's the seed of Seth.
I think you're talking about a good seed
intermarrying a bad seed,
or good people intermarrying with bad people,
and that's what sons of God has reference to.
But I'll talk about that a little bit more this
afternoon on that,
and I do have the information that I'll share
with anybody.
Another question.
I was just wondering, is the tapes that we
received last year,
is the material mostly this year the same?
A lot of the material this year is the same,
but it's been reorganized.
It's really more structured for my book that's
coming out.
And I appreciate you all being my guinea pigs.
I really do.
It's really helpful to me.
The outlines are a little different than last year's.
Some is the same, and if you were here last
year and got an outline,
but if you want another one this year, that's fine.
I've reorganized it and rearranged it from what
it was,
but some of the material is different.
Yes, Sir?
After the temptation, Jesus says that angels
came to him,
and I wonder why he has not believed that fact.
Can you deal with that?
Yes, I'm going to be dealing with that and the
activities of angels,
about angels ministering to Jesus at the end of
his temptation.
I am indebted to a fond memory I have of
Lemoore and Lewis.
When I first began preaching, I preached a
little church in Beaver, Oklahoma,
and we went down into the Panhandle area,
and Lemoore and Lewis was preaching that night.
We went over specifically to hear him,
and he was preaching on the temptation of Jesus.
And as he came to the close of that, I'll never
forget it.
I can almost quote it word for word what he had
to say,
but I wouldn't dare say it was exactly that.
But he said, and the Bible ends by saying,
when the temptation was finished, that angels
came and ministered to Jesus.
And he said, have you ever stopped to think
about the fact that
when we are tempted and we overcome,
angels are thereby ministering in some way to us?
And boy, I liked that.
And I really do, because I think there's a
comfort that's there,
and I'm going to be talking about that some
more when we talk about the work of angels.
Thank you for bringing it up.
Okay, the clock on the wall says we need to
quit, I think, at 920.
Is that correct?
I think that's right, so that everybody has
time to make other classes and everything.
Thank you for being here this morning.
If you can come back at 11, we'd be delighted
to have you.
I'll have another outline available for you at
that time.