Angels are created beings, not departed human spirits, and were brought into existence directly and individually by Jesus Christ. They possess intellect, emotions, and a will, making them personal beings, and exhibit supernatural power, though not omnipotence. The sermon infers angels were created on the first day of creation, after the heavens but before the earth, as evidenced by passages in Job, Exodus, and Genesis. This understanding highlights God's sovereign power and the distinct nature of angelic beings.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.62 → restored 4.49
it is my privilege to minister full-time with the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, which was an outreach to Jewish people in many places around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and with the Word of God. And that ministry publishes an excellent Bible study magazine entitled Israel My Glory. The magazine comes out every two months, so that means there are six issues every year. And it is exactly that, a Bible study magazine. Every issue has an article on a book of the Bible, another article and a doctrine that's taught in the Word of God, often prophetic studies, and then news updates as they relate primarily to the nation of Israel, the Middle East.
Right now, there are approximately two hundred thousand copies of every issue of the English language edition of Israel My Glory going out to one hundred and twenty-nine nations around the world. And for many years, Spanish-speaking church leaders had pled with Friends of Israel to also publish the magazine in the Spanish language. And I'm pleased to relate to you that that began as of January of the year two thousand. So now it's available to Spanish-speaking people in many places around the world. If you're not already subscribing to Israel Minority Magazine, the mission does offer a free six-month trial subscription. And if you'd like to take advantage of that often, see when you go out in the foyer this evening and to the left where there's a book table, there are a couple sign-up sheets there that say, Israel, my glory, across the top.
And we would ask you, please, to print very clearly your name and your mailing address and then leave the sign-up sheets there so that other folks can sign up as well. And Lord willing, about two or three months from now, you'll begin to receive that through the mail. Now, as you know, this morning we began a study on major things that the Word of God reveals to us about angels. And the first two major things we've looked at thus far are the number of angels. And we know that the Bible does not give us a very specific exact number of how many angels exist. But we saw from Revelation chapter five and verse eleven and also Daniel chapter seven, verse ten that The Bible makes it very clear they exist literally in the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of these holy angels whom God created a long time ago.
Then the second major thing we began to look at this morning is the nature of angels. There are many of them, but what kind of beings are they? And the first thing we zeroed in on is the fact that according to Hebrews chapter one, verse fourteen and other passages that angels are spirit beings by nature. And that tells us several things about them, that we saw that this morning. First of all, that says to us that by nature, angels do not have physical bodies, such as we as human beings have. And secondly, because they are spirit beings, they do not have sexuality by nature. And third, because they are spirit beings, they do not die.
We die physically because we have physical bodies that are laboring under a curse. that came upon all of nature, including human beings, as a result of the fall of man away from God back there in the Garden of Eden. And then the last thing we saw with regard to their being spirit beings by nature is that angels by nature are invisible to mortal human beings while we are in our present mortal state. So the first thing we've seen then about the nature of angels is that they are spirit beings by nature. Now this evening I'd like to pick up on the second major thing the Bible teaches us about the nature of angels, and that's the fact that they are created beings.
They are created beings. Turn with me, if you would please, to Psalm one hundred forty-eight, Psalm one hundred forty-eight, and we'd like to look at verses two through five. Again, Psalm one hundred forty-eight and verses two through five. is exhorting different parts of God's creation to praise the Lord. Verse two, praise ye him all his angels. Praise ye him all his hosts. Praise ye him sun and moon. Praise him all ye stars of light. Praise him ye heavens of heavens and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created.
That's the psalmist's way of saying that everything listed in Psalm one forty-eight verses two through four that are to praise the Lord. All of those things were created by command of the Lord. And that includes the angels in verse two. They were created by the Lord. Look at a New Testament passage that teaches a similar truth in the book of Colossians chapter one and verse sixteen. which as I'm sure you're aware, has very rich Christological truth about the Lord Jesus in the book of Colossians. Again, we want to look specifically at chapter one and verse sixteen.
The apostle Paul immediately before has been talking about God's son, the Lord Jesus. And talking about God's son, we're told in verse sixteen, for by him, by the Lord Jesus, where all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. Paul mentions not only visible things that we can see here on the earth, including the earth itself, were created by the Lord Jesus, but also invisible things in the heavenly realm.
referring to angels. And then all the terms that he uses here, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, are references to angelic beings. The Apostle Paul made it very clear that angels were created by the Lord Jesus Christ. So they are created beings. Now, in light of that, we want to see two significant things this evening about the creation of the angels. The first thing is this, the nature of their creation. In other words, in what manner did the Lord Jesus create the angels? Well, think with me for a moment. We noticed this morning and we reiterated this evening that angels by nature do not have sexuality.
Remember, Jesus even said that the angels in heaven do not marry. That says to us, therefore, that they do not reproduce other angels. Now, we as human beings, have the potential of reproducing human beings because God created us as male and female with sexuality with the ability to reproduce. But since angels do not have sexuality and do not marry in the heavenly realm, they do not marry one another in the heavenly realm. That means, therefore, that they do not reproduce other angels. And because that is true, that tells us some interesting things about the way in which they're created and some of the resultant things that are true of that.
Since angels do not reproduce, other angels were forced to conclude, therefore, that every angel, without exception, was created directly and individually by Jesus Christ. Every one of them came into existence by direct creation through the power of the Lord Jesus. That means, therefore, that... apparently there are not more angels appearing coming into existence we're going to look at some passages later on that talk about the time of their creation and it all seems to imply that Jesus created all the angels that exist at one point of time in the past so that they do not reproduce other angels every angel without exception was created directly and individually by the Lord Jesus.
Along those lines, it's interesting to note that nowhere are angels in the Bible called sons of angels. Now, with regard to human beings, we have terms in the Bible about sons of men, daughters of men, but nowhere does the Bible refer to sons of angels, which again implies... They do not reproduce themselves. They do not have offspring. That tells us, therefore, that angels do not have ancestors. We have ancestors because of marriage and reproduction. Angels do not have mother angels, father angels, grandma angels, grandpa angels.
They don't have any ancestors because they do not reproduce. That also tells us that they do not have children. because they do not reproduce. You know, some of these cute concepts of these little baby angels with cute little white wings out their back, maybe halo around their head and floating around in the heavenly realm in a white fleecy cloud and everything. They're very cute, and it makes us feel kind of warm and fuzzy and looking at them. But that's really not true. There are no baby angels. because angels do not reproduce. In addition, that tells us, therefore, that angels do not have families.
We have families, again, because as human beings, we can reproduce and create family members. They do not have families. They do not have blood relatives, therefore. We have blood relatives because, again, of reproduction through our sexuality and marriage, as God ordained, for the continuation of the human race here. upon planet Earth. Now, something else we have to note about the nature of angels coming into existence. In light of the fact that every angel was created directly and individually by Jesus Christ, somewhere in past ages of time, that indicates, therefore, that angels are not the departed spirits of deceased human beings.
They are not the departed spirits. of deceased human beings. As you know, coming up toward Christmas each season, at least more so in years past, they would have all these Christmas specials coming on television. And I remember probably back sometime during the nineteen eighties, there was a very cute one that came on called The Littleest Angel. And it was a very fictitious story about this little boy who was growing up in the land of Israel back in Bible times. And one day he was playing outside his home and he saw this beautiful dove. And he decided he wanted to catch the dove. And so he kept pursuing it.
And the dove kept flying higher and higher up the side of the mountain. And the little boy kept climbing up the mountain higher and higher and higher, trying to get hold of this dove to have as a pet. And when he got to the peak of the mountain, the dove was almost within his grasp. And he reached way out to catch it, but he overextended himself and he lost his footing. And he plunged to his death in the valley below. And according to this Christmas special, his soul went to heaven. And when he arrived in heaven, some of the mature adult angels there were assigned to his case. And their assignment was they were to convert him into the littlest angel. This deceased soul and spirit of this little boy to be converted into what would be the littlest angel in heaven.
And it was a cute story, and he gave them a lot of problems, and with a lot of fretting and stress and everything else, that they finally achieved their goal. Well, it was a cute story. And I suppose, again, it made a lot of people around Christmas time feel warm and fuzzy again, but it's not accurate in light of the teaching of the Word of God. Angels are not the departed spirits of deceased human beings. Every angel was created... directly and individually by God. Now, second thing we want to see about their creation is the time of their creation. When did God create the angels?
Once again, the Bible does not give a clear statement concerning when God created the angels. You will not find a precise, clear-cut statement that says this is when God created the angels. However, when you take the teaching of three passages... in the word of God and bring the teaching of those three passages together it will indicate to us when God brought the angels into existence through his creative power the first passage is in Job chapter thirty eight and I'd invite you to turn with me please to that passage the book of Job chapter thirty eight and we want to look specifically at verses six and seven Job thirty eight verses six and seven.
It's very important to note that it is the Lord who is speaking here to Job. That's very important to note who the speakers are in the book of Job because you know Job would speak sometimes and he had his three quote unquote friends who appeared and accused him of being a horrible sinner and that's why he was suffering so badly. But here's God that's speaking to Job. We're told that at the very outset in verse thirty eight. I'm sorry, chapter thirty-eight, verse one. And God is directing a whole series of questions at Job to make Job realize that Job doesn't know everything, as God knows everything. And one of the questions that the Lord presents to Job, verse six, whereupon, referring to the earth, whereupon are the foundations of their of fastened or who laid the cornerstone thereof when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy he says in verse four where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth declare if you have understanding and so again whereupon are the foundations thereof of the earth fastened or
who laid the cornerstone thereof Job can you tell me that do you know so much can you tell me the answers those questions when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy now the question is who are the morning stars that sang together when God laid the foundations of the earth in other words first brought the earth into existence who are the sons of God that shouted for joy well interestingly if you go back to Job chapter one you have sons of God referred to And we're told that there were times when the sons of God would come in before the presence of the Lord in heaven, a report of their activity, and Satan was among them coming in to report upon his activity to the Lord.
Lord willing, in one of our later sessions this week, we'll see that Satan originally was a holy angel, the anointed cherub that covers, created perfect in all his ways by God in his original state. And so, since he's one of the sons of God coming in before God to report his activity... That indicates the other sons of God here in the book of Job are angels as well. And so the sons of God here shouted for joy when they saw God lay the foundations of the earth as a reference to angels. What about the morning stars? Well, interestingly, as you know, the book of Job is a poetic book. It consists of Hebrew poetry. And one of the key characteristics of Hebrew poetry is what was called parallelism.
In which you would have two statements made side by side, but they are parallel in meaning. Although one statement will use one set of words to express this truth, and the second line will use another set of words to express identical to the same truth. It's the idea of the same truth being expressed in two parallel ways side by side. In light of that, that's what we have in verse seven. The morning stars singing together is parallel to the sons of God shouting for joy, expressing the same truth. The implication is, then, that the morning stars are the same thing as the sons of God.
Interestingly, there are other places in the Bible where angels are referred to as stars, and the implication is, yet within the spirit realm where they can see each other, they glow with a brilliant light. just as what we know as stars in the heavens glow with a brilliant light. And so what God is saying to Job is this, that the angels, morning stars, watched him lay the foundations of the earth, bring the earth into existence through its creative power. And when they saw this magnificent creation of God, planet Earth, they shouted for joy.
And they sang God's praises in an act of worship toward him. What does that tell us then concerning the time in which God created the angels? Well, this statement by the Lord indicates that he created the angels sometime before he created planet Earth in its original form. They were already present, and they watched the Lord bring the earth into existence. And they sang his praises. and they shouted for joy when they saw that creative work of God second passage that sheds light on the time of their creation is in the book of Exodus chapter twenty in verse eleven Exodus chapter twenty and verse eleven Moses was speaking to the people of Israel he's talking about the creative work of God he says verse eleven of Exodus twenty for in six days The Lord made heaven and earth.
By the way, the Hebrew literally says heavens, plural. In six days, the Lord made the heavens and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. This is a very significant statement. Moses is saying, by revelation of God, that everything... every created thing that exists in the heavenly realm on the earth in the sea was created in six days time not before six days nor after six days but every created thing that exists in the heavens the earth and the sea were created by God within the scope of six days of time.
Again, not before the six days, nor after the six days. Now, we've already seen that angels were created by God. And the Scriptures make it very clear that they dwell, they exist in the heavenly realm. And so this means, therefore, that even they were created by God sometime within the scope of six days. Not before the six days or after the six days, but sometime within the scope of six days, the angels were created by God. Well, when within the scope of the six days? I mean, obviously, Moses referred here to the six days of Genesis one, but when within the scope of the six days of Genesis one.
Go back with me, please, to the third passage, Genesis chapter one and verse one. Genesis chapter one and verse one. where Moses wrote, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And here again, in the Hebrew, the word heaven is plural. It's exactly the same Hebrew construction here in Genesis one, one that we just read for the Hebrew construction in Exodus twenty eleven. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then verse two explains. what form the earth was in when God first created it. The earth was without form and void.
Darkness was upon the face of the deep. The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Now keep in mind, what did Moses say in Exodus, in six days, God created the heavens. In other words, the heavens were created within the scope of the six days of Genesis one, not before nor after, and the earth.
It's Moses' way of saying God created the earth within the scope of the six days of Genesis one, not before nor after, and the sea that he created the sea. Sometime within the scope of the six days of Genesis one, not before and or after. And all that in them is. It's saying, therefore, that the heavens were created not before the six days. The earth was created not before the six days of Genesis one. And the sea was created not before the six days of Genesis one. And every created thing that exists in the heavens, the earth, and the sea. were created not before the six days of Genesis one notice verses one through five therefore in light of Exodus twenty eleven verses one through five are describing the first day of the six days of creation the first day of the six days of creation since again Moses said Exodus twenty eleven the heavens the earth the sea and all that in them is was created in six days.
So verses one through five of Genesis one are describing the first day of the six days of creation. Now notice the language again. Notice the order in verse one. In the beginning, God created what first? The heavens and the earth. In other words, he created the heavens first and then he created the earth sometime after he created the heavens. When you take the teaching of Job thirty eight, verses six and seven, that God created the angels before he created the earth, they were already present to see God lay the foundations of the earth, and Exodus twenty eleven, that everything, including the heavens, the earth, even the angels were created within the scope of the six days of Genesis one.
When you put that together with Genesis one, one, this is the implication concerning the time that God created the heavens. On day one of creation, the first thing God created was the heavens. Later on day one of creation, God created the angels to inhabit the heavens. Still later on day one, God created planet Earth, brought it into existence. And so the implication of the teaching of these three passages were brought together is this, that the angels were created on the first day of creation, after God created the heavens, but before He created planet Earth.
He created the heavens first, early on day one. Then He created the angels to inhabit the heavenly realm and serve Him primarily in the heavenly realm of His universal kingdom. And then later yet, on day one, He created planet Earth so that the angels were already present to watch Him bring the earth into existence. and sing God's praises and shout for joy. These are the implications of the time of their creation. So angels are not only, they are not only spirit beings by nature, they are created beings. Now that leads us to a third thing that we learn from the Bible about the nature of angels, and that is they are also personal beings.
Every angel is a person. Now please... That doesn't mean they are human. We are so accustomed to using the word person just for human beings that often when we talk about other kinds of persons, we almost automatically classify as a human being. Keep in mind, there are three persons of the Godhead. God the Father is a person. Christ the Son is a person. The Holy Spirit is a person. But that doesn't mean they're all human beings. Jesus was not a human being until he became incarnated in human flesh. But he existed as a personal divine being from eternity past. So when we say that every angel is a personal being as a person, don't jump to the conclusion we're saying, therefore, they are human beings.
They are a different class of beings. And we're seeing this as we're going along. We'll see more of it later on. They are a different kind of personal being than we are. And they are a different kind of personal being than God the Father, Christ the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But they are personal beings. And by that, we mean that they possess what are called the attributes of personality. And according to scriptures, there are three attributes of personality that make something a personal being. Those three attributes are intellect, emotions, and a will. If something possesses intellect, emotions, and a will, it's a personal being.
God the Father possesses intellect, emotions, and a will. Christ the Son possesses intellect, emotions, and a will. The Holy Spirit possesses intellects, emotions, and a will. Things in the Bible indicate that, and so the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct personal beings. You and I as human beings possess intellect, emotions, and a will. That makes us persons. Well, angels possess intellect, emotions, and a will. and therefore that makes them personal beings as well now what are the evidence to the effect that angels have intellect emotions in the world the attributes of personality what about intellect turn with me if you would please to the gospel of luke chapter four luke chapter four and verse thirty four luke chapter four and verse thirty four just to get the context we'll begin with verse thirty three uh...
jesus had gone into the synagogue in Capernaum, up on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. And we're told in verse thirty-three, in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean demon, literally demon, and cried out with a loud voice saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art. The Holy One of God. Here was a demon-possessed man that was in the synagogue this day when Jesus came into that synagogue. Now, from all we can discern, from everything that Bible reveals about angels, demons are fallen angels.
They are the angels who followed Satan's lead to rebel against God. Therefore, are fallen, and they are evil. And so here is an evil fallen angel. that has taken possession of a man there in the vicinity of the city of Capernaum. But notice what that demon is doing in the face of the Lord Jesus. Number one, that demon, that fallen angel, is speaking to the Lord Jesus with intelligent language. He was able to use intelligent language, putting words together to communicate sense. He spoke to the Lord Jesus through that man. You cannot do that.
You cannot put words together at intelligent, meaningful form without a high degree of intelligence. Not only that, this demon indicated that he discerned who Jesus is. Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? In addition, he knew that Jesus had the authority to judge him severely. He says, are you come to destroy us? And then notice, I know who thou art, the holy one of God. He possessed knowledge. You better believe this evil angel knew who Jesus Christ was, the holy one of God.
Because, number one, that angel was created by the Lord Jesus as a holy angel. And before he made the faithful choice to follow Satan's lead to rebel against Jesus Christ and God, he existed in the presence of the Lord Jesus in heaven. He knew personally firsthand who Jesus Christ is, even though Jesus was now in incarnated form. All those things, the language, the discernment, the ability to speak and knowledge, All indicate this angel possessed intellect. A very high degree of intellect.
What about emotions? Remember what we just saw? Job thirty eight, verses six and seven. When the angels watch God create planet Earth, they shouted with what? Joy. Joy is a tremendous emotion. They experienced the emotion of joy when they watched their Creator bring about this next great act of creation, a planet at which life could exist, animal life, plant life, human life could exist by the time God would finish his six days of creation.
They experienced tremendous joy when they saw this great work of their Creator God. Turn with me, please, to Revelation chapter twelve and verse twelve. Revelation chapter twelve and verse twelve. The Apostle John, by revelation of God, is recording some dramatic things that will take place right in the middle of the future seven-year tribulation period. It says in verse seven, there was war in heaven, war in the heavenly realm. who, as we'll see later on, is the great archangel of God and his angels, holy angels under Michael's leadership, fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels.
The dragon here has angels under his leadership. And the dragon and his angels prevailed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brotherness cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. They love not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell of them.
Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you. Now notice. having great wrath because he knows that he has but a short time. In the middle of the future tribulation period, there will be great angelic warfare in the heavenly realm. The scriptures indicate that when Satan really became Satan and committed the original sin against God up in heaven, rebelling against God, that God cast him out of God's heaven, the one that Paul in second Corinthians twelve calls a third heaven, down to the first heaven, which in the Bible is called the air, the atmosphere above the earth.
And so, ever since Satan and other angels rebelled against God, their dwelling place is not in God's heaven, but in the first heaven that Paul refers to in second Corinthians twelve, the air. Remember Ephesians two? where Paul called Satan the prince of the powers of the air. Apparently, in the middle of the seven-year tribulation period, Satan and his fallen angels will be cast out of their heavenly realm down to planet Earth. And they will be confined to planet Earth for the entire second half of the seven-year tribulation period. And we know that because it tells about those that he'll wage war against. And one place says that he'll wage war against them for a time, times, or half a time, Another place that indicates that he'll wage war for twelve hundred and sixty days.
In the Bible, a time, times and a half a time, or twelve hundred and sixty days was three and a half years. So the whole second half of the tribulation period, Satan and his fallen angels will be confined here to planet Earth. And the fact that he's been cast now out of his heavenly realm and confined to the earth says to him, his time is growing short. God is moving in upon him to judge him and end his kingdom rule over the world system here upon planet Earth. And because he realizes that, he's going to go forth with great wrath to try to destroy certain individuals here upon the face of the earth who belong to the Lord.
And the first object is a beautiful woman who's described earlier, and that description fits one back in Genesis for the nation of Israel. His first line of attack when Satan is brought down to the earth in the middle of the tribulation period will be the nation of Israel. He's going to go after it to try to annihilate it, which is why Jesus in Matthew twenty four is speaking to Jews ahead of time said, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in your holy place, going back to Daniel nine twenty seven, where Daniel is told about a significant thing, a detestable thing that will take place in their new temple in Jerusalem. right in the middle of the seven-year tribulation period, God says to Jews ahead of time, when you see that detestable thing standing in your holy place, your new temple, in the middle of the tribulation period, those of you who are in Judah flee as fast as you can to a mountain wilderness, because then will be such a great tribulation, such as never has been since the beginning of time or ever will be again.
Jesus indicated that in the middle of the tribulation period, That will begin the unparalleled time of trouble in all of world history, and that the Jews, particularly who are in the land of Israel at that time, should flee to a mountain wilderness to hide out. And one of the reasons is, according to Revelation twelve, Israel will be the first target by Satan when he's confined to the earth in the middle of the tribulation period. And when he cannot totally destroy them, then he's going to go after those who belong to the Lord, those who are saved upon planet earth and wage war against them. But notice he'll go forth with great wrath. He's an angel. Wrath is more than just emotion, but it involves strong emotion. And this indicates that Satan as an angel could experience that strong emotion that's involved in wrath.
What about a will? What about a will? Turn, if you would, please, to Second Timothy chapter two in verse twenty-six. Second Timothy chapter two. in verse twenty six where the the apostle Paul is giving instruction about human beings and it they got to be careful about certain things he says here about them verse twenty six second Timothy chapter two and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will.
Paul making it very clear that Satan is an angel as a will. It's obvious that he does because he made a decision. After God created him as a holy angel, he made a decision to rebel against God and commit the very first sin in God's whole universe. And then other angels made a decision either to join Satan and also rebel against God or remain loyal to God. Every angel, after Satan made his decision to rebel, had to make a choice, which means that every angel had to exercise its will, either to remain loyal to God and thereby be absolutely confirmed in their holy state, or to join Satan that has rebelled against God and thereby be confirmed in an evil fallen state.
All these things indicate that angels have a will. They have the ability thereby to make decisions which will affect their actions, either to obey God or to obey Satan, whether they're holy or evil fallen angels. So these are just a few samples out of many that we could look at in the Word of God to the effect that angels have intellects, they have emotions, they have a will. And therefore, they are personal beings. They are personal beings. Now, one final thing that the Word of God tells us about the nature of angels. This is the fourth major thing.
The third one was that they are personal beings. But the fourth thing about them and their nature is that angels are powerful beings. They are powerful beings. The Word of God makes it very clear that angels possess supernatural power. In other words, they are far more powerful than we are as mortal human beings. But even though they have supernatural power, their power is limited. They are not omnipotent, all-powerful, as the persons of the Godhead are all-powerful. So they have supernatural power, but not omnipotence. Their power is limited.
What evidence do we have of their great power? Look at Psalm one hundred and three, verse twenty. Psalm one hundred and three, and verse twenty. where the psalmist says, Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Notice the psalmist is saying that angels excel in strength. That's why they're able to carry out God's commandments and do the things that he bids them to do. Look at Second Peter, chapter two, and verse eleven.
second Peter chapter two verse eleven where Peter is drawing in essence a contrast on the one hand between rebellious bold stubborn human beings and angels on the other hand second Peter chapter two verse eleven we'll begin verse ten to get the flow but chiefly them that walk after the flesh and the lust of uncleanness and despise government presumptuous are they self-willed they're not afraid to speak evil of dignities he's talking here about rebellious stubborn bold human beings but now the contrast verse eleven whereas angels which are greater in power and might bring not really an accusation against them before the lord peter's saying that angels are greater in power and might than bold, stubborn, rebellious human beings.
Making it very clear, angels are supernatural in power. Mortal human beings, by contrast, are natural in power by virtue of their own humanity. So they do possess greater power than we possess while we are in our presence sinful mortal fate. Remember what we saw this morning, Genesis, the two angels, the Lord sent over to Sodom to rescue Lot? While they were inside Lot's house and the door was closed and the men of Sodom were outside the door of Lot's house, those two angels inside Lot's house were able to inflict total blindness upon the men of Sodom without even touching them physically. They didn't have to open the door and poke their fingers in their eyes or something like that to inflict blindness.
They had supernatural power. They were able to do it without touching them physically. What about the limitations on their power that they are not omnipotent? Turn please to Revelation twenty in verse ten. Revelation twenty in verse ten. Our understanding is that the highest, most exalted, most powerful of all the angels God created was the one who tragically now is Satan. But notice what God will be able to do with Satan at the end of our present earth's history. Revelation twenty verse eleven.
I'm sorry, verse ten. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire in brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. What that is saying to us is this. Although Satan has great supernatural power, he's no match for God. God, at the end of this earth's history, will cast his enemy forever into the eternal lake of fire, where that enemy will be under the wrathful judgment of God in conscious torment forever and ever and ever throughout eternity.
Now, if God has the authority and ability to do that to the most powerful angel who was ever created, then certainly he has that same power and authority over all the angels. So that even though they are supernatural in power, they are not omnipotent. They have limitations upon their power. And remember, Job one and two reflected that as well. When Satan came in to report his activity before God, apparently God requires him to do that from time to time, just to remind him that God is still God and Satan is not God. But when he comes in to report his activity to God, God asked him a question, where have you been?
What have you been doing? And like a lot of teenagers, when they come in beyond the curfew that their parents set, and the parents ask, where have you been? What have you been doing? They give a very nebulous, non-informative answer. Satan said, oh, just walking to and fro on the face of the earth. God said, have you considered my righteous servant Job when he'd been walking to and fro in the face of the earth? How faithful he is to me. And of course, Satan said, no wonder he's faithful to you. Look, you put a hedge of protection around him. I can't get at him. And you heap all these material blessings and everything else upon him.
If you'll just allow me to get at him and attack him, you will see how soon he'll turn against you and curse you to your face. And notice God said, all right, you may attack him, but there's a limit. You can only go so far. Don't you go any further. And Satan had to abide by that limit, even his attacks upon Job, which says again, even though he's supernatural in power, he's not omnipotent. He's still subject to the omnipotent power of God. And by the way, That should be a tremendous source of comfort to those of us who are believers today.
That not even Satan or any of his fallen angels or anything can touch us without God's permission. And God is the one who sets the limits, even on the most powerful angel that was ever created, who is now the height of evil and the greatest enemy of God. and of Jesus Christ, Satan himself. So angels are spirit beings by nature. They are created beings. They are personal beings. And they are powerful beings. Now, Lord willing, on Tuesday morning, when we get together again, we'll look at a whole different area with regard to angels.
We're going to talk about the ranks of angels. And as time permits on Tuesday morning, look into some other areas as well. And then later we'll be talking about the fall of angels, some very significant things in the Bible with regard to the fall of angels. And where are all the fallen angels today? They're not all at the same place. They are at different places today. And the Word of God indicates that. And that has a lot of significance for us even today as well. And then we'll look at their relationship to human beings, their relationship to Jesus Christ, some incredible things. in the bible about their relationship to jesus christ absolutely fascinating things which elevated exalt our savior all the more just seeing the relationship that angels have to the lord jesus and then as time permits we'll look at the activities of the holy angels and again some of which have implications for you and me as believers and as a corporate body of believers but then also the activities of the evil angels so these are None of the things that we will try to cover at the time permits during the course of this week.
Father, we worship you together with your Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as the only true and living God. You actually exist. You are ultimate reality. By contrast, all other gods are totally false, non-existent, non-reality, a myth, purely the creation of unsaved man. But it is you who created us, the whole universe, everything in it, including the angels.
We did not create ourselves, nor did we create you, nor are we the result of some evolutionary naturalistic process. You are the creator. the sustainer, the provider, the sovereign Lord and the owner, of the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. And as we have seen from your word tonight, how you created all the angels, directly and individually, when you created them, and the nature of the angels, we're reminded again you are the sovereign omnipotent lord and god and creator of everything that's ever been created and therefore you alone as the triune god deserve our worship our adoration our awe our reverence and our service and so we bow before you tonight father son and holy spirit and adore you and worship you as the only true and living God.
And we do this in the name of Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, who became incarnated so that we, as rebellious human beings, could be set free forever from the penalty of our sin against you. In Jesus' name, amen.