Bible -- Theology; Theology, Doctrinal -- Popular works
We are not to think that man is the highest form of created being.
As the distance between man and the lower forms of life is filled
with beings of various grades, so it is possible that between man
and God there exist creatures of higher than human intelligence
and power. Indeed, the existence of lesser deities in all heathen
mythologies presumes the existence of a higher order of beings
between God and man, superior to man and inferior to God. This
possibility is turned into certainty by the express and explicit
teaching of the Scriptures. It would be sad indeed if we should allow
ourselves to be such victims of sense perception and so materialistic
that we should refuse to believe in an order of spiritual beings
simply because they were beyond our sight and touch. We should
not thus shut ourselves out of a larger life. A so-called liberal
faith may express unbelief in such beings. Does not such a faith
(?) label itself narrow rather than liberal by such a refusal of
faith? Does not a liberal faith mean a faith that believes _much,_
not little--as much, not as little, as possible?
I. THEIR EXISTENCE.
1. THE TEACHING OF JESUS.
Matt. 18:10--"For I say unto you, That in heaven their angels
do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." Mark
13:32--"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the
angels which are in heaven." 8:38; Matt. 13:41; 26:53.
These are a sufficient number of passages, though they are by no
means all, to prove that Jesus believed in the existence of angels.
Jesus is not here speaking in any accommodative sense. Nor is He
simply expressing a superstitious belief existing among the Jews
at that time. This was not the habit of Jesus. He did not fail to
correct popular opinion and tradition when it was wrong, e.g., His
rebuke of the false ceremonialism of the Pharisees, and the unbelief
of the Sadducees in the resurrection. See also the Sermon on the
Mount (Matt. 5:20-37).
2. THE TEACHING OF PAUL, AND OTHER APOSTLES.
2 Thess. 1:7--"And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,"
Col. 2:18--"Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary
humility and worshipping of angels." Is not one of the principal
reasons for the writing of the Epistle to the Colossians to correct
the gnostic theory of the worshipping of angels? See also Eph.
1:21, Col. 1:16. John believed in an angelic order of beings: John
1:51; Rev. 12:7; 22:9. Peter: 1 Pet. 3:22; 2 Pet. 2:11. See also
Jude 9; Luke 22:43; Mark 8:38; Heb. 12:22. These and numerous other
references in the Scriptures compel the candid student of the Word
to believe in the existence of angels.
II. THE NATUEE OF ANGELS.
1. THEY ABE CREATED BEINGS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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