Angels are spirits who serve God. They may appear human, and when they do, they usually take the form of men, although two “female” angels appear in Zechariah 5:9. But they do not have actual gender, and they do not reproduce. It seems that they do not have an actual appearance, but can take a visible form for the purpose of communicating with people. We really do not know very much about them. We do know that they are not omnipresent, but exist, like us, in time and space; they do not know everything, but they are given knowledge by God to transmit to specific people. The word “angel” derives from a Greek word meaning “messenger”, and in Hebrew the word used (mal-ach) likewise means messenger, for this is their primary purpose when they are seen in the “Bible”. In what I will call the “universal canon” — those books of the Old Testament accepted as the Word of God by all mainstream Christian faiths — they rarely help people, as Raphael does in Tobit. When they do, it is a single act. For example, when Nebuchadnezzar tries to execute the three Hebrew men in a furnace, a fourth figure is seen with them; and after Daniel survives a night in the lions den, he says that “God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths.” (Daniel 6:22) Primarily, as their name indicates, they deliver messages. The concept of guardian angels is non-biblical legend. Catholics have a little more Scriptural basis for the idea than Protestants, because Tobit is canonical in the Catholic Church. But notice that Rafael, although he is sent to help Tobias and keeps him company for many weeks, does not actually use supernatural power to intervene in earthly affairs. He gives divine counsel, acting as a messenger; he assists Tobias using human powers, by traveling to get his money. But the only time he takes supernatural action is to battle the demon Asmodeus, in the spiritual realm, after Tobias has taken the steps to drive it from Sara. We know even less about archangels than angels. The New Testament uses the word only twice: Jude refers to the Archangel Michael fighting with Satan over Moses body, and Paul mentions an archangel in 2 Thessalonians: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ” (1 Thess. 4:16) There is a lot more about angels, especially in Revelation, but they actually have little to do with human beings; mostly, their activity is in the spiritual realm. The one thing we need to always keep clear is that, when we have been reborn in Christ, we receive the protection and counsel of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not an angel, but is a manifestation of God Himself, infinitely more powerful than an angel. dailyprayer.us/index.php
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 00:40:46 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015