Angels - what does scripture tell us about them?

[Checkpoint]

When I think of angels I wonder about this and that and often come up short.

I find them something of a challenge and a mystery.

Maybe some of you are somewhat nonplussed as well.

Anyway, this thread is for us to share what we can about angels.

Such as, what angels are, why they exist, what they do and why they do those things.

And anything else you know or want to know about them.

[JehovahsWitness]

So therefore it is impossible for there to be any kind back story to the Bible.

Can you explain this point further?

JW

[JehovahsWitness]

God doesn't actually claim to be the most powerful in heaven.

GENESIS 17:1: “I am God Almighty"

The God of the bible on several occassions identifies himself as "The Almighty" ( Hebrew ʼEl Shad·daiʹ) a title uniqely applied in scripture to YHWH(Jehovah). By definition, he who is ALL mighty (all powerful) is the most powerful in all existing realms.

ISAIAH 40: 25

“To whom can you liken me to make me his equal?� says the Holy One. “ ... because of his vast dynamic energy and his awe-inspiring power... Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, is a God for all eternity. He never tires out or grows weary.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS



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[ttruscott]

About the creatures themselves, we get a glimpse in the Bible. In Revelation we find a description of creatures that are extremely strange according to what we expect. The one that comes to mind is the one covered with eyes, all over it's body. And there are a few others, which are all quite different from each other, which implies to me that there is a vast diversity of these heavenly beings.

Good morning Lucius,
all the strange physical descriptions are metaphors for spiritual aspects. Covered with feathers is hidden, obscure. Eyes all over means total awareness of everything. Wings equals the power of movement, ect.

Different names are given to the different jobs they perform, not to different species of angel.

A spirit is a spirit - if in heaven, it is an angel; if on earth engulfed in a body, a man, a soul. imCo

[ttruscott]

And the whole thing where God and Jesus both refer to having a kingdom...I am convinced that there is an entire society of these heavenly creatures living together, and that the number of them and the diversity of these creatures is beyond our comprehension.

Yes. In a lower part of Sheol. Some travel into our realm and some are sown here into bodies by the devil, Matt 13:36-39. On their death as humans, they return to Sheol, Ps. 9:17 though that fact is hidden by mistranslations of the word return.

And this is the kingdom that God and Jesus are concerned with. The lie, Satan's lie, has torn heaven apart, and God is seeking to repair the damage and bring the kingdom back together. And needless to say it is a delicate situation. And it is this delicate situation that lead to the creation of us... Through this world God demonstrates to all of heaven why he is right and why Satan is wrong; only then can God judge the traitors without additional harm to his kingdom.

The only delicacy I find in this is in the sinful elect. It is their sin that forced the postponement of the judgement expressed in Matt 13:28...So the servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ [bring judgement un them?] 29 ‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. [ie the time of the maturity of the seed and the only maturity that saves one from judgement is a mature holiness.]

I believe the demons are kept well in hand but HE seems to go slow and careful where the sinful elect are concerned, taking so long to bring them to repentance and holiness - proving to us the "why HE is right and the Satanic are wrong" [that you mentioned] so we must stop idolizing them above HIS call to come out from among them - that it must be our fragility HE is concerned about.

[Dimmesdale]

Some angels are elect:
1 Timothy 5:21 - I charge thee before GOD and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels. implying the fallen angels are demons and the people of the evil one, the tares, sown into the world by the devil. IF angels can choose to sin and become demons, they can also choose to be holy and work for GOD.

Whoa, this gives me pause. I haven't read of that verse before.

I do believe there are angels, but I am not so sure that there exist demons. So that's why this verse gives me pause; if there are elect and non-elect angels. But I see that elect can mean "chosen." So perhaps God is referring not to good angels but only his most favored of the angels.

I am still skeptical of the existence of demons as I was before becoming a Christian. I regard Satan and demons as metaphors of sin and hard-heartedness. To me I still find the idea of their being real, and enticing man to sin constantly, as off. It just seems absurd to me that there should exist such pitiful, pitiful beings (and especially given how glorious they were before falling!). And I think I can still be a Christian, as I don't think any of the major creeds of Christianity say you HAVE to believe in them....

[JehovahsWitness]

I regard Satan and demons as metaphors of sin and hard-heartedness.

So when God conversed with Satan as recorded in the book of Job was he talking to "sin and hard-heartedness" in himself?

JW

[Dimmesdale]

I regard Satan and demons as metaphors of sin and hard-heartedness.

So when God conversed with Satan as recorded in the book of Job was he talking to "sin and hard-heartedness" in himself?

JW

I don't think such a conversation ever literally happened. If Satan is God's enemy, would he really talk in a casual way with his future Judge and Destroyer? I think he would be constantly running away from God, not insulting him to his face.

[ttruscott]

I don't think such a conversation ever literally happened.

Once you set yourself up as the arbiter of the truth of what is scripture and what is not...there is no good end to that.

[Dimmesdale]

I don't think such a conversation ever literally happened.

Once you set yourself up as the arbiter of the truth of what is scripture and what is not...there is no good end to that.

I did not say I reject or deny the scripture.

I accept the scripture.

What I meant is, I interpret it differently.

Did Jesus mean it literally when he said "All things for which you pray, they shall be granted you"?

[brianbbs67]

There are demons, but do not be troubled by them . Ha' satan is a title not a name. Ha'shem is another. Ha'satan simply means the adversary. He is against us. God is ha' shem, the Name.