👋 Welcome Back

Welcome back. We are nearing the end. This is session 35 out of 36 on Spiritual Warfare, and in this session, I want to talk about the role of angels in this battle.

😇 The Role of Angels

Now I had hoped when I started this series of lectures that I'd be able to do more on angels. There's just not room in this. There's been too many subjects that I felt like I wanted to cover and had to cover in order to give a broad view of the subject of spiritual warfare.
But when you look at scripture, you find that angels are engaged. Angels are engaged with us here on this earth.

🎄 Advent and Angels

I am doing this, recording this lecture during the month of December, and so it's Advent time, and I'm preaching during these four weeks in one of the churches in my community. And it just strikes me again that you cannot talk about the Advent, the birth of Jesus Christ. You can't talk about that without talking about angels, right?
Angels show up:

  • Gabriel talking to Zechariah and predicting the birth of John the Baptist.

  • Gabriel the messenger angel coming to Mary and talking with her about the fact that she's been given an assignment to be the one who's going to birth the Messiah of the world, which is an amazing story—I preached on that yesterday.

  • That God, who’s been preparing this plan for generations and generations, now entrusts it to a girl who’s probably 12 to 14 years old.

  • The angel announcement to shepherds.

  • The angel announcement in a dream to Joseph.

  • Angel direction to Joseph in a dream when the child is threatened before Herod kills all the children in that area under two years old, saying “you’ve gotta go down to Egypt.”

All of that has to do with the activity of angels as messengers.

⚔️ Angels in Spiritual Warfare

Now, this activity of angels sometimes is engaged in the warfare that we’ve been talking about—spiritual warfare.
I began this series of lessons talking about this event where the king of Aram was at war with Israel, and after conferring with his officers, he said, “I'm going to set up my camp in such a such a place to attack the king of Israel.”
But the man of God—that’s Elisha—sent word to the king of Israel:
“Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.”
So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again, Elisha warned the king so that he was on his guard.

😲 The Servant’s Eyes Opened

This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers, demanded them,
“Tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel—who is the spy?”
“Well, none of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who was in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
Well, when the servant of the man of God got up—remember that—they sense the army, and the army surrounds the city of Dothan, the little town of Dothan.
The servant of the man got up the next morning. He went out and he sees that horses and chariots surrounded the city.
“Oh no, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked.

🔥 Heavenly Forces Revealed

And the prophet said—remember we talked about this way way back in session two—“Don’t be afraid.”
The prophet answered,
“Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
And Elisha prayed,
“Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.”
Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked, and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

🌌 A Glimpse of the Unseen Realm

So this is one of those areas where all of a sudden we get a glimpse—you know, as I talked about earlier, it’s like the curtain between heaven and earth is taken aside, and all of a sudden he can see that other reality. That reality of space, and it’s angels, and they are deployed on behalf of Elisha, the one who’s working on behalf of God as His Prophet.

📜 Daniel’s Three-Week Fast

We’ve looked at this passage just recently, so I won’t read the whole thing, but it’s Daniel mourning for three weeks:

  • Eats no choice food

  • No meat or wine

  • Uses no lotions

  • Until the three weeks are over.

👼 Angelic Encounter in Daniel’s Vision

And then there’s this vision, and the angel comes to him. An angel comes to him.
It’s interesting—the angel says, “I’ve come because your words were heard.”
But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days.
Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

⚔️ A War in the Heavenlies

And we talked about the spiritual level of warfare, but apparently, there’s this war that’s going on, maybe all the time around us, that we don’t see—but angels are engaged there.

📖 Daniel’s Vision Continues

“Do you know why I've come to you?”
This is the end of that story in Daniel 10.
Soon I will return to fight against the Prince of Persia.
When I go, the prince of Greece will come.
But first, I'll tell you what is written.

So, angels are involved in this battle, and Michael is one of those that leads the way.

⚔️ Joshua’s Encounter with the Commander of the Lord’s Army

Here’s another one of those Old Testament stories.
When Joshua—they’ve crossed the Jordan River, and they’ve camped and are ready to attack Jericho—ready to follow God’s plan (marching around and walls falling down).
But when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.
Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
And the man replied, “Neither. But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.”

Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence and asked him, “What message does my lord have for his servant?”
And the commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”
And Joshua did so.

🔥 A Parallel to Moses’ Encounter

Now you remember those same words were spoken when Moses was called into battle—spiritual battle against Pharaoh and the spirit that had kept the Israelites in slavery for so many generations.

👑 Identifying the Commander

Now, that’s interesting, right?
What do you think Joshua thought?
“Okay? Are you for us or for our enemies?”
Well, neither.
“I’m the commander of the army of the Lord. I have now come.”

Now we know that this was likely Michael.
He’s the one identified with the battle that goes on and is identified that way in the book of Revelation often again.

🌍 Angels Are Involved in the Unseen Battle

Again, notice that in this spiritual battle that exists in the world—this other part of reality that we don’t see with our physical eyes—angels are involved.

👀 A New Awareness of Angels

So a few words about angels as we think about this.
This is once again like the idea I introduced—that whole thing of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or whatever you call it, where you don’t see something and then all of a sudden you become aware of it and you see it everywhere.

📚 Reading Scripture with Angels in Mind

Well, think of that.
Read Scripture in the New Testament, and think about angels.

🌟 Types of Angels (1/5) – The Archangel

We know several things about angels.
One, there are five types of angels.
The first is the Archangel.
The “Arch” means a chief angel of sorts.

One of the places that’s mentioned is in Jude verse 9:
“But even the Archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’”

Another place the archangel is mentioned is in 1 Thessalonians, where Paul gives a view of the future to the people in Thessalonica:
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

So apparently, the Archangel—and the only one we know of is Michael—has this position of authority, giving the call at the end that the battle is going to be done, once and for all.

🏰 Angel Ranks in Heaven

Apparently, the angels in heaven also have different ranks.
There must be some common soldiers, and there must be others, as we’re just going to see in a moment.
So we know there’s at least this first type of angel—the Archangel, the one in charge of the armies of the Lord.

👼 Next Up: Cherubim

Okay, let’s go on.
The second kind of angel is the Cherubim.

🍃 Cherubim Guard the Garden of Eden

And we read about this first in Genesis 3:24.
Now, Genesis 3, you remember, is the story of the fall of Adam and Eve into sin.
Adam and Eve made the choice to break God’s will, to disobey His command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
As a result, they were cast out of the Garden of Eden, that place of perfection and beauty.
And then we read:
“After he drove the man out, God placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

God didn’t want them to eat from the tree of life and live forever in a fallen condition, so He began to arrange the way of salvation.
That all happened back in the Garden of Eden, and the prophecy of the seed of the woman coming to crush the serpent’s head—to defeat Satan once and for all—was set in motion.
Who’s guarding the Garden of Eden? Cherubim.

🕊️ Cherubim in the Tabernacle

It’s interesting because cherubim are also mentioned elsewhere in Scripture.
When directions were given to build the tabernacle during the time of wandering in the wilderness, God told Moses to fashion two cherubim on the top of the Ark of the Covenant, with their wings touching.
Now, we don’t know exactly what that Ark of the Covenant looked like, but here’s an artist’s conception.
The wings of the cherubim, angels with wings, are there.

🎨 Cherubim in Art (And Misconceptions)

Unfortunately, with cherubim, we’ve kind of played them up in art.
Raphael, the great artist, created cherubim that look like this—innocent little kids.
Sometimes people get warped ideas of angels.
I’ve even heard people say when a child dies, “Well, God wanted another angel in heaven.”
But no—children don’t become angels.
Humans don’t become angels when they die.
God created angels as a separate kind of creation.
We are the creatures made in the image of God.

I think it’s a travesty to picture angels as mischievous cherubs.
Look up Raphael’s paintings—you’ll find many depictions of cherubs looking like this.

🛡️ The Role of Cherubim

What is the role of cherubim?
They guard and surround the Ark of the Covenant.
They help move God’s plan forward for His people.

🔥 Seraphim – Angels of Holiness

Another kind of angel is the seraphim.
These are mentioned a couple of times in Scripture.
One is in Isaiah 6:
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.’”

At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.

🙇 Isaiah’s Response to the Seraphim

Isaiah writes:
“Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to Isaiah with a live coal in his hand, taken from the altar with tongs.
With it, he touched Isaiah’s mouth and said:
“See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

📜 The Context of Isaiah’s Vision

This vision to Isaiah came at a very important time.
It was in the year that King Uzziah died.
King Uzziah was one of Israel’s long-term kings who had brought peace, security, prosperity, and for many years, faithfulness to God in his rule.
Now he had died.
There was a big question: what’s going to happen?
There could be a time of vying for the throne, as often happened in Old Testament times—intrigue, betrayal, brother killing brother, anything to get power.
It could easily be a turning point away from God, as had happened so often in Israel’s history.

👑 Isaiah’s Vision of God on His Throne

And then Isaiah is given the vision that God is on His throne.
Now, you know, I’m recording this in a time where I pray often for the vision of God on His throne.
In fact, I begin my prayer with praise of God in the morning, and then I move to silence, just waiting on the Lord, where the psalmist encourages us to “Be still and know that I am God.”
Because I see evidence all over the world, and all over my world here in the United States—I see confusion and chaos and the enemy reigning.
And so I know that God is on His throne.

🌟 Seraphim and Their Role

The seraphim, what’s their role in this?
Well, they’re all about God and His presence and worship.

🦁 Living Beings – Unique Worshipers

A couple more kinds of angels.
There are the living beings. I’m putting this in the category of angels.
We read about them in the book of Revelation.
Also in front of the throne, there was what looked like…
John the Apostle, he’s got this vision of heaven—that’s what Revelation is, right? A vision of what’s coming.
And he said:
“I saw what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes in front and in back.
The first living creature was like a lion, the second like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings.
Day and night, they never stop saying:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’”

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever—well, then what happens is the rest of the people inhabiting heaven begin to worship as well.

We’re not given a name for them—it’s not like cherubim or seraphim—but these living creatures are unique.
They have eyes that see everything, and yet, as they see everything, they’re worshiping, praising, and celebrating God.

👼 Common Angels (Unnamed)

And then there are—you know, I don’t know what to call them, but we’ll call them common angels, because they’re not given a name.
They have a role to play, a very important role.
Here’s how the book of Hebrews puts it:
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

👼 Angels All Around

Think of that—there are angels all around.
Now, in that society at that time, hospitality was very important in Israel because there weren’t large hotels you could go to. When I travel, I make arrangements in a hotel.
So they were dependent on the hospitality of people.

In fact, in the Old Testament, the practice was if you were traveling, you would come into the city square and wait there, and people would come to the square and say, “Come on, come on home with me and have a meal with us,” and you’d share with that family.

Well, this is a similar thing—that there are angels all around, so be aware that when there are people who need hospitality, we should give it, because maybe it’s angels.

🏠 Hospitality and Angels

I think of that sometimes when I’m involved in the rescue mission near me, and have opportunity on occasion to go there and share in a service.
These homeless men gather, most of them alcoholic or drug addicted, and to sit there and share the gospel with them…
And I’m wondering, here’s these people working in this mission, providing food, providing a bed, and particularly in the wintertime, warmth…
I wonder if there are any angels here.
I wonder if there are any angels here.
There are angels all around us.

🌟 Named Angels in Scripture

Now, we know that there are only three angels whose names we know:

  • Michael, the archangel

  • Gabriel, the messenger who goes to Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah—he’s apparently one of the primary messenger angels

  • Lucifer, the enemy, the one we’ve been talking about, is the one we know most.

🙌 Ministering Spirits Sent to Help

But we do know that the angels have another task, not just being around to see if someone is going to show them hospitality.
Are not angels, Hebrews says, ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

👼 A Story of Angels Near the End

Now, I can see—you know, I’ve not seen angels, but I’ve heard of them.
Several years ago, we had a woman in our church who was dying.
She had been on dialysis for years and years; her kidneys weren’t functioning.
The doctor told her, “We’re getting diminishing returns on dialysis. You better start thinking about putting your house in order.”

So she did. She said, “It’s time for me to go home.”
She quit dialysis, and that meant it would cause her death in a matter of days or weeks.
She was in the hospital. She had friends in the room. She’d gone into a coma, and friends were there to usher her into eternity.

And all of a sudden, she woke up.
And what did she say?
She looked at her friends there, but she was looking around the room.
And one of the friends asked her, “What do you see?”
She said, “I see angels. I see angels.”
And the friend said, “Where are they?”
She said, “Well, one’s there, one’s there, one’s standing next to you.”

Angels sent to minister to us in times of challenge, in times of trouble, ushering us home.
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home.
I looked over Jordan and what did I see?
A band of angels coming for to carry me home.”

🕊️ Remembering the Heavenly Forces

Yeah. Remember, as you do battle, that forces of heaven are deployed on your behalf.
We’ll see you next time.


கடைசியாக மாற்றப்பட்டது: வியாழன், 29 மே 2025, 1:41 PM