angelic beings | truthandlove

ARE ANGELIC BEINGS STILL MINISTERING TO THE CHURCH TODAY?

Few years ago, I read from a commentary book that Angelic beings are not connected with the church today, they are not ministering to the church anymore. I could not believe this, because I was raised up to believe that everybody has a guardian Angel. Also there are many books that have written about Angelic beings, even in Television there is a series program called "Touch By An Angel". My curiosity about Angelic beings led me to do further research to find out if they really do not minister to the church today. After spending few years of my research I was still hesitant to write this message, because of the expected probable controversy. So I waited and prayed to God that He will give me a signal if He wants me to do this. I thank God that thru a Bible teacher, God inspired me to write this message. I pray that, people who will read this message and believe, God will bless them by knowing the truth.

To start with, I would like to define the word Angel. The word Angel literally means "Messenger" and may be either human being or Angelic being. Example of Angelic being - we have an Angelic being named Gabriel, who announced the birth of John the Baptist to a priest named Zachariah (Luke 1:11-20). Zachariah and Elizabeth the parents of John the Baptist were already very old when John was born. Then in (Luke 1:26-38) again Gabriel appeared to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Angel said to her. "Do not be afraid , Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end."

Also the angel Gabriel was the one who interpreted Daniel's vision (Da.8:16-26; 9:20 -27)

Another example of Angelic being is Archangel Michael. He is a warrior in Angelic realm, protector of Israel (Da. 10:13,21;12:1;Rev.12:7). Also his name appeared in (Jude 9) when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses. Another kind of Angel that may refer to human beings-The same word Angel is used to address the leaders of the seven churches of Asia minor in chapter 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation.

Before going further, I would like to answer the question-Are Angelic beings still ministering to the church today? My answer is no. Angelic beings are not connected to the church today. I believe this for two reasons. First, there is no single verse in the bible indicating that Angelic beings minister to us today. Their ministry ceased during Pentecost , the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came to rest on each of the disciple. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them. (See Acts 2). Second, what thing an Angelic being can do that the Holy Spirit , who indwells every believer, cannot do. The bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity. He is as God as God the father and as God as God the son. The bible also teaches that the Holy Spirit, who indwells every believer, teaches (John 14-26);He guides (Roms.8-14); He commissions(Act.13-4); He commands (Act.8-29); He restrains (Gen.6-3);He intercedes (Rom.8-26); He speaks (John.15 :26; 2 Pet.1-21).

Apparently, almost one billion professing Christians believe that Angelic beings are still ministering to the church today. Even some famous Christian evangelists believe this, and they even write books about guardian angels and some of them made a good record of sales. The reason why many Christians do not grow in their faith, as they should be, is because they pay less attention to the Holy Spirit, who indwells them, and more attention to the suppose ministry of a guardian angel. Some professing Christians even pray to their supposed guardian angels. Anybody who is doing this must be very careful. You may not know you are not entertaining the right guardian angel. Many are deceived by the so called ministry of guardian angels.

The very popular verse that others believe that angels are ministering to us is (Heb.1:14). It says-"Are they not all ministering spirits , sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ?". Right away , somebody is going to say, "Doesn't it say here that the angels are going to minister to the heirs of salvation?'' Lets read the verse like it is. The angels are going to minister to those " who shall be heirs of salvation". This verse is looking forward to the time when God turns again to the nation Israel,- and to the Gentile world-After the church is removed from earth. Notice that it does not say that the angels are ministering to those who are right now the heirs of salvation. Do you know why believers do not need angels ministry ?. Because the Holy Spirit indwells them, and they can communicate with Him every time they are filled with the power of the spirit of God. As believers, when we are obedient and following Christ, with the filling of the Holy Spirit, we can minister to each other without the help of the Angelic being, because Godly human being can also be a messenger of God or Angel of God.

Another popular verse that others think-children have guardian angels is (Matt.18:10) that says-"Take heed that ye despise not of these little ones ; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven." In this verse there is no indication that angels are ministering to children . There is not a single verse in the bible that says children have guardian angels. Our Lord simply says in this verse that we are not to despise one of the little children. When one of them dies his spirit goes immediately to be with God. All little ones go to heaven. They go to heaven , not because they are innocent, but they go to heaven because Jesus died for them. That is what our Lord is talking about here.

Another verse that many people believe that Angelic beings are connected with the church age is (Rev.1:1) . When we read (Rev.1:1) we see that the book of Revelation is originated with God, it was given to Jesus Christ, He gave it to His angel, His angel gave it to John, and from John it goes to His servants that they might know what is coming to pass. And that is the way it has to come to us. The angel mentioned here is heavenly messenger, but notice that John is writing primarily about future things; that is , what Jesus is going to do in the future. And beginning with chapter 4, everything is future and will take place after the church has left the earth. This shows that the heavenly angel mentioned here is not ministering to the church, because the church has nothing to do with the coming prophecy. Therefore, starting on chapter 4 we see angels coming back into prominence. This is true to the way the book moves.

About 100 times the word angel appears in the bible. Sometimes it appears with a group of words like '' the angel of the Lord " or" the angel of God". In this case, sometimes we are not referring to mere angel. Sometimes it refers to the incarnate Jesus Christ. How do we know that ? We know it by investigating the surrounding word-meaning-we have to know the context of the verse. A good example is Paul's voyage and shipwreck in his journey to Rome (Act.27:1-44). ''For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve".(Act.27-23). In this verse there are two confirming statements that the angel of God is no other than the post incarnate Jesus Christ. The first confirming statement is (1) The angel of God, whose I am or who is I am. Jesus Christ is called I am many times in the bible. In the burning bush Jesus said to Moses I am that I am (Ex.3:14). Also Jesus said in (Rev.1:8)- ''I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." And the second confirming statement is (2) The angel of God whom I serve. Paul never serves an angel he serves Jesus Christ. We,as Christians, also serve Jesus Christ and never an angel. In fact in the future we are going to judge angels, see (1 Cor. 6;3), (2 Pet.2;4,9), (Jude 6). We will rule the universe with Christ as priests and judges in the future. AMEN.

Written by Osmundo Sabado

Edited by Orman Sabado