A Few Facts About Angels and Demons

Will We Be Angels?

Joyce Webb 2010

 

The word “angel” means messenger. One who carries messages.

God created the angels a long time ago. We do not know when, but it was long before man was made. Angels are very, very old. They could be many thousands of years old, or many millions of years old.

Angels are very intelligent (smart). They are not as smart as God, but they are much smarter than man. We do not know how much they know, but it is possible that they understand most things about the world, the earth, how things are made, the laws of science—–they understand much more than our smartest men. II Peter 2:11

They understand much about men —-how they act, how they think, how they feel, what makes them do the things they do. The angels are so old, and have watched men from the beginning and they have a good understanding of how men are.

Angels are spirits. We do not know if they have a body. When we think of a spirit—we think of something with no body.

Angels —when in heaven—may have a special kind of body. When angels have been seen on earth—they have bodies. Some angels have been seen in bodies that were very big like the biggest giant. They have been shinning like the bright sun. Sometimes they looked like soldiers with swords.

II Kings 6: 17

They have been seen the size of a man—-sometimes they have been in white—bright like the sun. Sometimes they have been in clothes like real people. Judges 13:6, Matthew 28:34, Luke 24:4, Genesis 18:2, Daniel 10:18, Zechariah 2:1,

 

 

They have come looking like a real woman, or child. They can take on other shapes and forms. In the book of Revelation, they have many different forms.

Angels do not stay on earth. They are heavenly beings. They come to do a job that God has sent them to do. Hebrews 1:14, Psalms 103:20-22

In heaven they praise God. Psalms 148:2, 5

Only God can command an angel. Men can not tell angels what to do. They obey only God.

There is an idea with many people that we all have an angel that watches over us—a guardian angel. There is no place in the Bible that tells that.

There are times when angels are sent to protect or guide a person. There is no place in the Bible that says that an angel stays with each person all the time to watch over them.

Personally, that does not bother me at all. God, the Father, watches over His children every minute of the day and night. He knows every tiny thing. He knows when to help.

God could send an angel or He could send help in another way.

Angels are not male, nor female. Male and female is for the earth people.

Angels do not marry. They do not have children. Matthew 22:30

As far as we know they do not die. So they are very old. That does not mean they look old or that they get weak. Their bodies stay the same.

There are many kinds of angel-like beings. There are cherubim, seraphim, and other beings that have shapes that we think would be strange. Ezekiel, and the book of Revelation talk about some of these heavenly beings. Each kind of being has a special thing that is his job to do. Ezekiel 25:20, Isaiah 6:2, Ezekiel 1:6, Revelation 4: 8

Cherubim, and seraphim are higher than angels. Angels are higher than men. Psalms 8:5 Some angels are higher than other angels. The Bible talks about 3 high angels called arch-angels.

These 3 are: Michael –means “like unto God”, Gabriel–means “the mighty one”, Lucifer– “the son of the morning”. Michael is known as the Warrior Angel. Gabriel is the one who brings messages to people. Lucifer is the angel who rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven. We know him now as Satan or the devil.

Lucifer was the leader of worship in heaven. Then he decided he wanted to be as high as God. He wanted the worship for himself. About 1/3 of the angels of heaven followed him. God threw him out of heaven and the 1/3 angels who followed him. Those angels now we call demons.

Peter says in II Peter 2: 4 That God punished the evil angels and threw them into hell. That they are in “chains of darkness” until they will be judged.

Someday they will go to the lake of fire forever with Satan.

There are Bible teachers who think that Lucifer’s story is told in Isaiah 14:12-15. Some Bible teachers think this does not talk about Lucifer but is talking about the King of Babylon who thinks he is so great. Some Bible teachers think that though it is talking about an earthly king —it is also talking about what happened to Lucifer— like a hidden meaning in the story of the king.

Jesus said in Luke 10:18 “I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Revelation 12:4

Jesus said that he saw Satan thrown from heaven. Luke 24:4

From this we know that angels must have a will to make a choice to obey or not obey.

Lucifer has the understanding and power that he had when he was in heaven. There is one difference—he is limited by God. There is a limit to what he can do, what he can know, and where he can go. However, he still has great power as do other angels. The story of Job tells us that Satan is limited by God. Job 1:6-8, Job 2: 1-7

Lucifer has been allowed to go back into heaven at times to be before God.

We do not know if he is allowed to go there on his own, or if he has to be asked to come there by God. We just know that he is there at times.

Job 1:6-8, Job 2: 1-7

Most of the time, Satan goes about over the earth—looking, watching, planning trouble. I Peter 5: 8

He has put certain demon angels to watch over certain nations.

Daniel 10:12-13, 20

Satan, when he was Lucifer, was given the power to be the Prince and Power of the Air and over the earth. Ephesians 2:2, John 12:31,

John 14: 30, John 16: 11

When he rebelled, he still had that power, but he uses it to tempt men and try to get them to follow him in sin and rebellion against God. I Peter 5: 8

He is called “the accuser of the brethren” Revelation 12:10 This means he brings things up to us and to others about us—-trying to blame us for things. Trying to make trouble for us, or trying to make us discouraged.

Some day he will be thrown into a lake of fire that will burn forever. This lake of fire that we call hell, was made for Satan and the angels who followed him. Revelation 12:9, Matthew 25:41

Some people will go to hell someday, too. Hell was not made for people—it was made for Satan. But if people will not worship God, and obey Him, and ask forgiveness for their sins, and believe in Jesus—they will go to be with Satan in his punishment.

The angels that followed Satan will be with him in the lake of fire. Revelation 12:9 Matthew 25:41

We are not to pray to angels. We are not to worship angels. We should not seek to see angels. Colossians 2:18

People who get taken up with seeing angels or talking to angels may be putting themselves in a place to be fooled by demon angels. God’s angels do not listen to people’s prayers or asking for them to help. They listen to God’s command, only.

So if a person keeps trying to see an angel or talk to an angel, a demon angel may show himself to fool the person. This would be dangerous. Demons are not friends. Demons want to hurt us. They may tell people anything. Demon angels are on Satan’s side.

People who are into the occult—things that have to do with spirit worship, certain kinds of cards, future telling, talking to spirits, going into trances, meditations with certain religions, worship of idols, etc. —-are putting themselves into a place where they are open to demon angels visiting them.

 

 

God’s angels do not have anything to do with those kinds of things.

If you hear of some one telling about a visiting angel telling them this or that—make sure you know that they do not have anything to do with the occult kinds of things. If you know that they do occult kinds of things—do not trust their angel visits.

There are two kinds of spirits out there—God’s and Satan’s—make sure you know which ones you are dealing with.

That does not mean that you should be afraid of God’s spirits—just because there are evil spirits out there. Give yourself to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to watch over you always. Ask the Holy Spirit to protect you and show you when something is wrong. The Holy Spirit will show you.

I have read things or seen shows on TV—-things sounded good. I was listening and thinking it was all okay—and then one sentence was said that did not sound right. In my spirit—the Holy Spirit in me—make me start to listen more carefully. I begin to feel something was not right. As I listened more, sometimes I would find what was wrong. Sometimes, I did not find out what was wrong until later, maybe I would see more about that person later or read more about them and I would find that they did not believe in Jesus and God in the true way the Bible teaches. I had the answer—-they were fooled by an evil spirit. They were not speaking the truth.

The Holy Spirit warned me and kept me from believing the wrong thing.

You need to know what the Bible says—-so you know when you hear things that are different from the Bible. I study the Bible a lot. I know what the Bible teaches. That is why I try to help other people know what the Bible teaches so they will not be fooled by wrong teaching.

We are not to worship angels: Colossians 2:18 “Let no man lead you wrong……in worship of angels….. Revelation 19:10 John said when he saw an angel that came to him—that he fell at his feet to worship him—the angel said, “Do not worship me…I am a fellow servant….worship God.”

Revelation 22:9 a same kind of thing as in verse 10.

When people die—they do not become angels. Angels are very special kinds of beings.

When people die—for those who believe in Jesus and God—their spirits go to heaven. What kind of bodies do they have at that time? We do not know.

The Bible tells about the time of the rapture when Jesus comes in the clouds, a trumpet is blown, the dead “in Christ”–believers who have died–will rise to meet Jesus in the air—-those who are believers who are alive will go up in the air next to meet Jesus. II Thessalonians 4:14-17, I Corinthians 15:52-54

At that time our bodies will change into a body that will never die. It will be a special body—maybe something like Jesus’ body after he rose from the dead. If you remember, Jesus’ body went through doors and walls—-when the disciples were in the upper room—-the door was locked—but all of a sudden Jesus was standing there with them. Maybe our new bodies will be like that. I John 3:2

The Bible speaks of “corruptible” and “incorruptible” bodies. That means bodies that can not rot or decay and bodies that do. Our bodies now will decay—-the bones last the longest.

This raising of our bodies is still a miracle and mystery. Believers who have died have been burned, eaten by animals, drowned in the sea and eaten by fish. There is nothing left of the body. So how can God bring it back and make it new? That is a mystery and miracle we can not understand.

Where are the unbelievers who die? Are they waiting in the grave? Are they in the waiting place in hell?

There is a verse in Revelation that says that at a certain time at the end, people who would not believe in Jesus will be thrown into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels. Revelation 21:8 (Notice that the second thing in this list is “unbelieving”—those who will not believe in Jesus.)

So they are not in the lake of fire now. Revelation 20:11-15

When Jesus died and rose again—-he went into the lower parts of the earth to preach to those “in prison” and he took “captivity captive” and took them to heaven. These verse are hard for us to understand. The Bible does not give much information about this. We have just these few verses talking about this—and it all sounds so strange. I Peter 4:6, Ephesians 4:8-10

We do know that there was a waiting place for those who died. The waiting place for those who obeyed God was called Paradise or “Abraham’s

Bosom”.

The story of Lazarus talks about this place. Luke 16:19-31

In the story of Lazarus in Luke—the rich man was already in torment and asked for water for his tongue.

Jesus told this story. We believe it to be a real happening. When Jesus told parable stories—no names were given to people. In this story, Jesus is using the names of real people. So we believe this is a real thing.

Since we know that Jesus went to the waiting place for the dead to preach to them and some of them he took to heaven—-there may have been two parts in the waiting place.

The believers were there waiting for Jesus to die on the cross and be the perfect sacrifice for their sin. The people had offered animal sacrifices—and God had accepted the animal’s death for the person’s death—but the animal was not a person. Each person who sinned had the punishment of death on his head. He should die for his own sin. Only a perfect person dying for him could let him get out of dying himself.

Jesus was the only perfect person. The Old Testament people lived long before Jesus came. They were dead for a long time. They were waiting for the perfect person to die in their place. When Jesus died, he went to them, to tell them “It is finished!”

Those who were believers in God and obeyed were happy and glad it was done and now they could go up into God’s presence.

Jesus preached to some of the people in the lower parts of the earth. Was he preaching to those who had not obeyed God? The Bible does not say who Jesus preached to. It does not say that they were the unbelievers. Maybe it means He preached to the believers of God who obeyed with animal sacrifices—and He told them He paid their death punishment.

When Peter talks about it in I Peter 4: 6, it says that the people were dead in their bodies but it was so they could live in their spirits.

Whatever way it is—is a mystery for us to ask about in heaven someday. It really does not change things for us. We are alive now. We are here and are able to hear God’s word and we must choose for ourselves what we will believe about Jesus.

The point I wanted to say was that we will not become angels when we die. We will be people —-we will be with God in our spirits—and someday—- in a new heavenly body.

 

We will not marry, we will not be male and female–in that way we will be like the angels.

When people we love die and go to heaven—we get much comfort to think that we will see them again in heaven. But—we will not have the same kind of feelings in heaven for each other that we have for them on earth. We will know them, but since we will not be male, or female, we will not have the same feelings for them that we did here.

A woman may see the man who was her husband —someone she dearly loved here on earth—-but they will no longer be male and female —so they will not feel that same kind of love for each other that they had here on earth.

With our new kind of bodies and new kind of beings we will not have the same earthly feelings that we did here.

What will we do in heaven? We do not know. We have an idea about some of the things. The Bible tells a little about it. We know that someday when Jesus comes back to be King of all the earth—we will come with Him and we will help Him rule the nations of the world.

Revelation 5:10, Revelation 20: 6 , I Corinthians 6:2-3

The Bible also says that we will judge angels. I Corinthians 6:3, II Peter 2:4