Christian-esque political activism is doomed to fail.

Christian-esque political activism is doomed to fail.

BQ: Lots of Christians want to change the government of our country to one more...well, it varies. But often you'll see them posting anti-Obama rhetoric, or pro-Paul notes. Is this a good solution? 

No. In fact, trying to change America by political machinations, no matter how zealous, will never succeed. To figure out why, we'll start with Daniel 10. In this section, Daniel had a vision and had been praying and fasting for 3 weeks so that he might have more understanding. Eventually, an angel showed up to help him, and said,

"Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia." (12-13)

What we see here is that the governments of the world are backed up by unseen angelic forces. We'll see more on how we know this tomorrow. 







BQ: In Daniel 10, an angel was withstood by "the prince of Persia." Was this prince a physical one? The answer is no. Humans have never been a threat to angels, and the record is that one angel can take down any human or number of humans. Let's look at a couple of examples of the power of just one angel.
 

2 Kings 19:35 says, "Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead."

1 Chronicles 21:16 recounts an angel appearing after David sinned:

"Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces."

Clearly, the prince withstanding the angel sent to Daniel was an angelic one, not a human one.







BQ: How else do we know that angels (including fallen ones) can be behind world governments? Well, because Satan is one of those mentioned. In Ezekiel 28:13, the king of Tyre is described as having had, "the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God."

This is a description of Satan, and shouldn't surprise us, because Satan indicated his power in this world when he told Jesus in reference to the lands spreading forth, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  (Mt 4:9)

Do you think that getting votes for Prop 28 would have changed the course of a country over which Satan was ruler?  






BQ: So what else do we know about princes of Persia and angels? Eph 3:10 mentions something important, saying, "...so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."

Notice that the authorities and rulers do not exist on earth, but rather "in the heavenly places."  And we know from Colossians 2:14 that when Jesus died on the cross, "He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him."
 

Did Jesus disarm Pilate? The Romans? Nope. The rulers and authorities are very much in the heavenly places. Trying to get lots of signatures on a petition attempts to affect the physical nature of reality, not the spiritual, and is doomed to failure. 





BQ: Often Christians try to organize people to vote for some physical candidate, when the truth is that there are angelic forces behind world governments, and these forces can be so strong that heaven's angels even struggle with them. 

As Christians, we must realize that,  "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Eph 6:12)

If we try to change our country through physical means, like organizing people to vote, we will fail.  All we are influencing is the physical facade, but the spiritual foundation is what must be changed, and that starts not when we try to get people to hate Barack Obama, but when we, "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  (Mt 28:19) 

Satan's Serious Business!

BQ: Today many Christians take sin and Satan pretty lightly? Are you one of them? I used to be, but it began to occur to me that maybe it's a little bit more serious than I'd thought.  Why?  Here's a good example of when Michael the archangel was having a conflict with Satan:

"But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”" (Jude 1:9)

Notice that even Michael, a very powerful angel, understood that Satan was a supernatural and powerful evil, and not something to be taken lightly. I've heard people today make some pretty snide remarks about the devil, but it's important to realize that we simply can't take on Satan one-on-one and win. We have to have the Lord firmly on our side, and we have to realize that it's Christ's strength that's empowering us in the battle.  If even Michael treats Satan with great caution, shouldn't we do the same? Or as Barclay said, "If the greatest of good angels refused to speak evil of the greatest of evil angels, even in circumstances like that, then surely no human being may speak evil of any angel." 









BQ: We're looking more at the supernatural strength of supernatural evil, or Satan, and why we should sometimes take it more seriously than it is. I suppose the connection in my mind is that of casual sin (or sin that we want to keep around and pretend is ok) and Satan. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that we should, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

A roaring lion honestly isn't something that any of us would probably want to tussle with mano a mano.  Even Michael the archangel showed great caution around Satan and turned to the Lord and not his own strength when dealing with Satan. Gen 4:7 connects with the above noting that, "I you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Satan's power comes through sin, so this evil that even Michael took very soberly...is sometimes something that we don't take seriously. It can be the little sin that we want that leads to a bigger one. In a marriage, it might be a husband hanging out once or twice with a female coworker in a group environment, then enjoying that, then in a more intimate setting, and on and on until adultery occurs. The thing is, Satan is a clear and present danger, but he's a master of deception, too. More tomorrow.






BQ: We've been looking into the seriousness of Satan, and thus sin. Today we're going to look at 2 Pet 2, starting in verse 9, emphasis mine:  "The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,  and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.  But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,  suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong."  Jude 8 confirms saying, "Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties."

Satan is the most powerful of the fallen angels. Do the above verses make him seem like a being to be trifled with? Like he's just a chump? No way! Instead, he's a massively powerful being, and even angels don't revile him! I also can't help but notice that people that don't take him seriously are mentioned as "indulging the flesh" and "having no knowledge."  This can absolutely apply to us if we're not careful!






BQ: In looking at how we should treat Satan, we need to look at how Jesus treated him, too. Matthew 4:1-4 has a little bit of this:

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.  And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”  But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

Notice that even Jesus did not take Satan lightly, but instead was prepared with the Word of God in defense. Jesus actually had preparation for dealing with Satan. He took it seriously and wasn't flippant, and instead used the Word as a familiar weapon.  Can you use the Word in your defense when you're weak?  If Jesus and the angels all take Satan and his angels seriously and soberly, we need to, too. Satan and sin are just aren't things to be taken lightly! :)
 

Angels: what do they look like, and what do they do?

BQ: What are angels? It seems like people are always pretty fascinated by them, and a friend of mine recently discussed them with me, so I decided to do some reading on angels. :) This'll be a series and hopefully it won't be too sterile, but instead of asking questions, we'll just start off with that question up front and address it in small chunks. Also, please note that people do NOT become angels... :P

First, angels are primarily messengers. Both the Hebrew and Greek words mean the same. The Greek is angelos, meaning "a messenger," which is itself taken from angello, "to deliver a message." This is born out by their function in Hebrews 2:2, which says,  "For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward..." 

So the first thing we can quickly identify about angels is that they're called messengers and have been known to be exactly that! 







BQ: What are angels—named! The next thing we can see about angels is they number beyond counting. Hebrews 12:22 says, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels." Rev 5:11 backs this up saying, "Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands."

Interestingly, and adding to their mystique, is that out of the vast lot of them, we know the names of only three. The first is of course Satan, who is a fallen angel, and the others are:

Michael (Jude 1:9) "But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Gabriel (Luke 1:19) "The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news."







BQ: What are angels—Jesus! I wouldn't usually do this, but we're going to hit some weighty material quickly here. A couple of times, an angel is mentioned who refuses to identify Himself. Genesis 32:29 records, "Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.”And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there."  This happened after Jacob wrestled with the Angel all night.

In Judges 13:17-18, the same Angel of Jehovah is recorded. Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?” And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is (wonderful) incomprehensible?”

There are several important things to note about the above Angel of Jehovah.. Earlier in Judges 13:11, when Manoah asked if "the man" was the same one who had earlier appeared to his wife, the angel responded simply, "I AM." This is exactly how Jesus would respond to ID Himself. (Jn 8:58, Mk 14:62, etc.)

Next, this Angel refers to Himself as "Wonderful."  This word is also used in Is 9:6 as a prophecy of Jesus.  "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

All evidence points to this one messenger being Jesus pre-incarnate. 

BQ: What are angels—created, spiritual beings! Angels, like us, were created. (1) Unlike man, however, they are in some ways ranker higher than us, being purely spiritual, (2) but at the same time, they are also considered to be ministering spirits to us. (3) For what it's worth, they also don't marry, and in heaven, we won't be married, either. (4)

(1) "Praise Him, all His angels...For He commanded and they were created." (Psa 148:2-5)

(2) "What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels." (Psa 8:4-5)

(3) "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" (Heb 1:14)

(4) "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven." (Mt 22:30)






BQ: What are angels—capable of spinning! Yep, angels are capable of sinning (1), and some are associated with Satan (2), but others are called elect and holy (3). 
 

(1) "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment." (2 Pet 2:4)

(2) "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought." (Rev 12:7; see also Mt 25:41)

(3) "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory." (Mt 25:31)





 

BQ: What are angels—mighty, but limited! Check out the following:

"And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels." (2 Thess 1:7) "Whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord." (2 Pt 2:11)

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." (Mt 24:36) "...the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into." (1 Pt 1:12)

Angels, we can see, are incredibly powerful, but also still very much limited.  Something I like is that they're apparently pretty curious about things, wanting to look into stuff and see what's up! 

BQ: What are angels—having rank and fighting for God! Yesterday we saw that angels are capable of warring, and a while ago we saw that they ministered to the needs of those who will be with God...so today we'll see that angels are active in world events, and also that they have their own ranking of sorts.  At the same time, angels REFUSE to be worshiped and consider themselves fellow servants with us. 

"But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia."  (Dan 10:13) 

"But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Jude 1:9)

"And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!" 

Angels do minister and help us in serving God, but they also wage war in ways that we don't understand. Pretty cool! 







BQ: What are angels—what do they look like? There is a common conception that they're people with wings, but when wings are mentioned, it appears more bizarre than anything else, and it seems to be symbolic of speed. Let's look at various forms that these messengers of God take. Oh yeah, and we'll look at two names of creatures that seem to be a type of angel.
 

There are both seraphim (“burning,” Is 6:1-3) and cherubim (“holding fast” Eze 10:5). Revelation, a book filled with symbolic language, records an angel with wings. And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” (Rev 8:13)

They are mentioned having two wings. "For the cherubim spread their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles." (1 Kng 8:7)

They are mentioned having four faces and four wings. "I knew they were cherubim. Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings." (Eze 10:21)

Some seraphim are mentioned as having six wings.  "Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew." (Is 6:2)

The above are always mentioned in dreams or visions, so it seems that the wings are symbolic and not literal. 

 

BQ: What are angels—looking like man, too!  Sometimes angels can look like humans, and we may encounter them in our lives, even testing us.

"Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man." (Dan 8:15)

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Heb 13:2)

Angels, we can see, don't always have to have wings, and in fact they apparently have a plethora of different tasks to accomplish, and take on forms suited to those tasks. Tomorrow we'll look at some more forms that they've been known to take.







BQ: What are angels—more on how they look! Angels can also appear to be shining (1), terrifying (2), or just flat-out weird (3). 

(1) "And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments." (Lk 24:4)

(2) "An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid." (Also check out Jdgs 13:6; Mt 28:2-4)

(3) "Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. Each of them had four faces and four wings.  Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze.  Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,  their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward." (Eze 1:5-9)






BQ: What do angels do—they deliver messages! Angels are seen to deliver messages. This should be abundantly clear and not a revelation, so I'm going to mostly skip it. 

"Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur." Here, in Gen 16, starting in verse 7, an angel gives Hagar a message/instruction from God.

In Acts 27:23-24, an angel similarly appears to Paul. "For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,  saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’"

For what it's worth, angels also explain visions to people. See Daniel 8 and 9 for more info on that. It's long, so I'm not posting it.







BQ: What do angels do—they work to help us! We've seen that they're minister spirits, but they also did things such as:

1.  Feeding Elijah in the wilderness. "Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” (1 Kngs 19:5)

2.   Protecting Daniel from lions. "My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me." (Dan 6:22)

3.   Delivering Hezekiah from the Assyrians.  "Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand." (Is 37:36)

4.    Freeing Peter from prison. (Just read Acts 12.)

I'm not posting every example, but it should become clear that angels are often present to help people in the Bible.  It's worth noting that the term "guardian angel" is not really wrong, since angels do guard people, but the Bible never mentions any static, 1:1 ratio of a specific angel to a specific person. Instead, angels usually go unnamed and are often mentioned in the plural. The closest thing to this is seen in Mt 18:10: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven."





BQ: What do angels do—they carry out judgement! As much as angels help people, they're also around to carry out judgement for God. I'm not going to post all the verses, but I'll give a couple and you can look some up for yourself. :)
 

 1.  A cherubim kept man out of the garden of Eden with a flaming sword!  (Gn 3:24)

 2.   Two angels destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. "...for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” (Gn 19:12-15)

 3.   An angel walloped  Jerusalem with a nasty plague. (I Chr 21:15-16)

 4.   And in the future, angels will separate the righteous from the wicked!  "And the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels."(Mt 13:30, 39)





BQ: What do angels do—they watch!  Angels are described as roaming the earth , observing what's going on, and standing guard. Since the language is highly symbolic, I'm personally not sure of the exact meaning. There are a few passages that describe this, but I'll only present two.

"I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and white horses behind him. Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.” So they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet.” (Zech 1:8-11)

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise." (Dan 12:1)






BQ: What do angels do—they help out but aren't always seen! Today I'll present text from 2 Kings 6:13-18 and let you do with it what you will. The main point is that angels don't have to be seen to be very much active. It's not something that I think we quite understand, but then again, describing the spiritual in terms of the physical is a difficult task. 
 

"So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and take him.” And it was told him, saying, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” He sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”  So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people with blindness, I pray.” So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha." 

BQ: What do angels do—they connect people searching for the truth with people who will present it to them!  This is perhaps one of my favorite things that angels are noted to do.

"Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert." (Acts 8:26)

Also check out Acts 10 for an angel helping Cornelius with the same thing. :)






BQ: What do angels do—they rejoice over our salvation! This'll be the last look at angels. :) Before we leave, I should point out that angels are only ever mentioned in the masculine form of the original word, for whatever that's worth. 

Anyway, angels are very important, even if we don't fully understand them. They are fellow servants, and they're around as ministering spirits. One awesome thing is that they, too, truly care.  "Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  (Lk 15:10) We should have that same joy. 

Is grandma an angel?

BQ: One of my friends was talking about some people saying things about "people becoming angels." While I'd never encountered that, do people become angels when they die?

A: "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:22-23). There are two categories of beings: an innumerable company of angels, and spirits of just men made perfect. Angels and men are never the same.

The Bible states that all things, including angels, were created:

"For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16-17).

"Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! ... Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created" (Psalms 148:2).

Angels and people are not the same. People do not become angels. 
(PN211)