The Doctrine of Angels — House of David Ministries

Unveiling the Spiritual Realm: Exploring the Divine Hierarchy and The Role of Angels

The Bible opens with God’s declaration of His creation of the heavens and the earth: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The verse tells us that from the beginning, God created two worlds: the physical universe and the unseen heavenly or spiritual realm. Even though invisible, we must never forget that this spiritual realm is created, and within it are the spiritual beings that inhabit this domain—the angels.

Isaiah said, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1, NKJV).[i] The Psalmist declared, “You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5). These verses teach us that the spiritual realm is higher than the natural in terms of God’s knowledge, wisdom, power, and ruling authority.[ii] The clouds and the earth’s atmosphere are physical representations of that which is in the spiritual. Jesus compared the wind to the Holy Spirit, saying, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going” (John 3:8). Also, we are reminded that God instructed Moses, saying, “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you” (Exodus 25:9). The things made in the natural realm are patterned after the spiritual.

Jesus said, “Those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36). This statement makes a significant comparison for the church, saying we will be like the angels. Hence, the study of angelology is essential for understanding our place in God’s Kingdom.

Angels are referenced more than one hundred times in the Old Testament and even more in the New Testament.[iii] They are mentioned in rabbinic literature, the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, and traditional Jewish liturgy as agents of God. The Talmud describes their very essence as fire. The word “angel” in Hebrew is mal’āch (מַלְאָךְ, plural: מַלְאָכִים mal’āchīm), and in Greek is aggelos. Both mean “messenger” and appear in scripture as messengers of God to man.[iv] The Hebrew noun derives from the verbal consonantal root lamed-ayin-kuf (ל-א-ך), meaning "to send with a message." The root of the prophet’s name, Malachi (Mal’ākh), means “my messenger.”[v] In Modern Hebrew, angels are denoted by the term shaliyach (שליח), meaning “one who is sent,” literally "emissary" or "messenger,” as in a legal agent.[vi]

But the angels also perform various other missions for God’s chosen people. We read, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). Angels appeared to each of the Patriarchs, to Moses, Joshua, and other Biblical characters. They appeared to Hagar, Lot, and Abraham. They ascended and descended Jacob’s ladder and appeared to him again later. God promised to send an angel to Moses and sent another to stand in the way of Balaam.[vii] Even more significantly, angels ministered to Jesus from His birth through His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.[viii] We read, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11). Angels ministered to Jesus after His wilderness temptation and strengthened Him in the Garden of Gethsemane.[ix] And the angels will accompany Jesus when He returns.[x]

The angels can protect us from accidental harm, deliver us from our enemies, minister to believers, encourage us in difficult times, and grant us wisdom and guidance, not disregarding the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.[xi] When our bodies die, the angels escort our souls either into God’s realm or Satan’s.[xii] And when even one person receives Christ, the angels rejoice in their salvation.[xiii] While angels can and do still minister to believers in a temporal sense, they do not indwell believers nor possess the attributes of the Godhead and are certainly not to be worshiped. Also, no scriptural authority supports the idea of a personal or guardian angel.[xiv] Our intimacy is always with God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; our God is jealous, consuming fire. Only the Holy Spirit has sanctifying power, convicting men of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

In scripture, angels are recorded as warriors who fight against Israel’s enemies.[xv] There are instances where angels healed people or cleansed them from impurity.[xvi] Angels interceded and prayed on behalf of the Jewish people in Jerusalem.[xvii] Angels are seen as teachers and interpreters of God’s visions.[xviii] They warn of impending danger, herald the arrival of God’s judgments, and administer and deliver God’s wrath and indignation.[xix] Lastly, the angels heralded the arrival of our Lord and Savior, and they will announce His soon return and the coming of His Kingdom. We read, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Revelation 11:15).[xx]

Like the Sadducees at the time of Jesus, many in the church today ignore the topic of the unseen realm. In this study, we will focus on holy angels, fallen ones, or demons, and the leader of the fallen angels, Satan.[xxi] We will examine their role in this time and the future, their dispensational authority, and how created man will be restored to rulership and dominion over the created physical world.

As indicated, angels are created spiritual beings and are not to be worshiped.[xxii] We are not instructed to pray to angels or request their help anywhere in scripture. God has no equal or superior, and the Lord directs their ministries.[xxiii] Angels are invisible ministering spirits of flaming fire without any corporeal form (physical bodies).[xxiv] We read, “Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire” (Psalm 104:4). The angelic descriptions provided by the prophets, such as wings and arms, are anthropomorphic, referring to their spiritual abilities and tasks, not their physical makeup.[xxv] Jesus said, “A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39).

Yet, there are several instances in scripture where God has allowed them to physically appear or assume the form of a human body.[xxvi] Otherwise, angels are invisible, and we remain unconscious of their presence. Some believe the angels can eat with us, as we are admonished in scripture: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels” (Hebrews 13:2). However, there is scholarly debate whether the angels took a visible physical form or merely appeared as a spiritual vision of prophecy.

Concerning the children of Israel in the wilderness, we read, “He had commanded the clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven, Had rained down manna on them to eat, And given them of the bread of heaven. Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full” (Psalm 78:23-25).[xxvii] Jesus affirmed this, quoting the Psalms, saying, “Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (John 6:31). These verses raise questions about whether angels each food of material substance. There are several references to eating food in God’s Kingdom, affirming that God’s Kingdom is as much material as spiritual. For example, Jesus said, “For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God… that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:16, 30).

Although not explicitly stated in scripture, the angels likely originated on the first day of creation. The Lord declared, “To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God [b’ney Elohim] shouted for joy?” (Job 38:6-7). Hence, the angels are distinct from either God or man; they are divine beings called sons of God. In the Book of Job, the sons of God are called “morning stars,” witnessing the earth's creation and all that is within it, including mankind. Adam, the first man, is also called “the son of God.” Hence, we surmise that God has two distinct families: spiritual and natural.

In the Psalms, we read, “God [Elohim] stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods [elohim]” (Psalm 82:1). This is a peculiar statement, but it reveals that God (Elohim) stands in the assembly of other created gods (elohim) and judges them. Here, the sons of God are called elohim, the plural form in Hebrew, with the pronoun “you.”[xxviii] Being called an elohim does not make us God. Jesus, quoting the Psalms, said, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, You are gods?’” (John 10:34).[xxix] God is always called “the most high (Elyon), He is highest amongst all His divinely created beings, spiritual and natural, and He stands in their council and judges them all.[xxx]

Jesus is not another created son of God. He is uncreated, without begging or end, and the only begotten of the Father, as in monogenes, meaning “the only and one of a kind.” Hence, Jesus affirmed, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). God’s divine councils have been disrupted, as one-third of the angels and, subsequently, all humanity who were created in God’s image, have fallen away into rebellion and sin. Now, in Christ, all things in heaven and earth are being restored, as it says:

“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, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

While the angels have a created origin, they are subsequently considered eternal.[xxxi] In comparison, humanity is finite, having a beginning and an end, although God’s purpose for us was like that of the angels. We have a created origin but subsequently would become eternal beings. Death was not part of God’s plan for humanity, and even hell itself was not made for man but for the angels who rebelled against God.[xxxii]

The angels were all created at once. Therefore, they are a company, not a race. They are made but do not die. The Angels are great in number, thousands of thousands; they are innumerable.[xxxiii] God, who knows all things, He alone has numbered the angels. While many angels can be present simultaneously, they are not omnipresent.[xxxiv] Every angel can be in only one place at one time. Angels are always presented in the masculine gender, inferring they have no sexual distinction. They are not given or taken in marriage, and there is no propagation.[xxxv] They are called “sons of God,” but nowhere do we read of “sons of angels.” Hence, there is no increase or decrease in their numbers.

Even though all the angels were created simultaneously, they are individual beings with distinct personalities. They are rational, full of wisdom, render intelligent worship and praise, and possess emotions.[xxxvi] We read, “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, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Revelation 5:11-12).

While they have superhuman knowledge and intelligence, they are not omniscient (all-knowing). There are certain things they do not know, such as what only God can reveal, things they can only learn as God provides His revelation and manifold wisdom, and other things they desire to understand, for instance, God’s discipline and dealing with man and our salvation.[xxxvii] We read, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men” (1 Corinthians 4:9).

Angels have incredible power, but they are not omnipotent (all-powerful). Angels delivered Peter and other disciples from prison, and an angel rolled back the large stone that covered Jesus’ tomb.[xxxviii] However, their strength is finite, derived from God, and they are subservient to Christ.[xxxix] They cannot create, act without means, or search the human heart. They cannot resurrect or deliver us from the power of sin. Only God can do these things.[xl] We read, “You, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:13-15).

Angels were created to be moral beings able to distinguish good from evil.[xli] They are rewarded for obedience and punished for disobedience. The angels were given free will, the ability to choose or reject God, and a period after their creation to make their choice. Those who rebelled, about one-third, were cast out of God’s heavenly realm, as it says, “Another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth… And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:3-4, 7-9).[xlii]

The angels who obeyed were confirmed in their standing with God. They deliver His law to His people and execute judgment upon His enemies.[xliii] They will assist on the Day of the Lord, the day of God’s judgment, gather God’s elect from the four winds, and bring the wicked before the Lord for judgment at Christ’s second coming.[xliv] There is no mention in scripture of angels falling away from God after this initial period. But there is also no indication of their salvation or restoration to a rightful position with God.

Angels are classified as good, those standing with God, and fallen angels often called demons. However, the classification of angels is far more complex. The Bible mentions Cherubim, Seraphim, and, significantly throughout the Old Testament, the Angel of the Lord. Two angels are called out by name in scripture: Michael and Gabriel. They are known as archangels and surround God's throne. Other angels are associated with territories or kingdoms, such as the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Grecia. Maimonides says the angels fall under one of ten ranks, listed here from highest to lowest: Chayot Hakodesh, Ophanim, Erelim, Chashmalim, Seraphim, Malachim, Elokim, Bene Elokim, Cheruvim, and Ishim.[xlv] Other Jewish scholars differ about these rankings, but what is clear to all of them is that God’s spiritual realm, similar to His earthly one, has a governing hierarchy.[xlvi]

Paul describes five different, although seemingly interconnected, spiritual realms of authority: thrones (thronos), dominions/lords (kyrios), principalities (arche), powers/authorities (exousia), and powers (dyanamis). These infer a heavenly structure of authority or a heavenly council that rules over the spiritual and natural realms. Although Adam was created to have dominion over the physical world, it appears from scripture that earthly dominion, for this season, rests with a spiritual council that governs the natural world. The earthly kings appear to be subject to these ruling principalities by choice or usurped authority. We read, “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” (Colossians 2:15).

The natural and spiritual realms are interconnected. But God’s sovereign authority supersedes all ruling authority in heaven or on earth and descends from the heavenly realm to the lowest places, even the abode of demons. As it says, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:8). John Eadie says concerning the angelic realm: “There are bright and majestic chieftains among the host of God, nearer God in position, and like God in majesty, possessing and reflecting more of the Divine splendor, than their lustrous brethren around them.”[xlvii]

[i] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[ii] 2 Peter 2:11. Job 35:5. Isaiah 55:9.
[iii] Duffield, Guy P. and Van Cleave, Nathaniel M. Foundations of Pentecostal Theology. Foursquare Media. 1910.
[iv] Genesis 18:1-19:23. Judges 13:3-5. Tappan Pierson, Arthur. The Biblical and Spiritual Life. New York: Gospel Publishing House, 1908. 166.
[v] Wikipedia. Angels in Judaism.
[vi] Wikipedia. Shaliah. Oxford University.
[vii] Genesis 16:9, 19:1, 22:11, 28:12, 31:11–13. Exodus 33:2. Numbers 22:31.
[viii] Matthew 1:20, 2:13, 19-20, 4:11, 28:2-7. 1 Timothy 3:16. Luke 1:26-38, 2:8-15. John 1:51. Acts 1:11. 1 Peter 3:22.
[ix] Matthew 4:11. Luke 22:43.
[x] Matthew 16:27, 25:31, 26:53.
[xi] Psalm 34:7, 68:17, 91:11-12. Genesis 19:15-16, 28:12-13, 32:1-2. 1 Kings 19:5. 2 Kings 6:15-17. Daniel 6:22. Acts 8:26-27, 10:3-5, 12:11, 27:22-24. Matthew 1:20, 2:13, 19-20.
[xii] Luke 16:22. Matthew 22:13.
[xiii] Luke 12:8-9, 15:10.
[xiv] Acts 12:15.
[xv] Daniel 10:13, 12:1. 2 Kings 6:16-18, 19:32-36.
[xvi] Isaiah 6:3-4.
[xvii] Zechariah 1:12.
[xviii] Daniel 8:16–17. Zechariah 1:9–5:11. Revelation 17:7.
[xix] Genesis 19:15. Matthew 1:20, 2:13, 24:31. Revelation 8:2-11:15, 15:1-16:17.
[xx] Luke 2:13-14.
[xxi] Revelation 12:7.
[xxii] Romans 1:25. Colossians 2:18. Revelation 19:10, 22:8-9.
[xxiii] Psalm 34:7, Psalm 91. Hebrews 1:14. Romans 8:17.
[xxiv] Hebrews 1:14.
[xxv] Davidson, Baruch S. What are angels? Chabad.org.
[xxvi] Genesis 19:1. Luke 1:26-27. John 20:12. Acts 8:26, 12:7-8.
[xxvii] John 6:31.
[xxviii] Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Lexham Press, Bellingham, WA.
[xxix] Psalm 82:6.
[xxx] Hebrews 12:23.
[xxxi] Nehemiah 9:6. Psalm 148:2, 5. Colossians 1:16.
[xxxii] 2 Peter 2:4.
[xxxiii] Revelation 5:11. Hebrews 12:22. Matthew 26:53.
[xxxiv] Luke 8:30.
[xxxv] Luke 20:34-36.
[xxxvi] Hebrews 1:6. Isaiah 6:3. Psalm 103:20-21. Job 38:4-7.
[xxxvii] 1 Peter 1:10-12. Ephesians 2:7, 3:10.
[xxxviii] Acts 5:19, 12:7. Matthew 28:2.
[xxxix] Psalm 103:20. 2 Peter 2:11. 2 Thessalonians 1:7. 1 Peter 3:22. Colossians 2:10. Revelation 20:1-2.
[xl] Matthew 24:36.
[xli] 2 Samuel 14:20. 1 Peter 1:12. Psalm 148:2. Luke 4:34, 15:10.
[xlii] Jude 1:6. 2 Peter 2:4.
[xliii] Acts 7:53, 12:22-23. Galatians 3:19. Hebrews 2:2. 2 Kings 19:35.
[xliv] Matthew 13:30, 39, 49-50, 24:30-31. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8. Revelation 21:12, 16:1-21.
[xlv] Davidson, Baruch S. What are angels? Chabad.org. The first explicit mention of angels in the Torah is in Genesis 16:7, when an angel appeared to Hagar when she was fleeing her mistress Sarah's home. In the Midrash, however, angels appear much earlier in history. According to differing Midrashic accounts, angels were first created either on the second or fifth day of creation. Genesis 8:16, 10:13, and more.
[xlvi] The Zohar in Exodus 43a, Jacob Nazir, in his Maseket Atzilut, Abraham ben Isaac of Granada, in his Berit Menuchah, and Eliyahu de Vidas, in his Reshit Chochmah. Wikipedia.
[xlvii] Eadie, John. Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1883. 102.