Bible Studies

THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS

by Luella Campbell
02/15/15
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THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS

It is not to angels that He subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:

'What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour and put everything under their feet.' In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. (Heb. 2: 5-8)

Angels have their place in God's order of things but, unlike mankind, they do not rule. They are spirit beings but they were not created in the image of God. They praise, worship and serve God; they rejoice over the works of God; they are instruments of God's judgment; they carry out God's will on earth; they protect God's people and accompany those who have died. Although they are spirit beings, they are personalities who possess intelligence, emotions and will.

Whatever the Bible says about angels in the context of their most important function, to serve God, one thing is clear - they have a lower position and function in God's order of things than human beings. They may be beautiful and powerful in their specific roles but they are lesser beings than mankind for three very good reasons:

1. They were not created in the image of God.

The glory they have is not the glory of God which He breathed into the first human pair at their beginning. God's glory is manifested in His nature. Although the whole of mankind fell from that glory when Adam and Eve sinned, it was always God's intention to restore Him image in redeemed humans so that they may be a reflection of Him to all of creation, and especially to the fallen angels who are against God.

As part of our inheritance, God has restored His nature to those who are reconciled and reconnected to Him by faith in His Son. Through His very great and precious promises we appropriate that nature and, by doing so, we escape the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires (2 Peter 1: 4).

2. They were not created to be one with God.

In His great love, God opened the Trinity to the human race to become one with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to share the love and intimacy they enjoy with God and with one another, just as there is perfect unity and perfect harmony within the triune God.

Jesus's prayer on the eve of His crucifixion reflects God's highest intention for the human race.

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one even as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (John 17: 20-23).

3. They were not give the mandate to rule over the earth.

God created the human race to be managers of His world. They were not to control one another but to rule over the natural world and to manage it under Him and for Him. Although the first human pair fell for Satan's deception and changed allegiance, God did not withdraw His intention for them to rule. Whatever we have done with God's creation, He holds us accountable for the way we have managed the earth and used His resources.

His intention has not yet been fulfilled. Humankind has squandered God's resources through our greed and desecrated His world but there is a promise or restoration and renewal yet to be fulfilled.

Watch this space!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.