God’s Ministering Spirits

“Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.  For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to Me a son?”  Hebrews 1:3-4

To more clearly understand this passage, we need to examine how the Jews viewed angels, God’s created beings who were under His authority and served Him (Colossians 1:16).  One of the most important tasks of angels was as messengers of God bringing good news and also warnings to those whom God designated, such as the angel Gabriel who brought to Mary the news that she would birth the Son of God (Luke 1:26), and also the angels in the book of Revelation 14:6-12 who warned of impending judgment upon those who failed to “fear God and give glory to Him”.  Angels were also sent to keep God’s people from falling in harm’s way as in the account of God’s angel shutting the mouths of the lions in the den wherein Daniel was placed (Daniel 6:22).  Angels were and still are given specific duties to perform and do so without questioning their Maker.

Satan was a created being, an angel who rebelled and was cast out of heaven along with his followers (Ezekiel 28:15-16).  Scripture also speaks about Michael, the archangel, which means “the angel of highest rank”.  He is a warrior angel who fights against evil spirits as we see in Daniel 10:13,21; Jude 1:9, and Revelation 12:7.  Even though Michael is probably the most powerful of all angels, he is still under submission to God.  In Daniel 12:1, we find that Michael’s protective charge is over Daniel’s people, the Jews, which leads us to understand that there is a possibility that other angels are assigned to various people groups.  Many folks, believers and unbelievers in Christ, feel that they have a “guardian angel” that watches over them.  It is plausible because of all the near misses that people experience during their lifetime.  How many accidents on the highway have we missed by mere seconds?

Now that we have an idea of the importance and necessity for angels, God’s ministering spirits, such as Gabriel and Michael, we also understand that there is One who greatly outranks them all because of His position in God’s family, God’s own Son.  His name is one of excellence that far exceeds any other.  The name “Michael” means “who is as or like God”, and Gabriel means “man or hero of God”, but the name of Jesus means “Savior”.  No angel can claim to be able to save a person from sin and from God’s wrath.  Only Jesus can do that.  Angels can protect us here on earth, “to keep us in all our ways”, as the Psalmist wrote (91:11), but only Jesus can give us eternal life.

The writer of Hebrews, who is unknown, uses a quote from Psalms 2:7 to emphasize the point that God never referred to any angel as His only begotten son nor did He use language in speaking to them which could infer a Father/son relationship.  We speak to our family members in a different way than we do to our co-workers.  Angels are sometimes referred to as “sons of God”, but that reflects their relationship to Him as His creation, not His offspring.  God never said to any of His angels, “this day have I begotten thee”, that is, at no time did God beget any other son.  To beget is to be the literal father of an offspring, thus while Jesus was God’s Son in the beginning with God, it was through the miraculous birth of Jesus to Mary that He became God’s only begotten Son.  The angels were never born, only created, thus God would not call them a true son.

The angels worship Jesus.  In Luke 2:13-14, the angels brought the good news to the shepherds and then praised God for Jesus.  In Revelation 7:11, we have the picture of the angels worshipping the Lord on His throne.  From I Peter 3:22 we find that Jesus is seated on the right hand of God, and all angels, authorities, and powers are subject to Him.  God created angels to do whatever tasks that He requires.  They can move speedily and invisibly like the wind.  The Holy Spirit is also described like the wind (John 3:8) in that one cannot see Him as one cannot see angels, or at least not realize what they do see is perhaps an angel, but he or she feels the effects of the Spirit and of angels.  Psalm 104:4 refers to angels as God’s “ministers –a flaming fire”.  The main task of the Holy Spirit and of the angels is to glorify and promote Christ and not to call attention to themselves because He is worthy to receive glory, honor, and power because He created all things.  It was His desire to form man from the dust of the ground and have a relationship with His creation.

One other thing:  there is a lot of misconception about angels.  There is a television commercial wherein the wife who lost her husband in wartime told her daughters that their daddy was now an angel.  When believers pass away, they do not become angels.  Scripture does say that those who die in Christ become like the angels.  A Sadducee, who did not believe in a bodily resurrection of the dead, hypothetically asked Jesus about a woman who was widowed seven times whose wife she would be in heaven.  Jesus answered that no one marries or is married in heaven.  Rather they are as the angels in that they are individuals who will praise and worship the Lord for eternity.  The main distinction from angels is that they will make up the bride of Christ, all those for whom Christ died to bring forgiveness upon repentance and faith in Him.