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This lesson is going to go into a lot of technical details to examine what the Bible says about angels. The lesson is meant to give a basis and foundation to build subsequent lessons on. If you are not academically minded, you may find this lesson a little on the dry side because it is the presentation of a lot of facts and details. So, please accept my apologies in advance if you find this lesson "dry." But hang in there with this course, I suspect you will find the subsequent lessons more interesting.
The word angel in the old testament is the Hebrew word "mal'ak' {Strong's 04397, pronounced mal-awk}. It is derived from an unused root meaning to "dispatch as a deputy." The Hebrew word mal'ak is used 111 times as "angel" and it is used 98 times as "messenger" and it is used 4 times as "ambassador." The New Testament (e.g., Greek) word for angel is "aggelos" {Strong's 32, pronounced ang-el-os}. It is translated 179 in the New Testament times as "angel."
My Greek professor at Fuller Seminary told us that the word "angel" is not a translation, it is what they call a "transliteration." E.g., instead of translating the word by meaning, they simply choose a word that sounds a lot like the original Greek pronunciation. The meaning of the Greek word aggelos is messenger. By the way, aggelos is actually translated as "messenger" seven times in the New Testament. So, short, you hear the word "angel" think "heavenly messenger," and you will be very close to the intended meaning.
Here are some statistics on the usage of Angel in the NKJV translation of the bible. It is used in 108 verses in the Old Testament, and in 181 verses in the New Testament. (If you compare these numbers to the counts for the usage of Hebrew and Greek words you will notice it is substantially less. That is because the many verses mention the word "angels" in them more than once in the same verse.) Angels are mentioned in 39 verses in the writings of Moses (e.g., Genesis to Deuteronomy). There are 39 verses in the Old Testament historical books that mention angels. There are 52 verses in the gospels, 35 verses in the Epistles and 72 verses in the book of Revelation that mention angels. In other words, the Bible talks about angels a lot!
Angels seem to perform many different types of tasks in the Bible. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some of the tasks they perform:
Genesis 16:7-9, Genesis 19:15, Genesis 21:17, Genesis 22:11-14, Genesis 31:11, Exodus 3:2, Judges 2:1, Judges 2:4, Judges 6:11-12, Judges 6:20-22, Judges 13:3-13, 2 Kings 1:3, 2 Kings 1:15, Zechariah 1:13, Zechariah 3:6-10, Zechariah 4:1-7, Zechariah 5:5-11, Zechariah 6:4-5, Daniel 10:21, Daniel 8:15-16, Matthew 1:20-24, Matthew 2:13, Matthew 2:19, Matthew 28:5, Luke 1:11-19, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 2:10-15, Luke 2:21, Acts 7:30-35, Acts 7:38, Acts 7:53, Acts 8:26, Acts 10:3-7, Acts 10:22, Acts 11:13, Acts 23:9, Acts 27:23, Galatians 3:19, Hebrews 2:2, Rev 1:1, Rev 5:2, Rev 22:16.
Genesis 48:16, Exodus 14:19, Exodus 23:23, Exodus 33:2, Numbers 20:16, 2 Kings 19:35, 2 Chronicles 32:21, Psalm 34:7, Psalm 35:5-6, Psalm 91:11-12, Isaiah 37:36, Isaiah 63:9, Daniel 3:28, Daniel 6:22, Matthew 18:10, Matthew 26:53, Luke 4:10-11, Acts 5:19, Acts 10:7-10.
Daniel 10:12-13, Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:7, Rev 20:1-3.
Numbers 20:16, Numbers 22:22-27, Judges 5:23, 2 Samuel 24:16-17, 1 Chronicles 21:12-27, 1 Chronicles 21:30, Psalm 78:49, Acts 12:23, Rev 7:1-2 , Rev 8:2 & 6-13, Rev 9:1, Rev 9:11-15, Revelation 14:8-10, Rev 18:1-3 & 21, Rev 19:1-2, Revelation 14:17-19, Rev 15:1 & 6-8, Rev 16:1-21, Rev 19:17-21.
Is 63:9, Zechariah 3:1-5, Matthew 16:27, Matthew 25:31, Matthew 28:2, Mark 8:38, Luke 2:9, Luke 9:26, Luke 12:8-9, John 1:51, Acts 6:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 1 Timothy 5:21, Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 3:5.
Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 103:20, PS 148:2, Luke 2:13, Heb 1:4-13, Rev 5:11, Rev 19:6-8, Rev 22:8-9.
1 Kings 19:5-7, Psalm 104:4, Matthew 4:11, Mark 1:13, Luke 22:43, Heb 1:14, Rev 1:20.
Genesis 16:10, Genesis 16:11, Genesis 22:15-18, Judges 13:3, 1 Kings 13:18, Zechariah 1:9, Zechariah 1:14-19, Zechariah 3:6-10, Daniel 8:15-16, Daniel 9:21-27, Rev 10:1-11, Rev 12:1-14, Rev 17:1-18, Rev 21:9-17, Rev 22:6.
Genesis 19:1, Judges 13:13-21, 2 Chronicles 3:1, Luke 24:23, Hebrews 13:2.
Genesis 24:40, Exodus 23:20, Exodus 32:34, Numbers 22:31-35.
Matthew 13:39-49, Matthew 24:31, Mark 13:27, Luke 16:22, John 20:12, Revelation 14:14-16.
John 5:4.
Acts 10:1-6, Rev 14:6.
Revelation 8:3-4.
The Bible has a lot to say about angels. In fact, when Jesus walked on this earth, He talked about angels a lot. Angels are created beings who serve God.
At one point angels had free will (like we do now) and some of them choose to rebel against God. According to tradition, those who did not rebel after some period of time have been transformed so that they are no longer capable of rebelling. We as human servants of God look forward to the same type of transformation after we die (or after Christ comes again and takes His own unto Himself). Right now we have free will, but at some point after our physical life on earth draws to a close, we will be transformed so much into His likeness that we will no longer have the option of rebelling against God. Apparently angels have already passed this point and have already been transformed.
The Bible gives sketchy details of the fall of those angels who rebelled against God. We actually get some additional insights of this in the book of Enoch, which reads a lot like the bible but is not considered authoritative Scripture. Some of what we know about the devil this comes down from Jewish tradition. I don't claim to be an expert on the fall of the devil and his angels, but here is the "bird's eye view" of it.
Apparently Satan was called Lucifer (Is 14:12), and he was one of the angelic beings who was involved in worshipping before God's throne. It is possible that he was one of the Seraphim before he rebelled against God. He somehow decided that he wanted to receive worship instead of worshipping God and he fell. This is derived from the passage in Is 14:12-21, which is technically talking about the human king of Babylon but is widely considered to also prophetically be speaking about the fall of Satan. Several other angels fell with Him. According to Revelation 12:4, one third of the angels rebelled with him and were cast out of Heaven and became demonic beings or demons. We will not focus on the demonic in this teaching series but I felt it was important to share that there are two types of angels: fallen ones and ones that serve God.
The WebBible Encyclopedia (http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/home.html) shares some helpful information on demons. Here is what it says:
Demon (daemon) - The Greek form, translated "devil" in the King James Version of the New Testament. Demons are spoken of as spiritual beings (Matt. 8:16; 10:1; 12:43-45) at enmity with God, and as having a certain power over man (James 2:19; Rev. 16:14). They recognize our Lord as the Son of God (Matt. 8:20; Luke 4:41). They belong to the number of those angels that "kept not their first estate," "unclean spirits," "fallen angels," the angels of the devil (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:7-9). They are the "principalities and powers" against which we must "wrestle" (Eph. 6:12).The word demon(s) does not appear in the King James Bible, which uses the word "devils" instead. The New King James Bible uses the word "demon(s)" in 72 verses.
The only exorcist mentioned in the Old Testament is David (1 Samuel 16:23). In the New Testament, both Jesus and His apostles cast out demons through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Author: Paul S Taylor)
This teaching series will concentrate on the angels who did not fall but who willingly serve and obey God.