Thomas Sproull
2. The relation of angels to God as His moral subjects.
(1.) They are under His government.
This follows from their state as creatures. Power necessarily belongs to God. He has both the right to rule and the power to enforce obedience. His creatures are necessarily under His authority. Angels by their creation become His servants to do His will.
(2.) They are governed by laws adapted to their nature.
God, as a wise Lawgiver, fits His subjects for His service according to their sphere and condition. Angels being pure spirits, the moral code that prescribes their duty differs from that by which men are governed. Love, the fulfilling of the law, is with them the principle of obedience, as it is with men. They have an intuitive knowledge of the will of God as their rule. To obey and worship Him is the sum of their duty and is their constant and delightful employment. “Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word” (Ps 103:20). They “stand in the presence of God” (Lk 1:19) “round about the throne” (Rev 5:11), prepared to go and perform any service required of them. In doing the will of God they are an example of perfect, cheerful and constant obedience. “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Mt 6:10).
(3.) They have been tried and found faithful.
In 1 Tim 5:21 “elect angels” are mentioned. The term elect is here used to distinguish them from those who fell. They were chosen to stand fast, when their fidelity was put to the test. The rest “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jud 6). It was the good pleasure of God to deliver the good angels from the temptation by which the others fell – in some way entirely consistent with their freedom of will and in accordance with the requirements of His own holy nature.
It is clear that they were not brought into a federal relation2 with God, as Adam was. They were simply under law, and their knowledge of the consequence of disobedience was a dictate of their moral nature. From this, but especially from regard to the authority of God, they remained faithful in their allegiance to their Creator. They are now placed beyond the possibility of falling and confirmed in a state of holiness and happiness. This was done, I conceive, by the inducements to continue faithful, from having before their eyes the fearful consequences of the disobedience of those that fell and especially by being placed in circumstances where they are exposed to no temptation beyond their power to resist. This was the result of their probation; for being once tried and approved, the justice of God does not require another trial and His goodness forbids it.
(4.) They are put under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They are included in the grant of universal dominion given to Him. “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Mt 28:18). They are specified as under Him. “Jesus Christ, who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him” (1 Pet 3:21,22). They are commanded to worship Him. “When He bringeth in the First-begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him” (Heb 1:6).
3. The angels are used in the kingdom of providence and grace.
(1.) In giving the law on Mount Sinai.
“The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from His right hand went forth a fiery law for them” (Deut 33:2). The word saints here means holy ones, evidently holy angels. The last clause may be rendered “by them”. In three places in the New Testament this truth is also presented. “Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it” (Acts 7:53). The law “was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator” (Gal 3:19). “The word spoken by angels was steadfast” (Heb 2:2).
(2.) God has committed to them the care of His people.
“He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways” (Ps 91:11). “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb 1:14).
The Scriptures abound with instances of the ministration of angels on behalf of the saints. Angels assisted Lot in his escape from Sodom (Gen 19). A company of them met Jacob when on his way from Syria to his native place (Gen 32:1). One of them ministered to Elijah when fleeing for his life from Ahab (1 Ki 19:5). An angel preserved Daniel from destruction by lions (Dan 6:22). Peter was released from prison by an angel (Acts 12:8).
The agency of angels is employed in frustrating the temptations of the devil. There can be no doubt that the charge which they have received – to keep in all their ways those entrusted to their care – refers to the danger of temptation as well as to outward danger. The Lord gives this warning, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven” (Mt 18:10). They are in readiness to be sent to resist the contempt shown to Christ’s little children. They are present in places of public worship and take notice of what is decorous and becoming. Paul, giving directions about this, says, “For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels” (1 Cor 11:10). They are ready to guard the worshippers from improprieties in their solemn assemblies.
(3.) They are instruments in inflicting divine judgements on the wicked.
By an angel a large part of the Assyrian army was destroyed when besieging Jerusalem (Is 37: 36). An angel smote Herod with a deadly disease because he refused to give God the glory (Acts 12:23). And “at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire” (Mt 13:49,50).
(4.) They are employed in conveying the souls of the redeemed at death to heaven.
“The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” (Lk 16:22). Elijah was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Ki 2:11). “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels” (Ps 68:17).
(5.) They will for ever join with the saints in praising God in heaven.
This is their delightful employment. When an angel announced to the shepherds the birth of Christ, there was with him a multitude of the heavenly host expressing their joy in fit language: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Lk 2:14). They are called to this exercise: “Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure” (Ps 103:20,21). The response to this call John heard, being in the Spirit: “I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne . . . saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev 5:11,12).
Of those fallen spirits we learn:
Some of the angels “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jud 6). While some of the sons of the morning passed safely through their probation, a part of them failed and were made to endure the penalty of their sin. “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement” (2 Pet 2:4). They are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day” (Jud 6). Though they are sentenced and are under punishment, they are not shut up in hell. For wise ends, God allows them to traverse this world. Their leader is called “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2). Power is conceded to him in the world which he employs in walking “about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8).
Of the sin by which these angels fell, we have no definite information. From two Scripture statements we are to infer that pride and falsehood were its two principal parts. We are told (1 Tim 3:6) that one who is lifted up with pride is in danger of falling “into the condemnation of the devil”. And our Lord characterises the devil as “a liar and the father of it”, who “abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him” (Jn 8:44). Inflated by pride, it appears that Beelzebub, who is called “the prince of devils”, refused to obey some positive command; and his example was followed by the myriads of his principality. All were at once cast out from their seats in heaven. Though allowed some enlargement of their confinement, they are held “in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day”.
(1.) They are very many.
A legion of them were in one man (Lk 8:30). A Roman legion consisted of four thousand men. It is used here indefinitely for a great many. When the leader could spare such a number to torture one man, how many does he have at his command? Moreover, as every human living is exposed to be tempted by the devil, and as devils are not present everywhere, what multitudes there must be of these outcasts from heaven!
(2.) They are exceedingly shrewd and cunning.
This is evident from the temptation by which our first parents fell. To their natural endowment of wisdom, there is added the knowledge of the art the devils have acquired by long experience. The attacks of the devil on Jesus Christ, the God-man, were a masterpiece of diabolical art, which must have succeeded with any mere man. Satan can transform himself “into an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). With consummate skill he attacked Job and Peter, accusing these servants to their Master of unfaithfulness, and obtaining permission to try them (Job 1:9-11; Lk 22:31,32). By his devices, he seeks to get advantage of God’s people (2 Cor 2:11).
(3.) They possess great power.
Satan produced the tempest that threw down the house in which Job’s sons and daughters were feasting. It is generally supposed that he raised the tempest that endangered the lives of the disciples on the sea of Galilee (Jn 6:18,19). He has great power over the minds of men. He tempted David to number his people by suggestions addressed to his ambition (1 Chr 21:1,2). By appealing to the avarice of Judas, he persuaded him to betray his Lord (Jn 13:2). At the time our Lord was on earth he had the power of possessing the bodies of men and inflicting great torture on them.
(4.) They are filled with hatred against Christ and His people.
The serpent and his seed continue their enmity against the woman and her seed. He hates Jesus Christ with infernal intensity. He attempted to destroy Him by means of Herod soon after He was born. He stirred up the Jews to reject Him and to take His life. He was the mover of all the persecution endured by the apostles, and all endured by the faithful servants of Christ in after time. He makes war still with “the remnant of the seed [of the woman], which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev 12:17).
(5.) They are put under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“The Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). At His ascension He “spoiled principalities and powers [and] made a show of them openly” (Col 2:15). When the Lord was on the earth, devils confessed their subjection to Him (Mt 8:29). At the hour of death, He bruises Satan under the feet of His people (Rom 16:20). At the millennium, Christ will bind him and cast him into the bottomless pit (Rev 20:1,2).
(6.) They shall at last be shut up in hell for ever.
When they were cast out of heaven, they were reserved to “the judgement of the great day” (Jud 6). The place of the punishment of the lost of our race is described as “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41). Then those rebels against the government of God shall be made to suffer the penalty of their transgressions. As they were leaders in the revolt among the holy beings that were created to be active instruments in displaying the divine glory, it is meet that they should be made special examples of divine justice to the glory of God for ever.
- The second and final part of a chapter in Sproull’s Prelections on Theology, continued from last month. The first part considered, “The relation of angels to God as His creatures”.
- That is, a relation involving a covenant.