I'm glad you could all make it out. Tonight we continue looking at the subject of Angels in the Bible. This is the third part in a series, and before we continue, let's take a moment to summarize what we have seen so far.

In part 1 we looked at the basics of angels. We saw that they were free, intelligent beings who were created by the Father and Son, and that they are arranged into various classes: Seraphim, Cherubim etc. We saw that each type had duties which were commonly associated with it, and we looked at the names of some individual angels in Scripture.

In the second part, we looked at the rebellion of Lucifer, and that a third of these heavenly beings were cast down to earth, and are reserved here for the destruction that will take place at the Judgment. We looked at the reason for Satan's fall, and we started to look at the ways in which he continued his war against Heaven in the time of Christ, by having demons possess people, and that Christ and His disciples had authority over them.

This week we'll backtrack a bit, and look at how the war between the two classes of angels have impacted the course of human history, and what the applications are for us today as Christians. There's no way we can get to them all, of course - we'll just look at a few key moments. Also, tonight is going to be a little more focused on the human aspect. After all, the angels' and demons' fate are already set in stone... we're the ones who have the decision to make, and this battle that will go on - until our Lord shall return - will necessarily have an impact on which way we decide.

So let's begin in Genesis, with the first time something went wrong. And no surprise, our Father's enemy (and ours) was involved.

In last week's study, we mentioned the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, and how it seemed to have been placed in the garden in Eden as a result of Satan's accusations. Of this tree, Adam was told: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen 2:17)

It wasn't too long, however, before human beings had to deal with temptation: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, 'Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?' And the woman said unto the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.'" (Gen 3:1-5)

Now, we have seen this spirit before, a doubting of the way Yahweh has established His order, and a desire to be exhalted above the Throne. As we saw in the Isaiah narrative about Lucifer's fall, he said: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." (Isa 14:14)

And here we find that same being saying to Eve that SHE would be "as gods," like the most High. From the first book of the Canon to the last, the enemy of mankind has been the same: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Rev 12:9)

We've seen that Satan himself was cast out of heaven, but in retaliation, he decided to bring down mankind too, the Father's most precious creation. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (Gen 1:27)

This matter of the Tree of knowledge is the first time the war between Heaven and the rebellion had an impact on mankind, and we can learn a lot from studying the way our first parents were enticed to fall. As Lucifer, through his reptilian representative, concluded his speech, we find this: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (Gen 3:6)

The woman was not deceived by the Serpent alone, but by her own senses. She saw that the fruit was pleasing to her perceptions, and she decided it was "desired to make one wise." In this, she concluded that her own observations, her own judgments, were better than Adam's and truly better than the Father's. Of course, for Adam's part, he did no better - and the greater fault was his, for having received the commandment directly from the Voice of the Most High.

But as we continue to look at how the demons have attacked humanity, I want you to keep in mind the methods by which they gain access to us. It is by our senses, by what they entice us to let into our eyes, and into our ears. It is written: "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." (Jude 1:17-21)

Note the author's words carefully. He contrasts two kinds of people, those who have the Spirit, and those who don't. And look at the way he describes those who do not have the spirit of faith; he calls them "sensual," "sensuous" in the NKJV. In the Greek, the word is "psuchikos," which is also translated "natural" in verses like the following: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor 2:14)

The meaning of "psuchikos" is indeed "natural," but it has a connotation of: earthly, subject to physical appetites, and of the bodily senses. In both these verses, the spiritual is contrasted with the sensual, those led by faith, and those who allow themselves to be led by their natural senses. As we see the works of the demons in influencing human history, let us watch for how they have gained access by humanity's natural inclinations and perceptions, and as we study the Scriptures, may the Father grant that we also may grow in discernment and so avoid the snares of our one true enemy.

The next time something unpleasant happened in human history, as the Bible records it, is this: "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." (Gen 4:4-5)

Here we see Cain attempting to have the work of his own hands accepted as a sacrifice, whereas his brother, accepting the Gospel, understood what Paul would say centuries later: "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb 9:22)

Here we see Cain being deceived by the same spirit that got to his parents. He placed his own judgments above that of the Throne, and it got him into trouble. "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." (Gen 4:8)

So we see it, that if we are not careful, the demons will use our own senses against us, and that is how we would fall under the power of temptation.

But even in Genesis, we find not only evil angels influencing mankind, but we have great examples of the influence of the holy servants' presence.

"And the Lord appeared unto [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground." (Gen 18:1-2)

Some have said these three men were all the Lord, but that doesn't really seem to be the case... a few verses later we find: "And the Lord said, 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.' And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord." (Gen 18:20-22)

Notice a distinction is there made between the "men" and the Lord. Yahweh, through His servants, did indeed go down into Sodom and Gomorrah, but they are never referred to by the term "Lord,"except by Lot, and he uses the term "adonai," not Yahweh, which just means something like, "Sir." It seems to be the case, then, that the Lord in His human form remains with Abraham, while the other two, who are angels, go on to the sinful cities.

But look at this. Observe the way Abraham treated the strangers: "'Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant.' And they said, 'So do, as thou hast said.'" (Gen 18:4-5)

And then look at how the inhabitants of the cities reacted to them: "But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, 'Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.'" (Gen 19:4-5)

In this example we see manifest the words of the Apostle: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Heb 13:2)

And of course, even if the people we are being kind to (or unkind to) aren't actually Heaven's messengers, we know this: "And the King shall answer and say unto them, 'Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'" (Mat 25:40)

In order to use the war between angels and demons to our Christian advantage, then, we've seen two principles so far: guard your senses, and be kind to strangers. Let's turn to the New Testament, then, and see if we can find more ways to be affected positively by the warfare that's currently going on.

In our last study, we saw the Messiah cleansing a man from possession by a set of demons calling themselves Legion (for they were many). But this was hardly the only time in the Savior's ministry that He and they came into contact. In some cases, the evil angels actively tried to stop Him from completing His mission.

Their oppositon was, while active, seldom open, and would most often be carried out by human agents. For example, to the Pharisees during a debate, Christ said some strong words: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)

By their leading questions, their accusations, even their insults: "Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God." (John 8:41) (That, by the way, was an insult to Him.)

By these things they tried to stop His message of freedom to all through His ministry. Even after His personal mission was fulfilled, and the work of teaching the world passed to His servants, the demonic opposition only strengthened. We have the story from Acts, where Luke is narrating: "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, 'These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.'" (Acts 16:16-17)

Now, on the surface, this may not seem like such a bad thing... but the demons learned their lesson well enough (for a time). They realized that direct opposition seemed to only cause the messengers to grow more zealous for the truth, and so they decided to try another tactic. Although it truly is the Almighty who judges the hearts of men, there's something to be said for having a good reputation in the community you're trying to evangelize.

Credibility is a rather important thing, if you're trying to tell people a story as extraordinary as the one the disciples were bearing: that by the death and resurrection of a single Man, all the world might be saved. For this reason, the demons tried to stop the message by giving it the sanction of the darker arts, and causing accusations to fall on the Gospel workers as they once fell on Christ: "And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, 'He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.'" (Mark 3:22)

The travellers quickly realized this arrangement was a bad idea. "And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, 'I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.' And he came out the same hour." (Acts 16:18)

But demons are sneaky. When you find out their tactics, they'll change them. Snakes are slippery like that :) For example, there were some men who were using this young fortuneteller as a source of income: "And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying, 'These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.' And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them." (Acts 16:19-22)

We looked at this passage in a previous study, how Paul and Silas, treated as badly as they were, used the opportunity to praise Yahweh in their subsequent imprisonment, "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." (Acts 16:25)

Even in the worst of situations, faithful witnesses will bear a good testimony to those who are watching them. But in terms of the spiritual war, we see another important principle for Christians. How many times has it been that we manage to avoid a certain temptation, when we immediately come face to face with another? We dodge one evil, only to be confronted by something at least as tempting? Satan will not give up, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

But Peter does not leave us there, and hastens to encourage us: "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." (1 Peter 5:10)

The principle is this, watch: "be sober, be vigilant," because the snares of the adversary are many and subtle, as we saw in Acts... but at the same time, have confidence in the Father, who through Christ and His Spirit, will use whatever befalls us to "perfect, establish, strengthen and settle" us.

We know the ultimate end of the demons: "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.'" (Mat 25:41)

Their destiny is to be consumed in everlasting fire. We know the ultimate end of the holy angels, who did not fall away from the foundation of the world: "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts 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 that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.'" (Rev 5:11-12)

The holy angels join with the Redeemed in praising the Father and Son for the rest of eternity :) We therefore know the end of the war, and what will happen to those on either side. It might therefore be a good idea to be standing as an ally to the right one; to cooperate with the angels in bringing about the will of the Father: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Mat 6:10)

As I was speaking with someone in Crosswalk a while ago, it occured to me (and I stated it), that there is a reason why the Gospel is committed to men and not to holy angels, which is an important matter in studying them. "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." (Luke 7:47) Or to put that another way, those who are forgiven much have much more to rejoice about :)

We, who were once under the power of Satan, we who have thereafter received the Holy Spirit and by Grace been born again, are the ones with the story to tell. We are witnesses, because: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:3)

That is why we can share our personal testimony with others, and have them follow us into eternal life, because we have "seen and heard." In this study, we have been looking at the nature of angels, and of demons, we have seen how their war can affect us on earth. We have seen about 4 principles that will not only allow us to survive this war, but to come out on top, and even to drag some people to safety with us. Those are:

1) Guard your senses, and let your spirit lead you - not your emotions, or your eyes, or our ears, or any other natural sense.

2) Be kind to strangers, for not only may they be angels in disguise, but also, that which you do unto the least of your fellow man, you do unto your Redeemer - and don't limit that to "strangers" either.

3) Be watchful, but not worried. Satan's snares are subtle, and he's had a lot of time to perfect his temptations, but as it is written, "where sin abouds, grace does that much more about." For every trial, every temptation, our Father has provided us away of escape. That leads into

4) Have confidence in the Father and Son, for: "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

But there's one more thing, and it strengthens that last point. It's the most important one, though. More important than trusting in the Father and Son is having the essential faith to do so. Here's one final passage to demonstrate the conflict between the demons and the servants of light.

"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, 'We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.' And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?'" (Acts 19:13-15)

I can never read that without a chuckle:) See, it's not enough to just know His name. It's not enough to even have the confidence in that name, for: "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?'" (Mat 7:22)

It's not enough to just know the name, even to the extent that we do "many wonders" by it. We have to believe from the heart, and to let that belief guide our actions. The sons of Sceva knew the name "Jesus," (actually, Yahshua in the Hebrew), but they didn't know the Person Himself! That's our final, and most important asset in surviving this war. Know the Redeemer. By knowing Him, His Spirit will guide us into "all truth," and all the other stuff just falls into place. Demons... they're out there. But even if they were not weaker by their transgression, remember, only a third of the total angels fell away. For every evil spirit, there are two good ones. That alone should be encouraging :)

A lone martyr before a great council of judges... he's still in the marjority :)

The angels, and the Father and Son who are in charge of them, are all on our side: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb 1:14)

Let that be our thought as we meditate on these things, and also this final passage. Everyone still talks about 9-11 these days. Here's a 9-11 for you: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." (Psa 91:9-11)

Let us keep this thought in our minds. Shall we pray?

David.