Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter five, beginning at verse 11. Revelation, chapter five, beginning at verse 11. 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 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with the loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Well, I am into it now. I had hoped that we might be maybe three sermons on angels and yet I have found that my own studies and notions concerning these things, I found them to be so imperfect that I have been exercising myself to endeavor to come to a more complete and well-rounded understanding of these beings to the extent that they have been revealed in scripture. We are now at a fourth part and I anticipate maybe two more parts. My concern here is not how long it's taking us with angels. I do trust that we are growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as we do so. But we do have our other sermon series concerning the service of song and worship that while we're doing this is yet in abeyance. So here is my plan. I thought that we might wrap up over the next handful of weeks concerning angels before we come back to the service of song. For those of you that feel like you need a review, I will send you a couple of sermons that I did some years ago. that will, I think in two sermons, summarize what we did recently in 20. That will refresh your minds concerning these things before we press on with some new material. A brief review concerning what we've done on angels already. Remember that our knowledge concerning angels is limited to what has been revealed. Some men in former times had truths concerning angels revealed immediately. They might have encounters with angels. But we have a more sure word of prophecy. We have the scriptures. And in the scriptures, we learn what can be known about angels. We learned also that angels are creatures. They are not gods. They are not demi or semi-gods, but they are creatures. There is an infinite and unbridgeable chasm between the creator and the creature, and angels have far more in common with us as creatures than they have with the creator God. And then last week we considered angels as incorporeal spirits and several of the attributes of their spiritual nature we saw them as immortal rational intelligent creatures and also volitional and moral creatures they make decisions that have moral implications and import and they are held by God to be responsible for the things that they do and the decisions that they make. I wanted to finish this morning with one final spiritual attribute and then consider at least begin considerations of the history of angels. A brief history, I promise. We are just going to be looking at some in some times of particular importance for them. The creation, the fall, both theirs and man's, the events at Sinai, the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the end of the world. These appear to be very important events for the angels. And this will give us an opportunity to gather up what might seem like a surprising host of minor matters and questions. The history is the best way I could think of to gather up some of these subordinate questions. So now, one final attribute, spiritual attribute, and that is that angels are powerful. They are described in this way in scripture explicitly. Leave your Bibles open to Revelation chapter 5, but let me read to you just a verse from Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. The King James rendering is that the angels excel in strength at Psalm 103 verse 20. Revelation chapter 5, which is our immediate interest. If you remember back to verse 2, John says that he saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book. This angel is portrayed as being strong. Perhaps there was something about his appearance in the vision that made him appear to be stronger. than the others. There was something about him that appeared to be particularly mighty. But in all of this we see their strength. The angels are portrayed as being very swift. This is part of their ability. Remember, as we said in a former sermon, that angels are not omnipresent. This is an attribute that belongs to God alone. They are attached in some way that's very difficult for us to define, but they are attached to space and time. Angels are said to be in one place that excludes them from being in other places, and they are also portrayed as moving from place to place. I just finished Andrew Willett's commentary on the book of Daniel. One of the reasons I took this up was because of the several mentions of angels and angelic activity in the book. Let me read to you a text. The words of Daniel. Yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, Touch me about the time of the evening oblation." That's Daniel 9.21. Here the angel Gabriel is portrayed as coming to him in his prayers, even in the midst of his prayers, and coming quickly. It's portrayed as a swift flying. So they are portrayed as being capable of rapid motion from one place to another. And they are able to do works that are mighty to such an extent that it almost defies imagination. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 12. The book of Acts chapter 12 beginning in verse 7. You will remember the context. James has been put to death. James, the son of Zebedee. Peter has been arrested. And no doubt there is a great concern that he is going to shortly see the same end that James did. Acts chapter 12, verse 7. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him. And a light shined in the prison. And he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garments about thee and follow me. And he went out and followed him. and was not that it was true, which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision when they were passed the first and the second ward. They came under the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through one street and forthwith the angel departed from him. This is a remarkable text. It was so remarkable in the experience of Peter that he thought he was experiencing all of it in a vision and a dream. But the angel appears, attended by a shining light. He says, get up. And the chains simply fall off. He tells Peter that it's time to get dressed and to go. And it's as if the prison opens of itself. It even said, after having passed the first and second ward, that came to the iron gate of the city, or that leadeth unto the city, and it simply opened of its own accord. These are certainly mighty works. And the working, how the angel did these things, seems to be purposely concealed from our eyes. These things are simply portrayed as happening all by themselves. But there are other notices. Just listen to this. You remember the Assyrian army during the days of Hezekiah had invaded Judea all the way to the point of besieging Jerusalem. And we get this notice. And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians and hundred, four score and five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 185,000 men. Certainly beings that are mighty in strength. How such a thing can be done defies our imagination, defies description, and yet they seem to have these powers. And we could go on And the remarkable things they do in the book of Daniel, they shut the mouths of lions as they attend him in the lion's den. You remember Elijah as he runs into desert parts, is fed by an angel as he is languishing and mourning in his fatigue. We could go on and on in this way. I seriously doubt that this would be a debated topic. The popular mind and imagination, however, can run away on this point concerning their power. They have great power, but their power is limited. I read one author that said that their activities are superhuman but not supernatural and I thought that that was very well said their abilities certainly exceed our own where we would say that their abilities are superhuman and their works are almost more than we can comprehend or even imagine but they are not supernatural in the sense that their activities are limited by their own created angelic nature at that point we do have a difficulty in that we don't know exactly what the limitations of the angelic nature might be but that there are limitations is altogether clear because we would say that they are certainly not omnipotent So there are limitations built into their nature. Omnipotence in scripture is ascribed to God alone and if properly understood could really only be ascribed to one being. Omnipotence implies that there is no limitation in power. and that this power certainly isn't limited by other beings. You can see right away how this would argue for the oneness of God. Ultimately there's only one being that can be omnipotent. If there was two, they would limit one another's power in various respects and neither would be omnipotent. So omnipotence is an attribute of the divine nature alone. So we know that he's limited by his created nature, but more importantly for us, with respect to piety, is the knowledge that angelic activities are limited by God's will. They cannot exceed the bounds of the divine will and decree. Hear the praise of Nebuchadnezzar after his seven years of madness. He says all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he do it according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? So in the armies of heaven, he does according to his own will. And none, not even those great creatures, can stay his hand or even say to him, what doest thou? He does his own will and that is not limited. Another proof text for this limitation comes from the Lord's Prayer, a text you will know very well. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Their activities is limited by the will of God and that becomes a model or pattern that we pray will be replicated in the earth. That mankind will be brought into obedience the way that the angels are in obedience. I have two uses in this regard. First of all, This redounds to the praise of the great creator, does it not? In two regards, there is none like unto Him. He alone is the omnipotent God. But in addition to this, by His omnipotent power, He has created these mighty creatures and shows the greatness of His own creative ability. I do hope that every time you think upon the angels it will lead you to worship not the angels but the God who made them and rules over them and governs them I dare say we exceed not the limits of scriptural teaching if I were to say that the angels desire that as well every time you reflect upon them that it would lead you to worship God That's what the angel says to John, I'm thy fellow servant. Worship God. Worship God. A second use, I hope that you will find this comforting. We'll come back to this and look at this in more detail in a future sermon, maybe as early as next week. But these powerful spirits are employed to serve the church and its members. and that is a comforting thought we are most of all comforted by the fact that God looks over his church and super intends his church but our God is a God of infinite means sometimes he will protect his church simply by his own omnipotent power without means but he normally works for the protection of his church through a great variety an almost unending variety of means and this would include these powerful creatures we also see in them a striking example of humility for our own imitation that although they exceed us in power and holiness they seem perfectly content to serve us And if they have done so, ought we not to do so one to another, to be content in service one to another? Finally, I hope that this will comfort you with respect to the demonic powers. They are powerful indeed, but their activities are strictly limited by the divine will. We see this in the book of Job. Satan is able to do much. but he cannot transcend the limits that God has set upon him. You might think of the demonic powers being very much like the raging sea, but very much like the physical raging sea, the great God of heaven cries, thus far and no further, he sets the bounds and the bounds cannot be transcended. We can take even more comfort in that he overrules all of the demonic activity for the benefit of this church. So do what they might, do what they will, do all that they can. Ultimately, all of it is for our spiritual well-being and profit, not because they intended so, but because God overrules them so that it will be so. So, children, I hope that you'll remember these things. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, there's not a single thing that a devil might be able to do to you or around you that won't ultimately be for your own spiritual profit. So you do not have to be afraid. Trust God. You remember the words of the psalm, Whatsoever time I am afraid, I will trust in thee or trust in God. And part of our trust in God is believing what he has said, that he overrules all of the activities of evil spirits so that we might be profited. It's all for our good. This brings us to our consideration of the of the history of angels. Again, I do want to comfort you. I don't plan to be overly long in this history. Just looking at some of the most prominent points We're going to be looking in short and broad strokes, but this will give us an opportunity to gather together a host of other lesser issues. And the first important point in time for the angels is the creation, theirs and ours. We have already said that they are created beings, and this raises our first question. When were they created? What was the time of their creation? If I were to sum all of this up and if I were a more efficient preacher I'd probably just say it's hard to be sure and move on. And although I don't think that we can say with absolute certainty the precise time, I do think we can narrow it down with some confidence into a range. which, believe it or not, can be of some use and some value when we're trying to set the end of the range a time after which they couldn't have been created because they're already clearly in existence we could start evidently with the fall of man evidently they are already in existence and already have some measure of history they've already been created, they've already fallen There is a fallen angel present in the garden. And upon the fall, God commissions the cherubs to protect the way to the garden. So we know that that's too late. The fall of man would be too late for the time of their creation. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Job chapter 38. I think we can say more. that they were created within the space of the six days and certainly no later than the completion of the six days. Job, Chapter 38. Verse four, it's helpful to remember that this is God himself speaking. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. Who has laid the measures thereof if thou knowest? Or who have stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors when it break forth, As if it had issued out of the womb, When I made the cloud the garment thereof, And thick darkness a swaddling band for it, And break up for it my decreed place, And set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, And here shall thy proud waves be stayed, I want you to notice here that the sons of God in verse 7 are portrayed as shouting for joy, as witnesses of the created work. We know that these sons of God are the angels in this context because they are identified as such in the first chapter of the book. There came a time when the sons of God presented themselves before the throne of God and the devil was among them on that day. So we have a picture of heavenly places, the angelic host coming to present themselves before God and the devil being among them. And here they are portrayed as shouting for joy, delighting themselves in God at the creation. But when we look at the content itself, We can say this much for certain, that they are present for at least a part of the creation. And the description of this to me sounds like the third day, the separation of the dry land and the waters. When you look at the content of what's happening in the text, and what they are rejoicing in. It does seem to be very much the appearance of the dry land, if you will, the laying of the foundations of the earth and the setting the bounds for the sea, which was the activity of the third day. Let me be clear. Don't go away from here and say the pastor told us that Job 38 refers to the third day. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that that's what it appears. We can't be altogether certain. But perhaps we might be able to set at least a tentative time when it would be too late, and that would be the third day. So we know that they're there at the fall, they're there during the six days of creation, perhaps as early as the third day to worship God. Now then, the question comes, can we set any boundaries as far as the beginning? We have some times when it would be too late. Can we set a time that would be too early? And I would say that apparently, to me, it seems that they were not created before the first day, or before the beginning of Genesis 1.1. Here, if I might express what were my own assumptions. I don't know where I got the idea. And angels have certainly always been fertile ground for the imaginative activities of man. I grew up with the notion that the angels were older than the visible creation. I don't know where I got the idea, but I always had this idea that There were angels already before God created the heavens and the earth. I now believe this to be incorrect. A couple of things to consider. I do think that the statement, in the beginning, in Genesis 1.1 is an absolute beginning. The absolute beginning of the creative work. In other words, that there was no creation, not even angels before that, in the beginning. And you say, well, why would you say that? It's actually not Genesis 1-1 itself, although it certainly does have the grandeur of expression to lead a mind in that direction. But as you read through the scripture, that privilege and that praise of being before the foundation of the world is always ascribed to God alone. God is from everlasting to everlasting before the foundation of the world. And that praise seems to be inappropriate if attributed to anything else. Like you wouldn't want to say that sort of thing concerning an angel. You wouldn't want to say to an angel, thou art before the foundation of the world. I'm trying to convey something of the inappropriateness of the sound of that because that's always ascribed to God alone. Just one example of this, and just imagine these things being said of any creature. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. So this seems to be a description that would be inappropriate. to be applied to any creature even as one as great as an angel. So with all of these, again I hesitate to say with absolute certainty but I do say with a good degree of confidence that the angels do not appear to have been created before that first day of creation. I think perhaps Perhaps we can be a little bit more specific. Turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 104. The most plausible argument that I that I have come across. Note. Plausible argument, not conclusive, not definitive, but putting the evidence together, I think the best argument can be made that the angels were created on the second day. Theologians say that the idea seems to be something like the heavens or the heavenly places underwent a development very much like the visible world Many take the creed in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Many exegetes take the heavens there to be what the Hebrews called the threefold heavens the first being the atmosphere where birds fly and and where clouds float, the second being the stars, what we would call outer space, and the third being what they called the imperial heaven, imperial with an E, not with an I, which was the spiritual heaven. Many exegetes take the creation of the heavens to include all three, and that that heaven, that imperial heaven, spiritual heaven, underwent a development and was populated on the second day after the analogy of the foundation of the firmament which appeared to have been the organization of the heavens in the visible world they think that a like organization may have occurred in the spiritual world You notice I'm using the word might, may, perhaps, James appears quite a bit. But here is the bit of scripture evidence that led to those tentative or soft conclusions. Psalm 104 seems to fall out according to the days of creation and in the order of the days of creation. It is a praise of the Creator, but we notice that the angels, the reference to them and their creation is in the context of the second day and the foundation of the firmament. The difficulty with Psalm 104 in the maintaining of the The order of the days of creation is that throughout the description of the days, unlike in Genesis 1, the purpose for which things were fashioned the way that they were is referenced. So you'll frequently get interjected mentions concerning plants and animals and people, but those appear to be purpose statements that don't necessarily disturb the order, the historical order in which the things were made. You'll have to weigh this evidence and evaluate it for yourself. But look with me. Psalm 104, beginning in verse one. Bless the Lord, oh, my soul. Oh, Lord, my God, thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, who covers thyself with light as with a garment. This would be what day? The first day. Let there be light. And here God is portrayed as covering himself with light, as with the garment who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, who lay at the beams of his chambers in the waters, who make it the clouds, his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind. Does this not sound like the activities of the second day, the separation of the lower and the upper waters, the water that was covering the earth, the seas, as well as the upper waters which became the clouds and the establishment or the stretching out of the atmosphere in between, the firmament. This sounds like a poetic description of those very things. So we've had the first day, and now the second day, and then we get the reference in verse four that has led to this soft conclusion. who maketh his angel spirits, his ministers a flaming fire. So on this day in which the visible heavens were organized and arranged, many have come to the tentative conclusion that perhaps the spiritual heaven was also being arranged and populated. And then coming back to Job chapter 38, they were present to praise God for that third day, the separation of the waters from the land. And if we're right, we would expect verse five to either continue in the second day or go on to the third. And I think we have the third day, the separation of land and water who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. That covers it with the deep as with the garment. The water stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke, they fled. At the voice of thy thunder, they hasted away. They go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys into the place which that was founded for them. That was set abound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth. He sent it the springs into the valleys which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field and wild asses quench their thirst again. The question about that is, are those purpose statements that are anticipating the reasons that God separated land and water the way that he did? Or do these sorts of statements overturn the order? That's really the question. To me, they seem to be purpose statements. Verse 12, By them shall the fowls of heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. And then you get the the population of the of the land. He caused the grass to grow. After separating, he caused vegetation to sprout up. He caused the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth and so on. If you have some level of interest in such questions, I would encourage you to go here because we perhaps have our strongest evidence one way or another here. But you'd want to see if the structure could be maintained throughout the entire song. Our conclusions are tentative. The evidence is sketchy. I do think that that is certainly intentional on the part of the Most High. He has not been pleased to reveal to us very much concerning them. Here I do believe that we are on the borders or the frontiers trying to gather up what has been said so that we have possessed all of our inheritance, but trying to be careful not to transcend or go beyond our inheritance. If a stronger argument can be made one way or another, I was unable to turn it up in the history of of exegesis. A second question comes with respect to their creation and that has to do with their numbers. We will talk more about this probably next Lord's Day, but angels do not procreate. We have been taught that in the New Testament At their first foundation, they appear to have been created in all of their vast multitude. So it's not like men, where generation after generation they're being produced, or age after age. They appear to have been, all present, right from the beginning, in a vast multitude. If the question were to come up, how many? I think all we can say for sure is that there are a great many. The chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place. Psalm 68 verse 17. Do you remember the legion that possessed the man? A Roman legion could have anywhere from between 3000 to 6000, which would be a great many indeed. You remember that the Lord Jesus said that he could call upon twelve legions of angels for his own protection. All of this would indicate to us that there are a great many of them. We'll come to this, but I do believe in this. If we have but eyes to see it and hearts to believe it, we will see our God greatly glorified. That the invisible spiritual world is every bit as full as the visible world, that very much like the visible world it has great variety, so it is interesting, and it has organization. These things are not laid out for us with any sort of fullness in the scripture, but they are intimated to us in part. Our Creator is greatly glorified. In the history of theology, There have been a great many who have speculated concerning the exact number. Let me give you some examples, and I think that just to give the examples of the best minds doing their best is enough to show that this errand, I believe, is a futile one. Probably the best who has attempted it would be Augustine. You can read this in his City of God, if memory serves, is the 22nd book. But he thought that the number of elect men was equal to the number of fallen angels and meant to supplement the angelic loss so that heaven would be fully populated with that original number. If you were to then go on and say, how does Augustine prove such a thing out of the scripture? I have not the slightest idea. There's a certain sort of balance and proportionality to it that is attractive. I am sure that if he were here, he would have some thoughts on how such a thing might be demonstrated, but I am pretty sure that I cannot reproduce the argument. Gregory the Great thought that the number of faithful angels was equal to the number of saved men so that there would be a balance or proportion between angels and men in heaven that they would be in equal numbers going, ascending very quickly towards the rise of the scholastic age William of Paris thought that the number was infinite which right on the face of it makes no sense to me the terms infinite and number being oxymoronic and impossible to put together an infinite number doesn't make any sense a number is a principle of finitude and definition so to say that you have unlimited limits It's strange. Hillary, perhaps a better theologian, said that he thought for every man there were 99 angels. He gave a list of scripture proofs and I was from the scripture proofs completely incapable of following the argument or how he arrived at this mathematics. I think surveying these things you see that the speculation is futile. We are simply assured that they are a vast host, that there is variety among them and organization, and that no doubt it is very interesting to the praise of the Creator God. But now we look only through a glass darkly. With respect to uses, I just wanted to derive one from the text, not so much immediately from the ideas we've just been looking at, but from the text. What is the first thing that we see the angels doing upon the six days of creation? They are worshipping God. The first notice that we have of them as existing beings is them worshipping and praising the creator for the great work of creation. This we see also in Revelation chapter 5, our text of immediate interest. They not only glorify God for creation, but for his redeeming work. Here they praise the lamb that was slain and ascribe to him great glory for the work that he has done. This is all the more noteworthy in that they are not the recipients or beneficiaries of that redemption. But to them, simply to see it and to learn more about God through it provides them with unspeakable joy. We'll come back to this, but we do have these references in scripture. They long to understand redemption better because they know that their great God is further revealed in it. They delight to see in its application of the redemption of even one sinner becomes an occasion of rejoicing for them and praise. And we have just another way of saying that very same truth in that in Revelation chapter 5, have the presentation of the lamb and the church, its hearts is lifted up in a unified praise. And then the angels gather around and they say, yes, this lamb is greatly glorified indeed. All the more striking in that they are not the recipients of this great salvation, and yet they see Christ's glory in it. And if these angels Glorify the Redeemer, even though they are not the beneficiaries of his redemption, how much more so ought we have become the recipients of this great salvation. And indeed, we ought to be humble to the dust that no doubt their mouths are more frequently filled with the praises of the Redeemer, even though they derive no benefit except the improvement of knowledge of the glory of God from redemption. how we have to be humble to the dust that we do not match them in giving our great Redeemer praise. I do want to remind you something that I've said to you in former times. You must remember, and I hope that I do not tire you with these frequent notices that we are to take these doctrines and make these doctrines occasions for our worship and to inform our worship. is not your chief end. The glory of God is your chief end. God is saving worshippers for himself. And so upon all of these occasions, whenever we consider these things, our hearts ought to bend back upon the praise of God. So I want you to understand the gospel so that you might be saved But salvation is not the end. You are saved so that your mind and heart and mouth might be lifted up in praise of the God who has saved you. I thought we might sing Psalm 148 verses one through six. We'll talk about this in coming sermons. I don't think we're given any biblical warrant to attempt conversations with angels. They interact with us and they know what we do. But the interaction appears to be unilateral. We don't act upon them as far as we can tell, and we don't know what they're doing. So we don't have much grounds for any sort of conversation. We don't know when they're present or when they're absent. Except some general notices, we know that the angels do delight to attend the worship of the church. We'll also come back to that in some coming considerations. We are going to be celebrating the Lord's Supper in about next week. It seems good to me that we move it up one week from our original plan. The reason being, I might get waylaid by the arrival of a baby. And I think we could probably more safely draw it forward than to push it back. But with this in view, we are reminded that at the celebration of the supper, it would not be an unusual thing for the angels to be present. because they love to see the gospel truth portrayed. They desire to look more fully into these things. And as we've seen, they delight to see salvation applied. It becomes an occasion of rejoicing for them, an occasion for worship. And so as we come, we have to come into a with a lively faith so that the angels will not be disappointed, but see the thing that they've come to see. Christ applied to his people, granting the forgiveness of sins and sanctifying grace and strength. I've interrupted myself. We don't normally have any warrant for attempting communication with the with the angels. But here, the spirit of Christ sets in our lips a call upon the angels to worship God with us as the Great Creator. So we call upon all of created reality to praise the Lord. Verse 2, Him let all angels bless, Him all His armies praise. If you have the right rendering, it's the Lord of Heaven confess, on high His glory raise. Please rise.