In my. I found the mercy at the old rugged cross. Now I have peace within. of sin. His love and his grace live where despair has failed. I'm satisfied. says why and the process of deepness and eternal life. I I called out your name in my sin and my shame. I found mercy. I found mercy. Get it wrong. All right, let's open our Bibles this morning to the Gospel of John chapter 1, and the ushers are giving out outlines if you'd like to have one of those, and you can follow along on that to some degree, as well as in your Bible. And we, for a long time, have been preaching on Sunday morning on the doctrines of the Bible and continue that this morning, though we move on today to a new doctrine for the last, I think I preached 35 sermons on the doctrine of the Church. And now we move on. The Gospel of John, Chapter 1. Anyone else need an outline? You don't have one? The ushers will bring you one if you'd like to have one. All right. I believe that's everybody then. The Gospel of John, Chapter 1. And we'll begin reading up in verse 43 and read through the end of the chapter. The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. Now notice this especially. And he, Jesus, saith unto him, Nathanael, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Isn't that a strange expression? the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Let me show you where that came from and what it's talking about. Hold your finger there, if you would, and look back in your Bible to the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 28. And what's happening in this chapter of the Bible is that Jacob has left home and is going to leave Canaan and go over to Paddan Aram, where his mother's brother lives. And it says in verse 11, that he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took up the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. Now notice this verse, and he dreamed, Jacob dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven. Now look at the expression. and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it." The very same expression that Jesus used in John 151, the angels of God ascending and descending. Only in John it says, "...upon the Son of Man." In Genesis 28 it says on it, "...on the ladder that Jacob dreamed about that reached to heaven." Now what is the... The emphasis of this, well, it's showing us that that ladder that rested on the earth and the top reached into heaven with the Lord standing at the top, that ladder is representative of the ladder to heaven which is Jesus Christ. He's the connecting link between earth and heaven and so the angels of God that ascended and descended on that ladder from heaven are the same ones that Jesus said that Nathaniel would see ascending and descending upon him because he, like that ladder that Jacob dreamed about, connects earth to heaven and it's through that ladder Jesus Christ that we can get to heaven. And if you've never trusted him as your Savior, I want you to understand that more than anything else, that Jesus is the Savior and he's the only way that we can get to heaven. But we see that prefiguring of him in Genesis 28 in the dream of Jacob of the ladder that connected earth to heaven and the angels of God. ascending and descending on it. And now Jesus says to Nathanael, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Now notice though He said that those who would be ascending and descending upon the Son of Man would be the angels of God. And so this morning as we start a new uh... doctrine uh... new series of studies i'm going to speak this morning to you for a while on the subject what he owes an angel what he owes an angel father would you forgive my sins now and help me uh... uh... preach uh... for these next uh... few minutes in the power of fervor and unction of the holy spirit of god i pray that uh... you'll teach uh... the truth of the Bible to your people. I do pray if there's anyone here who's never trusted Christ and been saved that they might come to him and be saved today. But I pray that you might bless now this study that we're starting today with a special anointing and that you might teach your people what you tell us in your Word. Please help me, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And so as we continue then our study of the doctrines of the Bible, with this study we begin a new doctrine, the doctrine of the angels. If you like to know the Greek theological words for these things, this one is angelology. Now that seems pretty obvious. For example, if I spoke for a long time about the doctrine of salvation, which is called theologically soteriology. Now, if I said the word soteriology, you might not recognize that as referring to the doctrines of salvation. I preached for a while on the doctrine of man, which theologically is known as the doctrine of anthropology. But if I said the word anthropology, you might not recognize that as referring to the doctrine of man. However, if I said angelology, I don't really think you'd have too much trouble figuring out what that's talking about. It's the doctrine of the angels. Now, really, you know, we don't think too much about this nowadays. I don't think, not as much. at least as they did centuries ago. But the importance of this doctrine of angels is seen from the frequency with which these beings are mentioned in the Bible. More than 100 times in the Old Testament and more than 150 times in the New Testament we find the word angel. Now that in itself sounds maybe a little bit odd because when we think of the ministry of angels, at least with me, I think primarily of Old Testament days and how the angels ministered in those days. And yet the truth is that the angels are mentioned more in the New Testament than they are in the Old Testament. And so then we begin this morning with this study of angels, the doctrine of angels, and we desire to examine exactly what we're talking about. So we'll consider in this study what is an angel, and I'm going to approach it from three points of view. First of all, the definition of the word angel, secondly, the usage of the word angel in the Bible, and thirdly, the origin of the angels. Where did they come from and how did they get here? And so then let's consider in the first place the definition of the word that is the word angel. Now let me point out that by definition the English word angel is a transliteration of a Greek word which means messenger. Now let me explain what a transliterated word is. A transliterated word takes place when the translators of our English King James Bible, rather than actually translating a word, rather they took the word and anglicized the Greek word and brought a new word over into the English language. Now, a good example of this is the word baptize. You find it many times in the Bible, but, for example, in Matthew chapter 3, where it's talking about John the Baptist coming out and baptizing people, In verse 11, John said to the crowd, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me, that is Jesus, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And so twice then in that verse you have the word baptize and then many other times in the New Testament. Now, if the Greek word had been translated, it would be immerse or dilp. In other words, if they had taken the Greek word, baptizo is the Greek word, if they had taken that word and literally translated it and brought it over by translation into the English language, It wouldn't say baptize, it would say immerse or it would say dip. Therefore, if it had been translated rather than being transliterated, that verse that I just read a moment ago where John the Baptist said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, if the word baptize had been translated, he would have said in English, I indeed immerse you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall immerse you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." And so then the word baptize, had it been translated, would be immerse or dilt. However, the Greek word baptizo was not translated. but rather it was transliterated and became the English word baptize. Now the same thing happened with the word angel. If the Greek word had been translated, the word would be messenger. And in fact there are a number of times in the New Testament where the word is translated as messenger. For example, there are probably a half a dozen or so verses where the very same word that's otherwise given as angel in our English Bible is given as messenger. For example, in Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 10, here the scripture is again talking about John the Baptist. In this case, when he had sent some of his disciples to the Lord Jesus Christ, But Matthew 11 and verse number 10, Jesus says of John the Baptist, "'For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger.'" Now the word messenger right there is the very same word as angel, the same Greek word just given in this case, literally translated out of the Greek into the English. and it becomes messenger. You see the same thing in Mark chapter 1 and verse 2 where it talks about the same thing and the Lord Jesus Christ had talked about John being the fulfillment of that passage in Malachi. that said, I send my messenger before thy face. You see the same thing in Mark chapter 1 and verse 2 as it's written in the Prophets, behold, I send my messenger before thy face. Again, the word messenger in that verse is translated out of the Greek and it's the same Greek word that in other places is translated as angel. In Luke chapter 7, you find the same thing again. Luke chapter 7 and verse number 24, and when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John. So the messengers of John began the same word as the word angel in the New Testament. Down in verse 27, Jesus declared, this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face. And again, the word messenger here is the same as the word for angel. In Luke chapter 9 and verse number 52, the Bible says, and sent messengers before his face once more, the same as the word for angel. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 7, in a somewhat unusual usage of the word in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians, chapter 12 and verse number 7. In this passage the Apostle Paul is talking about what he calls his thorn in the flesh. He said, "...lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh." And then he calls it this, "...the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure." and the word messenger there, a messenger of Satan, the word messenger is the same as the word angel. And then another time in James chapter 2 where the Bible is talking about Rahab and her faith in God, way back in the city of Jericho, it says in verse 25 of chapter 2 of the book of James, "...likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. And here we have another case where the word messengers is used, a translation of the word that's in other places printed as angel in our King James Bible. And so then sometimes the word is translated messenger, and whenever it is, literally translated its messenger because that's what the word means. However, in using the word angel, and I mentioned that the word angel is used over 150 times in the New Testament, But in using the word angel, the Greek word angelos was transliterated, becoming the English word angel. So a transliteration is where a word is taken from another language. In the case of the New Testament, the Greek language, and rather than being literally translated over into English, the Greek word is anglicized, given an English spelling, and a new word is brought over into the English language, and that's what happened with the word angel, the Greek word being angelos. And so it's important now to remember in studying our Bible that an angel is a messenger. If we fail to remember this, it may result in confusion due to the fact that when the Bible uses the word angel, it's not always referring to the spirit beings that we generally think of when we think of an angel, though most of the time it is. Sometimes it's used of other things. And so then, by definition, the word angel is a word that means messenger. What does the word angel mean now? Talk to me. It means messenger, and whenever you see the word angel in the Bible, it's talking about a messenger. Now, let's move on. That's the definition of the word. Let's move on, secondly, to the usage of the word. How is the word angel used in the Bible? All right, let me point out that in the Old Testament, hear me now, and this applies only to the Old Testament, The word angel is sometimes used of the Lord Himself, and that is in the phrase where you read the phrase the Angel of the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Now in the Old Testament when you find the word Lord in that form, all four letters of the word capitalized, the translators are telling us that that is the word Jehovah. So the angel of the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the angel of the Lord is the angel of Jehovah. And in fact, in almost half the cases where the word angel is found in the Old Testament, It's in this form, the angel of Jehovah, the angel of the Lord. Now, we can see that this angel of the Lord was a manifestation of God himself in an especially clear manner in certain accounts in the Old Testament. Do you mind reading your Bible for a little while? Does that mean yes or no? Genesis, well, if you don't want the Bible, you don't want to be here. Genesis chapter 16 and here we have the story of Hagar who was Abraham's wife's maid and they had had a fallen out and Hagar had decided that she would run away and that's what she did but in Genesis chapter 16 it says notice in verse 7 and the angel of the Lord do you see the word Lord there Genesis chapter 16, verse 7, "...and the angel of the Lord." Do you see that? See the word LORD? Do you see how all four letters of the word are capitalized? Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D? Do you see that? Now, if you talk to me, answer me. Say yes or no or shake your head or something. And so, the angel of the LORD, or the angel of Jehovah, found her, found Hagar, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, return to thy mistress and submit thyself unto her hands. and the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbered for multitude." Do you see how all down through here it keeps talking about this personage, the angel of Jehovah, the angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord talking to Hagar here? And then if you'll notice in verse 13, and she, Hagar, called the name, look at it, of the Lord that spake unto her, thou God seest me, for she said, have also here looked after him that seeth me. This personage referred to as the angel of the Lord again and again in the preceding verses. In verse 13, he's referred to as the Lord Jehovah and as God. Thou God seest me. And so we see then in this case especially that the angel of Jehovah, the angel of the Lord, is actually a manifestation of God himself. You see the same thing if you'll turn over a few pages to Exodus chapter 3, and everybody here knows about the burning bush and how the Lord appeared to Moses there and gave him the commission to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let God's people go. But now I want you to notice down through here as we read this passage the expression, the angel of the Lord and how he's referred to again and again throughout this passage. Exodus 3, verse 1, now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God even to Horeb. Look at it now, verse 2, and what? The angel of the Lord. Do you see that? The angel of Jehovah, the angel of the Lord, appeared unto him, unto Moses, in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and he looked and behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I'll now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Now remember, who was it that was manifesting himself in this burning bush? Up in verse 2 it said, the angel of the Lord, the angel of Jehovah. So Moses said, well, I'm going to go over here and see what's going on. Verse 4, And when, look at it, the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest. is holy ground. Moreover, he said, now look at this, here's this person in this burning bush that's referred to up in verse 2 as the angel of the Lord. Moreover, he said, verse 6, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I'm come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, Behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, for thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." And Moses said unto God, "'Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh "'and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?' And he said, "'Certainly I will be with thee, "'and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee. "'When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, "'ye shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am. has sent me unto you." Do you see in this passage how that the angel of the Lord of verse 2 is called God in verse 4, in verse 6, in verse 11, in verse 13, and in verse 14? He's called the Lord in verse 4 and verse 7 and he's called I Am in verse 14. And so then, the word angel in these cases, just in the Old Testament when you find it in this form, the angel of the All four letters capitalized, LORD, means the angel of Jehovah. And from what we saw right here in these passages, we can see that this angel is used with reference to God himself. And as I mentioned a moment ago, almost half of the times that you find the word angel in the Old Testament, you find it in this form, the angel of the Lord. And so the word angel, when used in that way, is talking about God himself. He had appeared before Jesus came the first time and was incarnated. We had the Lord. In my opinion, it's God the Son. the Lord Jesus Christ appearing in a pre-incarnate form, manifesting Himself in what they call a theophany or a Christophany, manifesting Himself to people to deliver whatever the message was that needed to be delivered at that time. the angel of the Lord, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're talking about, then, the way the word angel is used in the Bible and in the Old Testament and only in the Old Testament. The phrase angel of Jehovah, angel of the Lord, the word angel in that case is referring to God Himself appearing in a pre-incarnate form before Jesus came the first time. Then in the New Testament we find that the word angel is used of the seven preachers or messengers of the churches of Revelation. Now we just finished those passages in Revelation. in the last couple of months where each of the seven churches in pro-consular Asia, a message is sent and the message is directed to the angel of the church. Revelation 2.1, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write. Revelation 2.8, unto the angel of the church of Smyrna write." Verse 12 of the same chapter, unto the angel of the church of Pergamos write. Down in verse 18 of the same chapter, to the angel of the church in Thyatira write. right. Revelation 3 and verse 1, unto the angel of the church in Sardis right. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 7, unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia right. And Revelation 3 and verse 14, unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, right? Now, in each of those cases, the angel of whichever church he's talking about, the messenger of that church, though there are some that think that it's talking about a heavenly angel, All that is said to and about these angels in these churches in Revelation make it obvious, at least to me, that it's not talking about one of God's heavenly angels, but it's simply giving the message to the messenger of the church, the preacher, the pastor of the church. And so then we have in the Old Testament a number of times the word angel in the form of the angel of the Lord, the angel of Jehovah, talking about the Lord himself. In the New Testament we find the word angel used several times talking about the preacher, And I've always appreciated that preachers are called angels in those verses because oftentimes we're called other things, but the angels. But then, most often, the Bible uses the word angel with reference to the spirit beings that we usually think of when we think of an angel. These spirit beings whose purpose is to bless, to praise, and to obey the Lord. Now let me show you that in Psalm number 103, and in this great Psalm of the Bible. Psalm 103 verse 20 says this, Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word. Do you see in that verse what it says the angels are to do? They said they're to bless the Lord. It says that they excel in strength. It says that they do God's commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word. That's why they were created. That's the purpose of the angels, is to bless, to praise, and to obey the Lord. over in Psalm 148, almost the very last of the Psalms, only two others after this one. But in Psalm 148 and verse 2, it says, "...praise ye him, all his angels, praise ye him, all his hosts." And so then, the angels, were made to praise God, and that's what they do. If you'll look to the very final book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 5, here John, the author of the book, sees a vision of something that actually has not taken place even yet, but will after the rapture. But here's what John said in Revelation chapter 5, verses 11 and 12, 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 a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And so John sees the angels 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands surrounding the throne of God in heaven and praising the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who died for sins. And so then, most of the time when the Bible uses the word angel, it's talking about these spiritual beings whose purpose is to bless, praise, and obey the Lord, especially in ministering to God's people. In Hebrews chapter 1 and verse number 7, and of the angels, he saith, God saith, who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." And down in verse 14 it says this, "'Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them, who shall be heirs of salvation?' And so you see, God's angels, usually when the word's used in the Bible, angel, it's talking about these spiritual beings that we usually think of incorrectly, I might add, as having wings and that kind of thing. This is usually what the Bible is talking about when it talks about an angel and they especially are used of God in ministering to God's people. You've heard the expression about guardian angels. and things of this nature. And we find examples throughout the Bible that we'll look at in studies to come of angels ministering to the people of God. We find angels protecting God's people. We find angels making provision for God's people. We find angels guiding and directing God's people, and so usually, most of the time, that's how the word angel is used in the Bible of these specially created beings, spirit beings, made to bless, to praise, to obey the Lord, and especially in ministering to God's people. And so we've talked about the definition of the word. An angel means a messenger. We've talked about how the word is used in the Bible. In the Old Testament, the expression is found in the angel of the Lord, the angel of Jehovah, is talking about a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Himself. Several times in the New Testament, the word angel is used of preachers, but most often the Bible uses the word angel with reference to the spiritual beings that we generally think of when we think of an angel, these specially created entities whose purpose is to bless, praise and obey the Lord, particularly in ministering to God's people. And now let's consider for a few minutes the origin of the angels. Where did they come from? How did they come to be? Well, let me point out that the angels did not exist from all eternity past. There's only one person who has existed from all eternity past. and that is the God of heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now they never had a beginning and they'll never have an ending. They are eternal in the true sense of the word, but that's true only of the one God manifested in the three members of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The angels did not exist from all eternity. There was a time when there was no angels. Now, the time of their creation, they were created, by the way, We read in Psalm 148, listen to what it says. We just read one verse. I want to read the first five verses that it's talking about things that God created. It says, "'Praise ye the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him among all His angels! Praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon. Praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord. Why? For he commanded and they were created. Who was created? all of the entities mentioned in those first five verses that are commanded to praise the Lord. Where to praise Him, the Scripture declares, for He commanded and they, the they including the angels of verse 2, were created. And so then the angels, there was a time when just as there were no human beings, there were also no angels. They were created. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 16 in the New Testament, speaking of the superiority and supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ, says this, Colossians chapter 1 and verse 16, by the Lord Jesus Christ, where all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible, that's you and me, and invisible, that's the angels. And here are some various groupings of the angels, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him, by Jesus, and for Him, for Jesus. And so then the angels are created beings, created by God and particularly and specifically by God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the angels then are created. They were created by God. Now the time of their creation is not definitely given in the Bible, but there are some clues as to when they may have been created. Now let me show you what I mean. We're told in the Bible that God created everything in the six days of creation described in Genesis chapter 1. And incidentally, let me tell you this, Genesis chapter 1 tells us exactly what happened and how things came into being. It wasn't by some big bang. Things came into being by the Word of God. Ten times you find in Genesis chapter 1 the expression, and God said, and whatever he said in one case, and God said, let there be light, and guess what the result was? and there was light, and so it's the Word of God. Everything God does, he does by the power of his Word. Now, the Bible tells us, if you'll notice in Exodus chapter 20, which is the first place where the Ten Commandments are given, but in Exodus chapter 20, we're told in this chapter, that God created everything in those six days of creation. Exodus chapter 20 and verse number 11. Now listen to it closely. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea. Listen to it. and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day in Halladz." But notice that it said that it was in those six days that the Lord made heaven, earth, sea, and all, that in them is, well, all that in them is includes everything. It includes you and me. It includes the angels. And so then from that verse I take it that the angels along with all the other things that we're told about in Genesis chapter 1 were created during those six days of creation. We also learn from the Bible that the angels were created, listen to me, before the Lord laid the foundations of the earth. Notice in the book of Job, just before the book of Psalms comes Job, and in Job 38, the Lord is talking to Job himself. Now, let's read in Job chapter 38, and we'll read down through verse 7, but I want you to especially notice verse 7. Job 38, then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof? Now listen to it. When the morning stars hang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Now verse 7 is talking about what the angels did when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth. So I take it then that probably what happened since we saw in Psalm 148 verses 1 through 5 that the angels were created beings. And that passage, I don't know if you noticed it or not, but the passage in Psalm 148 talks about, "'Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens! Praise the host of heaven! Praise Him, ye angels! Everything in that passage is talking about things in the heavens. And so then the angels were created possibly when the summary statement is made in Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Then possibly God created the heaven along with the angels and then the earth. How many angels are there? Well, the Bible never gives a definite number, simply letting us know that there are multitudes and multitudes of these angels. Psalm 68 and verse 17, the chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of angels. the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place. Thousands of angels, he said, in that passage in the book of Daniel chapter 7, as Daniel is seeing here a vision of the judgment that will come when the Lord's time gets here. And in Daniel chapter 7 and verse 10, here's what Daniel said, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. Thousand thousands, the verse says, ten thousand times ten thousand. You remember in Matthew chapter 26, as the Lord Jesus Christ was being arrested to be crucified the next day, and you remember that the apostle Peter tried to fight and in fact drew his sword and cut off a servant of the high priest's ear which Jesus then took and handily put back in place, but Peter at that point wanted to fight for the Lord Jesus so that he would be freed from those who had arrested him. But in Matthew 26 and verse 53, Jesus said this to Peter, Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" And so Jesus talks about twelve legions of angels. Now, Roman legion was between five and six thousand, so twelve legions. If we go by the 5,000 mark, that would be 60,000 angels. If we go by the 6,000 mark, it would be 72,000 angels. And Jesus said that the Lord, if he called for it, would send more angels than that to free Him from those who had arrested Him and were going to crucify Him. But thank God Jesus didn't call them, because if He had not gone to the cross and died and been resurrected three days later, there'd be no hope for any of us. But thank God He let the angels stay where they were. I'm sure that they stood around the cross in eager anticipation, hoping that he would call on them and they could destroy the crowd that was destroying their Lord. But he said, no, it's more important to me that people have the opportunity to be saved and go to heaven, so I'm going to let the angels be while I die on the cross and thank God that's exactly what he did. But he could have called on the Father, and the Father would have sent more than twelve legions of angels. That says something about how numerous the angels are in Hebrews chapter 12. And verse number 22, the Scripture says, But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and listen to it now, and to an innumerable company of angels. And so here the Lord gives the number of the angels, declares that it's an innumerable company. There's so many of them we couldn't count all of them. They're like the grains of sand on the seashore. They're like the stars in the sky. There are so many thousands and millions that we cannot number them. And in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 11, where we read earlier about the angels praising the Lamb of God, John said, 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. And so we're not given a definite number, only that it's so large that we simply don't know how many angels there are. You know, in the spiritual realm—we'll see some of this later in these studies— but in the spiritual realm, there are beings, if our spiritual eyes could be opened, we wouldn't just see each other in here. We'd see the angels of God gathered all around. You remember the story in 2 Kings chapter 6 how the Assyrian king had sent soldiers over to grab Elisha the prophet out of the city of Dothan where he'd been told Elisha was. And so the Syrian soldiers came and surrounded that city so that Elisha could not escape. Little did they realize Elisha didn't need to escape. They needed to escape. But you remember how the next morning Elisha's servant came out and saw all around the city all of these Syrian soldiers, and Buddy had scared him to death. He knew the king of Syria wasn't no good friend to Elisha, and so he ran in and said to Elisha, Master, come look. Elisha came out. He said, Look, what are we going to do? And Elisha said, Oh, don't worry, there's more with us than there are with them." And I've often pictured that guy standing there and Elijah saying that to him. There's more that be with us than be with them. And I can imagine him saying, is that right? What I count, with us there's one, two. With them there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty-nine, twenty- Then Elisha prayed a little prayer and said, Lord, open his eyes that he might see. And immediately the servant's eyes were opened and it said, now he didn't just see the Syrian soldiers surrounding the city, but surrounding the Syrians. See, there was an inner loop and an outer loop. In that inner loop were all these Syrian soldiers surrounding the town. But in that outer loop further out surrounding the Syrian soldiers, the Bible says, were horses and chariots of fire, one of the forms that angels take in the Word of God. And so what happened next? Well, the Syrian soldiers, they were smitten with blindness and Elisha said, Fellas, I know who you're looking for, and I can take you to him. Just come with me." And so I don't know how they did, maybe they formed a line with their hands on their shoulders, because they were all blind, you know. And Elisha would tell them, come on, this way, this way, this way, this way. After they got where Elisha led them, Elisha said, Lord, open their eyes now. And they opened their eyes and they were in the middle of the capital city of the land ready to be taken prisoner by the king of Israel. But I'm trying to simply introduce you this morning to these beings called angels. Now they don't look like probably what you think of because what you think of and generally what I think of when I think of an angel comes from Renaissance art where they had all these, you know, half-naked people with wings flying around. Now, the Bible doesn't say that the angels have wings. They may, but the Bible doesn't say it. may still for sure at one time had wings. He was one of the cherubs and they have wings. But the regular angel Bible doesn't say many things that we think. We think because of Renaissance art and that sort of thing. They didn't know any more than we know. The only thing that we can know for sure is what's found here in the Bible. And let me say this to you also. I'm not talking about angels during this series so you can come and tell me some experience you had where you think you saw an angel. That's not why I'm doing it. Now, I've had people tell me that. Think what you want to think. But I understand it's possible. God can do anything he wants to. But in this day when we have a completed Bible, I'm very doubtful. It may be possible, but I don't think it's very probable that an angel is going to appear to you and me. And I'll tell you another reason. Now, I do know of cases where angels have appeared. John G. Patton, a great missionary back in the 1800s to what was then called the New Hebrides Islands that was inhabited at that time by cannibals. And I really don't have time to go deeply into this story. I'll simply say that one night the little mission hut was under attack from the natives. They had the place surrounded and fully intended to kill John G. Patton and his wife. So they did what Christians are supposed to do in a situation like that. They started praying. And all night long, the natives stayed out there with the hut surrounded, but they wouldn't come any closer. Well, finally, after the day broke, the natives scattered and went back home or wherever they went. About a year after that, the chief of that tribe trusted Christ and got saved. And John G. Patton recalled that experience and he said to that chief, I fully expected to die that night. And the chief said, well, you were expecting right because that's exactly the reason we came to the hut that night. And he said, well, what was it that caused you not to come out? You only came to where the clearing ends out there and surrounded the hut, but you never attacked. And the chief asked him, well, who were those men that you had at the door of your hut? And he said, what men? And the chief said, well, there were men there, big shining men, big strong-looking men, and they kept us from coming any closer for fear of what they might do to us. And that's what was it? It was a host of God's angels protecting his missionary who he was not through with yet. Now by the way, later John G. Patton was murdered by some other natives and in fact was cannibalized. So it's not always God's will to protect, it just depends on the situation and what God's will is at that particular time. But what I'm saying is this, there might be an angel, although the angel didn't really appear to John G. Patton, he didn't even know why the natives hadn't attacked until the fellow told him a year later, But angels might do that for John G. Patton who's in a cannibalistic situation where the natives are cannibals and he's trying to do something to get them to the Lord. God might send an angel for something like that, but pardon me, I haven't been in that situation and I doubt that you have. You understand what I'm saying? God might send an angel for John G. Patton in that situation. I doubt that he's going to send one to you or me just so we can be entertained. And so the angels of God and in the weeks to come we'll find out more about them. Father would you bless these things that we have seen from the scripture this morning to the hearts