Here are the sort of crazy questions that often run
through my mind. “God made the angels, so why did He decide to make us?” “What is the difference between angels and
humans?” “What qualities are found in man that are not found in angels?”
I've decided that when such questions arise,
I should immediately write it down and then try my best to satisfy my
curiosity. I have also made the decision
to blog about such things so that anyone else with the same questions can
benefit. Here is the information that I've managed to scrape together concerning men and angels.
As we all know, angels do the work of the
Lord. They fight battles in the
spiritual realm, they deliver messages from God, they minister to those in need, they praise and worship God and they carry out the judgments of God. They
have great strength and continually fight against the enemy and his minions at
God’s command. They are another class of created being.
They are temporarily a little higher than mankind because they mainly operate
in the spiritual realm, but one day we will be higher than the angels. I say, “mainly operate in the spiritual realm,”
because there are instances of angels appearing as men on earth (one example: Genesis
19).
I believe that one third of the angels were
convinced “intellectually” to side with the Devil in opposition to God. They couldn’t have been tempted in the flesh,
because they don’t possess a fleshly body.
This reveals another difference between angels and man...
Man is tempted in the flesh. This is why we are told to crucify our flesh
and take up our cross daily. We must
make a conscious effort to rely on the Holy Spirit, striving to live a righteous
life, one pleasing to God. Angels don’t
have this fleshly battle (they fight against the enemy in the spiritual realm,
though). Our spiritual battle is raged
on in the flesh and in our mind. That’s
where the enemy attacks us. The
scripture doesn’t mention the enemy’s attempt at trying to make more angels
rebel against God, but scripture does show that the enemy is bent on preventing
as many people as possible from receiving the promise of salvation.
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| Creating Adam |
God personally ‘breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul.’ (Genesis 2:7 MKJV) We are
both spirit and flesh, heaven and earth, in one. Angels can’t comprehend what we experience in
this mortal body. We exhibit the same
emotions that God does, albeit in a lesser degree. I know that angels experience joy, love and
compassion, but I’m not sure they have many other emotions. We, on the other hand, experience not only
positive emotions, but negative ones as well; grief, anger, jealousy, envy, etc… Of course, the enemy has a way of twisting
those emotions by using them to lead us into sin, but as we see from scripture,
God gets angry (Numbers 12:9) and He is also a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). When
those emotions enter our heart, they aren’t necessarily evil in and of
themselves; it’s the condition of the heart and the intent of expressing those
emotions that causes them to be judged as good or evil. God tells us to, “Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath …”
(Ephesians 4:26 MKJV) I guess those
emotions could be subjects of another blog…lol.
Adam and Eve walked and talked with
God. They had the perfect relationship
with Him. That’s the relationship we now
have with Him if we’re born again believers in Christ. We are considered His children and heirs to
the Kingdom of God. We have instant 24/7
access to God because of what Jesus did on the cross.
Speaking of Adam and Eve, that brings me to
the next point of discussion. We were
created male and female. Due to our
mortal nature, we are subject to physical death, so God gave us the ability to
give birth and to multiply… to create new life so-to-speak. The angels in heaven are of a finite number
and do not reproduce. “For in the resurrection they neither marry
nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in Heaven.” (Mat
22:30 MKJV)
Remaining in the Garden of Eden for one
more moment, I’d like to also mention that mankind received a special honor
from God. Mankind was given dominion,
power, and authority over the earth, an honor that the angels don’t have. I believe we have been given dominion over a
temporal world and all that is in it not just to be representatives of God here
on earth, but also in preparation of ruling with Christ during His millennial
reign; in preparation to become part of the royal family. How can we effectively rule with Christ
during His millennium reign unless we have experience in making decisions based
on God’s word? God gives us that basic training
during our brief existence here on this planet.
That leads us to the next point of discussion…
God has graciously blessed us with the
ability to reason… to learn and grow as individuals. We have the ability to create
paintings and sculptures, to write music, to organize, to think abstractly and
to grow in wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
We have a sense of humor. We have
a curiosity and a need to learn and experience new things. I don’t remember reading anywhere in the bible
that states that angels have any of these qualities.
Although we are able to receive salvation
through the blood of the Lamb, fallen angels are not capable of being redeemed. Why? Picture
this… the fallen angels had lived in the presence of their Creator, surrounded
by His glory, His love and His righteousness and they still rebelled. It reminds
me of this scripture: “For it would have
been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than
fully knowing it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” (2Peter
2:21 MKJV) If we, being mortal, receive
a worse judgment by accepting and then rejecting the truth, then what kind of judgment
would be meted out on those angels who lived in God’s presence and still chose
to sin?
So, here’s a bullet list of how I believe
we are different from the angels:
- Angels are a different class of being created before mankind.
- Angels have specific roles in God’s kingdom.
- We are spirit and flesh in one; heaven and earth… just as Jesus became when He was born here on earth.
- We are tempted in the flesh and experience things in the flesh that angels can’t comprehend.
- Mankind has been given authority over all the earth and over all the creatures of the earth.
- For the past 6,000 years we have been able to create life after our own kind and to increase in number.
- We have an intellect and are able to reason; growing in wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
- We have the ability to be creative and to invent new and wonderful things.
- We experience all the emotions of God, to a certain degree.
- Angels have been given the responsibility of protecting us, ministering to us and speaking to us at God’s command. In serving God, they are serving us as well.
- As heirs to the Kingdom of God, we have the authority by the blood of Jesus to approach the throne of God at any time. We have continued and unrestricted access to our Father and to Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
- We have been called heirs to God’s kingdom. Brothers and sisters sharing in the authority of heaven. Sons and daughters of the Living God!
- We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, something that fallen angels are not capable of receiving.
Acknowledgments
Artwork - Creating Adam: http://annelism.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/chapter-3-naked-without-shame/
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Very well thought out and provoking piece. You're going on my "list"
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment, Tom! This blog has been stirring in me for a week or so and I finally got around to writing it.
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