Review of Angels and the Spirit Realm (Part 1)

This is a summary of the first 13 lessons of the series: Angels and the Spirit Realm.  It also includes candid discussion after the study.

Watch the Video Here

The Spirit Realm

• Natural realm vs spirit realm
• Natural realm
• Sight, smell, touch, taste, feeling
• time
• Spirit realm where  God, Jesus, Satan, angels and demons are
• Everything else aren’t angels

Literal vs figurative

Angels

• Messenger = malak (Hebrew), aggelos (Greek)

• Spirit beings
• They have free will
• They administer God’s judgement
• Are meant to serve and protect God’s people
• They are ministering spirits
• Serve as agents of God
• According to the Jewish legal understanding of agency, the agent was regarded as the person himself
• Sodom and Gomorrah
• God was going to go check
• The angels were going to destroy the city
• Angels gave the law to Moses
• Example: Herod killed all babies under 2 years old
• We shouldn’t worship or pray to angels
• Previously angles were involved in getting our prayers to God
• Jesus is the only mediator between us and God

Two Types of Angels

Rev 12:7-9

7Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

• Good and bad
• Angels of God and demons

Face to Face With God (Theophanies)

God appeared as:

• Fire
• Cloud

Going Up the Mountain of God

• Moses saw the “glory of God” while he was on the mountain
• He saw God’s true form
• That is why is face glowed
• Jesus had the same appearance when He was transfigured on the mountain
• “Going up the mountain of God” means interacting directly with God

Jacob’s Ladder

• Jacob saw God “face to face”  in a vision
• His vision had a ladder with angels ascending and descending from Heaven to earth
• Jesus said to Nathanael in John 1:51 that he would see angels ascending and descending upon the son of Man
• Jesus is our gateway to see God face to face

The Angel of the Lord

• Tried to determine if He was
• God, Jesus, and angel, etc
• The Angel of the Lord appeared to: Moses, Hagar, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Gideon
• He also pronounced the birth of: Samson
• He spoke on behalf of God (messenger)
• He led  the Israelites as they fled from Egypt
• The Angel of the Lord was (pre-incarnate) Jesus

1 Corinthians 10:1-4

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

• Therefore Jesus accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness
• Jesus was the Angel of the Lord

God had a plan to restore all nations back to Him, and Jesus was a part of that plan from the beginning

The Temple / Tabernacle

• Was a reflection of Heaven
• Used to get a better understanding of things in the spirit realm described in the bible

Lampstand / Menorah

• The lampstand doesn’t produce light, it holds the light
• Revelations told us that the lampstand was the church and the lamps were the 7 Spirits of God
• We discovered that the 7 Spirits of God were the Holy Spirit

Rev 1:4-5

4John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spiritsa before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

The Holy of Holies

The Holy of Holies represented the throne room of Heaven

• There were two cherubim on the ark whom God came and dwelt in between
• In Solomon’s temple there were in addition 2 large cherubim in the throne room
• These 4 cherubim around God’s throne were represented as the 4 living creatures in the book of Revelation
• These creatures had the face of: a man, an eagle, an ox, and a lion
• Since they were represented by cherubim (among other reasons) we concluded that they were cherubim

The Standards

• We saw that the 12 tribes were stationed around the tabernacle in groups of 3.  Each group of 3 had their own flag.  These flags bore the image of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle.
• Judah - East (gold Lion on a scarlet background).
• Ephraim - West (black Ox on gold background).
• Reuben - South (Man on gold background).
• Dan - North (gold Eagle on a blue background).

Ezekiel’s Vision

• We saw the cherubim in Ezekiel’s vision had the faces of: a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle
• Beside each cherub was a wheel within a wheel referred to as an ophanim in Hebrew
• Fire going between the cherubim
• There was a platform above the cherubim
• There was a throne on the platform
• God (or the likeness of a man) was sitting  on the throne

The Chariot

• This combination is often described as being the chariot of God
• The cherubim with their outspread wings form the perimeter
• They have the wheels alongside of them
• The platform and throne above move with the cherubim
• The seraphim move up and down like pistons and power the chariot

A study of the chariot and the description of Elijah being taken to Heaven in a whirlwind seemed to imply that he was taken on the same such chariot

Seraphim

• Both cherubim and seraphim are beings who guard the throne of God
• We saw that the singular for seraphim is seraph which means a snake
• It describes the black neck cobras that bit the Israelites in the wilderness
• When Moses was told to put a seraph on a pole he made a brass snake
• Therefore seraphim are snakes with wings
• They are sometimes hands and feet, and sometimes with the face of a man
• We looked at some of the ancient drawings and iconography of seraphim and saw that they were depicted as snakes with wings and legs
• Some looked like dragons

The Serpent

• We concluded that since Satan is described in the bible as both a snake and a dragon that he was likely a seraphim
• Although there is a verse that describes him as a cherub
• We saw that satan fell because of his pride which made him want to take the place of God
• He wanted to be like God
• He tricked Eve by telling her that if she at the fruit she would be like God
• He often tries to trick us by telling us we can take the place of God
• God is keeping something good from us
• We don’t accept God rules
• We want to do thing our own way

Presenter: Michael Leadon