Winged thoughts -- the small book of angels

Winged Thoughts Content: Non-human angelic forms The ongoing relationship between men and angels The nature of angels Angelic attire The work of angels What qualifies as angelic Angelic society One may find accounts of angels in every culture and religion, but this study of angels will take for its source material only canonical text, and the occasional reference note. Based on descriptions drawn from the King James Version of the Holy Bible, I will seek answers to questions we have all asked about angels. No doubt, I may stumble on to answers for which questions have yet to be asked. As a back drop to this study, I wish to include a few basic facts about angels as viewed in religions other than Christianity and Judaism. Japanese angels are traditionally viewed as women in bright clothing. Angels of the Baha'i faith are considered maidens of heaven. Hinduism views an angel as a sort of inferior god with no particular message to mankind from the main deity. The bodhisattva, a sort of Buddhist angel, is male in the original Buddhist texts, but is represented as female in many Buddhist schools. Followers of Zoroastrianism believe that each one of us has a guardian angel--a Fravashi--- that protects and guides us. Angels have intrigued man from the beginning. Many books have already been written on the subject of angels. We will not follow them; we will strike out on our own. A common view of angels has already been derived from countless volumes. No, we wish to see not the individual threads, but the whole tapestry. We seek not just the pieces of this puzzle; we wish to put the pieces together. As I have endeavored to show in past studies, the wording of Biblical source material is important. It is the half of the study that other writers have failed to bring forward. So much is missed in common studies; they look at the words, but fail to really see them. I speak of contemporary writers who are so 'slick' they actually drop the ball. As an example, a common angel reference is found in Mark 12:25. “For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.” They will view this description of angels, and make a common error in judgment. It goes like this: angels neither marry nor are given in marriage (that is both the masculine and feminine case), therefore, they are sexless beings, and by extension, those who find themselves in heaven will also be sexless. If this was true, the angels would not have come down and married the women of earth. A more realistic view is this: angels are not sexless, they simply do not have marital practices. Heaven may be a livelier place than previously supposed. This study will strive to take all things into account. We will seek even the unpalatable truths about angels. We will seek the exact nature of the angel, and leave nothing out. In the end, there will be no surprises. Angels seem to be intermediary between God and man. I am given the sense that they are a society unto themselves, complete down to a military presence. They have free will, but exhibit shared mentality. By this I mean that at times, an angel will speak as if he is God. Yet, there are angels who have missed the mark, the fallen angels, whose state is not unlike the fallen state of man. Mankind's connection to God must always include a connection to angels, therefore, mankind must understand both the nature and the work of angels. For man, an angel is a manifestation – it appears here to us, but it comes from another realm. So, what is it, exactly? Section One: Non-human angelic forms. Many times, angels are described with human-like attributes; many other times they are described as taking on non-human forms. We will first study these non-human angelic forms. Non-human descriptions abound. We take note of the many instances in which angels take the shape of cloud or fire. Sometimes they can present themselves as disembodied voices, or even as hands floating in mid-air. The point is this: if an angel is an extension of an invisible spiritual God, an angel can be almost anything. Angels may be the halfway point where God, being a spirit, reaches out into this physical world. Consider these verses from the book of Acts. Acts 7:30, 31, 32, 35, 38 & 53 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel ( manifestation ) of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord ( through the angel ) came unto him, Saying, ( alternate: and the angel said ) I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand ( physical agency ) of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. Please take special note of the words I have placed in parentheses. Also note the words which I have underscored. I ask this of all readers for this one fundamental reason: the words of scripture, as they are presented, are vitally important to any acquisition of understanding. The spirit presents our generation with the message it wants us to receive. By that I mean, the message is presented to us in the words as they appear in present texts. It is important to derive the correct interpretation from the given wording. What did Moses see in the bush? Not God – God is invisible. Yet, there was a physical manifestation of a spiritual entity. It looked like fire, but it didn't actually destroy the bush. Neither smoke nor ash are mentioned. Moses saw an angel that did not look human. Moses heard an angel speak. It was the angel that said “I am God”. Now, at this juncture, we may choose one of several possible scenarios. One: the angel was a puppet and the strings to its fiery vocal cords were being pulled by a non-corporeal hand. Two: the angel was a volunteer who delivered a message verbatim. It is even possible that the angel is, in some way, God – perhaps a member of an elite angelic group or society in which the Mind-set of God is a shared attribute. What we just read in Acts was taken from an account closer to the fact. It came from the book of Exodus. Note that in the Exodus account, it is also an angel that is in the bush. The part about it being an angel is not an opinion of the writer of Acts; it is not something that was made up, nor was it a matter of interpretation. The writer of Acts called it an angel because it was an angel. In the Exodus account, the angel is also described as a fire that burned without any harm to the bush. Again, it was the angel that said “I am God”. Read it for yourself. Exodus 3:2-6 The angel of the Lord appeared unto him 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 when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, Moreover he (the angel) said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. What we need to consider here is the use of the word 'of'. What is actually meant when we say the angel 'of' the Lord? Do we mean manifestation? Do we mean representative? Or, is an angel some kind of puppet or vehicle? These are matters we must keep in our thinking as we continue this study. Fire is a non-human angelic form. Here, two thoughts branch off from the trunk of inquiry. One thought is that an angel is a spirit that is able to take on corporeal identity. The other is that an angel is a corporeal extension of the spiritual, and only exists when the spirit extrudes into the physical plane. It could well be that mankind has traditionally bought into an overly generic view of what is angelic. Along the extrusion branch, please view these verses from Exodus. Take note that the extrusions are basically elemental. Exodus 13:21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: Exodus 40:34 & 38 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory ( fire? )of the Lord filled the tabernacle. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. It is noted in early accounts that men saw angels. Some of them were fiery, some were cloudy. Whatever the form, real flesh and blood eyes beheld them. An interpretive word is introduced in the verse above – it is the word 'glory'. Glory was some aspect of an event that particularly impressed those who witnessed the event. Glory, as we will see in other accounts, is usually bright. So, if the cloud was on the tabernacle during the day, and at the same time there was something bright inside – what was that brightness? Moses has been described as talking to fire, not to cloud. The following verse suggests an angel of the Lord in a fire inside the tabernacle. Leviticus 1:1 And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation. From the verses just cited, we note the alternating of fire and cloud. We wonder if they occur concomitantly. If there is fire inside during the day talking to Moses while the pillar of the cloud is visible over the tabernacle, is there a cloud inside at night while the fire is visible over the tabernacle? For that matter, although it is not noted, I wonder if it was a cloudy day when Moses stood before the burning bush. Now, it could well be that Moses also spoke to the angel of the Lord when he appeared as a cloud. The following verse might suggest such a thing, but it might also suggest only the proximity of the cloud to the fire. The following verse may suggest that the cloud actually covered the door of the tabernacle. We get that from the word 'over'. However, it is equally possible that the word 'over' was used in the sense of the expression 'over against'. The column of cloud could have stood in the court yard of the tabernacle. It could have blocked entrance to the interior parts. Then, there is the simple alternative that 'over' meant 'above'. The fact that it is mentioned in close proximity to the door, coupled with the fact that the bright glory was within, suggests to me that cloud and fire may have belonged together – closer together than we are normally used to thinking of it. Perhaps the angel was not just one or the other, but both at once. Deuteronomy 31:15 The Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle. So, the cloud was both in the tabernacle and over it. The tribes traveled for many years with the tabernacle. They witnessed the cloud and the fire every single day. Their physical eyes saw apparitions of cloud and fire. Yet, God is an invisible spirit. It makes me wonder, in regard to the next reference, just what it was that the eyes of Moses beheld. It also speaks to the view of spiritual extrusion. The following verses describe Moses seeing the hind quarters of God. It was a fly-by mooning of truly spiritual proportions. The question to ask is this: if God is invisible, was the apparition an angel? If it was an angel, then being an angel, at least here, promotes the extrusion view. As to the view of an angel being a volunteer – would an angel volunteer to be the ass of God? There are more questions to be asked of the following verses. For instance, if God provided such an image of Himself that would protect Moses from being fried, how intense must be the glory of God's front side? Still, the glory of the Lord may have been an angel. We note the twofold nature of the passing, in that there is a front and a back. Exodus 33:2, 3, 9-11 & 21-23 I will send an angel before thee; for I will not go up in the midst of thee; lest I consume thee in the way. as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. This account needs much scrutiny. We must look at everything. First, the passing by of an invisible God is the passing by of the angel of the Lord. God tells Moses that is what it will be, and he tells him why. Secondly, it speaks of God's self awareness. Why do I say that? God does not tell Moses, “I am over here by a rock”, he says, “there is a place by me”. A man would have used the first expression, and that would stem from his corporeal sense of self. Such self awareness is based on exclusion: it is a me vs. everything else world view. The expression used by God does not suggest a world view. It does not suggest an awareness that is based on exclusion, but on inclusion. Such a verse gives us valuable insight into the thinking of a spiritual being. I have already indicated that the extrusions of spirit into this corporeal realm have an elemental quality about them. So far we have only dealt with fire and cloud. The following reference suggests an extrusion through the elemental quality of water. It is noted in the account that the angel is invisible, yet, witnesses have seen the water of the pool move about in an uncommon manner. Now, the apparition of the angel in the bush took on the appearance of fire. It did not burn the bush - it only looked like fire. Perhaps the cloudy pillar was only the image of a cloud. Perhaps the water angel only looked like water. Judge for yourself. John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. Angels which may be only the extrusion of spirit into corporeality, seem enabled to take on the image of certain elements. The element of fire, like those of water and cloud, are free-moving elements, and for that reason may have been the logical choice. Angels, no doubt, may take many different forms. They may appear in many guises. It should not surprise us to find them in more solid forms. How about an extrusion of earth and ore. Ezekiel has an account of angels that seem metallic in nature. Read on. Ezekiel 1:5, 8, 10, 13, 16, 22 & 26 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. Note first that we may only be dealing, here, with the image or likeness of something rather than the actual article. Had Ezekiel been more certain or convinced of what he saw, he might not have called it an image of a living creature, but actually a creature. In his description, he ascribed to creatures a certain man-like quality in that they had the hands of a man under their wings. The man-like quality is then amended – the quality becomes that of a construct in that it has four sides. It is unclear whether each likeness has four sides, or is only one side of the apparition. If the thing was a machine that was basically a box, I can imagine robotic arms being exposed by panels that lift up, rather like a wing. Else, there were two wings to each side, the whole being like a helicopter. Ezekiel went on in his description of these angels by saying that each of the four had their own faces and wings. That last part can mean two different things, depending upon the view. Were the 'four' only sides of a whole, or were they autonomous beings? The description begins to coalesce when Ezekiel ascribes two of the faces as being on the 'right side'. That not only changes the shape of the apparition, it changes certain aspects of the viewing experience. To have been able to see two faces on one 'side' suggests that one corner of the four-sided object was more toward the viewer, which in turn would naturally obscure the two other sides. This further suggests that the object moved in such a manner as to present the viewer with a turning or revolving image. Ezekiel saw two faces, then the object turned and Ezekiel saw the other two faces. The possibility exists that the four-sided object was not exactly square, but more of a diamond shape. Going on the assumption of the object being shaped like a diamond, the suggestion occurs that the faces were grouped in a particular order. The right side afforded a man – lion connection, while the left side afforded an ox – eagle connection. Now we are aware that machines are sometimes emblazoned with illustrations of this or that. I recall the image of a fighter plane upon which had been painted the face of a shark bearing its teeth. The four were further described as a whole in relation to bright objects that flew near them. Ezekiel described the objects as lamps, but the description of burning coals offers us a more three dimensional understanding. Recall that even today, many of the UFO sightings submitted describe round glowing lights. The lights that Ezekiel saw seem to be similar, and connect the four living creatures by their movements. The lights might be thought of as a cloud, or better yet, as a moving garment clothing the creatures and giving them a sense of being a single body. From the cloud of swimming light came lightning discharge that at least suggests a power source for flying machines. Ezekiel then describes four wheels the color of Beryl. Since pure Beryl is colorless and impurities result in tints, a likely color might have been blue-green. The description of the workings of the wheels seems no less than a description of something constructed to function mechanically. Imagine: an angel on wheels! There were actually wheels within wheels. Some modern interpretations of this passage include the image of a gyroscope. I am mindful of popular hubcaps that spin within as a tire turns and continues to spin after it has come to a stop. One impression of the apparition might be that the four living creatures were stacked vertically – that is because Ezekiel describes the burning coals moving up and down. Another impression is that they fly in formation, connected by the lightning producing lamps. Each already has wings, hands, and a face – but wait – there's more. Each creature apparently had a head on top. The head was above all else: the very top of the creature. The top-most part was notable for a particular reason. There was a firmament over the heads – a small slice of heaven that was distinct from the rest of the sky. Its color was described as 'the terrible crystal'. Above that was what seemed to Ezekiel to be a throne with something man-like seated thereon. My guess as to what the terrible crystal was is this: it was a dome through which Ezekiel could see the firmament, but at the same time had shape and definition due to the colors in it that reminded Ezekiel of 'the terrible crystal'. Other sources have described that crystal as a prism, but I cannot speak to that. It is likely that the firmament was a singular event that radiated, prism-like, either to or from the throne-like apparition that flew above. It could also have been the structural support that connected the captain's seat to the machine. Ezekiel expands his description of a non-human angelic form in the following verses. Ezekiel 10:2-4, 7, 8, 14 & 21 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out. And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings. And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. I would like to draw attention to three reference points in the verses above. One is the man in linen; two is the singular cherub; and three is the plural cherubim. I wish also to draw attention to the attending actions. What does the man do? He goes between the cherubim, receives the coals of fire, and removes himself from between the cherubim. Later in this study, we will examine angels that are described as men dressed in linen. For now, the non-human cherubim in Ezekiel will conclude this segment. What do the cherubim do collectively? They pretty much just stand in place. Real action on the non-human angelic level takes place with the singular cherub. We may view the cherub as a four-sided construct, basically a vertical column. The action attending the singular cherub is two-fold. It is, at first, a transference of power, energy, and their visible manifestations. The cherubim stood to the right of the temple. When the linen man went inside, the inner courtyard was filled with a cloud. Since this was an open outdoor area of the temple complex, and the cherubim stood in it to the right of the house, the cloud could have been smoke. At that point, brightness was transferred from a vertical column of the cherubim to the door of the house, illuminating the inner court, and the cloud was transferred inside the temple house. Next, we are told one of the singular columns stretched out its hand. The hand was not on the external are, nor reaching outward. It was internal, between the four – possibly in the area where the coals of fire went up and down. It is mentioned, again, that each singular column had its hand under its wings. We are led to believe, then, that the purpose of the repeat was to indicate the hand position of each as being on the inner most side. Now, this was a mechanical action: the action of reaching. The hand did not reach between them so much as down to the ground. It had been earlier indicated that the coals were to be found near the wheels under the cherub. It is so worded as to suggest that each column has only one wheel. A hand is found at the end of an arm. The hand in Ezekiel is qualified as the 'form of' a hand. At any rate, the hand extends from just below the wings down to the wheel. Either it is a long telescoping arm, or the column is not all that tall. As to the proximity of the coal near the wheel, we must compare its stationary position to the earlier description of coals going up and down. Is the linen man accepting power or a physical object? The changed condition whereby the coals are under the column when the cherubim are at rest indicates a hovering stance with heated emissions producing coals. They are described as having four wings per column – one wing per face. As to the hands, it is not clear if there was a hand on every side. That should amend my earlier assessments and assumptions. Did each column spin, thus affording a view of each side? Finally, each column is described as having four faces. The faces are the same, with one notable exception. The ox face has been replaced by the face of a cherub. What exactly would the face of a cherub look like? Ezekiel has so far described cherubs as basically mechanical. Certain reference materials associate the four faces with the four lesser aspects of mankind. Not only that, but, the faces are associated with the four elements, and the four constellations of the winter sky. As to lesser aspects, the ox may represent the beast of burden. Cherubs are thought to be second up in rank. That places them as just above the purely functional realm. Indeed, each part of the column may have symbolic significance. That symbolism may need closer scrutiny, but it will not receive it here. Suffice it to say, in concluding this segment of the study, that the beast of burden aspect of man was taken away and replaced with a higher aspect. Does this symbolize spiritual advancement? I wonder.