Section
Six:
What qualifies as angelic. As
suggested earlier, an angelic society may exist within which may be
found anyone from an archangel down to a simple traveling messenger.
It is considered that among the early Hebrews, an acceptance existed
of the opportunity for the faithful to fulfill the station of an angel.
Thus, mankind filed right, in a manner of speaking, filling the lower
vacancies. We have also considered the point that angels, whatever
form they may take, are the
communicated nature of spiritual godliness.
This
section will explore, more particularly, just what qualifies as
angelic. Our first case in point concerns how the early Hebrews
differentiated humanoid angels from men. From the following verses in
the book of Judges, we gather that the early tribes were addressed by
an angel.
What
we see in this scripture is an individual who spoke to the children
of Israel. The description of him is no more than that he was an
angel. He was not said to wear linen. No mention is made of an
inexplicable appearance or disappearance. It is said only that he
came up from Gilgal.
We
are tempted to ask: why not just appear? Why the long walk? Well
actually, humanoid angels often used that mode of travel. The three
who visited Abraham on the way to Sodom – they walked. There is an
account of one angel who walked with a walking stick.
The
point that this particular angel came up from Gilgal is infused with
the importance of Gilgal. It was the first Israelite camp after
crossing the Jordan. It was the place where the twelve stones from
the bed of the Jordan were placed. It was also the place where
circumcision was re-instituted. It was a site loaded with early
Hebrew significance.
It
was also a place where, later at least, a college for prophets
existed. So, this individual could have been an early prophet. When
one compares an angel with a prophet, one notes that the common
denominator is that both are filled with the 'spirit' of God. When
one compares the work of an angel to the work of a prophet, one notes
that both are invested with communications of God. I ask, then, which
counts for more, the package or the content?
I
would suggest, here, that one qualification of the angelic is the
message conveyed.
Judges
2:1 through 4 An
angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you
to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I
sware unto your fathers . . . when the
angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel,
that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
Three
angelic attributes present themselves in the following verses from
Exodus. The first attribute is the angelic ability to alter its
physical nature. In this case, the angel was invisible. The second
attribute is the communication. In this case, we see instructions
given. The third attribute is the ability to add closure to an event.
What was hidden to man, I.E: the whereabouts of drinking water, was
known by the angel. Not only that, but the angel concluded the
instruction with action That is, essentially, a working agreement:
Moses struck the rock in view of the elders, and the angel brought
the water from the rock.
So
much was accomplished in this simple pact. A need was met, history
was made, Moses was justified as a savior of the people, and the
position and power of God was manifested in the eyes of credible
witnesses. Read on, all you who thirst for truth.
Exodus
17:5 through 7 The Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and
take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, Behold, I
will stand before thee there upon the rock
in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water
out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel.
In
the above, I see two more angelic qualifications. The first is
knowledge of the things that are hidden from man, and the second is
the power to make things happen. Moses struck the rock, but the angel
opened it. Had the action of Moses been sufficient, what he acted
against would have necessarily been a stone wedged in place that
needed only to be dislodged. In that case, there would have been
pooled water behind it, visible to man. There would have most
certainly been some leakage around the stone, and therefore evidence
of water that disallowed for the need of angelic succor.
But
now, we return to the first qualification; we return to the common
denominator between angels and prophets. We return to the message
conveyed.
God
is the God of many things, as often noted. Is the God of knowledge,
the God of spirits, the God of all flesh, etc. One might choose from
a long list of attributes when writing about God. Curiously, John
makes a reference that is, to me at least, for the moment, almost
unique. I recall God being described in many ways, but I cannot
presently recall anywhere else in the Bible that describes God in
this manner. This, of course, is the very same God who sends powerful
angels to do his bidding.
According
to John's description, it is the God of prophets who sends this
impressive angel. Our seeking minds should, here, be trained on the
common denominator between angels and prophets: the all-important
message. This
is a case of the God of the holy prophets, his servants, sending an
angel, another servant, to one of the prophets, again, another
servant of God. John testified here of what his eyes saw and his ears
heard. John's attitude toward the angel of God was imbued with such
reverence for God that he worshiped the God-sent angel. That is how
impressed John was.
The
account from Revelation goes on to include the angel's response to
what John has just done. In his response, the angel quite clearly
describes himself. So, get this fixed in your thinking before you
read: this is God's angel describing himself to John the prophet.
Revelation
22:6, 8, 9 and 16 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and
true: and the
Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his
servants
the things which must shortly be done. And
I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and
seen, I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel
which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See
thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the
prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book:
worship God. I
Jesus have sent mine angel
to testify unto you these
things in the churches.
I am the root
and the offspring
of David, and the bright
and morning star.
As
you read this angel's monologue, you may notice, as did I, a smooth
and nearly indistinguishable migration from angel-talk to Jesus-talk.
Seemingly out of the blue, the angel speaking to John, the same angel
who just informed him that he was no different from John, being a
fellow prophet, up and says: I am Alpha and Omega.
This
is quite a significant turn of events. He is an angel of God, sent by
God. He is a fellow servant and prophet on a par with John himself.
He is the son of God. If he is indeed all of this we must broaden the
scale to expose its full measure. We must include the holy prophets,
and we must include the prophet, John. We must look at them all, and
determine the common bond.
Recall
the notion of filing right, the concept of moving up in the ranks.
First, there is a regular prophet. He is inducted into the holy
prophets. A holy prophet files right to fill a vacancy left by an
impressive angel who, himself, has been promoted. The one at the top
has been all the rest.
Of
course, the angel may have only been quoting the son of God, as
angels often speak the word of God verbatim. It is interesting,
however, to note two things in these passages. The first is what the
angel claims is the important matter: the core issue. The second
is what Jesus says.
Pretty
much the same thing occurs in chapter 19 of the same book. John falls
at the feet of the angel sent by God, and the angel tells him that he
is a fellow servant of John, and also one who has the testimony of
Jesus. He says further, that John should worship God. The angel also
gives a reason why one must worship only God: that reason was the
'spirit' shared by prophets and angels alike. That spirit is the
spirit of prophecy and is equal to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
These are the keepers of the flame, souls to which others resort in
search of fire. One may be consumed by fire; one may be filled with
fire. A keeper of the flame may even reach a point where he becomes
the flame.
It
may be a plausible scenario that Jesus was one such keeper of the
flame who became fire. The angel's point was that the message was of
greater importance than the messenger. Jesus became the message, and
this is what he said: I sent my angel with my testimony, that the
spirit of prophecy may bind all, and lift some. Jesus not only
described himself (remember the scale) as Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and end, but he put in place two more witnesses that there
might be three. The second is the root and offspring of David. The
third is the bright star and the morning star.
By
all means, lets us remember the scale; it is the scale of ascendancy.
Consider the ascendancy of man from the root of David all the way up
what Jesus was. Consider the scale of time and space in that the
spirit of God works in man from the beginning to the end – and then
to a new beginning. Consider the scale of mysteries: that, no matter
what, we have guidance and goals – the bright star to guide us
through the night, and the comfort of the light of day, for which we
long.
All
scales are imbued with the wax and wane of spiritual ascendancy.
Mysteries darken our vision only until revelation. Angels are
revealed as fellow prophets, and prophets ascend to holy prophets.
Nothing is static; with the light, with life, there is growth. A
seed is planted, a belief takes root, a church is formed of
like-minded individuals living and acting in concert. The testimony
of Jesus thrives in such a body. The spirit of prophecy is the jet
stream of ascendancy. See here that a church has a bright star of
guidance in its own angel, and he is responsible that the flame of
the candlestick remains lit.
Revelation
1:1 and 20 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him,
to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and
he sent and signified it by
his angel
unto his servant John: The mystery of the seven stars which thou
sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
stars are the
angels of the seven churches:
and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Do
you remember the mention I made of an angel with a walking stick?
Well, here it is. We can easily dismiss someone with a walking stick,
almost everyone that walked used one. Walking sticks are still in
common use. What we wish to determine is what qualifies as angelic.
We have considered the message, we have considered the common bond
between the ascended and the yet to be ascended. We have considered
the power to manipulate matter, and the authority to make good on
one's word. We have also considered the knowledge of things hidden
from man.
In
Judges, we will consider miracles as qualifications. An average
reader of the Bible is, at least, familiar with the miracle of Jesus:
he healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, manipulated
matter so that water turned to wine, appeared after his resurrection
looking like another man, transfigured, ascended, and vanished from
the sight of two witnesses.
A
slightly more practiced reader is aware that other individuals also
performed miracles. Prophets such as Elijah and Elisha, for example,
also raised the dead and healed the sick. Angels, on the other hand,
are more adept in the exercise of miracles. Check out the walking
stick angel, and compare his mode of departure to that of the risen
Christ.
Judges
6:11 through 23 There came an
angel of the Lord,
and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah . . . Gideon threshed wheat
by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the
angel of the Lord
appeared unto him . . . And the Lord (the
angel)
looked upon him . . . And he said unto him, Oh
my Lord
. . . And the
Lord
said unto him, Surely I will be with thee . . . And he said unto him,
If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou
talkest with me . . . And the angel of God said unto him, Take the
flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour
out the broth. And he did so. Then the
angel of the Lord
put forth the end of the
staff that was in his hand,
and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up
fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened
cakes. Then
the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon
said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord
face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear
not: thou shalt not die.
When
Gideon turned around and saw a man sitting under the tree, he was
startled, and thought: this might be an angel – better not take any
chances. The offering was 'just in case'. What really convinced
Gideon was when the man just disappeared right in front of him.
During the account, emphasis swings between the individual being the
angel of the Lord, and the Lord. After the disappearance of the
angel, through which God spoke to Gideon, the voice spoke without the
benefit of an apparent physical person.
God,
being a spirit speaks through angels. Angels perform the physical
actions that a spirit cannot. This study has examined that fact
throughout: that spirit requires a vehicle to act within this
physical realm. In that one regard, men and angels have somewhat in
common.
God
created entities through which he could have power in the physical
realm; a society of angels flourished. Then, perhaps as an
experiment, God created mankind – a more physical version of
angelic being, one not caught between the two realms, but fully
immersed in a single realm. Why
would I consider man as a type of angel? When God said, “Let us
make man in our own image”, he was not talking to himself, but the
word was spoken through angels who, necessarily, had to perform
actions in this realm because of the fact that spirit does not have
flesh and bone.
God
acts through angels. God speaks through angels. Even when angels are
not seen by the eyes of men, a voice still needs a physical means to
create sound. When the walking stick angel disappeared, it still had
physical qualities in proximity to Gideon. When Moses heard a voice
issuing from a burning bush, fiery vocal cords were at work. The
humanoid angel was somewhere near, just hidden from the eyes of
Moses.
In
the following verses from the book of Joshua, a humanoid angel
appears to Joshua and speaks with him. Joshua sees the man with his
eyes and hears the words spoken by him with his ears. The man
identifies himself as the Captain of the host of the Lord. The angel,
therefore, was obviously an individual of some merit and renown. He
was a member of a group of individuals who were not all the same
rank.
Joshua
was by Jericho, and nowhere near the place where Moses spoke to the
angel in the burning bush. Yet, Joshua's angel said essentially the
same thing to him as to Moses from the burning bush. Was this, in
fact, the self-same angel?
Questions
arise. Was the angel in the bush, in Moses day, also the Captain of
the host? Was the host present in either case, even while unseen? Why
was the message the same; what made two separate locations Holy? Was
it the amassed host that made the places Holy? Was it the personage
of the Captain that made the places Holy? Was it the Captain's
infusion of, and love for, the spirit that made any place he stood a
Holy place? And, what was the deal with the shoe?
Does
the issue of bare feet have anything to do with Adam and Eve? Does
the drawn sword refer in any way to the expulsion from the garden?
Was the garden Holy ground? These are issues I will leave for readers
to sort through. Read the following and judge for yourselves.
Joshua
5:13 through 15 Joshua . . . lifted up his eyes and looked, and,
behold, there stood a
man
over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went
unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said, Nay; but as captain
of the host of the Lord
am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did
worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And
the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from
off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua
did so.
Let
us now turn our attention to the manipulation of matter. What we will
consider is light to the human eye. What may actually be at work is
an energy more closely aligned to the spirit than to matter –
something that is prior to matter and that draws matter to spirit,
making spirit mechanically useful.
Angels
have been described, on occasion, as bright and fiery and shiny in
appearance. They had a certain 'glow' about them. This perceived
radiance is, in some contexts, known as glory. The radiance speaks of
a power or an energy behind the perceived event. If angels get this
energy from God, then it is no wonder Moses was forced to see only a
lesser aspect of God's power.
Glory
has not only been noted in angels but in humans. Moses seemed, to
those who saw him, to shine (Exodus 34:29 and 30). Jesus, who was
born into, and grew up in, a human body, glowed at his
transfiguration.
We
may not fully understand the mechanics of glory, but we can see that
man and angel, alike, are connected to God through it. Moses was all
shiny with the glory of God. Angels have had the appearance of brass.
They are sometimes bright with the inner energy that defines them.
They have ignited with glory. Jesus, also, received the glory that
belongs to God, but will someday obtain his own glory.
To
me, that speaks of a process, and a connection. The angels who
possess that inner glory of God, own it. God, who is the source of an
angel's glory, is called Holy. Angels who obtain that glory are
called Holy. We may consider that locations where that glory is
evident are also Holy. To possess the glory within is to exist within
that glory. In reading the verses which follow, we can see both the
connection and the process. Christ will come in his own glory. That
glory will be in
God's glory, and like that of the Holy Angels. It is a process of
ascension seen in both angels and men.
Luke
9:26 and 29-31 When he shall come in
his
own glory, and in
his Father's,
and
of
the holy angels . . . his raiment was white and glistering. And,
behold, there talked with him two
men,
which were Moses and Elias: Who
appeared in glory,
and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
Alright,
imagine this – you are a simple shepherd back in the day. There is
no such thing as electric lighting. The common things you are
comfortable with are the sun, moon, stars, and fire. One night a man
appears in an unbelievably bright light. It lights the man and the
field around him. There seems to be no source for the strange light.
Then, even more startling, there appear upon the fields and hills a
multitude bathed in the same bright light.
These
glorious and mysterious beings praise God in one accord, as with a
single voice, and say, in unison, strange things as if an invocation,
or incantation. They say glory to God – but, God is glory; glory
comes from God. How is it that glory can be added to God? We have
never thought of it going in that direction. The answer to that may
be found in John 17:1. I speak, of course, of the mechanical aspect
of 'glorification', a spiritual process.
The
angels also say: and on earth – as if they are caught somewhere in
between the common state of man and God 'in the highest'. The highest
what, we ask? The invocation continues peace – as if a new treaty
has been signed, and: good will toward men. Curious, how that opens
the possibility of an alternate will toward men.
Modern
man may not be overly awed by such an angelic display, but, I
warrant, those simple shepherds were seriously impressed. Let the
light show begin.
Luke
2:9, 10, 13, 14 and 15 And, lo, the angel
of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory
of the Lord
shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said
unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men.
Glory
and the seed. There is a deeply planted symbolism here that we must
unearth. Every seed is given its own body, its own kind of flesh.
What is wrapped around the seed, as it is explained here, is what
the human eye perceives as the seed, but, the true seed is not that
body, but something within. What we find in the following verses are
different types of bodies wrapped around an internal quality – the
seed.
Reason
qualifies that the uniqueness of each body is due to the uniqueness
of each seed. Each seed may owe its uniqueness to a different level
of glory. There is an indication, within the following explanation,
that the expression of inner glory differs from one type of body to
the other. A Moses may shine, but an angel will blaze.
1
Corinthians 15:38 through 40 But God giveth it a body as it hath
pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the
same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of
beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also
celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
Speaking
of the glory of angelic flesh, I would like to know if the brightness
depends, to any degree, upon the power, or high rank of the angel. It
may well be that glory differs between one angel and the next. One of
the highest angels may achieve a glow that a multitude of lesser
angels may only pull off in mass.
Sometimes,
angels only get the word 'an' thrown in front of them. Some other
angels get a 'the'. Then, there are those angels who get descriptions
such as 'powerful'. Revelation describes an angel of great power,
whose glory was sufficient to light the landscape around him. That's
a hundred-watt angel. So I wonder, does an expression like 'in the
highest', as we read earlier, indicate a greater ability to channel
power? Is: 'God in the highest' an expression similar to 'high
wattage'? We use that particular expression for men with higher
qualities, rank, clout, appeal, etc.
Revelation
18:1 and 21 And after these things I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having
great power;
and the
earth was lightened with his glory.
And a mighty
angel
took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea.
Glorious
angels are mighty angels, and like a Samson, can lift great weights
gloriously. I wonder just how much a great millstone weighs? For that
matter, I wonder why it was a millstone and not something else that
the angel's stone was likened to? Such symbolism does connect the
past, destruction-of-Babylon-wise, to the future,
end-time-harvest-of-the-world-wise.
Wikipedia
has an informative article on millstones. Seems the millstone is the
stationary stone of two stones used for the grinding, or processing
of grains. The millstone is tooled with grooves called, curiously
enough, lands and harps.
Symbolically,
it does not at first make sense that a millstone is thrown into the
sea, but we can remedy that by thinking this: a millstone thrown into
a sea of wheat. Mankind has often been described, in the Bible, using
terms that peg us as so much grain. We have the great harvest at the
end of the world. Similarly, mankind has been described as grapes to
be gathered and crushed, fruit trees to be shaken, and even sheep to
be gathered and sheared.
A
millstone thrown into the sea thus begins to make sense. 'Sea' and
'ocean' are two symbols for mankind, the people, the masses. The
symbolism, then, makes a change from the processing of the people by
Babylon to the heavenly processing at the great harvest.
Now,
check out this next verse.
Acts
6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw
his face as it had been
the face of an angel.
I
add it in order to better describe angels. We are, after all,
concerned with those things which qualify as angelic. Moses faced
shined, but the face of Stephen did not. Had it done so, I think the
council might have acted differently. Yet, the face of Stephen had
enough of an angelic quality to merit mention. That quality, I think,
was a calmness, an assurance that petty details could not disturb. Do
angels have this same air about them? The
council, like animals, bit him with their teeth, and Stephen says, Oh
look! There's Jesus. Is the angelic air a sort of distancing from
reality that the common man cannot achieve? Is it a high endorphin
look of which I speak? Did Jesus endure the cross, and Stephen his
stoning, through such aloofness? Needless to say, the writers
associated the face, the look, the air of Stephen with that of an
angel. Did he glow? Probably not, but I think he was unperturbed by
life or death.
John
12:29 (explanations)
The
people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it
thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
Ezekiel
8:3 (close
but no banana) And
he put forth the
form of an hand,
and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up
between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of
God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward
the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which
provoketh to jealousy.
Angelic society:
Matthew
22:30 (do
angels date?) For
in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Daniel
4:13-17 and 23-26 (a
new term / how does it apply?) I
saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a
watcher and an holy one
came down from heaven; This matter is by the decree of the watchers,
and the demand by the word of the holy
ones:
to the intent that the
living
may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, And whereas
the king saw a
watcher and an holy one
coming down from heaven, this is the decree of the most High, till
thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, after that
thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.
Jude
1:6 (they left the spirit side)
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under
darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Genesis
1:26 and 27
(did
angels speak “our” or were angels also created in God’s image/
and of course, Jesus was there/ did angels rebel over the issue of man
also being in God’s image) And
God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness . . . So
God created man in His own image, in the image of God (an
invisible spirit)
created He him; male and female created He them (Note:
angels often spoke for God - did angels say this?)
Revelation
9:11, 14 and 15 (an
angel king/the number four) And
they had a
king
over them, which is the
angel of the bottomless pit,
whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue
hath his name Apollyon. Saying to the sixth angel which had the
trumpet, Loose the four
angels which
are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were
loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and
a year, for to slay the third part of men.
Revelation
7:1, 2 and 11 (sealed
as we are sealed?) And
after these things I saw four
angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on
the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel
ascending from the east,
having the seal of the living God: And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell
before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God,
Psalms
148:2 (angel
soldiers) Praise
ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
Luke
12:8-9 (why
not before God/unless 'angels of God' counts for the same?) Also
I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the
Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth
me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
Luke
20:35-36 (is
God the resurrection into the family of angels) But
they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that
world,
and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in
marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal
unto the angels;
and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
1
Peter 1:12 (angels
are already immersed in these issues) Unto
whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did
minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that
have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Matthew
22:30 (The spiritual/social
transformation) For in the resurrection they neither marry,
nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Hebrews
12:22 (the
world to come already populated) But
ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Revelation
8:2-6 and 13 (the
eighth angel: a kind of priest) And
I saw the
seven angels which stood before God;
and to them were given seven trumpets. And another
angel
came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was
given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers
of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And
the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints,
ascended up before God out
of the angel's hand.
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar,
and cast it into the earth And the seven angels which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves to sound. And I beheld, and heard
an angel flying
through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe,
to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the
trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
Revelation
3:1, 5, 7 and 14 (fallen
angels overcoming the trials of their fallen condition, being saved,
brought back into God’s angelic host, and redressed in white angel
garb?) And
unto the
angel of the church
in Sardis write He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
white
raiment;
and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will
confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. And to the
angel of the church
in Philadelphia write And unto the
angel of the church
of the Laodiceans write
(You
speak of Christ being subject to God. Most would interpret it in just
that manner. However, that interpretation is based on the 'sky daddy'
concept - God as an elderly, white-bearded father figure.
God
is no figure at all. Christ, who will be subject to him, informed us
that God is a spirit. He has no body. He does not occupy space.
Spiritually, he is the center and the core. Around him, and radiating
from him, are mindsets, and bodies. You may take the analogy of
early men gathered around and tending the flame so that it does not
go out.
God
himself, being spirit, never once spoke to man or appeared to him in
any physical manner, but always used angels - beings filled with the
mind of God, and tending, in a manner of speaking, the core flame.
The burning bush, the cloud, and fire in the wilderness march, both
invisible and non-humanoid angels, as well as humanoid angels, are all
vehicles of the will and intent of the mind of God because they are a
society of 'flame-keepers'.
Yes,
Christ is called a prince, but so is Michael - that is their elite
rank. Highest of all the princes is the King, Jesus Christ. He is
King of all on that high plane, and also King of all below.
They
have a mission - that every being, not just Jesus and the society of
princes, may be thoroughly saturated, filled, and in subjection to
the mind of God. That God may be all in all.)