The Angelic Realm

Ron Weinland

5th Feast of Tabernacles Sermon - 2010

Today on the sermon we’re going to move rather rapidly through this; I’m going to put it into high gear from the very beginning because I have several things to read, different stories in the Old Testament that add to understanding and that give us a deeper appreciation of some of the things that are contained there.

We’ve had a little time to digest the sermon about the spirit realm.  We’re going through a process of a focus that God is giving us of Himself, of that which was from what we call ‘a beginning’ that God gives us, that which we can begin to understand as a beginning and we don’t grasp a great deal of that, but God reveals things about Himself, about how that He is the only one who existed.  There was nothing that existed save Him; and He begins to explain that to us by the Word, by revealing that which is Himself, that which reveals to each and every one of us that which is in our mind, the way we think, our thoughts, the revelatory thought of whatever reveals an individual.  And so the Word, the Logos, is a very good word that explains that in that sense of giving of what is in the mind, contained in the mind.  And God wants us to understand that’s who He was from the very beginning.  Everything that has revealed truth to us, everything that is given about His plan and purpose, His thoughts and so forth.

And then it talks about how He began to create and He began to create a spirit realm and began to create things in it, but of spirit essence, not of the holy spirit, because the holy spirit is of His mind, His being, His thoughts.  It is the revelatory thought of God, that which is contained in His very being, the deepest part of His being.  But He has great power that is of His spirit.  He is spirit and He creates; and He began to create heaven first of all for a spirit realm for angels to dwell in.  And then He created spirit beings – angels.  And we quit there yesterday in that part of that sermon talking about some of that.  We’re going to continue with some of that same focus today talking about the angelic realm in this particular sermon.  That is the title of the sermon; The Angelic Realm.

A reminder here of what it says in Hebrews 1:13-14 - But to which of the angels did He say at any time, Sit you at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool? In other words, speaking of what God said of or to Christ.  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to/for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Members of the God Family.  That was the purpose of their creation.  They were given that information, that knowledge, as time went along.  We don’t know when they were given that, perhaps millions of years; we don’t know, a time span God doesn’t give to us, He doesn’t tell us.  There are things there we wouldn’t understand anyway – What does it mean?  So whatever the time span was before God began to reveal to them that He was going to begin a physical creation and we know of those things as well in scripture.  It talks about some of that and talks about how the angels rejoiced when God created everything that was physical.  It was beautiful, it was exciting to them.  And of course, God at some point before He began those things began to reveal the purpose of that and about His own Family and about the God Family and about how that they were to serve and assist and help Him in that, to share with Him in that.

Again, could say that God could do it all of Himself, but He doesn’t work that way, He wants to share.  That’s first and foremost.  But as we go along you will find, you will see, as we go through these sermons here, especially in the one to follow this one today that everything God has done from the very beginning has always been about Elohim.  It’s always been about planning and preparing for His Family; and there are those things that needed to exist within the angelic realm that had to come to pass in time, that had to take place in time before God would ever begin to create mankind.  And we’ll get into some of that tomorrow.

It’s exciting, the more we can see and have a focus... and that’s what God is doing at this Feast – giving us a very strong focus of this entire plan, of what He was doing, why He did it and so forth; and He’s giving us an ability to see things in a clearer way.  But again, just as the opening prayer talked of, that it gives us a greater appreciation, greater understanding, a greater awe of God Almighty, it truly does, of His great power, of His great might, of His great glory; and that’s the focus God is giving us at this Feast of Tabernacles which is immensely exciting!

Let’s go over to Genesis 16 and begin today by looking at an example here.  We’re going to begin looking at a particular area here because when we are brought on the scene as far as the creation of mankind is concerned and God creating Adam and Eve, making Adam of the dust of the earth and then Eve his wife, it records that God directly worked with them, spoke with them.  And then later on, of course, we see Melchizedek who worked with, who taught Abraham and then God revealing Himself more fully to Abraham as time went on as well; and speaking of a ‘seed’ in the most minute way, began to reveal things about a seed that would come from Abraham’s lineage that would be the one who was, of course, Jesus Christ.  And the first account then we have of angels working directly with mankind begins right here. It talks about angels who were set there at the Garden of Eden to keep the way to the Tree of Life barred.  But to work directly with mankind, to have contact with mankind...this account in Genesis 16 is one of the first accounts we come to.

Genesis 16:1 - Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Eternal has restrained me from bearing: I pray you, go into my handmaiden and it may be that I will obtain children through her. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her handmaid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. Now, we know by looking back at stories like this and seeing things that happened that there’s going to be trouble.  There’s just going to be trouble.  It doesn’t work; and this didn’t work well.  There are feelings of jealousy and different things that began to enter in and it definitely did here.  And yet there were those things God allowed in the beginning, and things that we don’t even fully understand in that respect, but again, this was something that took place, that she was given as his wife.

Verse 4 - And he went into Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. Jealousy; not good. You just know that there are going to be problems as soon as you start reading this story. You know this is not good; and sure enough, that’s exactly what began to take place.  And so it says, and she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said to Abram, My wrong be upon you: I have given my maid into your bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: and the Eternal judge between me and you.  And so again, in the family there you can see what begins to happen.  Both women here – there are going to be some difficulties and those things began to arise.

Verse 6 - But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hands; so do with her as is good/right in your eyes to do. And when Sarai dealt sternly, means ‘to be hard or oppressive in a demeaning manner’; that’s what it means in the Hebrew here, with her, she fled from her face.  And so all these emotions involved with what was taking place here and how Sarai, because of jealousy and so forth, began to deal with her after she’d been with her for so long.  But again, these emotions were too great for her; she couldn’t deal with them, the jealousies and so forth.

And the angel, in this particular case here, of the Eternal found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, so she had fled.  She got away.  And this is just a capsule of the story; we don’t have all of it.  But again here, just an overview.  And so an angel it says came to her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, where are you coming from and where are you going? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.

Verse 9 - And the angel of the Eternal said to her, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands. And the angel of the Eternal said to her, I will multiply your seed exceedingly, now this is awesome what’s taking place here.  Here’s the first great account of God sending an angel to give a message, give a direction to an individual and here it is Hagar.  And he said, I will multiply your seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. Incredible! And the angel of the Eternal said to her, Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael; and it’s a word that means ‘God will hear’.  And look at all the problems in the world that have come from this situation through time.

Islam teaches that it was Ishmael that Abraham took to offer up before God and that God provided a sacrifice for, in place of Ishmael.  So they teach that rather than Isaac.  I was dumbfounded when I first heard that belief.  I didn’t’ know that was their belief until a couple years ago or so.  On a tour over there an individual was talking about some of this.  And it’s astounding some of this confusion that began to come into even their beliefs and how they think.  But that’s what they believe.  They’ve taken part of the story there and turned it around.

But again here, God was promising to her that there would be a great multitude of people come from her, because the Eternal has heard your affliction.  And he will be, speaking of the child, as a wild man; in other words, wild in the sense of drifting or roaming among an unsettled mankind.  In other words, never fully settled.  And it goes on to say, his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.  So again, there was always going to be conflict, always going to be struggle, always going to be unrest, always be unsettled.

Verse 13 - And she then gave this name to the Eternal who spoke to her, through the angel, God, You see me: for she said, I have also seen here the One who sees me. Therefore the place here is called Beerlahairoi; it means ‘the well of the living One who sees me’; and so again, this is the location, this is the place and this is the name that was given here because of how it moved her and what she was given to see, what she believed, what she felt.  And it says, (and it gives a location here); behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. Just as the angel had said to Hagar. And Abram was eighty six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. So again here, not an account just of the story – I think all of us know the story and we don’t need to continue on with the story here.  It is just showing the first account here of something that was mentioned about an angelic realm, of an angel that was sent out as a messenger from God to give this message to Hagar.

God had a plan.  All these things through time, they’re not by coincidence; and yet God determined through Abraham a great nation would come; and this is a part of the process here.  These things are not all accidents.  We have free moral agency, we have free choice in life; but there are those things that God moulds and fashions in life too, He influences certain things when He is working with it to be accomplished; and with other things, it’s hands off.  But as far as certain things to do with nations – just like why there are twelve, why there’s that consistency there of using the number even though there are more involved and different ones that were replaced at times that would bear certain names – but it was always going to be a number of twelve to be worked with.  These things are by design, by a purpose that God has; and so it is here, some of the things that began to take place here of things that God was going to accomplish into the future.

Let’s go on to Genesis 19 again here, primarily looking at accounts here having to do with angelic beings.  In this particular case here it says (Genesis 19:1) And there came two angels to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat at the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw, speaking of seeing the angels here, he saw them, he rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and stay all night, and wash your feet, and you shall rise up early, and then be on your way. And they said, No; but we will stay in the street all night.  So there’s this account here of these these angelic beings that he brings in with him and invites in and so forth.  And candidly, he didn’t want them to stay around.  And so whomever came along, in this particular case here, this area was so bad that as a whole his desire was to see people pass right on through.

And that’s really the heart and core of much of what was taking place here.  And so here they’re going to stay outside; they’re not even going to go in for shelter.  But he had a reason why he wanted to bring them in; because he knew how bad this region was, how perverted, how sick the people were in this area.  And so he didn’t want them to stay outside, he wanted them to come on in to be protected in his own house.  And so he had motive behind what he was doing... he didn’t come out with it all and express why.

But he pressed on them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did break unleavened bread, and they did eat. So he made a great meal for them and so forth and shows here that they ate with him.

Verse 12 - And these said unto Lot, these two angels, Do you have others here who are sons in law, and your sons, and your daughters and whatsoever you have in the city to be brought out of this place?  For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them has waxed great before the face of the Eternal; and the Eternal has sent us to destroy it.  Pretty strong words here! “That’s why we’re here; we’re going to destroy this place!”  That’s how bad it is; that’s how evil it is.  And so, “Are there others here that can be saved, that can be taken out of this place?” And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law, who married his daughters, and said, Get up out of this place for the Eternal will destroy this city. But he appeared as one who mocked his son in laws.  They took offence to what he was doing and how he was saying it and they didn’t get it, they didn’t understand this was for real, this is going to happen!

And when the morning rose, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, Arise, take your wife, and your two daughters, who are here; unless you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.  So he believed what they had to say, obviously.  He had that much integrity, that much of a respect, and that much of a belief in God; and of course that relationship he had with Abraham anyway that had great influence in his life.  And while he, speaking of Lot, waited, they, the angels, laid hold upon his hand; he wanted the others to come.  He thought... you know it’s like the last minute. “I want to wait as long as I can because maybe they’ll come.”  They didn’t come.  And so in essence here, they took a hold of him, and his wife, and upon the hand of the two daughters that were there; the Eternal being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and took him outside the city.

And then dropping on down here in verse 24 - And the Eternal rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire, that expression that’s used for destruction, judgement from God and destruction, total consumption, whatever that is, just as we spoke about Satan; it uses the same term there.  Whatever that means, whatever that entails, it’s an expression that means ‘totally consumed’. Everything there was just totally consumed.  And that’s the message.

Verse 25 - And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. So it took everything!  Whatever consumed that area, that region, totally consumed everything that was alive and living there – including the blades of grass.

So again, another account here of angelic beings serving God, working to help in those that God is working with.  And things really are written for us, for our admonition, for our learning; just like this story here.  To come to see how great evil can be on the earth, how God looks upon evil, how we need to look upon evil and to abhor such things that took place in this area of the world, Sodom and Gomorrah.

I think of Jerusalem today, when God says spiritually that’s the way Jerusalem is to Him, to God; it’s like Sodom and Gomorrah.  Like Sodom, it’s sick, perverted; and yet it has to do with religious beliefs.  But here is something that happened physical that’s perverted, that’s sick, that’s distorted among mankind; and yet God wants us to see things on a spiritual plane that are sick and perverted spiritually.  That’s why when we go there I don’t like being there.  There’s that sense, because of what God says about it and because of knowing the religions that are represented there in the Old City; it’s disgusting, it’s sick, and there’s that sense of perversion that’s there that’s putrid.  And you don’t feel good being there.  I look forward to the time it gets cleaned up; not just Jerusalem but the entire world, because it’s about religions; but they’re all represented – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – all represented there.  All the things that have been twisted and distorted.  And that’s how God wants us to see perversion and religion – to go a little bit from the left, to the left, or a little bit to the right, away from what God says... how sick and disgusting it is and it should leave us feeling that way.  And so we come to hate evil, to loathe it more and more and that’s the way we should be.

Let’s move on to another example here in the angelic realm; Numbers 22.  Again, just different accounts you can read in the Old Testament about the angelic world.  This one here has a little bit of a humour in it in what took place.

Numbers 22:1 - And the children of Israel moved forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly fearful of the people because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. So here they are getting closer and closer to coming into the Promised Land.  Here they are... Jericho is where they crossed over when they finally came across and this mass of people coming in that direction, moving in that direction...   that’s why when we read the account there of Jericho, that no one was allowed in or out.  It was fortified; they were ready for war.  They knew what was going to take place.  This was not going to be a nice encounter. That’s why Jericho was as boarded up as it was, had their military on alert if you will.  And so all the people of the land throughout that region were concerned about what was getting ready to take place.  They saw them moving closer and closer.

So it says, Moab was exceedingly fearful of the people because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.  And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that is surrounding us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field. They’re going to take everything!  There are masses of people; they’re going to come over here and they’re going to take everything! And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. He therefore sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor, this is a word that means ‘soothsayer’, which is by the river of the land of the children of the people, to call him, saying, Behold, there are people who have come out from Egypt: so they know this history.  Nearly 40 years has passed but they knew the history – they came up out of Egypt; they still knew what happened with the Egyptian army, with Pharaoh.  This was all over the land; people knew about these things – this isn’t something that people were ignorant of.  So they knew where they came from.

Says, these people have come up out of Egypt, behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they’re now dwelling beside us. Come now therefore, I implore you and curse this people for me; for they are too mighty for me: It is my desire that I shall prevail, and we may strike them, and may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. Now, I don’t fully understand this time period and what was being allowed to happen here and how there was an individual who was of that part of the world that was evidently being given ability to do certain things.

But anyway, going on here with the story.  And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; so in other words, they wanted him to do this, they wanted him to curse them and so they were going to give him reward; they were going to give him a great deal of money for this, or goods for this.  ...and they came to Balaam, and spoke unto him the words of Balak. And he said to them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Eternal shall speak to me: and the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. And God came unto Balaam, and said, so... at this time here, before Israel has even come into the Promised Land God is evidently working with an individual here in some form, in some means who was not a part of the Israelites in that respect.  And I don’t fully understand this but perhaps working with some of those peoples of that land in whatever form.  Again, I don’t understand this... but we’re reading the story for what it says.

And God came unto Balaam and said... now there’s been a lot of speculation about some of these things and I don’t like to speculate.  Whatever it says, it says, unless God gives absolute inspiration to show something is like some new truth or something like that nature, then we can know.  Otherwise, we take what is said here as it’s said and strive to understand what God is giving.  And with His spirit He gives us more and more understanding as time goes along, but there’s some things that He just hasn’t given full understanding of, of why He has done certain things through time.

So it says here, Who are these men who are with you?  And Balaam said to God, Balak the son of Zippor, It’s like, doesn’t He know?  Yes He knows.   I enjoy some of these conversations back and forth sometimes, but human beings are not always truthful.  Human beings don’t always tell all the story.  Some things are a matter of showing and revealing here how people think and what’s inside their heart; and some of this comes out in the story here as we go along.

And Balaam said to God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent unto me, saying, Behold, a people has come up out of Egypt, who cover the face of the earth: come now and curse them for me; as it is my desire that I shall be able to conquer them and drive them out. And God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them; You shall not curse the people: for they are blessed.  And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, Go back into your land: for the Eternal refuses to allow me to go with you. And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, Balaam refuses to come with us. And Balak again sent more princes that were more honourable than the first; more important in the government and so forth.

And it says, And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, I implore you that you let nothing keep you from coming to me; for I will promote you unto great honour, I’m going to give you great honour for what you will do; and I will do whatever you say unto me: therefore I implore you to come and curse this people for me. And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Eternal my God, to do less or more.  So there’s some kind of a relationship here that he has with God and he says he’s going to do what God says.

Verse 19 - Therefore, I now implore you to also stay here this night, so that I may know what else the Eternal will say unto me.  So he said, “Go ahead and stay here tonight and I’ll go again to God and see what else He might tell me in this matter.” And God came to Balaam at night, and said unto him, The men have come to call you to rise up, and go with them; but you shall do only the word which I speak to you.  And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.  And God's anger was kindled because he went with them: He said, “You’re only to do the word that I tell you.” ...in other words, “Nothing has changed.  You’re coming before Me again?  Nothing has changed.  What I told you is the same.” That’s what God was telling him.

So again, God’s anger was kindled because he went with them and the angel of the Eternal stood in the way as an adversary against him. In other words, to prevent him from making the journey.  Now he was riding his donkey, upon his donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel; so here no one else could see him.  So they have this ability to appear to some or not to others.  It’s like what happened to Saul at one point there.  It says that certain things happened to him, things that he saw that others didn’t see around him.  They weren’t able to experience everything that Saul did and so there’s that which happens in the mind in a spirit way that we don’t understand.

The donkey saw the angel, the rest didn’t.  ...of the Eternal standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went out in the field: and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn back onto the way. But the angel of the Eternal stood in the path to the vineyards, with a wall being on each side.  And when the donkey saw, again, the angel of the Eternal, she thrust herself against the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he struck her again.  So here this donkey’s just trying to get away from the angel that it sees and to get away because there were walls on each side she jumps against the wall there and smashes Balaam’s foot.  So Balaam gets angry at the donkey and strikes it again.

And the angel of the Eternal went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right or to the left.  And when the donkey saw the angel of the Eternal, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled and he struck the donkey with a staff. Never entered his mind once that maybe he shouldn’t be making this journey.  Because he read into what he wanted to read into what God had told him.  He willingly interpreted it differently.

And the Eternal opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times now?  You’d think that’d shake the tar out of you and you’d take off running. And Balaam said to the donkey, Because you have mocked me! Right now I wish there was a sword in my hand, for I’d kill you! And the donkey said to Balaam, Am I not your donkey? ...upon which you have ridden ever since I was yours unto this day? Have I ever done anything like this to you?  And he said, No. Crazy!

Then the Eternal opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Eternal standing in the way, so again here, that power to give the ability to see and others not, and his sword was drawn in his hand: and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. And the angel of the Eternal said unto him, Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I went out to prevent you, because your way is turned against me:  And the donkey saw me, and turned from me these three times: for if she had not turned away from me, by now I surely would have slain you, but saved her life.  And Balaam said to the angel of the Eternal, I have sinned; it took all this!  Sometimes it’s amazing what we do in our human minds sometimes to justify ourselves, to work around things that God says before we finally come to a point, with whatever happens in our life...  How many times has that happened to you in your life?  How many times has it happened in my life?  Different things that we do before we finally come to a point where we finally take the personal responsibility and acknowledge, “I have sinned.”  Sometimes it takes quite a while.  Sometimes we have to go through some difficult things before we finally come to that point and realize what we’ve done.  We fight and we resist God; we challenge God!  We don’t see it in this light, but this is just what it’s like! This is just how foolish it is – what we do as human beings to resist God.  And yet God will take us through various experiences at times and various trials will happen to us, around us, circumstances; and finally... finally we can come to a point in time as we do sometimes that we say finally, “I have sinned, forgive me.”  We take that personal responsibility; we finally see what we’ve done.  Before, some things happened to us in life and we just don’t see it because we’re so determined to do our own way; and we justify and justify and justify until finally God brings us to a point where we can no longer justify and we either acknowledge the sin or not. Incredible!

Verse 35 - And the angel of the Eternal said unto Balaam, now at this point here, something does change.  He says, Go with the men: but only speak the words that I shall speak unto you, so far he hasn’t done too well at this, has he?  But now He said to go ahead and go with the men, but now you can only say what you’re given to say. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.  You can read the rest of the story if you don’t know the rest of the story there. But again, we’re primarily focused on the angelic realm here and different things that have happened through time that we have knowledge of.  There are different examples here of things that have happened.

You know there are many beliefs about the hierarchy of angels and the structure of that realm. Many of those ideas, most of them come from perverted and distorted teachings of Judaism, the Catholic church (if you will), Traditional Christianity, Mormonism and far more.  But they’re all perverted, they’re all distorted and they all come from Satan.  They’ve distorted all these things.

I was dumbfounded at one time when finally did some reading into some things about Mormon beliefs.  I was dumbfounded at some of the demonic things in there that they have about angels and about Jesus and some of the things that are just so warped!  I had no idea how warped they were in some of their beliefs; totally demonic, from Satan.  And of course, again, the Catholic church has done their fair share and there is that in Judaism as well that’s distorted and perverted about the angelic realm.  And all those distortions come from that same being who’s deceived mankind.

The Bible doesn’t give specific structure on these matters.  It gives a little, but not a lot, and the lesson in a lot of this is, there’s a good less here, is that no one should speculate about those things.  I’ve heard so many in times past who’ve tried to speculate about different things having to do with the angelic realm and the order that was there.  And you have to be very careful how you do and what you do.  There really isn’t a whole lot said.  There are these different encounters; there are some other examples we’re going to read in a moment, but to read more into God’s word about something is not wise, and yet some people make it a study.  People have disobeyed God and opened themselves up to demonic influence by making things of the angelic realm their study and their focus.  It’s fine to read the Bible and strive to understand what’s there, but to go beyond that, to speculate and try to add things to it is very, very foolish.  Great lessons in this of great mistakes people have made in times past.

In times past I’ve heard sermons that mention some of these things that people have speculated about concerning that realm and those who have talked to others about that realm, especially encounters with the demonic portion of that realm.  That is wrong to do!  It’s not wise! It’s one thing if someone wants to council about such things with a minister in God’s Church and discuss certain things with a minister in God’s Church.  That’s fine to do; but sometimes when people want to talk about some of those things that’s what they want you to do, and it’s not wise to do.  It’s only done as a matter to help someone, to understand what might be happening in their life; sometimes when people first come into the Church there are things that sometimes happen because of the influence that beings have.  But again, they want people to have distorted ideas and fears and so forth that aren’t sound and aren’t balanced and sometimes people unwittingly fuel those things and add to confusion; and that’s not a good thing to do.

So we’re looking at what God has given to us so we can better understand God’s creation and His purpose for it and how much of it works and for what reasons; the reasons that God has given.  But do not speculate and do not add to what God has given, nor take away from it.  Great lessons always in God’s word about that and this is a great area for that.

There are three specific angelic beings who are mentioned by name and we’re going to take a look at some of that as we go through this as well today, who played very important roles, have continued to play important roles in God’s plan; and especially the two of them that we’re going to look at next here because they have ever been faithful to God – always faithful to God and they have served mightily.

Daniel 8:15 - And it came to pass, when I Daniel, even I, had seen the vision, and desired the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me one with the appearance of a man.  And I heard a man's voice, that’s what it sounded like, come from between the banks of the Ulai River, which called, and said, here it says, Gabriel, and this is the arch angel who is known as the messenger sent from God, if you will.  He is known as God’s messenger.  ...and said, Gabriel, help him to understand the vision.  In other words, what the vision was about.

So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid and fell upon my face: and he said to me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision. So again here, we’re jumping into a flow here about that which Daniel had seen.  And here it’s talking about a particular vision here of something that was there.  So he began to tell him that the vision was about prophecy that would lead all the way to the events of the very end-time.  And so again here, this is jumping in on a part of this story here, but it shows that Gabriel is the one that is sent here to do this and so the voice that came out that Daniel was able to hear; an awesome thing, telling him that Gabriel was to tell him these things.

And now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.  And he said, Behold, I will now make you know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.  And so again here, talking about a particular time that everything is set up, everything is planned by God, very specifically by God.  The ram which you saw that had the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between the eyes is the first king.  So it goes on and explains some of these things and there’s no point in going farther.  But again here, just to mention here that Gabriel is the one that was sent here to talk to him, to reveal to him things about the vision.

Now, it wasn’t giving him all understanding, but it was to tell him what some of the things meant and what they applied to as an overview type of thing that was actually carried down then through the ages that different ones have been able to read about in God’s Church even in the last 2,000 years.  But the full understanding of things that were given at different times were not expounded upon until they came to pass because there are different kingdoms that had to rise and fall.

Luke 1; the next occasion is here where Gabriel is mentioned a few hundred years later.  And so we don’t know how often they might have been send, but these are the ones recorded that we know of, that God has given to us.  Luke 1:5 - There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the LORD blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well advanced in years. Kind of like Abraham and Sarah. And it came to pass, that while he was fulfilling the priest's office before God in the order of his course, so they had different times that they were to serve throughout the year and this was his time; According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the LORD. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the time of incense.

And there appeared unto him an angel of the LORD standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, the word means in the Greek, ‘highly alarmed’.  He’d never had this experience before; this was his first encounter in that respect of an angel.  How many people on earth have ever had that?  And all of a sudden here’s an angelic being and you can see him.  And so it says, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Zacharias, do not fear because your prayer has been heard; and your wife Elisabeth shall bear a son, and you shall call his name John.

And you shall have joy and happiness; and many shall rejoice at his birth, that he was born, in other words, as it says. For he shall be great in the sight of the LORD, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the holy spirit, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the LORD their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the LORD. Now this part here – I get excited when I read that because I think about where we are in time and what God is doing now, because John was sent out to work with a people, many people were being drawn; they were moved to repentance, they wanted to be baptized in the river Jordan, they wanted to change their lives, they believed that a Messiah was coming.  Now they didn’t understand that He was going to come to die, that His purpose was to come as a Passover.  They didn’t understand that, but they were moved mightily; and so that there would be people who would be moved mightily to hear the stories, to hear some of the things that were happening. Just like what led all the way up to that 10th day when He came into Jerusalem.  There were so many who knew and others who didn’t know, travellers who came in; but so much word by the end of Christ’s ministry had spread throughout Judea.  But this is where it began; it began with John.  And God used him mightily to help prepare a people that would be tuned into, that would be of the mindset to receive the message that was given, to a point, to a level in that respect.  Not to the plane where we are now, because we’re at the point now where the same sort of thing is happening but it’s going to happen in a greater way before Jesus Christ returns this time as the King to fulfill that role of Messiah.  Because before, the first time, the Messiah was coming as our Passover.  This time it is to rule.  And God is going to do the same thing in a very massive way, in a very inspiring way!

And that’s why I’m excited when I talk to the ministry and tell the elders in the Church what’s going to take place; that you’re going to be busier than you can ever begin to understand.  And there are going to be masses of people who are going to want to be baptized.  And it’s all about a preparation of a people that are going to be looking forward to Jesus Christ returning; they’re going to believe it with all their being!  Just as you do; that He’s about ready to return.  And the farther we get into the things that happen at the end-time, the more they’re going to have that desire because God’s spirit is going to be poured out upon them in a very great way.  What an awesome thing then that there are people en masse who are prepared for, who have great desire for the coming of their King.  And that’s what God is going to do in a far greater way than what happened in these days – because this is on a spiritual plane because they’re being given of God’s holy spirit now.  Before they were just moved to repentance and they wanted to change and they wanted the Messiah to come and they wanted the government removed, the influence of Rome removed from Israel, from Judah.  But now it’s another story; now it’s a matter of something where people are turning to God because of something they see on a spiritual level, on a spiritual plane.  They want God’s Kingdom to come.  They want God’s Government to come.  Awesome!

People are going to start turning to the Sabbath and turning to the Holy Days.  God’s going to do it all by the power of His spirit, that’s what God does – can do anything He desires to do and He’s going to do this in a massive way.  And we get to share in it.  That’s what we’re doing – we’re just sharing in it.  It’s exciting to share.  Just as those of you who’ve been around for a long time, and new ones who are here – you’re able to share in that fellowship, to see what God is doing in preparing a people to go into a new age.  He’s giving you that taste ahead of time and He’s giving all those who are being drawn at this time that excitement and a foundation to be able to even help in a great way, to serve in a great way, to have opportunities they have no comprehension of yet, what is ahead of them if people will continue to be faithful and continue to seek to grow and draw closer to God.

So I can’t help it when I read through something like this to get mightily inspired and excited because I see this on a plane and a level far greater than whatever happened there!  And what happened here is awesome!  Read the story!  Look what happened! Look at what was said!  It’s a moving story.  And yet what is taking place in the Church of God right now, what’s happening in our lives right now is of greater importance and magnitude than what happened back then because it’s going to happen in a far greater way.

Verse 18 - And Zacharias said to the angel, How am I going to know this? For I am an old man, and my wife well advanced in years. He didn’t remember the story of Abraham and Sarah. Came back to his mind many a time afterwards, I’m sure. And the angel answered and said unto him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and have been sent to speak to you, and to show/reveal to you this good news. And, behold, you shall be without voice, and not able to speak, until the day that these things have been performed, because you have not believed my words, which will be fulfilled in their time/in their season. Yeah, it’s good to believe God, to believe what God tells you.  He says He’s going to do it; He’s going to do it.

And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he stayed so long in the temple.  They were waiting for him to come out.  He was still inside.  He was still a bit petrified. And when he came out, he could not speak to them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he motioned unto them, and remained speechless. And it came to pass, that as soon as the days of his administration had been accomplished, he departed to his own house.  So again, he finished his job, the rest of it for that particular cycle and service without being able to speak to anyone; nor could he speak when he went back home.

Verse 24 - And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, The LORD has now dealt with me in this manner in these days, wherein He has now looked on me to take away my disgrace among men.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in to her, and said, Greetings, you are blessed for the LORD is with you; blessed are you among women. That is not in the original Greek.  It’s been added.  So what it does say is, The angel came unto her and said, Greetings, you are blessed, for the LORD is with you. And when she saw him, she was astonished at what he said, and pondered what manner of greetings this was. In other words, what it should mean.  And so it was, obviously given that she’s blessed among women, but there are reasons why some of those things are added.

Verse 30 - And the angel said to her, Mary, Do not fear: for you have found favour with God.  And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus.  So astounding events, where the angelic realm, and especially in this case here, Gabriel was able to serve God in a very direct manner.  God could have gone to them, God could have done other things, but the purpose is in our lives that we get to share.  God wants us to share in what He’s doing, to be excited about that.  And I can tell you, Gabriel was excited to share this, to be able to deliver such a message.  And he already knew, the angelic realm knew, obviously, about the Messiah that was going to come and the Son of God that would be born.  And this was immensely exciting to that angelic realm, the angelic realm that had remained faithful to God.

I do want to mention something here about this name ‘Jesus’.  Sometimes we get emails from people who feel that we shouldn’t use the name Jesus.  And there are some things on the internet out there, people get all bent out of shape about different things out there, and we understand it’s the same as the word (I even mentioned that earlier), it’s the same word in the Old Testament that’s translated as ‘Joshua’.  And there are reasons why it was changed later, became the word ‘Jesus’ in the New Testament.  And we don’t use the word ‘Joshua’ then in the New Testament as far as English is concerned; it wouldn’t matter which is being used.  But we, as far as the English language is concerned, use the expression of ‘Jesus’ and it still means the same thing.  We understand that.  We know what the word means.  We know its origin; that ‘Joshua’ means ‘the Eternal...’ or ‘the Lord is salvation’; or ‘the Eternal’s salvation’ is a better translation of it.  So just as Joshua was the Eternals salvation, in the sense of the Israelites being brought into the Promised Land, he carried that name; and Jesus Christ meaning far more then, in that respect, as far as His name is concerned.

But I want to read you something that I did find on the internet that an individual wrote who is educated in the languages here as far as Aramaic and Hebrew and Semitic languages and so forth.  And it’s a very astute thing when I came across this and found... I thought, this would be good to read in the context of this sermon here because we have had people who have come along, who’ve had to come out of some of those kinds of things and we’ve had others who contact us from time to time who think that we’re not doing the right thing because we’re not using... whatever... anyway, I’ll read that as I go through this.  But it’s just like some people get different ideas...there are people who, some in Judaism who believe that certain parts of God’s name can’t be said, or you can’t write it out fully, or you have to do certain things a certain way; and it’s like this...  And they don’t understand, language is language, its use of communication.  But people make it a religious thing sometimes and they make a giant mistake by doing that.  Anyway, I want to read this because it’s really right down the line.

This individual says...

The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is yeshu‘a...

The New Testament was primarily originally written in Aramaic, not in Greek.  I don’t know if everybody understands that; it’s written in Aramaic. That’s what they wrote in, okay?  The disciples, the things that were written there, the language was Aramaic.  Things were later changed to the Greek language fully and then of course Paul’s writings and others were written in the Greek language.  But the original here is really in Aramaic.  And so the original Hebrew and Aramaic are so closely related in that respect here; but it says...

The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is yeshu‘a, which is short for yehōshu‘a (Joshua), just as Mike is short for Michael. The name yeshu‘a occurs 27 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, primarily referring to the high priest after the Babylonian exile, called both yehōshu‘a (see, e.g., Zechariah 3:3) and, more frequently, yeshu‘a (see, e.g., Ezra 3:2). So, Yeshua’s name was not unusual; in fact, as many as five different men had that name in the Old Testament. And this is how that name came to be “Jesus” in English: Simply stated, this is the etymological history of the name Jesus: Hebrew/Aramaic yeshu‘a became Greek Iēsous, then Latin Iesus, passing into German and then, ultimately, into English, as Jesus.

And this shouldn’t be a shock to people; things change.  There are things pronounced differently in different languages, between languages and how people use letters and so forth.  You can find different similarities, things that come out of Europe sometimes, it’s kind of interesting to see how some things are written in different parts when we travel to different cities and the like; and then when you have it translated into English the changes that take place because of the letters we use and so forth, the differences that are there.  And so it’s just moving from one language to another.  But some people try to put more into this than what’s really there.  So he goes on to say...

Why then do some people refer to Jesus as Yahshua? There is absolutely no support for this pronunciation—none at all—and I say this as someone holding a Ph.D. in Semitic languages. My educated guess is that some zealous but linguistically ignorant people thought that Yahweh’s name must have been a more overt part of our Savior’s name, hence YAHshua rather than Yeshua [referring to Yahweh]—but again, there is no support of any kind for this theory.

We know what the word means when you look at Joshua; that that’s where the word comes from, ‘the Eternal’s salvation’; that is the origin, that is the beginning of it.  But to go into another language, those things are not carried into them and it’s not important that we have to.  Going on here he says...

The Hebrew Bible has yeshu‘a; when the Septuagint authors rendered this name in Greek, they rendered it as Іησους (I ēsous, with no hint of yah at the beginning of the name); and the same can be said of the Peshitta translators when they rendered Yeshua’s name into Syriac (part of the Aramaic language family). All this is consistent and clear: The original form of the name Jesus is yeshu‘a, and there is no such name as yahshu‘a (or,yahushua or the like).

People really get twitter-pated out there sometimes.  They get all excited and feel that this is somehow religious.  No it isn’t.  To think that we can’t use the expression, ‘The Eternally Existing One’; that means more to us than Yahweh.  Yahweh, if you’re Hebrew and you know what the word means, then that’s fine.  But you know, we’re not Hebrew and we don’t use the Hebrew language.  I use the term on occasion to express certain things, to drive a point home; but our understanding of what it is, to me, ‘the Eternal One’, ‘the Eternal Self-Existing One’...to me that communicates more to us, we understand more of what that means then when we talk about God in that respect, or Yahweh in that respect.  Going on here...

What about the alleged connection between the name Jesus (Greek I ēsous) and Zeus?

See, because it sounds similar people get all bent out of shape.  See, it comes from Zeus, it’s about Zeus, it’s this influence about Zeus.  No it isn’t, that’s just stupid.  Going on here, what he had to say...

This is one of the most ridiculous claims that has ever been made, but it has received more circulation in recent years (the Internet is an amazing tool of misinformation), and there are some believers who feel that it is not only preferable to use the original Hebrew/Aramaic name,Yeshua, but that it is wrong to use the name Jesus. Because of this...[1]

Anyway, he goes on to talk about other things... I’m not going to go there.  Just so that everyone understands; it’s perfectly good to use the name Jesus in the English language.  There are people who want to refer to these names and we don’t do that in God’s Church.  You’re trying to make something a religious experience or that it has some religious connotation to it.  To use some other name doesn’t make you religious.  Indeed.

Let’s go on in Luke here.  I just wanted to make the point that the name Jesus is right for us in communicating with others what it means.

Luke 1:32 - He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary to the angel, How shall this be, seeing that I have not known a man? And the angel answered and said to her, the holy spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy One who shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.  His father was not human.  His father was God Almighty.  It’s an incredible thing.  Even in that it’s awesomely inspiring to understand and we’ll talk about a little bit more of that as we go into the sermons here.

But again, the accounts are so astounding.  And here Gabriel is the one that’s sent forth to deliver these messages; the awe, the inspiration of it, the message that is contained there.  How incredible is that and how awesome is that?  And God magnifies the moment because of the presence of the angels that are there; because it’s not something that people just commonly experience in life, it was meant to be a great momentous occasion, a great announcement – indeed it was.  And it was magnified by the very presence of Gabriel himself who was there to give that message. An angelic being who was manifested, who was given the ability to appear, to be there and to converse with her at that time; and this story then to be told to generation after generation after generation – hundreds and hundreds of years; passed through time.  And still every time you read it, it’s inspiring, it’s moving, it’s exciting.

Let’s go back to Daniel and read about another whose name is Michael.  These arch angels, mighty before God, serving God: Daniel 10:4 - And in the twenty fourth day of the first month, I was on the side of the great river, he was fasting, which is called Hiddekel; Then I lifted up my eyes, and I looked, and saw a certain one clothed in linen, whose loins/hips had a belt of fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like beryl, in other words, a yellow coloured stone, and his face appeared as lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.  And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men who were with me did not see the vision; because a great shaking fell upon them, so they fled to hide themselves. So again, different experience here because it was meant for Daniel, it was meant to be special, it was meant to be meaningful; and he was the one to witness this and to see this and to record these things.

Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: Why?  You have something like that happen to you you’re going to lose some strength; your knees are going to become weak.  There’s going to be some fear involved; things that are so far greater than us that we don’t comprehend as human beings, especially in that particular time period; for my frame was turned into weakness and I retained/had no strength. Yet I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.  So it affected him physically in a very great way; it was overpowering; more than what would be normal even.

And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said to me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto you, what a great thing to have said.  We come to know that by faith.  God loves us, mightily.  We come to deeply believe that.  We have an awesome relationship with God as we grow, as we conquer, as we overcome; we come to understand how God works with us in our life and we develop a close personal relationship with God.  It’s an awesome thing!

So again here, he said, Understand the words which I speak unto you, so there was that which was given to Daniel here; and it says and stand upright: for unto you have I now been sent. And when he had spoken these words unto me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, Daniel, do not fear: for from the first day that you did set your heart... ,the story goes on here.  Again, this is Gabriel before we get down here to Michael... so this is Gabriel still because he’s the one that’s sent as a messenger here.  And so he’s telling this story to Daniel.  ...and then he said to me, Daniel do not fear: from the first day that you did set your heart to understand, in other words, he’s here fasting and praying to God and repenting before God for the things that have taken place through time with Judah and their captivity and so forth.  He’s praying to God and Gabriel is telling him you’ve been heard from the first day that you set your heart to understand, to understand what?  What had happened to them; why the things had taken place, what had taken place concerning the captivity.

God gave him understanding to know the period of time, the seventy years, and what took place, the punishment and why it was there.  And so Daniel was trying to understand various things here about Judah being able to return and so forth; and God was going to reveal those things to him.  When I read something like this, I think about what we tried to understand.  How could this happen to God’s people?  And Daniel was wondering this.  How could this happen to the nation of Judah?  What took place?  What transpired that we’re all taken captive to Babylon?  Why?  And why so long?  And so God’s going to tell him; and He’s going to give him the exact time period of the punishment and so forth.

And we went through a similar fashion.  When we were scattered, when the apostasy took place – it was in my mind: “This is God’s Church!!  But how could this happen to God’s Church in this magnitude?  How could something so massive happen to God’s Church?” ...and it led to one answer as time went along.  I sinned, we all sinned, we all fell asleep.  The prophecies that were there, they all came alive; we saw ourselves.  God let us see ourselves and what we did; and so we had to come to repentance.  Same thing Daniel is doing here, setting himself to seek God, he’s trying to understand so that he can continue on because he knows that Judah is a nation of God.  He knows that he belongs to God; and he’s trying to understand more.  Why is this still happening?

Daniel 10:13 - But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood/prevented me twenty one days: but, then Michael, one of the chief princes, and this means ‘first as in order or degree’ in the sense of leaders,  came to help me; and I left him there with the kings of Persia. And so he stayed back fighting.  Now, these things are awesome to understand; that God has given to the angelic realm to fight wars, to fight battles.  How angelic beings fight... I don’t know; but they fight.  And God sent Michael out to fight battles with Satan, with the demonic world; and He lets them participate, to be a part of it.  This is like wars that Israel fought.  God could have gone in and did like He did to Sodom and Gomorrah and ‘chtt’ in one second they’re gone – ashes.  But He doesn’t do that because we learn from the process; and God’s working with us, with our minds.

And so He is with the angelic realm, His sons; that’s how they’re referred to on angelic plane.  He created them, they’re His children, just as we are on a physical plane. All with a different purpose and serving in different ways and so forth, but all God’s, all belonging to God, all able to have a relationship with God save those who have severed themselves from it because of sins and so forth, even within the angelic realm.

And so Gabriel tells him about Michael and what happened... “I would have been here sooner,” in other words, “but there was this battle and I was prevented from coming.”  And that’s astounding!  Now, God could have let him come on through but God had a purpose for things to happen in the timely fashion that they did.  God’s in control always; that’s the bottom line.  And there’s always a purpose behind everything that God does and the timing of everything that God does.  There are things to learn and you’ll find that especially as we go through the next sermon.

It goes on to say here about this account; verse 14 - And I am now come to help you... it says he left Michael back there fighting with the kings of Persia.  And I have now come to help you know what shall befall your people in the latter days: yet the vision is for many days. In other words, a long time from now; And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became unable to speak.

Verse 20 - Then said he, Do you know why I have come to you?  ...and now I will return to fight with the princes of Persia: so he’s going to be a part of that.  He’s going to go back and be with Michael ...and after I have gone forth, behold, the prince of Grecia shall come next. So again here, things that had to do with physical nations, but things that had to do with things within the angelic realm as well, battles that were occurring and things that were taking place because of some of these things, obviously, then they involve the nations that arise.

Just like when it talks about the sounding of the 5th Trumpet and this being that rises up.  It’s talking about Satan and it talks about the power that he’s going to then have in that region of the world, that power that’s going to be exerted in that part of the world.  And just as it talks about the three that go out like unclean frogs, the unclean spirits that go out and they go into Asia to do what they’re going to do.

But I will show you that which is inscribed in the writing of truth: and there is none other, which is what the proper translation is here, who strengthens/prevails with me in these things but Michael, your prince.  So Michael is spoken of twice here to Daniel, talking to him about how that he’s the one standing up for your people and together with him as these battles are occurring.

Going on here to Daniel 12; another location where it talks about Michael.  Again, it’s about the very end-time here, that prophecy here that we’ve gone to so often in the past that’s so relevant to us when it gets up to 1290 days and the 1335 days and leads up to that.  But here it says in Daniel 12:1 - And at that time, in other words the very end –time, shall Michael stand up, that great prince who stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never been since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who shall be found written in the book.  And so again, it’s talking about things that lead up to the end-time; but always Michael is there as one who is warring, one whom God has sent out to battle and to war; and these things that continue on through time.

Jude 9 - Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, when disputed about the body of Moses, here’s another account.  He is an archangel and here he is in another battle taking place.  This is referring back to Jude in verse 9 about this particular account.  And he talks about this occasion when Michael was contending with Satan, disputing over the body of Moses.  God didn’t want anyone to have the body of Moses.  What happens to people in a situation like that with someone like that?  They begin to worship something that’s in the body, the bones.  Here it’s Moses and what would the world do with that; so God wasn’t going to allow that to happen. And so there was a war.  Satan wanted one thing and God wanted another so Michael is sent out to deal with Lucifer, with Satan.  And again, these things go on and on, over and over again through time that have taken place.

It is good to point out here too what he said; it went on to say here...he did not bring a railing accusation against him, but said, The LORD rebuke you.  So he didn’t add to it, he didn’t take from it.  A good thing to learn from that as well, that whatever we’re given to do we seek to do it exactly the way we’re given.  Just like we read in the earlier story about Balaam’s ass; don’t add to, don’t take from what God says, strive to do it exactly the way He says it because it’s all incredibly important that we do things exactly the way God says to do it.

It is so appropriate at a time when we have talked about a being who is soon going to be put away from the presence of mankind, and a being in time who is going to be destroyed, that also that remembrance is made of the angelic realm that has been faithful to God for so, so long.  And to those beings that have served God in such a great way; Michael and Gabriel.  It’s a very pleasing thing to be able to discuss some of those kinds of things; the excitement they’ve had in serving God through time and to recognize the importance that they have served in fighting battles; because they fight battles for us.  We don’t know that.  There are things that they do that they fight and they war as they did with ancient Judah, as we read about back there in the book of Daniel, and so forth; much more with the Church of God, much more with things concerning us. God said that they were created to serve, to help us as a part of our creative process as God works to created Elohim within us, the change in the mind that has to take place through time.  And so God works with, to mould and fashion us, and yet there are those angels of God that have gone out continually to war and to fight in the spirit world.  And we don’t understand those things, and we don’t see those things, but they go on, they happen – things that are waged behind the scenes that we have no knowledge of, but they’re continually going on.

War doesn’t stop.  These wars that have been waged have never ceased.  Satan is one who never has let up.  They’re spirit beings and they continue to rage; and at times they rage more than others.  And sometimes God allows them to have greater power to cause greater destruction at times; just like what’s getting ready to happen at the end to fulfill a purpose.  Just like what’s getting ready to happen, as I mentioned, when the 5th Trumpet sounds and Europe arises and 10 nations come together and do what they’re going to do; and what happens in Asia as those demonic beings that have already been let out to go over there.  They’re already there!  They’re already starting to work behind the scenes to do things!

And so there are times they try to do things that they’re not allowed to and so there’s Michael, there’s Gabriel, there’s the angelic realm that fights, that wars.  Because they’re a part of all this, they’re sharing in all this and yet it’s behind the scenes and we don’t see it...and God doesn’t intend that we do because our eyes are always to be on God Almighty, in and through Jesus Christ, of what’s being accomplished in our minds and our being.

There is that balance and that which Satan is being let known.  The rest of the angelic realm have always been faithful, and they follow God faithfully, and they serve God faithfully; and they have great reward for what they do; great reward of things in the future just as we do.

Revelation 12:7 - And there was war in heaven: Astounding!  Things that take place in an angelic realm that we’re totally unaware of. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, in other words, the demons.  So it says, Michael and his angels, those who work with him, that he’s given charge over.  They have gone out at different times and at different times those battles have been greater than others; and at this particular time it talks about how there’s war in heaven itself fighting with Satan and the demons.  And it goes on to say... And did not prevail; neither was their place found for them anymore in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, the old serpent called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world: he was cast down onto the earth, and his angels, in other words, his demons, were cast out with him. So generally when it talks about Satan it’s always including them with him because they follow him; just as Michael has those angels that are with him and Gabriel has those who are with him.  They’re given charge over different ones as far as a structure of government, if you will, and power that they have.

Verse 10 - And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now is coming salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, in other words, has been struck down.  There’s a time when they’re to have no particular power over those whom God has called; who has accused them before our God day and night. So he’s the accuser of the brethren, he’s the accuser of everyone in the Church, he’s always there trying to cause us to stumble, to trip, to fall and oftentimes he’s successful because he broadcasts, the demons broadcast and too often in life we succumb to it.  Too often in life we allow those things to affect us.  Doesn’t mean that we’re not following God, doesn’t mean we don’t have God’s spirit. Even with God’s spirit we can do things that are wrong, we can have certain emotions that come in, certain feelings come in – whether it be anger, discomfort of life that leads us to other things, jealousies... everything that every human being has ever had in life.  We experience those things from time to time and they’re there to fuel them, they’re there to charge them up ever more so and to cause us to take them to extremes to the point where we will sin.

It’s one thing if something enters your mind and you have certain emotions and certain feelings; but when we allow it to come out the mouth, or come out in attitude, or come out to where we treat somebody poorly or badly and we say something wrong and then we sin... then they have a victory; and we have to speedily, prayerfully, repent so we can truly be back in a right relationship with God and make things right; not just to be forgiven, but to strive to make things right too.  There are times we must tell people we’re sorry, we must tell people that I was wrong in what I did, and to strive to make things right, to strive to reconcile to others when we have sinned against them; or sinned against God and hurt others.

Revelation 12:10 - And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who has accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, so it’s kind of a capsule of everything, it’s a summary of everything here, what it’s telling here about Satan and about the demons and what they’ve continually done towards God’s people and the desire that they have to, just like we read earlier about him as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and then this particular case here it shows our strength.

...and they, all whom God has called, overcame them by the blood of the Lamb; meaning that we have the blessing of being able to be forgiven of sin. It’s about sin! Their power is in sin!  Their power is in leading us into sin or causing us to sin or stirring us to sin.  And if we succumb to it who’s to blame?  We are; not them!  No one can be blamed for your sin.  It’s just like situations sometimes where people blame others for why they reacted the way they did, or they did something wrong.  It’s like, “They made me do it.”  It’s as bad as Adam accusing his wife, “The woman you gave me, she told me to.”

We all make the decisions and the choices.  It was his sin, his sin alone.  It’s our sin when we are influenced by something that someone else does that we’re displeased by, no matter what they say, no matter what they do.  It’s our response to them and whether we sin or not.  And so it says, They overcame them by the blood of the Lamb, meaning that we’re able to be forgiven of our sins, because it’s about sin.  That’s what makes the difference as to whether or not they’re going to have power in our life and continue to have power in our life.  So the more we yield ourselves to repentance, the less influence they have in our life; and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.  So in other word’s God is first and God is always there; we’re not trying to pamper and take care of this above and beyond what God tells us we’re to live, and we continue to fight and to conquer.

Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and to the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time. How much more now?  You know, when certain things have happened to him through time he knows what God has said about him.  He knows what is recorded here, what is written here; and he knows that he has a short time left.  That’s why he gets so stirred up here toward the end and does some of the things he does.  At some point here there’s going to be incredible power that’s going to be unleashed on this earth in a very great way.

We’re going to stop there.  I went through some of the stories a little faster than I thought I would.  I cut quite a bit out because I didn’t think I’d get through it. But again here, just talking about a spirit realm, then talking about the angelic realm that’s within that that God has created all for such an awesome purpose; and it’s all about Elohim.  Everything exists out here because of what God is doing with His Family and His purpose in calling every one of us.

I want to read a bit of a summary here in some of these things: In these Feast sermons we began by seeing that God has pronounced an end to His adversary Satan and in doing so He is revealing more to us about the spirit realm.  We have been looking at God from what He has given us as a beginning; in other words a beginning for us to start from that we could begin to understand: from His eternal self-existence to when He began to create.  And we have a glimpse of a spirit realm that is composed of spirit essence in what we refer to as ‘the 3rd heaven’.  And the 2nd heaven, I hope everybody understands when terms like that are used, when we talk about the 3rd heaven, the 1st heaven and the 2nd; we’re talking about how that there is a heaven in our atmosphere over the earth and there is also that which are the galaxies farther beyond and the solar system and the universe and so forth, and then there is that which is God’s heaven, that which is spiritual, three different types of heaven.

So again here, but in all that God has created, both in the spirit realm and the physical realm, nothing has eternal life inherent in itself, not even the angels.  I mentioned that yesterday.  Nothing!  Nothing has eternal life inherent in itself.  None of the angels have eternal life inherent in themselves, meaning that they’re not immortal, they’re spirit.  They’re composed of spirit, but that which is in God Almighty, in Yahweh Elohim, that eternal life is inherent in Himself and in Him only; and He gives life.  Satan can’t give life to anything; no angel can give life to anyone else, or to anything save God give the ability to do anything. Whatever power they have is what God has given them as power.

But when we talk about life, in the sense of inherent within one’s self, the ability to sustain one’s self – no one has it but God Almighty alone.

Now it must be said that the angelic beings of God’s creation were created of spirit essence and given independent existence in like manner as we are made or composed of physical essence/elements with independent life.  We both have independent life, individual minds.  The difference is one is created of spirit essence and the other is created of physical: but God has given to both minds, independence in the sense of individual.  And God has made it clear to us that we are sustained by Him, both physical beings, human beings and spirit angels.  Both physical life and spirit life is sustained by God; life given by God.

This is a great truth that’s now being expounded upon, that God is giving to us these things that He wants us to understand in a clearer way because we’ve had misconceptions in times past.  That’s why we started out in the sermon series here about Satan, because he does not have life inherent in himself and he does have an end.  And we have not always believed that, we have been in a bit of a dilemma over some of those things because it’s like, “What will happen later on when God’s Kingdom is there and the Family is there?  What happens to all those demons and what happens to Satan?  And what is their purpose?  Why do they continue to have life?  What’s going to happen to them because after all, what we believe is they are spirit and they live forever, they’re eternal.”  No they are not eternal and that’s what God is making clearer to us, and to them.

So it is a great truth that God is giving to us.  Satan has sought to deceive the world about such matters and immortality.  Isn’t that amazing?  From the very beginning, ‘You shall not surely die.’  And what have different religions done through time?  Whose influence is behind that?  So from the beginning Satan has deceived mankind into believing that man has an immortal soul.  Isn’t that an incredible thing?  He’s wanting us to believe... it’s like, “You don’t really need God!”  ...because his mind is perverted.

So man has been led to believe he has an immortal soul, or immortality dwelling with him, something he can attain to without God!  What he believes we don’t know; he certainly has a distorted understanding or belief of things from God.  So, only God, again, has immortality dwelling within Himself, inherent within Himself – everything else has a beginning and simply stated is sustained by God for as long as God sustains it and no longer.

New Truth #2 given this Feast – Angels were created and composed of spirit essence and given spirit life by God, yet they do not have self-sustaining life inherent in themselves.  They are sustained by God and only God has immortal self-sustaining life inherent in Himself.

It also needs to be understood that at their creation, although the angels were given spirit sustaining life, they were never given of the holy spirit, nor have they ever had access to it.

With that we’ll stop for the day and build upon that much more in the next sermon.  The next sermon you’re going to hear tomorrow is Johnny Harrell’s sermon and we’re going to be on our way to Brisbane, Australia in the morning.

~~~end

1. http://askdrbrown.org/ask-dr-brown/35-ask-dr-brown/79-what-is-the-original-hebrew-name-for-jesus-and-is-it-true-that-the-name-jesus-greek-isssous-is-really-a-pagan-corruption-of-the-name-zeus

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