Bumby Bible Questions 14

Introduction

Good morning. We made it to another question and answer session. The room took that very seriously. Yes. We did, in fact, make it to another one. And we appreciate two things. Well, more than two things, but two things that we’ll talk about. Number one is we appreciate the questions that you have supplied to us, some very good questions, thought-provoking questions. And number two, we appreciate the feedback. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about this format and the question and answer period, and we certainly appreciate that. We wanted to kind of tell you and remind you of the way we’re approaching this. We are attempting to answer your questions strictly from the Word of God. Without inserting our opinions or now, both of us, our opinions are almost always right.

But it doesn’t matter what our opinion on a subject or a matter is. We’re just trying to just go to the scriptures and say, what does the Bible say? The Bible doesn’t say anything about it. We’ve just said that. If the Bible says this, then that’s what we’ve tried to convey. That should be our approach always in attempting to find what God’s will for our lives and what God wants us to know in this regard. And so we appreciate that. We solicit your questions. Keep those questions coming. And again, the only stipulation that we ask is that you put those in writing. And the main reason for that is so that Greg doesn’t forget. Write those questions down. You can hand them to us in person, put them in the question or the suggestion box in the for your, or to the email address, which I’m going to see if Greg remembers the email address.

1. Are Demons and Angels Real?

Bumby BibleQuestions at gmail.com. Yes. Yes, you got it. Okay. Alright, to our first question. Are demons and angels real? And what is the evidence in and out of Scripture? Excellent question, a question probably a lot of people have to some degree or another. The idea of angels and demons is an interesting question. The idea of their presence in the Bible, what, if anything, they are doing today. One difficulty with this question is that we’re going to mostly be looking at what the scriptures say about it. But we’ll have some more things to say, so maybe some speculative ideas to say about what maybe we can evidence in our lives today. But are demons and angels real? Of course, it’s not a coincidence that Ken gives the disclaimer that we’re teaching from the Bible.

So we’re going to focus, of course, largely in the New Testament with answering this angels and demons question. If you look in Colossians chapter 1, we see that God didn’t just create people, and that if we take God as the origin of angels and demons, that becomes a crucial first step to understanding what we’re supposed to understand about them. In Colossians chapter 1, if you turn over there, you’ll see that Paul makes a quick mention of what God did in creation. And it’s more than just making man and animals. In Colossians chapter 1 and verse 16, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

Now, this actually leads to more questions than answers. But if angels and demons are real, and we’re about to show plenty of scriptural evidence that they are, and hence the good question we’re responding to, then it means from verse 16 that who is at the origin of them. That would have to be God. And they were created with a purpose. All things were created through him and for him. There was a reason for the existence of angels. And there is something to what they are supposed to be doing, living and doing, how they work, how they are to be responded to. And so that again raises more questions than answers, but does answer the fundamental question of, are they real? Well, if we see them, yes.

And if so, why? Because God put them there. That leads to another question: where are they? And according to the scriptures, we read the scriptural evidence about angels, their primary residing place is in heaven. Jesus, in answering the question from the Sadducees about the resurrection and their hypothetical situation about marriage, Jesus said that we, in the resurrection, in the regard to marriage at least, will be, to quote Jesus, will be like the angels in heaven. And so their residing place primarily is in heaven. We might make this stipulation here. Angels are, as Greg indicated, angels are a created class of beings, a created spiritual class of beings. They are not deceased Christians, our Old Testament saints. You know, sometimes in trying to comfort someone in a loss, we may speak of a loved one who we have the hope and the faith that they are faithful to God when they pass, that they got their wings or they became an angel.

There’s no biblical evidence that we become angels. We’ll be like the angels in some regards, Jesus says, but angels are a separate and distinct class that are, again, largely at least residing in heaven. Of course, if we only thought of them as being in heaven, it would be hard to even understand anything about them. And so when you look at pages of the Old and New Testament alike, you see that angels did appear to even human beings that God also created. And so while we were created differently and with different purposes, we see one of the purposes of angels was to communicate with, or at least one that God exploited was for angels to communicate his will with us. It’s interesting, in fact, of course, to notice the rank difference in a passage like Luke chapter 1.

You see, Mary on the screen is one example. Mary was foretold that Jesus would be born of her, and of course, that he would be the Son of God. But even before that, in Luke chapter 1, you have Zachariah John the Baptist that, and he’s approached by an angel. And he doesn’t take it as readily. He doesn’t take it as faithfully as Mary did. And so there was a difference in how Mary was blessed, and Zachariah wasn’t able to speak for a time, because of how they reacted to the message of the angels. Now, who would have such a message that could allow somebody to be blessed and somebody else to lose the ability to speak for a while? It would have to be from the authority of God.

And so God is deploying angels in certain unique tasks. Much as much of the Old Testament is God’s instructions for the Israelites and the New Testament for how we’re in a serve God and praise Him and please Him. The angels have their role, their responsibilities in pleasing God. And one of those seems to be to communicate, at least in biblical times, with us, so that we can understand parts of God’s plan that we need to better serve Him faithfully. In fact, the word angel itself in the original language just means messenger. And so they are God’s messenger, many times to deliver that message, but sometimes a messenger may be in the sense of simply just doing the will of God. And so we read of these angels frequently in Scripture.

2. Angels Are Still Working on God’s Behalf

And the biblical evidence also leads us to, I believe, to this conclusion that these angels are still working on God’s behalf. They are still God’s messengers in the sense they are doing the will of God. Although it’s not always clear to us what they’re doing now. They are in heaven, working on God’s behalf. But what, if any, interaction are they having with this earthly realm is maybe a little sketchy in regard to that. We can get some clues from Scripture. One is in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 11, that of this throne scene, you have angels who are there participating in that worship. But if you notice in Revelation chapter 5, there’s a pattern that would do well for us to recognize, being also created by God.

We do recognize a pattern when anyone is around the throne of God, there’s usually two responses and two responses only. There is humility, worshiping God, recognizing Him as infin infinitely better than us in every conceivable way. And then there is worship. In verse 11, there’s such a throne scene. Then I looked and heard around the throne in the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and glory and honor and blessing. And so you have an example. What are angels doing in heaven? Well, one thing at least they’re doing is praising God. And by the way, when we’re in heaven, what do you think we will be doing?

If the creatures are praising God, and the angels are praising God as his unique creation, then we would be praising God. Hence the importance to be praising God here and now, to get ready to recognize what an awesome God that is, and to live out that eternity in heaven. And so while we may not have every answer of what the angels can do, this is one of a couple bits of insight we get in the New Testament of how angels are serving even now. Again, if we limit ourselves to what we know from the scriptures, that these angels are doing now, they are praising God. And the scriptures also tell us that they will have a role to play in that final day. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, in urging those Thessalonian brethren to prepare and to long for that day of judgment.

It says in 2 Thessalonians 1, actually verses 7 and 8, say, and to those who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And so we certainly know and understand that Jesus will come in his second coming. But this text tells us that he is coming with his angels, and so they’ll have a role to play in that final day. The specifics of that that we’re not sure. But also Jesus tells us, I believe, that the angels have a role in our final day. You may remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus.

He speaks of these two men as both living and then deceased. It says of the rich man that he died and he was buried. Kind of an unceremonial, just kind of matter-of-fact death. But of Lazarus, Lazarus, it says that when he died, that he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. And so there are the angels symbolically or literally involved in our final day. What a comfort for the child of God that when we die, that we have heaven’s attention, and that we have not only heaven’s attention, but in some way a heavenly escort to our resting place. Lazarus was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. What a comforting thought in the passing of one who is in a right relationship with God, one that has hope of being in that paradise.

Of course, that too leads to more questions than answers. What does that feel like? What will that be like? What is that transportation like? What does it look like in Abraham’s bosom? Feel like? We have some context clues in Scripture, but as we say it from the onset, answering a question on are angels real, what would their purpose be? The best we can do is kind of give the glimpses that Scripture reveals. And it’s not just necessarily in heaven or in Hades that angels would be serving. If you look in Hebrews chapter 1, we see that they, angels do minister to saints. That would be Christians. When, where, how? Hebrews 1, I’m going to tell you while you turn there, doesn’t have that answer. But we do see they serve this role for God’s children.

In Hebrews chapter 1, in establishing the idea that Jesus is greater than angels, and certainly he moved through Hebrews to point out Jesus is better than returning to Judaism. But you have this idea in verse 13. To which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? That is, he said that to Jesus. He would never say that to the angels. They are, Jesus is greater than the angels. They are inferior to him. But verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? That’s some heavy language there to translate that. What is the angel’s purpose, at least part of it?

To serve those who are going to inherit salvation. That are, that is Christians. And so what do angels do? How do they do that? Well, verse 14 doesn’t give us that specific. It doesn’t say on Monday they’ll help you this way. Tuesday they’re going to do this for you, and Wednesday they’ll find that good parking spot for you. But it does say they minister to the spirits of those who are to inherit salvation. And so again, another comfort, not just necessarily after death, but perhaps even in this life, angels have a role. And while that does lead to a lot of questions, and we haven’t even started with demons yet, we have to say the scripture doesn’t tell us the intimate details of how and how frequently angels serve us.

But isn’t it a blessing to see that God, even in methods and ways and parts of creation that we don’t even see or can’t even understand, God has a clear order. And he has those who are serving him. How humbling and how wonderful it is that we just have to play a small part, that he doesn’t hold us accountable to serve like angels, but we can be benefiting from their presence, from their role that God created. It might bear noting here that when we read the scriptures, I’m thinking particularly of the book of Acts in the first century, when we see heaven heavily involved in the affairs of men, we see the work of the Holy Spirit, we see the inspired apostles, we see angels in the book of Acts.

3. What About Demons?

That all of those heavenly beings and that heavenly interaction did not take the place of the Word of God. In fact, when the Holy Spirit inserted himself into this creation, when angels came, they always spoke to a messenger and said, You go and take the word of God to the Ethiopian eunuch, or to Saul of Tarsus. And so God always uses an earthly messenger, the word of God to convert. And so while we may speculate and we may wonder what the Holy Spirit is doing, what angels are doing in our lives, we understand that they never take the place of the Word of God in affecting our salvation. So we talked about angels. We’ve got the good side, but now what about demons? The question asks about both, both angels and demons.

When we again turn to the scriptures, we recognize there’s over 73 references to demons in the New Testament. And so one thing we cannot do is to deny their existence. They are prevalent, certainly in the gospel stories, over 70 times they’re mentioned in the New Testament. So the first thing we need to start with is to accept the reality that there is a being known as a spiritual being known as a demon. Of course, that leads to the question again, if they are real, then how do we deal with them? What are they there for? What do they look like? What are they doing? Well, most of those clear references are during the ministry of Jesus. He was known, and if you think of a demon passage other than perhaps James 2, you’re probably thinking of Jesus encountering someone with demons possessing him or her.

And as you look at the early ministry of Jesus and you look at how he lived, he would be able to cast them out because, like angels, Jesus is superior to demons. But if you look at how people respond to demons, it was very scary. The way that the people being possessed would be acting and behaving and compulsively shaking and perhaps even foaming at the mouth. That would be frightening. And so while demons are real and they serve a purpose, they are on the frightening side. And so we need to look at where would they come from? Why would they be there? And what are we supposed to do with that knowledge anyway? You know, some attempt to explain away demons in the first century by saying that that was kind of an ignorant, archaic way of explaining unknown diseases or conditions.

You know, if someone had some seizure disorder, they would just say, well, they’re possessed by demons. If someone had a severe mental illness or something, they, well, they’re just possessed by demons. And today science and knowledge has progressed, and we know we’ve got scientific medical terms for those things. That’s not a good explanation. When we go to the scriptures, we recognize that in the gospel stories particularly, it separated the idea of illnesses from demon possession. That was not just an explanation for some unexplained phenomenon. It speaks of demons as being real. In fact, these demons communicated. They talked. At last I knew, no disease, mental or physical, has the ability to speak. But these demons are spoken of as individuals who have knowledge, who have the ability to speak.

And so the presence of these demons was real. Now, when we began to ask, well, then where did they come from? Well, we connect some dots. We have to be careful in connecting dots when it comes to the word of God, but we connect a few dots. Number one is we recognize that at least in the creation scene in Genesis 1 and 2, that it’s stated that everything that God created was good. But yet, as Greg noticed in Colossians chapter 1, God created not just these physical things that we see of this earth, but spiritual demons. One possible explanation, and we don’t want to underline, circle, highlight, uh, bold in red the word possible explanation is that these demons may be the fallen angels that we read about in scriptures.

Let’s look at Jude verse six. It’s one chapter or no chapter of the book of Jude. And so just Jude verse six says this. And the angels, plural, the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own habitation, he has reserved an everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of that great day. It is possible that this explains the origin of Satan and in the plurality of maybe these demons as well. Again, we’re not sure of that, but we do know this biblical fact. Some angels rebelled against God and failed, and they are being reserved for judgment. Another passage of scripture in speaking of hell and the judgment and the fires of hell, that it’s reserved for the devil and his angels. And so if these angels are reserved for judgment, if hell is reserved for the devil and his angels, there’s at least the possibility that that speaks of the origin, both the creation and the explanation of their demonic activity of these beings that we know as demons.

Of course, that would lead the question when did they have this rebellion? Perhaps, possibly. Again, please emphasize that word, possibly. Revelation chapter 12 would help us here. Thinking of demons as the devil’s angels. If you notice in Revelation 12, verse 7, now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And of course, by the way, at the end of verse 12, woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.

So this depicts that rebellion between the angels of God and the devil and his angels. And of course, as will always be the case, the devil loses this battle with God’s appointed angels and is cast down to the earth, but as the end of verse 10 says, his angels with him. Perhaps, possibly, this is a fulfillment of that rebellion in Jude, and we see that would be the demon’s interaction with humankind on earth around the time of the first century. This also could be speaking of a further loss of position and power of the devil and his angels that might explain, again, possibly explain why we see their prevalence and activity in the gospel stories and even into the book of Acts, and why maybe we don’t see their being as active as the ways that we saw them in the New Testament as active today.

4. Compare and Contrast Judaism With Christianity

A lot we don’t know about these spiritual beings, angels and demons, but we do know the reality of them. We do know something about the origin of some of them and the activity, certainly of those angels. Alright, our next question is please compare and contrast Judaism with Christianity. And the second question is do the Jews follow only the Torah? So, of course, as we think about this, this is uh extra-biblical, if you will, because it’s thinking about another religion. And we should add a qualifier up front, just like within quote-unquote American Christianity, not every church will be teaching the same thing, even quoting from the same Bible. Not every follower of Judaism is going to have the same approach, follow the same exact teachings, have the same ideas.

But to answer the idea of the Torah, first of all, what is it? The Torah is simply the first five books of the Old Testament. That’s Genesis through Deuteronomy. Of course, for a Jew, that wouldn’t be a problem to accept that. That’s what they’re known for following, and that highlights the story of how they became a nation. That is from the seed of Abraham, how they inherited the promised land, that is coming out of Egyptian bondage in the book of Exodus, and then their system of law in the book of Leviticus. So this would be fundamental to not only us understanding Jewish history and origins, but themselves as well. But modern-day Judaism not only accepts the Torah, the Genesis through Deuteronomy as the law, but modern-day Judaism would also accept other teachings of the what we would call the Old Testament, the prophets, Psalms, Proverbs, that poetry and wisdom literature.

So they would not limit themselves to believing in just the Torah, but also the prophets and the wisdom literature as well. Now, this is where you see some splits. Now, most Jews do not believe in the teachings of Jesus, a point we’re going to emphasize in a moment: the idea of Jesus being the crucified and resurrected Son of God. There are some groups called Jews for Jesus or other groups that would. But by and large, Judaism considers the New Testament uninspired. At best, groups will consider it decent teachings, because Jesus was, after all, a good teacher, regardless of your opinion on him being the Son of God, at least from a Jewish perspective, he was an adherent to the law, according to the New Testament. So they can’t fault him for that.

But they would suggest that there are contradictions, that there are problems, much like an atheist would. They’d say this work, the New Testament, Matthew through Revelation, cannot be inspired for many reasons, including what they would call its false claims. And so one of the distinguishing characteristics from an inspired literature standpoint between a Christian and a Jew would be the acceptance of the New Testament. And we’re going to talk about some of those key distinguishers in a few moments, but they will not, by rule, accept the New Testament as an inspired teaching, because that would be detrimental to their faith as it stands. So that’s one thing that’s kind of a running thread from the New Testament days, even in the first century. Many of the leaders of the Jews rejected Jesus, rejected the inspiration of those apostles, and that tradition carries on today.

But as Greg hinted out earlier, that we recognize that modern-day Judaism today, like most, if not all religions, is covers a wide spectrum. There are some that we consider as very conservative to others who are very liberal in their beliefs and practices and their application of the law. And so, in some sense, it’s a difficult question to answer across that broad spectrum. But we’ll try to give you kind of an idea of Judaism in general and painting with a broad brush when we talk about modern day Judaism. We recognize that both religions, Judaism and Christianity, are what we would call monotheistic. That is, they have one God. We won’t turn back to Genesis chapter 20. You remember then the giving of the Ten Commandments, the backbone, if you will, of that Torah, of the law, is something both Jews and Christians alike, most Jews and Christians alike accept that there is but one God.

And so we have that in common. And of course, we both believe that Jews are descended from Abraham because Christians accept Genesis and Exodus as inspired as well. And that the people of Israel, the Jews, were at least at one point in time, God’s unique chosen people. We see the promises that Abraham made in Genesis chapter 12, the seed promise fulfilled and allowed to continue through Isaac in chapter 22. And so there’s a similarity in that, that God did make a unique covenant, unique in the world’s history with this particular group of people descended from Abraham the Jews. The question would be, is that forever? What does it look like now, or did God have a different plan in mind? And again, painting with a broad brush, both Jews and Christians share a similar value set in terms of the law and expectations.

5. The Differences Center Around Jesus

Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, taught that many of those principles that were true under the old law are still true today. Thou shalt not murder. You should love your neighbor as yourself. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife. Those kind of principles that again, painting with a broad brush, Jews and Christians alike would agree on those moral and ethical things coming from a moral and ethical and holy God. And so following that same God, you would expect similarities, but of course, rejecting the New Testament, you would start to see a lot of differences. And that, of course, centers around Jesus. Well-known passage to many, Isaiah chapter 53, that Jesus would have to be sacrificed for our sins, that he would be that innocent lamb that was slain on our behalf, the sins of the world laying upon him.

Well, of course, Jews don’t accept that idea that they’re looking for a eternal Messiah, that is one who will reign on earth, lead them to prominence on earth. That would be a physical king, a physical leader, lead to lasting peace. That’s not what Jesus did from a physical point of view. Did Jesus establish his kingdom? Yes. Is the New Testament clear on that? Yes. And so, for example, what do Jews do with a teaching like Isaiah 53, because they do believe it is inspired, they would say Isaiah chapter 53 refers to the state of Israel, that Israel would suffer, that Israel would be made unique in God’s vantage point. Does that flow as well as Jesus? No. Is that what the Ethiopian eunuch was taught on the road and Acts chapter 8?

No. But that is a way of explaining around Jesus being crucified, put to death, and resurrected for our benefit. And again, Jews largely reject the idea of Jesus as the resurrected Son of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we see that that’s the premise, not just of the gospel story, but of our hope, our hope of the resurrection. And so, though we have some things in common, some similar belief systems, there’s a major difference, certainly, when it comes to Jesus Christ, who Jesus himself said was through him and he alone is salvation found. Of course, Paul being a former Jew, it’s substantial when he says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, according to prophecy, are matters of first importance. But when you think about Christians, and the main difference between Christians and Jews would be adhering to what Jesus teaches, trying to access that sacrifice, to share in that resurrection.

If you look at one final passage, and we’ll have a closing prayer for our session this morning, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 15. Therefore, he, speaking of Jesus, is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. Two really important teachings to put a bow on this. One, that there is a new covenant. That old covenant, which has to biblically refer to God and Israel, choosing them at that time to be his unique people, was real.

But that now there is a new covenant. And other passages in Hebrews make it clear, the new one makes the old one obsolete. But also, if you look at verse 18, even the first covenant wasn’t inaugurated without blood. So you read verse 19, verse 20, the Hebrew writer makes it clear that covenant between Moses and his people, between God and the Jews, was different than what Jesus did. And what Jesus has brought is better. And what a blessing it is to have those better promises, to have that better covenant. Jesus is the difference not only between Christianity and Judaism, but Christianity and any other hope.

Conclusion

If the resurrection of Christ did not happen, if the crucifixion had not happened, our faith is in vain, and we are above all to be most pitied. But we’re not, because Jesus was crucified. He was buried, and he was found alive three days later, in accordance with the scriptures. It’s a blessing, and it makes us different. We need to laud that fact and praise God for that resurrection. And continue to point to the scriptures, even the Old Testament scriptures that foretold to do what Peter and Paul and the other apostles did to show that that old law foretold the new law and the coming of this Messiah, both his death and his resurrection. Thanks again for the questions. Keep them coming. And we’ll see you back here next month.

Before we dismiss, let’s have a word of prayer. Dear God and Father, we’re so thankful for your word where we can find the answers for this life and that life to come. Keep us in that word, Father. Umble us that we might seek to know you and your will for our lives. Bless us in our studies. Bless us in the hard part, Father, and that’s putting into practice those things that we learn. Be with us today as we worship you. We pray you will be pleased by the things that we do, and that your name will be magnified and revered in this place. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.