Why does God
Allow Evil? Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why Does God Allow Evil 0908.htm
Should God’s
existence be proven? /Apologeticshtml/Should the Bible and God Be Proven
Fideism vs WCG.htm
Could Angels and Demons Be Fighting
Around Us Without Our Knowledge?
An important principle concerning the
composition of the angels is that they have bodies made of spirit, which isn't
detectable by the physical senses unless the spirit being in question wishes to
be so sensed. Demons, being fallen angels, are the same in this
regard. According to Hebrews 1:7, God
made the angels to be of spirit: “And
of the angles He says, ‘Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame
of fire.” The word translated “winds”
can also mean “spirits” in the Hebrew from which this was originally quoted, as
well as in the Greek.
Also, angels can't have sex with human beings
because they are made of spirit. As Jesus noted about the (good) angels
in Luke 22:34-36, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage;
but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection
from he dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; for neither can they
[resurrected humans] die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of
God, being sons of the resurrection." All demons, as well as Satan
himself, are fallen angels (Eze. 28:14; Rev. 12:4, 9), and since they
are made of spirit bodies, they can't have fleshly sexual relations with
humans.
To show that angels (and the Angel of
the Lord) aren’t seen by people unless they want to be, notice the case of
Balaam. While riding his donkey, the
donkey noticed that there was an angel (or the Angel) standing in front of him,
but Balaam didn’t. Notice Numbers
22:27, 31: “When the donkey saw the
angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck
the donkey with his stick. . . . Then the
Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in
the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the
ground.” (In this case, however, it
should be noted that the “Angel” most likely was the one who became Jesus
around 1400 years later, but the principle remains the same since God is
composed of spirit as well (John 4:24).
“Angel” means “messenger,” so here the One who became Jesus was the
Messenger of the Father).
Similarly, notice that one of Elisha’s
servants didn’t see the angelic army around him until Elisha prayed for him to
see it (II Kings 6:17): “Then Elisha
prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opens the servant’s eyes, and
he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all
around Elisha.”
Since angels and demons can choose to
remain invisible, they could fight and we physical human beings wouldn’t know
since they live in a parallel spiritual dimension. Scripture does indeed record that the angels and demons will
fight and have fought with one another.
One prominent case, which may have a dual meaning (i.e., it happened in
the past and will happen again) is in Revelation Revelation 12:7: “And there was war in heaven, Michael and
his angels waging war with the dragon [i.e., Satan]. And the dragon and his angels waged war.” They can fight down here on earth too, as
recorded in Jude 9: “But Michael the
archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses,
did not dare pronounce a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke
you.” Similarly, Daniel 10:13 records a
conflict between a figure who was evidently a powerful demon, maybe even Satan
himself, and Michael the archangel (Daniel 10:13). So although it can’t be proven directly from Scripture, it’s
completely possible that angels and demons could be fighting around us and we
wouldn’t know it.
Eric Snow
www.lionofjudah1.org
Click here to access essays that defend Christianity: /apologetics.html
Click here to access essays that explain Christian
teachings: /doctrinal.html
Click here to access notes for sermonettes: /sermonettes.html
Why does God
Allow Evil? Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why
Does God Allow Evil 0908.htm
May Christians
work on Saturdays? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Protestant
Rhetoric vs Sabbath Refuted.htm
Should
Christians obey the Old Testament law? /doctrinalhtml/Does the
New Covenant Abolish the OT Law.htm
Do you have an
immortal soul? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Here and
Hereafter.htm
Does the
ministry have authority? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Is There
an Ordained Ministry vs Edwards.html
Is the United
States the Beast? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Are We
the Beast vs Collins.htm
Should you give
10% of your income to your church? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Does the
Argument from Silence Abolish the Old Testament Law of Tithing 0205 Mokarow
rebuttal.htm
Is Jesus God?
Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Is Jesus
God.htm
Will there be a
third resurrection? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Will
There Be a Third Resurrection.htm
Links to
elsewhere on this Web site: /apologetics.html /book.html /doctrinal.html /essays.html /links.html /sermonettes.html /webmaster.html For
the home page, click here: /index.html
QA6