Understanding Angels - Part 1

1:04You get the sense of these little fat babies with white wings that no way are going to be able to work to carry the little bundle. But no, we have a very the Bible portrays angels very differently. And so tonight, I want to take some time and just Pause and look. Specifically, my emphasis will be up on the cherubim and seraphim, largely because of where we are in Revelation. This isn't going to be a systematic theology on angelology, but I think by looking at one of these top orders, if not one of the top, certainly one of the top, with the seraphim and the cherubim, you will get a sense of who these angels are and what the angels do in heaven and how that should encourage us to live, encourage us to live on earth as things are done in heaven. So that's what I'd like to spend a little time tonight. And start with looking at some angels and the angelic orders. I'll look at seraphim, look at cherubim, and I'll come back and to the seraphim. But I just want to start with the seraphim and then I'll end with the seraphim. The seraphim, some of the key texts, and are you able to read that okay up there? Okay. I just want to read to you Isaiah 6. I'll read to you some of the key passages so you can start getting some of these thoughts in your mind. In Isaiah 6, in verses, I'll begin reading in verse 1. In the year of King Uzziah's death, Isaac, The Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe, filling the temple. Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. It's here in these verses that the word seraphim shows up. It's right here. It doesn't show up anywhere else in the Bible. It's seraphim here. And it's clear that they, close to the throne, they're in the midst of the throne. They have six wings. And it's also clear that they are ministering spirits. You can see he took the coal, touched eyes. Isaiah's lips and told him his iniquity was taken away. So very close being to what's happening there on the throne, able to minister to Isaiah, minister before the throne, know what the will of God is, and quickly administer. So you get that picture of the seraphim there. Also, in Revelation, as we read this morning, you get another depiction of these same beings. Though they're not mentioned by name, the description of them is very consistent with Isaiah 6. And I'll read again what we looked at this morning.

5:26Beginning in Revelation 4, verse 6, halfway through it, around the throne, four living creatures, full of eyes, and in front and behind, in the center of the throne, and around the throne. The first creature was like a lion, the second creature, like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty who was and who is and who is to come. And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before him, saying, Worthy are you, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created. What a description. I tell you, as you just study angels in the Bible, you find all these guys like C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, George Lucas, anybody else with a creative mind, the depictions of what we see of these angelic beings in Scripture surpass them all. These are magnificent beings with great power, great devotion. And we're going to come back to the serapim in a little bit, but we'll just look for a moment here at some cherubim. Some of the things as you. Now, cherubim, a lot's been said about the cherubim. And a lot of people will just. As they come to Revelation 4, look at the seraphim and say, well, they're just cherubim.

7:35And certainly they're very closely related. But there's some distinctions there that make me think that, no, they are to, though they go very closely related, they certainly warrant their own class or own category, and we'll see that in a little bit. Some of the distinctions are too significant to say they're identical to cherubim. But one thing we know about cherubim, they serve as guardians. You can see that right at the very beginning after Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden, in Genesis 3:24, so he drove them, drove the man out, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword, which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. So they were guardian. They were to keep man from going back into the garden of Eden into the to take of the tree of the tree of life. And largely, I think one of the reasons for that is to man, it's not good for man to live forever in his fallen state, separated, he needs He needs a new life. And so, the garden, but they are there stationed. And I think these cherubim were there. And it may have very well been something like, as time went on, you would, as humanity grew, populated the earth, that the way was guarded. It was there, and these guardians kept people from going back. And it may have been something that you'd even walk out and show your son or something there, up in there. It's a guardian. There is the way. You cannot go back.

9:41And maybe out of this, you get some of the whole perversions which you see in a lot of pagan religions of guardian beings and that kind of thing. But these cherubim initially were this guardian type, served as guardians. They also served, and I'm just covering a few of these. They were the cherubs that covered the ark. And you see this many times depicted throughout, that they were these beings that covered. In 2 Chronicles 5.8, it was the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark so that the cherubim made a covering. Over the ark and its poles. So they were to fashion these cherubim over the ark to be sort of this covering to the ark and the presence.

10:45Cherubim also are seen bearing the throne of God or the throne or the glory of God. The glory of God, when God comes in his glory, the cherubim are present. In fact, in Ezekiel 10, Ezekiel is a book about the glory of God. Chapter 1, he goes into describing the glory of God. And then as Ezekiel goes on, he describes the departing glory of God. The glory of God leaves the temple. And when he leaves the temple, what's in place are these angelic beings with their shattering weapons that are going to go in and strike down the city. And the glory cloud is going to leave. And the glory, it's not just the glory cloud, it's all of these cherubim that are going to raise the glory cloud, the throne of the king of Israel. And he is going to leave to the east. But in the future, that glory cloud is going to be the. Is going to return, and it is these cherubim that are like the bearers, just like they would carry the ark, and you would have the poles, and you would have, well, you have these cherubim that carried. And you can see this in Ezekiel 1. And you can turn there, I'll read a little bit from Ezekiel 1 just to get your mind around these cherubim. But in Ezekiel 10, 20, he's witnessing the glory and he's seeing again, and he names these, these living beings. The same name is used for the serapim, the living beings in Revelation 4. Here, Ezekiel specifically calls them the cherubim. I know these are the cherubim who he saw and described in detail in chapter 1. And so let me, I'll read to you, beginning in Ezekiel chapter 1 and beginning in verse 4. As I looked, he's looking at visions of God, he's seeing visions of God there by the river Chibar among the exiles there.

13:20I looked and behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it. And in its midst, something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. Within it, there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance. They had human form. Each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight, and their feet like a calf's foot. And they gleamed like burnished bronze. So he's describing these cherubim. That's what I he calls them this in 10.

14:06But these are the description of the cherubim. Verse 8: Under their wings and on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and the wings of the four of them, their wings touched one another. Their faces did not turn when they moved. Each went straight forward. As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man. All four had the face of a lion on the right, and on the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. Sounds familiar with what we read this morning. But each of these had four faces. One, two, three, four.

14:48Such were their faces. Verse 11. Their wings were spread out above, each had two touching another being. So you get the two, you can see the touching, and two covering. Their bodies. So their wings would cover their body too, they would touch. And each went straight forward wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go. Without turning as they went. In the midst of the living beings, there was something that looked like burning coals of fire. So you have these living beings, and they're spread out, and in the midst of them, these coals of fire, like torches, darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning. So fast, quick, powerful.

15:45Now, as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings. So each of the living beings, there's a wheel next to them. For each of the four of them, the appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling barrel, and all four of them had the same form of their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another. It's kind of difficult to kind of see what he's seeing here, but some kind of wheels. Each, you have four. Think about an ark.

16:21Think about the pattern, the ark of the covenant, and how the priests would have to carry the ark, and they would have rings, and they would hold and carry. Hairy, well, you have something similar like that, but you have these wheels, and so you have this throne, you have this base of where God is enthroned, and they are moving, and they are connected to these wheels, and they, whenever they moved, verse 17, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. As for their rims, they were lofty and awesome. It almost sounds like they're kind of like rollers, but maybe they were wheels of some, but they were able to move very quickly, any direction without turning. As for their rims, they were lofty and awesome. And their rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. So the rims, these wheels, have eyes.

17:32Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. Whenever the spirit was about to, wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. So very attentive, tuned with the spirit. And whenever the spirit would move, they would rise. They would move. You get this. And the wheels rose close beside them. For the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. Wheels. So there is this connection with these living beings and these wheels.

18:07Whenever those went, these went. And whenever they stood still, these stood still. And whenever there rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them. For the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. Now, okay, so this is all this. I kind of described this to you. It's kind of this moving platform. But look at what's above them. And that's when you really start seeing the throne in verse 22. Now, over the heads of the living beings, and I got these wheels, they're able to move. They're carrying this stuff. They're like bearers of this throne. Now, over the heads of the living beings, there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal spread out over their heads. Do we see any crystal in this morning? Yes, the crystal sea before the throne, right? In the very presence of the throne. Here, you get these beings, and there is this awesome, this expanse with the awesome gleam of crystal spread out over their heads. Under the expanse, their wings were stretched out one toward another. Each one also had two wings covering its body on one side and on the other. I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters, and they went like the voice. Of the Almighty, a sound of atolment, like the sound of an army camp. Whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads. Whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. Now, so he's described this crystal expanse. Now he's going to describe what's above the expanse. Now, above the expanse that was over their heads, verse 26, there was something resembling a throne. Have you seen anything where you've seen a crystal sea and a throne?

20:07Revelation 4, it's where we are. But here's a different perspective on it from the cherubim. Now, above the expanse, there was over their heads something like resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance. And on that which resembled a throne, high up was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of his loins and upwards something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within. And from the appearance of his loins downward, I saw something like fire, and there was a radiance around him. And the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of this surrounding radiance. Remember, there's also the same rainbow that John sees.

21:01In Revelation 4, as the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness and glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. Ezekiel sees the glory of God. And this is how he begins the book of Ezekiel. Marvelous book about the glory of Israel. And he's described the glory of Israel. This glory is going to depart. God is going to allow Israel to be sacked and destroyed. He promises to be faithful. And he also promises, just to wall while we are there, that he is going to return. And he will.

22:08In Ezekiel 39, he promises in Ezekiel 39, 21, and really Ezekiel is a story about watching the glory depart, stand at the east, get up from the temple, go out to the east gate, and go over the eastern mountains. And then it's, again, Ezekiel is going to see that same glory. The glory that we just discussed is going to return to. Israel and into his temple. And God says this in Ezekiel 39, 21, and I will set my glory. Having spent a little time in Ezekiel 1, you get a sense of that glory. I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see my judgment which I have executed, and my hand which I have laid on them. And the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward. The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against me, and I hid my face from them. So I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword, according to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions. I dealt with them, and I hid my face from them. And then you get the whole glory, the vision of God refilling the temple. There, there's going to be a new temple. This is Ezekiel's temple. And in Ezekiel 43, then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east. And behold, the glory of God of Israel was coming from the way of the east.

23:50And so the glory is going to fill the house. But in all of that, I want you to get this sense of this, the cherub. They are the ones, they are the wheels, they are the ones carrying this glory, this throne. What we can say about these cherubim, this angelic class, just from this passage is that they are attentive, they are obedient, and they are skillful, they are powerful, they are speedy, and they operate on perfect knowledge. That's an angel, that's an angelic being.

24:41And it's important to note that it appears that Satan was one of these. He was of this rank. In fact, in Ezekiel 28, if you want to turn there, I'll read a portion of this just to give you an idea of the class that it appears that Satan was part of. In Ezekiel 28, there is this lament, this word that comes against the king of Tyre. And as Ezekiel is dealing with the king of Tyre, it seems that he goes beyond the king of Tyre and starts looking at the spirit. Behind the king of Tyre, and starts dealing with a being that could not certainly describe the king of Tyre. In verse 12 of Ezekiel 28, he says, This: Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, Thus says the Lord your God: You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God.

26:08This doesn't seem like it can be talking anymore about a king, but one behind the king. Every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the anks, the jasper, the lazuli, turquoise, emerald, gold. The workmanship, the settings, and sockets was in you. On the day that you were created, they were prepared. Verse 14, you were the anointed cherub who covers. And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. Remember in Ezekiel 1, he was talking about the stones of fire.

26:55You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways. From the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. People ask, where did evil come from? It comes from here. God did not create evil, he created a being so perfect in beauty that even God Himself would say, You were the seal of perfection. You were splendid. You were beautiful. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created. You were blameless. The way you were created, you were blameless until unrighteousness was found in you.

27:38Seems to be one of these cherub, anointed cherubs. He says, By the abundance of your trade, you were internally filled with violence and you sinned. Therefore, I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God, and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings that they may see you.

28:16You get this interaction with the king of Tyre and the bringing down the king of Tyre and how a personification he is of this satanic being. Anointed cherub. And so here, evil seems to have come out of this rank, one of these cherubim ranks. But I want to point out some distinctions here and why I think that cherubim and seraphim are to be treated distinctly. Number one, if you look at, we've looked at the passages on the seraphim, we've looked at the passages, some of the passages, critical ones on the cherubim.

29:10Cherubim had four wings. How many did the seraphim have? Six. Little distinction. Some people say, well, it's similar. Okay. The cherubim had four faces. How many did the seraphim have? Do you remember from this morning? Yeah, they had one. They had one. Now, it's interesting, they had the same ones. Do you remember the cherubim had the lion, the eagle, the ox, and the man? And so the cherubim had four faces, and the seraphim had one. But they had the exact same ones. One had a lion, one had a man, one had an eagle, and one had. The young bull. So you have, so there's the distinction there that is hard for me just to gloss over and say they're the same because there is a distinction.

30:12The cherubim have wheels with eyes, but the seraphim are covered with eyes. Seems to be a distinction. The cherubim, the throne was above them. And the seraphim, where were they? They surround the throne. They're in the midst of the throne. So the cherubim seem to carry God's throne. And what do the seraphim do? They tend to seem to attend God's throne. And so, distinction. But there are some similarities between these two orders. There's proximity to the throne. Both have close proximity. Both have wings to cover. They need to be covered to stand in the light.

31:11Both have eyes, keen perception. Both within a special class of angelic beings. Both exist for God's glory. I want to turn our attention back to the Seraphim. Just the seraphim in Revelation. I know it's easy to say, well, what difference do the differences make? Well, when you boil it down to application and how we're to respond, it doesn't make a whole lot. We know that they are leading beings, and just like with the elders around the throne today, what difference does it make whether they're human beings or whether they're celestial beings? At the end of the day, they lead the worship in heaven, and we are to partake. We can ascribe glory to Him, our honor, and power and might to Him, regardless of these distinctions. So, when it comes down to our orthopraxy, it doesn't make a lot of difference. We are to ascribe God glory, and we don't have to sort through all this. But then, there is an importance, there are distinctions, and I think it's important to get your mind around some of these distinctions because there is something important, and I think there's a place where I'm going with this as you start looking at these orders in heaven and how they respond. We can take learn lessons about our own life and what. means to carry out God's will on earth as it is in heaven. That we too are an order.

33:09God has placed us in a time and a place and in a situation and in a and he expects us to be much like these in their way they relate to the Father and carry out his will. Well, as we come back to the to Revelation, some thoughts on the seraphim. Certainly in the book of Revelation, these are the highest order of angelic beings. Certainly if you base that on the proximity to the throne, the seraphim in Revelation appear to be the highest order of angelic beings, certainly among the highest order. You certainly have to give them that, if not the highest order. They are there in amidst the throne.

34:02They lead in the outpouring of God's judgment. When you talk about an angelic being, let this come into your mind. And we're looking at one of the top tiers of these angelic beings, and we can see what they are like and what role they play. And certainly it's going to be characteristic of the angelic beings as a whole as you see these maybe in different degrees, but certainly. What is true of this upper class is going to be true of all the classes in Revelation 6.1 look at this. Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with the voice of thunder, come.

34:53So as soon as the Lord opens the first seal, it is one of the four living creatures that says, Come. I looked, and behold, a white horse. Then look at the second. When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. And another, a red horse, went out, granted to take peace from the earth. Third seal, when he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come. I looked, and behold, a black horse.

35:29And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hands. And I heard something like in the center of the four living creatures saying. You can see how they're involved in this. Look at the, when the lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come. And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse. And he who sat on it had the name death. And Hades were following him. Do you see how these living beings are leading in the judgment? They play a role in the outpouring of God's judgment. These are an angelic order. Revelation 15, 7 gives a good picture of this.

36:18Then, one of the four, this is after the seventh trumpet has been sounded. You're getting right up to the very end of the wrath of God on the earth. Verse 7, then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever. And so, and the temple was filled with smoke, and from the glory of God and from his power, and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. So you have these living creatures, these living beings coming with the seven bowls with the final wrath. They're the ones dispensing. Keep in mind, they're the ones flowing, attending the throne. They are the closest to the throne with eyes. They see God with eyes. They see man. They see heaven. They see themselves. They are perfectly aligned, and they are carrying out the will of God. And they are incredibly powerful beings, and they are the ones. ones that are going to, with these bowls, give them to these angels to administer these bowls of wrath upon the earth. And when it is done, Babylon the Great is done. It's over.

37:44And then you have Christ returning in his glory. But it is through the ministry of these seraphim, if I can call them that. They're not called that specifically in Revelation, but they sure fit the description of the Isaiah. But they are the six-wing beings, and they pour out, they lead in the outpouring of wrath. So they're hyper-obedient, hyper-alert, hyper-holy, holy, holy. They desire to bring about the worship that God deserves. It's like they're the ones who are standing by. Whatever is taking place on the throne, they are the ones that get the cue and they go. They're the ones that are instrumental in carrying out. But they stand ready, sentinel.

38:52They're ready. You know what that means? They're standing ready for whatever may come, whatever is needed on heaven. Heaven on earth, they are there standing ready. And you see this in maybe chapter 7 in verse 11. You can see them standing there. And all of the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worship God. So there they were. All the angels were standing around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

39:58Any questions so far? I'm going to close with a thought here in a moment, but I wanted to leave you with one thought with some of these before we end tonight. But is there any questions? Yes, ma'am. What about the angel of the Lord and whole of the two of the angels that came to the shepherd? That's a good question. I don't know. Well, yeah, and we don't know what they didn't see didn't give us much of a description of them, did. But you can be sure that what's happening in heaven, what happens when uh that they make known salvation to the earth? They are party. These living beings would have certainly been party to see what was happening at the throne and glory to God in the highest and delegations and myriads of angels would be dispatched to carry out in conjunction and you can be sure these seraphim or this this order was in part of it and the elders and all those angelic beings they get their cue from oh here comes Christ is born and and so yes it's no wonder that you would then see a myriad uh of angelic well we'll talk about why they're worshiping here in a moment and you'll you'll see that they glory they get excited there is joy and they are part of this uh ministering spirits to humanity. Yes, sir? Um do you think there's any possibility that any of these angels rank could have been any of the angels seeing the Bible, but they didn't form, do you think they like shapeshifted in a way? Do you think that that's where the only class of angels?

42:03I don't know. I don't know. I'm always careful when I'm dealing with angelic beings and the whole realm of demonic forces and angelic beings, because we have the Word of God which has given us a window into that realm. I think much of the error about the angelic realm and demons comes from extra-biblical sources, and so I'm careful to even fill in the gaps or to try to fill in the gaps because we don't know. But certainly we know angels are ministering spirits. There seems to be all kinds of orders and classes and ranks of these angelic beings, but ministering spirits. And some, yeah, you get some, it seems like they show up just like human beings and they walk around. You get the sense of even on the resurrection morn, you have an angel that appears like a young man dressed in white, and you don't see any of this magnificence that you see described to the seraphim. I don't think it was a seraphim there, but yeah, so but good question. Yes, sir. From the original text, there were talks about the gay. We've got one of the one of the separate. One of the four other one of the four living creatures gave you the seven angels. Are those seven angels? Do you know from the Greek if that's more like an archangel like just human in scripture right here? Yeah, Michael, yeah. Well, yeah, y y y how we piece these orders together, I don't know, but there are seven angels, and these are a very distinguished group of angels. They come out of the temple. They've got a golden sash. They're dressed a little different. They're ministering right there in the temple where the Ark of the Covenant is going to be seen. So, special class, are these part of the archangels? Perhaps they're there. But again, you know, you've got to, I might, it's hard to speculate beyond, yeah, there's seven angels, and you can get into apocryphal sources, and you'll get names and ranks and orders of all these. I just feel like you can, I'm a little hesitant to go there with any kind of authority. What we have in Scripture is plenty for us to understand the angelic realm. And so, but yeah, you can know there's names ascribed to all of these, and they've pretty carefully laid out. But you've got these seven angels. Here, yeah, that are there in the presence of that heavenly vision right there with the ark. So perhaps the thoughts.

45:15One of the things that's clear about these, and they lead in worship in heaven. It's like the angelic beings worship, and these living beings lead in worship. And just where we are in chapter 7, I'll bring this out more as we go through Revelation, but I hope you're getting a sense that chapters 4 and chapter 5 are very crucial to the rest of the book of Revelation and these beings that are introduced, the things that we see, we're going to see again. And they're going to play a role. You can see these living beings that are flying close with eyes all over. They carry out very specific and important things throughout the book of Revelation. But I love this image, and I think it's a good place to stop as we celebrate Advent and we're thinking about Christ's birth.

46:18I love this scene here in Revelation chapter 7 and verse 9. Back up just here. Says, after these things, I looked, and behold, a multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Now, what has happened is the seven seals, the six seals have been opened, and they're just about ready to open the seventh seal. Now, a lot of things have happened on earth with the opening of these seals. There's wars, there's all kinds of famines, there is death, there is incredible cosmic disturbances.

47:29It's catastrophic. And what has happened is that there are a number, great multitude who come out of this trying time with faith. They come out with faith in God. It's like what has taken place in the tribulation is moving them to the end of themselves, and they are crying out, and they are confident. To salvation. And this is what it says. This multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Now, look who's standing and hearing this. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And what were the four living creatures doing? They were party to the judgments being poured out. What do they do?

48:44The four living creatures, with our eyes looking to God, looking to man, looking to seeing what's happening, and they realize this is cause for worship and celebration. And this is what they do: they fell on their faces before the throne and worship God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. And he goes on to describe that these are those who came out of the great tribulation. Do you see the rejoicing that takes place when a person comes to faith? These very leading beings.

49:28The reason why there's rejoicing in Heaven, when a sinner repents and turns, they get their cue from these beings who are ever close to the throne, who look at the heart of God, and they rejoice and they see what has happened. And in their perfect, keen perception, this is a call for worship. And they call all of heaven to worship. And the elders bow down, and the myriads and myriads of angels fall down and worship and say glory. And so you can imagine Christ being born. You can imagine these beings, these powerful beings, who are very much involved in the outpouring of God's wrath, are very much involved in the celebration when one repents and comes to Christ. And so these beings, these ministering spirits, profound, strong, powerful, swift, attentive, obedient, always have their eyes to the throne and the one who sits on the throne. They have their eyes to that which is going on around them, and they have an eyes to their duty and they carry it out without hesitation.

50:50I'm encouraged. And you know what? There are orders. It's interesting as you keep going in the angelic realms and you keep going in Revelation. You keep seeing angels show up. Listen, when it comes time, there are angels, and there are certainly orders. There are angelic beings that are more powerful than Satan. Certainly, you see one coming down with a large chain. He's like, okay, finally, no contest. Let me. And these angelic beings are powerful. They carry out the will of God, and Satan is no match for them. They live to do his will.

51:35These are the angels that came from the realms of glory. These are the angels that we sing about. They're not these little fat babies. Something totally different. And so I think fat babies are cute, but let's keep them in the realm of humanity, not in the angelic realm. Okay, we have much to be encouraged about. We have there is an army of angelic beings who are committed, devoted, who have not been taken in by Satan's craftiness. And they outnumber and are more powerful than the demonic forces.

52:27Did you have a question? Sorry. What about Daniel 10, 13, and where it says about this delay in 21 days? Yeah, there's certainly spiritual conflict on an order that, yeah, especially a spiritual conflict on an order that we don't completely understand. But it's important that we understand what we do know, sufficient through the Scripture. And so, and yes, but we can be sure that there are the forces of evil are doomed on so many levels. And so, don't be ashamed of Christ in this world. This world is brief. We're passing through it. Do not be ashamed of Him or His words, for soon we'll be standing in the presence of the Holy Angels and Him, more important, Lee, the King. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening and just comforting us with these words and these insights. Father, you give us truth so that we could at least get a fuzzy picture and a glimpse of what we need to know about the angelic realms and heaven's forces and the power of your throne and all that, Father.

54:00We know that you are in control, you are sovereign, and there is no changing to that. And so, Father, we delight in these ministering spirits that you have commissioned, Lord, for the glory of your name. And, Father, may we learn to be like them and keep our eyes upon your throne and keep our eyes upon our own walk with you and keep our eyes upon the duties and the responsibilities that you've called us to do. And help us to be joyful this week in carrying out the commission that you've given us to do. And help us to carry out our commission with the same joy and authority and precision and expertise that these beings in heaven do. We want your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and in our lives as it is in heaven. So we ask that you would, by your Spirit, make us more and more into the image of your Son, more perceptive, give us spiritual eyes to see all around us and to see so that we may honor you, for you are worthy of all glory and honor in Christ's name. Amen.