So this is what I call the "Gospel to the Angels" or "Worship Him, all ye gods"
I have heard some weird teachings concerning angels. Mostly centered around; they don't have free will, or don't have free will any more, or can't repent, or cannot be saved if they rebel. Here's my take.
I believe Psalm 82 is written exclusively to what we would call angels. I base this off of them being referred to a 'gods' and the proclamation against them that "they shall die like men". Telling a man that he will die like a man is not a revelation, but to an angel it is new information! Also saying "all of you are children of the Most High is weird language to speak of rebellious men.
If this is so, (and it totally is) then also in Psalm 82 is an indictment that they are judging unjustly, and showing partiality to the wicked. Following right on its heels is the order to do justice, and deliver the poor and needy. In short, they are told to stop doing wrong, and start doing right. To me that speaks of repentance.
It also mirrors when Enoch records that the angels that sinned petitioned him to intercede for them with God, and God's reply was that they should be interceding for men, not the other way around.
In Psalm 135:14 it says: For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants.
I totally get that this has most of it's application towards us humans. I also get that the word "repent himself" is translated elsewhere as "have compassion on" and I have no issue with either translation. But if He indeed will repent Himself concerning His servants, what is his current attitude concerning His servants?
For this I am drawn to Job 4:18: Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
What changes?
Matthew 5:25-26 - Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Bear with me here because I'm aware I could be overreaching, but I think I see something else here. On the surface there's no need to try and guess what Jesus means. It's pretty straight up. But spiritually speaking, it carries strange verbiage and imagery. The words "thine adversary" are very comfortably applied to the Devil. This is straaaange to me because the commands to agree with him because we will be shown by the judge to be clearly in the wrong concerning him doesn't work. And if our adversary is God, why then does it refer to the judge as a separate party?
However, if the idiomatic meaning of the scripture is addressed to rebellious (or sinning) angels, their adversary IS God and their judge IS a third party. ( I continue to use the word idiom because I've watched too much Monty Python in my youth and can't be bothered to find the right word.
1 Corinthians 6:3 -Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
It is the saints who will judge the angels. Will there be mercy for them? I say yes based on Jesus' command to judge righteous judgment. (And in my view, in being righteous has an awful lot to do with being merciful, even to the extent of disregarding technicalities like whether or not a miracle was performed on the Sabbath)
I also am reminded of the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18, where the servant whom had been forgiven failed to cancel the debt of his FELLOW SERVANT, and had his own cancelled debt reinstated.
I think that as redeemed sinners, whom have been perfected by the Author and Finisher of our faith, we're going to be much more lenient in our judgment of the angels than we can appreciate at this time.
As an aside: Paul mentions that we would judge angels like we should already know that. I firmly believe that if that is so it would be shadowed or pictured or typed somewhere in the Old Testament. Does anyone have any insight into this?
I have heard some weird teachings concerning angels. Mostly centered around; they don't have free will, or don't have free will any more, or can't repent, or cannot be saved if they rebel. Here's my take.
I believe Psalm 82 is written exclusively to what we would call angels. I base this off of them being referred to a 'gods' and the proclamation against them that "they shall die like men". Telling a man that he will die like a man is not a revelation, but to an angel it is new information! Also saying "all of you are children of the Most High is weird language to speak of rebellious men.
If this is so, (and it totally is) then also in Psalm 82 is an indictment that they are judging unjustly, and showing partiality to the wicked. Following right on its heels is the order to do justice, and deliver the poor and needy. In short, they are told to stop doing wrong, and start doing right. To me that speaks of repentance.
It also mirrors when Enoch records that the angels that sinned petitioned him to intercede for them with God, and God's reply was that they should be interceding for men, not the other way around.
In Psalm 135:14 it says: For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants.
I totally get that this has most of it's application towards us humans. I also get that the word "repent himself" is translated elsewhere as "have compassion on" and I have no issue with either translation. But if He indeed will repent Himself concerning His servants, what is his current attitude concerning His servants?
For this I am drawn to Job 4:18: Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
What changes?
Matthew 5:25-26 - Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Bear with me here because I'm aware I could be overreaching, but I think I see something else here. On the surface there's no need to try and guess what Jesus means. It's pretty straight up. But spiritually speaking, it carries strange verbiage and imagery. The words "thine adversary" are very comfortably applied to the Devil. This is straaaange to me because the commands to agree with him because we will be shown by the judge to be clearly in the wrong concerning him doesn't work. And if our adversary is God, why then does it refer to the judge as a separate party?
However, if the idiomatic meaning of the scripture is addressed to rebellious (or sinning) angels, their adversary IS God and their judge IS a third party. ( I continue to use the word idiom because I've watched too much Monty Python in my youth and can't be bothered to find the right word.
1 Corinthians 6:3 -Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
It is the saints who will judge the angels. Will there be mercy for them? I say yes based on Jesus' command to judge righteous judgment. (And in my view, in being righteous has an awful lot to do with being merciful, even to the extent of disregarding technicalities like whether or not a miracle was performed on the Sabbath)
I also am reminded of the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18, where the servant whom had been forgiven failed to cancel the debt of his FELLOW SERVANT, and had his own cancelled debt reinstated.
I think that as redeemed sinners, whom have been perfected by the Author and Finisher of our faith, we're going to be much more lenient in our judgment of the angels than we can appreciate at this time.
As an aside: Paul mentions that we would judge angels like we should already know that. I firmly believe that if that is so it would be shadowed or pictured or typed somewhere in the Old Testament. Does anyone have any insight into this?
