David Diga Hernandez - Angels: Heavenly Beings

So, as with every other topic, we’re going to approach this subject from the Word of God. The Word of God needs to be the foundation of our understanding for anything spiritual, and it’s important that we do not venture too far into areas that Scripture has not described for us in detail. It’s very, very dangerous when you leave the sure Word of God to explore ideas of your own. Now, there is nothing wrong with asking questions about the supernatural. I believe in angels; I believe in demons; I believe in heaven and hell. You and I both believe in the supernatural, and the Bible teaches that all of these things are real. However, it’s important that we do not become carried away with topics that are not our primary focus. Jesus must remain our focus; the Word of God must remain our foundation.

As we explore the Word of God concerning angelic beings, I need you to remember that we must always return to the Word. There are many wonderful revelations that the body of Christ has received concerning angelic beings, but there are also times when people will conjure ideas that are a little strange. Strange is not necessarily always bad, but those are ideas that are strange and not backed by Scripture. So while it’s exciting to explore these topics, we must remain grounded in the Word.

As I go through these truths concerning angelic beings, I want you to remember that not everything concerning the angelic realm is perfectly clear in how it’s laid out in Scripture. The Bible gives us glimpses into the angelic realm and offers insights about it. For example, in just a moment, I will show you the different classes of angelic beings as described in Scripture. Now, as far as exactly how these angels are ranked or if this truly is the full list of all the angelic types, we do not know that for certain. All we can do is take what we know with certainty to be the Word of God, take what it tells us, and then build our beliefs upon that.

We shouldn’t venture too far away from that. It’s okay to speculate sometimes; it’s okay to ask questions; it’s okay to suggest interesting ideas, but we mustn’t build our ideas on this foundation. So, as we explore this, remember to keep that in mind. Now, there’s a lot of debate about the classes of angels, their ranks, and so forth, but as far as what I see in Scripture, these are probably the clearest types of angels that I can identify. Some may categorize these differently than I have, and that’s okay. As I said, the Bible has given us glimpses into the angelic realm.

For me to be dogmatic about something that has only been somewhat covered in Scripture would be unhealthy; it wouldn’t be a good idea. So, let’s first take a look at the first type of angel that I want to examine. As far as I can tell in Scripture, this appears to be the highest-ranking angel. Now again, we do not know that; perhaps there are other types of ranks or other types of angelic beings that are not necessarily listed in Scripture. It’s not as if God owes it to us to explain all of the workings in the heavenly realm. He simply gives us understanding in the areas where we need clarity and revelation for those things that apply to us and actually affect our lives.

First and foremost, we have the archangels. The term «archangels» in the original language means «chief angels.» In Jude 1:9, the Bible states, «But even Michael, one of the mightiest of angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy but simply said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’» This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses’s body. In some translations of the Bible, that phrase «mightiest of the angels» would be translated as «archangel.»

1 Thessalonians 4:16 says, «For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.» Here, we see another mention of an archangel. Archangels are stronger and more powerful; one of their tasks is to engage in spiritual warfare. The reason we see that archangels are more powerful is because of what we find in Daniel 10:13, where the Bible states, «But for 21 days, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way.» This is an angelic being speaking. «Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.» So, Michael came and somewhat rescued this other angelic being from the prince of the kingdom of Persia, which was a spiritual being, a demonic force, or a stronghold, as you would say.

Next, we see the seraphim. The seraphim are mentioned in Isaiah 6, a text I often reference and one of my favorite portions of Scripture, as you can probably tell if you’ve listened to my teachings for any length of time. In Isaiah 6, beginning at verse number one, let’s read it again: «It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne and the train of his robe filled the temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings; with two wings, they covered their faces; with two, they covered their feet.»