During the Cold War, Ronald Reagan the then American President proposed the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), a program that was aimed at shooting down nuclear missiles in space. This ambitious plan was known as “Star Wars”. In a televised address on the 23rd of March 1983, Reagan called upon USA engineers and scientists to create a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete. The whole idea was to shift the country’s defence mechanism from earth to outer space by creating a space-based shield that would neutralize nuclear missiles. However, Reagan’s dream remained science fiction though his government spent billions on developing this concept.
Reagan saw the need of having a defence system to protect his nation. We all need some form of defence against harm which might be thrown our way. God already has in existence a ‘star wars defence mechanism’ in operation to protect His people. There are stars which are sent by God to protect us and by stars, I do not mean the ones which you see in the sky at night or stars of the zodiac. In the symbolic language of the Bible, angels are referred to as stars, though not in every case when the word ‘star’ is used to refer to angels but we have to consider the context of each scripture.
Revelation 1:20 says “…The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches...”
Angels, among other roles, they are involved in fighting spiritual wars on our behalf. In this chapter, we shall learn more about angels which I have nicknamed ‘star warriors’.
Hezekiah’s Star Wars Defence Mechanism
During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, the king of Judah there came up Sennacherib king of Assyria against the fortified cities of Judah and thought to win them over to himself. When Hezekiah saw this, he realised that Sennacherib's purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, so he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him. He strengthened his fortifications by rebuilding walls that had been broken and built up another wall. Military captains were appointed over the people. After doing all that, he gathered the people and said to them "Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people of Judah were strengthened by the words of their king, Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:1-8).
Hezekiah had made all the physical preparations for war but he knew that it was not enough, he had to seek the Lord because Proverbs 21:31 says “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the LORD”. He might have made all the fortifications and army preparations but without the Lord, it would all be in vain, thus he strengthened his people in the Lord. We might do all that needs to be done in this spiritual war against evil, but as long as it’s just our efforts, we will not win, we need the Lord to be with us to overcome.
After this Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem a message through his servants with which he tried to discourage the people and persuade them to surrender without a fight. The devil always has a discouraging message for those on God's side, he wants them to surrender to his evil machinations without giving a fight. Satan has his people who will tell you that “you can’t fight such and such a sin, just surrender, you are not Jesus, you just a sinner after all, so you might as well continue in sin”. The devil has ready speakers who discourage you from living a holy life and they give you derogatory names such as “holier-than- thou”.
Sennacherib boasted about the successful battles he and his father had won against various people. Satan will always show you a list of those whom he successfully took down just as to discourage you. In his message, Sennacherib even undermined The Lord that He won’t be able to help the people of Judah. The servants of Sennacherib said even more against the LORD God and his servant Hezekiah (read 2 Chronicles 32:9-16).
The words of contempt by Sennacherib were not just verbal but he even wrote letters to revile the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand." (2 Chronicles 32:9-17). Satan has his authors who are in the business of writing publications which mock God and belittle Him. The aim is just to discourage you from following the truth. Stay away from material which undermines God and His power, it will only weaken your faith and once that is done you become easy prey to Satan.
Hezekiah and Prophet Isaiah joined hands and prayed to the Lord, they didn’t try to match wits by writing back to Sennacherib or by getting into a verbal debate, but they took matters to a higher office, they took it to God Himself in prayer (read 2 Chronicles 32:20). Let’s learn to take matters up to God.
In answer to the prayers, The Lord sent an angel (just one angel) which killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand (185,000) soldiers of the Assyrians in a single night. Soldiers (not civilians) were massacred by ONE angel in ONE night (read Isaiah 37:36 or 2 Kings 19:35 or 2 Chronicles 32:21). The battle was over without the people of Judah firing a single arrow, not one of them was even injured. Victory in this physical battle was obtained spiritually – by praying and the Lord sent His 'star warrior’ to fight for His people. No human being can on his own do this kind of damage unless probably he employs a nuclear bomb or some other high-tech weapon.
Seeing that on the Lord’s side we have such supernatural beings in the form of angels who can be sent to our aid, it would be necessary if we could study what they are, how they came to being, their power and other related matters.
What are they and how did they come into being?
Colossians 1:16 informs us that all things that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All of these things were created through Jesus and for Him. Angels fall within this category, they are created beings.
Angels were created before humans because Job 38:4-7 says that the morning stars (referring to angels) sang together as they beheld the creation of this earth. That’s why when we consider the creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2 we don’t read anything about the creation of angels. It’s because the Genesis account deals with the record of the creation of this earth, everything on and around it and humans. It doesn’t cover the creation of angels because they were already created before the Earth’s creation.
Before any human being had died, we see God placing Angels in the Garden of Eden to guard the way of the Tree of life (Genesis 3:24). No human had died so far, yet angels were already in existence, meaning angels are not babies or human beings who have died and are promoted to become angels. This might be common preaching especially at funerals where the Pastor comforts the mourners by telling them that their departed loved one has been promoted to become an angel in heaven, with all due respect this cannot be supported by the Bible.
Hebrews 12:22 talks of an innumerable (uncountable) number of angels. John on Revelation 5:11 he says “when I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands”. So with regards to numbers, angels are so many.
What purpose do they serve?
As Daniel was in the lion's den, an angel of the Lord came and shut up the lions’ mouth so that the servant of the Lord was not harmed (Daniel 6:22). When Sodom and the surrounding cities were about to be destroyed, two angels came to the rescue of Lot and his family (Genesis 19). To Peter in prison, an angel came to his deliverance during the night (Acts 12). In all these examples, the work of angels can be summarised using Hebrews 1:14 which says “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”
“The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” Psalms 34:7
Angels are in the business of protecting those who fear the Lord. There are some battles which they fight on our behalf and we know little of. It’s not by sheer luck that you are alive today, there are a lot of battles which God’s angels have fought for you.
When Jesus was arrested before his crucifixion, his disciple Peter took out a sword and struck the ear of Malchus a servant of the high priest who was part of the team who had come to arrest Jesus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:51-53). The words of Jesus reveal that God can send angels to fight battles on behalf of his children on this earth. By Just a prayer, God the Father could have dispatched twelve legions of angels to fight for Christ. If one angel destroyed 185,000 people in a single night, imagine what 12 legions of angels could have done? Some historians say a Roman legion at that time had at least 4,000 (four thousand) soldiers, if that’s the case, 12 legions would translate to 48,000 angels. Had they come in such numbers they would have wiped out the whole earth.
Before being arrested, Jesus spent some time in the Mount of Olives praying. As He prayed there appeared an angel from heaven strengthening Him (Luke 22:43). Instead of sending an angel to deliver Jesus out of the hands of those who killed Him, God sent an angel to strengthen His son to endure what was coming His way. So sometimes God doesn’t send angels to destroy our enemies but He sends them to strengthen us to go through whatever it is we are facing. Either way, it is for our good.
God’s angels are going to be involved in the harvest process when this world ends. When Jesus told the parable of the wheat and tares on Matthew 13:37-43, He said the reapers are the angels. Talking about His second coming on Matthew 16:27, He (Jesus) said He will come with His angels. Even when Paul writes about the same event on 2 Thessalonians 1:7, he says Jesus will come with His mighty angels. So at the close of this earth’s history angels will come together with Jesus to take those who are saved to heaven.
How do they look like?
Angels can appear in various forms. They can appear in their glory. To the Shepherds watching their flocks at night, an angel appeared to announce the birth of Jesus Christ. When the angel appeared, the glory of the Lord shone around them insomuch that they were filled with great fear because of this sight (Luke 2:9). In prison when the angel appeared to Peter, a light shined in the cell (Acts 12:7). When the angels are going to come with Jesus on His second coming, they will come in their glory (Luke 9:26). They can have an appearance of flashing light. Matthew 28:3 referring to an angel says “His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.”
Angels can also appear in human form. The Bible records on Genesis 19:1 that two angels came to Sodom, but as you read on that story, the men of that city did not see these celestial beings as angels but as mere humans. This is shown by the way they spoke to Lot who hosted these two angels, the men of the city said "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." (Genesis 19:5). To the men of Sodom, the angels looked like ordinary men and not angels that’s why they even wanted to have sexual relations with those angels.
“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” Hebrews 13:2
We are called to show hospitality to strangers because some in doing so have entertained angels unknowingly. Abraham is one example, he welcomed strangers who were just passing by without even knowing that they were angels and the Lord was among them. (Genesis 18).
Angels can also come in the form of dreams, or they can appear in dreams. To Jacob, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream (Genesis 31:11). To Joseph, we have records of an angel appearing to him in a dream thrice. On the first occasion when he was told not to divorce Mary (see Matthew 1:20); on the second occasion when he was instructed to flee to Egypt with baby Jesus and Mary as Herod wanted to kill the child (see Matthew 2:13) and on Matthew 2:19 when he was told to return to Israel since Herod who earlier on wanted to kill Jesus was no longer alive.
The burning bush that Moses saw which was on fire but not consumed was not on ordinary fire but it was an angel of the Lord who appeared like a flame of fire (read Exodus 3:2-3 and Acts 7:30). Angels have that ability to appear in the form of fire. Psalms 104:4 says: “Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire”
What are their strengths and abilities?
“Bless the LORD, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do
His word, Heeding the voice of His word.” Psalms 103:20
Angels excel in strength, they do extremely well when it comes to the display of power. We as humans were created a little lower than angels that's according to Psalms 8:5. But how little lower are we as compared to angels? In our introduction we read of how one angel killed 185,000 humans in a single night, that’s how ‘little lower’ we are. So no matter what strength we have or we think we have, just know that it’s a little lower than that of angels.
The strengths and abilities are revealed in various supernatural things they can do.
Angels can speak through animals. When the serpent tempted Eve, the snake was just used as a channel (medium) to convey the message from Satan a fallen angel (Genesis 3). Not only can angels speak through animals but they can cause a change in the behaviour of animals. On Numbers 22:22-35, Balaam's donkey saw an angel standing in the way and the animal turned aside out of the road and went into the field. Balaam (who had not seen the angel) struck the donkey to turn her back into the road but it resisted and pushed Balaam's foot against the wall. All this behaviour was caused by an angel.
When Daniel was in the lion’s den, the normal behaviour of the lions was to devour humans but they behaved in an abnormal way for the Bible records that an Angel had been sent by the Lord to close the mouths of the lions (Daniel 6:22). Some people have encountered dangerous animals but were not harmed in any way, not because the animals didn’t want to attack them but because God had sent his angels to cause the animals to change their behaviour. Do you also realise that Daniel was in a sealed place, yet an angel managed to get inside there, meaning angels can have access to physically secure places, they can pass through walls, and they are not subject to physical barriers since they are spiritual beings.
King Herod was struck to death by the angel of the Lord because he didn’t give glory to God (Acts 12:23). This shows that angels can kill, not just ordinary people but even kings despite them being surrounded by high security. Sennacherib's army of 185,000 soldiers was killed by one angel. They can also cause disability. Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist was made dump by angel Gabriel and was not able to speak for some time (Luke 1:19-20). Men of Sodom were struck by blindness by angels of God (Genesis 19:11).
Their ability to present themselves in various forms which we have already considered is also part of their strengths. We studied that they can present themselves as flames of fire (see Exodus 3:2-3; Acts 7:30; Psalms 104:4), they can also cause fire not to have its burning effect. An angel caused the fiery furnace not to have any effect on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:28).
Angels have records of human affairs, they know a great detail of information relating to people. Let us consider a particular passage of