NO.14/ ON ANTICHRIST #7 MESSENGERS
“And while you might have assumed an Angel comes from Heaven, there are actually Earthly Angels as well. ”
When Pharaoh had a dream, two in fact on the same night, he called for "the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. (Gen. 41:8) Without going into too much detail, Pharaoh 's first dream was about seven fat cows and seven lean cows and how the seven lean cows ate the fat ones. His second dream involved seven fat ears of corn and seven lean ears and how the lean ears ate the fat ears. What's of importance to you and I is that both dreams were THE SAME DREAM. God just used different images to convey THE SAME MESSAGE!
As for Pharaoh, Joseph was finally called in to interpret the two dreams and told Pharaoh this very thing; "The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do" (v. 26)
Why is this so important to understand?
For whatever reason, when God speaks to us prophetically, He will at times choose to repeat Himself ("Out of the mouth of two or three shall a thing be established.") using different images to say the same thing. He did so with Pharaoh, obviously. He also did so in Daniel's book when Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about FOUR NATIONS that would arise starting with Babylon; each nation depicted as a portion of a man's body. Then Daniel had a night vision at a later time in which he also saw FOUR NATIONS arising starting with Babylon, only his vision portrayed each nation as an animal. Eight nations? NO! Only four. But God chose to communicate the same message using different images.
He also does the same thing in the Book of Revelation. I'll give you examples of this as we move ahead in the book itself. For now, there are images shown to John we'll all need to be in agreement with as to what they represent before we can move ahead.
First, let's start with the word/image of an Angel. It comes from the Hebrew word Malak and the Greek word Aggelos and simply means "messenger," nothing more, nothing less. And while you might have assumed an angel comes from heaven, there are actually earthly angels as well.
For instance, Haggai (an Old Testament Prophet) called himself "the Lord's MALAK" (Haggai 1:13). Of course, being a man, the translators rendered this passage, "the Lord's messenger." However, in another place where Abraham lifted up his hand to slay Isaac his son, "the MALAK of the Lord called to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" and stopped him from sacrificing his son (Gen. 22:11). In this instance, because the MALAK was clearly from heaven, the word ANGEL was used.
The same holds true in the New Testament. When John arrives onto the scene, we're told. "Behold, I send My AGGELOS before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You." (Mark 1:2). Here, because John was a man, the word "messenger" was used. However, prior to John being born, his father was ministering in the temple (he was a priest) and an AGGELOS appeared to him and told him he was going to have a son. However, as you've probably already guessed, this passage was rendered ANGEL (Luke 1:13).
Now, this is all fine and good EXCEPT for one thing. What if the translators didn’t get it right all the time ? What if some of those Aggelos’ we read about throughout the Bible were actually earthly Angels and not heavenly?
What then?
With this in mind, let's look at some passages in the book of Revelation and make our own determinations
"The I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth ..." (Rev. 14:6 NKJV)
Here we're being shown an Aggelos flying in heaven and about to preach to us on the earth. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? While it might appear to be in line with Scripture, note what Paul said.
"Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, AND HAS GIVEN US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION ..." (2 Cor. 5:18 NKJV).
God gave YOU and I (the church) the ministry of reconciliation to preach; not Angels! Besides, Peter tells us that even the "angels desire to look into." (1 Pet. 1:12 NKJV) these things concerning our salvation.
Once considered, you must ask yourself why God would ever entrust Heavenly Angels with a "gospel" about our salvation, one preached via the unction of "the Holy Spirit sent from heaven" (same verse)?
The short answer is, He would not NOR HAS HE EVER!!!
This must mean that this Aggelos flying in heaven having "the everlasting gospel to preach" is an Earthly messenger and not a heavenly one. (As a side note, Paul teaches we are right now seated in the heavens in Christ at God's right hand [Eph. 2:6])
If you're still not convinced, let me give you one more example and then we'll call it a day. Found in the 15th chapter, John is shown seven Aggelos coming out of the temple in heaven. This time we're told they are all "clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles." (Rev. 15:6). Allowing that, "no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation," (2 Pet. 1:20), we must allow the BIBLE to give us our interpretation of what their clothing represents.
The good news is, we don't have to look far. In the 19th chapter, we're told that the New Jerusalem (the Bride of Christ) is clothed in "fine linen, clean (pure) and white: for the “fine linen is the Righteousness of the Saints” (Rev. 19:8)
Did you catch that? The "fine linen" that these seven ANGELS are depicted as wearing in the 15th chapter is actually the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF SAINTS!
This means that many if not all of the Angels we see flying around in the Book of Revelation are not heavenly Angels at all. They are Earthly Angels; namely The Church!
Just this truth alone should get our attention that much of what we've been reading and thinking we understood about the book of Revelation has been steeped in religious traditions and teachings that are in error.
