16.1 The Angelic Realms
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I am not big on angelology. I know that interacting directly with angels, even those closest to God, is one of the best ways to lose sight of Jesus. Nevertheless, the more I speak and write the truth, the more I see all things real. I do not see the angelic realms by experience, but only by faith. Nevertheless, faith is not wishful thinking but substance. Faith sees what God says.
And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.” – Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:7 & 14)?
Serving Others for Us
Let’s look a bit more closely at Hebrews 1:14, altering the words slightly to show the depths of meaning in the Greek. Angels are ministering spirits sent forth to perform acts of service through and for the sake of those who are inheriting salvation. In other words, angels are not here necessarily to serve us, but to serve others through us. That is, angels help other people as part of our ministry.
The practice of initiating direct communication with angels has always felt, not just fake to me, but also wrong. It is a fixing of our eyes, and therefore our story, in the wrong direction. Yet we do expect that angels act in kindness through our expectation of God.
Where Do Angels Fit?
Now, what are angels? We live in one realm of existence that can be called heaven/earth. This one realm has two parts, two parts that are entirely intermingled together and cannot be separated. These two realms, heaven and earth, utterly together, are inhabited by trillions upon trillions of entities of all sorts. Let’s create a chart to understand these entities.
| Rocks/Dirt | Plants | Animals | Humans | Angels | ?Elementals? | Spirit-substance |
| The building blocks of all things on the physical side. | Rooted in the earth, with simple, but vital spirit qualities. | Bodies of the earth, possessing spirits that do not endure. | Fully of earth; fully of heaven. Possessing earth bodies and heaven bodies equally enduring. | Bodies of heaven substance, that is spirit; can take on temporal earth form. | Rooted in the heavens, with simple, but vital interaction with the physical earth. | The building blocks of all things on the spirit/heaven side. |
The Human Body and Spirit
We humans have an earth body that seems to be the same as the bodies of animals, and yet it’s not. What makes our body different is that it is fused together with an enduring spirit, the combination of which makes us to be living souls. We humans have a heaven body that seems to be the same as the spirits of angels, and yet it’s not. What makes our spirit different is that it is fused together with an enduring physical body (in the resurrection), the combination of which makes us to be living souls. And it is at this very junction of heaven and earth, united together fully in us as humans, that Father reveals Himself.
Mankind Is the Master
Now, we have positioned seven types of entities, with the human in possession of the other six in our makeup. Man is also the master of all six of the other types. “You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him (man) (Hebrews 2:8).
Man is at the center of all things in heaven/earth, and makes use of all things for his service. Yet, at the same time, man as the revelation of the Father, serves all things through life laid down and love poured out. I have never seen these things together with the simple clarity an academic chart gives us.
Many Species, Many Purposes
The similarities between animals and angels are, most likely, extensive. Animals were created to serve man in the earth, yet their service is in a number of very different ways, while many species of animals serve man not at all. Angels were created to serve man in the heavens, yet their service is in a number of very different ways, while many species of angels serve man not at all.
We know from Biblical descriptions that there are more than one species of angels. We know from our knowledge of our Creator, that God always does too many and too much. Thus we can safely assume that there are MANY quite different species of angels.
Categories of Animals (and Angels)
On the animal side, there are two very close categories of animals, working/companion animals and gut bacteria. (For the sake of simplicity, I am including all bacteria inside the “animal” category.)
Then, there is another category of animals just a bit further out, skin bacteria and food/skin/wool animals. This is an interesting category for it seems to come only out from Adam’s death. Skin bacteria eats us as our body cells die and flake off and we eat animals only by killing them.
Then, we can see that angelic species close to man also provide direct service; we can compare horses with cherubs, for instance. He rode upon a cherub, and flew (Psalm 18:10).
One Heaven/Earth
Now, everything that exists for us and everything recorded in the Bible, with the one exception of the visible physical stars, is found entirely inside this one realm of heaven/earth.
There is no such thing as a “heaven” of “bliss” geographized and located far away from earth. This fake image comes out from death, the splitting apart of heaven and earth by Adam’s sin, and it comes by the spirit of anti-Christ seeking to drive Jesus far away from us. Many references in John’s vision refer to the age to come. Guess what! The age to come has not yet come.
All created things in heaven and earth are entirely inside of this present age in the present moment. We will KNOW we are “new agers” when our bodies become immortal!
Inside One Heaven/Earth
And, except for a few species of angels, all entities inside this heaven/earth operate entirely inside the earth’s magnetosphere, heaven/earth together. Those few species of angels, however, remain entirely inside of the heliosphere, that is, the solar system.
All dead humans remain entirely inside this one heaven/earth, fully aware of all things earth, but utterly unable to participate except inside a limited sphere confined to the heavens only. Humans in heaven only are unnatural; that is, they are dead, continuing entirely inside of Adam’s curse. Paul assures us that those who belong to Jesus are IN Christ and WITH Christ, just as, but not more than, we are.
Transcendent AND Immanent
I am convinced that it is vital for us to have this full picture of one realm inhabited by seven different types of entities, everything working together, all things visible to all, in the moments before Adam’s sin.
One more thing, however. God is NOT heaven, and heaven is NOT God. When we speak of God and when we speak of heaven, we are speaking of utterly different things. Heaven is created, an integral part of heaven/earth, and closely involved with the existence of all things physical. God is fully transcendent AND fully immanent. God is God; yet He fills all things and works all things.
A River of Death
Thus we come, now, to the moment when Adam signed the contract with the devil as his teeth pierced the skin of knowing “God” by good and evil. Wow! I thought I knew something about Genesis 3; I’ve hardly seen the outer surface.
The shattering, the devastation, the wreckage hitting the entirety of heaven/earth and every single entity in it in that moment is beyond all possible comprehension. Not one thing in earth was unshattered by Adam’s death; not one thing in heaven was unshattered by Adam’s death. Yet the unfolding of that wreckage would take 1650 years and not reach bottom until Noah walked off the ark with his family.
Animals and Humans
It is entirely legitimate to understand what took place among angelic realms filled with many different species of angels, large and small, by looking at what took place among the animals, particularly in their relationships with humans.
Wolves, coming off the ark with Noah became the close companions of man, yet many wolves stayed as enemies of man. A timber wolf and a Poodle are the same animal! Asian elephants are willing to serve man; African elephants refuse. Asian horses are willing to serve man; African horses (zebras) refuse. Some species seek out humans to kill and eat them; other species kill humans only when provoked.
In Adam All Die
You see, we assume that animals killing animals did not begin until Adam’s teeth pierced the fruit. And consider that most animals, from insects to mammals to birds to fish, are plant eaters, only a small number of species became carnivores, killing other animals to sustain themselves.
Through one man sin entered the cosmos, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men… (Romans 5:12). We then assume that through the action of that one man, death also came upon animals and upon angels. Thus we could surmise that the serpent was not sealed into sin until the moment Adam’s teeth pierced the fruit. Adam destroyed everyone and everything – In Adam all die (1 Corinthians 15:22).
Fallen Angels
We come, now, to the angelic realms as they exist today. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth (Revelation 12:3-4).
Stars are typically God’s symbol for angels through the Scriptures. Now, the verbs in verse 4 are very interesting. “Drew” should be translated, “is continuously drawing” whereas “threw” is a past tense action that occurred over a period of time. Thus the present drawing of angels is into a past casting down. It is partly from this line, however, that we get the concept of “fallen” angels.
Terrified of Man
Now, the serpent gained this power over other angels ONLY from Adam signing his birthright over to him.
You see, most of the conceptualization of Milton’s Paradise Lost is fantasy, created by Calvinist “good and evil” imaginings and imparting nonsense to people’s minds, whereas Tolkien’s “Middle Earth” was devised partly to show us truth. In some ways the Catholic mind has not departed from the truth as far as the Calvinist mind.
Back to angels. Like animals, most angels and angelic species are terrified of man. Angels do NOT trust us; we abuse and destroy them as much as we abuse and destroy animals and each other.
Angels and Humans
But let’s relate the effects of sin and death upon angelic species in a similar way as we see their effects on animal species. And we are looking primarily at relationships with humans. Just as many animal species have no relation to humans, yet walk under darkness, yet are not themselves responsible for sin, so it is with many angelic species. Just because an angelic species flees from humans and wants nothing to do with them, does not mean they are “evil.” Just as some animal species are split in service to man versus being hostile or even killing humans (wolves), so it is the same with some angelic species, particularly cherubs. And even though many angels of differing species willingly serve the dragon, only a small number are actual predators.
Lots and Lots
Yet when we say “a small number” when we are referring to God’s creation, we can still be talking about millions or even billions. You see, there are between 10 and 20 trillion little “animals” living in each of our bodies, some are vital for our own DNA, some are good for us, some are neither good nor bad, and some are destructive enemies seeking to kill us. I will not conjecture that our relationship with angels is the same; we can, however, see many parallels.
Consider bears. Bears, in themselves, have no desire to kill or even to harm humans. Humans have proven that if you treat a bear as an equal, they will be good friends. But if you mess with bears, they will rip you to pieces. That does not make them evil.
Angels That Are Evil
Yet there are some angels that are evil. Angels that are evil most likely come from differing species or kinds of angels. And angels that are evil are most likely split into two groups, those who are aggressive predators, and those who simply go along with the flow of the aggressive predators.
In my experiences with spiritual deliverance, we saw this truth quite clearly. There is typically one or just a few powerful spirits holding sway in a person’s life. When they are broken, a whole host of less powerful spirits flee with them. One picture that came in visions was a panther on the one hand, and a swarm of flies on the other.
A Cohesive View
But that topic is coming up, and thus just beyond the purpose of this lesson. – We have not looked at plants or elementals in this study, but consider this. Many plants we do not consider eating. Some plants will kill us if eaten, some just make us sick; some plants nourish our bodies, and some have the power to heal. The “elementals” of the heavens are likely similar.
I have never seen any of this in such a cohesive manner as the Lord has given us through this lesson. I love the discipline of an academic approach as it serves Christ in us.
Angels not trusting humans does not mean they serve the dragon. But in the next lessons we want to focus on those angels that are evil as well as intent on destroying mankind.