continued.. There are a lot of scriptures she use here.
"
1. The astounding power of angels:
When people think of angels, they usually think of powerful beings that are capable of doing things that require a body transcendent of the physical realm. The angels recorded in scripture are powerful beings indeed. One angel, for instance, defended Israel against the Assyrian army, single handedly destroying 185,000 Assyrian soldiers:
2 Kings 19:35
35
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
(Ha – they woke up dead!)
This incident occurred following a dispute between Hezekiah, King of Judah, and the King of Assyria. I enjoy reading it, because the captain of the guard for Assyria boasts that no gods from any other nations that Assyria fought against helped them to prevail. God’s response to this, found in King Hezekiah’s prayer for help, (2 Kings 19:17-19), can be paraphrased as: "…but the God of Israel, IS-REAL." This becomes weightily evident when reflecting on the mass destruction of the Assyrian army.
Aside from the mass destruction of armies and cities (Sodom and Gomorrah), angels are also noted for their ability to fly (Matthew 28:2, Revelation 14:6), teleport (Acts 5:19-23), deliver messages in person (or angel, if you will) and psychically in dreams (Luke 1:13, Matthew 1:20, Genesis 31:11)1. They can also bless people with healing (John 5:2-6), curse people with blindness (Genesis 19:1-3), muteness (Luke 1:20), and make people feint (Matthew 28:2). All of these powers indicate entities of a supernatural, spiritual nature. Furthermore, Psalms 104:1-4 and Ephesians 6:12 indicate that angels are indeed spiritual beings.
Psalms 104:1-4
1
Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; … 4Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Ephesians 6:10-13
12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
2. Confusion with classifying angels:
Do these reference apply to all angels? Here is where some confusion may arise due to the liberal use of the term angel. Psalms 104:1-4 wasn’t necessarily stating that angels are strictly spiritual beings. Also, not all angels are enveloped in flaming fire. The angels in Ezekiel 1:4-14, for instance, were angels surrounded by flames of fire, but don’t even come close to the human appearance of the angels that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, among others, which were usually mistaken for being male humans.
Ezekiel 1:4-14
4And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. 8And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 11Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. 12And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. 13As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
As for the spiritual beings mentioned in Ephesians 6:10-13, these are spiritual beings that Christian’s wrestle against. This distinguishes them as either fallen angels, or demons – (terms which are unique from each other, and I will define further in this book). Paul mentions them specifically as not having flesh and blood. I think there could be three possible explanations for this passage of scripture.
I don’t think it would be unreasonable to rephrase Paul’s statement as "…flesh and blood as we know it…" – because if fallen angels or demons have flesh and blood, it’s probably different from ours.
Also, it may very well be that some powerful, evil beings may not have any physical form, nor are able to assume any physical form. I classify disincarnate fallen angels into this category, which I will simply call demons. I derive this classification from the assumption that A. Angels are physical beings, B. Angels that sin are cursed with death, and C. Once physically dead, their spirits continue to exist.
Demon is a broad term I use to describe both deceased fallen angels, (non-corporeal), and their deceased aberrant hybrid progeny, such as the Nephilim, (which again, I will discuss shortly). Demons are always distinguished in scripture as beings that seek embodiment, while angels don’t. This denotes them as beings without physical bodies. They likewise aren’t able to assume physical form by their power. They need hosts.
A final interpretation of Ephesians 6:10-13 is that Paul was emphasizing that we, as Christian’s, aren’t struggling just against our own flesh and blood, but against evil, spiritual beings. If this is what Paul meant, then he wasn’t directly stating that the spiritual beings Christian’s wrestle against aren’t composed of flesh and blood. Just because these beings are spiritual, doesn’t meant that they aren’t physical either, or that they don’t have the ability to become physical. Humans, for instance, are spiritual beings, as well as physical.
In any case, there are other scriptures that indicate that angels aren’t strictly spiritual beings. The bottom line of Ephesians 6:10-13 is to be on your guard as a Christian, because there are evil spiritual beings everywhere, and Christians are in warfare against them, whether they like it or not. Christians must prepare for battle!"
