Lessons #165 and 166
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Settlement of disputes among believers (1 Cor 6:1-11)
1If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints?2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6But instead, one brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers! 7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. 9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The primary message of this section of 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 that we have been considering is that Disputes between believers in a local church should be settled by the church through carefully selected members. To expound this message, we stated the fundamental principle of handling disputes between believers in a local church, which is, that they should not be adjudicated by unbelievers but by believers. The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul provides us two reasons for this principle. The first reason believers should not allow unbelievers to adjudicate legal disputes between believers is because believers will eventually judge unbelievers. We considered this reason in detail in our last study, so we continue with the second reason.
A second reason believers should not allow unbelievers to adjudicate legal disputes between believers as the Holy Spirit provided through Apostle Paul is that believers will judge angels. It is this reason that is given in a first rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? The rhetorical question indicates that all believers, inclusive of the apostle, will judge angels because of the pronoun “we.” Furthermore, the apostle must have taught them this truth in the past to ask the question in the manner he did. Or the apostle must have taught a doctrinal truth to them from which they should have the information he stated. Of course, the problem is to determine what the apostle meant by judging angels. To do this we need to understand who the angels in view are.
The word “angels” is translated from a Greek word (angelos) that may mean a human messenger serving as an envoy hence means “an envoy, one who is sent.” Thus, it can refer to a messenger sent by a human as was the case by John the Baptist who sent his disciples to Jesus, as stated in Luke 7:24:
After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
The human messenger may be sent by God as John the Baptist was, as the Lord Jesus stated, as recorded in Luke 7:27:
This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
The messenger may be a transcendent being who is sent by God to carry out specific mission or task hence means “angel, messenger” as the being sent to rescue the apostles from jail, as recorded in Acts 5:19:
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
The word can refer to fallen angels, as in 2 Peter 2:4:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
The question is to determine in what sense the word is used in our passage. Certainly, it could not refer to human messengers since the apostle had referred to unbelievers in the first reason given in 1 Corinthians 6:2. Therefore, he must have meant angelic beings. To answer our question of who the apostle meant, we need to study the subject of angels which to some of you is a review of what we have studied in the past but may be new to others. Some who claim to be Christians do not believe that angels are active in our world today. Truly, the Bible does not give much information about angels, but from the information given to us we can deduce certain truths about them.
Angels are created divine beings that originally were part of the heavenly court. That they are created beings is clear from Psalm 148:2, 5:
2 Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.
They were created before human beings, as we can deduce from the fact they rejoiced when God created the earth, according to Job 38:4-7:
4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
The word “angels” in verse 7 of Job 38 is literally sons of God, but from the sixth verse of the first chapter of the book of Job there is no doubt that the phrase sons of God is a reference to angelic beings or, at least, a class of the sons of God so that the translators of the NIV are justified in using the word “angels” in place of the phrase sons of God. Since the angels shouted for joy when God laid the foundation of the earth then it is certain that they were created before man. Because angels were created as part of God’s court in heaven, they are spiritual beings, without earthly bodies, but when they appeared to human beings in the Scripture they usually do so as males and never as females. This is clear from the appearance of angels who destroyed Sodom. We know they appeared as men otherwise, the men of the city would not have desired homosexual relationship with them. The arrival of the two angels that destroyed Sodom, Lot’s invitation to them as his guests, and the men of the city demands for homosexual activity with them are described in Genesis 19:1-5:
1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square." 3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
This passage is clear that the angels who arrived in Sodom and spent the night in Lot’s house were those described as “men” in verse 5. The angels must have looked like typical male of the eastern people for the men of the city to make their demand. So, it should be clear that when angels appear among people, they will assume the same identity as the men of that place in order not to stand out. It is true that angels when they appear to people often assume the form of a male, but as spiritual beings in heaven they are sexless, as we can deduce from the teaching of our Lord that they do not marry, according to, Matthew 22:30:
At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
It seems that angels were created in the same moral state in which human was created, that is, with the ability to do that which is right or wrong. This we can infer from the fact that God brought charges of error against angels, as we read in Job 4:18:
If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,
It is because angels were capable of errors that led to the fall of angels. The Bible does not tell us clearly about the fall of angels, despite the speculations given by some pastors and scholars that are often stated as facts, but we know that they fell at some point after their creation. For unless this was the case, it is difficult to understand how there can be good and bad angels. The Lord Jesus spoke of holy angels in Mark 8:38:
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
Apostle Paul spoke of the elect angels in 1 Timothy 5:21:
I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
But then, the Lord spoke of the punishment of the devil and the angels associated with him, implying that these are bad or evil angels, as we read in Matthew 25:41:
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
The fallen angels are still free to roam about, but a class of fallen angels, who were probably involved in sexual relationship with women in Genesis 6, are now in prison waiting for their final judgment according to the following passages:
2 Peter 2:4:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
Jude 6
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home — these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
In any event, there are two classes of angels: the elect and the fallen. Our focus at the moment is on the elect or good angels.
There is among the elect angelic beings some kind of hierarchy. We say this because of the mention of Archangel Michael in Jude 9:
But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
The word “archangel” is translated from a Greek word (archangelos) that means “a chief” or “leading” angel. The mere use of the word implies that there is a form of hierarchy among the elect angels; otherwise, we will not have an angel described as the commander or leader of angels. Only one archangel, Michael, is mentioned in the Scripture, but the Apocryphal book of Enoch (20:2-8) lists six: Raphael, Raquel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel, and Ramiel. Gabriel is another angel mentioned in the Scripture, but without the title of archangel, according to Luke 1:26
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
It is not necessary for us to have more information about archangel than to recognize that there is such a class of angels. Of course, there are so many speculations, among scholars that can be traced back to Judaism soon after the return from Babylonian captivity, about the hierarchy of angels. This speculative study of angels continues today. However, in the interest of being authoritative in our assertions, we will avoid this approach. The most we can say is that there are two other classes of angels mentioned in the Bible: The Cherubim and the Seraphs or Seraphim. The Scripture says nothing about the ranking of these two with respect to each other, but that has not kept scholars from speculating on which of them outranks the other. This notwithstanding, we have limited information about these two classes of angels.
Seraphs, according to the available information in the Scripture, are six-winged creatures who stand beside God’s throne with twofold functions. The first is to worship God by proclaiming His holiness and sovereignty. The second is to serve as the medium of communication between heaven and earth, as evident in the fact that one of them performed ritual cleansing for Prophet Isaiah while delivering a message of forgiveness. We make these assertions based on the only passage in the Scripture that says anything about the Seraphs, that is, the sixth chapter of Isaiah, specifically, Isaiah 6:2-3, 6-7:
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Cherubim are living creatures associated with the throne of God when God’s presence is stationary. They are described as having four wings, four faces of man, lion, ox, and eagle, according to Ezekiel 1:10-11:
10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body.
In another description of Cherubim, the face of the ox was replaced by the “face of cherub” in Ezekiel 10:14:
Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
It is because the Cherubim are four-winged creatures in contrast to the Seraphs with six wings that led some to deduce that they are lower in rank than the Seraphs. This may be true, but we cannot be certain of that. Nevertheless, there are two functions of Cherubim mentioned in the Scripture. They serve as guardians of the tree of life once man was kicked out of the Eden, as we read in Genesis 3:24:
After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Another function of the Cherubim is as God’s mode of transportation as He navigates through the heavens, according to Psalm 18:10:
He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
In any case, the point is that there are classes of elect angels, but we are not certain of the order of their hierarchy except that the class described as archangel by its very name implies it is highest class among the elect angels. It is true that only Michael is mentioned as archangel in the Scripture, but his description in the book of Daniel leads us to conclude there must have been more than one archangel. For, we read in Daniel 10:13:
But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
The phrase Michael, one of the chief princes suggests there are at least two angels in the class of angels described in Daniel with the expression chief princes which will be equivalent to chief angels. It is true that the word angel is not used, but the context of Daniel 10 suggests that the word “prince” should be understood as an angel or supernatural being like Michael. This is because there is the thought that each nation has an angel that served as its protector and this protecting angel is regarded as prince. It is for this reason that Michael is regarded as Israel’s prince or protector in Daniel 12:1:
"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people — everyone whose name is found written in the book — will be delivered.
The mention of Michael as protecting Israel since the phrase your people, refers to Daniel’s people, who are the Israelites, implies that one of the functions of archangels is to offer protection to the nation of Israel. By the way, it is mostly likely that Michael is the leader in the class of archangel. We say this because he is the one described as leading other angels in a war against Satan and the angels under him, according to Revelation 12:7:
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Be that as it may, we have considered classes of angels and noted few of the functions of these classes as stated in the Scripture, but it is necessary to consider general functions of angels, as we have in the Scripture. First, angels serve as agents of deliverance for believers. This function was clearly demonstrated in the early church. An angel was used to release the apostles who were put in public jail, according to the passage we cited previously, that is, Acts 5:19:
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.
An angel was also used to release Peter from jail, as we read in Acts 12:7-11:
7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
Second, related to the first function, it is generally believed angels function in guardian role towards believers. In other words, that each believer has a guardian angel. The support for this belief is based on two passages that do not explicitly state this assertion. A first passage is the assertion of our Lord about the angels of the “little ones” in Matthew 18:10:
"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
The second passage concerns the assertion made by the early church when Peter was released from prison by an angel, as we read in Acts 12:15:
"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."
The assertion It must be his angel is probably an allusion to the Jewish belief that each person has a guardian angel, regarded as the spiritual counterpart of an individual, who could appear if the person were alive or dead. The belief of guardian angel among the Jews is derived probably from the extrabiblical book of Tobit. The story in it involved Tobias, the son of Tobit, who wanted someone to accompany him to Media and he found an angel Raphael who guarded him during the travel. Originally, Tobias did not know that the man he found to guard him was an angel, but to quail the concern of the mother about his safety, the Father indicated that the man who will accompany the son was an angel, as stated in Tobit 5:14:
For a good angel will accompany him; his journey will be successful, and he will come back in good health." (NRSV)
The point is that the Jewish belief in guardian angels is derived from extrabiblical literature, specifically the book of Tobit.
Third, angels serve as agents of God’s judgment. When God destroyed Sodom, He used two angels, according to Genesis 19:13:
because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."
The judgment of pestilence, in Israel in the time of David, was executed by an angel, as we read in 2 Samuel 24:16:
When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
It was an angel that was used by the Lord to inflict fatal illness on Herod when he stole the glory that belonged to God. The infliction of this fatal illness is described in Acts 12:23:
Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
During the Second Coming of Christ, angels will be used to separate believers from unbelievers, according to Matthew 13:49:
This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous
Fourth, angels have the function of controlling the elements of the earth. Angels control the winds, according to Revelation 7:1:
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
They have control of fire, as stated in Revelation 14:18:
Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe."
The implication of the fact that angels control fire is that when we see what is often described as “wildfire,” we should understand that it is under God’s control and that an angel is in control of it to accomplish God’s purpose. Angels are not only in control of wind and fire but also of water, as we read in Revelation 16:5:
Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged;
It is because the angels are in control of the wind and the waters of the earth that explains why hurricane may begin in one direction and then turn to another. It also explains why there is flooding from a given windstorm in one area but not the other.
Fifth, angels were involved in the First Advent of Christ and will also be involved in the Second Coming. An angel announced the virgin pregnancy, as recorded in Luke 1:30-31:
30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
An angel announced the birth of Christ to shepherds and a host of angels rejoiced because of Jesus’ birth, as we read in Luke 2:10-14:
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Angels ministered to Jesus in several ways during His incarnation. After His temptation, we are told that angels ministered to Him, according to Matthew 4:11:
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
As Jesus was facing the cross, an angel came and strengthened him, as we read Luke 22:43:
An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
Angels will be involved in gathering the elect at the Second Coming, as noted previously, but also stated in Matt 24:31:
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Sixth, angels have specific functions towards believers. The writer of Hebrews indicates this in a summary statement in Hebrew 1:14:
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
The service angels render to the elect is evident in the help an angel rendered to the women who went to the tomb of Jesus with the hope of putting ointment on His body. The women could not possibly open the tomb to carry out what they wanted. Therefore, the Lord dispatched an angel to roll back the stone of the tomb so that the women as they got to the tomb could indeed verify that resurrection has taken place since the tomb was empty. This act of rolling away the stone from the tomb as a service rendered to the women is described in Matthew 28:2:
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Rolling back the stone was not the only service rendered to the women, but also the angel who rendered this service was actually the one who helped explain the significance of the empty tomb by announcing the resurrection of Jesus to the women, according to Matthew 28:5-7:
5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
It is probably because of their assignment to serve the elect that explains why they rejoice when a person is saved, as implied in Luke 15:10:
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
An aspect of serving the elect is to transport the soul of the believer who departs from this life into the presence of the Lord, as implied in the transport of Lazarus to Abraham’s side in Luke 16:22:
"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.
It is because angels serve the elect that an angel was sent to provide encouragement to Apostle Paul as he faced the prospect of shipwreck in Acts 27:23-26:
23 Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26 Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island."
We have mentioned examples of service rendered to the elect by angels; this notwithstanding, we should be aware that they are superior to us at the present time, but that will change when we have our resurrection bodies. That we would be higher than they, is implied in the concept of judging them that is given in the main passage of our study, that is, 1 Corinthians 6:3. The point is that there will be a time when believers will be higher than angels although we are at this point inferior to them. The fact that they are at present higher than we are does not change the fact that they are spiritual beings created by God to serve and worship Him as well as to function as His messengers. It should be emphasized that the fact angels are at the present superior to us does not mean they should be worshipped. The Scripture is clear they are not to be worshipped. It is an error to worship angels as the Holy Spirit indicates to us through the pen of Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:18:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
Furthermore, elect angels know that they are not to be worshipped as evident in the instruction from an angel to Apostle John in Revelation 22:8-9:
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
In any case, we have considered the nature and functions of angels based on the information provided in the Scripture, but before we leave the subject, we need to consider an important question which is, has any of their visible functions towards believers come an end? We ask this question because there are those among the evangelicals who assert that the visible activities of angels have come to an end because their mediating work is done, and that Christ has founded the kingdom of the Spirit. Despite this reasoning, the answer to the question should be “no.” The visible activities of the angels continue till the present day according to the will of God. We provide this answer based primarily on the Scripture. There is no scriptural authority to assert that the visible activities of angels have come to an end. In other words, there is not one single passage that teaches such a concept. If they are those who serve the elect and there is not a single passage that states that they have stopped serving the elect then it seems to me that there is no biblical ground for anyone to assert that any of their visible activities has come to an end. Furthermore, experiences of many believers in the past and at the present time contradict this view. Let me mention two experiences of believers that contradict the assertion that visible activities of angels have come to an end.
There was a report in the mid-1960s in Otomi Mexico where Wycliffe Bible translators were working trying to translate the Bible into Mexican Indian dialects. During this period some Mexican Indians responded to the gospel and so broke away from the traditional practices of their people that involved offerings to their dead ancestors, among others. Because these believers would not conform to the tradition of their people, they were driven away from their community and they relocated on a hill overlooking a place called lxmiquilpan. One afternoon, some of the natives gathered at the foot of the hill poised to attack the small community of believers. These believers prayed before they went to bed and what happened next is a story of God’s protection. It was reported that as the would-be- attackers started up the hill and I quote “they saw the little church outlined in a glaring light and soldiers positioned in a circle around the church, holding guns in firing position. Suddenly they heard a loud trumpet blast. The would-be-attackers turned and ran in fright.”[1] Who do you suppose these soldiers were, since no Mexican soldiers were detailed to protect the believers under attack? There can be only one answer, which is that they were angels. These believers did not know how they were protected. The manner of protection of the small church community is no different from thR of angels that protected Prophet Elisha and his servant from the Aramean soldiers, who were sent to capture HIM, according to 2 Kings 6:13-17:
13 "Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan." 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. 16 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 17 And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
The horses and chariots of fire that surrounded Elisha were ridden by angels. It seemed that the Aramean soldiers saw this angelic army that kept them from capturing Elisha. So, it is not like the experience of the Indian believers in Otomi has no parallel in the Scripture.
Another example that I cite is my own personal experience that I have testified to you about fourteen years ago. In one of my missionary trips to Aba, Nigeria, in May of 2007 I experienced something that I believe to be visible angels at work. Let me summarize the experience and you can make your own deduction. There was heavy flooding one afternoon, during my stay, so that the traffic jam was so bad at the intersection that I had to pass to reach the meeting hall. I was only a few blocks away from the meeting hall that I could have gotten out of the car to walk to it, but because of the flood water I could not. I had taught the believers who attend these conferences the importance of being on time. Therefore, it would have looked bad if I went late. So, I continued to pray to the Lord to help me not fail by being late although I left the hotel in ample time to get to the meeting hall. I waited and waited as traffic was not moving. About four or five minutes before it was time for the conference to begin, two policemen showed up at that intersection. They cleared traffic only on my lane so that we went through the intersection. The conference hall is on the opposite side of the street we traveled so that we normally made a U-turn to get to the hall. When we turned around, in less than a minute after we passed the intersection the policemen were gone, and the traffic jam continued. The leader of the group who rode with me immediately observed that this could be nothing short of miracle in which God sent to us two angels in police uniform to clear the traffic for us. I concurred. Now, you can make your own deduction, but my conclusion is that that was the work of angels who appeared in visible human form as they had done in the past as recorded in the Scripture. My point is that there are many who experience visible function of angels as described in the Bible that it will be wrong to say that their visible functions towards believers have ceased, especially as there is no biblical warrant for such a declaration. In any event, the point is that as a believer you should believe in the existence of angels and their visible functions with respect to believers at the present time.
We have considered the subject of angels because we want to identify who the apostle meant in the rhetorical question of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? Our consideration of the subject of angels focused primarily on the elect angels but we also noted that there are also fallen angels. So, the question is whether the apostle meant all angels or fallen angels or only the elect angels. Truly, it is difficult to be certain whether he meant elect angels or fallen angels or both. However, because the apostle did not elaborate on what it means to judge angles, it is probably that he meant that believers would in some way be involved in judging angels without making a distinction. This is because it is possible that believers judging of angels would involve two actions. A first action would be the evaluation of the elect angels in the sense of evaluating their performance since they are given the responsibility of serving believers on this planet as we noted in verse 14 of the first chapter of Hebrews. A second action could be that of joining in the condemnation of the fallen angels in that we would praise God for His just judgment of the fallen angels that would take place in the future as stated in the passage we cited previously, that is, 2 Peter 2:4:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
Let me be clear that we are here making deduction since there is no direct passage of the Scripture that enables us to be more definitive of what it would mean for believers to judge angels unlike that of believers judging unbelievers. Of course, our deduction is based on two passages we cited, that is Hebrews 1:14 and 2 Peter 2:4.
In any case, Apostle Paul, based on this truth of believers judging angels, indicated that believers should be able to judge matters that affect believers’ life on daily basis as in the last expression of 1 Corinthians 6:3 How much more the things of this life! The phrase “the things of this life” is translated from a Greek word (biōtikos) that pertains to daily life and living and so means “belonging to (daily) life.” Because the Greek word was used with the meaning “business matters” in the business and official correspondence of the papyri, it is probably that the apostle was thinking of matters that enable people make a living. This being the case, the kind of things the apostle meant would be those things that involved dispute on business dealings where two believers take each other to court because of business problem. Anyway, the apostle’s point is that if believers would be involved in judging angels, they should certainly settle matters that are not as important as being involved in future judgment of angels. Hence, believers should not take their disputes to unbelievers to settle, unless, of course, criminal matters are involved since the church should not supplant the function of the government of punishing evil doers.
09/20/19