Understanding Angels! The Negative Aspects of Angels! Part 8

(Ver 1.2)  This is now Part 8 of a series of studies about the spiritual reality of angels found in the Bible.   We have covered a lot of information that is not going to be repeated, so if you have not read these lessons from the beginning, I would recommend that you go back and start with “Part 1” and read forward to this lesson.   We have primarily been focused on the angels of God only and only the positive things that they do for the people of God on the earth.  We saw for instance how angels delivered Lot and his family from the pending disaster of Sodom.  We saw the angel of God assist Abraham’s servant in finding his son Isaac a wife.  We saw angels bringing messages to Daniel and Joseph from God with words that came from heaven.  But, today I want to discuss some negative potential impacts that angels can have against those who are not always doing the right things in the earth.  In a previous lesson I talked about the two angels who were sent to Lot to rescue them from impending doom and disaster.  But, you may also recall that the angels said they were the ones sent to destroy both of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and they did it very well.   So we can clearly see that angels have significant power and ability to do both positive things like save Lot and his family and then extremely negative things like wipe out two large cities of ungodly residents.  Wow, that is very important information to know as a Christian.  As a Christian you should always be aware that you are not doing something that will provoke God or your angel into doing something negative to you.  So today instead of discussing how angels can be a blessing to Christians, let me give you the flip side of this coin and show you how they can also be your worst nightmare.  If you read in the book of Numbers and chapter 22 you find the story of Balaam.  The King of Moab comes to this man and asks him for his help to curse the children of Israel.  Balaam was told by God not to do it, but Balaam eventually yields to the King’s pressure and goes with him.  We can pretty clearly see that God says don’t go and Balaam ignores God and goes anyway.  This was clearly a great mistake to disobey God’s Word and this is what the Bible then says happened to Balaam:

Num 22:22  And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.

You can very clearly see that God was not happy with Balaam and the same angels of God who were sent to minister for those who would be heirs of salvation can also become Balaam’s adversary or enemy because Balaam was doing things that he should not be doing.  This proves that angels can either work for you or against you depending upon your spoken words, decisions and actions in the earth’s realm.  If you make the right choices and do the right things they will prosper you and make your way successful and if you make the wrong choices you may find yourself in the predicament that Balaam was found in of an angel with a big sword in hand ready to strike you down.   One of the key factors to this story of Balaam is not so much what he did but who he was going to do it to.  The children of Israel were God’s covenant people and they were at this time married to God the Almighty.  You do not go and mess with God’s wife and expect to live.  This is a grave mistake that people in the earth make today.  I have seen many news media people attack anointed men of God and this is cursing them like Balaam was going to do.   I would not want to be one of these news people in what they are doing to God’s wife on the earth.  You may recall that Jesus takes attacks on the church very personally.  When Saul persecuted the church and killed them, Jesus showed up and said “Saul, why do you persecute me”!  This could have been really bad news for Saul but, Saul repented and called Jesus his Lord and his life changed dramatically for the better.  If he would have continued in his previous ways and ignored the words of Jesus then it would not have gone well for Saul.  You might also recall that even though Saul repented, that he went away from the meeting with Jesus as a blind man.

Num 22:23  And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

Nowhere does it say that Balaam saw the angel, but clearly the ass that Balaam was riding on either sensed the presence of this spiritual being or somehow knew that she should not go where Balaam wanted her to go.  You can read this story and see that Balaam whips his stubborn animal into submission and it almost cost him his life.  This angel had a sword in his hand and would have killed Balaam if he did not change and do what God said for him to do.  This is a very powerful lesson about angels either working for you or against you and how it is up to you to determine which one that they do.  You can clearly see that Balaam had a freewill choice that he could have made.  Balaam could have continued on his way in error and died or Balaam could humble himself and change.  This is where many people in the earth miss it and die.  Out of pride they cannot admit their mistakes and continue with the path they are on and they reap the consequences of disobedience. 

Num 22:31  Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.

We can see that God in his mercy suddenly allowed Balaam to have a spiritual vision into the reality of angels.  Suddenly from this entire story Balaam could see what the ass saw and knew that He was in jeopardy.  This also represents another way that men can see angels while on the earth.  Angels do not always have to manifest in our physical presence for us to see them.  The Bible very clearly tells us that God opened Balaam’s eyes so that the angel could be seen.  However, either angels must manifest into a physical form or God must open our spiritual eyes so that we can see them or you will never know that the angel may be standing right in front of you trying to keep you from doing the wrong things.  You should definitely learn the lesson of Balaam and see how you can be effecting what your angel is doing.  So let’s look at another story quickly found in the Bible.  What we experience in this next verse is a fact that even the greatest men of God in the Bible can fail and cause angels to do negative things.  Here in 2 Samuel you can read the story of David’s sin.  David makes a choice and does what God said not to do.  So let me ask you this, if God tells David not to do something does God want that to be secretly done?  That is the reasoning of some ignorant people, however I always believe that God says what He means and means what He says.  So in this story David numbers the children of Israel and God had told David not to do this.  So God sends a prophet to David and tells him to choose between 3 negative consequences and David does:

2Sa 24:16  And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

So as you can read in this verse God sent an angel and this angel is on the verge of destroying Jerusalem and God recalls him before this occurs.  What we learn from this story is even the greatest men of God can make mistakes.  David we are told in the Book of Acts was a man after God’s own heart.  However, clearly David made a huge mistake that cost lives.   So we can learn from this lesson that no one is immune or too good from the negative impacts of angels.  While the angel did not attack David personally, since David was the King in charge of his people, the angels hurt David more than if he would have attacked him physically.  David repented before the Lord and God withdrew the angel.  There are probably many other Bible verses that we could look at that convey the strength and potential negative impacts that angels can have.  If you study the Book of Revelation you will see angels administrating severe consequences upon the earth as the vials are poured out.  Do not be deceived into believing that angels do things only by God’s design.  We have seen too many cases already where people determine what an angel does in the earth.  Those who obey God’s words are favored and the angels help and work for them to make them successful.  Those who are disobedient or ignore God’s words will cause angels to work against them.

1.  Angels are not normally visible to the natural eye
2. Angels can still be present even though we cannot see them
3. Angels have weapons, power and ability to do great good or great harm
4. Angels can be sent because of God’s anger of man’s disobedience
5. Therefore man’s disobedience can cause negative things to happen to them or others by angels
6. God had to open the spiritual eyes of the man Balaam to see the angel
7. Even David caused negative things to happen from an angel
8. This means you are not immune to the same results of the angel’s work in the earth

Those are a few very important statements to know.  It is also interesting to note that this story of Balaam proves God is not in control of what men in the earth do.  These verses clearly say that God said not to go and Balaam made the purposeful and intentional decision to disobey so God had to send an angel to stop him.   God told David not to count the children of Israel and David intentionally disobeyed and felt the consequences.  These stories clearly demonstrate the “Freewill” of man to obey or disobey God’s instructions.  That is the problem in the world today still, men and women want to clearly disregard God’s words and instructions for their version and definition of morality.  I do not know if God still sends angels to deal with this reckless disregard to God’s standards, but somehow I believe that it still applies.  I heard one minister say that he was praying and God told him to go to another minister and give him a message of warning.  This minister did not want to obey God but, he did it anyway.  The message that God gave him for this other minister was for him to judge himself and change his ways.  What his ways were was not revealed to us, but God got the point over in a very clear way.  However, this minister disregarded God’s attempt to help him and guess what this minister died at a very young age.  Was this the work of an angel?  I do not know and cannot say what killed him other than disobedience.  If you understand the stories of Balaam or David then you understand that the root of the problem was always “disobedience”.  Disobedience always has consequences eventually.  This is just a very basic spiritual law given to us in the Bible.  God says the wages of sin is death and sin can be reduced to simply being disobedient.  So I know I’m not perfect, but I try to be aware of my words and my actions so that I do not provoke my angels to do something because God is angry with me.  I hope you are beginning to see the important parts that people play in what happens to them in the earth.  These are just some of the basics found in the Bible that are very important to know.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue in this series of lesson on angels you may go to “Part 9“.