Angels, their Tasks, and Prophetic Activity

by Teresa Seputis

Angels and the Prophetic

My first exposure to the fact that angels can be involved in the prophetic came through hearing a story about Paul Cain. Paul Cain is a person who is widely recognized as a modern day prophet. He has given many very detailed and very accurate prophetic words, and has been able to prophetically tell people he has never met some very specific details about their lives, such as the ages, sexes and names of all of their children -- things like that. The Paul Cain story I heard was that an angel frequently showed up in the meetings were he ministered, and that angel gave him the specific details to share. Paul could see and hear the angel and occasionally others present at the meeting could see the angel, but most of the people in the meeting were unaware of it's presence. The angel stood next to Paul Cain and gave him information as he prophesied to people -- and this was reported to be what enabled him to move in that incredible depth of accurate details.

When I first heard that story (many years ago), it troubled me greatly. I had heard of Paul Cain's reputation and believed that he was indeed a prophet of God. However, I thought that type of angel story was fabricated by people and not truth about his ministry. That type of angel story bothered me greatly, so I decided to do some research on angels in the prophetic. To my surprise, I discovered that there is actually a very strong Biblical precedence for the activity of angels in the prophetic. Later, I heard Paul speak in Toronto. He made a reference to the angel who used to come to his meetings and give him specific and detailed information. So it turned out that it was a true story.

As I began to move more in prophetic circles, I heard similar stories from many different prophets, including some that I am in personal relationship with. So far, I haven't had an angel come speak to me while I am ministering in a meeting. But I have had angels appear to me in private to instruct me and to give me prophetic insights.

The angels seem to play a real role in the prophetic. There are many examples of this in the Bible. Let's look at a few of them...

An angel prophesied to Hagar about Ishmael and his descendents which would become the Arab nations. We find this in Genesis 16:10-12: "Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, 'I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.' And the Angel of the Lord said to her 'Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren'" (NKJV).

An angel brings a prophecy to Abraham about the nation of Israel that he will father. That happened just after he demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, on the altar at God's command. We see this in Genesis 22:15-18: "Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: 'By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son-- blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice'" (NJKV).

1 Kings 13 is a troubling story about one prophet who was sent on a mission from God to deliver a prophetic word of judgment on the altar that Jeroboam set up for idolatry. That prophet had been given a commission of God to not eat or drink anything until he returned home, a several day journey. In the story there was a 'retired' prophet who heard about what the prophet had done and wanted the status of having him as a house guest. So he lied to him and said that God sent him to bring him to his house and feed him. The prophet believed the retired prophet's lie and went home to eat with him, breaking the fast that God commanded him to be on. God judged the prophet, who was lied to, for breaking his fast. God struck him dead. However God did not punish the retired prophet who lied.

I may address this seemingly troublesome story in another teaching. But the part I want to examine now is the content of the lie the retired prophet gave in 1 Kings 13:18. "He said to him, 'I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, "Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water."' (He was lying to him.)"

The reason I bring this up is because the lie was convincing to the legitimate prophet. It demonstrates that it was normal for prophets to get directions and words from angels. In other words, angels were involved in the prophetic even back in the Old Testament times. Prophets were used to having angels appear to them and to give them prophetic messages to share.

In Zechariah chapter 1, the prophet is given a vision to share with the nation of Israel. He does not understand the vision and an angel is sent to explain it to him so he can prophecy from it. Verse 9 says, "Then I said, 'My lord, what are these?' So the angel who talked with me said to me, 'I will show you what they are.'" We see another example of angels explaining a vision to another prophet, to Daniel, in Daniel 8:15-16 and in Daniel 9:21-27.

Zechariah 1:14-17, is where an angel tells Zechariah what he is to prophecy. E.g., the angel gives Zechariah the message from God that he is to turn around and give to men. The verses say:

So the angel who spoke with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal. I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, and they helped--but with evil intent.

Therefore thus says the Lord: I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it,' says the Lord of hosts, 'And a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.'"

"Again proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; The Lord will again comfort Zion, And will again choose Jerusalem.'"

Zechariah 1:14-17 is very direct and clear. The angel was sent to give a prophetic message to the prophet, who was then to deliver it to the people. It demonstrates direct involvement of angels in the prophetic.

Angelic activity in the prophetic is not limited to just the Old Testament. We see their involvement in the New Testament as well, particularly in the book of Revelation. I am going to summarize a few of these for you and let you look them up at your leisure. Rev 10:1-11 is the story where an angel gives the Apostle John a book of prophetic words for John to eat. In Rev 17:1-18, an angel shows John the judgment of the "great harlot" (Ancient Babylon and modern day Iraq).

In Rev 21:9-27, an angel "shows" John the future state of the Church, telling him verbally that this is the Christ's 'bride' and showing him a vision of a city in heaven inhabited by "only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." John records this in the prophetic book of revelation where it gives hope to all generations of the church, including our generation.

Finally, Rev 22:6 tells us that "God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place." In other words, the bible says point blank that God sometimes sends His angels to give His prophets details about things that are going to take place in their future.


Angels Work With Us To Advance God's Kingdom

Lessons 3 and 4 are developed from a teaching Randy Clark did in Belem Brazil on angels in September of 2002. Lesson 3 explored the tie between Jacob's vision of the ladder to Heaven with angelic activity and the first coming of Christ. We saw that angels ministered to and with Jesus multiple times as He walked on the earth.

Jesus said in John 14:12 that we, as His believers, would do the same things He had done. So if Jesus worked with the angels, it stands to reason that His disciples would also work with angels. And scripture bares this out. Let me share a few examples really quickly. The apostles were arrested in Acts 5:17-20, and an angel was sent to open the doors to jail and bring them out -- e.g., to rescue them. Then in Acts 12:5-11 Peter is arrested and sentenced to be executed. The church prayed for him and God sent an angel to rescue him from prison. In Acts 27:23-27, Paul talked to an angel just before he was shipwrecked and received a promise from God that no one would drown in the shipwreck.

What about today? Those of us who believe in Jesus today are also covered by John 14:12 -- we are promised that if we believe in Jesus, we will do the same works Jesus did. So if Jesus worked with angels when He was on the earth, it follows that we will also work with angels. Heb 1:14 bears that out, indicating that angels serve with members of the church. The apostle Paul was talking about angels and he said, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" (NKJV).

Back to Jacob's vision of the ladder in Genesis 28:12. In that vision, Jesus is the ladder, the one who creates the open Heaven. It is through what Jesus did on the cross that God can send angels to work with the church to advance God's kingdom and to do His will.

Jesus accomplished a lot for us in His death and resurrection:

But that is not all that He accomplished on the cross. To get all of the benefits of the cross, we also get the benefit of angels working with us.

Let's develop that a little. Because God is God, He can do anything He wants any way He wants. Wouldn't you agree? And the message of salvation is very important to God, it is the whole reason Jesus came to earth, walked among men, suffered and died and then rose from the dead. Jesus paid a very high price for our salvation. He could have used any means He wanted to to get the message out. He could have appeared divinely to men from heaven and told them of the good news. He could have spoken to all unsaved people in dreams. But instead He choose to entrust the message of salvation to the Church. It is our job to share the good news of what Jesus did with other people. If we don't tell them, no one will. God has shown a willingness to take important kingdom business and trust the execution of it to His creation. He doesn't do everything Himself, He chooses to work through His creation.

In a similar manner, angels are also God's creation and He also chooses to work through them. One of the ways God choose to use angels is in physical healing. We find an example of this in John 5:4, which says, "For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had."

Isn't that interesting? God uses angels in healing the sick. Now, healing is an important part of the gospel. It is one of the elements in the gospel message of Matthew 10:8 and of the Great Commission of Mark 16:15-18. The gospel has two parts to it.. we share the good news of what Jesus did to restore man to God and we demonstrate God's power to back up the message we share. And physical healing is one of the primary ways that we demonstrate the reality of God's power.

Rev 14:6 says something that is almost alarming on first glance. It says, "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people."

Rev 14:6 says that some angels have been given the gospel to share. But we know that the great commission of sharing the good news fell to man, not to angels. We see the angel appear to Cornelius in Acts 10. The angel does not share the gospel but rather instructs Cornelius to send for Peter so he can hear the gospel. So we see the angels are careful not to speak the message of salvation, that task falls to men. And yet Rev 14:6 says that the angels have been given the gospel. That almost sounds like a contradiction at first. But it is not. You see, healing is a part of the gospel. It is not the speaking of the message of the gospel, but it is the demonstration of God's power to back up the message of salvation. And we see in John 5:4 that angels are used in physical healing. The way that angels are involved in spreading the gospel is that they work together with man to spread the gospel by providing supernatural healings.

Think of it this way: we know that the church is the army of God because the Bible tells us that. The angels are the air force. The army is the one that goes out on the offensive and takes the territory. But it is much easier for the army to win the battle when they have air support from the air force. Likewise, it is much easier for us to be effective in spreading the gospel when angels show up and help with the physical healings.

Angels and Fire

The Bible associates angels with fire in many places. One of them is Heb 1:7, which says, "In speaking of the angels He says, 'He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire'" (NIV). This is quoting Ps 104:4.

Now look at Acts 2:1-4:

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

We know the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, because Jesus told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit and power from on high before going out to spread the gospel (Acts 1:4-5). But what are the mighty wind and the tongues of fire? Heb 1:7 and Ps 104:4 say that angels are "winds" and "flames of fire." Could the mighty rushing wind and the tongues of fire in Acts 2 be the presence of angels released to co-labor with the church? Might it be that we not only got the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we also got a release of angelic on the church?

Healing evangelists like Randy Clark and Benny Hinn tell us that when angels show up at a meeting, the anointing on that meeting increases. The more angels that come to a meeting, the more power there is in that meeting. And we know that worship of God is what attracts angels to a meeting. The angels are around God's throne worshipping Him. Worship ushers in God's presence because God dwells in the worship of His people (Ps 22:3). And we know that angels carry and accompany the presence of God. That is why powerful worship is such an important part of the service for healing evangelists. They want to usher in God's presence and they want to usher in the presence of angels to co-labor with us in the area of physical healings.

John The Baptist talked a lot about Jesus before Jesus started His public ministry. He said something very interesting about Him in Luke 3:16, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

Could the "and fire" be the presence of angels? In other words, does Jesus give us the Holy Spirit and also command His angels to come minister with us like fire? We know that God does a lot of important things through angels, and that angels sometimes appear in the form of fire. For instance, Exodus 3:3 tells us that it was an angel who spoke to Moses in the burning bush, not God. The angel spoke for God and Moses reacted as if he was speaking directly to God.. but God was actually speaking to Moses through an angel. And the form the angel took was indeed fire.. a bush that burned and was never consumed.

It seems to be a reasonable conclusion that God expects His Church to work with angels to be effective. If that is the case, then we need to learn how to work with them. Obviously we must make a place for them to co-labor with us. At the same time, we must not get wrapped up in angels and put our focus and our attention on them.

Rev 19:10 makes it very clear that we are not to worship angels or overly elevate them. John writes, "And I fell at his feet to worship him (the angel who had been speaking to John). But he said to me, 'See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!'"

We should respect angels and cooperate with them. But we should not give an angel more honor than or respect than we would give another anointed human minister.


Some Tasks and Characteristics of Angels

When we think about angels, we tend to think of the most obvious things about them, things we have learned from the Bible. For instance, we might think of angels as God's messengers, such as Gabriel announcing to Mary that she would give birth to the Christ or the angels announcing Christ's birth to the shepherds. Or we may think of the protection and guardian role that angels play in watching over God's elect -- Psalm 91:11-12 says, "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone." Or we may think of angels' role in bringing forth the Judgments of God; such as the Angel Of Death who slew all of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, Or the angel who brought a plague to Israel when David sinned and numbered the people (from 1 Chronicles 21). Or we might think of the mighty warrior angels who are engaged in spiritual warfare against Satan's forces, such as Michael and Gabriel fighting the prince of the kingdom of Persia (Daniel 10). Or we might think of the angels in God's presence worshipping and praising Him before His throne (Rev 19:6-8).

And all of these are correct and valid things to think about angels. The Bible describes each of them. But the Bible has much more to say about angels than just those five activities. Angels have some tasks and characteristics that may surprise you. Let's look at some of them.

Did you know that angels are involved in gathering souls after a person dies? The righteous are taken up into Heaven by angels and the unrighteous are taken before the judgment seat of Christ. In Luke 20:12, Jesus describes the angels as taking the poor beggar to Heaven when he died. Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27 both talk about the angels gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth and taking them to the Lord's presence. Matthew 13:39-49 describes the angels gathering people to Christ's throne in the last day. Revelation 14:14-16 describes the angels gathering the end time harvest of souls. John 20:12 describes how angels watched over Christ's body in the tomb. We see, from these verses, that angels play a role in escorting souls when they die (or when Christ returns) -- they seem to escort both the saved and the unsaved to their proper destination.

Angels don't just minister to mankind, they also minister to other angels. For instance, we see God using one angel to send a message to another angel who was currently "on the job" giving a message to a prophet. Zechariah 1:2-5 states: "Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him and said to him: 'Run, tell that young man, "Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it," declares the LORD , "and I will be its glory within"'" (NIV).

And angels minister to mankind in ways you may not have expected. For instance, angels assist in evangelism. We see this activity when an angel appears to unsaved Cornelius in Acts 10:1-6 and instructed him to send for Simon Peter in Joppa because "He will tell you what you must do." And, of course what Simon Peter told him to do was to receive Christ (Acts 10:44-47). Also, Rev 14:6 says, "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of Heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" (NKJV).

Did you know that angels actually pray for us and they are involved in God hearing and answering our prayers? Just as we pray and intercede for each other, angels sometimes pray and intercede for us. We have an example of this in Zechariah 1:12. An angel has been talking to Zechariah about some prophetic things. Suddenly the angel broke into prayer for God to restore Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The verse says, "Then the Angel of the LORD answered and said, 'O LORD of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?'" (NKVJ). And Rev 8:3-5 describes angels being involved in our prayers and bringing them before the Lord.

In fact, angels appear to pay attention to what goes on in the earth and they take great interest in the activities of man. Zechariah 1:8-11 describes angels going through the earth and observing the state of affairs on it. Luke 15:10 tells us that the angels rejoice when a person is saved. 1 Cor 4:9 informs us that the angels observed life and activities of the apostles. 1 Timothy 3:16 tells us that the angels watched and observed Jesus' life when He walked on the earth as a man. And 1 Peter 1:12 tells us that the angels watch the spread of the gospel with interest and desire. In fact, angels and the heavenly host may very well be part of that great "cloud of witnesses" mentioned in Hebrews 1:12 that watch the activity of each believer as we serve the Lord. And Daniel, when interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Dan 4:23 described an angel as "a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven." So clearly a part of angels' activities include watching and observing what goes on in men's lives on this earth.

Angels are also involved in physical healing. We developed this in some detail in lessons 3 and 4. John 5:4 shows angelic activity for physical healing: "For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had" (NKJV). The New International Version (NIV) translation omits this verse, but it is present in most translations, including the King James (KJV) or New King James (NKJV) or New American Standard Bible (NASB) or the Amplified Bible (AMP) or the English Standard Version (ESV) or the Contemporary English Version (CEV) or the 21st Century King James Version (KJ21) or the American Standard Version (ASV) or the Worldwide English New Testament (WE) or the Young's Literal Translation (YLT) or the Darby Translation (DARBY). In fact, we see that the NIV version seems to leave out a lot of the power of God type of verses related to healing and deliverance. It also omits Matthew 17:21 and omits the phrase "and fasting" from Mark 9:29.

The Bible tells us about some of the characteristics of angels:

And here are some more miscellaneous details the Bible tells us about angels:

This is not an exhaustive list of what the Bible has to say about angels. But it begins to give you a little insight into the realm, characteristics and activities of angels.

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