Question 19. What is God's providence toward the angels?

 

Question 19. What is God's providence toward the angels?

Answer. God, by his providence, permitted some angels to fall into sin beyond redemption, and to be punished; and he punished and ordered all their sins, to the glory of God. The rest he made holy and happy, and used them as he pleased, to minister to his power, mercy, and justice.

 

God's providence for angels was that before the creation of the world, they were created to enjoy the blessing of eternal life by their own free will. Therefore, God rests, and angels always worship God, and they also enjoy rest under God's rule. The status of angels is under God's rule and to worship God.

However, God's rest was broken because of the sinful angels. The sinful angels rejected God's rule. This can be found in Eve's eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because she wanted to become like God.

Genesis 2:16-17 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." God's ruling commandment was not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but God revealed that it was like a poisonous mushroom, and if eaten, thou shalt die; yet they ate the fruit out of greed.

Genesis 3:6 "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it." The metaphor of a husband and wife is expressed in Ephesians 5:31-32. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church." The father symbolizes God, the son symbolizes Christ, and the wife symbolizes the fallen angel who disobeyed God's command.

Therefore, it metaphorically represents the meaning of a fallen angel being trapped in a body and becoming a human, meeting Christ, and returning to God. This is a mystery.

God predestined Christ because of the fallen angels, confined the fallen angels to the world, and made them human, but then decided to save them again. So now the angels who did not commit the crime are divided into various groups to do God's work.

First, there are angels who act as accusers who test and accuse sinners. They are called Satan, demons, and dark spirits. Satan even tempted Jesus, and he tempts those who want to enter into Jesus Christ.

The second is the messenger of the gospel to save sinners. The angel who announced the conception of the Messiah to Mary and the resurrection of Jesus is also the messenger of the gospel.

The third is the angels who defend the chosen ones. "See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." The little children represent those who hear the word of the gospel and are born of the Holy Spirit. Even those who are born again still have flesh, so there are times when they stumble because of their fleshly self. That is why the angels defend them before God.

Fourth, they are angels who participate in judgment. During the Exodus, the firstborn sons of the households that did not put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts were all killed by the angels who judged them. Sodom and Gomorrah can also be seen being judged by angels. In the last days, angels will judge the world together with Jesus.

 

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