Difficult to
imagine, but this is essentially a low level playing out of exactly what
Lucifer tried to do in God's Heaven -- a not-so-heavenly coup d’état. His infectious, prideful desire to replace God spread
across one-third (1/3) of all the angels until there was no remedy than to strip them of their glory and excommunicate them
from Heaven. So out they went! Good riddance? Not quite.
Since angels
are created as eternal beings, they cannot be de-created. This is apparently one of those other things God, who
can do 'all things', cannot or elects not to do, like lying,
refusing to Honor His Word, etc. The fall of Lucifer, who became satan, and his
gang (Revelation 12) stained all of creation, both below Heaven and, as suggested in Hebrews
9:21, possibly even in Heaven. These
fallen angels, now demons and devils, took up residence on planet Earth, which, as a
result, became the 'theatre' for God's next act of creation (or possibly re-creation, per the Gap Theory). He had already
created angels in various 'classes' to perform a variety of duties and
functions. The Bible gives limited insights into this, etc. seraphim, cherubim,
archangel, ranks and files, all with different capabilities and roles. Imagine
such a perfect organizational structure, intended to last forever, suddenly
decimated! Of course, this came as no surprise to God. It was simply the
unfolding of His mysterious plan for all eternity.
Part of His
plan called for creation of another, final class of eternal beings whom Jesus
interestingly referred to as being 'like angels' or angel-like. (This is accentuated
and confirmed in three witnesses: Mark 12:25, Matthew 22:30, Luke 20:36.) This, my Friend, is the group of all born again human believers who
are redeemed from the curse of sin triggered by satan's fall and Adam's
disobedience. We are a class of eternal beings that had not yet existed before the new birth became available to humans!
Genesis 6:1-3, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6, then Matthew 22:30 and Mark 12:25.)
While I had long suspected The Lord’s intent in creating
humans might have been part of His mysterious plan to replace
the 1/3 of His angels, now demons, lost in their fall from Grace, I now conclude this is NOT the case. The reason is because He created us, NoT a little lower than angels, but a little lower than HIMSELF! He created angels to serve Him and humans. He created humans to fellowship with Him in ways He does not fellowship with angels. Moreover, He created us to be righteous enough to SIT WITH HIM ON FATHER GOD’S THRONE! wOw!!!
This confirms Psalm 82:6, part of which Jesus emphatically and truthfully quoted in John 10:34, during reproaches from some of His critics. HEADS-UP: This should be a MAJOR perspective shift in how we think and live our earthly lives, and about what we look forward to in Glory. 1 (See: Why The Millennial Reign Age? (Series), especially Part 1)
God initiated
the creation of this final class of eternal beings, us, in the very presence of
demons (as in ‘right under yo’ noses, in
yo’ face!’). Rather than creating these beings directly, as He had
done with angels, He determined we would be derived
and drawn from a much
bigger group of humans (from all of humanity) via a series of heart and mind tests to identify,
prove and prepare us for His eternal service and love. (Jeremiah 17:10) Such testing would diminish
and eventually work out of us devilish traits and influences from our 'Earth lords', the
demons, and develop within us His nature and character.
Imagine this
grand scheme unfolding in fast forward speed across the millennia of human
existence, and in incredible Technicolor, surround sound, on an IMAX movie
screen! Well, God surpassed that imagination by allowing it all to unfold in
living color, at the speed of life, right under our noses!
We don't know
the number of angels who became demons. If some type of replacement process is indeed
underway, it is worth noting that just a sub-set of all redeemed humans, namely
those who will have been redeemed during the Great Tribulation, is cited as being “a great multitude which no one could number.” (Revelation 7:9) If this sub-set is innumerable, imagine the size
of the total number of the redeemed! The most sad part of this picture,
however, is that this humongous group is but a tiny fraction of all humans who will have been born and given the
opportunity and potential to be included in this group. The rest will be lost as
a result of devilish deceptions to reject Jesus Christ as their Savior. 2
Nevertheless, it seems God may
still have on His mind the tremendous loss of 1/3 of His angels. He intends a
set of final strike-backs at satan's kingdom on Earth, perhaps as symbolic
reminders of this loss. Consider the
mention of “a third” 13 times in Revelation 8 and 9, in reference to
God’s punishments on satan’s earthly kingdom: 3
- And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. (Revelation 8:7)
- And a third of the sea became blood. (Revelation 8:8)
- And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. (Revelation 8:9)
- And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. (Revelation 8:10)
- The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. (8:11)
- And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. (8:12)
- So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. (9:15)
- By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. (9:18)
Do
you think satan and his cohorts will even get the message?!
So in what ways
will and won't we be 'like angels?' Here are some suggestions. I welcome
yours.
Unlike angels:
--We will have a (new, immortal) physical body. I see no Bible hints that holy angels will become physical beings. Let me know if you do. Genesis 6 infers a subset of demons became human, married women, and thus corrupted the pre-flood human race. Peter and Jude attest The Lord took these offending devils out of commission, locking the. Away pending the final judgment of all evil. The Bible never says whether they return to their spiritual form, or remain in human form. I suspect the latter. To understand why, see, Hell: Is This the Man? (Poem)
--We are
created in the God-class, in The Lord God's personal, intimate image, a 'little lower than The Lord God, Jesus Christ, Himself', not lower than angels!!! (Psalm 8:6, AMP and YLT versions. The KJV and NKJV got it wrong!)
--We will have
successfully concluded a tripartite salvation experience: spirit, soul (i.e., mind, will,
emotions, intellect and imagination), and body
--We will have
a role in judging angels, though it is unclear how and which group(s), but I suspect it is all demons, and especially those who corrupted human DNA pre-flood, per Genesis 6:5. See: Humans' DNA Hacked (Poem
--We are
spiritually baptized into Christ, and can approach God boldly
--God loves us
just as much as He loves Jesus, our Savior and fellow 'Brother'. Recall, Jesus is The Son of Father God, Whi is Spirit, and He sacrificed Himself to offer to us His Father’s sonship.
--We are
currently being served by angels (Hebrews 1:4), and may be continually served
by them in the future, Jesus' future kings and priests with assignments all over the world during The Millennial Reign age (Search this blog for Millennial Job Description)
--His plan is
to spend eternity showing
to us ‘the immeasurable
riches of His Grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:7)
--We will be
able to sing and worship God with a unique set of songs angels cannot sing!
Like angels:
--We are
created eternal beings, in our own unique class. While our spirit and soul are already immortal, our current body is a draft copy. It will be exchanged for an immortal body. Thus all humans who will have even been conceived and/or lived will become an 'eternal trinity' -- spirit, soul and body, spending out eternity in one of two places on a brand new Earth. (See: Earth’s Next Versions (Series))
--We will be asexual beings, not marrying or having offspring
--We are created
to worship and serve God in a variety of unique functions, based in some ways
upon our proven performances during our earthly testing season. But in the Millennial Reign, angels may likely replace the rank of demons currently assigned over geographic areas in the first heaven, while we, in physical bodies, will replace every rank of governing authorities across Earth's tribulation-surviving population, and these folks’ offspring born during the Millennial Reign. (See: Earth’s Cloaked Satellites (Poem) )
--As holy
angels are facilitating our current reign in life on Earth, we will in some manner
facilitate Jesus' Millennial Reign on Earth, ruling over mortals who will survive the
Great Tribulation, and their offspring (1 Corinthians 6:2, 2 Timothy 2:12, Zechariah 14:5, 2, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, Thessalonians 1:10, and Jude 1:14, et al) See: Worst of the Worst (Poem).
Sounds exciting?
Hallelujah!
If not, please check your salvation credentials…
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1 The Bible reveals mankind was created 'in the god class', not/NOT a little below angels. The Lord created angels in a unique class of immortal beings. Please see: Ye Are gods (Series). The Bible includes clear indications He never intended angels to become humans, or vice versa. (See: Genesis 6:1-3, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6, then Matthew 22:30 and Mark 12:25.)
2 And anyone not found written
in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:19)
3 It’s informative to consider the various
views on the Biblical significance of the number, 13.
