Will humans ultimately judge angels?

Will humans ultimately judge angels?

Q. What does the Bible say about the judgment of angels? Why would the angels be judged? Will humans or someone else judge the angels?

(Submitted by: Lisa)

A. Let's look at the word that is translated out into English as angel. In the original Hebrew the word was translated from "MLAK" transliterated malak meaning a messenger 98 times, angel 111 times, and ambassador some 4 times. In Greek the word translated into the English as angel is "angelos" meaning messenger and envoy.

The responsibilities of angels are to bring messages from one part of the universe to the other to God the Father and his Son Jesus the Christ and to execute their will. They look after him who

" . . . dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. "

as Psalm 91 begins. Matthew 18:10, in discussing the elect, especially the newly baptized elect whom he calls "one of these little ones" or a small innocent child not yet baptized, says that " in heaven their angels see the face of My Father who is in heaven." This implies that one of the tasks of angels is to look after each one of us who have been called and baptized as well as little children.

Some have contended that angels are not able to die. This might be conjecture as there is no scripture that states such. The angel's body at the present time is made up of a spiritual substance. They were created beings and have been given the ability to choose to obey or not the Law of God and His voice.

Ezekiel 28:11 begins an interesting discussion that initially seems to be about the King of Tyrus, but the end of verse 12 shows that the context is speaking of the leader of the fallen angels, Satan the Devil. He is compared to the King of Tyrus (Tyre) because this being walked in the midst of the stones of fire at the throne of God on his holy mountain. It continues to explain that his heart was lifted up with pride and that he defiled his sanctuary by the multitude of his iniquities. Note that in verse 18 God says he will make him ashes. This sounds like this being can be destroyed even though he is made of Spirit at the present time. With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27 and 14:36)

Ezekiel 18:20 says that the soul that sins shall die. If this word soul would be translated as life force then it might be speaking to the angel realm as well as the human realm. Only God can prevent humans from being resurrected into a new body containing that human's life force and only God can remove the life force from the bodies of angels. So for humans to speculate about whether angels beings can die or not may not be wise.

Jude verse 6 says that angels are kept in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. I can find no scripture that says they will be in torment or torture forever.

We have been told by the Scriptural accounts that one very highly favored angel in the rank of cherub called Heylel or as it is incorrectly translated in the AV version of the English text as Lucifer (Isaiah 14 is an alternate account of this same being) chose to sin and disobey the Law of God. He convinced one-third of all the angelic beings to do the same and they are now called demons. Most of them have been incarcerated in the bottomless pit until such time that the Father will permit their release to complete his plan and by his will. (Jude verse 6)

When the elected saints have been raised into their spiritual bodies at the first resurrection they have been told by Paul that they will be judging the angels. (1Corinthians 6:1-4) And if they are capable of judging angels then they should be able to tell if anyone is obeying or not obeying the Law and Will of God even as physical beings. They are not to go to a civil court for these things.

The angels do a lot but do not know all there is to know. They look for the day when the elected saints will teach them the deep things of God. 1 Peter 1:12 tells us that they want to understand these things but they do not even understand why they are doing what they are doing. The angels were not promised to rule the world to come or to be Sons of God (Hebrews 2:5).

So there will be a day that even the angel world will be judged to see if they have obeyed the Laws of God. This Law of God is summed up in the whole Bible and further contracted to the Ten Commandments. Why do angels need to be judged? Because at least one third of them have sinned and deserve death. Who will do this judging? Those who have entered into the Kingdom of God as spirit born children of God.

Answer Given By: Charlotte Grantham