The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: The angels in heaven rejoice when one person gets saved. So angels know how to party.

Narrator: Dr. Tony Evans says not only are angels real, they're rooting for us.

Dr. Tony Evans: Satan is trying to keep the unsaved, unsaved. God is trying to snatch the unsaved from being unsaved and to being saved. Every time God snatches somebody out of hell, the angels go crazy.

Narrator: This is The Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Most people picture angels the way movies and television portray them, but the Bible paints a very different picture. Today, we'll begin an intriguing series where Dr. Evans explores who these heavenly beings really are, and the powerful role they play in God's activity around us. Let's join him.

Dr. Tony Evans: We're going to be studying the subject of angels. I'm calling it angels: good, bad, and ugly. The good angels are the elect angels, the bad angels are the fallen angels or demonic angels, and the ugly angel is Satan.

I want to say seven things about angels. Number one, angels are created beings. Colossians chapter one introduces us to this issue of the createdness of angels. We find in verse 16, "For by him, by Christ, all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible." There we have our two worlds: the world that you can see, visible, the world you cannot see, invisible. Both were created by the same person, Jesus Christ. In heaven and on earth. So, visible is earth, invisible are the heavens. Whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. That's very important.

He says the invisible realm, this angelic realm, made up of these rulers and authorities and powers, were created by Christ, for Christ. Now, that's very important because that means Christ should be on the front of Time magazine, not angels. They were not created as an end in themselves, nor as an order in themselves. They were created for God's divine purposes.

The second thing we want to look at is that angels are spiritual beings. Hebrews chapter one, verse 14, "Are they not all ministering," here's the word, "spirits set out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?" We are not to look for them in terms of simply physical frames. That is they, you you're not supposed to see them. You're not supposed to be able to touch them. You're not supposed to be able to grab them. Why? Because they're not flesh and blood. They are spirits. They are immaterial beings.

Even though angels are immaterial, nonphysical beings, they can and do on occasion become visible beings in order to carry out specific, sovereignly directed, supernatural activity on the earth. Look at Hebrews chapter 13, verse two. "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." This is very important because sometimes on occasion, when God wants to accomplish a certain thing, he will direct one of his invisible spirits to become visible in the life of a believer in order to accomplish some divinely ordained timetable for doing God's will.

Angels are created beings, angels are spiritual beings. Also, thirdly, angels are personal beings. When I say that they are personal, that means they have personhood. And in order to have personhood, you have to have three things: emotion, intellect, and will. So even though angels are invisible and even though they are spiritual, they are still persons.

First Peter 1:12 says that they desire to look into the salvation that Christians experience. They want to understand better what redemption is all about. Why? Because there is no redemption for angels. Secondly of all, you recall Luke chapter 15 verse 10, it says, "The angels in heaven rejoice when one person gets saved." So angels know how to party. They have a good old time when there's salvation. Now, I'll give you a sneak preview. Why are angels so excited when one person gets saved? I'll tell you why because that means there's one more victory for God in the angelic conflict.

Satan is trying to keep the unsaved, unsaved. God is trying to snatch the unsaved from being unsaved and to being saved. Every time God snatches somebody out of hell into heaven, the angels go crazy. And the angels are going crazy because there's been another victory in the battle for the souls of men, which is part of the bigger issue we're discussing, what? The angelic conflict.

Fourthly, angels are an innumerable host of beings. In other words, there's a bunch of them. Okay? Daniel chapter 7 verse 10, "A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before God, him. Thousands upon thousands were attending him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before him, the court sat and the books were opened." You got 100 million angels attending to God. Whenever we come into the presence of God, we are joining angels already there. Okay?

So whenever you worship, you are never worshiping alone. So, they are created beings. They are spiritual beings. They are personal beings. There is an innumerable host of them. And their description is quite glorious. They are glorious beings. Look at Daniel chapter 10 verse 5 and 6. Daniel said, "I lifted up my eyes and looked. And behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold. His body was like beryl. His face had the appearance of lightning. His eyes were like flaming torches. His arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sounds of his words like the sound of a tumult.

Now, I Daniel alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision. Nevertheless, a great dread fell on them and they ran away to hide themselves." When an angel does show up, and when you do get to see him, it's going to be more than your eyes can handle. So, these beings are glorious beings, are magnificent beings, specimens, but that's what got the devil in trouble.

The devil got in trouble because he was too pretty. That's right. That's what the Bible says. This devil looked at the mirror, mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of us all? And and he said, said to himself, "You bad, boy." The Bible said God made him so beautiful, so magnificent, so gorgeous. It got to his head.

Now, let's get to number six. They are also functional beings. They have a job. In fact, they have basically three jobs. I'll give you number one. The first job, as we've already said, is the worship of God. Okay? The one of the first jobs that angels do is they praise God. Psalm 148 verse 2. They praise God, worship him, adore him, adoring him all day long. Okay? That's one thing.

Second thing that they do, Psalm 103, let's read verses 19 and following. "The Lord hath established his throne in the heavens, and his sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you his angels." So that's worship. "Mighty in strength, who performs his word, obey the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts, you who serve him, doing his will." The second things that angels do is execute the program of God.

But then the job that you and I are probably most interested in, Hebrews 1:14 says this, "Are they not all ministering spirits set out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?" Now, if you are here today and you are saved, you have one or more angels. If you are here and you are not saved, there is absolutely no biblical indication you have any angel to count on. Because chapter one verse 14 says that the ministering spirits, or angels, are set out for the sake of those who will inherit salvation. So, they're only available to people who are saved or to people who will be saved. They're not available to the general public. All right?

Now, that's the problem with a lot of these magazine articles and a lot of these people are seeing angels because they're not just generally available. God is using angels for his specific kingdom purpose. And if it's not related to kingdom, he's not interested in you getting touched by an angel. Okay? He is interested in you finding the highway to heaven, though. All right?

So, the key then is that the angels are assigned to people by virtue of their salvation or potential salvation. All right? Acts chapter 12. Peter, as we just looked at a moment ago, is supernaturally released from prison by an angel. We saw that in verse seven. He's supernaturally released. The church has been praying for him. Peter's released from prison supernaturally.

And then we come to Acts chapter 12 verse 13. He goes knocking on the door where they're having the prayer meeting for his release. And when he knocked on the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. So he knocks on the door of the prayer meeting. And when she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy, she did not open the gate. So she's so excited, she forgets to let Peter in. Okay? But ran and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. And they said to her, "You are out of your mind." Cuz we prayed for him, he in jail. But she kept insisting that it was so and they kept saying, "It is his what? Angel." Angel. But Peter kept knocking and when they opened the door, they saw it was him and they were amazed.

In other words, there was a belief in the New Testament church that believers had angels. That is people who are assigned to them. And obviously, Peter did, cuz his showed up and got him out of jail.

Narrator: Dr. Evans will return in a moment with more details on what angels are all about. First, though, what you're hearing today is part of Tony's powerful two-volume series, Angels, Good, Bad, and Ugly. In these 12 eye-opening messages, Dr. Evans answers some of the Bible's biggest questions about angels, demons, and spiritual warfare, revealing how unseen spiritual realities affect our everyday lives more than we may realize.

You'll learn what angels can and can't do, how Satan operates, and why believers never have to face spiritual battles alone. And to help you take these truths even deeper, you can dive into Tony's companion book, Warfare, Winning the Spiritual Battle. In it, he explains why the struggles we face so often have spiritual roots, and how God has equipped us to stand strong in areas like fear, temptation, discouragement, conflict, and addiction. Together, these resources offer practical biblical insight to help you live with greater confidence, discernment, and victory. This is a special resource package, available to you today, when you make a contribution to support the ministry of The Alternative. Get all the details at tonyevans.org or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are ready to help. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. Dr. Evans will return with more of today's message right after this.

Dr. Tony Evans: The Bible makes it clear that you know when God has cursed a land, when its fathers are nowhere to be found.

Narrator: Dr. Tony Evans says that what becomes of the next generation of men depends on what happens with this one.

Dr. Tony Evans: Our kids need to see men in their midst who love God and who love them.

Narrator: But what does it take to be that kind of man? You can find out with the help of the Tony Evans Training Center's free course called Kingdom Man. It'll teach you to see past the phony images of manhood that society surrounds us with, and become the loving leader that a wife and family would want to follow. As with all of our courses, there's in-depth study material you can work through at your own pace, lots of exclusive content from Tony, tightly focused Q&A videos, and an online forum where you can collaborate with other students. It's almost like having a seminary on your smartphone. Check out the free course called Kingdom Man and the growing list of other subjects waiting for you. Visit tonyevans.org today and follow the link to the Tony Evans Training Center.

Dr. Tony Evans: Now, angels are created beings, spiritual beings, personal beings, they're innumerable hosts of beings, glamorous beings, they're functional beings. Finally, just dealing with this introduction of what angels are, they are powerful beings. You don't have to turn there, but 2 Thessalonians 1:7 says, "When Jesus Christ returns, he will return with his most powerful angels." When they rolled the stone over the tomb, Luke chapter 24 verses 2 to 2 and 4 says that an angel just came and whisked the stone away like it was paper. It's because they were powerful beings. In fact, they control nature.

Let's look at a few of those. Revelation chapter 7, "After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind should blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree." Now, that's deep. The angels are pictured here as holding back wind. Okay? Look at chapter 8 verse 12. "And the fourth angel sounded and a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars was spit and so that a third of them might be darkened and the day might not shine for a third of it and the night in the same way." These angels are stopping stars from shining, part of the sun from shining, and keeping nighttime nighttime.

You remember Daniel, Daniel in the lion's den when he was thrown in the lion's den and the lions, as powerful as they are, could not get it within themselves to eat Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, an angel showed up and they were preserved. Look at Ezekiel chapter one, verse four. "And I looked and behold a storm, wind was coming from the north." So he sees this storm coming. "A great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. And within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance, they had human form." Kinda. Verse five. "Cuz each of them had four faces and four wings."

So he sees these creatures that are amazing. Now, what am I saying? Here's what I'd like to suggest to you, that the activities of nature that you look at on television when they show the weather report, and there's an earthquake here, and a hurricane there, and a storm brewing over there. Or when you come to church on a cloudy day and on your way out there is thunder and lightning and you see these flashes of light in the sky. I am suggesting to you, yeah, what you're thinking is what I'm going to say. That the meteorological activities of natural law or what people call nature, is in fact, angelic activity. That when the wind blows up, that simply means the wings are flapping. That they have congregated and gathered together in such a large number and are moving at such a supersonic speed that they are creating that much turbulence in carrying out the purposes of God.

You say, "How do I know that?" Because the Bible says that that's what they do. He says, Ezekiel says, "I saw the wind and when when my eyes were opened and I was able to look inside the wind, I saw angels moving there." That it is not just wind, it is not just a haphazard activity, it is functionally the activity of God's angelic host. God's activity, God doing God's thing, using the normal natural movements of nature.

Turn with me to Psalm 18. We have this glorious statement of the power of angels. Verse 7. "Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains were trembling and were shaken because he was angry." God was angry. "Smoke set up out of his nostrils, and the fire of his mouth devoured, coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with thick darkness under his feet." And he rode upon the cherub, or plural cherubim, or angelic host. He rode upon, that is, he did his activity through the use of cherubs, and flew.

Now, let me say this in closing. If angels are this great and this powerful, shouldn't we go looking for them? No. What you go looking for is Jesus. That's what Hebrews says. Hebrews says these angels are bad, they're great, they're awesome, but don't go angel looking. Don't say, "I'm going to find my guardian angel." He done already found you. He says in chapter one, verse three, "And he is the radiance of his glory." Jesus is the radiance of God's glory. "The exact representation of his nature. He upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they."

He says in verse six, "And when he had again bring home the firstborn into the world, he said, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he said, who makes his angels winds, and his ministers what? A flame of fire or lightning." Those are what angels do and and they do that under Jesus Christ. "But of the son he says thy throne, oh God." In other words, when God looks at angels, he say, "Give me a little wind here. Give me a little earthquake there. Give me a little lightning over here." But when he sees Jesus, he says, "Thy throne, oh God." In other words, when the Father looks at the son, they have God talk. When they look at angels, they just boss them around. To put it another way, if you know Jesus, you'll get your angel. Don't go angel looking, go Jesus looking.

Narrator: And if you're still looking, if you haven't found Jesus and the new life he wants to give you, here's Dr. Evans with a prayer to get you started.

Dr. Tony Evans: If you have yet to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, we can resolve that right now. I'm going to say a little prayer. I want you to pray it after me, but you've got to mean it for yourself. Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, and I know I need a savior because I can't save myself. So right now, I trust you alone, because you died for me and arose for me to be my sin bearer. You are now my substitute, and I'm believing you to forgive my sin and to give me eternal life. Thank you for the free gift of salvation that you have given to me. Help me to live a life to please you. In Jesus name. Amen. Welcome to the family, and we'll keep ministering to you for your spiritual growth through our broadcast. God bless you.

Narrator: If you prayed that prayer just now, let me encourage you to visit tonyevans.org and follow the link that says "Jesus." There you can download some free follow-up resources that'll help you get your brand-new life started right. Today's lesson was called "The Existence of Angels," the first in Tony's two-volume series, "Angels, Good, Bad, and Ugly." This complete 12 message collection is available right now as our thank you gift when you make a donation to help support The Alternative. And as a special bonus, we'll also send you the powerful companion book I mentioned earlier, "Warfare, Winning the Spiritual Battle." These resources will help you better understand the unseen spiritual battle taking place around you. And more importantly, how God has already equipped believers to stand firm and live in victory. But this special double offer will only be available for a limited time, so don't wait. Visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements, or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by to help you day and night. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222.

Now, if you find these messages from Dr. Evans helpful, you'll appreciate hearing him engage in thoughtful discussions with spirit-filled guests on The Unbound Podcast. You can find these conversations on his YouTube channel, or wherever you stream your favorite podcast. Well, next time on The Alternative, Dr. Evans shifts our study from who angels are, to what angels do. We'll learn more about their ministry and methods. Be sure to join us.