THE HIERARCHY OF ANGELS

By Johnny Tatum

STARTING AT THE TOP

Note: We recommend referring to our Hierarchical Chart Of Angels as you read The Hierarchy Of Angels study.

 

GOD

At the top of the hierarchy is GOD, the Creator of all angelic spirit beings, the ultimate spiritual Authority — the sovereign Ruler:

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. (Psalm 103:19)

God created the angels and He gave them purpose — to execute many of His acts in accordance with His will:

Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. (Psalm 103:20-21)

Actually, it is remarkable just how much the LORD GOD has delegated to His angels!

 

Messengers [from God]

These are the angelic Messengers who are assigned directly to God to deliver His messages to other angels and to believers. Their work is never more apparent than when a believer prays — prayer is a mechanism that moves God to direct His Messengers.

Of all the angels, Messengers are the lowest in rank, the lowest in authority, and the lowest in power. However, this particular group of Messengers (others will be discussed later) has virtually more authority, although they are no more powerful than any other Messengers are. Why would you think that is? These Messengers have implicit authority, because they are right from God.

Analogy:

IMPLICIT AUTHORITY

The personal secretary (aide) to the joint chief of staff may be a lower-ranking commissioned officer, such as a lieutenant; however by virtue of from whom he comes, he has implicit authority. If that lieutenant calls you and says [the name of a certain individual] wants to see you, then you would go see that individual right now!

Messengers who are assigned directly to God have implicit authority. They are dispatched by God to send messages to human beings, but more often, God uses these Messengers to send messages to other angels.

Note: Apparently, it was an angelic Messenger who was dispatched to Daniel as Daniel prayed. This angel has the lowest rank of all the angels and no more authority than any other Messenger has; however, by virtue of the fact that he works directly for God, he has implicit power.

 

The highest created angels who report directly to God Himself are as follows:

  1. Archangels
  2. Seraphs & Cherubs

These angels are equal in power, but there is a difference in their administration. Archangels are the leaders of the hierarchy of angels so they have angels under them and who answer to them. However, Seraphs and Cherubs are not involved in administration and they do not have angels under them — they stay in the presence of God and worship Him!

Archangels

Lucifer

In the Book of Jude, we read that Satan and the Archangel Michael were having a dispute, and the text says that Michael dared not rail against Satan:

But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 9)

Michael deferred to Satan; so apparently, [before his fall] Lucifer was higher than Michael. Lucifer never had more inherent authority than the other highest created angels; however, initially God granted him administrative authority over all the angels:

You were the anointed cherub who covers. (Ezekiel 28:14)

Who covers tells us that Lucifer was the ruler over all of the innumerable angels. It seems that he had the top position in the governance and control among the angels in God's service on behalf of the entire created realm until he fell [and became Satan]:

How you have fallen from heaven O star of the morning, son of the dawn! (Isaiah 14:12)

Today, Satan has remarkable forces (the one third of the angels who defected), but he is not more powerful than the other Archangels are — including Michael. That is important to say because if Satan has more inherent power than the others do then he would be stronger than they are, and he is NOT.

Michael

Michael is the only Archangel who is named and identified as Archangel in the Bible. In 1 Thessalonians 4, we read:

…with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God… (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

The voice of THE archangel; apparently, Michael is now the prime minister over the administration of the universe.

(Gabriel)

Gabriel is in parenthesis because the Bible never says that he is an Archangel [though his name does appear in the Bible]. We cannot be dogmatic about what kind of rank Gabriel has, but I think there is a way to demonstrate that he is an Archangel. Gabriel says:

I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. (Luke 1:19)

The only angels that stand in the presence of God are Archangels, Messengers [from God], Seraphs and Cherubs. We know that he is not a Seraph or a Cherub, because they are clearly described — they are full of eyes and they have wings — Gabriel is not full of eyes and wings; he has a human appearance:

And it came about when I, Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man. And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, "Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision." (Daniel 8:15-16)

In addition, Seraphs and Cherubs never leave the presence of God (the throne of God); however, Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, is sent from God to individuals in various places in the world. Consider the following:

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. (Luke 1:26)

So Gabriel could either be a Messenger [from God] or an Archangel. It is not impossible that he could be a special Messenger sent directly from God. However, I tend to think that he is, very clearly, an Archangel because the message he brought to earth was so extremely important — the incarnate Son of God [in the Person of Messiah Jesus] was to be born:

The angel [Gabriel] said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." (Luke 1:30-33)

I do not believe that God would have given that significant announcement to one of His Messengers, because, as we know from the Book of Daniel, a Messenger — even one sent directly from God — can be held up for three weeks:

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me [an angel dispatched to Daniel] for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. (Daniel 10:13)

I believe it is very clear that Gabriel is an Archangel; in addition, rabbinic tradition [all the way back to Moses] says that Gabriel is an Archangel.

((Raphael))

The name Raphael (healing of God) is in double parenthesis, because it does not appear in the Bible; therefore, I am reluctant to include Raphael in the hierarchy. However, according to rabbinic tradition and to The Celestial Hierarchy, which was written by Dionysius and Damaris, Raphael is the one who drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden [to save their lives]:

So He drove the man out [from the Garden of Eden]. (Genesis 3:24)

Messengers [under Archangels]

There is a group of Messengers assigned to Archangels. Messengers have the lowest ranking of the angels, but these Messengers have a little more authority than other Messengers do, because they come right from the highest-ranking angels, Archangels. They are dispatched by Archangels to give messages to other angels.

 

Seraphs & Cherubs

Apparently, Seraphs (not sheriffs -sic!) guard the holiness of God and Cherubs worship God.

Note: In this study, we will not use the words seraphim or cherubim (the Hebrew plurals); instead, we will use the words Seraphs and Cherubs (the English plurals).

Seraphs

Seraphs are described in the Book of Isaiah:

Seraphs stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. (Isaiah 6:2)

The Seraphs are majestic creatures and, apparently, there are several of them. The ministry of Seraphs is to continually praise God:

And one [Seraph] called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." (Isaiah 6:3)

Do you know where the Seraphs are located? Seraphs are always hovering above the throne of God.

Cherubs

Cherubs [who are not the little pudgy babies that we often picture thanks to the legacy of the Renaissance] are described in Ezekiel, Chapters 1 and 10.

Note: Figures of golden Cherubs with outstretched wings were on the lid (mercy seat) of the Ark of the Covenant, and carved engravings of Cherubs were on the walls of the Temple's inner and outer sanctuaries.

The Cherubs must be unbelievably beautiful creatures. They each have wings, hands, wheels, eyes around the perimeter of the wheels, and four faces like: (1) an angel, (2) a man, (3) a lion, and (4) a tiger.

The way the Cherubs move amazes me. Wherever the Cherubs look, that is the direction they go; and, apparently, they do not require any energy to move around.

The ministry of Cherubs is similar to the ministry of Seraphs. Cherubs are always around the throne of God, they are always praising God, and they have a unique ministry of guarding the divine presence of God. Also, the vision presented in Ezekiel, Chapter 1 indicates that is how God moves — they carry Him around! [See our Ezekiel 1: God Manifests Himself To Man study.]

The Old Testament presents the Cherubs doing two things that are paradoxical:

  1. The Cherubs guarded the Holy of Holies and blocked its access, because nobody had the right to go into the Holy of Holies — that is where the Shekinah (the presence of God) was manifested.
  2. Once a year, the Cherubs showed the way into the Holy of Holies to the high priest — he entered the Holy of Holies and he carried blood.

Cherubs keep away (God is unapproachable), and, Cherubs show the way (God is approachable)!

A Closer Look:

GUARDING GOD'S PRESENCE

Based on the Old Testament system that was ordained by God, the high priest (a representative of God for God's people) was allowed to go into the Holy Place (an interior space in the Tabernacle, and later, in the Temple) only on the Day of Atonement (the most sacred day of the year); he would present the required blood sacrifices to symbolically atone for the sins of God's people — giving them right standing before God and access to His presence.

Who fulfilled that type of high priesthood [the one who came into the Holy of Holies with blood]? Messiah Jesus fulfilled the high priesthood once for all — it never needs repeating:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:11-14)

Through the blood and death of Messiah Jesus, the sins are completely removed for all (Jews and non-Jews) who believe that Messiah Jesus is their personal Savior. At the moment of redemption, those individuals have right standing with God and access to His presence. And apparently, believers are shown the way by Cherubs since they are the spiritual beings who are around God's throne and who are guarding it.

How do believers access God's presence?

They pray.

How does God hear the prayers of believers?

Undoubtedly, for most — In the Believer's Mind: When we pray, our prayers take wing (nonsensically depart), go out through empty space, go to the highest heaven where God hears them. Even at great distances, God hears our prayer [mainly because He hears so well] and He says Yes, I hear your prayers!

In God's Mind: Believers are there in heaven in spirit. Our spirit comes walking through, the Cherubs who are guarding the throne recognize us [you did not realize that you are such a big shot, did you? -sic], and they let us in to communicate with the living God.

 

The four living beings presented in Ezekiel 1 are also Cherubs who are located below the throne of God:

These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubs. (Ezekiel 10:2))

All of these Seraphs and Cherubs are continually praising God and guarding His Shekinah glory (God's presence):

 

Next:

The Hierarchy Of Angels: DISTINGUISHING THE HIGHER RANKED

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