THE HIERARCHY OF ANGELS

By Johnny Tatum

The purpose of this study is to understand that angels were created in a hierarchy; that the cross section of all of the different ranks of angels who fell and became completely different creatures (demons) kept their different ranks, their different powers, and their different authorities; and Creator God is sovereign over the entire angelic spiritual realm.

LIFTING THE VEIL

 

The Bible speaks often about angels and their relationship with human beings. In Daniel 10, we read that Daniel had been praying for revelation when an angel appears to him and says:

From the first day that you set your heart on understanding and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me 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 10:12-13)

A godly angel says that God sent him as soon as Daniel started praying, but the prince of Persia held him up for three weeks. [See our Daniel 9-10, Daniel's Prayer And The Divine Revelation study.]

Why are we told this? Why does God lift back the veil of the spiritual dimension and let us look into that dark area? Maybe God is telling us Look at what is going on over here, so if we ever face a similar problem that is inexplicable [according to what we read in the Bible], we will understand that it could be satanic (demonic) activity and we will bring it before God in prayer.

Possibly, if Daniel had known the demonic prince (principality) of Persia was holding up the godly angel, then he could have prayed specifically about that situation while resting in God's protection and in God's sovereignty over Satan [and his whole army].

 

With that in mind, we are going to have a parenthesis in our Creation series to learn about these spiritual beings and their ways in heaven and on earth to avoid undue fears and sensationalism. Our scope includes the following aspects:

In this study, we will look at a description of angels, the different ranks and levels of authority of angels, and how angels work.

 

Note: For our studies on angels, we refer to:

 

DESCRIPTION OF ANGELS

 

As presented in our Creation Of The Angelic Spiritual Realm: God Commanded And They Were Created study, the first creative activity of God of which we are aware is of the spiritual dimension — the creation of the spiritual beings called angels. If we had been right there when God created the angels we would not have seen anything, because our eyes are built for this physical dimension and angels live in a spiritual dimension; however, they are real!

Let us review some aspects about angels that are clearly presented in the Bible:

Angels are created spirit beings:

Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts…Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. (Psalm 148:2, 5)

The angels were created in eternity [past], before the creation of the universe. How do we know that? Because all the angels shouted for joy at the creation of the earth:

At the foundation of the earth…The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. (Job 38:4, 7)

Note: Morning stars, sons of God are terms for angels.

The Son of God [incarnate, Messiah Jesus] created the spirit beings:

For by Him [God's beloved Son] all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16)

The angels are numerous:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels. (Hebrews 12:22)

In eternity [present], angels are a higher category of beings than humans are:

What is man that You remember him, Or the son of man that You are concerned about him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels. (Hebrews 2:6-7)

In eternity [future], redeemed humans will be a higher category of beings than angels:

What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! (Psalm 8:4-5)

Angels are purely spiritual beings; they do not belong to the physical world, but they do interact with the physical dimension:

For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. (Psalm 91:11)

Normally, man cannot see angels, but God can allow man to see them in one of two ways: (1) God lifts back the veil of the spiritual dimension, and man sees angels as they are; however, this is not a good way because whenever man sees them in this way, he is very frightened, or (2) Angels are allowed by God to change their form from a spiritual body to a physical body, which is easier for humans to take:

Some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)

Angels do not die — the number of angels neither waxes (increases) nor wanes (decreases).

For neither can they die anymore, because they are like the angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. (Luke 20:36)

There are different categories (groups) of angels:

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces or wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

For by Him all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16)

The angels were created in a hierarchy. How do we know that? We know that some angels are called Archangels:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

The prefix arch means one in priority or rank. So if some angels have higher priority, then some angels have lower priority; therefore, there is some kind of hierarchy of angels. Another way we know that there is a hierarchy of angels is found in the Book of Revelation; some angels are held in bondage by other angels:

One saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." (Revelation 9:14)

What is a hierarchy? A hierarchy is different levels of authority. For example, the Ranks of the Military are distinguished between various grades of commissioned officers and noncommissioned officers: at the top are generals, a level down are colonels, another level down are majors, and continuing down the levels are captains, lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, and privates.

When Lucifer sinned [and became Satan — the prince of the demons], apparently, he persuaded one third of the angels to defect with him:

And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. (Revelation 12:4)

It is important to recognize that Lucifer took a cross section of all of the different ranks of angels with him. And when these angels fell, their total nature changed and they became completely different creatures called demons. What is amazing is that even after the fall, the demons retained their different powers, their different ranks, and their different authorities.

Though the godly angels (two-thirds of the innumerable angels created by God) vastly outnumber the fallen angels (one-third of the innumerable angels created by God who fell and became demons), the majority of godly angels are lower ranked and the majority of ungodly angels are higher ranked.

Picture This:

NUMBERS IN THE RANKS

Picture two triangles, which are divided into ranks from top (highest ranking) to bottom (lowest ranking); Creator God is over both triangles. The triangle on the left represents the godly angels, and the base of that triangle is on the bottom so the triangle points up. The triangle on the right represents the demons, and the base of that triangle is on the top so the triangle points down.

The godly angels have a much greater number of lower-ranking angels at the base, with very few higher-ranking angels at the point. The demons are just the opposite; they have a much greater number of higher-ranking demons at the base with very few lower-ranking demons at the point.

 

THE HIERARCHY OF ANGELS: A Challenging Study

 

We recognize the hierarchy of angels should be treated as having significance in God's plan; even so, the Bible does not give a lot of specific information about their hierarchy.

There has been a lot of speculation about the different ranks in the hierarchy and about what the godly angels and demons can do. I searched the Internet, and, as you can imagine, there are all kinds of papers on the different kinds of angels; unfortunately, the majority of these papers do not have basis and facts.

Another source of information is channelers (humans in the occult who fake communications with dead people by communicating with demons), but you cannot trust their information because they are demonic (a human host who has a resident demon controlling him), and demons lie:

But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from their faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of the demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. (1 Timothy 4:1-2)

There are some sources of information on angels that seem to be pretty reliable, including the following:

 

Rabbinic Tradition that goes back a long, long way — since the time of Moses — is very helpful for developing an understanding of angles. Their references to the hosts of heaven are meant to further inform us about God: what He does and how He does it.

 

The Book of Enoch is an excellent source that was written by [the one and only] Enoch who was raptured before the flood. It is not in its totality today, but within the text that remains we read Enoch's description of certain angelic categories. The Book of Enoch (a noncanonical book that is not inspired, because if it were it would be in the canon) is a credible source, because it is quoted in the Book of Jude, which is in the New Testament:

And it was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. (Jude 14-15)

 

The Celestial Hierarchy is an outstanding source. To my knowledge, no one uses it because this ancient Greek document has never been translated [though I wish someone would].

In Acts 17, we read that Paul is in Athens at Areogpagus (Roman equivalent: Mars Hill) giving an intelligible speech about the true God to a group of Epicureans (philosophers after Epicurus who taught it was unnecessary to follow God) and Stoics (philosophers after Zeno whose concept of God was pantheistic). Most of the hearers scoffed at the Good News of Messiah Jesus and His resurrection, but a few believed:

But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (Acts 17:34)

This is a fascinating verse, because Dionysius and Damaris are historical people. Dionysius was an Areopagite, an individual who knew all of the classic mythology, and at one time, the woman Damaris had been an occultist. After they became believers in Messiah Jesus, together they wrote a book about spirit beings, and in the preface they describe how they were both redeemed through a speech that Paul gave in Athens at Mars Hill.

Note: The Celestial Hierarchy scrolls — written in first century Greek lettering on raw papyrus — have been photographed and published on the Internet.

 

 

Next:

The Hierarchy Of Angels: STARTING AT THE TOP

Creation Of The Angelic Spiritual Realm: God Commanded And They Were Created

Back To: Creation Series Page



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We express our deepest appreciation to Mitchell and Dawn Kolodin for their excellent work in transcribing and editing this entire Creation study.

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