(Ver 1.1)  This is Part 2 of a series of advanced studies about the reality of angels found in the Bible.  If you have not read this series from the beginning I would strongly suggest that you go back and start with “Part 1”.  In the first lesson I introduced you to some potentially new and very interesting concepts concerning angels.  The Bible certainly has a lot of information on this subject so it is only a matter of researching and seeing what it says in order for us to better understand this subject.  Today I want to start by expanding on the concepts that I gave you last time which stipulates that an angel can manifest in a physical form in our world.  Today will be another witness to this fact.  I believe that I clearly showed you scriptures in Genesis 6 that says the angels took human wives and had sex with them to create a race of giants.  So we learned that angels in the Bible directly resemble human males on the earth.  As you may recall the Hebrew word translated as “angel” is a word that means “messenger”.  In today’s lesson we will further explore a basic reality that has some important concepts in it.  In Genesis 19 we find the story of Lot in Sodom.  Lot and his family had parted company from Abraham and moved near a city of the plain called Sodom.  The next time we hear about Lot we find that Lot has moved into Sodom.   It turns out that this was not a good choice for Lot to make.  If it was not for Abram’s relationship with God, Lot would have been killed with all of the other people of this city.  But, we might also not have Jesus coming into the earth either, since Lot was the primary ancestor of Ruth who marries Boaz and from them comes David the King and later Jesus of Nazareth.   So that is where this next verse starts the story of the angels that visit Lot in Sodom:

Gen 19:1  And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

As you can see two angels have manifested or transformed into their physical form and can be seen in the physical dimension by Lot.  I have to assume that angels have physical glorified bodies that have the ability to be visible to natural people or to somehow change and not to be seen by natural people.  We know that Jesus today has a physical body, but it is a glorified natural eternal body.   Jesus in this glorified body was able to suddenly appear inside a locked room of the disciples after His resurrection.  Did Jesus walk thru the wall or just step into the 3 dimensional space at the just the right spot?  You see I do not believe that we fully understand the 3 dimensional space concept fully.   I believe you can find verses in the Bible that say this dimension can be folded up and that is a radical concept.  Jesus then told Thomas to touch and feel Him for He said “a spirit does not have flesh and bone”.  Jesus was saying I’m not a spirit alone, I have a physical body.  So we know the glorified body of Jesus at the least had skin, flesh and bones like we do and we can only assume all of the features that we have.  This could be like the bodies of angels also.  I sometimes like to think that the natural realm is a dimension of space that spiritual beings like Jesus and angels are capable of stepping into or stepping out of upon their will.  But, it is more complicated than that, because the unseen spiritual realm is also all around us in this natural realm that we live in.  The Bible seems to indicate that there are disembodied spirits in our world today who do not possess a physical body as these angels appear to have.  We will look at these beings in other lessons and we will further discuss these types of spirits, often called demons.  These two angels in Genesis 19 just happen to come to the city in the evening and Lot is right there to see them coming.  I never think that things like this are just coincidences.  Lot is very gracious to them and I do not know if Lot knows if they are angels or not at the beginning of his conversation.  I believe at the first, Lot did not know they were angels, but certainly at the end of the story Lot had no choice but to believe who they were.  Lot at first was probably just being cordial and hospitable to some strangers that are new to the city of Sodom. 

Gen 19:2  And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

Lot offers his house for them to stay the night since it is already very late in the evening.  It almost appears that Lot understands the immoral condition of the city and the dangers that these strangers have come into it.

Gen 19:3  And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

It fascinates me to no end that angels can eat physical natural human food.  This just goes a little further to show us that our bodies are not an original design or the first of their kind.  Angels existed before any humans existed.  So God already had a pattern and a design to form the body of Adam.  We know that Jesus after He was resurrected from the dead that He also ate physical food with His disciples (John 21:9-11).  Apparently eating and drinking is something we will be able to do in heaven and throughout eternity even with glorified eternal bodies.  Whatever we eat there I hope there are cakes a pies.

Psa 78:25  Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.

What is it that angels eat in heaven?  God gives us at least a partial clue in this verse in Psalms.  If you read the context of this verse it is speaking of God raining down manna from heaven to feed the children of Israel.  This is clearly called angel food.  So God’s mighty angels eat food even in heaven.

So we have seen and learned more information that angels have bodies that resemble our bodies.  They are physical and their look and feel must be very similar to our bodies and they must be able to walk among us and us not even know that they were angels.  Nowhere in this chapter does it say that these men glowed in the dark or radiated the glory of God or had any feature that made them different than us.  Nowhere does it say that they had wings or any appearance that did not resemble our appearance totally and completely.  These two angels here in Genesis 19, walked into the city like any other man would.  They sat and ate dinner like any other man would.  We have clearly seen that angels can eat human food and people can eat angel food.  So these are some amazing facts found in the Bible to consider.  So I think about stupid practical things sometimes.  If angels eat natural food do you go to the bathroom like we have to?  I do not technically know the answer to that question either.  It would appear to me that if you eat something and put it into your stomach, something must happen to it.   The natural stuff can’t just disappear and vanish?  So to me there must be some digestive process and some waste process to function correctly.  We have obviously seen that angels have the organs and bodily parts to produce semen so that means to me that they have other organs that are either similar or identical to ours also.  These are just funny things that I ask myself and maybe these are things you have asked yourself also?

Gen 19:4  But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

So I’m not planning on going through every verse in this chapter, just a few of the key verses, but continuing with the next verse you can see that it says the angels were going to lay down.  Now that is not something I have ever thought of extensively, do angels sleep?  Maybe they do and maybe they don’t and I cannot technically answer that either.  I know the Bible says that in the New Jerusalem to come that there will be no night because the light of God will be our light for eternity.  Was this the way it was in heaven before God created the earth?   I guess we will continue with our story of Lot and Sodom.  Now is where the story changes and is often used to teach about the perils of the homosexual life style.  The men of the city witness the fact that there are two new men in town.  So obviously they are visible to everyone and not just Lot and his family.  This proves that they are physical and that they looked like everyone else in the city.

Gen 19:3  And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

So the men of the city press Lot to know where the new men are that came into the city.  This verse says that they want to “know” them.  This does not mean to meet them and be friendly; it means to have homosexual sex with them.  This is exactly why the angels were there in Lot’s house to begin with.  These angels were sent to Lot to get him and his family out of the city before they destroyed it.  We will soon see that more clearly as we proceed forward.

Gen 19:6  And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

So Lot has a major problem, he goes to the men of the city and starts to talk to them to try to convince them to change their minds.

Gen 19:7  And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

Lot recognizes and knows of the evil of the city.  Lot having lived in this city has known what they do to each other.  This is one of the strongest witnesses in the Bible that homosexuality is a very perverted lifestyle and is wrong in the eyes of God.  Homosexuality is an abuse of the design of God’s intended usage of the human body.  Just as you can abuse drugs, alcohol, food, or anything else, you can abuse your own body.   An abuse is always the use of something for a purpose that it is not designed for.  People obviously just ignore verses like these in the Bible to promote and justify their own alternative modern life styles.  It appears to me that these modern lifestyles are the same old lifestyles that were destroyed in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  So Lot offers his virgin daughters to the men, but the men want only want more men.   The lusts of the flesh are very strong in the world.  Obviously these men had no self-control over their ways.

Gen 19:10  But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

Here is another verse that confirms that these angels are not just spiritual beings.  They have physical presence to open the door and pull Lot back into the house and then to shut the door.  But, physical or natural power is not all of the power that they have as we are about to discover:

Gen 19:11  And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

You see angels also have supernatural powers and that is very important to note.  These angels came to Lot’s house on assignment from God to get him and his family out of that city.  When confronted with a large crowd of men who wanted to have sex with them, the angels solved Lot’s problem by causing all of the men to be blind.  Since they were unable to see Lot’s front door anymore, I guess sex was not as important to them as they thought before.  It is funny how stupid people can be, isn’t it?  As long is everything is normal they can only think about their desires, the only thing that these angels did was give these perverted men something new to think about and it was not a good thing for any of them.  When I read accounts like this in the Bible, I try to relate the information to other spiritual beings.  If God’s angels can cause physical changes to a body, can Satan and his angels also do this?  We will see later in this series that Satan can.

Let me summarize the remainder of this chapter.  The angels of God come and take Lot and his wife and two daughters out of the city by physical persuasion.   It also says that two of Lot’s daughters were married and Lot could not convince them to leave the city.  Their husbands thought Lot was crazy and it did not turn out very good for them.  The angels actually tell Lot the following:

Gen 19:13  For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

As we study angels in the Bible you will see that angels have significant supernatural power and ability.  They are not something to ignore.  They clearly have the power to destroy entire cities of the earth as this verse says.   So we learn something new about angels, not only can they bring messages from God to people on the earth, but they can also fulfill assignments or tasks directed by God.  In other words they can do the will of God to people on the earth.  In this particular story God is the supreme Judge and has passed judgment upon the wicked people for their alternative lifestyles.  God sends just two angels to destroy both cities completely.  Certainly angels have great power especially when backed by God.

2Pe 2:11  Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

The Bible clearly teaches us that angels are not trivial little creatures.  Just for grins I searched the internet for pictures of angels.  Guess what I found?  The majority of the pictures on the internet were cute little harmless looking winged creatures or female angels with beautiful features.  I went through hundreds of pictures from people’s imagined conception of how they viewed angels and none of them match the Bible description of an angel which has great power and might.  In 2 Peter 2:11 God tells us that angels are much stronger than we are.  There really is no comparison to our might and their might and you should get a hold of this concept.   You are no physical or spiritual match for Satan and his angels without God in you.  Only with God the “Greater One” in you can you stand up to these spiritual beings.  So let’s review a list of features and characteristics that we have clearly learned about angels in the Bible so far.

Angels:

1. Are Called sons of God (Gen 6, Job 1, 2)
2. Of God are different than other Angels not of God. (Gen 16:7)
3. Are the Symbolic Stars of Heaven (Gen 1:16, Rev 1:20, Rev 12:4)
4. Rule the Night with the Symbolic Moon (Satan).  (Gen 1:16)
5. Come From and live in Heaven (Heb 12:22)
6.  Number are innumerable for a man to count (Heb 12:22)
7. Are used as Messengers For God’s Word to Man (Gen 16, 19)
8. Have the ability to Travel from Heaven to the Earth and back (Job 1, 2)
9. Can Manifest and be Seen by the Natural Eye (Gen 16, 19)
10. Look Like Human Males (Gen 19:5)
11. Walk Like Men (Gen 19:1, Job 1:7)
12. Are Able to be physically touched.  (Gen 19:16)
13. Are Very Strong and Mighty (2 Peter 2:11)
14. Were Sent to Destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.  (Gen 19:13)
15. Have Supernatural Powers (Gen 19:11)
16. Can Eat natural Food (Gen 19:3)
17. Have the Ability to Have Sex with Human Females (Gen 6:4)
18. Produced a race of Giants in the Earth. (Gen 6:4)
19. That Had Sex with Natural Women are Locked In Hell (2 Peter 2:4)
20. Of Satan will be swept to the earth and their number is 1/3 of the total population. (Rev 12:4)

In the next lesson we will continue to discover more information about these spiritual beings, so I hope that you will continue reading.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading the next lesson in this series you can go to “Part 3“.