Charles Wesley’s famous hymn ‘And can it be?‘ is still sung from time to time today, even though many of the other hymns that were still popular when I was a Methodist teenager have fallen into neglect. It is a shame, although I think that the vigorous tune Sagina prompts us to sing it more lustily than the awe-struck words suggest. At any rate, we would reflect the words better if we didn’t crank the volume up until we reached the bit about ‘my chains fell off’.…
Since God created everything, Gen 1:1, Jn 1:3, Col 1:16, and everything he created was good, Gen 1:3, Ps 104:24, 1 Tim 4:4, it seems reasonable to suppose that Satan was originally part of that good creation, but ‘fell’ into evil.
Many interpreters have seen in this prophecy (and also Eze 28) a cosmic dimension, although its primary reference is clearly to a man – the king of Babylon, Isa 14:4.…
In his preface to The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis famously wrote that there are two equal and opposite errors in relation to thinking about demons: disbelieving in their existence altogether, and taking an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. Either way, Satan is delighted – scepticism and fanaticism both serve his purposes very nicely.
The sceptical approach is well represented by the New Testament scholar Rudolph Bultmann: ‘It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and scientific discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of daemons and spirits.’…
How do angels differ from human beings?
1. Angels are not subject to redemption. Holy angels do not need to be redeemed, fallen angels cannot be redeemed.
2. Angels are not heirs of God. Jesus so identified himself with fallen men at the incarnation, Heb 2:9, that they become joint heirs with him through redemption, Rom 8:17.
3. Angels cannot testify to salvation. They do share in the joy of salvation, Lk 15:10, but they cannot personally testify to it, and more than a man who has never married can fully appreciate that relationship.…
There is something surprising about this: the humble circumstances of the Christ-child in the manger confirmed the angel’s announcement of a Saviour. We would expect it to be the other way round!
Angels appear from time to time within the pages of Scripture. We read of their activities in connection with creation, the giving of the Law, the birth of the Saviour, the temptation in the wilderness, the agony in Gethsemane, the resurrection, ascension and final judgement.…
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
John G. Paton, a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, experienced the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Patons’ out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all night that God would deliver them.…
