Perhaps An Angel?
By Dr. T.D. Worthington
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Years ago, long before the foundations of this world were laid there was a meeting held of the Eternal Committee. Our Heavenly Father was on that committee. The second person of the Trinity, the One we know today as Jesus was on that committee. The blessed Holy Spirit also participated on that committee. I don’t know if there might have been observers to witness this meeting, perhaps Gabriel or Michael. But it was God who determined the agenda and outcome of the meeting. The meeting was to establish the Determinate Counsel of God. (Acts 2:23)
Long before the first fish swam in the sea and before the first bird was created to fly; our loving and wise Creator looked into the future and saw that man would fall. But God knew He would bestow an unconditional love upon man, so even before we were created, God determined a complex plan to save us.
The reason for this meeting was to devise a plan to pay for man’s sin and rebellion. Long before it was written in the Bible, the penalty for sin was death. Man sinned and someone had to pay that penalty. God’s righteousness demanded it. Man would have to pay his own debt unless someone could be found who was able and willing to pay the debt for him.
The problem seemed almost insurmountable. There would be no member of the fallen race who would be without sin. Man would be a sinner by choice, but also by birth. So, only someone untainted by human sin could come to earth and die for us.
Maybe God could send an angel to redeem sinful man. Perhaps Gabriel or Michael, as God’s faithful servants, would gladly volunteer for the task. But would that work? Angels are certainly powerful creatures. Why couldn’t God just send an angel to redeem us? Why should He have to send Jesus? Well, angels are pretty impressive, but they are not in a position to pay the price for man’s sin.
First, angels are spiritual beings that may appear in the form of men, but they are not flesh and blood as we are. Sure, we share some characteristics with angels, like being creatures with differing personalities and possessing a free will, but we are fleshly beings whereas they are spirit beings. As such, they have no blood to shed, and blood is an absolute requirement for atonement. “…without shedding of blood is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22
Second, since angels are not human by type, they are not our kin, and redemption requires a kinship relationship between the redeemed and the redeemer. The entire book of Ruth develops this theme. Provision was made in the Law to render help for a person who was forced to sell himself into slavery. His nearest of kin could step in and “buy back” his freedom. Four things were required in order for a kinsman to redeem: He must be near of kin, he must be able to redeem by having sufficient resources, he must be free of any need of redemption himself, and he must be willing to redeem. Once the price was completely paid the redemption was complete and freedom was restored.
Jesus was qualified through His incarnation. He was like us in every way except He never experienced sin. In order to identify Himself as a close relative of man, He took the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7). Angels do not have nor may they assume human kinship, therefore they would be unable to assume our debt.
Third, only we humans are created in the image and likeness of God Genesis 1:26. This is said nowhere of angels. Humans were purposefully created for a unique relationship to God. We are designed to be sons (Galatians 4:6), whereas the angels are servants (Hebrews 1:14). As such, no angel meets the qualifications for a redeemer.
Fourth, redemption is recreation. Since only God can create and give life, only God can redeem and restore life. God made man from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7); and resurrection is the same as creation, taking us back from the dust of the ground (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).
According to the Bible, it was Jesus who spoke the worlds into existence. John declares about Jesus: “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3
Since Jesus shaped man in the Garden of Eden, He would be the One to restore man. Jesus said: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” John 11:25
Fifth, an angel could not do the work of redemption because of the holiness of the law. What is sin according to the Bible’s definition? John makes it quite clear: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4 Sin is breaking God’s law, and the law is the reflection of His character in words. Since God’s law is as holy as God Himself, only a holy God could redeem man from its penalty. Angels may not have sinned, but that does not mean they are as perfect and holy as God. Therefore, only an actual member of the Godhead could redeem the fallen race, and not any created being.
Sixth, typifying our new birth into God’s family, Jesus is designated as the first born Son of God. In order to establish a family relationship with God (to be called the children of God), we had to be redeemed by a literal member of the Godhead. No one else would have the authority to birth us into the family of God, but one who was already a part of that family.
“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29
Seventh, since man owes a debt to God he cannot pay, it would stand to reason only God could wipe that debt away. Our debt to God is measured by the quality and pricelessness of what we have broken. Imagine you have just broken a priceless antique vase in a museum. Could you pay for the damage you did? Man has broken God’s perfect standard of righteousness. Thus, we have nothing with which to pay such a great debt. We stand before Him in penniless insolvency with empty pockets and hands. No justification on our part will clear us. For us it is an unpayable debt. No one has the wealth or authority to wipe that debt away but God Himself.
Eighth, God does not want our praise and worship directed to angels. “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” Colossians 2:18
What would be the implications of worshipping an angel at Easter or during the Christmas season? If an angel redeemed us to God does that mean we would pray in an angel’s name? Could one angle indwell all believers as does the Holy Spirit?
A.W. Tozer once said concerning God and His angels, “I am a Bible Christian and if an archangel with a wingspread as broad as a constellation, shining like the sun, were to come and offer me some new truth, I’d ask him for a reference. If he could not show me where it is found in the Bible, I’d bow him out and say, ‘I’m awfully sorry. You don’t bring any references with you.’”
Ninth, an angel could not reveal God to man. Angels are pretty impressive, but they are not God. God’s greatest revelation of Himself to mankind is in Jesus Christ. Revelation is the disclosure of truth previously unknown. Before the coming of our Lord to earth many varied forms of revelation may have existed, but no manifestation of God was as clear and transparent as Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:19-20.
Indeed, we have been given amazing and abundant revelations of the Almighty God, yet, none were set forth more clearly and fully than God’s final revelation of Himself in the Person of Christ. Since God is an infinite Being, no man could understand Him fully save the Son who is One in equality with the Father. When the Word became flesh He brought to man an adequate revelation of God. Whatever the ancient seers and saints knew about God before Jesus came; we have a more excellent revelation. Obviously, no mere angel could accomplish such a feat.
Tenth, an angel could not reveal man to man. Through His Incarnation Jesus Christ reveals man to himself. He shows us what we are and what we may become. Man is grossly ignorant of his real self, and that the mission of the Son’s coming included a plan that would enable man to see and know himself as God sees and knows him.
Man was created in the image of God; however, man did not retain God’s image and likeness. Man sinned and death began to do its work, and the grave for Adam was but a matter of time. When Adam defaced the Divine image and lost the Divine likeness, he begat sons “in his own likeness, after his image” Genesis 5:3. Yes, “by man came death” and “in Adam all die” I Corinthians 15:21- 22.
The coming of Christ to the earth revealed the heart of man in cruel hatred for Divine holiness. The Son of God was sinless in every respect, yet man, Jew and Gentile alike, crucified Him. The world, having seen the perfect light, turned from the light, for “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil’’ John 3:19.
Eleventh, an angel could not have defeated Satan. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same (flesh and blood); that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” Hebrews 2:14-15.
By the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, through His death and resurrection, He obtained the power of death from the Wicked One. Death no more holds its lethal grip upon the believer. Death once held man in the vise of hopeless doom, but now Satan is defeated.
Twelfth, an angel could not rule the earth. When the Incarnation had been announced, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “…where is He that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him” Matthew 2:2. The steps in our Lord’s humiliation were temporary steps leading to a permanent exaltation, culminating with the bowing of every knee and the confessing of every tongue in heaven and in earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
A perfect kingdom demands a perfect King. At the end of the conflict of the ages, Jesus Christ, the God-Man will return to earth to establish His righteous kingdom which will never be destroyed. His kingdom of glory, and His throne in the midst, was God’s first promise through the mouth of the angel Gabriel to Mary, and it links together the Incarnation and reign of the Son of God. (Luke 1:31-33)
Thirteenth, an angel could not restore creation. Though the salvation of man was God’s chief concern, His plan was never limited to the world of mankind. It is written of the eternal Son, who was with God and who is God, that “all things were made by Him” John 1:3. Now, through the sacrifice of Christ, creation will be restored to its former glory and beauty.
So, an angel could not do the work of redemption. Since Jesus was the one who created man with His own hands, He would be the one to redeem man, with His outstretched hands on Calvary! As you can see, Jesus is uniquely qualified to be our Saviour.
Although it is true that angels frequently appeared to take on human form in the Bible, it is important to note that they did not become human. These powerful appearances were not the equivalent of Jesus taking on humanity. He was born of a woman and grew into full adulthood like all of us. Angels, as created beings, appear to have been created at full maturity and without a biological process.
So, the plan was that God Himself would come to earth, become a man, and live on the earth for 33 years. During His visit to Earth He would never sin. He would never think, say, or do anything He shouldn’t. So, God became flesh, His name was Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He came to the Earth and lived a perfect life. And this was all planned by the Determinate Counsel of God before the foundation of the world.
So, an angel would not suffice. It was determined that Jesus Christ would go to the cross, and on that cross, He would pay our debt so we might live forever as the children of God.