Psalm 91:11, 12

(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)

There is a lot of fascination concerning angels – much of it unbiblical misinformation about heavenly beings! We need a true perspective on angels, and that perspective is found in what Jehovah God has revealed in His Word, the Bible. This Gem is not a thorough study on the subject of angelic beings. But here are a few facts concerning angels:

• Angels are supernatural spiritual beings, created by God, apparently before the world was brought into being. In Job 38:4 through 7 the LORD spoke to Job and humbled him. Here, in verses 4 and 7 is what God said to Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?…when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” It is thought by some Bible scholars that the morning stars and the sons of God refer to angels. If that is true, then angels were already created when God spoke the world into existence! (see Genesis chapter 1).

• But sometime before the LORD placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Lucifer, a mighty angel (perhaps even an archangel) rebelled against the Creator, wanting to replace Him, and he was confirmed in his wickedness, now known as Satan! (see Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:13-15). In his rebellion he was joined with one third of the angels who became demons! (see Revelation 12:4, 9).

• The holy angels and demons have been active in human lives since the beginning – demons to bring us down, and angels to build us up! Thank God, if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you and other Christians, including myself…..we are on the winning side! Jesus has already defeated the devil! (see I John 3:8).

Our featured Scripture for this Gem is from the Old Testament, Psalm 91:11 and 12: “…He [God] shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone….”

This Scripture primarily applies to Jesus, as He was being tempted by the devil. It is recorded in Luke 4:9 through 12 (see also Matthew 4:5-7):

     Then he [Satan] brought Him [Jesus] to Jerusalem, set Him 
     on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are 
     the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is 
     written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep 
     you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you 
     dash your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and 
     said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the 
     Lord your God.’”

Notice something about this temptation; Satan left out a critical part of Psalm 91:11, which says, “…He [God] shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” The devil was tempting Jesus by saying something like this:

     “Yes, God will come to Your aid, but You don’t need Him in 
     this one little thing! Go ahead and jump, I’m sure the an-
     gels will come to Your aid anyway. And besides, You can use 
     Your own power to manage a soft landing!”

But Psalm 9:11 and 12 have a wider meaning for God’s children! We have guardian angels whom the LORD has “…given charge over [us]…to keep [us]…in all …our ways.” Does every Christian have his or her own guardian angel? The Bible doesn’t answer that directly, but there would have to be a lot of angels for one-on-one guardianship!

• By several estimates, there are over 600 million evangelical Christians in the world!

• Are there enough angels to have one-on-one guardianship over all these Christians?

     ✞   Matthew 18:10 – Jesus, in instructing His disciples, 
         said, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these 
         little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their 
         angels always see the face of My Father who is in hea-
         ven.” Little ones do not necessarily imply children, 
         but also those immature in their faith. But this verse 
         does seem to be saying that each of these little ones 
         has a protective angel!

     ✞   Matthew 26:52 and 53 – When Jesus was arrested in the 
         Garden of Gethsemane, Peter lashed out with a sword, 
         cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant. The 
         Lord told Peter:

             Put your sword in its place, for all who take 
             the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you 
             think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and 
             He will provide Me with more than twelve legions 
             of angels?

A Roman legion at full strength was six thousand soldiers! Twelve legions would be 72,000 angels! And Jesus said “…My Father…will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels…”! How many more might be millions or billions of angels!

     ✞   Hebrews 12:22 – “But you have come to Mount Zion and 
         to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
         to an innumerable company of angels....” According to 
         the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, innumerable means, 
         “Too numerous to be counted; numberless.”

     ✞   Revelation 5:11 – John wrote, “Then I looked, and I 
         heard the voice of many angels around the throne...
         and the number of them was ten thousand times ten 
         thousand, and thousands of thousands....” Taking this 
         at face value...

         ➔   “...ten thousand times ten thousand...” equals 
              one hundred million!

         ➔   “...thousands of thousands...” could be even 
              greater than “...ten thousand times ten thou-
              sand...”!  

I believe that there are at least enough angels
for one-on-one guardian angel relationships!

We will continue with this study in the next Gem.