Some people think of Heaven as a strictly spiritual, fourth dimension. That would suggest that, if God exists, He doesn’t exist in reality. But God, Who created all reality, is certainly a part of it and so is His neighbourhood. Heaven is simply the vast universe. It is God’s throne. It is where the angels live.
What is an angel? The angels are children of God who do not die. The word angel is ancient Greek for messenger. None of them resemble in the slightest those monsters in movies who attack from outer space. They look like us. They are humans who do not die. Nowhere in the Bible are angels said to have wings. They are always described as humans (see Genesis 18.2 and 32.24). The are depicted by ancient artists with wings because they possess technology enabling them to fly. To understand this, we need to look at symbols used by ancient writers to describe things that were not yet invented during their time.
Angels’ horses. In Zechariah chapter 1, verses 8 to 11, the prophet was visited by a band of angels. Reading from the Greek Septuagint, the story goes as follows. “I saw by night, and beheld a man mounted on a red horse, and he stood between the shady mountains; and behind him were red horses, and grey, and piebald, and white. And I said what are these, my lord? And the angel that spoke with me said to me, I will shew thee what these things are. And the man that stood between the mountains answered, and said to me, These are they whom the Lord has sent to go round the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood between the mountains, and said, We have gone round all the earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.”
Now let’s interpret the symbols. The “horses” of various colours are the angels’ transportation. They are also described as “mountains,” because they have the ability to rise up high. They are flying machines. Notice that, by using this means of transportation, they are able to “go round the earth” and return bringing recent news, an act which they could never accomplish with flesh and blood horses. (Other biblical names for flying machines include “cherub” and “cloud.”) Zechariah calls the angel “my lord,” to indicate the angel’s superior status in their relationship. The angel also calls God “the Lord.” So the meaning of “lord” in the Bible depends on the situation.
Myrtles. The above quote is taken from the ancient Greek Septuagint version of the Bible. In the Masoretic Texts, from which most Bibles are taken, we find another gem. The “mountains” are called “myrtles” and the myrtle flower is shaped like a flying saucer! So as long as we live as Jesus tells us, we have no need to fear an invasion from outer space. That will indeed happen, when Christ overthrows the nations of this world but that will be to help His people, not to harm them.
How do we relate to the angels? They are our relatives, who did not fall in the rebellion in Heaven, as we did. Allow me to explain. Revelation chapter 12 tells us, in verse 7, “War arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.” Notice this war is spoken of as happening in the past. It was waged in the time before Adam and Eve were recreated on the earth. This war is not in the future. It occurred long ago. It was an interplanetary war, in which the atmosphere of Mars was burned up. The devil’s home planet was blown apart and survives today as what we know as the Asteroid Belt. The earth itself was shaken, creating huge tsunamis destroying the devil’s worldwide civilization of long ago. The people described as the devil’s angels are his co-conspirators. The book of Enoch From the Ethiopic says there are 200 of these fallen angels and it names their chiefs. There are people on earth who know these things but they’re mainly on the other side. The War in Heaven seems to be the basis of the Star Wars movies, with the roles reversed; so the rebel Lucifer (a.k.a. Luke Skywalker) is exalted as a hero and God is portrayed as the evil dark lord, Darth Vader.
Accomplices. Revelation chapter 12, verses 3 and 4 tell of, “…a great red dragon…His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.” Angels are often symbolized as “stars.” We are those “stars” who were cast down. Although we were not in the devil’s elite, ruling club, we were what communist leader Vladimir Lenin would call the “useful idiots” who went along with Satan’s rebellion against God. We died in the subsequent War in Heaven. But our merciful God did not want us dead, so He gave us each one mortal life on earth, to change for the better. Jesus Christ is the Leader of God’s plan to rehabilitate us, so after death and the resurrection, we may be reintegrated into the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul speaks of this in Colossians 1.20: Through Him (Jesus Christ) He (God) will collect all again to Himself.” That means He will collect all of us who are willing to reform. The fallen angels, or devils, are slated for eventual destruction and so are all of our people who continue to rebel against God. Hebrews 9.23-24 states that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was necessary to cleanse the heavens also, which means that someone, sometime in the past must have sinned there. That was us. Hebrews 11.13 says our ancestors in the Bible “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Revised Standard Version). “Exiles” from where? From God’s Heavenly Kingdom, Up High. Therefore Philippians 3.20 says of Christ’s believers, “Our commonwealth is in heaven.” Other translations say, “We are a colony of heaven,” or “we are citizens of heaven.” This means that, through faith in Christ, we reform and establish a solid, political link with God’s eternal Kingdom, to which we may legally, someday return.
How many angels exist? Because one third of us were thrown down, we can estimate the population of Heaven. Just double the population of all of our people born on the earth, from Adam, 6000 years ago and bear in mind that the population of Heaven is never diminished by even a single death, even as more children are born there. So if you’re wondering how many angels God has to help you, there are an abundance of them.
The devil and his angels arrived on the earth first. They organized the people already living here into a crooked, worldwide, trade and economic system which I call the World Order. It was into this slave-system that Adam and Eve arrived. The devil is called the prince, or ruler of this world in the Gospels. Before He was crucified, Jesus said, “Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12.31). When Jesus rose from the dead, the devil and his fallen angels lost their immortality and died. They remain today as evil spirits which possess the leaders of the World Order.
Our lives on earth are the final chapter of the War in Heaven. The earth is a re-education facility for those of us who rebelled against God. Think of Australia. It was settled by convicts, who built something really nice during their stay. If we follow Christ faithfully, we will return to Heaven after the resurrection of the dead, approximately a thousand years from now.
I would like to acknowledge the independent Bible teacher Jack “Noah” Fredericks, late of Branson, Missouri, for much of this information on angels and flying machines in the Scriptures.
Thank you for joining me. If you’d like to learn more, I encourage you to read my “Secrets in Biblical Symbols” series. THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF THE WEST Foretold in Prophecy interprets biblical symbols to show how the Age of the Church has ended, bringing chaos to our society and how our culture will rise from spiritual and economic death into a freer, fairer culture that lasts 1000 years. My second book is Do-it-Yourself HOME CHRISTIANITY: How to Please God and Receive His Help Without Preachers, Churches, or Money and the title says it all. Both are available on this website, as real books, or ebooks.
