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creatures which he saw, afterwards defined as the cherubim, which chapter should be
read by the student. Angelic ministry is very prominent in the record of God's dealings
with Israel:--
"The angel which redeemed me from all evils bless the lads" (Gen. 48: 16).
"Behold I send an angel before thee" (Exod. 23: 20, so 32: 34 and 33: 2).
"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Who hath sent His angel,
and delivered His servants that trusted in Him" (Dan. 3: 28).
"My God hath sent His angel and hath shut the lions' mouths" (Dan. 6: 22).
"The angel of His presence saved them" (Isa. 63: 9).
"The angels of the Lord by night opened the prison doors" (Acts 5: 19).
"There stood by me this night the angel of God" (Acts 27: 23).
Scripture testifies to the great number of angels that there are waiting to do the Lord's
bidding:--
"The chariots of the Lord are twice ten thousand thousand, even thousands upon
thousands" (Psalm 68: 17).
"The heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels" (Heb. 12: 22).
"Behold the Lord cometh with His holy myriads" (Jude 14).
"I heard the voice of many angels. . . . the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands" (Rev. 5: 11).
"Thousands thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before Him" (Dan. 7: 10).
At the giving of the law angels had an active part:--
"The word spoken by angels" (Heb. 2: 2).
"Who hath received the law by the disposition of angels" (Acts 7: 53).
"The law. . . . was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (Gal. 3: 19).
Angels are prominent in the second coming of Christ (see Matt. 24: 30, 31;
13: 39-41; I Thess. 4: 16; II Thess. 1: 7). That angels are connected with the nations
seems to be made known to us in the book of Daniel. In Dan. 10: 5-13, 20, 21, under the
title of princes we have, if we are not mistaken, angelic beings over the affaires of the
nations. The prince of Persia and of Greece are unnamed, but by withstanding Michael
seem to imply that they are the angels of Satan, who, watching over his interests in the
development of the Gentiles power under the successive monarchies of Babylon, Persia,
and Greece, finally assumes the kingdoms and the glory of this world as shown in
Luke 4: Dan. 12: 1 speaks of Michael as "the great prince that standeth for the children
of thy people."
The four winds (Rev. 7: 1, 2), fire (14: 10), waters (16: 5), and the sun (19: 17) are
at different times under their power. An angel is used to reveal the word of the Lord to
Zechariah (chapters 1:-6:) in much the same manner that the angel "signifies" to John the
Apocalypse. The word "angel" occurs in the Revelation over 70 times, in Hebrews
13 times, in the four Gospels and the Acts over 70 times, in Peter's Epistles 4 times, in
Paul's Epistles, apart from Hebrews, 14 times, of which number one occurrence only is
found in the Prison Epistles, and that one a negative statement (Col. 2: 18). These facts
alone will help us to see the close connection which the Revelation and its angelic
ministry has with kingdom purposes.