The Truth About Angels Ellen G. White 1996 Copyright © 2017 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. Information about this Book Overview This eBook is provided by the Ellen G. White Estate. It is included in the larger free Online Books collection on the Ellen G. White Estate Web site. About the Author Ellen G. White(1827-1915)isconsideredthemostwidelytranslated American author, her works having been published in more than 160 languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of spiritual and practical topics. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exalted Jesus and pointed to the Scriptures as the basis of one’s faith. Further Links A Brief Biography of Ellen G. White About the Ellen G. White Estate End User License Agreement The viewing, printing or downloading of this book grants you only a limited, nonexclusive and nontransferable license for use solely by you for your own personal use. This license does not permit republication, distribution, assignment, sublicense, sale, preparation of derivative works, or other use. Any unauthorized use of this book terminates the license granted hereby. Further Information For more information about the author, publishers, or how you can support this service, please contact the Ellen G. White Estate at [email protected]. We are thankful for your interest and feedback and wish you God’s blessing as you read. i To the Reader This book deals with a subject of worldwide interest. In unprece- dented numbers, television programs feature purported accounts of angel involvement in human affairs. Tabloid newspapers publish stories about numerous reported sightings of extraterrestrial visi- tors. Bookstores display shelf after shelf of volumes dealing with the supernatural, and sales are brisk. In every land people are ask- ing questions such as, if angels actually exist, who are they? Are they the spirits of the dead? Are they friendly or hostile? Can they communicate with us? Most answers given by “authorities” do not satisfy the sincere seeker for truth. Many of the answers represent mere speculation. Some are purposely sensational. Others are based on false interpre- tations of scripture. By contrast, the present volume is filled with inspired informa- tion. It offers answers grounded firmly in the word of God. It not only sets forth the truth about angels, but, we believe, will lead the reader into a deeper spiritual experience. The first chapter provides a general overview of the existence and activities of beings in the unseen world. The second chapter illustrates a few of the numerous ways in which angels are involved in the personal lives of human beings. Beginning with Chapter 3, the book sets forth in historical sequence a galaxy of events and [5] experiences in which angels have been major players. It begins with the rebellion of Lucifer in heaven before the creation of this world and concludes with the role of angels in the great hereafter. This volume is a priceless resource book, but it is much more than that; it is a book that lifts the veil between the seen and the unseen world. It reveals angel involvement in events that secular historians recorded but could not explain, and gives the reader the feeling that he or she is an eyewitness of these events—an exciting experience indeed! ii We believe that this book will be prized by seekers of truth all over the world, that it will help them recognize counterfeit manifes- tations of spirits, and that in their daily walk with God it will lead them to seek and enjoy the fellowship of holy angels. The Trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. Silver Spring, Maryland 20904 Contents Information about this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i To the Reader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Chapter 1—Angels and You—a Brief Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Number and Power of Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Angels Help God’s Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Satan and Evil Angels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Christ’s Followers Are Safe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Chapter 2—Angel Ministry Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Angels Guard Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Angels Involved in Family Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Angels Enlighten Our Minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Angels Help Us Do Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Angels Aid Efforts for the Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Angels Strengthen Our Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Chapter 3—Angels in Heaven, Before the Rebellion . . . . . . . . . 21 Christ as Creator-God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Before Sin Arose, God Had a Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Creation of the Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Creation of Lucifer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Lucifer’s High Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Before Evil Originated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Chapter 4—The Origin of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Origin of Evil a Mystery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The First Inklings of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 God Sets Forth Christ’s True Position. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Lucifer Begins His Campaign Against Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Lucifer Is Given Time to Develop His Principles . . . . . . . . . 30 The Angels Debate the Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 God Meets Satan’s Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Lucifer Becomes Satan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The Angels Appear Before the Father. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Chapter 5—The Rebellious Angels Are Cast Out, and Adam and Eve Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 War in Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 iv Contents v The Effects of Rebellion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The Creation of Earth and Humankind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Adam and Eve in Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Satan Plans to Cause Man’s Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Satan Speaks to Eve Through a Serpent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Eve Eats the Fruit and Tempts Adam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The Council of Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Adam and Eve Expelled From Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chapter 6—Angels Before and After Noah’s Flood . . . . . . . . . 49 The Plan of Salvation Explained Further . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Worship at the Cherubim-guarded Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Adam and Angels Instructed Antediluvians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Enoch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Noah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 The Flood Comes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 After the Flood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 The Builders of Babel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Chapter 7—Angels in the Patriarchal Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Abraham. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Two Angels Visit Lot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Abraham Tested. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 The Marriage of Isaac. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Jacob and Esau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Chapter 8—Angels at the Time of the Exodus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The Birth of Moses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Moses in Midian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 The Plagues of Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Christ, Israel’s Invisible Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Chapter 9—Angels From Sinai to the Taking of Jericho . . . . . 73 Angels in Israel’s Wilderness Wanderings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Israel at Sinai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 “Let Them Make Me a Sanctuary” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 The Death and Resurrection of Moses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Balaam, a Prophet Gone Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Joshua Leads Israel Into Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 The Taking of Jericho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 vi TheTruthAboutAngels Chapter 10—Angels From the Time of the Judges to the Early Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Christ as the “Angel of the Lord” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Gideon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Samson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Samuel and Eli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Saul and Jonathan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 David’s Early Years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Saul Encounters an Angel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Saul’s Séance at Endor and His Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Chapter 11—Angels From David’s Time to the Babylonian Captivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 David’s Reign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Solomon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Elijah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Elisha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Chapter 12—Angels From the Captivity to John the Baptist . 102 Daniel and His Three Companions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Nebuchadnezzar’s Fiery Furnace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Belshazzar’s Feast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Daniel in the Lions’ Den . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Gabriel Sent to Explain the Vision of Daniel 8 . . . . . . . . . . 104 The Struggle for Influence Over the Kings of Persia. . . . . . 105 The Second Temple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Ezra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Nehemiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 The Visions of Zechariah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 The Vision of Joshua and the Angel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 The Vision of the Seven Lamps and the Two Olive Trees. . 109 Angels in the Time of Esther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 The Father of John the Baptist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Chapter 13—The Incarnation and Early Life of Christ . . . . . . 113 The Incarnation a Profound Mystery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 The Universe Was Watching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Why Christ Took Human Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Christ’s Human Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114