And we have little idea of how many there are. What is the number of the angels? Of course you probably have heard that back in the Middle Ages, they used to argue about how many angels can dance upon the head of a pin. I mean, that is really taking it far. But the Bible suggests that there is over 100 million of them. Let us go to Revelation 5:11. I think this is the clearest one of that. We often go to 5:10 talking about we shall reign on the earth with God. But verse 11 says,
Now, if you do your math, you multiply 10,000 times 10,000, that is 100 million. And then John adds on, thousands of thousands, which is millions. So, you get the idea that there is a very large population of angels. And what scares me is Satan took one-third them! So there are also a very large population of demons. Whoever the author of Hebrews was gave up trying to count them all. He just said they are innumerable. (You can find that in Hebrews 12:22.)
Another thing that we can see in these verses that we have read is that the Bible refers to them in the masculine gender. Their pronouns, if you will, are all masculine. They are called sons of God. Now, unlike humans, they are made of spirit rather than matter. Like God is a spirit being. We could, if we wanted to, very readily say that God is part of the spirit world. He is not a part of the angelic world necessarily, but He is a part of the spirit world. And I will make an exception: the pre-human Jesus Christ appeared many times as the Angel of the Lord, appearing to several of the Old Testament heroes of faith as the Angel of the Lord. So sometimes He comes (as we will get to in a few minutes), in terms of the idea of being a messenger, that sometimes He comes as a messenger from God and so technically then He is an angel because He bears a message. So angels, as spirit beings, are lesser than God in every way. No created being can be greater than its creator.
They are not ultra powerful. There is a limit to their power, their strength. It is less than God's, but it is far greater than ours. So we can say that because of this difference in composition and the talents and abilities that God gave the angels, human beings are a rung lower on the scale of cognizant beings, a rung lower than the angels. But we have a potential that is greater. We were made for a little while lower than the angels, but God will crown us with glory and honor. And will be sons of God in a greater way than they are now sons of God.
Let us go to Hebrews the first chapter and see some more. This is where I can say that, because we are fellow heirs or joint heirs with Christ, that we have a greater potential, because this chapter is an argument that the Son of God is far greater than the sons of God. That the Great Son of the Father is far superior to angels. And the author here, which I believe is the apostle Paul, wrote this introductory section to the book of Hebrews combating that Jewish mysticism concerning angels that was very popular at the time. And, as you heard in the quote, they thought that the angels were the actual powers behind the universe and all that was going on. And here, how could a mere human like Jesus of Nazareth be so great if these angels, who were really demons, were so wonderful and they were the ones that were working everything out in the universe.
So here we have chapter 1. I only want to read five verses out of this. Because here we are comparing the Son of God, Jesus Christ, now glorified, sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven, as he says in the first three verses of this chapter, and then you have this idea of angels as very powerful beings. But he is saying no, there is no comparison. The Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, who gave Himself for us, He was buried, rose the third day and ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father, is far superior to any angel, even the cherubim.
So there may very well be that 150 million angels total with 100 million of them as holy angels. That means there is 50-some million out there that are out to get us. Not a good thought except for the 100 million angels that are there to protect us.
