Getting the Job Done

Let’s understand another aspect of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When God wants to minister to us internally, he will send the Holy Spirit to do the job. In other words, when God wants to transform our inner man (our soul or spirit), he’ll have the Holy Spirit minister to us.

God knows how to get the job done! He will use another means if the ministration he desires to give us is not directly to our soul or spirit. In those cases, when the ministration is external, he’ll use angels.

Angels do not work from within, they work from without. So, when God wants to show something to our eyes, speak something to our ears, or protect our bodies from danger—he’ll use an angel. Our eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are gateways to our souls, but they're only that: gateways. They are still external aspects of our being.

In general, the Holy Spirit ministers to us internally, while angels minister to us externally. Now, the Holy Spirit is certainly capable of ministering to us externally, but he doesn’t need to invest his time in tasks angels are capable of handling. And anyways, the external things are their sphere of ministration because God forbids angels to minister to humans internally.

The Ministry of Angels

Let’s examine five examples of how the ministry of angels works. Let’s study how they serve us. What’s our intent? We want you to compare and contrast. If we put the ministry of angels alongside the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit’s uniqueness becomes much more apparent. We can see how special he is and we can also see this: the difference between the angelic nature and the divine nature!

Example #1: An Angel Explains the Future to Daniel

An angel revealed God’s plan to Daniel. How did he reveal it? He explained it to Daniel audibly. He spoke words into Daniel's ears. He taught Daniel with the sound of his voice. The angel did not do anything within Daniel’s mind.

Here’s what the angel said:

I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come (Daniel 10:14).

The Scriptures say that ‘a revelation was given to Daniel’ (Daniel 10:1) and that revelation was not a dream. It was not enlightenment within his mind. The revelation consisted of the words the angel spoke. The revelation was audible. It entered through Daniel’s ears, proceeding from the lips of an angel.

To be sure, Daniel’s understanding came from the Holy Spirit but the angel was very frank about his role, saying that he would explain to Daniel the future. The angel did that. He explained the vision--the prophecy. And the angel did this it by standing in front of Daniel like a man and making his voice heard.

The angel was visible to Daniel. Here’s what the angel looked like:

… a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude (Daniel 10:5-6).

Daniel saw. Daniel heard. Daniel got a physical touch!

Daniel did not bow before the angel in worship--another hint that it wasn't the Holy Spirit.

The angel testified that Michael the Archangel had assisted the angel in a battle against principalities—upper-echelon demons in high places. If it were the Holy Spirit, he wouldn't need Michael's help.

Then the angel touched Daniel and gave him strength. That constituted a ministration to Daniel’s body. All these things prove that it was an angel.

… the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. ‘Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,’ he said. ‘Peace! Be strong now; be strong’ (Daniel 10:18-19).

Example #2: An Angel Announces Christmas

Near Bethlehem on the first Christmas Eve, the angel who announced the birth of Jesus appeared to a group of shepherds. He spoke to the shepherds as they watched their flocks by night. They saw him with their eyes. They heard him with their ears.

The angel ministered to them externally.

… there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord’ (Luke 2:8-11).

The shepherds saw the Christmas angel and suddenly a multitude of angels appeared. The multitude also had a message for the shepherds to hear. They ministered visually and audibly to the shepherds. None of those angels entered within the heart of a shepherd.

Only the Holy Spirit enters within our hearts. Only he has God’s authorization to dwell within us. A good angel will never possess a person. A good angel will never attempt to dwell within us.

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the Highest Heaven…’ (Luke 2:13-14)

Example #3: An Angel Shows Ezekiel the Millennial Temple

The angel who carried a measuring rod in Ezekiel’s vision of the Millennial Temple told Ezekiel to look and to listen. What do look and listen mean? It means using one’s eyes and ears. The angel who told Ezekiel to look and to listen was ministering to two of Ezekiel’s five senses: his sense of sight and his sense of hearing.

The angel ministered externally to Ezekiel. Here's what Ezekiel saw:

… I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. The man said to me, ‘Son of man, look carefully and listen closely and pay attention to everything I am going to show you…’

… the Hand of Yahweh*...

*Note: This is not God's literal hand, but a being. We know he is a being because he is called a he in the next two sentences. He is the Holy Spirit who acts the same way in seven other passages in Ezekiel: 1:3; 3:14, 22; 8:2-3; 33:22; 37:1; and 40:1.

... was on me, and he brought me there in visions from God. He brought me to the land of Israel and put me on a very high mountain...

And he [the Holy Spirit] brought me there, and look, there was a man [an angel] whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, and a cord of linen was in his hand and a reed for measurement; he was standing in the gate.

And the man spoke to me, ‘Son of man, look with your eyes and listen with your ears and apply your heart to all that I am showing you, for you were brought here in order to show you this’ (Ezekiel 40:1-4)

In contrast to the angel, Ezekiel was brought to this place by the Holy Spirit ‘in visions’ of the Temple. Ezekiel repeats three chapters later that the Spirit, not the angel, brought him to that place spiritually—that is, through a vision, not a physical experience.

Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court (Ezekiel 43:5).

Visions can be confusing because the person receiving the vision doesn’t know if it’s real or not. A vision is like virtual reality—everything looks real and feels real, but it’s a revelation so it’s not physical.

In the case of the Ezekiel 40-47 vision, the Holy Spirit orchestrated the experience. He “took” Ezekiel spiritually to Israel in a vision--and the vision started with Ezekiel 1,000 km away in Babylon. So did he take him in the body or out of the body? It seems to have been in the body because the angel touched Ezekiel in the vision. It's all very similar to John's vision of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation.

To be clear: a spiritual event is still a real event, it’s just not physical.

For something to be physical definitely makes it real, but if an event is spiritual does not make an experience less real. In fact, the spiritual dimension was real before the physical dimension existed. For example, when Jesus says that we drink his blood and eat his flesh—that’s spiritual and it’s also ‘real food and real drink.’

To be sure, although Ezekiel encountered an angel in the vision, but the vision itself came from the Holy Spirit. So Ezekiel really (actually, spiritually) encountered an angel. Ezekiel was in the spiritual realm when he encountered the angel.

But the point is that angels don’t give visions. They can be a part of a vision, but the Holy Spirit entered Ezekiel’s mind to give him the vision.

Visions take place in a person’s mind in a real dimension, one which is spiritual. The Spirit of God dwells within that dimension and takes action there. For example, the Holy Spirit went inside Ezekiel to allow Ezekiel to experience the vision. This reality agrees with other passages in which the Holy Spirit entered Ezekiel.

Here are two examples:

… the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet… (Ezekiel 2:2).

Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet (Ezekiel 3:24).

You’ll recall that the Holy Spirit also entered the dry bones to make them alive--another vision given to Ezekiel!

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the Spirit entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army (Ezekiel 37:9-10)

Again, angels don’t do this. Angels don't enter people. God doesn’t allow them to go inside people. But the Spirit does enter people. In fact, when ‘the Spirit enters’ people ‘they come to life and stand up.’

That sounds a lot like the Creation story, doesn’t it? Let's a reminder of what the Creation of man looked like. Who do you think is taking action?

Yahweh God formed the man of dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the Spirit of Life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7).

Who gets the credit for giving visions and giving life? Who gives life to believers today so that they might be born again? Who gives life to man in every instance? The same one who was the Giver of Life in Genesis and Ezekiel was the giver of life at Pentecost: the Holy Spirit.

Example #4: Rescued by an Angel

Back to angels, there is a lovely story of an angel who woke Peter from sleep in a prison in Jerusalem. Do you remember the story? Well, the angel was physically present when he freed Peter from the prison. He spoke to Peter and led him out of the prison while Peter was unsure about whether what he was experiencing was a vision or not. The angel was real. It wasn’t a vision.

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and sandals.’ And Peter did so. ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,’ the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.

They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me…’ (Acts 12:7-11)

The point is that God sent an angel to Peter to protect Peter’s physical integrity. God did not send the Holy Spirit for that assignment. Do you see the difference?

Protecting someone’s body is the task of angels. Protecting their souls is a task of the Spirit of God. Which task is greater? Is the greater task to protect a body or to protect a soul?

If the greater task goes to the greater being—and the Holy Spirit secures our souls—then the greater task is to protect a soul.

Example #5: Angels Attended to Jesus

Here’s one more example to help us to discern the difference between the work of angels and the work of the Holy Spirit: After having been led by the Spirit into the desert and once his 40-day fast was complete, Jesus felt hungry.

Satan then assaulted Jesus with three of the strongest temptations he could muster, but Satan failed. Jesus passed the test, although he was physically exhausted. If a man is physically spent, who do you think God will send to the rescue?

You guessed it: angels.

Angels came to minister to Jesus.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The Tempter came to him…

Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! … Then the Devil left him, and angels came and attended him (Matthew 4:1-3, 10-11).

The term attend can be translated in Bibles as minister, serve, or take care of. It is the Greek word diakoneó from which we get the English word deacon—someone who serves.

The Bible says ‘angels came and attended him’ (Matthew 4:11), so the angels provided nutrition, water, and support to Jesus as he returned to his normal routine of eating meals. Jesus was likely at the point of physical collapse, having pushed his body to its limit, but angels were there to help him bounce back.

The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus at his water baptism in the Jordan by giving him the baptism of the Spirit—enormous power. God strategically made sure that Jesus would be empowered right before the tremendous desert temptation. So Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit prior to emptying himself of all physical strength.

Consider Christ's example: He got spiritual strength from the Holy Spirit but physical strength from angels. You can expect the same. You can expect the Holy Spirit to give strength to your inner man. You can expect angels to attend to your bodily needs. That’s how the Spirit and angels serve us.

They operate on different levels: the internal and the external.