The Great Tribulation!

Godly Angels and the End Times

Both good and evil angels play an important role during the end times. Let’s briefly look at the roles godly angels will perform during the timeframe of the 70th Week of Daniel.

1. Some of the information of the Book of Revelation that was given to John was sent and signified by an angel:

Revelation 1:1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:”

2. Angels seem to provide oversight to the church:

Revelation 1:20 “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”

3. A strong angel seeks someone worthy to open a special book of judgment and to break the seals:

Revelation 5:2 “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?”

4. Michael, the archangel, is the protector of Israel.

Daniel 12:1 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”

5. It is Michael and his angels that war with Satan and his demons to cast them out of Heaven:

Revelation 12:7,9 “7And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, … 9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

6. Angels sound the Trumpet Judgments: Revelation 8:2 “And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.”

7. Angels pour out the Vial Judgments: Revelation 15:7 “And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.”

8. An angel provides Jesus’ testimony regarding the end times:

Revelation 22:16 “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”

9. Millions of angels will surround the throne of God praising Jesus:

Revelation 5:11-12 “11And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”

10. Angels will be providing their ‘normal’ services to God and the saints during the end times:

a. Angels will continue to praise God (Psalm 148:1-2; Isaiah 6:3).

b. Angels will continue to worship God (Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 5:8-13).

c. Angels will continue to rejoice in what God does (Job 38:6-7).

d. Angels will continue to serve God (Psalm 103:20; Revelation 22:9).

e. Angels will continue to bring answers to prayer (Acts 12:5-10).

f. Angels will continue to aid in winning people to Christ (Acts 8:26; 10:3).

g. Angels will continue to care for the righteous at the time of death (Luke 16:22).

11. There may be times when we meet angels but don’t realize it:

Hebrews 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Ungodly Angels and the End Times

Ungodly angels (demons) will also perform significant roles during the timeframe of the 70th Week of Daniel. But first, let’s look at where these fallen angels come from.

Most theologians have put the occurrence of a mass rebellion of angels at the time of Lucifer’s fall. Revelation 12:4 “And his tail (Satan’s) drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” (comment added)

Remember that stars in the Bible, as in this case, may refer to angels. John is telling us that sometime prior to the birth of Christ, Satan was able to ‘recruit’ one third of the total number of angels to his cause and to rebel against God. From other Scripture (e.g. Revelation 5:11), we know that there are at least hundreds of millions of godly angels remaining. That would mean that the total number of demons could also be in the hundreds of millions (if not billions).

Millions of the fallen angels have already been locked away into the bottomless pit (200 million are released in Revelation 9:16). This was the fate that the demonic hoard called Legion feared (Mark 5:2-13). They would rather drown with a herd of swine than be ‘tormented’ by Jesus (by being sent to the bottomless pit).

Within the last empire (the Ten Toes of Daniel or the Ten Horns of Revelation), demons (non-seed of men) will mingle with the seed of men: Daniel 2:43 “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” It seems that there is distrust and a lack of harmony between the ‘toes’ of this kingdom. The ten nation coalition of the Antichrist will be demonically controlled or influenced.