The Positive Good
that Angels Perform

by Ernest L. Martin, Ph.D.

Read the accompanying Newsletter for January 2001

The universe in which God the Father has placed all his children to live (which includes us humans who reside on earth) has a thorough and complete communications system that provides God with immediate and precise knowledge of what is happening anywhere in the cosmos. It is His divine communications service. If you will, that service could be adequately and legitimately compared with our "Post Office" that we have on earth. God’s "Post Office" is very extensive and it not only includes the delivery of written messages from God or Christ Jesus (or from others within the divine hierarchy of beings in heaven), but it encompasses what we might call "electronic" communications, or better yet, greatly advanced "spiritual" communications of every conceivable kind. It even includes the means of getting in touch with personalities anywhere in the universe at a speed infinitely faster than the speed of light. It uses mechanisms that are able to utilize wavelengths of "spiritual light" that we humans have not yet encountered or even discovered in our experiences. Yet, what we experience on earth is a microcosm of what God the Father has designed for us to govern and to utilize throughout the entirety of the universe. Our lives on earth today are a training period for a future existence with God when we exercise in a real and practical way our membership in the divine Family of God.

In a word, we humans (who are God’s own Sons and Daughters and are destined one day to sit on the very Right Hand of the Father Himself — Ephesians 2:6) are given by God the Father a miniscule type of "universe" (called our earth and solar system) in order to learn the basic laws and procedures and manners that God uses to control and to keep in harmony the actual universe which He has created for us to rule and to enjoy with Him. So, just as we humans are familiar with various means of communication services (like our Post Office system, TV system, telephone systems, satellite systems) that have certain individual humans in charge of them in order for them to function properly, so God has His angelic beings who do the same thing throughout the universe. And, this involves one of the chief roles of angels. It is a very positive role, and one in which all of us should be able to understand. That role is to be "messengers" for God in all of the cosmos. They perform many other duties (which I will show next month) but their primary function is to be "messengers." They are in charge of communications throughout the universe.

In other words, that is why their principal name in the Holy Scriptures is: "messengers." Truly, the word "angel" means "messenger," or to be a member of God the Father’s divine "Post Office." The spiritual beings (called "angels") are employed by God to run the "Post Office" (and its various other offices of communication). They are God’s civil servants with a specific job to exercise. We humans should NOT ask them to perform services for which they are not professionals nor have proper experience or credentials. What I have been trying to make clear in this series of articles on "angels" is that we humans should NOT ask angels (that is, some of God’s civil servants) to perform tasks for us that are reserved for God and Christ Jesus to activate and carry out. It is actually a sin for humans to demand of "God’s civil servants" that they act like God the Father and Christ Jesus themselves and go beyond their "job resumes." They are servants and NOT God, nor are they the Sons and Daughters of God!

All civil servants are absolutely necessary to the proper function of any society, but they are not the "king" or the "president" of the civilization they serve. Indeed, a modern dictionary definition of a "civil servant" is: "A government worker with the authority to make minor decisions: an official, a bureaucrat, a functionary, public servant, civil servant, dignitary, officeholder, politico." Indeed, the very phrase "civil servant" shows that they are certainly "servants" — but they are NOT the ones who rule in a supreme sense. As a matter of fact, some human civil servants on earth have very high offices in the jobs that they perform and they get huge salaries for the work they do (and in my view they deserve it, if they do their job faithfully), but they are still NOT the "king" or the "president" of the civilization for which they are employed. In the government of the universe, the "king" and/or the "president" happen to be God the Father (and God the Father has a deputy who is His Firstborn Son, Christ Jesus). And where do you and I (who are Christians and are now reckoned by the Father to be "IN Christ") fit in all of this? We are considered by the Father and Christ Jesus to be sitting on a throne with them in the highest heavens (that is, on the very Right Hand of God Himself).

If you want to know what your divine position is at this very time, you should read Ephesians chapters One to Three. (I have summed up the position that each of you now has in the eyes of the Father and Christ in my book "The Essentials of New Testament Doctrine.") You are now reckoned to be sitting "with Christ" (or "IN Christ") on the Right Hand of the Father at this very moment. This, of course, is a legal position at the present, but you are destined to be in that ACTUAL position when you are resurrected from the dead. [Granted, I have been repetitive in showing this theme in this "Doctrinal Report," but this vital teaching is seldom taught by any of the preachers, ministers, priests or evangelists today that I feel I must emphasize the matter to make certain that the teaching is recognized and understood. To become deified with Christ into the Family of God is the very theme of salvation that is the principal teaching of the New Testament — and all the early fathers of the Christian ekklesia knew it (even those in the fourth century of our era). Sadly, it is hardly taught today. This is wrong.]

In summation, you (and I mean you) are a Son or Daughter of God who is reckoned by God the Father to be just like Christ Jesus is to Him because each of you happens to be "IN Christ." Whatever God the Father sees in His Firstborn Son Jesus Christ, the Father now sees you in the exact same position! In a word, we Christians are NOW a part of the Divine Family of God that rules and sustains this universe. You are a part of the Royal Family! Again I emphasize, you are NOT a servant, you are a PRINCE or a PRINCESS of that divine family that not only created the universe, but also rules it.

You should know who you are. This is what I (Ernest L. Martin) have been trying to tell people for fifty years of teaching. Know who you are! You are a Divine Son or Daughter of the Family of God the Father with the Firstborn being Jesus Christ being our Elder Brother (in whom, all of us are now reckoned to be). There are no second born children of God. There are only the Firstborn (Hebrews 12:23) and you (through Christ, and you being IN Christ). You are now reckoned as a Firstborn in the same fashion as Christ Jesus is reckoned (again, read Hebrews 12:23 where the word "Firstborn" is in the plural). Indeed, all the ekklesia mentioned in Hebrews 12:23 are all "firstborn ones."

For detailed information on this vital subject, see my book "The Essentials of New Testament Doctrine." A brand new edition of this work is now being prepared for publication. It will be superior to the first edition for several reasons. This is the one doctrinal book that I have written that sums up the totality of information concerning what a "salvation in Christ" really entails. It gives full biblical proof of what I have been teaching from the Holy Scriptures. You have a great future in store for you (and I mean YOU personally). It will be beyond any comprehension you may have of what salvation really means.

What you must understand is that you are NOT reckoned by God the Father as "civil servants" ("messengers" of God who run the "Post Office and other Communication Systems" in the universe). You are vastly superior in rank. You are nothing less than Royal Children of God. And you should act like you are of God’s Divine Family with humility and praise. The only mediator between you and God is Christ (I Timothy 2:4-6). No angel should ever be a mediator between you and the Father. You need no "civil servants" to stand between you and your heavenly Father. You are a Royal Scion. What each of us who understands "the Mystery" must recognize is this divine position of ours in the very Family of God. We were all born to rule and to enjoy the entirety of the universe, and God the Father will not rest until each of us assumes the role (our divine destiny) that He has determined for us from before the foundation of the world (II Timothy 1:9).

In closing, let me give you an illustration you can all understand. If the postman delivers you a personal message from the president or the queen of any earthly nation, do you then enter into a conversation with the postman and say to him (or her) to thank the president or queen for the message? Of course not. The postman is a wonderful servant of the society to deliver you the message from the president or queen, but he (or she) has no knowledge whatever what the message entails. And so it is with angels sent from God. They are important and significant members of the divine "Post Office" and they draw high salaries and are given utmost esteem and they do a wonderful "good" for God, but still, they are NOT the sender of the message. In no way should that "civil servant" be worshipped or even entreated as the angel who instructed John to understand (Revelation 22:8,9).

In another way of looking at it, do you who receive mail from the government Post Office (or from the delivery services such as FedEx or UPS) ask the persons who deliver mail or packages to you to come into your home each time they arrive to serve you? Do you ask them to take a personal message back to President Clinton or Prime Minister Blair (or anyone in higher office)? Of course not. Then why is it that some Christians today often invite angelic messengers into their homes and tell them to have God the Father or Christ Jesus to come to your aid? Listen, the divine messengers (the "heavenly Post Office" workers) have a job to perform that God has given them to do, but taking messages back to God the Father is NOT a part of their employment. If an angel purports to represent God in that fashion, that angel is out of order and is rebellious. Under no circumstances should angels be used in such a manner.

The fact is, you as a Christian HAVE DIRECT contact with God through Christ WITHOUT the slightest of angelic communicators coming into the picture. You should remember who you are! You are no less than a Firstborn Son or Daughter of God (because each of us is now "IN Christ") and we are already reckoned as sitting on the Right Hand of the Father in heaven (Ephesians 2:6). You do NOT need angels to reach God. God the Father is at your beck and call at any time you need Him. Let Him answer you in the way that He sees fit. But we should not use divine civil servants to intervene in "Family matters" for us. God does not approve of such things (Revelation 22:8,9).

Let us get our priorities straight. Angels have a definite and positive role to play in the society of God the Father and Christ Jesus (and next month I will show even more of this), but DO NOT substitute the "civil servants" with "God the Father" who (with Christ) deserves to be worshipped and to be listened to as the sovereign powers of the universe. And though angels are vital "messengers" (Post Office workers), and as valuable as they are, they are NOT a substitute for God the Father or Christ Jesus the Firstborn. This is the significant point that all of us Christians should realize. [ELM]

[Internet Readers: You should send your contributions for the continuance of this Web Page and the messages it contains to: ASK, P.O. Box 25000, Portland, OR 97298. We appreciate the support you give in order for us to provide this important teaching to all in the world who need it. Thank you so much for your help in this matter. With every good wish. Ernest L. Martin, Ph.D.]

Ernest L. Martin