Understanding the Spiritual Realm

I've been called a whole lot worse, Larry. Thank you. I'm glad to see all of you today. Mr. Jabbo reminded me I failed to recall. Some of you probably were aware that Cliff Hubbell, a longtime member in the South congregation in Kansas City, died here, I believe, at this past week. Cliff had been in a nursing home for... okay, now you can hear me. Cliff Hubbell died this past week. He had been in a nursing home for some time, or at least for a month or two, and had been in a very compromised situation prior to that time. And yet, I thought I would just mention that to you, so you'd be aware of Cliff's death. Actually, Cliff, I think, lived probably about three blocks from where Pat and I lived, and where we have lived for 20 years. So, I've been, at least geographically, we were called... I'd see him in the store all the time, the same grocery store that's right close to us. That's where I'd see him most of the time, other than at church. And more so, more recently, I guess, I'd only see him there in the grocery store. So, just so you'd be aware of that. Well, I wanted to cover something that I hope will be helpful with us this afternoon. I appreciate what Mr. Branham was going over regarding the bread of life, you know, the one that we love and adore, the one that we need. We need, every day, every single day, to be feeding on the bread of life, feeding on, you know, the words of Jesus Christ. And here in Luke chapter 10, you have an example that I think is applicable to us today.

And I hope it can help us in having a perspective that is clearly biblically based. I think, by God's help, we're able to have understanding. Understanding about this topic in a way that there really is no other way of having that understanding. But here in Luke 10, to begin in verse 1, it says, After this, the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. And so here the seventy sent out two by two.

They were given a mission. They were given a commission. They were given a job to go forward and to kind of announce Jesus Christ, to announce the kingdom of God, to learn to do, maybe as we are learning to do, to be able to help people become aware of their need, to know something about the kingdom of God, to know more about the kingdom of God than they might currently be aware of. But here in verse 2, he said to them, the harvest is plentiful.

But the laborers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.

You know, we read that the other day, I believe, probably out of the book of Matthew, because I didn't even recall that that particular statement is here. And yet in Matthew you find it written.

See if I can easily find it. Yeah, it doesn't appear to be in exactly that same setting. I mean, the same words, pretty much. I mean, the same sentiment, clearly, that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Be asking the Lord of the harvest to bring laborers into the harvest. See, that's what we want. We want God to touch the hearts and minds of people, to open their hearts, and to make them want to understand the purpose of life, to make them want to know why human beings and why we can, or how, maybe more so than why, how we can relate to God, how we can relate to Jesus Christ our Lord, how we can commune with the Godhead, how we can appreciate and enjoy that connection, because God is the one who causes us to be connected. He's the one who causes us to thrive in our relationship with Him. But here in this case, Jesus was telling His disciples, go in your way. I'm sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves.

So He's telling them how to do it. He's telling them. In a sense, He's kind of cautioning them. He says, realize not everyone might like what you're saying. That's okay. It's no problem. It's not significant, because they didn't like what Jesus said quite a bit of the time. Certainly the Jews didn't, because He was contradicting many of the things that they thought, or maybe not so much directly contradicting. He was expanding. See, their limited understanding only went so far. It pretty much was basically just physical and, you know, what you could read right here. Okay, this is what we do. Although, you know, they had also added a bunch of other stuff that said that's immaterial. What you really need to know is what I'm telling you, and how I'm describing. Maybe how I'm describing the Sabbath. How I actually observed the Sabbath. Maybe you should pay attention and watch what I'm doing so that you'd know what to do.

Instead of complaining that I'm breaking the Sabbath because I'm healing people.

That's what we find. That Jesus was, He was criticized. He was condemned for healing people. For doing good. For doing the type of loving, caring concern for people that He was able to do. And, of course, the Jews didn't like that. But anyway, He said what you should do in verse 9. Cure the sick who are there, say to them, the kingdom of heaven has come near to you.

This was a part of the mission. This was a part of the direction. This was a part of what it was that the disciples were to do. And so they went out and they did their job.

I don't know. It didn't say too much about what kind of success they had. It didn't really give any account of them doing this. It was pretty much a training mission. Try to go out and see what you can do. Maybe it wasn't supposed to do too much because Jesus was going to then come by later and heal people and then that would be quite impressive. And yet even the disciples seemed to have a certain amount of authority, a certain amount of power. And then in verse 17, it says, the seventy returned to Jesus with joy, saying, Lord, in Your name, even the demons submit to us.

See now, they didn't come back and report that, well, we had a whole bunch of people want to be baptized and follow you as our leader. They didn't come back and say that. So I'm going to almost think that, well, they didn't have a whole lot of success. Maybe they did a lot of dusting off their shoes because he also mentioned that. And yet, I want to point out what it was that they came back and reported. Lord, in Your name, even the demons submit to us.

See, what they were impressed by, what they came to understand, what they were beginning to have their eyes open to, was that the one that they were following, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who had sent them on their mission, that He rules over everything. He rules over all of the angelic beings. He's more powerful than any of them. And, of course, their perception. It doesn't really directly say what the disciples' perception of spirit beings were.

But as we know, and as I'm going to cover some here today, the spirit world should be understood. It can be understood by us with God's help.

And we can understand about what the angels do, and we can understand the bad effects that bad angels, evil angels, have on this world. And yet, see, this was something that Jesus told them.

You know, they came back and said, even the demons submit to us in your name.

Again, it was not because of who they were. It was not because of anything of their own, but it was because of the power that Jesus Christ had, and that every single one of the spirits that responded to anything that the disciples might have said, that they all knew that they were clearly under the power and the authority that came from Jesus Christ, that came from God in the flesh, in this case, with Jesus Christ.

And yet, in verse 18, Jesus' response to their question is interesting.

Because whenever they reported how great this was, that the demons did what we asked them or told them to do, they submitted to us, Jesus said that I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, what Jesus was giving them was an understanding of who he was, an understanding of the fact that he was God, an understanding of the fact that he had been in the beginning, with the Father, and that as the Word at that time, he was a part of the designing of everything. The designing, the developing, the thought processes, and even before any one of the disciples, even before Adam and Eve were brought onto the scene, prior to that there had been a physical creation. There had been a creation of this earth. There had been a creation of a galaxy. There had been a creation of universes, far beyond even our comprehension today.

And yet, he said, even before that, before that, we had created an angelic realm.

We had created a spirit, numerous spirit beings.

And see, this was something that the disciples were only understanding in a very limited way. And to a degree, I think we today understand this in a limited way, but I hope to point out to you that we can understand this easily with God's help. We can understand, and you know, many people have a lot of different ideas about angels. And a lot of times, you know, if a young child dies, you know, often people have the idea, well, if they went to heaven, maybe they're a little angel. They're up floating around, you know, maybe watching over us, whatever. People have a lot of different, they try to think of ways to find some comfort in that deep, deep distress that they go through. And yet, clearly understanding the angelic realm was something that Jesus was a master of. He was a master because He had been the Creator. And this was long before man, long before the creation of the earth, before the creation of the universe, they had created an angelic realm.

And of course, that angelic realm, as we see revealed in the Bible, is made up of millions and millions and millions of spirit beings. And what we find as far as revealed in the Word of God, we find three what we would call archangels revealed, Lucifer and Gabriel and Michael. Those three, that appears to be archangels, appear to be unbelievably magnificent creatures. Remarkably fabulous in their creation, in their design, in their capacity. And yet, we also find revealed in the Word of God that one of those became defective. One of those, even as brilliant and as wonderful and as fabulous and as talented and as smart and as capable and as musical, because these are all descriptions that are given to Lucifer, as able as he was and as apparently given opportunity to work with a third of the angelic beings, he became corrupted. And of course, then corrupted a third of the angels, which we now call evil spirits or demons. And they adversely affect the function of man here on the earth. And yet, if you recognize that, if you realize that, see this was not a surprise to Jesus. He was not surprised when they came back.

He has always known that. He has always been aware of that. And if we're going to have the mind of Christ, then we want to be aware of that too, that well, yes, there are evil spirits. But even maybe more important than that, though, there's two-thirds of the angels that are good, that are wonderful, that are servants of God, that are servants that we can appreciate. I want to go back, because this deals with the fact that the angelic realm was created before the physical earth, physical universe. Here in Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel chapter 28, we find an account here that describes the talking of the king of Tyre.

Raise the lamentation over the king of Tyre in verse 12, and say to him, thus says the Lord. And so here he gives a description of what surely cannot be a human being, but it is a spirit being. And we find more directly in Isaiah 14 describing this same individual, you know, the way in which this individual with all his beauty, with all his glory, with all of the created power that God had given to Lucifer, you find that even though he was a created being, and I think that's very important for us to remember. Lucifer was a created being, as were Gabriel and Michael and all the rest of the angelic beings. But here it says in verse 12, you were the sign of perfection, you were full of wisdom, you were perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God, every precious stone was your covering.

It mentions those stones down toward the end of verse 13. It says, on the day that you were created, there was a time when you did not exist, Lucifer. You had a beginning. You were created on the day that you were created. They were prepared, you know, so many of these wonderful, beautiful, fabulous abilities. It says in verse 14, with an anointed carob as guardian, I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked up and down amongst the midst of the stones of fire.

And in verse 15, you were blameless in your way. So God didn't create Lucifer, a defective individual.

He didn't create him. Ezekiel 28, 15. You were blameless in your ways from the day that you were created.

And then, of course, the very bad side of verse 15, until iniquity was found in you. In the abundance of your trade, you're filled with violence, and you sinned.

And so I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God.

Verse 17, your heart was prideful and proud because of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. See, Jesus was well aware of this. He was the creator God. He was the one who created this magnificent angel, this magnificent archangel, the one who had all of these wonderful properties. And he was also very keenly aware of the rebellion that had taken place, where Lucifer and his angels, who he had convinced to follow him, were going to overthrow the throne of God. We're going to overtake the great God, and we're going to reside on his throne. That's what you find more directly talked about here in Isaiah 14.

Isaiah chapter 14 mentions this in a pretty direct way. Isaiah 14, talking of the king of Babylon, or the prince of Babylon, and then the king, the one who was truly ruling, says in verse 12, How are you fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn? How are you cut down to the ground, you who lay the nations low? Because you said in your heart, this was the iniquity that was found in Lucifer, this was the resistance, the rebellion that he was instigating over, we don't know how, over many years, maybe thousands, maybe millions of years, there's nothing that would tell us exactly that.

But you said in your heart in verse 13, I'm going to ascend to heaven. I'm going to raise my throne above the stars of God. I'm going to sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon. I will ascend to the top of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. See, Lucifer's rebellion against God and against the word, it was a horrible event. And yet Jesus described that in Luke 10 18 is that I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.

So he was clearly aware of it. He knew what the case was. See, people are the ones who don't understand the spirit world. Jesus clearly understood the spirit world. He understood the effect that Satan had been had upon man. As he was coming in the physical flesh 4,000 years into the life of mankind, he knew the bad effect. Satan had been there in the Garden of Eden. He immediately jumped onto Adam and Eve and told them alive, turned them from obeying and honoring and respecting and yielding to the great God.

But see, when the disciples came back again here in Luke 10, when they came back and they rejoiced that these spirit beings, these evil spirit beings submit to us whenever we tell them something in your name, clearly they are under subjection to Jesus Christ because he rules over everything. He rules clearly over the angelic realm. And yet what he says, here in Luke 10, he says, I've given you some authority and you need to learn to use that authority in a correct way, a right way.

I want you to do that. But nevertheless, in verse 20, don't rejoice in just the fact that the evil spirits respond to you in my name. Don't rejoice at this that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. See, what you need to be really glad about is that God has called you. He's called you to be a part of his divine family. He's called you to be a part of a fabulous work, a work that I'm going to be commissioning you to do.

And he says, that's what I want you to do. He says, that's what you need to really rejoice in. And that's really far more important, because, see, I understand thoroughly the angelic realms. I understand thoroughly, because I was there even before that, I was the creator. I was the one who created Lucifer. I created Michael. I created Gabriel. He didn't elaborate on that. He just said, I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. And he says, I want you to rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

You know, that you have been called to be a part of the divine family of God. And that's the purpose of human life, to be a part of God's divine family. And he said in verse 21, at that same hour, he rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, that because you have hidden these things from the wise and from the prudent, and you have revealed them to babes. See, you have revealed what to babes? And what didn't the wise and prudent know?

Well, he was revealing to his babes, he was revealing to his disciples an understanding of the spirit realm. The understanding of the fact that there were evil angels, that there were demons that needed to be resisted, but even more so than that, to understand as well, what about the good angels? What about those good angels that we want to also understand? So he said in following on here in verse 21, Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. For such was well pleasing in your sight. You and I agreed on the plan. You and I agreed before we even created that angelic realm, and before we saw and watched the rebellion of Lucifer, you and I saw that we would create human beings.

Fragile. Pretty limited. Often quite broken. Certainly needing help, and they can learn to accept that help from us. They can accept the help of the Spirit of God. They can accept the help of the Savior and Redeemer, and they will be a part of our divine family. So he was there at the very beginning. And so he thanked the Father for this being the case, that the Father hadn't revealed that spiritual perception, that spiritual understanding, that spiritual of, I guess, perception would be a good word to use to realize that, well, the Spirit world exists.

And I think I've mentioned, and I can again, many of us can think through different things, different times in our lives where we've had some type of protection, some type of help, some type of benefit that has turned out to our benefit, to our good, and that that was provided by God in some way. And how he did that, I'm not exactly sure, but he can clearly send angels to provide that should he need to. He can reach down with his victorious right hand if he needs to.

He can do whatever he wants or whatever he needs to. But here in this case, he told the disciples, you know, this is according to the will of God. And he goes ahead to say in verse 22, all things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father. No one and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. See, what we understand, you know, I hope we don't take for granted about, you know, how the angelic world not only exists, but how the Christ rules over that angelic rule or world. And he rules over that, and he wants us to understand that. And of course, we don't pray to angels. I want to point that out. We don't. Some people might, but we don't. Because angels are simply servants.

They simply are at the beck and call of the Father. At least the good angels are. The other angels have actually been contained. They're contained until God deals with them at a later time. And yet, what we see in verse 23, he turned to the disciples after actually, in a sense, praying to God. He said to the disciples privately, blessed, blessed are your eyes, the eyes that see what you see. You are, you know, you are, as he had told them about his rule over the angelic beings and how that he had seen Lucifer fall from heaven. He said, blessed are your eyes, to begin to understand spiritual things, the spirit realm. How it is that that spirit realm exists, and actually, even more importantly, maybe what we see in verse 22, how it is that I rule over all of it. I am the one who has been given all authority in heaven and earth, and of course, that's under the Father. But he says, that's what the Father has handed over to me. So, blessed are your eyes that you see that. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desire to see what you see, but they don't see it. And they desire to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it. See, what a privilege. What a special blessing. What a wonderful opportunity to be given from God, given through Jesus Christ, an understanding of the spirit world. Understanding what I read about how Lucifer became defective and how he turned on God. But understanding, maybe we could also look here at a couple of verses, at least. One of them about Michael. Let's look in Jude 9. Several different verses there in chapter chapter, the only chapter. In Jude, right before you get to the book of Revelation, you find in Jude 9, or not chapter 9, it's chapter 1. Chapter only. Verse 9. Jude 9, but when the archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he didn't dare bring a condemnation or slander against him, he just said the Lord, rebuke you. See, Michael, you know, has had a similar power and authority, similar role to what we see Lucifer having had. And whenever he contended with him over the body of Moses, he referred to the power. He referred to the one who had all authority, and he said the Lord, rebuke you. You see back in the book of Daniel that Michael was sent to Daniel to reveal some things, to give him help, to give him understanding, so that he would understand, you know, what is it that we see there in the book of Daniel? Well, it's pretty much a description of the plan of God. It's a description of what's going to happen here on earth. A lot of details. Many of those, for the time of the end, have nothing to do with Daniel. Had to do with how the world is going to come to a conclusion. How the earth is going to be overthrown. The kingdoms of this world are going to be brought into submission, and the King of Kings is going to rule in the kingdom of God. That's what we find in the book of Daniel. But Michael was sent. He was sent to help Daniel understand, whether he needed to understand all of it. He just needed to write it down.

Because it wasn't going to happen in his day. It was going to happen later on.

And yet, you find, you know, Michael revealed in that way. I think it's interesting to see how it is that Gabriel, the other archangel, you know, how he's described. He's described in the book of Daniel as well, giving to Daniel wisdom and understanding. That's in chapter 9, verse 22, 21 and 22. I won't go there for time. But we also see that Gabriel is a messenger from God.

In Luke chapter 1, you know, what kind of message did he have? A pretty good message. Pretty good message. Probably startling to the individual he was telling this to. But nonetheless, here in Luke 1, verse 26, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And that virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. And of course, she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this was. And the angel, this messenger, Gabriel, a Gabriel who was sent from God to give a message to Mary that in some ways was going to be unbelievable. In almost every physical way had to be unbelievable because this can't happen.

And yet, of course, you know, Gabriel said, Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and you're going to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you're going to name him Jesus.

See, that's the kind of message Gabriel was sent to convey. You know, you'd have to say a pretty important message, something Mary needed to know, clearly something God wanted to reveal so that she would know. And of course, as she listened to what he had to say and as she tried to say that, I don't see how this can actually be, he said, Well, it can, because you're dealing with God.

You're dealing with, you know, my Creator. That's what Gabriel had in mind. He says, I'm sent with the highest commendation, with the highest authority, with the highest directive from the throne of God in heaven to tell you that Jesus is going to be born of you.

And of course, Mary made a statement here in verse 38 that perhaps she understood well, and maybe she didn't. But nonetheless, she said, Here I am, the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your words. You know, she seemed to be content to know that, well, if God is going to do that, then that's okay with me. That wasn't going to be easy. I'm sure she was going to have many, many unbelievable thoughts about how this can happen.

But nonetheless, that's the type of message that Gabriel was called or was sent to give.

And actually, if you back up a little more here in chapter 1 of Luke, you find that Gabriel was also the one who was sent to Zachariah and Elizabeth, or to Zachariah directly as he was in the temple and he was doing the work in the temple. He was confronted by an angel in verse 13, chapter 1 of Luke. Angel said to him, Don't be afraid, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is going to bear a son and you're going to name him John.

And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, and he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

And verse 17, With the spirit and power of Elijah, who will go before him to turn the hearts of the parents of the children, the disobedient wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

And Zachariah said to the angel, How will I know that this is so? I'm an old man. My wife is getting on in years. He said, This doesn't look very likely to me.

How am I going to know that what you're telling me is true?

And we see in verse 19, the angel replies, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.

My role is to be his servant. I do whatever he says.

I'm telling you, this is a part of the divine plan.

I'm here to tell you about John the Baptist. I'm here to tell you about... We're going to bring John the Baptist onto the scene. He's going to lay the groundwork for Jesus Christ. And of course, later he's going to talk to Mary and tell her some important news.

But see, amazingly, as you see revealed here in verse 19, he says, I stand in the presence of God and I've been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

Unbelievably powerful being. Unbelievable being. Remarkable angelic being.

And yet, we also find here in Hebrews 1 that the other angels, the good angels, Hebrews chapter 1, the good angels are referred to not solely directly like we find these three archangels being described in different parts of the Bible, but you find here in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews the comparison of any of the angels to Jesus Christ.

And of course, ultimately, you know, what people need to understand and what we should gather out of the book of Hebrews and out of the first chapter of Hebrews is to how much glorious Jesus Christ is.

See, it would stand to reason since he was the creator, he was the word with the Father when the angelic realm was created, that there was being no angel that would measure up to Jesus Christ in any way. And yet, you know, that was a misperception that people had at the time. And yet, here in Hebrews 1, it says, long ago God spoke to our ancestors, and this is to the Israelites, to the Jewish world. He spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He created everything through Jesus Christ.

And of course, it says in verse 3 that he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. See, this again gives a perspective, you know, and why Jesus so casually could say, well, I watched Satan fall from heaven like a black bowl of lightning. I was there. I'm over all of that. And here in verse 5, he says, which of the angels did God ever say? You're my Son. Today I have begotten you. See, none of the angels were given that kind of promotion. None of them were able to get in that designation. Or again, I will be his Father and he will be my Son. See, none of the angels were spoken of in that way. Jesus was far above the angels. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship Him.

And so Jesus is worthy of that worship. He's worthy of that honor.

But of the Son, it says in verse 8, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and forever. And the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

And in verse 10, in the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth and the heavens, or the work of your hands. See, the one who created the angelic realm was the one who was with the Father in the very beginning and the one who came as our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So there was clearly no comparison. You know, clearly Jesus Christ was over all.

And down in verse 13, which of the angels did he ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? So this was stated regarding the Lord. This was regarding Jesus. And yet in verse 14, are not all the angels, that is the righteous angels, the good angels, are not all these angels spirits in the divine service sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. See, the angels, the righteous angels, are responsive to God, they're responsive to His direction. See, even though they're designed as servants to us, as we are heirs of salvation, as we are going to be members of the divine family of God that's written more about here in chapter 2 of Hebrews, that God is in the process of bringing many sons, many children, many sons and daughters to glory, to being a part of the divine family of God. But those are individuals that He is enlightened. Individuals, as His disciples were, that He gave understanding of spiritual things and even of the spirit realm. And to know that the angels are placed here on the earth and they're allowed to serve and to minister to those who are heirs of salvation. See, now we don't directly pray to angels, as I mentioned, we don't ask for angelic, you know, intervention. But if angels intervene and help us, you know, they've done that at God's direction. Just like with Gabriel, he says, I'm here because God sent me here. I stand in the presence of God and I'm here to announce something important. And of course, it was very important to announce either the birth of John or the birth even more so of Jesus.

But see, the understanding that was being given, the understanding that was given to individuals that Jesus was guiding His disciples, people who would later become prominent in the church of God, people who would later be able to, you know, here in Acts 12, we can go to an incident.

This, I think, probably was uplifting and encouraging and completely dumbfounding and baffling in the same moment. Because here in Acts 12, verse 6, Herod put Peter in jail bound by chains sleeping between two soldiers, with guards in front of the door keeping watch over the prison. Yeah, he was locked up. It was locked down. It was secure. Yet in verse 7, it says, suddenly an angel appeared and a light shone in the cell, and he tapped Peter on the side and said, Get up. Get up quickly. The chains fell off his wrist and the angel said, Fasten your belt, put on your shoes, your sandals. And he did so. And then he said to him, Wrap your cloak around you and follow me. And so Peter went out and followed him. And he didn't realize that, what was happening with the angel's help was real. He thought it was a dream. He thought it was a vision. He thought, I've got to be dreaming that all of a sudden the shackles are falling off, all of a sudden the doors are open, all of a sudden I've got my shoes on and I'm walking out.

But after they had passed the first and the second guards, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord and they went outside and walked along a lane.

And suddenly the angel left him. And it says in verse 11, Peter came to himself.

He finally realized what it was that had just happened. This is impossible. This cannot happen.

I was secured about three or four times in the jail. And here I am walking out.

When he came to himself, he says, I'm sure that the Lord has sent his angel and has rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all the Jewish people, from all that the Jewish people were expecting. And so he went on and had to tell the disciples and they didn't believe it either. They didn't know how he was standing there, but they couldn't really comprehend. They couldn't really fully understand how that Peter could testify to them, the angel, sent from God, had ministered unto me and provided me an out. That was an unbelievably remarkable transition. He turned the tail of the situation completely around. And so, you know, we can find different statements and different directives that we read about in the Bible, different sections of the Bible that talk about the spirit world and that talk about the damage that evil spirits do. And we're simply told to simply resist the devil. We're told, this is in James 4, verse 7 and 8, to submit to God, which is the answer to almost everything. Submit to God. That's a very easy statement. It's a very difficult, very difficult thing to do. And yet, submit to God and resist, you know, the devil and he will flee from you and draw close to God and God will draw close to you. That's what we're told. As we have an understanding of the spirit world, the spirit realm, but also who rules over all of the spirits. And that, of course, is our Savior and Lord, our Redeemer and King Jesus Christ. He's the one who has that power. And He was the one who was there when they were created. He knows the interactions. And, of course, we're told in Ephesians, chapter 6, that we want to use the armor of God to stand firm. It says we're not struggling against human beings. We're not fighting other people. Our struggle is against rulers and authorities and the cosmic powers of this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. That's in Ephesians 6, I think, verse 12. And yet, as I've mentioned, what we want to understand is just simply the fact that the angelic world, as wonderful as it is, as fabulous as two-thirds of the angels are, you see them described in Revelation 4 and Revelation 5, Revelation 4, more so, surrounding the throne of God. We see angelic beings there that you don't see described anywhere else. You see Seraphim and Kerabin described, somewhat of an unusual description of so many wings and so many heads and faces and, you know, apparently creatures that God has around His throne that, you know, look ugly to me, you know, from the description, but I bet they probably look pretty good. Look good to God because they are there worshiping God. You know, if the 24 elders bow before God, bow before the throne of God, and they cast their crowns at His feet because He is the Eternal One. You know, they are simply created beings, and they are there to worship and honor and praise the great God. They are there, you know, to show the example to us as human beings of what we want to do. We want to worship God in a way that is giving Him the respect and the glory and the praise and the honor that He deserves, and they're saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and who is to come, the one who always has been. See, we want eternal life and probably better understood as everlasting life because we'll always have a beginning. So your beginning is going to be, my beginning is going to be July 4th, 1949.

I'll always, I won't go back into eternity. I won't go back to July 4th, 1949. But as I look into everlasting life, you know, that's life forever into the future. The Father and the Son have eternal life. They've always been here. And yet, in a similar way, the angel, the angelic beings also have always, they'll always have a beginning. They will always have a beginning because they were a creation of the great God. And that's why it's important, and we'll look at this final scripture here in Revelation 22. It's important for us as we gain spiritual understanding of recognition of the spirit world. You know, we're told how to deal with that relatively simply, just to look to God, to look to God for help with angelic guidance and protection.

We're told to be praying to God to deliver us from the evil one. And that's what He will do. That's what He says He will do. That's what He says He will do in helping the heirs of salvation. But here in Revelation 22, it says in verse 8, I, John, and the one who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. See, after John had gone through all kinds of stuff, he'd seen all kinds of things, he was told to write it all down.

And yet, at the very conclusion here, he says, you know, when I realized what it was that I'd been listening to and watching and thinking about and being told, he says, when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed these to me. But this angel said, don't do that. You must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers, your comrades and the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book, you should not be worshipping me. You should be worshipping God, just like I do.

And, of course, what this points out to us, and of course, you know, John wrote that down in order for us to understand that this servant sent from God, giving John an extraordinary, deep understanding, or not maybe understanding, least vision of what was going to come, how it is that's described in many, many symbols, the prophetic events of the end of the age of man and the beginning of the wonderful world tomorrow and of the world even beyond the millennium and the white throne judgment. It gives only glimpses into that new heaven and new earth. As John looked at that angel, he knew, you know, well, the angel obviously knows a whole lot more than I do, but that angel very wisely pointed out, you know, don't be worshipping me because... Why? Why did he say that? Because he knew, unlike Lucifer, who forgot, he knew I'm a created being. I'm here simply as a servant of God, and as all of us want to always continually do, we're not worshipping the creation. Physical or spiritual creation, we're worshipping the Creator, and we always, always want to keep that in mind. He gives us understanding of a spirit realm that is real. Whether you see it or not, it's real, and he can give us understanding of that, but we're not going to worship things that have been created. We're going to worship the great Creator, and thankfully, you know, that is, you know, a wonderful, wonderful position for us to be in, because, of course, he backs that up. You know, he says, don't worship anything. Don't worship anything other than me. Don't worship any other idol. Anything, and he describes usually physical things. But see, this angel reveals, you don't worship me. I'm a created being, and I want you to remember that, you know, you're not worshipping the creation.

You're worshipping the Creator, and as we do that, as we appreciate the message and word of Jesus Christ, you know, then we can successfully reflect, you know, His love, His concern, and His deep care for other people as we do the job and the mission that we've been given, and as we thank God for an understanding of spiritual things that He has graciously granted to all of us.