This is part 4 of the Salvation of Angels Series; The Bride Of The Father is part 1.
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The Earthly temple was made after the pattern of the heavenly temple. We’ve always known this. Every censer, every spoon, every pomegranate, is made to picture something that happens in the heavenly temple.

Hebrews 8:4-6 (GWV) … On earth other priests offer gifts by following the instructions that Moses gave. They serve at a place that is a pattern, a shadow, of what is in heaven. When Moses was about to make the tent, God warned him, “Be sure to make everything based on the plan I showed you on the mountain.” Jesus has been given a priestly work that is superior to the Levitical priests’ work. He also brings a better promise from God that is based on better guarantees.

But today I want to look at it from a very different direction. The Levitical priesthood served at a place that was a symbol of what was in heaven. Everything they offered, all the buildings they served in, pictured something that existed in heaven!

This is not new. What’s new is the question… if the things they work with picture heavenly things… who do THEY picture? If the altar is a heavenly thing, then who is the priest who sacrifices at the altar?

Your first thought will be Jesus and the saints, but that’s not quite right. They will indeed be priests, and will perform all the functions of the temple in heaven… but there are no saints in heaven! And for awhile Jesus wasn’t even in heaven!

So who offered the heavenly yearly atonement sacrifice while Jesus was a man? Who offered the morning and evening sacrifice in heaven for those 34 years? Who kept the continual showbread in front of God’s face, who offered up sweet incense?

The temple was a symbol of the things in heaven, as were the offerings and rituals of the temple and as were the priests themselves! They symbolize BEINGS who, RIGHT NOW, perform the functions of the heavenly temple!

Because even though Jesus is the high priest, only a few of the offerings are handled by the high priest or his family. By far the majority are offered by non-Aaronic priests. There is simply too much for one man or his family to handle.

Everything from counting tithe to grinding fine flour and mixing spices… there’s a LOT to do. And all of those things picture an equally vital job that the high priest doesn’t have time to do in heaven. So who does it?

Obviously, there is only one possible answer, but it’s a doozy. The Levitical priesthood symbolized the angelic priesthood in heaven.

Revelation is full of references to angels pouring out vials, burning incense, or preparing sacrifices (Revelation 14:15-20 for instance).The Levites performed the physical shadow of these very important, very real, heavenlyjobs that angels do today.

All of the jobs performed in the OC are performed today, in some metaphorical way, by angels. But what does that really mean? If an angel offers a sacrifice on an altar, what does that really mean in a non-symbolic, non-metaphorical sense?

In other papers, I’ve shown that the altar represents the Earth, so when an angel “casts in his sickle” and reaps the Earth, he is literally making a sacrifice on the altar. And this sacrifice, this shedding of blood, pays for the sins of the people.

So when God is fed up with a people beyond toleration, rather than kill all of them for their sins, God kills some of them instead. So when an angel prepared a great sacrifice in, say, 1944, God’s “spirit was quieted in the north country” (Zechariah 6:8) – because the blood was shed and God said it was enough.

HEAVENLY HIGH PRIEST

Revelation 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

As always, this fact was staring us in the face for thousands of years, and no one saw it. This is clearly an angel doing exactly the same thing a Levite might do. And not just any Levite – this angel must be the immediate family of the high priest!

Numbers 16:40 To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.

In fact, this job is usually reserved for Aaron himself – most of the time it was the high priest who did this in the temple.

Exodus 30:7-8 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

Also, obviously, the Leviticus 16 incense was Aaron’s exclusive prerogative. Numbers 4:16 gives the aforementioned job to Aaron’s son Eleazar, while Aaron was still alive and high priest, and Solomon offered incense in 1 Kings 9:25. There may be a few others I’ve missed, but the offering of incense was a very exclusive club and as a general rule, was a job for the high priest alone.

The point I’m making is that this angel offering incense is very high ranking in the heavenly temple, and certainly of the heavenly equivalent of Aaron’s family – and it’s quite possible that this angel was actually the heavenly high priest himself.

“But Jesus is the high priest!”, I hear you saying. Yes, He is… NOW. But He wasn’t while He was alive!

Hebrews 1:4 [Jesus was] …made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

He had to earn that right with His obedience and death, and then be GIVEN that job by His Father!

Hebrews 7:15-17 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest… For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Jesus had to “arise”, as another priest, which means He wasn’t always the high priest of God! Otherwise, He wouldn’t need to become a priest!

Hebrews 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Jesus had to be MADE LIKE His brethren in order to BECOME the heavenly high priest!

“But He was Melchizedek!”, I hear you saying. Yes, He was. And where did we see Melchizedek? In the temple in heaven? Or was he the king and high priest of the city of Salem, ON EARTH?

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

We have had the idea that Jesus was heavenly high priest for all eternity, as Melchizedek, and then took a 34 year “vacation”, closing up the temple for a few years, and then God gave Him back the job He already had had. But Jesus being the heavenly high priest is a NEW THING!

Hebrews 10:19-22 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Notice how Paul says “having an high priest over the house of God”, implying that WE didn’t have one before. That doesn’t mean there WASN’T one – it simply means that there wasn’t one who cared about us. There was only an angelic high priest, who understands our problems about as well as you understand your cat’s.

ANGELIC PRIESTHOOD ABOLISHED

This is just an extension of a fact we’ve always known. We’ve always known the physical temple was the shadow of the heavenly. Therefore, we should have gone on to reason that it was a complete shadow of the heavenly temple… right down to the staffing of the temple.

But really, we should have taken even that idea one step farther. We should’ve realized it was a complete shadow of the heavenly temple… right down to the inherent flaws in a Levitical or angelic priesthood!

In other words, we’ve always thought the priesthood of Jesus would replace the priesthood of the Levites. Which is true enough, but not even half the story. Because the Levites are only a physical type of the heavenly priesthood of angels which is what Jesus is ACTUALLY going to replace!

God created the Levites to show us what was going on behind the scenes in heaven right now and why it wasn’t good enough! How many Levitical priests betrayed God? How many set up idols in the temple, took bribes, stole from the temple, or just generally slacked off?

It’s a perfect metaphor for heaven. As we’ve always known it was meant to be! Angels are not qualified to run spiritual things indefinitely. If they were, none would have sinned – and God wouldn’t have doubts about those who remain:

Hebrews 12:26-27 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Compare also Revelation 6:13-14).

The angels were given honor and responsibility as priests, assigned by God just like Levi’s sons were. And just like Levi’s sons, there was a wide range of righteousness in the angels. But even the best of them, the angels like Samuel, Phinehas, and Jehoiada, were not without their flaws.

Hebrews 1:4-5 [Jesus was] …made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

Jesus was made lower than the angels, and it was only through inheritance that He got a better “name” than they have. What, exactly, is that name?

Hebrews 7:21-22 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

A better testament than what? Better than the Levitical system? Surely… but that system was itself a shadow! This name of Melchizedek is the name that is better than the name the angels had – the name of Levi!

And Jesus’ ministry is not only better than the shadow, but also better than the true heavenly Levitical priesthood that shadow pictured!

These scriptures, seen in their full depth, argue that the heavenly equivalent of Melchizedek’s system is better than the heavenly equivalent of the Levitical system, the one administered by ANGELS!

And that explains Stephen’s statement in “you who received the Law given through angels, and yet have not obeyed it.” (Acts 7:53, WEY), or as the Philips translation has the same verse “You … received the Law of God by the hand of angels …”, or as GWV says… “You are the people who received Moses’ Teachings, which were put into effect by angels”!

BETTER THAN ANGELS

This is the real point of the book of Hebrews, the constant thread running through it – the change of the priesthood from the letter to the spirit; from the imperfect to the perfect; from the type to the fulfillment.

Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Why else did Paul spend the first two chapters ranting about a self-evident point, that Jesus is superior to angels? Because Jesus was replacing, not only the physical Levites, but the HEAVENLY Levites – the angels!

Hebrews 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Why establish that angels would worship a resurrected son of God? Of course they would! But Paul has to establish this point in order to prove, not only that angels will worship Him – but that He, and His once-human saints, are going to REPLACE them at their jobs!

Hebrews 1:8-9 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

WHICH fellows? This is talking about Jesus being anointed “above his fellows”. Are we really talking about Pilate, Peter, and Potiphar? If not them, then who are these fellows that Jesus was anointed above?

Ezekiel 28:14 (WEB) You were the anointed cherub who covers. Then I set you up on the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire.

The context of these chapters is exclusively angels, and the anointing that which must have happened before the world was! It was above those fellows, above the angelic Aaron whom Jesus was anointed to replace because Jesus loved righteousness more than even the best of the righteous angels!

Hebrews 2:5-9 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. …What is man, that thou art mindful of him? …thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

The world to come is not in subjection to the angels which implies that the present world is!

And that means that, just as we will be kings and priests in that time, so THEY are the kings AND PRIESTS in THIS time! Again, we’ve always known this if we just thought about it:

Daniel 10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

So we’ve always known angels are kings; now we know other angels are priests. But not in the world to come – only in this world. The subjection of the world to come is “given to the saints of the most high”.

Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

THE PROBLEM WITH ANGELS

The “all things” that will be subject to Jesus and the saints is clearly focusing on angels, for that’s what Paul keeps mentioning, over and over again. Again, why make such a big deal about what is such a foregone conclusion?

Hebrews 2:14-16 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; …For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

Because it means a radical restaffing of the entire temple in heaven! I said above that angels couldn’t understand our problems, not really – how could a being of spirit who lives without fear of death understand those who have a lifespan, from their perspective, like a moth? (Job 4:19). How can they relate to those who live their lives in fear of death? (Hebrews 2:15).

None have been touched by what it means to be a human being, and overcome our weakness! Not knowing how hard it is to be us, they can’t be a fair judge of the spirit of the law… so they can only judge by the LETTER! Just like their counterpart Levi!

Hebrews 2:17-18 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

The help we need, angels can’t give. God wants a temple staffed by people who LOVE the law, who UNDERSTAND it, and who know how hard it is to keep it – so they can help others keep it even when the going gets tough!

And angels can’t do that! Not until they’ve fought their own way back to salvation, helped by the new priesthood of Melchizedek to offer sacrifices on a better altar (Hebrews 13:10), one they do not currently have a right to sacrifice on!

And as the replacements for the angelic Levites, God is going to put tested and incorruptible humans in that temple, and make ALL THINGS subject to the saints. But today, Paul continues, we don’t see all things subject unto Him – because the angels are still the kings AND PRIESTS of this world!

Hebrews 8:4-8 …there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, …But now hath he [Jesus] obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

How many times have we read this, and not seen the plain statement that the fault was found WITH THE PRIESTHOOD!

And Paul specifically says that these Levitical priests were shadows of the heavenly, therefore shadows of the angelic priests. So really, Paul says that God found fault with the heavenly priesthood!

And it was because of those flaws that He made a new covenant with the house of Israel to REPLACE the covenant made with those angels! Because the Levitical system is a complete shadow of the heavenly… right down to the covenant God made with the angels!

THE ANGELIC COVENANT

If you ask someone if angels can be saved, they’ll point to Hebrews 1, to verses you’ve already read in this paper. But they don’t really say they can’t be saved. They say they won’t be firstborn sons. It says they won’t be sitting at God’s right hand. Nothing more!

But that’s also true of the Old Covenant Israelites! Which of the letter-of-the-law-keeping, circumcised, saved-by-the-law Israelites will God invite to sit with Him in His throne? None!

God made a covenant with OC Israel, and Levi, that was inferior to the covenant He made with us because He couldn’t trust them! And because of that, God never made a promise to Levi or to Levi’s angelic counterpart that they would be His sons, and they they could “sit on His right hand, until He makes their enemies their footstool”!

No, like the Levites who represented them, the angels were given a covenant of works. A covenant that allowed for no mistakes, but bound them to receive indefinite life in exchange for continual obedience to the entire LETTER of the law!

Galatians 3:10-12 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man [or angel] is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

The Levitical system is a precise copy of the angelic system, down to every division of work, every article of clothing, every ritual, every sacrifice. Even the covenants God made with them.

I stress this, because if that’s accepted then it means that we can use Levi as God always meant for him to be used – to reveal what angels are like, and God’s relationship with them.

See, everyone believes that the angels are a slave race for God. They were made to be slaves, and if they’re good they get to be slaves forever. If they’re bad, they are tortured and killed. But whatever happens, they won’t become sons of God.

I’ve always, always had a problem with that, even when I had no better answer. And yet it seems like the Bible offers no hope for their salvation. I’ve shown, in “Can God Save Devils and Angels?”, that there is indeed considerable hope, and most of that in plain sight, for their salvation.

I even showed how, and when they would be saved. But what I didn’t do was show the legal basis for their salvation, and the promises God has made with them. But now that we know that Levi=Angels, the problem solves itself.

OC SALVATION

Can Levi be saved? Absolutely. Can Levi be saved NOW? Absolutely not. The Old Covenant was a covenant of works, of bondage, of slavery to the letter of the law. Sound like angels?

The promise of the OC was that, if a man keeps the law he would not die forever. That isn’t the same as LIVING forever – it simply means not dying forever. The wages of sin is death, and keeping the law prevents your death until the day you sin.

Unfortunately, sin is just a matter of time for all selfish beings. The only way to achieve true immortality is to be incapable of sin. And since sin is born in the heart (Mark 7:21), the only way to achieve that is to change the heart.

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

The OC was a covenant that required a bare minimum amount of righteousness, the failure of which meant death. Since we know this applied to Levi, it must also apply to angels.

But even though the OC was a minimal covenant, there were those who saw the law, kept it, AND changed their hearts even though technically they didn’t have to. Even though the covenant didn’t require it!

Men like David, Samuel, Daniel, and so on went beyond that covenant and changed their hearts to be like God’s, making their nature a copy of Jesus’ own, and by doing that they made sin an impossibility and therefore, has life – not the absence of death, but security in their immortal life.

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

God is making no particular effort to save angels today. Just as He made no particular effort to save David. Yet when someone attracted His attention in OC Israel, He noticed, and even though He had made no covenant with the nation to give them salvation, He could extend the promises of the NC to someone who found it on their own.

Even though David wasn’t baptized according to the letter of the NC, David found salvation. Even though Abraham wasn’t circumcised in Genesis 15, He founded the NC. Even though these people still practiced the works of the OC law, they were freed from the slavery of the letter by understanding God’s true purpose (Matthew 12:3-5).

Knowing now that this applies to the angels, we see they are no more slaves than Levi was, and have the same way out that David found. And as David and some few others found it, so also some few angels must have found the New Covenant as well!

Just like with Levi, God had to have offered the angels the NC from the mount at first; and just like them, they must have rejected such close contact out of fear (Exodus 19-20). And as Israel requested a mediator, the angels must have requested a mediator of their own between them and the Father. Jesus.

But just like Israel, there were some who accepted the NC right up front – two, in fact, Joshua and Caleb. Two were able to see past the smoke of the deception of Satan to perceive the glory behind Moses’ veil. The two angels who cover the throne?

And over time, as they saw the works of sin in the Earth and in themselves, some others were able to see past the veil and find the truth, and be saved.

LETTERS TO EARTH

There are SO MANY places God said this, that we were too deaf to hear before!

Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write;

To whom is this addressed? To the church at Philadephia? No, this is written directly TO THE ANGEL! And what does God tell him?

Verses 8-11 I know THY works …for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan …to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee …Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

This was all written, first person, TO THE ANGEL of that church. To the ANGEL who, even though he only has a little strength, has held fast AGAINST SATAN’S FOLLOWERS! And whom GOD LOVES, and promises he will keep his CROWN!

Because that angel is one of the seven angelic kings of the Earth. And if he holds fast against Satan, HE WILL GET TO KEEP IT WHEN THE SAINTS ARE RESURRECTED! Unlike the other angels to whom “God has not put in subjection the world to come”!

Only the very last verse if this letter is directly addressed to the followers of this angel, to the CHURCH that he guides:

Verse 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

This is a NEW name that Jesus has, which He will share with all the subjects of this angel who overcome! What is that new name?

The name God told these same angels that Jesus would receive, which was BETTER than theirs – a chance to be a priest of a BETTER covenant, a priest after the order of Melchizedek!

Now compare that letter to the angel of Sardis:

Revelation 3:1-3And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write …I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. …I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.

In Psalms 82, God gave a stern warning to these same seven angels in charge of the Earth, warning them as a group to judge righteousness. Here, after a thousand years, God gives them a NEW warning, individualized to each angel. Maybe God does this every thousand-year day. I would.

Regardless, He reminds the archangel of Sardis to REMEMBER what God told him in the beginning! God gave them the law and judgments, just as He gave to Levi, and then said “judge righteous judgment”. And God said “remember what I told you then because you’re not doing it right!”

Verses 4, 6 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and THEY shall walk with me in white: for THEY are worthy …He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Now God shifts to the angels and humans under the rule of this archangel. And says EVEN under YOUR lousy rule, some people have been righteous, and THEY will walk with me (but YOU won’t!).

THE PENITENT ANGEL

Just after rebuking the archangels in Psalms 82, in Psalms 83 God talks about the rebels, “Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession” (verse 12). Since this didn’t happen before, or during, the time of David, this is clearly talking about a different “house of God”, a heavenly.

Then in Psalms 84, David wrote a song for one of the sons of Korah – who were the porters, or doorkeepers, of the temple. Think about what that means; David wrote words that this porter would sing, because these words were what the angelic porter he pictured would feel!

God commanded the Korahites – descendants of the rebels in the wilderness – to sing this song, because their angelic counterparts would one day feel this way! And then THEY would sing these words!

Psalms 84:1-2 « To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. » How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

This is clearly someone who misses the courts of God. That proves this person had BEEN THERE before, because they knew just how “amiable” God’s tabernacles were.

Verse 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Now a day with God is as a thousand years on the Earth; and this angel knew that, because he had been there! And he had made a CHOICE between being a porter in God’s house, and dwelling in the tents of wickedness and he had chosen the wrong one!

Verses 3-4 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

Angels are pictured as eagles or great noble birds, but here this angel is complaining that even SPARROWS, who are unimportant birds/minor angels, have found a HOUSE in God’s altar! So this is the far future, for this angel MISSED the first salvation!

Verses 5-6 (ERV) Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Passing through the valley of Weeping they make it a place of springs; yea, the early rain covereth it with blessings.

The man who trusts God, whose heart is on the narrow road that leads to salvation, is blessed! Because he has walked through the valley of weeping, seen what sin brings, and turned their weeping into “rivers of living water” because they repented and received the holy spirit!

Verse 7 (GWV) Their strength grows as they go along until each one of them appears in front of God in Zion.

And each time they repent of each sin, their strength grows until they’re ready to appear before God as saints! And this angel has seen that happen again and again, and is ready to join them! Ready to leave behind the tents of wickedness and settle in a HOUSE of God!

Verses 8-9 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

This angel was ANOINTED by God, but God had turned His face from him because of his sin! Because he had chosen to live in the tents of wickedness!

So he was cast out of God’s house, and he MISSED IT! He repented of his sin and is PRAYING to God for forgiveness!

Verses 10-12For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

And he has seen that God forgave these other pilgrims, and therefore knows that God is good and will forgive him as well!

How is it that the entire Christian world is unable to see that? That God is good enough and merciful enough to save even devils?

1 Peter 3:18-20 (BBE) Because Christ once went through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God; being put to death in the flesh, but given life in the Spirit; By whom he went to the spirits in prison, preaching to those Who, in the days of Noah, went against God’s orders; but God in his mercy kept back the punishment, while Noah got ready the ark, in which a small number, that is to say eight persons, got salvation through water:

Jesus warned them before the flood came, probably around 1000 years after creation at the end of the first day, that He knew their works and they weren’t good enough! And He told them they had only a week to get their act together before they would be punished for their mistakes!

Why else would God send Jesus to speak to the spirits in prison – angels like this doorkeeper who were banished to the Earth? And why wouldn’t God judge them on the spot, but instead be merciful and keep back their punishment for a time?

Matthew 8:29 (ERV) Suddenly they shouted, “Jesus, Son of God, what do you want with us? Have you come to punish us before our time?”

Because Christ suffered for ALL SINNERS, flesh or spirit! And when the angelic kings were appointed to the Earth, and the first day’s work showed that they were not doing what God said, Jesus was sent to warn them! And give them a CHANCE to do better while they still could!

Just like He did after the second day at Babel and the third day in Psalms 82 and after the fourth day in Revelation 2-3! To warn them that if they didn’t repent, they would die like the men they were oppressing!

Psalms 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

And that if they did repent, that Jesus would go “through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God”!

(In case you’re wondering, the end of the 5^th day coincides with the great schism, when the Eastern church (Sardis) broke away from the Catholic church (Laodicea), which may be a result of further angelic warnings as Sardis tried to do a little better by not following Laodicea (Satan)).

RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM HEAVEN

This same angel continues to beg salvation in Psalms 85 (note the address is to the same “chief musician” of the “sons of Korah”). Notice how he goes into great detail talking about the salvation of “thy people” in…

Psalms 85:1-3LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

So at the time spoken of in this verse, God has turned away from “ALL” his wrath, and covered ALL their sins – the sins of “thy people”. Why then, does this singer continue to say…

Verses 4-7 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

Who could possibly be asking this? Because he JUST said God had ALREADY forgiven “his people” of “ALL their sins”! Notice the shift in tense – the first three verses speak of their sin. These four verses speak of God being angry with US; showing US salvation; this is a DIFFERENT group of people – this is angels!

Verse 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

When we read verses like this, it’s easy to assume God stuttered, but if you just believe what it says, then God is speaking peace to two different groups! To his PEOPLE, and to his SAINTS! To his firstborn and to his holy angels!

This psalm was to be sung by a man, who represented an angel whom God knew would feel this way when he saw the results of obedience to God. God knew that when he compared God’s way to the fruits of his own choices, this angel would be ready to HEAR what “God the Lord will speak”! And that he would not desire to “turn again to folly” as he did when he followed Satan the first time!

Verse 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

This is the sort of verse most people dismiss as poetic, or just read right over as a meaningless platitude. But where do the saints come from? Under the Earth, when they are resurrected! They “spring out of the Earth”.

But this angel promises that, if God shews him mercy, righteousness will look down from heaven as well! The saints aren’t in heaven; they aren’t going to BE in heaven; the only thing that could have committed folly, then listened to God, and then looked down from heaven is a repentant angel!

Which, when you think about it, makes perfect sense. For aren’t angels symbolized as eyes? And therefore, righteous eyes will look down from heaven ONCE AGAIN if God forgives his eye instead of cutting it out!

Verses 12-13 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

The land shall yield her increase; the firstborn sons of God giving 144,000 fold increase over the son of God who was planted there. And their righteousness shall go before Him, and help the angels find righteousness, and set them “in the way of His steps”!

How many billions of times have these verses been read, and no one grasped the enormous depth of understanding buried just under the surface!

THE IMAGE OF GOD

Some have said God won’t save angels because they aren’t made in His image. But if that’s true, then why has every single angel man has ever seen looked JUST LIKE US? The only time angels have ever appeared different was in visions, and everyone knows visions are usually symbolic!

In fact, the four faces of angels are very likely completely symbolic. They show the face of God to us, and the face of a messenger-bird to God; a lion in their right hand for fierceness, and an ox in their left for strength. This needn’t be literal, any more than the beast actually looks like a dinosaur!

The wings Ezekiel and others saw are equally likely to be symbolic. Do you really think bird wings help angels fly back and forth across the galaxies to the throne of God?

Some have said angels can’t be God’s spiritual children. If that’s true, then why are they called the sons of God??

God created angels, very much like us, if not exactly like us. The difference – the ONLY difference – is that we began our lives as clay, and they began their lives as light.

When you begin your life as a worm, and painstakingly pick your way towards righteousness over the stumblingblocks your beast continually throws in front of you, the promise of eternal life has considerable appeal.

When you live indefinitely as a spirit being, in a presumably pain-free existence, that particular promise loses a lot of its motivating power. You still have a beast, you still sin, but the material promises that seem so huge to our moth-like lifespans cannot possibly motivate you as well.

So if there are few humans who find salvation, how few angels can there be – when their only motivation is to have control over their beast, and to love their fellow beings?

Especially when allowing God to judge your heart feels to your beast like surrendering your last shred of independence to become complete and total slaves of God. So there will be few angels saved in this time. Even fewer than human saints. But there must be some.

THEIR REWARD

But what exactly does “saved” mean in this context? After they’re “converted”, are they simply better slaves to God?

Do they get the right to wear blue instead of white? What is their reward? What changes for the angel who has been judged to have “overcome”? Well, let’s ask Jesus. As always, the answer was staring us in the face the whole time.

Luke 20:35-36 …they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

This has always been read to say that they are like the angels in the way that they live forever, or in the way that they don’t marry. But that’s not what Jesus said!

Luke 20:35 (GWV) They are THE SAME AS THE ANGELS. They are God’s children who have come back to life.

Think about that. Those physical saints who are born of spirit in the resurrection will be THE SAME AS THE ANGELS! Because angels are not a different species!

Ephesians 3:14-15 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

They are called Elohim, children of God, the same name all true Christians share, FOR A REASON! Because we are their BRETHREN! We share the same Father!

Revelation 19:10 (Weymouth) Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he exclaimed, “Oh, do not do that. I am a fellow bondservant of yours and a fellow bondservant of your brethren who have borne testimony to Jesus. Worship God.” Testimony to Jesus is the spirit which underlies Prophecy.

That’s why they are our BRETHREN, our fellowservants, our co-workers! And so THEIR reward is the same as OUR reward! Because the 24 human elders AND the four beasts – the four chief angels in charge of God’s heavenly temple – plainly told us that!

Revelation 5:8-10…the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb …And they sung a new song, saying …thou wast slain, and hast redeemed US to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made US unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

The reward of the righteous porters of God’s temple is the same as the reward of the saints – that they will be firstborn children of God, and reign with Jesus in His throne, on the Earth!

And the only reason we haven’t always known this, is because we didn’t have an ear to hear it.

CONCLUSION

God made angels, gave them the law, and gave them dominion over the Earth – and they didn’t take proper care of their first estate (Jude 1:6).

He put them as kings over us, and told them to judge righteously. They didn’t. Even the best of them made mistakes, and the wages of sin is death.

Then He created man, and put him as king over the Earth (and the angels on it) and told him to judge righteously. He didn’t. This proves that both of His creations as they were are unable and unworthy to inherit immortality.

They each had an honest fair chance; the same chance to see the truth, the results of sin, and judge righteously. Angels were the best men God could create out of spirit, and we are the best men God could create out of flesh.

But neither were good enough, because it’s not about the flesh or the spirit, it’s about the heart. And a perfect heart is the one thing God can’t create instantaneously. It has to be created by the choices of the being itself.

So He had to come Himself, as a man, live righteously and show ALL of these groups that He really wasn’t asking that much. And then die to save those from the first two creations who learned, too late, that God’s way really was better.

I say too late, because once you’ve sinned, the law requires your death. Learning that God was right after that is automatically too late.

And after saving those who learned too late, He will return with them to help teach those who never learned at all, man and angel alike. And the angel of Psalms 84 will finally realize that the only way to happiness is simply to listen to the first words God told all of us:

Treat others as you’d want them to treat you.

As so often happens, after the end of a tortuous and painful route we discover the key piece of understanding we’ve missed all our lives. And then we usually discover it was the very first thing we were told.

That’s certainly the way it is with this paper. The salvation of angels is not a secret. We’ve just been too deaf to hear what the Bible screamed at us over and over again.

Ephesians 1:9 (Weymouth) when He made known to us the secret of His will. And this is in harmony with God’s merciful purpose for the government of the world when the times are ripe for it — the purpose which He has cherished in His own mind of restoring the whole creation to find its one Head in Christ; yes, things in Heaven and things on earth, to find their one Head in Him.

But if that isn’t clear enough, this one says it even better:

Colossians 1:16, 20 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: …And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or THINGS IN HEAVEN.

ALL THINGS that God has created are supposed to find their head in Christ! ALL THINGS are supposed to be reconciled BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS… things on Earth, AND THINGS IN HEAVEN!

And what does that reconciliation mean, if not the forgiveness of their sins and adoption into the family of God??

Verses 21-22 And you, [in heaven or on Earth!] that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

This is what He does for those on Earth; how can it possibly be different for those IN HEAVEN? We’ve always wondered why, if angels were saved, there is no specific place for them mentioned in the future; only the saints of God have a prophetic future purpose. And that IS the answer. Angels who overcome are saints of God just as much as we will be.

Verse 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to EVERY CREATURE which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Because they heard, believed, repented, and obeyed the same gospel and were saved by the same blood of the same Savior. How on Earth could they possibly be any different?

The reason we don’t see angels and man in heaven is because there isn’t any difference between them! Because they live and reign with Christ, just as we do, for ALL of those who are accounted worthy of salvation are THE SAME AS THE ANGELS who are accounted worthy of salvation!