What Happened on the Cross. Nick Peros
of the third heaven (heaven) and the second heaven (outer space). Since the angels watched God as he created the earth in Genesis 1:1, we know the angels were created in Genesis 1:1 before God created the earth.
Heaven, the Home of Angels
We also know the angels were created after God created (the third) heaven, since the Bible tells us specifically that Heaven is the home of angels. Since Heaven is the home of angels, Heaven was certainly created before the angels were created.
For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matt 18:10 NIV)
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matt 24:36 NIV)
We know from Matthew 18:10 and 24:36 that angels live in Heaven, which is to say Heaven is the home of angels. As a result, we know when God created the angels, he created them in Heaven, their home. When Job 38:4–7 tells us the angels, the sons of God, watched God as he created the earth, we know the angels were in Heaven with God as they watched God create the earth. This of course means after God created Heaven, but before God created the earth, God created the angels.
In the sequence of creation, we therefore know that after God created time and space first, he then created Heaven, where he established his throne, and next he created the angels, the sons of God, who watched God as he created the earth, singing and shouting for joy as they witnessed that event. The creation of time and space, of Heaven and of angels, is all included in Genesis 1:1.
Creation of the Earth
After God created time and space, Heaven, and the sons of God (angels), he created the earth, creating first the foundations of the earth, which is the planet itself, and then the surface of the earth upon it.
The Earth was created full and complete in Genesis 1:1, in the beginning, and we are told the creation of the earth was witnessed by all the angels. Genesis 1:1 specifically gives the order of creation as “the heavens” first, and then “the earth”. This same account of the order of creation, the order of “heavens” first and then “the earth,” continues throughout the Bible:
That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. (Isa 51:13 NASB)
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. (Gen 2:1 NIV)
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth. (Exod 20:11 NIV)
In these verses, and throughout the Bible, the order of creation is always given as “heavens” first and then “the earth,” which is exactly consistent with the order of creation as given in Genesis 1:1.
The Physicality of Angels
God’s entire creation is a physical creation, which means everything God created was made within and upon the fabric of time and space, and as a result is subject to time and space. This includes both Heaven, where God established his throne, and the angels. Heaven and angels, as created things, are subject to time and space, and are therefore physical.
Often we use words like “spiritual” or “spiritual realm” or “spiritual beings” when talking about angels. Such terms carry with them an implication that angels are somehow not subject to the physical creation, as are we, and are not subject to time and space; this is false. Angels, as created beings, were created within the fabric of time and space and, like us, or the earth, the moon, or Mars, are fully subject to time and space.
What does it mean for an angel to be subject to time and space? Put very simply it means this: if an angel wanted to get from point A to point B, then that angel must physically move through both space and time to get from point A to point B, just as would we.
For example, if an angel was in London and wanted to get to New York City, he would have to travel from London to New York by physically moving across the earth, moving through physical space, in order to get to New York. Furthermore, this travelling through space, across the earth, to go from London to New York, would also involve time—as the angel moves from London to New York, there will be the passage of time. All of which is to say that, as creatures of time and space, angels are subject to the restrictions of time and space. Just like you and I, an angel can only ever be in any one place at any one time, and to get from one place to another place, an angel must physically move through space and time to get there. The Bible gives us a specific account of exactly such a situation in Daniel 10:12–14:
Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come. (NIV)
In this passage, Daniel is visited by an angel who was sent by God to explain to Daniel the meaning of a vision God had given him. The angel tells Daniel he, the angel, was sent by God on the first day he, Daniel, was seeking wisdom to understand the vision. We are told in Daniel 10:2 it took that angel twenty-one days to reach Daniel. The angel then tells Daniel he, the angel, was resisted, or held up, by a powerful fallen angel, here described as the Prince of Persia, and that this fallen angel prevented him from getting to Daniel. Next, the angel tells Daniel that one of God’s great angels, Michael, here described as one of the chief princes, came to his aid and, implicitly, defeated the fallen angel called the Prince of Persia, at which time Daniel’s angel was able to continue and finally come to Daniel. This angel tells Daniel this whole episode took twenty-one days.
This entire account teaches us, and affirms, some very specific qualities about the nature of angels. First, they have to physically move through space to go from point A to point B (in this case, to go from Heaven to Daniel). Second, it shows us as an angel moves through space it also moves through time—in this case, it took twenty-one days for the angel to reach Daniel. Third, it shows us, as an angel moves through space and time to reach his destination, the angel can be held up, or can be met with obstacles on his journey.
In every respect, this account in Daniel clearly shows that angels are creatures of time and space, and as such are subject to it. The definition of being physical is to be subject to time and space. Since angels are very clearly subject to time and space, we know angels are physical beings. An angel may be able, for now, to move through time and space a lot faster than you and I currently can, but they are, no less, still subject to it.
A Different Kind of Physical
Although angels are physical beings, they are a different kind of physical than are human beings. You and I are creatures of flesh, bone, soul, and spirit, whereas angels have a different kind of physical nature.
Why, then, would anyone teach that angelic beings, or spirits, are not physical? It is the result of a wrong understanding of what it means to be physical, being the result of a Greek philosophy understanding of physical. The argument, stated in a very basic, colloquial way, would go something like this: “Angels, or spirit beings, are invisible, we can’t see them, and they can go through walls, and as a result, they are not physical beings.” Again, that argument is based on a wrong understanding of what it means to be physical.
If it is true that something is defined as “spiritual” because it is invisible and can go through walls, then we have to ask about x-rays and gamma rays. Both x-rays and gamma rays are invisible—we cannot see them with our eyes. Also, both x-rays and gamma rays can go through walls, and yet we know for a certainty both gamma rays and x-rays are absolutely physical things, even though they are both invisible and can go through walls.
Yet no one, anywhere, describes x-rays or gamma rays as spiritual entities. Why not? It is because we have discovered ways to measure and observe x-rays and gamma rays and therefore we can, indirectly, see they are a part of the physical creation. They are a part of the physical universe that we, for now, in our current physical state, are not able to perceive without the aid of equipment and machinery,