The Bible’s first sentence tells you God made two things: ‘the heavens and the earth.’

Which means the place you live is twofold. There’s the physical universe — earth. And there’s a counterpart to it — the heavens.

The Angels’ operation is hidden. The effect on the world is material, determinative, and dramatic.

Two Worlds, One Landlord

So there are two distinct dimensions of created reality, two interlocking spheres. God, in his fatherly goodness, is Lord of both and administers both for his glory and our good. As the Nicene Creed has it: ‘We believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.’

Alongside the observable material world, the cosmos includes a transcendent realm — exterior and superior to us, usually invisible, yet coexistent with us. According to Scripture ‘the heavens’ (literally ‘atmosphere, sky’) is the world of angels, spirits, demons, cherubim, seraphim, authorities, powers, thrones and dominions (Eph 6:12; Col 1:16).¹‘We live in a world of unseen spirits. Everywhere we go, we live in the presence of God, the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit. A human spirit animates the body of every man, woman, or child that we encounter. Furthermore, angelic and demonic spirits move invisibly about us as they strive to advance or defeat Christ’s kingdom’ (Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 1, Revelation and God (Crossway, 2019), 1:1109). Since the time of writing, a very fine study came to my attention: Graham A. Cole, Against the Darkness: The Doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons (Crossway, 2019). For those whose interest immediately (and understandably) turns to matters of ‘spiritual warfare,’ the best recent single thing available is Keith Ferdinando, The Message of Spiritual Warfare (IVP, 2016). See also, Cole, Against the Darkness, 163-202.

Herman Bavinck puts the matter sharply: ‘Belief in a spiritual world is rooted in and profoundly expresses the truth of revelation; only God can make it known to us, and he has done so in Scripture.’²Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Baker Academic, 2011), 276. In the face of atheistic disinclination to recognize the reality of the spirit world, Bavinck remarks, ‘[N]o science or philosophy can advance any argument against the possibility of such spiritual beings. Humans are psychic beings and cannot explain the life of the soul from material metabolism but have to predicate some spiritual substance for that life. This continues even after death and, therefore, the reality of the spiritual world is not inconsistent with any argument of reason or fact of experience’ (276).

Those last two clauses matter more than they look. We are a physical creation in a material world; angels are purely spiritual. So only God can give us knowledge of them — and he has, in Scripture.

Which Means: Stop Guessing

That has a consequence people tend to resent. The Bible alone is our source here, which means staying resolutely inside its limits and refusing to speculate.

Speculation about the spiritual sphere can only ever be presumption — a rejection of God’s fatherly kindness in revealing himself in Christ clothed with his gospel. Calvin’s counsel is worth hearing in full:

‘[L]et us remember here, as in all religious doctrine, that we ought to hold to one rule of modesty and sobriety: not to speak, or guess, or even to seek to know, concerning obscure matters anything except what has been imparted to us by God’s Word. … The theologian’s task is not to divert the ears with chatter, but strengthen consciences, by teaching things true, sure, and profitable.’³John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (The Westminster Press, 1960), 1.14.4; 164. Thanks to Robert Doyle for helping clarify this matter.

Creatures, Not Junior Gods

The existence of angels is simply a given in the Bible, though details about their origin are thin.

They’re presented as created beings — creatures, not divine beings (Psa 148:1-6) — and therefore absolutely distinct from God. Like everything else, they were made by God’s ‘beloved Son’ (Col 1:13-16). They had no involvement in the original work of creation, as agents or intermediaries. They are, like us, a product of the Triune God’s creativity, summoned out of absolutely nothing.

Their number is vast — ‘myriads of myriads’ (Rev 5:11) — though the precise population is unknown.

Genesis doesn’t directly recount their creation. Possibly God brought them into existence on the first day.⁴Noting again Calvin’s measured advice referred to above: ‘[L]et us remember here … The theologian’s task is not to divert the ears with chatter, but strengthen consciences, by teaching things true, sure, and profitable’ (Institutes, 1.14.4; Battles, ed., 164). They’re said to have witnessed the creation of the material world and of human beings, so they were called into being before both (Gen 2:1; Job 38:4-7).

So angels are celestial creatures who were nonetheless present at the making of the physical world. Being asexual and ungendered they don’t mate and can’t reproduce (Matt 22:30). And since we know of no further direct creations since Genesis 2:1-3, they were probably all brought into being at once. ‘Nothing is anterior to the creation of heaven and earth, but it is certain that the angels were created before the seventh day.’⁵Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics. Abridged, 279. One thing follows by simple sequence: the creation and fall of Satan must have preceded his role as tempter in Eden (Rev 12:9).⁶The book of Revelation contains the term ‘angel’ nearly eighty times.

Where the Two Realms Meet

Time and space ‘is the necessary form of the existence of the finite.’⁷Hermann Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (Baker Academic, 2004), 2:429-28. Time and space began to exist at the same time (simultaneously) as angels and all other finite creatures (Gen 1:1).⁸‘Time … is not a separate creation but something automatically given with the world, cocreated with it like space’ (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:429), As spiritual creatures, angels have only a finite relation to time and space⁹‘[A]ngels are bounded in relation to time and space’ (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:456). — though what exactly that amounts to is hard to say.

The two dimensions of creation border one another. The invisible and visible spheres intersect by boundary and frontier.

God is Lord of both, yet his present relation to each differs. Heaven doesn’t contain God, because it’s his creation — ‘The heavens are the LORD’s heavens’ (Psa 115:16). Heaven is God’s dwelling, the realm of his rule, where his presence is immediately manifest, and the arena from which he directs his work outward into the earthly creation. It’s the part of creation entirely beyond human control, where God’s will goes unchallenged (Matt 6:9-10).

And while they border earth, both ‘heaven’ and ‘the heavens’ are inaccessible to us. Supernatural forces beyond our capacity to influence or comprehend nonetheless determine everyday matters in the visible sphere, operating ‘in the heavenly places’ (Eph 3:10).

Your Life Has a Second Story

Here’s the upshot for you personally. All human life has an irreducibly transcendent dimension.

That dimension isn’t accessible to physical sense-perception, but it’s entirely actual and totally real. Your life plays out against an invisible background of created spirits — the human spirit, plus good and evil spirits — and God’s uncreated Spirit.

Yet as we follow Scripture’s trajectory, the actual nature of God’s heavenly rule is revealed. The incapacity of our physical senses to see it gets overcome. Which means our natural ignorance need not turn into fear, anxiety, superstition or magic.

Scripture shows us that heaven is where God’s rule, his word, his commands are done without deviation. That’s the foundation of the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:10). Angels are depicted as those who obey — doing God’s bidding with great vigour as he exercises his dominion (Psa 103:20).

The book of Revelation pulls back the curtain, referring to angels nearly sixty times as it depicts God bringing his rule to its consummation. And in that disclosure we see where the two spheres of God’s kingdom intersect.

Which is reassuring, actually. Angels are God’s fatherly servants, for our good.¹⁰Grateful thanks to Robert Doyle for clarification here.

Reticent, But Not Silent

So Scripture contains a good deal about the invisible realm — though marked by a certain reticence, offering no full explanation of the origins, nature and operation of the spiritual creatures. They exist in another dimension, which may be part of why they’re treated indirectly.

Even so, their place in God’s purposes is extremely significant and in some respects decisive. So ‘if we desire to recognize God from his works, we ought by no means to overlook such an illustrious and noble example.’¹¹Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.3; Battles ed., 162. The error Calvin here has in mind here is that of Manicheism, which taught that good things were created by God, but evil things were created by the devil. To which Calvin responds that nothing in creation is evil according to original nature, but due to ‘the corruption of nature.’

Their presence and operation are hidden and imperceptible. Their effect on the world is material, determinative and dramatic. And there’s real encouragement to be had in understanding God’s care for his people through their ministry.

—

• 1
  ‘We live in a world of unseen spirits. Everywhere we go, we live in the presence of God, the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit. A human spirit animates the body of every man, woman, or child that we encounter. Furthermore, angelic and demonic spirits move invisibly about us as they strive to advance or defeat Christ’s kingdom’ (Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 1, Revelation and God (Crossway, 2019), 1:1109). Since the time of writing, a very fine study came to my attention: Graham A. Cole, Against the Darkness: The Doctrine of Angels, Satan, and Demons (Crossway, 2019). For those whose interest immediately (and understandably) turns to matters of ‘spiritual warfare,’ the best recent single thing available is Keith Ferdinando, The Message of Spiritual Warfare (IVP, 2016). See also, Cole, Against the Darkness, 163-202. ↩︎
• 2
  Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Baker Academic, 2011), 276. In the face of atheistic disinclination to recognize the reality of the spirit world, Bavinck remarks, ‘[N]o science or philosophy can advance any argument against the possibility of such spiritual beings. Humans are psychic beings and cannot explain the life of the soul from material metabolism but have to predicate some spiritual substance for that life. This continues even after death and, therefore, the reality of the spiritual world is not inconsistent with any argument of reason or fact of experience’ (276). ↩︎
• 3
  John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (The Westminster Press, 1960), 1.14.4; 164. Thanks to Robert Doyle for helping clarify this matter. ↩︎
• 4
  Noting again Calvin’s measured advice referred to above: ‘[L]et us remember here … The theologian’s task is not to divert the ears with chatter, but strengthen consciences, by teaching things true, sure, and profitable’ (Institutes, 1.14.4; Battles, ed., 164). ↩︎
• 5
  Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics. Abridged, 279. ↩︎
• 6
  The book of Revelation contains the term ‘angel’ nearly eighty times. ↩︎
• 7
  Hermann Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (Baker Academic, 2004), 2:429-28. ↩︎
• 8
  ‘Time … is not a separate creation but something automatically given with the world, cocreated with it like space’ (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:429), ↩︎
• 9
  ‘[A]ngels are bounded in relation to time and space’ (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:456). ↩︎
• 10
  Grateful thanks to Robert Doyle for clarification here. ↩︎
• 11
  Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.3; Battles ed., 162. The error Calvin here has in mind here is that of Manicheism, which taught that good things were created by God, but evil things were created by the devil. To which Calvin responds that nothing in creation is evil according to original nature, but due to ‘the corruption of nature.’ ↩︎