Division of Labour

For a while, I have wondered about the division of labour between the Holy Spirit and the holy angels.

Who Does What?

The Holy Spirit is the sustainer of life. He does not resist evil spirits, because he has to sustain their life while they are doing their evil, so it would not fair for him to disrupt their power. He is committed to sustaining all life, regardless of whether it has fallen or not.

The angels resist the spiritual powers of evil on the Jesus behalf. They are skilled resisters. Apart from carrying messages, resisting is their main task. Michael resisted the spirit controlling Persia (Dan 10:20).

The Holy Spirit is creative. He does not destroy stuff. The angels destroy the junk that the spiritual powers of evil leave behind when they are pushed out of territory.

When healing cancer, the angels destroy the cancerous cells that the spiritual powers of evil have created. The Holy Spirit creates new cells to replace them.

The Holy Spirit undertakes creative miracles. He can restore limbs and organs. Angels destroy the viruses and bacteria and other junk that the spiritual powers of evil use to create sickness and disease.

God has destroying angels.

• A destoying angel killed the people of Jerusalem, when David sinned (2 Sam 14:15; 1 Chron 21:16).

• An angel destroyed destroyed Sennacharib’s army, including his cmmanders and officers (2 Kings 19:35; 2 Chron 32:21).

• An angel of the Lord struck down King Herod (Acts 12:23).

  The first born of Egypt were stuck down by a destroying angel (1 Cor 10:10; Ex 12; 33; Heb 11:28).

The Holy Spirit is loving and good. The angels do the dirty work that the Holy Spirit cannot do, because the has the character of God. He cannot touch evil.

The Holy Spirit cannot deceive, because he is the Spirit of Truth. God used a deceiving angel to draw Ahab to his death (1 Kings 22:22). This was a good spirit from the presence of God, not an evil spirt. It went out and acted as a lying spirit to deceive Ahab. Lying was not its natural character. The angel lied for God’s purposes. The Holy Spirt could not have lied in this way.

Angels will be judged (1 Cor 6:3). However, the standard of their behaviour will be different than for us. Followers of Jesus are accountable to his standard as outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. Angels can do stuff that we are not allowed to do. They can use force against evil. They do not need to turn the other cheek, but will be judged according to whether they have done God’s will.