Avenging Angels
This is an interesting category of angels because they avenge God in all things. In essence these angels take out revenge on those who oppose God. They fight His battles. In Deuteronomy 32:43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people's land.”
We find that avenging angels are capable of incredible destruction. Today we would classify these angels as an elite class of soldier – special forces type. These angels are diving creatures that are spiritual in nature, and possess incredible power, as well as all of God’s wisdom through the centuries. Not only do this category of angel protect and care for righteous humans but we find in scripture that show this category carrying out the judgment of God upon humanity through unbelievable violence – in some cases even death.
2 Samuel 24:16 “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.”
This category of angel when sent on a mission fulfill the mission and can only be recalled by God Himself. No human by any means can stop the mission of these angels.
It is through these angels that God’s sovereignty is maintained. We find five events in scriptures where we can see the capability of this cast member.
The Angels of Sodom and Gomorrah – Genesis 18
The Army Killer – Israelites defeat of Assyria in 715 BCE. Isaiah tells us that through him God sent a message to Hezekiah stating, “I will defend this city and save it.” When Assyrians arrived God sent ONE angel that put to death 185,000 soldiers. When the remaining soldiers woke up the next morning, they left seeing the destruction of God.
The Destroyer – We find this event at Passover. God sent again ONE angel – the Angel of Death – to Egypt and passed over the doors marked with blood and entered the other doors not marked and took the first born from them. We find this event in Exodus 12.
Michael has been identified also as an Archangel in scripture. However, Michael is described in Jude, Daniel and Revelation as a powerful warrior that leads armies against evil spirits. It was Michael that fought with Satan driving him out of heaven. Although Michael has never carried out God’s judgment against humanity, the fact that he went up against Satan—and won—marks him as an especially deadly foe, and an angel not to be trifled with.
Lucifer – the deadliest angel of all. Ezekiel 28 describes Lucifer as the “guardian cherub,” a creature of utmost beauty and station who was “the signet of perfection, full of wisdom.” He was placed “on the only mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.” But the very perfection that made Lucifer so great an angel was also the source of his corruption: pride. Lucifer made war against God, Himself, but was repelled by Michael and the forces of Heaven.
Scholars think that there are only 12 avenging angels. Matthew 26:53 “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”