3 Medidas de protección frente a inundaciones
3.6 Medidas estructurales (encauzamientos, motas, diques, etc.) que implican
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HIS chapter deals with the categories of angels that Christ rules over. The Scriptures refer to the order of angels, both good and bad, and the Lord rules over them both. All angels, whatever their rank, holy or fallen, are subject to their Creator, the preeminent Lord Jesus Christ, for “All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).God ranks the angels, and Jesus even used a military term when referring to them. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was about to be arrested, Peter took out a sword to protect Him. The Lord rebuked him by exclaiming, “Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 25:52-53). The word “legion” was a Roman military classification for 6,000 soldiers.
RANKS OF ANGELS
Seraphim and Cherubim
The Seraphim and Cherubim are God’s highest order of angels.
They are the guardians who stand before God’s throne. Night and day, the Seraphim praise the Lord, crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts.” The Cherubim show forth God’s power and mobility as His holy attendants. The Seraphim and Cherubim have intimate knowl-edge of God and give Him continual praise and adoration. We’ll share more about them in the next chapter.
Thrones (thronoli) refer to those who sit upon them, both good and evil angels.
ARCHANGEL
The word “arch” means “chief.” Michael, whose name means, “Who is like God?” is like a general. He is a powerful fighter with a particular responsibility for Israel. In Daniel 10:21 and 12:1 he is called “the prince of Israel.” In the famous account in Daniel 10:13 Michael arrived to answer Daniel’s prayers after being withstood by the Prince of Persia for 21 days. In the New Testament Jude 9 recounts Michael winning the battle with Lucifer over the body of Moses. And in Revelation 12:7-9 we see Michael as the commanding officer of legions of angels casting satan and his cohorts out of heaven:
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not pre-vail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
GABRIEL
Gabriel, whose name in Hebrew means “mighty one of God,” or
“God’s hero,” or “God is great,” serves God as His messenger. Gabriel actually isn’t called an archangel in the Bible, contrary to John Milton and popular opinion. There is only one archangel and he’s Michael.
Gabriel appears in the Book of Daniel imparting revelation con-cerning future events in God’s Kingdom. God sent Gabriel to Daniel to interpret Daniel’s vision in Daniel 8:15-16:
…suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, ‘Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.’ So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face….
Gabriel also appeared in Daniel 9:21 with loving words for Daniel from God and an interpretation of another vision. In the New Testament Gabriel came to Zacharias to tell him he would have a son named John the Baptist (see Luke 1:11, 19), and it was Gabriel who appeared to Mary announcing the birth of Jesus (see Luke 1:26-27).
Gabriel is primarily a messenger of mercy and promise, whereas Michael is the general of the army, a chief warrior. All angels are war-riors, but some angels serve solely in battle against the enemies of God.
THE HEAVENLY HOST
These are the legions and legions of angels who populate the heav-ens. Most references to angels in the Bible don’t give us their names, but they are powerful agents of God. One example is the solitary angel in Second Kings 19:35 who killed 185,000 Assyrian enemy soldiers in a single night. That’s what I call a warrior. These are your personal angels and mine.
Let it be said that these angels, for the most part, do not have wings. Angels do not need wings to fly. These are the angels we person-ally partner with under the leadership of our Commander-in-Chief, the preeminent Lord Jesus Christ. They are our personal angels.
“Are they [the angels] not all ministering spirits sent forth to minis-ter for those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14).
Jesus said, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones,for I say unto you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10).
THRONES, DOMINIONS, PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS
These are the ruling angels we read of in Ephesians 1:21; 3:10;
Colossians 1:16; 2:10; and 1 Peter 3:22, which speak of principalities, powers, might, authorities, and dominions that Jesus Christ is Lord over.
T h e o rd e r o f a n g e l s
Paul lists four kinds of angels among those who rebelled with satan against God:
1. Principalities: Chief rulers, those of highest rank in the satanic kingdom. (See Col. 2:10; Eph. 1:21; 6:12.) 2. Authorities: Fallen angels whose power is derived from
satan, and they do his bidding. (See Eph. 1:21; 6:12; Col.
2:10.)
3. Rulers of darkness: Spirit-world rulers who assist the plans of satan in the world. (See Dan. 10:13-21; Eph. 1:21; 6:12;
Col. 1:16-18.)
4. Spiritual wicked spirits: Operating from the heavenlies where satan has his seat of operations. (See Eph. 1:21; 6:21;
Col. 1:16-18.)
Two passages of Paul’s speak in particular of thrones, dominions, prin-cipalities, and powers:
He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all cre-ation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:15-16).
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:11-12).
GOD IS IN CONTROL
God is in control of the evil angelic forces we are to stand against.
Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world
be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:31-32).
“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and He has no power over me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father”
(John 14:30-31 NKJV).
At this very moment Jesus is preparing for mortal combat with satan, a combat that will cause satan to lose all his authority. The world, which belongs to God and will always belong to God, is under the influence and power of the evil one (see 1 John 5:19), but the Lord is counting on us to overcome the evil one in our lives, because He has already conquered him and the demon ranks. We, who live with big spirits, who live with our spirits so highly developed and educated by the Holy Spirit of God, can and will overcome this world (the invisible, spiritual system of evil dominated by satan) and its ruler’s wiles, because Jesus has already done it for us. “In the world you will have tribu-lation;, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
LUCIFER
Lucifer has many names which emphasize his evil constitution. He is known as satan or the devil. Jesus called him “the evil one” (John 17:15). The Book of Revelation calls him the old serpent, the great dragon, the destroyer, the accuser, and the deceiver. He is also the tempter (see Matt. 4:1,3).
We know from Scripture that lucifer was a high-ranking angel; in fact, Ezekiel 28:12-19 tells us, among other things, that he was appoint-ed to be the anointappoint-ed guardian cherub with access to the holy moun-tain of God. When he sinned, God cast him out of the mounmoun-tain of God like a common sinner:
“I destroyed you, O overshadowing cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (TLB).
T h e o rd e r o f a n g e l s
Why was he cast out of heaven? Because of his pride and ambition.
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the con-gregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:12-14).
The passage concludes with God pronouncing satan’s doom, “You shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit” (v. 15).
PARTNERING WITH GOD’S HEAVENLY HOST
We can see that there are many ranks of fallen angels. The demon that harasses our neighbor’s tormented German shepherd dogs is in a different class from the principality that rules our city. We are to be wise and alert, but never, ever fearful. We are to be prepared at all times, wearing the full armor of God, as Paul tells us to do in Ephesians 6. We are to be strong in Him because we can’t and don’t achieve anything without Him. The angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah to encour-age the building of the Temple by Zerubbabel by saying, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the LORD of hosts…” (Zech. 4:6 NKJV).
Those words ring true for us today. They tell us that no might or power, whether of this world or of the spirit realm, can overcome the Holy Spirit of God and His purposes. Those blessed words tell us that the Spirit of God cannot be counterfeited. No power, no matter how terrible and fierce, can defeat us when we have the Holy Spirit. We con-quer evil not with our human cleverness, our human resolve, or any human effort, for it is only “…by My Spirit says the LORD of hosts.”
As we partner with the Lord’s heavenly host, joining forces with them to bring to pass God’s will on earth, we step onto a plateau of overcoming joy that is truly heavenly. We enter into the joy of the Lord—a place of such extreme power and beauty that the whole world will know we’re here!