The Resurrection and the Angels
LITTLE children used to be taught to sing, "I want to be an angel." It was a vain wish, but they didn't know any better. Man was made "a little lower than the angels." Those who are counted worthy of a part in the first resurrection, will be made "equal unto the angels." Luke 20:35, 36. They will be equal unto the angels only in that they cannot die any more. But equality does not mean identity, but the contrary. If we say that one thing is equal to another, we indicate that there are two distinct things. So when the Lord said the righteous will in the resurrection be equal unto the angels, he indicated most emphatically that they would not be angels. "But," says an objector, "Moses and Elias were seen on the mount; how do you account for their presence there if the dead are unconscious and do not become ministering angels?" Easily enough. Elias never died but was translated without seeing death. Moses died and was buried by the Lord, by whom he was afterwards raised from the dead. That he was raised is proved by two things: 1. Christ and Satan disputed about the body of Moses. Jude 9. Satan has the power of death (Heb. 2:14), and therefore claims all the dead as his lawful prey. Christ has been through the grave, bringing with him its keys (Rev. 1:18), and therefore he has the power to divide the spoil with Satan. See Isa. 53:12. That is, he will take from Satan those servants of Christ whom Satan has claimed as his own. So Christ took his faithful servant Moses, referring Satan to the Father, as the vindication of his right to do so. 2. The Bible plainly declares that the dead know not anything, and that their thoughts perish as soon as the breath goes forth. It further expressly states that the dead cannot converse with the living unless they are first raised from the dead. Therefore we know that when Moses appeared on the mount of transfiguration, it was not as an angel, nor as the spirit of a dead man, but as a man who had been dead and had been raised to life.