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.
David's offense in numbering the people was punished by terrible destruction wrought by one angel stretched out against Jerusalem. That destruction reveals the power exercised by holy angels when God commands, the same power that evil angels will exercise when God permits. The forces for desolation are now ready and only waiting divine permission to spread desolation everywhere.
The angel, clad in warlike garments with a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem, was revealed to David and those with him. At that time David and the elders lay in deepest humiliation mourning before the Lord, and David was terribly afraid. Though Israel had rebelled, God still pitifully loved His people and mercifully stopped the angel's work of death. With the words It is enough He commanded the angel to stay his hand and to put his sword into its sheath and cease destroying.
In compassion for the sheep, David confessed his own sin and wickedness and pleaded for the people. He begged that God's hand be against him and his father's house and not upon the people, accepting blame and asking that punishment fall on him instead. God through His prophet then required David to make atonement at the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite. David's hearty repentance was shown when he refused Araunah's free gift of the threshing floor, cattle, and all needful for sacrifice and bought it for full price, because he would not come before the Lord with an offering which cost him nothing. He built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, which God accepted by sending fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice.
The verse shows that angels act under God's command and take an active part in events on earth, including bringing pestilence and destroying. Holy angels exercise such destructive power when God commands, while God's protection restrains destructive power. When people persistently reject His warnings and choose their own way He may withdraw that protection and permit Satan's attacks, and the same destructive power will be exercised by evil angels when God permits. The ruin that came upon Jerusalem of old will be surpassed by a more terrible ruin involving the whole world in the final trouble, when mercy no longer pleads, restraint is removed, and Satan plunges the earth into trouble with disaster following disaster.
God tests and tries His people and waits for true repentance so He may pardon their transgressions and grant them prosperity. The rebuilding and measuring of Jerusalem symbolize comfort and strength for God's afflicted people. An angel standing with a sword as of fire stretched over a city under judgment, turning first in one direction and then in another, signifies judgment for dishonoring God by devising to exalt and glorify self. This was fulfilled at Battle Creek in the destruction of the Review office by fire that brought great loss to the cause and a very trying time for those in charge of the work and the employees.