Seven Angels

Revelation 14 is filled with “another angel” characters. It’s odd, because “another angel” appears before there’s an angel to be anothered to. How can there be another angel when they ain’t been an angel in the first place?

The phrase allos aggelos is sued six time (14:6, 8, 9, 15, 17, 18). The sixth angel is mentioned again in verse 19, though he is not called “another” angel. This is in addition, apparently, to the seven angels who appear in 15:1, who are pouring out bowls on the earth. So, in chapter 14, six angels that are called “another angel.” That, and a “son of man” on a cloud at the center of things, bracketed on both sides by three “another angels.”

Perhaps we can explain it this way: The Lamb has seven eyes that are the seven torch-Spirits of God that burn before the throne. The Spirit is, I think, called “His Angel” in 1:1 (and appears as such in 10:1-10). That suggests that a set of angels is somehow connected to the Spirit. Perhaps the seven Spirits inspire the seven trumpet angels and guide the seven bowl angels. Perhaps too the six angels of chapter 14 are also manifestations of the Spirit that, with the Son of Man, make a complete set of seven.

If so, then the passage shows us: The Spirit preaching the gospel, announcing the fall of Babylon, warning about idolatry; after the Son of Man appears, the Spirit calls on the Son of Man to harvest, tends to the fire on the altar, and harvests the grapes himself. Together the Son of Man + six Spirits gather in the harvest of martyrs, so that their blood can be delivered to the seven bowl angels.