What is God's providence towards the angels?
God by his providence permitted some of the angels, wilfully and irrecoverably, to fall into sin and damnation,1 limiting and ordering that, and all their sins, to his own glory;2 and established the rest in holiness and happiness;3 employing them all,4 at his pleasure, in the administrations of his power, mercy, and justice.5
Scripture proofs
The Westminster Assembly's proof texts (KJV). The bracketed numbers in the answer above mark the clause each set of references supports; expand a row to read the verses.
1 Jude 1:6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Heb. 2:16; John 8:44
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
2 Job 1:12; Matt. 8:31
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
3 1 Tim. 5:21; Mark 8:38; Heb. 12:22
I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
4 Ps. 104:4
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
5 2 Kings 19:35; Heb. 1:14
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
This doctrine across the Standards
Where the Confession and the Westminster Shorter Catechism treat the same matter, so the question can be studied alongside its parallel statements.
In the Westminster Confession
V.1 God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, …
God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible fore-knowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.
→ V.1 · Of ProvidenceV.2 Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass …
Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.
→ V.2 · Of ProvidenceV.3 God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against …
God, in his ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them, at his pleasure.
→ V.3 · Of ProvidenceV.4 The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his providence that …
The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his providence that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God; who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.
→ V.4 · Of ProvidenceV.5 The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold …
The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they be humbled; and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support unto himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.
→ V.5 · Of ProvidenceV.6 As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind …
As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden, from them he not only withholdeth his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings and wrought upon in their hearts, but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had, and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin; and withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan; whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God useth for the softening of others.
→ V.6 · Of ProvidenceV.7 As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all creatures, so, after a most special manner, …
As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all creatures, so, after a most special manner, it taketh care of his Church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof.
→ V.7 · Of ProvidenceIn the Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q.11 What are God's works of providence?
God's works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.
→ Open Q.11