Angels

Although the book of Daniel only mentions two angels by their own names, there are many more. Why did God create these spirit beings ? 

Human beings have always had a certain curiosity about angels. This is demonstrated by many of the writings and works of art of the different religions and cultures of the world.

Today many are still fascinated by the subject, but there are still very diverse ideas about the nature and purpose of angels.

Some think that people become angels when they die; others that we all have a guardian angel; others, that angels can be female or male or even babies.

The truth about angels

But what is the truth about angels and where can we find it? The only source of accurate information about these beings is the revealed word of God — the Holy Bible.

And with 34 books of the Bible mentioning angels, we certainly have enough information to help us understand what angels are and why they were created.

Who or what are angels?

In the New Testament, the word "angel" comes from the Greek angelos, which, like its Old Testament Hebrew equivalent, mal'ak , simply means "messenger."

Angels were created by God to be his "ministering spirits" and belong to the spirit world (Psalms 33: 6; 148: 2-5; Hebrews 1:14). Furthermore, God's faithful angels are called holy and chosen (Matthew 25:31; 1 Timothy 5:21).

For now, angels are "greater in strength and power" than human beings (2 Peter 2:11) —the psalmist writes of a man: "You have made him little less than angels" (Psalm 8: 5). But humans who become part of the future kingdom of God will have authority even over them (1 Corinthians 6: 3; Hebrews 2: 5-8).

Purpose of the angels

As ministering spirits (servants), angels are diligent servants of God who help him in all that he asks of them (Psalms 103: 20-21). Some, for example, serve God on his throne and constantly worship him (Daniel 7:10; Ezekiel 3:12; Luke 2:13:14).

Sometimes God also uses them to carry out his righteous sentences of destruction or to protect his faithful servants (Psalms 34: 7; 91:11). Angels have a deep interest in God's plan of salvation; they long to know what he has revealed to his prophets and rejoice when someone repents (1 Peter 1:12; Ephesians 3:10; Luke 15:10).

Furthermore, angels have a responsibility to help human beings who are in the process of inheriting salvation (Hebrews 1:14).

A lot of angels

Angels are described as the "army of Jehovah" and the "army of heaven," which implies that God created a large number of them (Joshua 5:14; 1 Kings 22:19). They were created before human beings and were present when God created the world by praising and rejoicing at creation (Job 38: 7).

Although the scriptures do not reveal an exact number of angels, they do say that there are millions of them (Daniel 7:10; Revelation 5:11). Christ further said that he could ask God for more than twelve legions of angels if need be, and a Roman legion consisted of 6,000 soldiers (Matthew 26:53).

God created many angels, but the Bible only mentions three of them by name. Michael and Gabriel are mentioned in the book of Daniel and the third high-ranking angel, "Lucifer" - who later became Satan (Luke 10:18 ) - is mentioned in the book of Isaiah (Daniel 9:21; 10: 13; Isaiah 14:12).

God's holy angels are intelligent beings with free will who remained faithful to God when Lucifer tried to convince them to follow him. The rest - a third - was persuaded by this wicked angel who later led a rebellion against God and his throne in heaven (Ezekiel 28:15; Revelation 12: 3-4).

Anonymity of angels

In general, the Bible does not reveal many details about angels at the individual level. Probably because we don't need such information at this stage in history, and God preferred it that way to limit the tendency some have to worship angels.

The apostle Paul, for example, mentions the idolatrous worship of angels and warns of false teachers who encouraged this practice (Colossians 2: 8, 18).

Furthermore, righteous angels do not accept worship. When amazed by the presence of such a powerful spiritual being, the apostle John began to worship an angel, the angel said to him: "Look, don't do it ... Worship God" (Revelation 19:10; 22: 8-9).

Ranges and types of angels

The scriptures also reveal that angels have different levels of responsibility and honor.

In most biblical accounts of angel encounters with human beings, angels are human-shaped and wingless. This is why some people "unknowingly hosted angels" (Hebrews 13: 2).

Another type of angels are the “seraphim” that the prophet Isaiah saw in vision and describes as angels with six wings that are on the throne of God (Isaiah 6: 2). This appears to be the same type of angels that the apostle John describes when he sees "four living creatures," each with six wings and a different appearance from the others (Revelation 4: 6-8).

The prophet Ezekiel further describes the "cherubim" (another class of angels) as beings with four faces and four wings (Ezekiel 1: 6, 10; 10: 20-21). In fact, Lucifer was a high ranking cherub before he was cast out of heaven along with a third of the angels for his sin (Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel 28:14; Luke 10:18; Jude 1: 6; Revelation 12: 4). The angels who fell with him are what we now know as demons.

Another class of angels are the "twenty-four elders" dressed in white with golden crowns described in the book of Revelation (Revelation 4: 4; 11:16; 19: 4).

And the Bible describes seven angels whose job it is to oversee what is happening on earth and to let God know (2 Kings 2:11; 6: 15-17; Zechariah 6: 1-6).

Clearly, the angelic world is quite varied. Some angels are shown in human form; some — the cherubs — have four wings and four faces (man, lion, ox, and eagle); some - the seraphim - have six wings.

Other titles of angels

In addition to being "ministering spirits" of God, angels are called "sons of God" and "morning stars" (Job 1: 6, 38: 7; Revelation 1:20; 12: 4). The title "children of God" refers mainly to their origins, as they were created by the "Father of the spirits" (Hebrews 12: 9).

It is worth mentioning that the Bible also describes human beings as "children of God", so the context of each reference is essential to determine if they are angels or human beings (Hosea 1:10). In Genesis 6: 1-4, for example, it is human beings and not angels who take the women they want.

Furthermore, Christians who have the Holy Spirit in them are also called “sons of God” in the New Testament (Romans 8:14; Galatians 3:26). In fact, the faithful who become part of the kingdom of God in the resurrection will have spiritual bodies like those of the angels (Daniel 12: 3; Luke 20:36; Philippians 3: 20-21).

Encounters with angels

When an angel appeared in person (not in dream or vision) to a human being, he did so in the form of a man. We see several examples of angels who spoke face to face with God's faithful servants, including Abraham, Lot, Jacob, David, Peter, Paul, Mary, a group of shepherds, the women who went to the tomb of Christ, and many others ( Genesis 18: 2; 19:15; 32: 1; 2 Samuel 24:17; Acts 12: 7; 27:23; Luke 1:28; 2:13; Matthew 28: 2-5; Hebrews 13: 2).

However, angels also appeared in dreams or visions, and these encounters were as vivid and real as when the person was awake and talking face to face with the angel (Genesis 28:12; Matthew 1:20; Acts 10: 3 ; Acts 12: 9).

Genre of angels

On certain occasions, the Bible refers to angels as "men" and always describes them as if they were male (Genesis 18: 2; Daniel 8:15; 10:18). However, angels are not like humans in this regard; they have no gender and neither do they marry or reproduce (Matthew 22:30).

On the other hand, angels are never described as women or babies. The true origin of these ideas are Greek and Roman mythologies.

Nor are they described with physical attributes or unusual dress, with one exception. All we know is that their clothing was often extremely white or shiny, or their very presence radiated light (Luke 24: 4; Acts 12: 7). Their brilliant and majestic appearance generally inspired fear in those who saw them, and on several occasions the angel had to calm the person by saying that there was nothing to fear (Daniel 10: 11-12; Luke 2: 9-10).

Guardian Angels

In Matthew 18:10, we see that angels also take care of the "little ones" - who become like children in Christ (vv. 3-4). But while they are tasked with protecting God's people, the Bible does not support the popular idea that every person (Christian or otherwise) has a guardian angel (Psalm 34: 7; 91:11). God can send his angels to the aid of whoever is necessary, to the extent that this is convenient for his plan of salvation for humanity.

Deceiving angels

Satan, the father of lies, hides under the guise of an angel of light (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:14). And, like him, his demons pose as righteous angels to deceive many (1 Timothy 4: 1).

The same is true of some of the human beings. As Paul said, “it is not strange if his ministers [of Satan] also disguise themselves as ministers of justice; whose end will be according to his works ”(2 Corinthians 11:15). Many of the many stories of encounters with angels are delusions of Satan that he will probably later use to his advantage in his great work of deception (2 Thessalonians 2: 9-10; Galatians 1: 8; Revelation 13:14).

Every Christian should be aware of religious deception. Only if we continue to grow in the knowledge of God and the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ can we be prepared to recognize the religious deceptions that Paul describes as "deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (Colossians 1: 9-10; 2 Peter 3: 18; 1 Timothy 4: 1).

Future role of angels

God also reveals to us some of the roles angels will have in the future, such as accompanying Christ during his triumphant return to earth and helping him separate the wicked from the righteous (Matthew 13:39, 41, 49; 16:27 ; 25:31).

Although man was created less than angels, in the kingdom of God the faithful will be transformed into spirit beings and given authority over all of God's creation, including angels (Psalm 8: 5; Matthew 22:30; Daniel 7:27).

This is why, speaking about our duty to judge correctly in this life, the apostle Paul says: “Or do you not know that the saints are to judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy of judging very small things? Or do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more the things of this life?" (1 Corinthians 6: 2-3).

Angels "servants"

As we saw, angels were created to be servants, messengers, and representatives of God in his universal kingdom. One of his main tasks is to serve as “fellow servants” to the human children of God — those who have his Spirit in them (Hebrews 1:14; Revelation 19:10).

Man's destiny is not limited to the physical world. God designed us to transcend the glory of angels and even to rule them. But if we want to be part of his wonderful plan, we must prepare now.