Biblical View on Angels

Have you ever wondered where angels came from? Have they always been the same as God or are they created beings the same as us? I began a research on angels and found many answers to questions I had been wondering about for quite awhile. Somehow we got into our minds through be it Hollywood, different forms of media, our parents, etc., that when people die they become angels. Where this thought came from I’ll never understand; it is a nice thought but not a biblical one; this has never been one of my questions but to just for clarification, angels are not glorified humans.

In Hebrews 12:22, Paul makes known to the Christian Hebrews that upon entering God’s city the Heavenly Jerusalem, one of the groups there is "an innumerable company of angels."

In John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, he describes angels as "created
spirits, immaterial and immortal; very knowing, and very powerful; and swift to do the will of God; they are holy, and immutably ( unchanging or unchangeable ) so, being the elect ( chosen ) of God, and confirmed by Christ: and saints now are brought into a state of friendship with them; and into the same family; and are social worshipers with them; and they have access into heaven, where angels are; and with whom they shall dwell for ever: and, in the present state of things, they share the benefit and advantages of their kind offices. Angels have, sometimes been sent to provide food for human beings, to bring healing from God for their diseases; they directed and preserved them on journeys, prevented outward calamities, delivering people out of them, when in danger; restrained the hurtful things and cut off their enemies."

Regarding spiritual things they have, sometimes they bring God’s messages unto the saints; they comfort God’s children in their distresses and trials.

It is also angels who are send to set their campus around the righteous people protecting them against Satan, our enemy. are present at their death, and carry their souls to glory; and will gather the saints together, at the last day.

In respect of their number, angels are innumerable; Bible presents them as being the armies of heaven, the host of Heaven. Their number is ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands…

Jesus said that children’s angels see the face of God every day so obviously, they are in the presence of God and also minister to people as God commands them. It is amazing to think how holy an angel can be, yet, the Bible tells us that God even finds mistakes in their actions! God is Holy, Holy, Holy this is what characterizes Him, holiness. Unbelievable, but God’s children (Jesus’ Christ followers) will judge angels!

In Luke 20:36 Christ teaches the Sadducees that Believers (God’s children) will not marry in the world after nor will they die; they will be equal with the angels. Christ is referring to two different groups. The word angel means a messenger; there are around 108 references in the Old Testament concerning them and 165 references in the New Testament. In Psalm 148:1-5 David exhorts God’s creations to praise Him; one of the creations is angels. In verse five, David refers back to all he listed as being created by the commandment of God.

In Colossians 1:16-17 Paul states "by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." It is very possible that God created His angels between the time period of His creation of the heavens and the earth; in Job chapters 37 Job challenges the Lord and in chapter 38 the Lord meets his challenge from a whirlwind. He asks Job where he was when He "laid the foundations of the earth? When the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy?"

It seems the creation of angels occurred at one time; no angels are being added to those God created nor are they being subtracted through the action of death or through any other form of extinction. They do not increase nor do they decrease. When we think of angels, we give them human bodies with wings picturing their appearance in the Old Testament. Hebrews 1:14 describes angels as "ministering spirits".

In Luke 24:37-39, our risen Lord reveals Himself to eleven of His apostles and two others. In verse 37 Luke records that "they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit." Christ tells them to look at His hands and His feet, touch Him; a spirit does not have "flesh and bones". However, angels can take on the appearance of man. In Hebrews 13:2, Paul warns "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Next time when you have a stranger in your house…remember that! Never knows!

May God protect you, may His angels surround you and bring all God’s blessings upon you!