What About Angels?

The interest in angels (like the interest in dinosaurs) has really increased in the last few years. Unfortunately, some web sites and books contain very little factual information about angels. This is unfortunate, since the facts about angels are more interesting than the “fantasized” accounts any day! Although the bible refers to angels in many ways, for now, we will consider three forms of angels:

God Appearing as an Angel

This happens many times in the bible. Most translations refer to this as the “Angel of the LORD.” The first example occurs in Genesis, chapter 16 where the Angel of the LORD appears to a servant of Abraham (the person whose story the Bible is relating at that time). How do we know this angel we meet in verse 7 is actually God? We have two sources of evidence. First, if you read the language, it sounds like God. After all, a normal (or angelic) person would not say “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude” (verse 10). The second reason we think the Angel of the LORD is God, is because the servant says so in verse 13. Now, we admit that if this was an isolated incident that our argument would seem weak—but meetings of this type occurred many times.

That being said, we realize that it is possible to get the wrong idea that the angels and God are about the same—only looking different because they are taking on different forms. This is a illogical jump in thought that the Bible does not support. It is one thing for God to appear as an angel and it is something quite different for God to be an angel.

If you would like to look into this further, find a concordance (a listing of the words of the Bible) and look up the word angel. Under “angel,” you will find angel, angel of God, angel of the LORD, and so forth—each referencing a text in the Bible. Read each text and make your own decision! For your convenience, we have an online Bible with a word search feature that acts as a concordance. You can access it by clicking this sentence. By the way, angels are not called “angels” every time they appear in the Bible. See Ezekiel Chapter 8, verse 2 (Ezekiel 8:2) for an interesting example.

Angels as God’s Messengers to People

This is the most commonly stated purpose of angels in the Bible—and now we are talking about “regular” angels, too! Although God sometimes communicated with people personally (as above), He usually communicated with them through an angel. Sometimes the Bible text tells us the angel’s name. This happened three times with the angel Gabriel, who visited Daniel, Zechariah, and Mary. (See Daniel chapter 8, and Luke chapter 1.)

One of the most interesting encounters with angels occurred in chapters 10-12 of the book of Daniel. Here, the angel is referred to as a “man clothed in linen.”* Although Daniel stood his ground when the angel appeared, the men accompanying Daniel were overwhelmed with terror and fled the scene! The message this angel had for Daniel (all of chapter 11 and more) was a revelation of the future. Although this revelation is difficult to interpret (many have tried and we have not read a convincing one yet) what happened in the encounter itself gives us some insight into what angels are like. The description of this man in linen (his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, and so forth) does not resemble that of a normal man. Still, he is referred to as a “man in linen.” Therefore, this type of angel (we will describe others later) has a human form. (And humans have a godlike form, since humans were created in God’s image according to Genesis 1:26.)

*Note: Some scholars believe that this “man clothed in linen” was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. (That is, appearing as He existed before being born as a baby in Bethlehem.) If true, this would be a variation of “God appearing as an angel.” We agree that the Bible text allows for this possibility.

A second interesting feature of this encounter is the fact that the angel could float (see Dan 12:6,7). There are several places in the Bible that describe how angels do not obey the law of gravity. The most striking example occurs twice in the book of Ezekiel, which describes a different type of angel. See Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10.

Angels Who Remain in God’s Presence

There are celestial beings who are constantly in God’s presence. One type of these beings is called the cherubim. The vision many of us have today when we hear the word “cherub” is a chubby little two-year-old with wings. Yet, the Bible’s description of a cherubim will shock anyone who has not already read the Bible’s description. Although once again described as having “the likeness of a man,” cherubim also:

Read Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10 to see what we mean. (These are definitely two of the coolest chapters in the Old Testament.) By the way, Ezekiel 10:20-22 confirms that the “living creatures” in chapter 1 and the “cherubim” in chapter 10 are the same thing.

The Bible refers to another type of angel, the seraphim, in Isaiah chapter 6. The description reveals that seraphim have six wings, a face, feet, hands, can fly and speak, and can be stationed at God’s throne. That still leaves us without knowing what the seraphim’s normal responsibilities are or what one looks like. (With the description we have, seraphim could physically resemble humans with six wings, cherubim with one face and two “extra” wings, or something else.)

More Interesting Information About Angels

Angels Are “Single”

We know from the Bible that angels do not get married. For example, in Matthew 22:30 Jesus spoke about people after they die and compared them to angels. That not only gave us a look at what heaven will be like for us, but also told us something about angels. He said, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” For most of us, that is a “good deal,” since we prefer that angels watch over us instead of paying attention to one another! (Note: you can find out more about guardian angels by clicking on this sentence.)

There Are No “Baby” Angels

Since angels neither marry nor are given in marriage, it makes sense that there are no baby angels (like those that many artists draw as “cherubs”). Also, the Bible never mentions the existence of any childlike angels. Although such “artistic” cherubs are cute, the reality is that such angels only exist in the artist’s imagination.

Don’t Angels Look Like Women?

Many paintings of angels show them as pretty women with wings, wearing flowing gowns. Yet, if you read the Bible, only one sentence (Zechariah chapter 5, verse 9) describes female beings with wings. They are not identified as angels, although these beings may be angels. All of the rest of the references to angels in the Bible (hundreds of them) describe angels as looking like “men” or having “human form.” Yes, we admit that the description of the cherubim (above) seems to stretch our concept of “human form.” Still, if we consider that man is made in God’s image, perhaps the angels are also! Therefore, if we all resemble God, a human (who does not have another visual point of reference) could describe an angel as having human form.

Although we would not enter a debate over this point, angels seem to be a “creation” just as the living creatures here on Earth are a “creation.” In this way, angels can have different appearances from each other, just as a lion, an eagle, and a human look different from one another. There is no question about it, things are not boring in Heaven!

Angels Have Ranks

The angel talking with Daniel, in Daniel chapters 10-12, refers three times to Michael, who is obviously an angel. He calls him a “one of the chief princes” in Daniel 10:13, a “prince” in Daniel 10:21, and “the great prince” in Daniel 12:1. Michael is also described as an archangel in Jude. In Revelation chapter 12, “Michael and his angels” appear in a battle, implying that Michael is a military leader. (Note: the angels referred to in Daniel, Jude, and Revelation may refer to different angels named Michael.) We will not attempt to classify any “ranks,” but it is apparent that there are greater angels that perform special services. It is also interesting to note that the Bible never records Michael talking with people, like Gabriel does.

Is Jesus an Angel?

Some folks would lead you to believe that Jesus is sort of an “advanced angel,” (perhaps even implying that Jesus is sort of a “good version” of the fallen angel Satan). This false belief has been circulating since the first century AD. (The writer of the book of Hebrews took the time to refute this error—and Hebrews was written around 68 AD.) It is clear that Jesus is completely different from and superior to the angels. For example:

Hebrews, chapter 1
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:

“ You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
   And again:

“I will be to Him a Father,
And He shall be to Me a Son”?
6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:

“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

It is obvious that if angels are to worship Jesus Christ, that Jesus is not an angel. (Angels are not to be worshiped. See Revelation chapter 19, verse 10 for one example.)

A variation of this same false belief is that Jesus and the Archangel Michael are the same being. That is also not the case. To learn more, click on the link below.

Is the Archangel Michael Actually Jesus Christ?

Angels Are Tough

Angels are also used to carry out God’s judgment. When they are on a mission of this type, you do not want to be on their “to do” list! There are numerous examples of this type in the Bible, including some that show the tremendous strength of an angel. See the example in 2 Kings chapter 19, where an angel destroys 185,000 Assyrians in one night.

Angels Might Not Sing

There is a great deal of singing in the Bible. The Psalms mention singing often. Mark 14:26 and Matthew 26:30 record a time when Jesus and His apostles sang. The heavens and mountains “cry out” or “sing” in Isaiah 49:13, and even trees “sing” or “rejoice” in 1 Chronicles 16:33. (Note: different Hebrew words—ranan and rinnah—are used for the “singing” of inanimate objects, instead of shiyr and zamar—the words normally used for human singing in the Old Testament.)

Although there is a lot of singing going on, it is interesting that the Bible never states that angels sing. Yes, many Christmas songs have lyrics indicating that the angels sang when Jesus was born—and we suspect that angels have the ability to sing. Still, it is interesting that the Bible never actually reports that angels do sing.

Note: the text in some English translations of the Bible contain verses stating that angels sing, but they are poor translations of the original Greek word lego, which means “to say” or “to speak.” Typically, this happens in Luke chapter 2, verse 13 and in Revelation chapter 5, verses 12 and 13.

Want Some More Information?

One page in our Frequently Asked Questions section contains answers to specific questions we have received about angels. Clicking on the link below will take you there.

Frequently Asked Questions—Angels

All Bible passages were taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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