All About Angels

We barely got through New Years and the stores were filled with Valentine promotions. I couldn’t help noticing the depictions of little baby angels flying around with their bows and arrows.  

This week I’d like to clear up a few myths about angels, and answer a question I’m frequently asked. “Do we have guardian angels?”

Angels were created by God before He made the earth. When He was giving Job this scorching rebuttal, God said, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4, 6-7)

After their creation, angels do not grow, procreate, or die. Jesus explained, “But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels.” (Luke 20:35-36)

Angels are able to do many things we cannot. They move freely in the physical world and can appear instantly—although only in one place at a time. They have knowledge of some things that are beyond our human understanding. For instance, angels know what the throne of God looks like. 

They are nothing like Valentine’s cards. In the Book of Isaiah one angel killed 185,000 Assyrian troops overnight. (Isa 37:36) When ordered by God, they can be lethal!

Angels have four basic job descriptions. They were created to bear the messages of God, to implement the judgments of God, to protect the people of God, and to worship God.

It was an angel who told elderly Zechariah that his barren wife Elizabeth would have a son. When he questioned him, the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news.” (Luke 1:19) Then in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent Gabriel out again to a virgin in Nazareth and told her she would bear the “Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:26-33)

Angels administer God’s judgments. In Genesis two angels annihilated the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen 19:12-13)

Jesus explained to his disciples what God’s judgment will be at the end of the age to those who denied the gospel. “I, the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace…”    (Mat13:41-42)

One thing I love about God’s angels is that they were created to minister to us. In Hebrews the writer reminds us that angels are not God’s children; we are. Angels exist to take care of us. “But angels are only servants. They are spirits sent from God to care for those who will receive salvation. (Heb 1:14) Usually we do not see them; sometimes angels are given physical bodies in order to do specific jobs.

They strengthen us in the hour of our trials. After Jesus had been without food and water and tempted by the Devil for 40 days, angels came and ministered to him. (Matt 4:11) When he was preparing for his death”… an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.” (Luke 22:43)

Finally, we have something that angels do not have-- the ability to rebel against God and be forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. The angels that rebelled against God (Lucifer, et al) cannot be redeemed. (Jude 1:6)

You and I are worth dying for. Angels aren’t.