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What does Scripture say?

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Angels are mentioned nearly 300 times in the Bible. They are mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments. They appear to Moses, Abraham, Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and many other of the Old Testament prophets, as well as to Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, Jesus, the Disciples and Mary Magdalene in the New Testament. They appear as ordinary people, or as spirits. Sometimes they present brilliant or fiery appearances. The numbers of them vary with the circumstances of their visit.

 

One thing is always clear. When they interact with humans, they are always doing so at the command of God. They exist to obey and worship God, their creator. For they are indeed created by God. It is not clear when they were created, but it is clear from scripture that they were created by God. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible.” That would include angels.

 

There is no reference in the Bible to angels having wings. There are several descriptions of angels and none of them are described as babies. All are depicted as adults and most strike fear and awe in the person to whom they present themselves. And wings are never mentioned. They do seem to have the ability to fly and hover at times, so picturing them with wings might be a natural outcome of the mental image of them hanging in the air.

 

Their role in heaven seems to be to praise and worship God (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4-5), although that is not entirely clear, as heaven is shrouded from us and it is meant to be so. 

Their role on earth is a little clearer. They are sent by God to fulfill his bidding. They are sent to minister to humans.

  • They serve as messengers to communicate God's will to men. They helped reveal the law to Moses (Acts 7:52-53), and served as the carriers of much of the material in Daniel, and Revelation.  Angels gave instructions to Joseph about the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1-2), to the women at the tomb, to Philip (Acts 8:26), and to Cornelius (Acts 10:1-8).
  • God has used angels to provide physical needs such as food for Hagar (Genesis 21:17-20), Elijah (1 Kings 19:6), and Christ after His temptation (Matthew 4:11). 
  • God uses angels to protect people, as in the cases of Daniel and the lions, and his three friends in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3 and 6) and to deliver God's people out of danger once they're in it. Angels released the apostles from prison in Acts 5, and repeated the process for Peter in Acts 12.
  • Angels strengthened Jesus after His temptation (Matt 4:11), encouraged the apostles to keep preaching after releasing them from prison (Acts 5:19-20), and told Paul that everyone on his ship would survive the impending shipwreck (Acts 27:23-25).
  • God often uses angels as His means of answering the prayers of His people (Daniel 9:20-24; 10:10-12; Acts 12:1-17).
  • Angels were also employed to render the occasional rebuke as in the story of Balaam (Num. 22:32) or judgment as when Herod was struck down for not praising God (Acts 12:23).

 

Angels are spirit-servants who render aid, and this aid is rendered to the heirs of salvation in working out God's purposes on earth.