Angels

One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out. So he called one of His best angels and sent the angel to Earth for a time. When she returned she told God, yes it is bad on Earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good. Well, he thought for a moment and said, maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another point of view. So God called another angel and sent her to Earth for a time too. When the angel returned she went to God and told him yes, the Earth was in decline, 95% was bad and 5% was good. God said this was not good. So He decided to E-mail the 5% that were good and He wanted to encourage them, give them a little something to help them keep going. Do you know what that E-mail said???? You didn't get one either,.....huh?

Some people believe in Angels some do not. The Idea of angels seams to differ from person to person and even from religions. Are there angels and what or who are they, did God create them? Are there angels in heaven?

The word “angel” actually comes from the Greek word aggelos, which means “messenger.” The matching Hebrew word mal'ak has the same meaning.

The Bible speaks about the creation of angels, therefore, it is clear that they have not existed from all eternity (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2,5). Psalm 148:5 “Let them (angels) praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.”

Sometimes, the Bible speaks figuratively of things or events as “messengers”;

The pillar of cloud in Exodus 14:19 “Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them”. Also pestilence or plagues in 2 Samuel 24:16-17 “When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family."

But it usually describes the whole range of spirits whom God has created, including both good and evil angels (yes evil angels), and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel. Sorry! You can't trust every angel. The Bible classifies some angels as “elect” (1 Timothy 5:21) or “holy” (Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38). All angels were originally holy, enjoying the presence of God (Matthew 18:10) and the environment of heaven (Mark 13:32).

Other angels oppose God under the leadership of Satan (Matthew 25:41; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Ephesians 6:12). We often call these “demons.” I am not going to get in-depth on demons this time. There is actually a great unseen conflict raging that goes beyond anything we can imagine. It is not, however, a fight between two equal and eternal forces. God who created all beings is still in charge, and He will bring them to a final defeat. It is not a fair fight but then who said Satan is fair.

Now the great question, what do angels look like? Since angels are spirits rather than physical beings, they don't have to be visible at all (Colossians 1:16). 2 Kings 6:17 “And Elisha prayed, O LORD, open his eyes so he may see. Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire (angels) all around Elisha.” the young man discovered that he had overlooked a lot of invisible beings.

When angels do appear, they generally appear in the form of men. In Genesis 18, Abraham welcomed three angelic guests who appeared at first to be nothing more than some travelers.

Angels in the Bible never appear as cute, chubby infants! They are always full-grown adults. When people in the Bible saw an angel, their typical response was to fall on their faces in fear and awe, not to reach out and tickle an adorable baby.

Some Bible passages picture angels with wings (Isaiah 6:2,6). Other verses talk about angels flying, and we assume that the wings would be useful for that flight (Daniel 9:21). However, I suspect that angels can move around without having to depend on wings. Most references to angels in the Bible say nothing about wings, and in passages like Genesis 18-19, it is certain that no wings were visible. Now if you want to picture an angel with wings, I do not see how that would be against the Bible.

Why are angels here? What is their job or task? We don't know whether every angel has the same job or task, whether some of them specialize in certain areas. The Bible does speak about classes of angelic beings like cherubim (Ezekiel 1) and seraphim (Isaiah 6). We also know the names of two notable angels: The Archangels Michael (Daniel 10:13; Jude 9) and Gabriel (Daniel 9:21; Luke 1:19,26). One Job of the angels in heaven is Worship and praise, this is the main activity portrayed in heaven (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4-5). Other tasks of angels is; Revealing (Acts 7:52-53), Guiding (Matthew 1-2, Acts 8:26, Acts 10:1-8), providing (Genesis 21:17-20, 1 Kings 19:6, Matthew 4:11), Protecting (Daniel 3 and 6) & Delivering (Acts 5, Acts 12). We can also see that angels do other things like; Strengthening and encouraging (Matthew 4:11, Acts 5:19-20, Acts 27:23-25), Answer prayer (Daniel 9:20-24; 10:10-12; Acts 12:1-17) and they Care for believers at the moment of death like Lazarus in Luke 16:22.

I will finish up by clarifying a misconception of angels, which is that we can become angels. This "human to angel" idea has long been a part of the folklore of many countries. Upon the loss of a loved one, how many children have been comforted by well-meaning people who have said this particular loved one "is an angel now"? Hollywood has certainly aided this myth. For instance, in the story line of the classic film it’s a Wonderful Life, Clarence, the kindly, grandfatherly-type angel, was once a human who was sent back to earth on a mission to help Jimmy Stewart, and, in turn, "get his wings." In a more recent film, The Preacher's Wife, actor Denzel Washington portrayed an angel sent to help a pastor through the frustrations of ministry. He also was once a human who became an angel after death. The concept of men and women turning into angels has no biblical support. To begin with, the Bible declares that angels are a distinct creation of God; in other words, an angel was created as such, and is not a being that has undergone some sort of spiritual development or physical evolution. Psalm 148:2,5 clearly demonstrates that angels were created as angels when it says, "Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.…Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created."