All About Angels

Whatever has happened to angels?

In church we are familiar with the principle of them – especially during this Christmas season. Angels are depicted in many different ways in art, sculpture, poetry, prose, and movies. Most of these popular images are completely unbiblical.

C.S. Lewis wrote: “In the … arts these symbols [of angels] have steadily degenerated. Angelico’s angels carry in their face and gesture the peace and authority of Heaven. Later came the chubby infantile nudes of Raphael; finally the soft, slim, girlish, and consolatory angels of nineteenth century art, shapes so feminine that they avoid being voluptuous only by their total insipidity... In Scripture the visitation of an angel is always alarming; it has to begin by saying "Fear not." The Victorian angel looks as if it were going to say, "There, there." –from the preface to The Screwtape Letters

Angels in modern thinking

Even more recently, television shows and movies seem to have a fascination with depictions of angels. Perhaps some of you have watched Touched By An Angel? Or the popular television show “Angel”, which has nothing to do with angels; on the contrary, it tells the story of a vampire who battles demons and other evil powers. In City of Angels (Nic Cage, Meg Ryan), an angel falls in love with a woman and angels can decide to be human under certain circumstances. A Life Less Ordinary (Ewan McGregor) has two hit-man angels working to make two people fall in love. Michael (with John Travolta), portrays an overweight, crabby, chain-smoking, beer-drinking being that can do miracles. In Dogma, two angels who have been banished to Wisconsin try to escape to New Jersey in hopes of finding a loophole that will let them back into heaven. The Preacher’s Wife (a remake of the earlier Bishop’s Wife) features an angel who comes as the answer to a preacher’s desperate prayer. It’s A Wonderful Life introduced us to Clarence, that loveable, chubby angel who informed us “Whenever a bell rings, an angel gets his wings”.

New age thinking is widespread – there are books and web sites which offer every kind of philosophy - ranging from everyone having their own personal “servant” angel, to everyone can become an angel. Many of these talk about “Angel guides” where a decade ago they would have talked about “Spirit Guides”.

Even amongst ordinary people who have no direct interest in New Age ideas there is muddled thinking – the kind of thing that led some people to say “Princess Diana is now an angel in heaven”. Nothing could be more ridiculous – people don’t become angels, angels don’t become people. They are created, spiritual beings, of a different order from mankind as Hebrews 1 and Jesus’ own teaching makes clear.

But none of these images really reflects the biblical witness about angels, so let’s look at the biblical responsibilities of angels. What do angels do?

Angels in the Bible

The biblical picture looks very different to me. We don’t have time to examine every passage of scripture that mentions angels – there are about 103 references in the Old Testament and 157 in the New (77 in the Revelation) - but I would like to pick some representative passages to highlight the angels roles as messengers, as protectors, as instruments of judgement and as worshippers of God.

They are created beings - Psalm 148 lists them as part of the created order and Col 1v16 tells us that all things, visible and invisible, are created through Christ.

We know very little about what they look like. They are described in Heb 1v14 as spirits, although they can appear human - since on several occasions they visit people in the bible who mistake them for ordinary humans. Indeed, Hebrews 13 reminds us that it is possible for us to “entertain angels unawares”. On the other hand, there are several accounts where the heavenly creatures are described in strange and fearful ways – from Rev 10v1 “He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars” and Dan 10v5 ”I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. 6His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude”

Messengers, Heralds

Firstly, angels bring messages from God. The very word used for angel, whether the Hebrew malak or the greek angelos, simply means messenger. The word is occasionally clearly used of human messengers, but it is more commonly used to refer to divine messengers, heavenly beings charged by God with some commission.

Angels announce Gods judgement, declare the promise of babies to come and proclaim good news to the people of God. An angel spoke to Abraham, telling him to let his son live. An angel announced to Zechariah that his elderly wife would have a child John the Baptist. An angel appeared to Mary announcing the birth of Jesus. An angel told Joseph not to abandon Mary because the child was of the Holy Spirit and later warned him to flee to Egypt with them. God’s message was brought to people as diverse in time and character as Gideon and Daniel in the old testament and Ananias and John in the new.

Protectors and comforters

Secondly, angels act as protectors – typically not so much protectors of individuals but protectors of Gods plans. Elisha was protected by a horde of unseen angels. Peter was rescued from prison by an angel (Acts 12v7ff) and earlier all the disciples had been(Acts 5v9). Daniel was saved from the lions mouths (Dan6v22), his friends are saved from the fiery furnace (Dan 3v28). This kind of angelic protection is occasionally true today as well

The Rev. John Paton, pioneer missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, told a story about the night when hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters, intent on burning the Patons out and killing them. John Patton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see that, unaccountably, the attackers had left. They thanked God for delivering them. A year later the chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ, and Mr Paton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise “Who were all those men you had with you there?” The missionary answered “There were no men there, just my wife and I”. The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard – hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr Paton realise that God must have answered his prayers by sending his angels to protect them.

It is important to realise that this is not blanket protection for all believers though… There are no grounds for believing that you have a guardian angel who is looking after you… unfortunately there are some Christian writers today who imply that this is the case, but it doesn’t match up with our experience of reality were Christians suffer and die as much as others, or our knowledge of the scripture where we see well known Christians killed (like James) or imprisoned (like Paul and John). That is why I suggest that the angels typically act as protectors of Gods plans rather than protectors of individuals per se.

Furthermore, we see them having a role as comforters, ministering to Gods people – coming to Elijah in the desert (1 Kings 19v5ff), and to Jesus after his temptation (Matt 4v11); not to mention in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22v43)

Instruments of judgement

The Assyrian armies were camped outside Hezekiah’s Jerusalem, and God sent a single angel which wiped out 185,000 soldiers in one night. King Herod didn’t give praise to God so the angel of the Lord struck him down.(Acts 12v23), In Jesus’ parables of the weeds and tares (Matt 13v41) he explains how he will send out his angels to wee out of his kingdom all that causes sin and who do evil, and throw them into the fiery furnace. After David’s folly in holding a census of the soldiers, an angel is sent to inflict a divine plague on the land, and it is halted by God as its hand is stretched out towards Jerusalem (2 Sam 24v16)

Perhaps it should not be surprising that for many angels the first words they say when they visit someone is “don’t be afraid”.

Worshippers of God

The Revelation, and numerous prophets, have descriptions of angels falling down at the throne of God in praise and worship. It seems that the majority of angels are involved day by day in this task above all others; worshipping the God of the entire universe – the same God who calls you and I to worship him today.

At what time were countless thousands of worshipping angels actually seen by ordinary people on earth? A hillside with lowly shepherds, nearly 2000 years ago. The focus of angelic worship and praise takes its cue from Jesus, the Son of God who is himself fully God. At Christmas we focus on the babe in the manger, but let’s make sure we don’t lose sight of who he really is – the God of all creation, born amidst his creation, in order that he might die for our sins.

So whatever our world might think about angels today, however they might be portrayed, remember this above all. They don’t exist for their own glory, but to glorify and serve God. They never seek to attract attention themselves, but to direct all attention, all glory, all honour towards God.

Perhaps that would be a good goal for us too.

Alex White