What Are Angels?

The subject of angels has become very popular lately. But what are they? Are all of them good? Should we worship them?

The first question to be answered is: What are angels? Before we discuss the roles these unseen spirit beings play in our lives, where did they come from? The answer is that God created them to be His servants as He created us to be His servants. 1 Peter 3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

Like us ,these created spirit beings were given free will...they were not forced to serve God. Lucifer was an angel of the highest ranking. But he chose to rebel against God and led a third of the created spirit beings in rebellion against God.. See History Of Satan for a more detailed study.

Angels are spirit beings who have no souls, therefore they cannot be redeemed. Hebrew 1:14 13 But to which of the angels has He ever said: "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? They are not triune beings (body, soul, and spirit) because they were not created in God's image...man was.

According to the bible, angels serve 4 primary roles in relation to human beings. One role is as our guardian. Have you ever heard the phrase, "His/her guardian angel must have been watching over them?" Why do people say that?

Consider the following scriptural examples:

Genesis 21:17: And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

Psalms 34:7: The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Matthew 18:10: Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Because angels are assigned as guardians on occasions, then they are also servants of God. Whenever you are assigned a task by your boss at work, you become a servant. There are also scriptural references to angels servanthood. One example is Matthew 24:31: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Another role angels play in serving God is that of messengers. I'll give just 3 of many examples of this in the bible.

Genesis 22:11: And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Matthew 1:20: But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 8:26: And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

Most of you have heard of the movie The Terminator. Did you know that sometimes that the role of angels is the same one Arnold Schwarzenegger had in that movie? Yes, sometimes angels become terminators.

Remember the scene in which Arnold destroyed a police station? Did you know one angel slaughtered an entire Assyrian army in one night? 2 Kings 19:35: And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

What happens to rulers when they don't give thanks to God? Acts 12 21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" 23 Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.

Revelation 12:7: And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

In conclusion, the answer to the question: What are angels? is that they are spirit beings created by God to serve God of their own volition.

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