Are you curious about angels?
If so, you're hardly alone. Globally there are 24 million
internet searches per month about angels.
If I asked you to close your eyes and picture an angel in your mind's eye,
what do you see? Do you see a beautiful woman in a white gown
with large wings and a golden halo around her head?
Or maybe you pictured an adorable little cherub
with cute little wings floating on a cloud. Or perhaps you saw an angelic
choir singing with beautiful voices,
while strumming their harps. If you saw any of those images
prepare yourself for a shock. Did you know that according to the Bible,
angels never appear as women or children?
Many people are very surprised to learn that because the stereotypical
image of an angel, is of a young woman. In our culture,
“Angel” is a woman's name, but in the Bible
the only two angels who are named are Gabriel
and Michael, the Archangel, which are of course masculine names.
Many people are also shocked to learn that God's cherubs
are never childlike, either. Two more myths about angels are the harps and
halos.
Never in the Bible do angels play harps
(though they sometimes blow trumpets) and they are never pictured sporting halos.
They are often described as glowing in the Bible,
but never with a halo around their head. As for those angelic choirs,
did you know that angels are explicitly said to sing only once
in the Bible, in the book of Job chapter 38 verse 7.
Yes, I know that kind of ruins a lot of those Christmas plays and nativity scenes,
but you know, sometimes the truth hurts. Well, surely angels have wings, right?
Not so fast. In the Bible, angels are only pictured with wings in figurative
passages,
Visions, and artwork (like the cherubs atop the ark of the covenant)
but in historical passages meant to be read literally,
angels are never described as winged beings.
So if the artists have largely gotten it wrong when it comes to angels,
just what do they look like? That's a bit like trying to describe what a person in
disguise
really looks like. Kind of like trying to describe Peter Parker
when he's dressed as spider-man. The Bible describes angels a spirit beings,
who only assume a physical body when they come to Earth on a mission from
Heaven.
On some occasions, angels assume the forms of fiery horses and chariots.
But usually, when angels appeared to people in the Bible,
they look like young men and were often dressed in shining white robes.
No wings, no halos, no harps,
no singing, no females, and no infants.
So just what is an angel then? Our English word “angel” comes from the Greek
word “angelos”
meaning “a messenger”. The Bible describes
angels as a race at the immortal spirit beings created by God who live with Him
in Heaven.
According to scripture, a God created countless
angels to serve Him, but some of them chose to rebel against their Maker
and were cast out of Heaven. The Bible teaches there are good angels who serve
God
and evil angels who serve Satan. So why did God create so many angels in the
first place?
He made them to serve Him and us.
Hebrews 1 verse 14 asks of the angels:
“Are they not all ministering spirits set forth to minister for those
who will inherit salvation?” For more on angels
view this two-part, in-depth study or check out this video
on the nature of God. And as always, for more videos like this, visit
WVBS online.