WHO ARE THE ANGELS AND HOW WERE THEY MADE?

WHO ARE THE ANGELS AND HOW WERE THEY MADE?

Introduction

This assignment focuses on the need to trace the origin of the word “angels” , defining the concept, and exploring scriptures to find out how such heavenly beings are made. It’s however discovered that angels are neither God nor human beings but are super humans, created by God perhaps before the creation of man.

Origin, and definition of the word, “angels”

The word “Angels” is originated from  Greek “angelos”, which means “messenger.” Angels are God’s servants and messengers in the heavenly and spiritual realm, where they find true satisfaction in the unceasing worship and service of God. They were created before humans, they belong to a higher order than humans, and their number is countless.

Angels have played an important role in the scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Angels are generally understood as spiritual beings created by God; they are immortal and superior to humans in both knowledge of the divine and goodness. The Hebrew word for angel in the Bible is mal’ak, which also means messenger, but it was not until the Hellenistic period of Judaism that a developed “angelology” began to emerge in which angels were differentiated from human messengers and God.

Angels serve manifold purposes: they are God’s heavenly court, standing in adoration around God’s throne through-out eternity; they convey commands and guidance to God’s human servants; and, according to Thomas of Aquinas, each baptized soul acquires one “guardian angel,” an image which has become engrained in popular culture over the years. According to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, there are nine distinct choirs of angels, namely (in descending order of rank) seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and angels. It is commonly believed that fallen angels, including Lucifer (Satan), were expelled from heaven by God because of rebellion, and that they now control the powers of evil and reside in hell. Other than Satan, there are only four angels named in the Bible (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel), two of whom are only in the apocryphal books of Tobit and Enoch, (Taliaferro and Marty , 2010, p. 14).  Muslims believe that the Qur’an itself was revealed to Muhammad by the angel Jibril (Gabriel).

Given these premises, it has been argued that God would create all manner of different orders of good beings. Such beings could very well include incorporeal agents, hence angels.

How angels were made

Angels are created by God even before the creation of man. It is believed that they were present during the creation of man. Unlike God, who is omnipresent, angels are finite creatures, limited to one place at one time.

Angels themselves do not have a physical form and do not reproduce their kind as humans do (Mat 22:30). When God sends them as his messengers to humans, he may give them a form similar to that of humans, though they are usually sufficiently different to create a feeling of great awe (Jdg 13:15-20; Mat 28:2-3; Luk 2:9; 24:4; Joh 20:12; Act 1:10.

However, angels haven’t always existed. According to Scripture, they’re part of the universe God created. In a passage that refers to angels (the “host” or “armies” of heaven), we read, “You are the Lord, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host . . . and the host of heaven worships you” (Nehemiah 9:6). In the New Testament, Paul tells us that God created all things “visible and invisible,” and specifically includes the angelic world with the phrase “whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities” (Colossians 1:16).

While these Bible verses seen above tell us that God created angels, the Bible also suggests that they don’t “exist” in the same way we do. The author of Hebrews suggests that all angels are “spirits” (Hebrews 1:13-14). When Jesus appears to the disciples, he asserts that “spirits” don’t have bodies like he does (Luke 24:39). In the Bible, angels can’t usually be seen by humans unless God reveals them (see Numbers 22:31, 2 Kings 6:17, Luke 2:13). However, from time to time angels took on a bodily form and appeared to various people in Scripture (Matthew 28:5; Hebrews 13:2).

Categories of angels

Grudem (2017, p. 2) states that there are three categories of angels or heavenly beings in the Bible that appear to be types of angels: cherubim, seraphim, and “living creatures.”

1. Cherubim

Cherubim are mentioned in several places throughout Scripture:

• They guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24).

• God is enthroned above them (Ezekiel 10:1–22).

• God rides on them (Psalm 18:10)

Two golden figures of cherubim sit above the Ark of the Covenant, where God promised to dwell among his people (Exodus 25:22, see also verses 18–21).

2. Seraphim

Another type of angel, the seraphim, are only mentioned once in the Bible. They appear in Isaiah 6:2–7, where they continually worship the Lord and say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

3. Living creatures

Ezekiel and Revelation speak of other kinds of heavenly beings known as “living creatures” around God’s throne (Ezekiel 1:5–14, Revelation 4:6–8). They appeared like a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle, representing various parts of God’s creation (wild beasts, domesticated animals, human beings, and birds). They, too, worship God continually: “Day and night they never cease to sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” (Revelation 4:8).

Angels have a hierarchy

Angels in the Bible appear to have a rank and order. The angel hierarchy is supported by Jude 9, when the angel Michael is called an “archangel”—a title that indicates rule or authority over other angels. He’s also called “one of the chief princes” in Daniel 10:13, and appears to lead God’s angelic army in Revelation 12: “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated” (Revelation 12:7–8). Paul also tells us that the Lord will return from heaven “with the archangel’s call” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Scripture doesn’t tell us if this refers to Michael, or if there are other archangels as well.

Only two angels have names in the Bible

Only two angels are specifically named in Scripture. As we said above, the archangel Michael is mentioned in Jude 9, Revelation 12:7–8, and Daniel 10:13 and 21. Gabriel is the only other angel named in the Bible. He’s mentioned in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21 as a messenger who comes from God to speak to Daniel. He’s also identified as God’s messenger in Luke 1. He tells Zechariah, “I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19). Then we read, “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin . . . and the virgin’s name was Mary” (Luke 1:26–27).

Angels are not omnipresent

Angels frequently appear as messengers in the Bible, traveling from one place to another (see the verse above, where Gabriel “was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth”).

The fact that angels are not omnipresent is made explicit when an angel comes to Daniel and says:

“I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, so I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia and came to make you understand what is to befall your people in the latter days.” —Daniel 10:12–14

If angels were omnipresent, Michael wouldn’t have “come to help” because he would’ve already been there, and this angel wouldn’t need to leave Michael to bring this message. Unlike God, who is omnipresent, angels are finite creatures, limited to one place at one time.

References

Grudem W. (2017) Angels in the Bible: What do we know about them? Arizona: HarperCollins Publishers.

Taliaferro C. and Marty E.J. (2010) A dictionary of philosophy of religion. New York: Continuum.