Angels

[cftx1]

Is there extra Biblical information on angels? What does the Bible say about them? Are they spoken of outside of the Bible?

 

[for_his_glory]

Angels are essentially “ministering spirits,” (Hebrews 1:14) and do not have physical bodies like humans. Jesus declared that “a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:37-39).


The Bible classifies some angels as “elect” (1 Timothy 5:21) or “holy” (Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38). Angels were also organized in ranks or orders with some having wings, but not all had wings (Isaiah6:1-3; 1Thessalonians 4:16). All angels were created to be holy, enjoying the presence of God (Matthew 18:10) and the beauty of heaven (Mark 13:32).


Other angels oppose God under the leadership of Satan (Isaiah 14:12-20) whom even Satan is a created spirit of God that is why God could never destroy him because a spirit can not die. (Matthew 25:41; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Ephesians 6:12). We often call these types of angels demons for which an everlasting fire is prepared by God for these angels.


Angels have no gender (Matthew 22:30) and are innumerable (Hebrews 12:22). They are incarnate in human form at times (Genesis 18:2-8) for the purpose of ministry. Angels also express emotions (Luke 15:10), are wise (2 Samuel 14:20) and powerful (Psalms 103:20).


The unnamed angels who appear most often in Scripture carry out a variety of tasks—all designed to serve God…


Worship and praise - This is the main activity portrayed in heaven (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4-5).


Revealing - They serve as messengers to communicate God's will to men. They helped reveal the law to Moses (Acts 7:52-53), and served as the carriers of much of the material in Daniel, and Revelation.


Guiding - Angels gave instructions to Joseph about the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1-2), to the women at the tomb, to Philip (Acts 8:26), and to Cornelius (Acts 10:1-8).


Providing - God has used angels to provide physical needs such as food for Hagar (Genesis 21:17-20), Elijah (1 Kings 19:6), and Christ after His temptation (Matthew 4:11).


Protecting - Keeping God's people out of physical danger, as in the cases of Daniel and the lions, and his three friends in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3 and 6).


Delivering - Getting God's people out of danger once they're in it. Angels released the apostles from prison in Acts 5, and repeated the process for Peter in Acts 12.


Strengthening and encouraging - Angels strengthened Jesus after His temptation (Matt 4:11), encouraged the apostles to keep preaching after releasing them from prison (Acts 5:19-20), and told Paul that everyone on his ship would survive the impending shipwreck (Acts 27:23-25).


Answering prayer - God often uses angels as His means of answering the prayers of His people (Daniel 9:20-24; 10:10-12; Acts 12:1-17).


Caring for believers at the moment of death - In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, we read that angels carried the spirit of Lazarus to “Abraham's bosom” when he died (Luke 16:22).


You never know when and where and angel of God will show up and as Hebrews 13:2 says be careful for you never know when you are entertaining angels unaware.

 

[Sinthesis]

Anyone or anything God uses as a messenger can be considered an angel. Most of what we think we know about angels is probably mythological anthropomorphism.

 

[cftx1]

Interesting...so you are sayning that angels can be any messenger? That they are not a separate species from humans?

 

[Edward]

for_his-glory, a good summary of information on Angels, thank you. I would slightly disagree on a single point you made though:

Angels have no gender (Matthew 22:30)

It doesn't really come out and say that Angels have no gender, it simply says that they do not marry or are given in marriage. A slight but perhaps significant point. Also I would like to mention that every Angel mentioned in scripture seems to be masculine. I've never heard of or read about a female Angel. It doesn't mean they do not exist, I've just never heard of a girl Angel.

Angels can at least appear as men, for they do so often in scripture. Men take them to be men and they eat meals with them and so forth.

I believe that I met an Angel once, in answer to a prayer for help. I had just got my eviction notice for being two months behind in rent and my utilities were also set to be disconnected tomorrow. I prayed about it and within 10 minutes the phone rang and a man (?) wanted to come by after hours and see my garage sale. He did and when he was there, in fact the first thing he said to me was "how much do you need?". and I was trying to well him stuff from my garage sale for money. He kept asking how much I need, and didn't really seem interested in my items, but only me. He suggested 1900 dollars for 'all the stuff on the table there'...and when I hesitated (because it blew my mind), he ok how about 2400 dollars? So I said ok and was waiting for the punch line when he whipped out a big roll of cash and counted me out 24 100 dollar bills. Then...I asked if he needed help loading the stuff up and he said yes, then as we were putting stuff into boxes, he would say oh I wont need that, or that, you can keep that, and so forth. For stuff he had just paid for. He left about 1/3 of the stuff on the table that he had basically overpaid me for to begin with. He was not your typical garage sale customer for sure. Long story short, within two hours of my prayer for help, I had my back rent, utility money and 100 bucks for food.

Praise the Lord! This (Angel) was fit looking, well dressed and groomed, bearded, spoke well, and drove an immaculate pickup truck. It had to be a ministering Angel.

 

[Sinthesis]

Interesting...so you are sayning that angels can be any messenger? That they are not a separate species from humans?

I accept that there may be some extranatural creations of non-human embodiments that we would consider angels. However, I think of the term "angel" as a description of purpose rather than a description of being. So whatever or whomever communicates God's message is for that time an angel.

 

[for_his_glory]

for_his-glory, a good summary of information on Angels, thank you. I would slightly disagree on a single point you made though:



It doesn't really come out and say that Angels have no gender, it simply says that they do not marry or are given in marriage. A slight but perhaps significant point. Also I would like to mention that every Angel mentioned in scripture seems to be masculine. I've never heard of or read about a female Angel. It doesn't mean they do not exist, I've just never heard of a girl Angel.

Angels can at least appear as men, for they do so often in scripture. Men take them to be men and they eat meals with them and so forth.

I believe that I met an Angel once, in answer to a prayer for help. I had just got my eviction notice for being two months behind in rent and my utilities were also set to be disconnected tomorrow. I prayed about it and within 10 minutes the phone rang and a man (?) wanted to come by after hours and see my garage sale. He did and when he was there, in fact the first thing he said to me was "how much do you need?". and I was trying to well him stuff from my garage sale for money. He kept asking how much I need, and didn't really seem interested in my items, but only me. He suggested 1900 dollars for 'all the stuff on the table there'...and when I hesitated (because it blew my mind), he ok how about 2400 dollars? So I said ok and was waiting for the punch line when he whipped out a big roll of cash and counted me out 24 100 dollar bills. Then...I asked if he needed help loading the stuff up and he said yes, then as we were putting stuff into boxes, he would say oh I wont need that, or that, you can keep that, and so forth. For stuff he had just paid for. He left about 1/3 of the stuff on the table that he had basically overpaid me for to begin with. He was not your typical garage sale customer for sure. Long story short, within two hours of my prayer for help, I had my back rent, utility money and 100 bucks for food.

Praise the Lord! This (Angel) was fit looking, well dressed and groomed, bearded, spoke well, and drove an immaculate pickup truck. It had to be a ministering Angel.

Great testimony as you are truly favored of the Lord.

Mat 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
IMO as this verse says as the angels of God in heaven I don't think angels are male or female as they are created spirits of God, but can take on any form God chooses to walk amongst us. Yes we do see them as male form. but I wonder if they also take on the form of a women. Could be, but not sure and why not.

 

[for_his_glory]

I accept that there may be some extranatural creations of non-human embodiments that we would consider angels. However, I think of the term "angel" as a description of purpose rather than a description of being. So whatever or whomever communicates God's message is for that time an angel.

Angels are a created spirit of God, but at times we call other humans angels that are actual humans as God puts other people in our path to help us at times.

 

[Chopper]

Billy Graham wrote a book called "Angels, Angels, Angels" years ago. I don't remember much about the book except it was good reading and had some very interesting accounts of Angel participation with humans.

 

[Sinthesis]

Angels are a created spirit of God, but at times we call other humans angels that are actual humans as God puts other people in our path to help us at times.

I agree. I simply usually consider a biblical interpretation that involves some form of the latter idea of angels before moving on to the former. God has a myriad ways to convey messages to those who are listening.:halo

 

[for_his_glory]

I agree. I simply usually consider a biblical interpretation that involves some form of the latter idea of angels before moving on to the former. God has a myriad ways to convey messages to those who are listening.:halo

I agree as if God can use a burning bush or the jawbone of an Ass he can use whatever it takes to get our attention.