A Divine Revelation of Angels (6 page)

The woman came and told her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome.”...It happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar; the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.(Judges 13:6, 20)

Shining or Dazzling Appearance

In the Bible, when the angels appeared in shining or dazzling brightness, they reflected God’s own glory. For example, the angel who announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds was accompanied by the glory of God: “Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid” (Luke 2:9). The two angels who appeared at Jesus’ empty tomb to announce His resurrection from the dead wore “shining garments” (Luke 24:4). When Herod was persecuting the early church and had the apostle Peter imprisoned, “an angel of the Lord stood by [Peter], and a light shone in the prison” (Acts 12:7); Peter was led to freedom by this angel. In Revelation 18:1, John wrote, “I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.” God declares and reveals His glory through His angels.

Strange Forms or Features

Sometimes angels in the Bible appeared in strange forms or with unusual features. For example, here is a description of “four living creatures” that the prophet Ezekiel saw in a vision. He later identified these beings as cherubim:

Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies....As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. And the living creatures ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning.(Ezekiel 1:4–11, 13–14)

In Ezekiel 40:3, Ezekiel encountered another angel “whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze,” and in Isaiah 6:2, Isaiah described the seraphim as having six wings. In 2 Kings 6:17, angels appeared as a defensive army of fiery chariots and horses surrounding Elisha. Daniel saw this vision of an angel:

As I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.(Daniel 10:4–6)

John gave this description of an angel he saw in the revelation he received:

I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars.(Revelation 10:1–3)

In our everyday lives, we can sometimes lose sight of the power and holiness in which God continually dwells. These depictions of angelic beings remind us that God is glorious and omnipotent, and that He is continually working to carry out His purposes in the world.

Human Appearance

Many times, when angels appeared to people on earth, they looked like human beings. For example, in Genesis 18, angels with the appearance of men accompanied the Lord when He spoke to Abraham about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:

The Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.”...Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?”...And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.(Genesis 18:1–3, 16–18, 20–22)

The angels who came to rescue Lot and his family from Sodom—the same angels who visited Abraham in the above passage—at first seemed like men. (See Genesis 19:1–29.)

In Ezekiel’s vision, the angels carrying out God’s judgment also looked like men:

Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.” And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.(Ezekiel 9:1–2)

Daniel spoke of his encounter with the angel Gabriel, who had “the appearance of a man,” at least at the beginning:

Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face.(Daniel 8:15–17)

When angels appeared in human form, they almost always looked like males, but there is a notable exception to this. The Bible tells of two angels who had the appearance of women. Their rank is not mentioned in the biblical account, but they had wings like the wings of a stork, and the wind was in their wings. They performed their mission in a spectacular way, lifting up a basket of wickedness between heaven and earth. (See Zechariah 5:5–11.)

It seems from the biblical accounts that often even the angels who appeared as men had a certain awe-inspiring quality about them that revealed their angelic nature. However, this is not always the case. We are told to be hospitable to strangers because they may be angels disguised as humans. “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2 niv).

We may see an angel and not recognize him as one! Perhaps, at these times, the presence of angels is hidden from us to prevent us from slipping into the worship of angels and to keep us focused on our true calling. God wants us to love and serve Him not only in the obvious presence of His holy angels, but also in the presence of human beings, who are precious in His sight. The Bible exhorts us in 1 John 4:20, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Angels among Us

Friends, the Bible teaches that there are truly angels among us. Sometimes we see them and do not even realize what they are. At other times, we sense their presence and know that they are with us. Then, there are certain times when we think we desperately need them, but they seem to be somewhere else! If we believe the Bible, however, we must understand that angels are always around us. They are helping us, guiding us, and watching over us as they carry out God’s will in the earth. Seen or unseen, God’s angels always serve Him in love and give Him the glory—and so should we.

I have seen many angels in many different forms. The angels whom God has permitted me to see in the visions and revelations He has given me are amazing creatures to behold. The way they looked always corresponded with the mission they were on. Sometimes I see angels in their spirit forms, and sometimes I see them in “human” form. In their spirit forms, angels appear to me to be transparent, with the outline or shape of a human being. Physical walls are no barrier to them. Light floats around them and through them, and many times this makes it difficult for me to see their facial features distinctly. Often, I see spirit angels like these. Sometimes, however, I see angels with visible wings working with the spirit angels to fulfill the Word of the Lord.

What impresses me about all the angels is that they are continually working for the will and kingdom of God. This is what we must always keep in mind in regard to angels. No matter how magnificent or powerful angels are, we should remember that they are servants of the Most High God, as we are. He alone is worthy to be honored and worshiped.

Part II

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Are all angels alike, or are there differences among them? The Bible clearly indicates that the angelic realm includes holy beings called “angels,” “archangels,” “cherubim,” and “seraphim.” It also suggests there is an organizational hierarchy of angels and even demons.

In referring to “legions of angels” in Matthew 26:53, Jesus made an apparent reference to the organization of angels. As I mentioned earlier, a legion was a unit in the organizational structure of the Roman army. When Paul talked about “the voice of an archangel” (1 Thessalonians 4:16), he seemed to be alluding to a hierarchy in which some angels have more authority than others, an archangel being higher in rank than an angel. The Lord’s brother Jude mentioned the archangel Michael (Jude 9).

Over the centuries, church tradition developed this hierarchy of angels, which is made up of nine orders or levels of angelic beings: angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. We can see how this list was formed in part from several of Paul’s writings, in which he gave us a glimpse into the organization of angels:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,...nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 8:38–39)

[God] raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.(Ephesians 1:20–21)

God...created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.(Ephesians 3:9–10)

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.(Colossians 1:16)

Believers have held various opinions about the categories and ranking of angels from the time of the early church fathers up to today. But it seems clear from the Bible that there are different types of angels and that angels have various positions in God’s kingdom. Just as it is within the body of Christ, it is true among angels that

there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. (1 Corinthians 12:4–6)

Let’s look more closely at what the Bible tells us about archangels, seraphim, and cherubim.

Archangels

According to Jewish tradition, there are four archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel. However, there are only two places in the Bible where the word archangel is mentioned, and only one place where an archangel is explicitly named:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.(1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)

Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”(Jude 9)

Michael, Commander of Angels

Michael is the only angel whom the Scripture specifically calls an archangel. He is also one of only two angels in the entire Bible who are named. The name Michael means “Who is like God?” (See Strong’s #H4317.)

Michael appears in both the Old and New Testaments (Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9; Revelation 12:7). He is always depicted in the Bible in spiritual conflict with evil and wicked powers. Michael appears to be the supreme commander of the angels who do warfare for God—the “hosts” of heaven.

In Daniel 10:13, Michael is called “one of the chief princes.” In this passage, Daniel told of an angel’s appearance to him in response to his prayers, and what the angel said:

Then [the angel] said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”(Daniel 10:12–14)