Angels Are God's Servants

The Bible tells us that God created the stars, the sun, the moon and also our world of plants, animals and people. God created everything that is visible and invisible.^[1] Angels are invisible spirits who sometimes appear in visible forms. God created them to be his messengers and agents who obey his will. He created the angels as free spiritual beings, but one of the highest princes rebelled against God because he became very proud. He fell from heaven and took one third of the angels with him. This brought evil into the creation.

But most of the angels are good. They are mentioned almost 300 times in the Bible. Some of them are mentioned by name, such as Gabriel and Michael. There are too many angels to count.^[2] They are strong and mighty, intelligent and communicative. They reflect the greatness of God in their beauty and splendor (glory/majesty/greatness). But they are not God. We must not pray to angels or worship them.^[3] They are not the Son of God or the Holy Spirit of God. They are stronger than men, and they know more than men know. They can come to help people when God sends them in times of trouble. God made the angels to help people.^[4]

Many stories in the Bible show how angels have helped people. Elijah was a prophet of God, but the wicked queen Jezebel threatened to kill him. God’s angel came to the tired, discouraged prophet and gave him food and drink. When he had eaten twice, he went on his journey, and the food he had eaten was enough to keep him going for forty days.^[5]

Before Jesus was born, the angel Gabriel told a young virgin girl, Mary, about His birth. The angel came to her and said, “Peace be with you, special grace (favour) has been given to you; the Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary, for God approves you. The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will come to rest on you, so that He who will be born will be known as holy, the Son of God. You will give birth to a son, and His name will be Jesus. He will be great, and He will be known as the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor. He will rule over the family of God forever. His kingdom will never end.”^[6]

God told all the angels to worship Jesus when He brought him into the world.^[7] When the Apostle John saw an angelic messenger and tried to worship him, the angel told John not to do that, but to only worship God.^[8] Let us thank and praise the Lord for His kindness in sending angels to help faithful people who trust in Him.

One day, angels will be God’s messengers to carry out His judgment against those who deliberately reject Jesus Christ and the salvation that God offers through believing in Him. The angels will come to separate the saved people from the lost people. The angels will throw the unbelievers into a place of eternal separation from God.^[9] But the angels will carry each believer into everlasting life with God in heaven.^[10] Let us believe in Jesus and, with the angels, rejoice around God’s throne.

^[1] Colossians 1:16; ↩ ^[2] Hebrews 12:22; ↩ ^[3] Colossians 2:18; ↩ ^[4] Hebrews 1:14; ↩ ^[5] I Kings 19:5-8; ↩ ^[6] Luke 1:26-35; ↩ ^[7] Hebrews 1:6; ↩ ^[8] Revelation 22: 8-9; ↩ ^[9] Matthew 13:50; ↩ ^[10] Luke 16:22.↩