The good news about Angels

One of the earliest references to angels is found in the Book of Genesis. Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Therefore God punished them and expelled them from the Garden of Eden. God posted two cherubim at the gates of the Garden so that Adam and Eve could not eat the fruit of the tree of life (in other words, they would not enjoy eternal life because of their sins). Reading this text, we might well ask, How could two little cherubim keep Adam and Eve out of the garden? We picture cherubim as bare-bottomed babies with wings, but this was not the concept of cherubim in the Old Testament. Cherubim were terrifying creatures that had the characteristics of dragons, lions and other wild beasts. They looked like the creatures which guarded the doors of the Assyrian temples. That is why these cherubim could frighten anyone who might try to enter the garden.

One of the early appearances of angels is in scenes where they represent Yahweh. For the Hebrews, it was all but sacrilegious to think that God would appear in human form. Thus, in scenes where they wanted to suggest that God was interacting with humans, such as when God ate with Abraham or wrestled with Jacob, they would speak about angels doing these things.

God’s Court

Another ancient opinion about angels was that they were part of God’s heavenly court. Most of the ancient Israelites before the time of Elijah, the prophet, had very confused ideas about God and the angels. Most ancient Israelites were not really monotheists, believing in one God who created all things. They believed that Yahweh, the God of Israel, was the greatest God, but they also believed that the gods of the pagans existed and that they were minor gods in Yahweh’s court. This often led to problems, for while one would pray to Yahweh for the important concerns of one’s life, one might also occasionally offer a sacrifice to one of the other gods (e.g. praying to Baal, the god of fertility, for a good harvest).

Elijah was the first prophet who declared in absolute terms that there was only one God, and that God was Yahweh. With this proposal of a radical, uncompromising monotheism, the Israelite theologians had to find an acceptable way to speak about the minor gods. The most acceptable solution was that they were henceforth to be called angels, spirits in the court of the one true God.

Angels as messengers

Before and after this time, though, angels were pictured as having one essential task: they were messengers of God. In both Hebrew and Greek, the two main languages in which the Bible was written, the word for angel can also be translated as messenger. Angels carried the good news to the parents of Samson that they would soon have a child; they prevented Abraham from sacrificing his son on Mount Moriah; and they announced to the shepherds that their Saviour was born in Bethlehem.

In addition to their role as messengers, they also continuously praise the Lord. The most famous passage which speaks of this role is found in Isaiah 6 where we hear that angels with six wings continuously praise Yahweh singing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God, Saboath (of hosts), heaven and earth are filled with your glory. Because Hebrew has no comparative or superlative degrees, the angels repeat the word ‘holy’ three times to proclaim that Yahweh is the holiest of all.

In the Bible and in literature written in Biblical times, there are references to a legend about some angels who rebelled against God. According to that legend, Lucifer was a very powerful angel, second only to God. Lucifer resented the fact that God was greater than he, and so he and a group of angels rebelled against God. Michael the archangel defeated them and cast them out of heaven into hell. Traces of this story can be found in Chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation in which a dragon (Satan) sweeps a third of the stars out of the heavens. In this case, the stars represent angels.

The Bible is inconsistent on the physical appearance of angels. At times they have wings and one can immediately discern what they are by their physical appearance. An example can be seen in the case of the angels who announce the Resurrection. At other times, they appear to be totally human. Raphael, who travelled with Tobias, must have looked like a human because after being with him for months, he had to tell Tobias that he was an angel.

Greek influences

In the centuries immediately before the birth of Jesus, angels became more popular. The reason for this is that the Jewish faith was being influenced by the Greeks and their speculations upon God and heavenly creatures. The Greeks believed that God was a totally spiritual being. God was so different from us that He could not possibly have anything to do with us. In order to explain how this totally transcendent God could create and control the material world, the Greeks proposed that layers of creatures existed between God and this world, each layer being a little less spiritual and a little more contaminated by the material world. They called these beings demiurges or daemons (not to be confused with demons).

The Jews were influenced in two ways by these beliefs. First, they, too, pictured God as being more and more transcendent. One could not even say God’s name, Yahweh, aloud any more. God was no longer seen as being directly involved in our lives. During this period, for example, god was no longer spoken of as being our Shepherd, or Potter, or Father. In order to fill the gap, angels appeared on the scene to communicate between us and this totally transcendent God.

Furthermore, theologians began to speculate on the different layers of angels (similar to the Greek idea of layers of demiurges). This eventually led to our belief in nine choirs of angels, archangels, virtues, thrones, dominations, powers, principalities, seraphim and cherubim.

Among these choirs, the archangels were seen as especially powerful envoys of God. We have already seen how Michael was God’s lieutenant and Raphael, Tobias’ guide. Gabriel, too, appeared to both Zechariah and Mary, bringing them the good news of the conception of a child. There are only three archangels named in the Bible, but ancient Jewish literature speaks of another four: Uriel, Remiel, Raguel and Sariel (although the names are sometimes different). This would give the archangels a full complement of seven, and seven is the number for perfection. Their names all end in ‘-el’, (‘God’ in Hebrew, and each name proclaims something about Yahweh (e.g. Raphael means that God is a healer, Gabriel that Yahweh is a great warrior and Michael that no-one is like our God).

Guardian Angels

Angels appear throughout the New Testament. In addition to the examples already seen, we see how they served Jesus after he was tempted in the desert, they consoled Him on the cross, they helped Peter to escape from prison, they will assist God at the Last Judgement and so on. Yet, their most important function in the Gospels is as proclaimers of the Birth and Resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus Himself speaks of angels in His teachings. Once, while He was speaking of the little children, He said that their angels continuously gaze upon the face of God. He was saying that God had assigned powerful protection to watch over children. This was the beginning of the idea of guardian angels. God so loves us that He assigns angels to protect us.

In the latter part of the first century AD, we see a warning not to worship angels. Some people reasoned that if the angels were totally spiritual beings and Jesus was born into this material world, then the angels must be superior to Him. The authors of the New Testament strongly attacked this speculation as they unanimously proclaimed that Jesus was Lord in the heavens, on earth and under the earth.

Angels today

The explosion of devotion to angels has an important message for us today. People are looking for something beyond this present world. They need to believe that there is something more than our everyday existence. Speaking of angels helps them to remember that there is a spiritual reality that cannot easily be measured or observed, but which is nevertheless very real.

Yet there is a downside to this devotion. Some of the devotion to angels is influenced by the New Age movement. Once again some people are speaking or acting in a way which makes it seem as though angels are more important than Jesus, which is unacceptable. Angels are the first ones who call us to the crib in Bethlehem and the tomb in Jerusalem. They call us to fall down on our knees and praise a God who is holy, holy, holy.