THE BIBLE'S VIEWPOINT/Angels

Angels have been featured in literature, artwork, and films. But who are the angels, and what role do they play?

Who are the angels?

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

Before God created the physical universe and the first humans, he had already created a higher order of intelligent creatures.  They are more powerful than humans, and they inhabit the same realm as God himself-a realm inaccessible and invisible to mankind. (Job 38:4, 7) The Bible calls those superior beings "spirits" and "angels."-Psalm 104:4. 

How many angels exist?  A huge number.  The angels around God's throne number "myriad of myriads," or "tens of thousands times tens of thousands."  (Revelation 5:11)  If this expression is to be taken in it literal sense, then the angels number into the hundreds of millions! 

What did the angels do in ancient times?

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

 Angels often served as God's spokespersons or messengers. They are also portrayed in the Bible as carrying out God's miraculous works.  God sent an angel to bless Abraham and prevent him from sacrificing his son Isaac.  (Genesis 22:11-18) An angel appeared to Moses in the midst of a burning bush to deliver a life-changing message.  (Exodus 3:1, 2) When the prophet Daniel was thrown into a pit of lions, "God sent his angel and shut the mouth of the lions." -Daniel 6:22. 

What are the angels doing today?

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

We cannot know all that the angels are doing today. However, the Bible indicates that they are involved in helping sincere people come to know more about God.- Acts 8:26-35; 10:1-22; Revelation 14:6, 7.

Jehovah gave the patriarchy Jacob a dream in which he saw angels ascending and descending a "stairway" between heaven and earth.  (Genesis 28:10-12) Jacob probably concluded from that dream what we too can conclude-that Jehovah God dispatches the angels to the earth on mission to act in behalf of loyal humans who are in need of his assistance. -Genesis 24:40; Exodus 14:19; Psalm 34:7.  

"There was a stairway set on the earth, and its top reached up  to the heavens; and there were God's angels ascending and descending on it."

Next time: Spirit Creatures Can Affect You/ Spirit Creatures-How They Affect Us

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