Ministering Spirits

For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.— Psalm 91:11-12 NKJV

Father Thomas Rosica, an eminent Roman Catholic scholar says, "Angels are very important because they provide people with evidence that God is intimately involved in human life”. Among the many promises that God makes with reference to those that trust in Him, the above verse is one. He gives His angels charge over us. That is, He commands His angels to take care of us. In Hebrews 1:14 it says, "All the angels are spirits who serve God and are sent to help those who will receive salvation." Angels are created spiritual beings that God assigns to continuously watch over those who trust in Him. Indeed, the continuous presence of the angels watching over us necessitates their setting up camp around us (Psalm 34:7). 

The angels watch over us in order to keep us in all our ways. This passage reminds us of the angel that was sent by God to guard and guide the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land (Exodus 23:20). For us those who trust in God and go forth in life in His service there is an angelic security detail that guards us and guides us in all the ways that we go. The idea is not that we can expect an angelic guard no matter where we decide to go in life, but wherever we go in service to the Lord just as the servant of Abraham was guarded and guided by an angel in his journey to find Isaac a wife (Genesis 24:7, 40).

The angels that encamp around those who fear God also deliver them from trouble (Psalm 34:7). They bear us up in their hands lest we dash our foot against a stone. This means that the angels deliver us from, and help us overcome the many obstacles of life that loom up and threaten us with harm. Whatever may happen to the believer, whether it be easy or difficult, it cannot happen unless it has been determined to be for their good as determined by the Lord Himself (Romans 8:28). The angelic security detail is a guarantee of that fact.

Christians generally inherited the Jewish understandings of angels.  In the early stage, the Christian concept of an angel characterized the angel as a messenger of God. Later came the identification of individual angelic messengers like Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael. As centuries passed, the image of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art. According to St. Augustine 'Angel' is the name of their office, not of their nature. Another school of thought is an angel is the substance of the task he is assigned. This means he ceases to exist when his mission is complete. But there are not many takers for this theory today.

By the late 4th century, the Church Fathers agreed that there were different categories of angels, with appropriate missions and activities assigned to them. There was, however, some disagreement regarding the nature of angels. Some argued that angels had physical bodies, while some maintained that they were entirely spiritual. Angels came to be divided into nine hierarchies—Seraphim being the senior-most, being closest to God. In 1986 Pope John Paul II exhorted the modern generation not to ignore the importance of angels or belittle their role in the history of salvation.

The angels are represented throughout the Bible as spiritual beings intermediate between God and men: "You have made him [man] a little less than the angels ..." (Psalms 8:4–5). We believe that angels are created beings, based on Psalms 148:2–5 "praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts ... for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created ..."; Colossians 1:16  says “through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth”.

The New Testament includes many interactions and conversations between angels and humans. For instance, there were four separate cases of angelic interaction that deal with the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. In Luke 1:11, an angel appears to Zechariah to inform him that he will have a child despite his old age, thus proclaiming the birth of John the Baptist. In Luke 1:26 the Archangel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary to foretell the birth of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 1:20 an angel appears to explain to Joseph about Mary’s “immaculate conception”, quoting the prophecy of Isaiah and tells him not to divorce Mary because of her pregnancy.  Angels then proclaim the birth of Jesus to the awestruck shepherds in Luke 2:10. According to Matthew 4:11, after Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, Satan left Him and angels came and ministered to Him. In 22:43 an angel comforts Jesus Christ during the Lord’s agony in Gethsemane.  In 28:5 an angel speaks to the ladies at the empty tomb, following the Resurrection of Jesus and the rolling back of the stone by angels. In Acts 1:9 two men dressed in white (apparently angels) who stood beside the perplexed disciples told them “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

The words ‘angel’ and ‘angels’ are found  in 110 verses in Old Testament and in 175 in the New Testament. It is the bewildering variety of functions they had performed in history that had made it necessary for the writers of the Bible to make such frequent mention of them. That modern Christians don’t give them the importance they deserve is a matter of concern and is certainly a sign of this age. To consider them a superstition or imaginary reveals immaturity of mind and poverty of scriptural knowledge.

Angels are God’s messengers, spiritual beings created by God, and under His authority (Colossians 1:16). Their functions include serving believers (Hebrews 1:14), protecting the helpless (Matthew 18:10), proclaiming God’s messages (Revelations 14:6-12), and executing God’s judgment (Acts 12:1-23; Revelations 20:1-3) 

Jesus spoke of them frequently and consistently. Besides, many of the Old Testament and New Testament writers speak about their exploits. We must also take into account the prophecies about them. They play a role in the Lord’s parables also. To mention them all here is beyond the scope of this study.  

What does an angel look like? In fine art and religion, they are usually depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty but no gender.  They are often identified in Christian artwork with bird wings, halos, and light. In most angelic appearances in the Bible, no physical description is given, just that an angel appeared or came or that someone 'looked like an angel'. People don't seem to have had any trouble recognizing that the visitors they saw were angels, so there must be something very special about them that is unmistakable.
However, most angels that are described in the Bible are normally described as tall young men with shining faces and wearing white simple robes. Also, there is no mention of any wings. It might be that we're not told that much about their appearance as we might be so much in awe that we would start to worship them, something which we should not do.

Some believe that angels look like ordinary people and go about their business while on earth (Psalm 34:7), that there is nothing striking about them until they are called to do something extraordinary. I am one of them. I once met a young woman at the Chicago airport. My wife and I had arrived from Singapore after a cramped 16-hour flight and had to change flights to Detroit. She was apparently an employee of the airport and was assigned to help us, but what she did to us was far beyond the call of duty. During the three hours she spent with us I kept thinking she must be an angel. I had prayed to God to send an angel to look after us. I am a disabled person and Jeeva was very weak.

On another occasion, we arrived at the Coimbatore railway station at 3 a.m. It was a long walk to the end of the platform and then two flights of stairs down. We were standing at the head of the stairs with our baggage, clearly with no idea how we are going take the stairs with three pieces of luggage, and praying for angelic intervention. Then I saw four young women climbing upstairs. They were casually dressed, speaking a language I couldn’t place. They were not passengers—no baggage and the train had left. They came straight to us, and without saying a word and not glancing at each other, grabbed each a piece of baggage while the fourth supported  Jeeva and took us safely downstairs and led us via a long corridor to the exit and to a waiting auto rickshaw. I was in a daze and forgot to thank them and failed to notice which side they went.   

Not all the angels are good. There are evil spirits, under the control of Satan, trying to take control of humanity. In Matthew 25:41 Jesus speaks of “everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels”. Jude 6 defines them: “The angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day. 2Peter 2:4  says ‘’For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the Day of Judgment’’.

A proper understanding of angels and the role they play in our lives and ministry are of paramount interest to Christians. The Roman Catholic belief that every individual has a guardian angel to take care of him/her might be a myth, but angels are no myth. Although many Christians believe they have the authority to command angels to do their bidding, there is no biblical warrant for that belief. However, there is certainly no biblical objection to asking God to send His angels to do everything they can do for us.

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