What Do Angels Look Like?

Angels: Our Strange Neighbors   by Ron Wenzel

 

What Do Angels Look Like?

 

 

For two thousand years or more, angels have been a favorite subject for all kinds of artists.  In many cases, angels are depicted as being female in appearance.  In many more cases, angels are portrayed as having the appearance of a man with two wings.

 

There are quite a few detailed descriptions of angels in the Bible.  Among them, not a single one describes an angel that looks like a woman, nor a normal-looking man with two wings.  Now you might be able to find angel described as a man-like creature that has wings…four, or even six of them.   But in these cases, the spiritual beings usually have more than one face, and some of them are the faces of animals.

 

There are stories in the Bible about angels appearing in the form of a normal (male) human being.  However, these angels are never described as having wings.  They just look like men.  It’s comforting to look at a piece of art that depicts an angel as a beautiful person with a lovely pair of wings.  But the Bible often describes angels as appearing very, very different from human beings.

 

Take cherubs, for example.  The Bible calls them Cherubim.  In art and popular culture, cherubs have almost always been portrayed as adorable, chubby babies with delicate, tiny wings.  They look nice on Valentine’s Day cards, or even on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel.  They are cute and very non-threatening.

 

The Bible describes Cherubim very differently.  The Cherubim are considered some of the most powerful of the angels.  Strange angels at the beginning of the book of Ezekiel are considered Cherubim.  They are described as having a basically human form with four wings.  Under each of the wings are human hands.  They had four faces; the face of a human, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle.  And straight legs with no knees.  And hooves for feet.  The Bible says God used a Cherubim to guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden after He showed Adam and Eve the way out.  How would you feel about that angel on the front of your Valentine’s Day card?

 

This example is not an isolated case.  The Bible contains many fantastic descriptions of angels.  Sometimes, they have the appearance of an animal.  Or even an object, like a huge wheel in the sky (the rock group Journey wrote a song about that).  We like to think about angels as being very much like us, and in some ways they are…at least, some can be upon occasion.  For the most part, though, spiritual beings are very different from human beings.

 

Xenophobia is the fear of things that are different, that are “other.”  We shouldn’t let the Bible’s incredible descriptions of angels leave us in fear.  The end of Romans 8 says very clearly that no angel, no spiritual power of any kind, is capable of separating us from the love of God in Christ.  The book of Hebrews says it is the mission of God’s good angels to minister to people who trust in Him.

 

However, I think that, once we get to know what the Bible has to say about angels, it would be wise to give them a bit more respect than we would a chubby little baby with dainty wings.  Don’t you?

 

Ron Wenzel is an author and the pastor at Rosewood Heights Community Church.  He is also an adjunct professor at Brookes Bible College in St. Louis.  You can email him questions about angels at ron4jc2@yahoo.com, or post them on the Angels: Our Strange Neighbors Facebook page, or this blog!

Do We Have a Guardian Angel?

Angels: Our Strange Neighbors   by Ron Wenzel

 

Do We Have a Guardian Angel?

 

 

There was a picture that hung over my bed when I was a boy.  It showed two children, a boy and a girl, holding hands as they crossed a rickety bridge in the middle of a storm.  Above them hovered a huge angel that appeared to be protecting them as they went on their way.

 

Do you believe you have a guardian angel?  If so, you aren’t alone.  According to a national newspaper poll in September of 2008, fifty-five percent of all adults (even those who say they have no religion) believe they have been protected from harm by a guardian angel. 

 

Do we each have a guardian angel?  When looking to the Bible for the answer to that question, Chapter 12 of the book of Acts is frequently in the discussion.  In the beginning of the chapter, we find Peter is in prison, guarded by four squads of soldiers, and there was a guard sitting on both sides of him as he slept in his chains.  He was in a situation that was impossible to escape.

 

An angel appeared to Peter, woke him up, and the chains fell from his wrists.  Following the angel, Peter walked out of locked doors that opened themselves, right past guards who would probably be put to death if he escaped.  There is no question that this angel delivered Peter from certain death.  But was this angel “with” him all the time?  Was this “his” guardian angel?  The Bible falls short of saying that.

 

In 2011, a tornado in Joplin, Missouri killed 165 people.  I went there as part of a team to serve the victims five days after it happened.  At one point, I stood on a hillside, and every direction I looked (and I could see about a mile each way) there was nothing but sharp sticks where houses and trees once had been.

 

Major newspapers, at that time and since, have reported that many of those who survived this incredible destruction saw “butterfly people” who protected them from harm.  Many, but not all of them, were children.

 

Are the “butterfly people” always by the side of the children of Joplin?  We don’t know.  But it is certainly reasonable to believe that, in times of trouble, God may provide us with a guardian angel…even if it is only on a “loaner” basis.

 

 

Ron Wenzel is an author and the pastor at Rosewood Heights Community Church.  He is also an adjunct professor at Brookes Bible College in St. Louis.  He loves to talk about himself in the third person, and is looking forward to your questions and comments!

AS THE STORY GOES, Jesus and the apostles were in a small fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee.  A sudden storm kicked up, and the guys were terrified...except Jesus, of course.  Jesus was so calm, he was actually asleep in the bow of the boat!  So the guys woke Jesus up, and told him they were afraid that they were about to die in the storm. 


Jesus got up and, according to Luke, "rebuked the wind and the raging waters".  A moment later, the lake and the wind were calm.


Just who was Jesus talking to?  Water?  Air?


This idea is not out of the question, I suppose.  I mean, if Jesus was/is God, then He could command anything.


But consider this: the Jewish people of Jesus' time believed that angelic forces, good and evil, controlled the weather.  This idea is supported, repeatedly, throughout the Bible.


So when Jesus calmed the storm, He did so by commanding the demonic forces who had whipped up the storm to knock it off.  Luke tells this true story to illustrate Jesus' superiority to those angelic forces.  He follows this story in Luke 8 with another story about Jesus kicking demonic butt.  In that story, a pack of demons has possessed a man; he runs around naked in graveyards.  According to Luke, Jesus then kicks a legion of demons right out of the man.  As powerful as angelic forces are, of course, God is stronger.  He created them.  God the Son, Jesus, currently rules over them, according to Scripture.


There was a huge tsunami a few years ago.   It was a horrible disaster, and many people were killed.  Many people were asking the age-old question, "How could God do something like this?"


Let's respond to that question with a question: DID God do it?  If demonic angelic forces caused the storm on the sea of Galilee, what caused the tsunami? 


The Biblical worldview is that we live in a "fallen world".   That means people are born flawed, and naturally prone to doing nasty things.  This worldview is in direct conflict with the humanistic worldview, which asserts that people are basically good, and left to their own devices, people will just get better and better.  How do these two viewpoints jive with the world around you?  Are humans born good and getting better? 


Most of us have been around small children.  A simple question: do children need to be taught to do bad things?  Or do they figure out how to do them on their own?  The truth is, a child is only good if he or she is taught to be good.  Being ornery comes naturally and easily.


Evil happens in the world because evil comes naturally and easily in a fallen world.  And people are not the only ones who are fallen.  A huge number of angels are fallen as well.  If those angels control the weather, then "natural" disasters will happen just as surely as human disasters do.


Sometimes, God intervenes.  Jesus stood up in the boat and stopped the storm.  In 2005, the dam at the Taum Sauk power plant in Missouri broke, and a billion gallons of water swept away a house and the sleeping family it contained.  Jerry Toop ended up in a tree.  Lisa Toop hung on to their two children, including a seven-month-old baby.  Their third child also survived.  Incredibly, the family made it through the disaster relatively uninjured. 


Disaster happens.  It is naturally inclined to do so.  Sometimes, God intervenes.


According to the Bible, angelic forces are constantly in motion all around us.  Good angelic forces are constantly battling evil spiritual forces.  The outcome of these skirmishes directly affects the behavior of people around us, and the behavior of the elemental forces of weather as well.


Of course, you don't have to believe that.


But if the Biblical worldview is the correct view of reality, whether or not you believe it does not change that reality.