HOW DO ANGELS HELP HUMAN BEINGS?

The word “Angel” means “Messenger”. These angels have come for a specific purpose. Throughout history angels have been sent by God to bring a message of hope, to protect, comfort, serve and carry out his judgment, and to give him praise. The book of Hebrews provides the key descriptors of angels. Angels are not meant to be worshipped. Angels are not the object of prayer. Scripture is addressed to us, not to angels.

Hebrew 1:7 says,” He makes his angel spirits and his servant’s flames of fire.” Angels share common characteristics which set them apart from other beings. Angels have individual, unique personalities and names. Example Gabriel and Michael. Angels have limitations. As real being created by God’s authority and power, and their power has limits. The ninth and tenth chapters of the Book of Daniel illustrate some of these limitations. In Daniel 9:21 the angel Gabriel appears before Daniel because of Daniels’s earnest prayer for his people. This verse specifies Gabriel had been caused to “Fly swiftly” because of Daniel’s petition, which stipulates that angels can only be in one place at one time. They are not omnipresent.

A second example is in verse 23,

Gabriel explains “At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you….” Did you catch that?

Gabriel didn’t hatch a plan to go visit Daniel; Gabriel was commanded to go call on Daniel in response to his prayerful petitions.

Third Example

Daniel is visited by a second angel, whose name is not disclosed in chapter 10. This angel explains that he would have come sooner, but he was waylaid for 21 days by the “Prince of Persia,” and he required the assistance of Michael, the arc angel to overcome this prince. The angels spent three weeks earnestly attempting to visit Daniel, but he lacked the power to overcome the “Prince of Persia.” There is a hierarchy in the spiritual realms and we must understand that the angels are limited to the power and authority granted them by Almighty God. Angels are spirit beings who are often invisible, but their presence may be made manifest in human form, in dreams, visions, in their natural state, or audibly without a visible form.

The description of an angel

I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with Gold of Uphaz! His body was like the appearance of lightning, His eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his voice like the voice of a multitude.

Regardless of how angels may appear, the important point to remember is this: their presence is revealed selectively ad strategically. Often angels work in unseen ways because it doesn’t serve God’s purpose for us to perceive their presence. The angel mania that routinely engrosses our collective conscience is likely why God chooses to conceal their presence most of the time. God only opens our eyes to behold angels when it serves his purposes. When angels are not ministering to mankind, they live in the presence of God, continually shouting and singing praises to him. God’s angels keep no praise for themselves. Because they are created, they must never receive our worship or our prayers. God’s true angel must be awe-inspiring beyond anything we can imagine. This may be why they are invisible to us most of the time. To prevent us from sinning through angel worship. We should not pray directly to angels for help. The Bible gives no indication angels will respond if we pray directly to them for help. Angels serve God. They do not serve us. They are not our servants. Angels are not ours to use or control. They are not available to satisfy our physical needs or our emotional needs or our intellectual curiosity.

What do the angels do?

Angels come to bring a message from God.

They are God’s messengers, and there is a vast spiritual realm that surrounds us, though we can’t visibly see it. (Colossians 1:16) There are many examples in the bible of when God sends an angel to give a specific message to an individual or group. Sometimes, it was a word of encouragement or to offer hope for what was still to come. Other times it was a clear warning for God’s people and provided protection and guidance. Here are some examples from scriptures where God sent angels with messages. In Genesis 18, God sent three of these messengers to Abraham and Sarah to tell them that even in her old age, she would soon bear a son. Within just a year, those words had come true.

Genesis16,

God sent an angel to Sarah’s servant, Hagar, in the desert when she ran away after feeling hurt and mistreated. We read the story of how the angels’ message was to give hope that God indeed saw her situation and she was not forgotten.

He sent an angel to the discouraged Gideon in Judges 6 who greeted him with the words,” The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. “God saw with different eyes, though Gideon hardly used words to even describe himself. The angel’s words spoke truth and life to a fearful soul. God sent the angel, Gabriel, to Mary in Luke 1 to tell her that she would give birth to the very son of God. Gabriel also came to Zechariah to tell him the news that Elizabeth would bear a son. In Luke, God sent an angel messenger to the shepherds to tell them of Jesus’s birth. In Matthew 28, an angel appeared at the tomb of Christ to announce that Jesus has risen.

Angels protect God’s people

As believers, we never need to be afraid of angels. Though this may be our normal response if we ever encountered one, the bible reminds us over and over that we do not need to fear them. (Luke 2:10) God sends angels to protect, guard and fight for us. We do not have the authority over angles, and the bible never tells us to give them instruction or to command them. That is the work of God alone. He tells us in the powerful words of Psalm 91 that he would give angels charge concerning us o guard us in all our ways. God sent an angel to protect Daniel when he was thrown into the lion’s den. Daniel 6:22 says that he shut the mouth of the lions so that no harm came to him who was found blameless before God.

God reminded the Israelites of his presence with them in Exodus 23:20 when he said, “I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” Psalm 34:7 reminds us,” The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,

(In 2 kings 16:17) Elisha prayed that his servant would see the armies of angels surrounding the city. God opened his eyes and he realized he overlooked these mighty invisible beings. His words remind us of his special care for children,” See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father (Matthew 18:10)

God’s angels come to comfort and minister to believers

God sends angels to minister to those in extreme times of pain, loss, or grief. If you’ve ever sat at the bedside of a loved one who was at heaven’s gates, whether you recognized it or not, you were surely in the presence of angels. Maybe one of your loved ones has spoken the last words of seeing angels or light before being ushered straight into the presence of God. Maybe just knew and were comforted by the fact that they were seeing into a realm that we can’t fully see, and it gave them peace and strength. It gives a picture of God’s tender heart that he cares for his children enough to send help in our greatest times of need and loss. We see many accounts in the bible of when God sends his messenger to provide comfort and to minister to those who are in need and to those who are passing from this life to the next. When Elijah was afraid and running for his life in (1kings 19) and an angel appeared to him and provided food and water for his journey. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed and wrestled with what was to come. (Luke 22:43) tells us that an angel appeared from heaven, “strengthening him.” After Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness and stood strong against the temptations of the devil, Matthew 4:11 says,” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels, came and were ministering to him.”

Angels execute God’s judgments

According to the bible, angels can also be used by God to punish sin and to bring his judgment. We are wise to walk with spiritual discernment, for the bible says that even the devil will disguise himself as an angel of light. We can always be confident with God’s help as he leads us to recognize truth and deception through his spirit and guides us (2 Corinthians 11:14)

In 2 Kings, king Hezekiah prayed boldly to God, asking for his help against their enemies. The Assyrians were known for the cruel way they treated their captives 2 Kings 19:35 says, “That night, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men. In Revelation, we see specific times when God will give angels the charge to execute his judgment.

Revelation 12: 7-9

Tells us, “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Angels come to give praise and worship to God.

Angels are mighty beings who offer praise and worship to God. God never intends for us to worship angels or pray to them. He alone is worthy of our worship. (Revelation 4:11) and angels remind us of this truth. (Revelation 4:8) says, “Day and night they never stop saying” Holy, Holy, Holy is the lord God almighty, who was and is, and is to come.

In Revelation 5:11-12

We read,” Then looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand…. In a loud voice, they sang,” Worthy is the lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!

Satan- The enemy intends evil, but God promises good.

According to the scripture, Satan himself was the highest of all angels in heaven. But because of his great pride, desiring to be worshipped and set up above God, he was thrown out, and he took one-third of the angels with him. (Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14, Revelation 12) These are the demonic dark spiritual forces we’re against today. And you can be assured that the enemy knows how to disguise himself as an angel. His whole intent is to lead us into traps of destruction and to draw our worship away from God. Live aware, and don’t be easily deceived. God promises to help us as we seek to honor him and walk wisely in this life. We can trust that even when we’re unaware of our needs or impending disasters that lay before us. God knows the way. He is at work, sending words of hope, protecting his children, attending to our needs, bringing justice and mercy to our land, drawing us closer to himself, and encouraging us to walk wisely, be aware, and live fully for him. He often works in ways we can’t carefully see, sometimes behind the scenes or with unexpected timing. Yet he is always working on our behalf. Whether we realize it or not, there’s a spiritual realm constantly around us. May God give us eyes to see clearly that angels are among us and that God is working miracles even today.