Soon many of us will attend Christmas Eve services and may hear this passage from Luke 2:8-14 read:

             Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch       over their flock by night. And ]behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the   glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said    to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in             swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

            And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God        and saying:

                   “Glory to God in the highest,
            And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

We hear of angels all the time.  Someone may say to another who has done something nice for them, “Oh, you are such an angel!”  We see baby angels with wings that we know as cherubs depicted in artwork.  Many people top their Christmas tree with a beautiful, winged angel, usually with long blond hair.  But what do we really know about angels?  What are they really like?

Angels appear in the Bible over 250 times.  Seraphim, which Isaiah described, have six wings: two which cover their feet, two which cover their eyes, and two with which they fly.  Cherubim, have four wings. Yet, with or without wings, angels seem to move from place to place rapidly, as often when they appear to humans, they appear suddenly and apparently from nowhere. 

Angels have appeared to countless individuals throughout the Bible: to Adam and Eve, preventing them from returning to the Garden; to Abraham; to Rachael’s servant, Hagar; to Lot; to Jacob; to Daniel; to Elisha and his servant; to Mary and to Joseph to inform them of the birth of Christ; to Jesus after His temptation in the desert; to Peter; to the disciples as they watched Jesus ascend into the clouds after His resurrection; to John, the apostle.  These are only a few of the instances.

Often they appear as men, but other times they reflect the glory of God. Ezekiel describes as an angel as “Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell face down. . . .” (Ezekiel 1:28) Joel recounts, “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like war horses, so they run.” (Joel 2:4)  Daniel describes an angel this way in 10:5-6:  “I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” 

Angels are heavenly beings, created as are we.  Like us, they have free will.  Lucifer, the shining one, the most handsome of all angels, thought himself to be equal with God and made war in the heavens with God.  Isaiah relates his fall in chapter 14:12-14.

            “How you have fallen from heaven,
            morning star, son of the dawn!
            You have been cast down to the earth,
            you who once laid low the nations!
            You said in your heart,
            “I will ascend to the heavens;
            above the stars of God;
            I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
            on the utmost heights of the North.
            I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
            I will make myself like the Most High.”

Ezekiel describes his fall in more detail.

            You were in Eden, the garden of God.
            …  I ordained and anointed you
            as the mighty angelic guardian.
            You had access to the holy mountain of God
            and walked among the stones of fire.
            “You were blameless in all you did
            until the day evil was found in you

            . . .and you sinned.
            So I banished you in disgrace
            from the mountain of God.
            I expelled you, O mighty guardian,
            from your place among the stones of fire.
            Your heart was filled with pride
            because of all your beauty.
            Your wisdom was corrupted
            by your love of splendor.
            So I threw you to the ground.  (Ezekiel 28:13-17)

And thus Satan entered into the world, not as a horned, ugly little man with a forked tail, but as a handsome, charming, seducer of mankind.  And expelled from heaven with him were many angels, but tens upon tens of thousands of angels remained loyal to God and serve him faithfully today.

They are divided by the Bible into Archangels (chief among the angels), Seraphim and Cherubim.  They worship God, serve as his messengers to mankind, and have even struck down those who have offended God.  King Herod, who ordered the slaughter of male babies in an attempt to kill the Christ child, later added to his evil. “So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:21-23).

Angels also offer protection to God’s people.  Psalm 91:11 tells us that angels give us protection,” when it reads “[The Lord] will give His angels charge of you to protect you in all your ways.” And Jesus said “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 who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). Does this mean that we have guardian angels assigned to us to follow us around from day to day? The Bible doesn’t specifically state that, although Jesus’ words seem to suggest it. What we do know without a doubt is that when we are in need, God will provide for us and that provision is often in the form of angels. An angel shut the mouths of the lions so they would not eat Daniel, an army of angels surrounded Elisha when the king sent his army to kill him, and an angel  released  Peter from prison.

Will we recognize that we have been helped by angels?  Probably not. When Russ, Missy and I were coming home from Terre Haute one day years ago, we suddenly were confronted with an oncoming car in the left lane and an oncoming turning car in our lane. To swerve either way would have put us into the path of one of the two cars, yet the natural reaction was to try to swerve out of their way.  Russ instead steered straight ahead and the turning car cleared the lane just enough for us to pass unscathed. We saw no angels.  No one physically guided Russ’ hands on the steering wheel.  But God’s protection saved our lives that day.  In Old Testament times angels most often appeared in the form of men, as they did to Abraham.  This is why we should take heed of the advice of Paul in Hebrews 13:2:  “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” 

“Lord, Send Your Angels”

When I’m alone and the light slowly fades,
cold with the night closing in,
I Know the shadow of Almighty wings.
Lord won’t you send them again?


Lord, send Your angels to watch over me.
I’m so afraid of the dark.
Wrap me in sheltering arms.
Shield me, keep me,
hold me safe in Your arms.
Lord, send Your angels to watch over me.
Wrap me in sheltering arms.

Sometimes the child inside of me cries
with fear of the dangers unseen
and question with answers I can’t seem to find.
Then You send Your angels to me.


Lord, send Your angels to watch over me.
I’m so afraid of the dark.
Lord, send your angels to watch over me.
And wrap me in sheltering arms.
Shield me, keep me,
hold me safe in Your arms.
Lord, send your angels to watch over me.
Wrap me in sheltering arms.
Wrap me in sheltering arms.
Won’t you wrap me in sheltering arms?

                       by  Jeff and Sheri Easter