The Celestial Beings We Will Meet In Heaven: Are You Ready to Meet the Angels?

         All Christians have the Hope of being in Heaven one day. We look forward to being in the presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for all eternity. We long for the day that we will see our loved ones who have passed on before us, as well as all of the faithful men and women who lived since the beginning of Creation.
      Another wonderful thing that we have to look forward to is getting to witness the wonderful celestial beings that also reside in Heaven which are mentioned in the Bible. Over the course of three articles, I want us to focus our hearts and minds on these amazing beings, created by God.  We will start with the group of them that seems to be the most familiar to people, yet about whom there are many misunderstandings.  Then, we will look at two more groups about which there is not as much familiarity.  Can you think of the group that is most familiar to people?  This group is known as the angels.  Let’s look at this type of celestial being in more detail.

1. Angels: The subject of angels is a very popular topic among Christians and non-Christians alike. Images of angels can be seen everywhere, and they usually have the same or at least similar appearance; which is that of a person draped in a white or some other color robe, with large, outstretched wings. The topic of “guardian angels” has been in debate for a long time and this idea had been made even more popular through television shows and movies. Many people wonder if angels have any involvement in our daily lives, such as protecting us from harm and “watching over” us. There are many ideas out there of the origin of angels, how they look, and how and if they interact with us today. Let’s see what information is given in the Scripture about these spiritual beings.
              Where do angels come from?  Angels are created beings because they were not in existence before the world was made.  They are not a part of the Eternal Godhead. They were created by God sometime during the six day of creation. They were possibly created early on during the creation process because the book of Job speak of how they were already in existence when the “foundations of the earth were made” (Job 38:4,7). Angels are a heavenly order of beings, but they are not deity. In order words, they should not be worshipped. Angels worship  God as we do. “And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him”(Hebrews 1:6). Angels are above the level of humans, but below the level of God.  “Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:” (Hebrews 2:7).
              The purpose of angels can be found in their name. The world “angel” comes from the Greek word meaning “messenger.” The role of angels are to deliver messages and do God’s Work among humans. There are many examples of angels taking on physical forms and delivering messages to people in the Old and New Testaments. Likely the most well-known example of this is when the angel Gabriel delivered the message to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus (Luke 1:26). Although angels have appeared to humans in physical form in Bible times, they do not operate in this way today. The practice of angels appearing in human form was a miracle, and miracles do not happen today because we now have the completion of the revelation of God unto mankind through the Bible (I Corinthians 13:8-10, II Peter 1:3, II Timothy 3:16-17). This does not mean, however, that angels no longer any kind of work that they did in Bible times. Angels still work “behind the scenes” so to speak in the lives of all the faithful today. “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:13-14).
              What do angels do when they become involved in the lives of the faithful today? We do not know exactly!  We do know that they have an interest in the lives of Christians today (I Corinthian 11:10, I Timothy 5:21).  We do know that they are involved in our lives in some way from the verses given.  All of what is entailed in the ministering to Christians by the angels is not revealed in Scripture, but is within God’s Providential work. 

       Unaccountable children also have angels that help them in various unknown ways, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).  This is another verse to meditate upon when thinking of the possible guardian work role of angels.
           We do know that angels take the faithful who pass away into Paradise as Luke 16:22 teaches.  As we experience death, there are those loving angels to comfort us.  They take us into our Paradise home. 
           Although we are lower than the angels, we have the hope of being more like angels when we reach Heaven! Those who pass away do not become angels, as angels are spiritual beings that are separate from humans. “For in the resurrection they neither marry, not are given in marriage but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). We will be among the angels when we reach a home in Heaven, but we will not be angels. We will, in fact, be transformed upon the Day of Judgment as this mortal body is transformed into a resurrected body that will live eternally with God and His angels! “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

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