Unseen Servants of a Great King
Angels are everywhere in our culture: on Christmas cards and gravestones, in songs, films, and gift shops. An Associated Press-NORC poll in 2023 found that nearly seven in ten American adults believe in angels. Yet much of what people believe about them did not come from the Bible.
The King James Version mentions angels nearly three hundred times. We believe that angels are real, personal spirits, created by God through His Son, who worship Him, do His word, and minister to those who will inherit salvation. Some rebelled and fell with Satan; they are the subject of Satan and Demons. This study is about the holy angels.
The doctrine comforts, because the God who rules all things sends His servants for the good of His children (Hebrews 1:14). And it guards worship, because the greatest angel is still a creature, a fellowservant of the saints (Revelation 22:9). Whenever people look to angels for guidance or answered prayer, they have turned from the Master to His servants.
A created spirit whom God sends as His messenger and servant. The Hebrew mal'ak and the Greek angelos both mean messenger; the word describes what angels do more than what they are. Angels are personal, powerful, and holy, yet they are creatures, made by the Son and subject to Him (Colossians 1:16; 1 Peter 3:22).
Are angels guardians to call on, or servants of the God we call on? Scripture's answer shapes how we pray, how we grieve, and whom we worship.
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For Deeper Study
- Angels: God's Secret AgentsAmazon Billy GrahamA warm, popular survey (1975) of what Scripture says about angels, written to encourage ordinary believers.
- Angels: Who They Are and How They Help... What the Bible RevealsAmazon David JeremiahA pastor's readable, Scripture-centered study that separates what the Bible teaches from popular myths about angels.
- The Secret Life of Angels: Who They Are and How They Help UsAmazon Ron RhodesA question-and-answer guide (2014) that weighs popular beliefs about angels by Scripture.
- Basic TheologyAmazon Charles C. RyrieA dispensational systematic theology whose short chapters on angels, Satan, and demons are clear and well organized.
- Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's WitnessesAmazon Ron RhodesA practical guide for conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses, including who Jesus is.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Satan and Demons
Satan is a real, personal, fallen angel who leads the demons, accuses believers, and deceives the nations, but Christ defeated him at the cross and will cast him into the lake of fire forever.
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