[If this is the “A”, what was the “Q”? Please check out this post: Q: Does the TORAH promote belief in “Guardian Angels”?—Admin1.]
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Most Christian children grow up with this prayer, which goes…
“ Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
To whom His love commits me here,
ever this day,
be at my side
to light and guard
to rule and guide. Amen.”
- Does this prayer conform to the biblical view of prayer?
- Do we pray to angels?
- Do we have a personal guardian angel?
- What are angels?
- What do the Scriptures say about angels?
- Are they involved in our lives?
Let us try to understand exactly, what an angel is.
Image from www.elmazzika.com
A lot of biblical writers assume the existence of beings superior to man in knowledge and power, but subordinate to GOD, who created them.
These beings serve as HIS attendants, like couriers of an earthly king, and also as HIS agents to convey HIS messages to men and to carry out HIS will.
When were the angels created?
The Torah depicted the angels praising GOD before creation, which suggest that they existed prior to creation. Job 38:4-7.
These beings are defined as metaphysical beings who are messengers of GOD. They are spiritual, but they have no free will. They can only do exactly what they have been commanded to do by their Creator.
The word “Malach” (Hebrew for “angel”) means messenger and it also can be translated as “work”, which means:
—an angel is a messenger of GOD,
—who carries out HIS work.
The English word angel comes from the Greek word “angelos” meaning messenger or agent. Angels are referred to as the “Heavenly Court” due to the fact that they administer the work of the King, GOD. GOD makes the plans and sends His angels to do them.
In English, the expression “You are an angel” is always used in a positive sense. It seems many people are under the impression that the spiritual realm is only good. Yet an angel was sent to destroy Sodom. And of course, we are familiar with the famous bad angel “Satan”, so we see that angels can do both “good” and “bad.”
Since an angel is merely a messenger of GOD, sometimes, he is sent to do something positive like declaring to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:2, that she will bear a son.
Sometimes, it is sent to carry out a punishment or negative consequence, Genesis 19:13, and sometimes, it is sent to test a person as what has happened to Job.
Free will is what differentiates humankind from angels, which makes us more like God. Angels are bound to do God’s will and can do nothing else. Even Satan, the angel created to test us with moral challenges, is only doing exactly what God wants him to do. He is a messenger.
Though angels have a high spiritual level, the holiness of man’s soul supersedes that of the angel. Only man’s soul has the ability to descend to our physical and corporeal world, and refine and elevate it, for man’s divine soul is a veritable piece of God, an image of the Creator, as opposed to the angels which are creations, though holy.
Angels are one-dimensional; each angel has one specific form of Divine service. Man’s soul, serves God in many different ways, expressing itself through love, awe, kindness,compassion, and many more of God’s godly character. Angels have no free choice and are pre-programmed to serve God, whereas man is entrusted with the mission of serving God, but is given the freedom to choose to do so. As such, good deeds, performed by man has much more greater value than the angels’ service, and can propel man to infinitely greater spiritual heights, as opposed to angels who are trapped in a consistent level of spiritual consciousness.
Angels are absorbed in the spiritual realm. They have form without physicality, they are pure conduits for the infinite to have an influence in our realm. God does not need them, but uses them to bridge the gap between the finite and the infinite.
If you see little children flying around your head flapping their wings happily behind them, do not even think, these are angels. They are hallucinations! Real angels do not have bodies, wings, or one drop of physicality. The reason why they are being described as winged humans, such as in Exodus 25:17, Isaiah 6:2, Ezekiel 1:5 and 10:18, is to help us understand something about their essence. The angelic descriptions provided by the prophets, such as wings, arms etc. are images, referring to their spiritual abilities and tasks.
This is similar to how the Old Testament describes God as having a “strong hand and outstretched arm.” We know God does not have an arm, rather it implies to us something about God’s mighty strength in a way, we can understand.
The bottom line is—to obey Yahweh’s lifestyle commands, is our shield and protection.
BAN@S6K
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