The Nature of Angels

Angels are an accepted part of Judeo-Christian theology, they appear all throughout the Bible in various guises and forms. However, a popular misconception of the nature of angels has developed over the last hundred years. These myths have been propagated even further by popular media, the greeting cards industry, and popular imagination. To understand these powerful and enigmatic beings we must first, understand what they are and what is their nature according to scripture.
In the King James Version of the Bible, there are only two named angels, Michael and Gabriel, the "el" part meaning "of God". Michael for example, literally means "The Resemblance of God". Gabriel means "Hero of God". The other angel named is Raphael, but only in the book of Tobit which is not considered canonical in all biblical formats. Of course there are many other examples of angels that are unnamed in the Bible, and literally hundreds of other named angels in mystical and non canon or apocryphal scriptures. In all instances though, angels are manifestation of aspects of God or deeds.
We can deduce that angels were created before man, but no mention is made in particular of their creation. They have a closeness with God and are particularly used by God for intercession action with man.
Man was created with the ability to choose to worship God or to shun him, but with the capacity for forgiveness. It's been said that angels do not have free will, obviously this is not true, as beings without free will could not choose to do anything other than what they are commanded which would negate any talk of rebel or fallen angels. My personal feelings aside, it would appear that angels do have free will, but they do not have the capacity for God's forgiveness.
Seeing as angels are a part of divinity, it appears that they cannot be destroyed. At least, there is no instance given scriptural of an angel being killed. We have instances of them being bound or captured, defeated, and also prophecies of them being cast into fire or chained, but it is never said that they will be killed or destroyed.
Angels have been seen to do many things in the bible, from giving messages of birth such as the Enunciation to the murdering of all the first born of Egypt. In fact the Cherubim described in Genesis that guard the gates of Eden are at once terrifying and murderous.
In every instance where an angel does not disguise itself as a human, the encounter is described as terrifying and disconcerting to the visited. Gabriel's first words to the Virgin Mary are "Be Not Afraid".
Hardly the comforting winged greeting card images we've come to see in the last hundred years.
Another popular untruth is that dead humans become angels. While it's a nice idea to think of the deceased as becoming angels, there is no evidence for this. Humans are humans and angels are angels. Humans do not become angels, they do not become our guardian angels, we do not have dead humans looking out for us. In my harshness I am not sorry. There is no scriptural evidence for this and it's a terrible lie to tell people that their deceased loved ones are with the angels, because they are not.
There are many other things I could mention, but for the sake of your time and space constraints, I will leave you with a brief synopsis.
Angels Are....
Terrifying Messengers, they have, can, and probably will kill human beings on the command of God, they are not human, never have been, never will be, they are a separate created race, they are capable of free will choice, but not of repenting and receiving God's forgiveness. Humans do not become angels.
There are many avenues of further study, simply using your Strong's Concordance to find all the biblical instances of angels to read about them is probably the best. You will soon learn how much of what you thought you knew was wrong and how amazingly complex these beings are.
Dwight Hatfield
Marketing Director SurvTech Solutions