What Do Angels Really Look Like?

Many of us have images of angels sitting on clouds, playing harps and smiling down on us or hovering over little children.

What do you think about when you think of angels?

“Would it be Cupid?” asks author Bill Bratt. “A baby angel with wings and a bow and arrow?

Perhaps Gabriel comes to mind. He is the angel who delivered messages to Mary, the mother of Jesus and Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist.”

Artwork:Detail from the Sistine Chapel by Michaelangelo

Feathered wings?

So what do angels really look like? Are they the sweet, sprite-like females often portrayed by little girls in Christmas pageants?

Traditionally, rowdy 12-year-old boys play the Wise Men, both boys and girls are costumed as shepherds and sometimes toddlers are dressed up like sheep. However, invariably, a sweet, rosy-cheeked girl hovers over the manger scene as the Angel of the Lord.

Not in the Bible!

There’s no angel like that in the Scriptures. The angels of the Bible are frightening to behold. The first thing they generally say is “Fear not!” since their appearance causes humans to fall to the ground in terror.

The heavenly host

Nehemiah 9:6 tells us that God made the heavens and their “host.” Strong’s Concordance defines “host” as "a mass of persons." I Kings 22:19 tells how Micaiah described seeing God sitting on His throne with all the host of heaven standing by on His right hand and on His left.
Revelation 5: 11 counts the numbers of the “host” as “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands."
Artwork: The Angels of Heaven Blow Their Trumpets in Victory by Gustave Dore

Singing praises

Hebrews 1:6 says that when God brought Jesus into the world, the Father told the angels to worship the Son. Angels sang when he was born, as we know from Luke 2:8-14:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

“And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the 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, good will toward men.”

Angels of the Bible

The New Testament only names two of God’s heavenly angels – three if you count Lucifer, the fallen angel. Gabriel announced the coming of the Messiah. It is the Archangel Michael, the great warrior angel, who battles Lucifer – and who cast him and his rebel angels out of heaven.

Michael

The great warrior Archangel Michael is the most celebrated of the Angels – the commander of the army of heaven. His name means "like unto God" or "Who is like unto God?"

Although Michael is not mentioned by name, the Bible says during the Battle of Jericho, Joshua "looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand." When Joshua asks which side of the fight he is on, Michael responds, "neither ... but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come" (Joshua 5:13-14).

Reinforcements

In the book of Daniel, Michael brings in reinforcements to help the Archangel Gabriel defeat the evil spiritual forces backing up the Persians.

Daniel also writes that during final days of human history, “Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations" (Daniel 12).

Michael is credited with the annihilation of the 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35) and the defeat of the evil Heliodorus (2 Maccabees 3: 24-26).

Artwork: The Angel of the Lord Smote the Assyrians by Gustave Dore

The fiery furnace

Some say it was Michael who was sent to protect Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they were thrown into the Fiery Furnace for their refusal to worship the king’s idol (Dan. 3:22-25). He transported the Prophet Habbakuk from Judea to Babylon and brought food to Daniel in the Lions' Den (Dan. 14:33-37). In Jude 1:9, he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses.
He was been said to have appeared to the Roman Emperor Constantine, to have intervened in assorted battles and to have appeared, sword in hand in answer to the prayers of Pope St. Gregory the Great that a plague in Rome should cease. Russians in particular have a special veneration to Michael. Many monasteries, cathedrals and local churches are dedicated to him.

Gabriel

The Archangel Gabriel is traditionally God’s messenger. In Luke 1, an angel appears to Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist. Zachariah initially refuses to believe that his barren wife, Elizabeth, and he will have a child in their old age. So, the heavenly messenger says, "I am Gabriel. I stand before God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news" (Luke 1:19).

Gabriel was sent to Mary to tell her she would give birth to Jesus and uttered the words now repeated by millions in the Catholic rosary – “Hail, Mary, full of grace! Blessed art thou among women …”

Tradition says it was Gabriel who came to Joseph, Mary’s husband, in a dream, telling him that her pregnancy was miraculous and that he should protect and care for her. Gabriel is said to be the one who appeared to the shepherds near Bethlehem, telling them that the Messiah had been born. Also, he is said to have been the angel who rolled away the stone at Christ’s tomb and sat on it – terrifying the Roman guards, who fell “like dead men.”

He is also said to have been the one who gently told the women who came to prepare Jesus’ body on the first Easter Sunday that “He is not here; He is risen.”

Gabriel, blow your horn!

In the Old Testament, it is Gabriel – according to tradition – who in a vision explains to Daniel the fate of Israel (Daniel 8 & 9).

Tradition also credits him with inspiring Moses to write the first five books of the Bible and teaching Joseph, the son of Israel, the 70 languages he needed to rule Egypt.

It is said that Gabriel will announce the Second Coming of the Lord by blowing a trumpet.

Lo! And Malakh!

Christian humorists sometimes cite Luke 2:9 to joke that there’s an angel named “Lo.”

The verse reads “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them ….” However, the original Greek is also translated as “behold” or “then.”

The original Hebrew refers to Malakh Yahweh, which translates simply as “The Angel of the Lord” – an angel who is given no formal name. This “Angel of the Lord” appears throughout the Bible.

Ishmael

Both the Bible and the Koran describe an angel of the Lord sent to protect Hagar and her son Ishmael in the desert

Artwork: Hagar & Ishmael by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Raphael

In the Apocrypha, several books that most Protestants don’t accept, but which Catholics, Anglicans and Eastern Orthodox consider Scripture, the Book of Tobit names Raphael as a guardian and healing angel.

Raphael appears as a man and protects the boy Tobias on an adventurous journey, then introduces himself as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven who stand before the Lord" (Tobit 12:15).

Thus, he is believed to be the third of the seven archangels described in Revelation 8:2.

Artwork:Raphael by Sandro Botticelli

Uriel

A fourth archangel, Uriel, is mentioned in the Fourth Book of Esdras in the Apocrypha. His name means “the Light of God.” In that text, the prophet Ezra asks God a series of questions and Uriel is sent by God with the answers.

Tradition says that it was Uriel who rescued Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, from evil King Herod’s massacre of Bethlehem’s baby boys. Tradition says Uriel carried little John and his mother Elizabeth to join the Holy Family after their flight into Egypt. Their reunion is depicted in Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks.

Tradition also says it was Uriel who stood at the gate of the Garden of Eden with a fiery sword, blocking Adam and Eve’s return and who checked the door posts of Egypt for lamb's blood during the first Passover.

Artwork:The Curing of Tobias' Father by Bernardo Cavallino

Protecting angels

Psalm 34: 7 promises us that the angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them.

In Acts 12:7-10, we read that an angel of the Lord appeared in prison beside the sleeping Peter and hit him on the side to wake him up. The angel then told Peter to rise quickly and Peter’s chains fell off.

Then the angel told Peter to get dressed and tighten his sandals. Peter did and followed him – even though he thought it was all a vision, particularly when they strolled past two guard stations and the prison’s front gate.

But when the angel disappeared, Peter realized he really had been freed from prison.

However, we are not to worship angels, according to Revelation 22:8-9.

And the Apostle Paul warns us in Galatians 1:8 to beware of angels bearing false teaching: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

And more …

Atop most Mormon Temples is an angel blowing a trumpet, the angel Moroni – who church founder Joseph Smith during the early 1800s said gave him the golden tablets from which he dictated the Book of Mormon.

Hindu scriptures name 72 different angels.

The Koran names four: Gabriel or “Jabril," Michael or “Mikal,” Azrael, the angel of death, and Israfil, who will usher in Judgment Day.

Guardian angels

Psalm 91 tells us: “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”

Ministering angels

Hebrews 1:13-14 describes ministering spirits sent from Heaven by God to minister for those who will inherit salvation.

The Book of Revelation says that each of the ancient seven churches had its own angel or messenger.

Matthew 18 tells how Jesus scolded the disciples, tell them “suffer the little to come unto Me and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of heaven, then added: “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.”

Are they still here?

Joan of Arc told of being protected by Michael.

During the 1980s, two Christian girls working in David Wilkerson’s Brooklyn outreach to violent youth gangs told of walking back to their apartment one evening and praying for God’s protection as they saw a tough group of gang members approaching. The hoodlums let the girls pass unharmed. Later, one of the gang members asked the girls “Who were those big dudes who were walking with you the other night?”

The girls told Wilkerson they believed God had sent His protecting angels – although the girls couldn’t see them.

Artwork: Tobias and the Angel by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo

Miracles today

Author Jay Tower shares a story sent to him by a reader: ”My grandma, mom and I were driving to British Columbia for Easter and I needed out of the car to run and play. I was about 6. We stopped at the Columbia ice fields and decided to go up for a walk. I was running ahead and my mom yelled for me to slow down. Just as I turned to see where they were, I saw my grandma fall and start sliding towards a cliff.

“My mom caught her. but they already had so much momentum they weren’t stopping. We were all screaming at the top of our lungs, but there was no one around.

“As Grandma and Mom slid toward the edge of the cliff, two men appeared out of nowhere and grabbed my mom just as she was losing Grandma over the edge – and lifted Grandma like she was a feather.

“Both were battered and beaten but alive. Just as they got to their feet, I went running to them, but the two men were gone.

“We will always be grateful to these two angels.

“Because of them, I didn't lose my family.”

Caught on film

A 14-year-old girl with a history of serious health issues lay dying of pneumonia in a hospital room," reports Mike Celizic for NBC-TV's Today Show. "But as her mother waited for the girl to take her last breath, an image of bright light appeared on a security monitor. Within an hour, the dying girl began a recovery that doctors are at a loss to explain.

Colleen Banton, the girl's mother, has an explanation. “This was an image of an angel,” she told NBC News.

The incident happened in Charlotte, N.C. Chelsea had battled serious health problems all her life. A pneumonia infection had taken her to death’s door. Told that there was no hope, Colleen had just instructed doctors to take her daughter off life support and allow nature to take its course when the bright light appeared on the monitors Her mother is convinced that Chelsea was saved by divine intervention.

“It’s a blessing,” she told the Today Show. “It’s a miracle.”

Banton took a picture of the television monitor on which the image appeared. Some who look at it would describe it as a flare of reflected light. Others — including nurses who were on duty — say the three vertical shafts of light are indisputably an angel.

Angels unaware

In the Bible angels appear to people in unpredictable and various ways. Abraham was visited by God and two angels in Genesis 18:2, when God informed him of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The same two angels visited Lot and instructed him to escape the city with his family before it was destroyed (Genesis 19:1-11).

When Jacob saw angels (Genesis 32:1), he immediately recognized them as the army of God.
In Numbers 22:22, an angel confronted the disobedient prophet Balaam, but Balaam did not see the angel at first, although his donkey did.

Angels deliver messages from God and do His bidding. In every case, they point people to God and give the glory to Him.

God is still just as active in the world as He has always been, and His angels are certainly still on the job. Just as they protected God's people in the past, we can be assured that they are guarding us today. Hebrews 13:2 instructs us, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

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