Angels​—Who They Are

THE monarch of a mighty empire cannot believe his eyes. Three men sentenced to a fiery destruction are rescued from the jaws of death! Who has saved them? The king himself says to the three so delivered: “Blessed be [your God], who sent his angel and rescued his servants that trusted in him.” (Daniel 3:28) This Babylonian ruler of over two millenniums ago was an eyewitness to an angelic deliverance. Millions of people in the past believed in angels. Many today not only believe that angels exist but also feel that their own lives in some way are affected by angels. Who are the angels, and what is their origin?

According to the Bible, angels are spirits, just as God himself is a Spirit. (Psalm 104:4; John 4:24) The angelic family is large, numbering into the millions. (Revelation 5:11) And all of them are “mighty in power.” (Psalm 103:20) Though angels are like humans in that they have personality and are given free will, they did not begin their lives as humans. In fact, God created angels long before mankind’s appearance​—even before the creation of planet Earth. When God “founded the earth,” says the Bible, “the morning stars [angels] joyfully cried out together, and all the sons of God began shouting in applause.” (Job 38:4, 7) Since the angels are God’s creation, they are called the sons of God.

For what purpose did God create angels? What role, if any, have angels played in human history? Do they affect our life today? Since they are free moral agents, have any of the angels followed the course of Satan the Devil and made themselves God’s enemies? The Bible provides truthful answers to these questions.