Throughout the years, there have been multiple shows featuring angels because of society’s increasing interest in angelic beings. In the late 1980s, Highway to Heaven premiered, which featured an angel who was trying to earn his “wings” by helping people on earth.
Likewise, the 1990s and 2000s TV show Touched by an Angel also featured angels assisting people who were struggling in life. While these shows have multiple theological and biblical problems, since they do not accurately portray angels according to Scripture, such TV shows do demonstrate the human longing for spiritual intervention in the circumstances of life.
In the Bible, angels are described as “ministering spirits” who serve believers (Hebrews 1:14). God often chooses to use angels to carry out His will just as He often uses humans to bring about His divine purposes. The scriptural truth that angels minister to believers is reassuring, but people must remember that God is the One who deserves the praise and glory.
Angels are mere instruments used by the Lord, who sometimes chooses to send His angels to assist His children. Even so, they are not the central focus of Scripture or the Christian life, ministering angels are significant because they display God’s care for Christians.
Definition of Ministering Angels
The word “minister” basically means to serve or attend. In a contemporary style of English, the New Living Translation accurately conveys the idea of ministry as service in Hebrews 1:14: “Therefore, angels are only servants — spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation” (NLT). Thus, when angels are ministering to people, they are serving and helping them.
All angels are specifically mentioned in this verse as being ministering angels or “spirits” (Hebrews 1:14). Obviously, this refers to the elect, or “good” angels who follow the Lord (1 Timothy 5:21).
Demons, or fallen angels, do not serve or help humans since they serve Satan and seek to hinder the gospel message and make Christians unfruitful (John 10:10; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Peter 5:8). Instead, only the elect angels, who chose to follow God at the beginning, are the ones who minister to believers.
Hence, all the elect angels partake in ministry or service to those who are followers of Christ. Because angels obey the Lord and serve Him (Psalm 103:20-21), they are often used to minister to believers in need.
The author of Hebrews specifically mentions this truth to encourage the Christians who received his letter since they were experiencing persecution (Hebrews 10:32-36). Followers of Christ today can also receive the same encouragement since the Lord surely continues to use His angels to accomplish His will and provide care for believers.
Angelic Service
Although the Bible is clear that angels minister to believers, there is not much information about how this is conducted practically. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He was often served by angels during or after difficult trials.
For instance, angels ministered to Christ after His temptation in the desert (Matthew 4:11; Mark 1:13). Also, when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, angels attended Him there also (Luke 22:43).
These verses do not specifically reveal how the angels ministered to Christ but do show that angels provided service to Him when He experienced the difficult event of temptation and the looming agony of His sacrificial death when He bore mankind’s sins on the cross (1 Peter 2:24).
A few examples in Scripture do indicate that angels can be used to provide physical relief from suffering. Daniel’s life was preserved in a den of hungry lions and the apostles were released from prison by an angel (Daniel 6:22; Acts 5:17-21).
Despite these examples, there are many other passages that show angels supplying spiritual aid and encouragement. As was shown earlier, Jesus received the encouragement of ministering angels when He was suffering.
Also, Paul was encouraged during his ministry by an angel sent by the Lord (Acts 27:23-24). Angels can be sent to offer physical help to believers, but oftentimes they give spiritual aid to Christians who are undergoing hardships.
Christians may not know how or when an angel has been sent to help them since angels are spirit beings and do not often reveal themselves today. However, ministering angels can be dispatched by God to encourage believers.
God Deserves the Praise
The angels’ serving role is noteworthy not only because of the help provided to followers of Christ but also because it displays God’s care for His children. Angels are not the ones who deserve recognition or glory because they are merely obeying God and serving Him by helping Christians.
Instead, God is the one who sends angels to help believers. The Lord alone deserves the praise and glory of any help that Christians are given by angels (Revelation 22:9). Peter recognized this truth when an angel freed him when he was imprisoned by Herod.
Realizing that his escape from prison was not a dream, the Apostle Peter said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen” (Acts 12:11). Instead of giving credit to the angel, he recognized that the Lord was the one who rescued him.
Likewise, Daniel also knew that ultimately God had rescued him from the hungry lions (Daniel 6:22). Even Darius recognized God’s care for Daniel when he wrote a decree to the people of his land, telling them to fear the God of Daniel (Daniel 6:25-26).
In the decree, he declared that the Lord is the God who rescues for “He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions” (Daniel 6:27). The Lord, not angels, is the One who cares for and rescues His followers.
Conduits of Help
Therefore, believers can take comfort in the knowledge that angels can be sent to their aid by the Lord. In the past, angels have offered physical aid and spiritual encouragement to followers of Christ who were experiencing suffering or persecution. As ministers or servants of the Lord, angels can bring care and aid to Christians.
However, believers must recognize that God is the One supplying care to His children since the angels are merely the conduit through which such blessing and help comes. Angels should not be worshiped or praised because of any ministry they render. Instead, praise and glory belong to the Lord God alone.
While elect angels do not deserve worship, the ministry of angels is nonetheless important because their help demonstrates God’s concern and care for His followers.
Through the encouragement of angels, many people in the Bible such as Daniel, Paul, and Peter recognized they were not alone since the Lord was with them.
The presence of the angels showed them that they did not have to be afraid because God cared for them and would never leave them.
As the Apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18). Bringing honor and glory to God is the significant work of angels who serve believers as ministering spirits.
For further reading:
What Does the Bible Say about the Angel Gabriel?
What Are All the Names of Angels in the Bible?
Why Do We Say ‘Glory to God in the Highest' at Christmas?
How Was There Peace on Earth at Jesus’ Birth?
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