Although angels are mentioned nearly 200 times in the Bible, it is unfortunate that the ideas of many Christians as to the nature and function of angels, have not been derived from the Scripture’s revelation but are often contaminated by pop-culture. As with most fads, the Christian attraction to angels has not correlated with people turning to Christ; instead the new trend was linked more to a New Age hype than to the Christian faith. But when angels are ignored in our studies and only appear in our hymnals and as little chubby cherubs on our greeting cards, we should not be surprised to find so much confusion about them.
As little attention is paid in our churches to the true place of angels in God’s creative order, the resultant trend becomes a focus on the hype about angels to the neglect of truth; this trend is not new in human history. It seems that among First Century Jews there was an imbalanced emphasis on angels. Scripture reveals that angels were magnificent, holy (Ps 89:5,7) creatures who closely attend to God in His holiness (Isaiah 6:6); they were involved in bringing the Law (Heb 2:2, Acts 7:53, Gal 3:19); and they were even called “sons of God.” Scripture also reveals that angels are created beings (Psalm 148:1-5) who are subject to their Creator, God (Psalm 103:20). Jesus, who is the unique and uncreated Son of God, is greater than the created “sons of God.”
