An angel is a supernatural being found in many religions. In Christianity, Judaism and Islam, they typically act as messengers from God (or Allah in the case of Islam).
Purpose
In the Bible, angels are a medium of God's power; they exist to execute God's will. Angels reveal themselves to individuals as well as to the whole nation, to announce events, either good or bad, affecting humans. Angels foretold to Abraham the birth of Isaac, to Manoah the birth of Samson, and to Abraham the destruction of Sodom. Guardian angels were mentioned, but not, as was later the case, as guardian spirits of individuals and nations. God sent an angel to protect the Hebrew people after their exodus from Egypt, to lead them to the promised land, and to destroy the hostile tribes in their way.
Appearance of angels
In the Hebrew Bible, angels often appear to people in the shape of humans of extraordinary beauty, and often are not immediately recognized as angels (Genesis 18:2, Genesis 19:5; Judges 6:17, Judges 8:6; 2 Samuel 29:9). Some fly through the air, some become invisible, sacrifices touched by some are consumed by fire, and some may disappear in sacrificial fire. Angels, or the Angel, appeared in the flames of the thorn bush Genesis, Judges They are described as pure and bright as Heaven; consequently, they are said to be formed of fire, and encompassed by light, as the Psalmist said (Psalm) "He makes winds His messengers, burning fire His ministers." Some verses in the Apocrypha/Deuterocanon depict angels wearing blue or red robes but no such reference occurs in the Protestant books.
Jewish views
Angels appear in several Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) stories, in addition to the ones previously mentioned above. These include the warning to Lot of the imminent destruction of Sodom. Many Bible chapters mention an "angry God" who sends His angel to smite the enemies of the Israelites. Traditional Jewish biblical commentators have a variety of ways of explaining what an angel is. The earliest Biblical books present angels as heavenly beings created by God, some of whom apparently are endowed with free will. Later biblical books in the Tanakh present a stunningly different view of angels, as the Jewish beliefs about such things developed over the many years covered in the Bible. Such a differing perspective on angels is discovered in the Book of Ezekiel, where these angels bear no relation whatsoever to the former understanding of what an angel was.
Christian views
In the New Testament angels appear frequently as the ministers of God and the agents of revelation (e.g. Matthew 1:20 (to Joseph), 4:11. (to Jesus), Luke (to Mary), Acts(to Peter)); and Jesus speaks of angels as fulfilling such functions (e.g.Mark,), implying in one saying that they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mark 12:25). Angels are most prominent in the Apocalypse. The New Testament takes little interest in the idea of the angelic hierarchy, but there are traces of the doctrine. The distinction of good and bad angels is recognized. Good angels mentioned by name are Gabriel and Michael (Luke;Daniel). Scripture also mentions evil angels Satan, Beelzebub, and Apollyon. Apollyon, a name for an angel mentioned in Revelation 9:11, is believed by some to be a good angel that guards the gates to the traditionally known hell. Revelation 10:1 also does not name the angel spoken of but some have suggested it is Metatron. Some denominations affirming Christian faith remark that multiple names are used to refer to the same individual at times; some accepted groupings are Jesus and Michael (to refer to Christ) and Satan and Beelzebub (to refer to the Devil).
Islamic views
In Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, angels are called "Malaaikah"(sing: Malak). The belief in angels is central to the religion of Islam, beginning with the belief that the Qur'an was dictated to the Prophet Muhammad by the chief of all angels, the archangel Jibril (Gabriel). Angels are thus the ministers of God, as well as the agents of revelation in Islam.
In Islam, angels are benevolent beings created from light and do not possess free will. They are completely devoted to the worship of God (Allah) and carry out certain functions on His command, such as recording every human being's actions, placing a soul in a newborn child, maintaining certain environmental conditions of the planet (such as nurturing vegetation and distributing the rain) and taking the soul at the time of death. Angels are described as being excessively beautiful and have different numbers of wings (for example, Gabriel is attributed as having 600 wings in his natural form) and have no gender. They can take on human form, but only in appearance. As such, angels do not eat, procreate or commit sin as humans do.
You've been marked on my visitor map!
