COVER SUBJECT | ANGELS—ARE THEY REAL? WHY IT MATTERS
The Truth About Angels
Would you like to know the truth about angels—who they are, how they came into existence, and what they do? There is no better place to look for the answers than in God’s inspired Word, the Bible. (2 Timothy 3:16) What does the Bible tell us?
Just as God is a Spirit, angels too are invisible spirits who do “not have flesh and bones.” The loyal angels reside in the heavens and have direct access to God’s heavenly presence.—Luke 24:39; Matthew 18:10; John 4:24.
Angels have at times appeared in human form to care for God-given assignments on earth and then dematerialized after completing their assignments.—Judges 6:11-23; 13:15-20.
Although angels are presented in the Bible as males and have always materialized as males, there is no male or female distinction among them. They do not marry and reproduce their own kind. Moreover, angels did not first come into existence as humans on earth—whether as babies, children, or adults. Angels were created by Jehovah; thus the Bible calls them “sons of the true God.”—Job 1:6; Psalm 148:2, 5.
The Bible speaks of “the tongues of men and of angels,” indicating that spirit persons have language and speech. Although God has used angels to communicate with humans, he does not permit us to worship angels or pray to them.—1 Corinthians 13:1; Revelation 22:8, 9.
There are myriads upon myriads of angels, perhaps numbering into the billions.a—Daniel 7:10; Revelation 5:11.
Angels are “mighty in power”—much more powerful than humans—and they have superhuman intelligence. They evidently can travel at tremendous speeds, far exceeding the limits of the physical world.—Psalm 103:20; Daniel 9:20-23.
Despite their higher mental and spiritual powers, angels have limitations, and there are some things they do not know.—Matthew 24:36; 1 Peter 1:12.
Angels were created with personalities, divine qualities, and free will. Hence, like humans, they can choose to do right or wrong. Sadly, some angels chose to rebel against God.—Jude 6.
a A myriad is 10,000. One myriad times one myriad is 100 million. Yet, Revelation speaks of “myriads of myriads” of angels. That is hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of spirit creatures!