Angels in the Bible: Ambassadors From Another World?

In Christian iconography and art, angels are usually represented in two ways — as cute cherubs or handsome humanoids with wings. However, angels in the bible are both more mundane and more fantastic than this. They are portrayed as messengers from beyond, often associated with astronomical and atmospheric phenomena. Sometimes they abduct or interbreed with human beings. But mostly they observe us, only making contact at key points, acting as divine witnesses, heralds, and vehicles. Are they spiritual beings, “ancient astronauts,” interdimensional intelligences, or a combination of all three?

The angels portrayed in Christian iconography are often beautiful but they utterly fail to reflect how the biblical texts describe such creatures. Medieval, Renaissance, and Romantic art all tended to represent angels in one of two ways. The first was as an idealized human male form but with wings. The second was as cute cherubs or putti. However, the angels in the Bible are both more mundane and fantastic than either of these.

The angels that met Abraham and rescued Lot from Sodom, for example, looked like ordinary men (Genesis 18). They walked rather than flew. They ate and drank. They took shelter and rest. Yet by the way Abraham behaved towards them, it was clear they were more than men. The truth of this is revealed when, later on, they exercise supernormal powers, such as turning a mob blind and destroying several cities.

Angels and Astronomy

According to the Genesis account, the stars were created on the fourth day (1:6). After everything was made, Genesis summarises the full creative act by saying: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” (2:1). Who or what is this “host”? Some translations interpret it as the “heavenly lights” (the sun, moon, and stars), while others prefer “inhabitants” (angels). There is a good case for both in the sense of astronomical bodies.

In a later text, when Moses repeats the law to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land, he warns them against idolatry by reference to this host.

“When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.”

Deuteronomy 4:19

It is clear that the reference here is to celestial objects. And yet the warning is against worshiping them. Further in the same book, Moses expands on his earlier comment and prohibits “going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven” (17:3). Later on, idolatrous kings, especially those engaged in occult practices, were routinely described as those who “worshiped and served all the host of heaven” (2 Kings 21:3-6).

The other side of this is that God himself is entitled “The Lord of Hosts” (1 Samuel 1:3 – first use) many times throughout the Old Testament, and even in the New Testament (James 5:4). Many translations render this as the “Lord of Armies” or “Heavenly Armies.” It is obvious that we are no longer only referring to stars.

“The glorious title, with which Isaiah, who uses it some sixty times, and Jeremiah some eighty times, have especially made us familiar, represented Jehovah, the Eternal One, as ruler over the heavenly hosts: that is, over the angels and the stars; the stars being conceived to be the dwelling-places of these deathless beings.”

Charles John Ellicott, Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

The military connotation of “hosts” is made clear when Joshua challenges a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword. Joshua demanded to know if this man was an Israelite or a Canaanite. Neither, he replied, “I am come as the commander of the Lord’s host” (Joshua 5:14). Stars do not need a Captain. This incident happened just before the fall of the walls of Jericho.

When the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, they were famously led out and guided by what is usually described as a “pillar of cloud” in the day, which became a “pillar of fire” by night (Exodus 13:21). What is interesting is that this pillar was often closely associated with and almost identified as an angel. When one moves, so does the other (14:19-20). As they continued their journey in the wilderness, this angel still led them (23:20, 23). For years and generations to come, the Israelites would ascribe their deliverance from Egypt, under God, to the work of an angel (Numbers 20:16; Isaiah 63:9).

The climax of their deliverance from Egypt was when the Israelites received the law at Mount Sinai. This pivotal event is described in the most graphic language, with God descending to the mountaintop in cloud and smoke, with thunder and lightning (Exodus 19:16-20). The cloud in particular received special attention in the narrative (24:15:18). This cloud settled on Sinai during this time. As Moses met with God, it was said that Moses entered into the cloud.

When Moses later reflected on this Sinai event, he described it as God coming with “ten thousand of his holy ones” (Deuteronomy 33:2), which most commentators take to refer to the angelic host. More than once, the New Testament explicitly connects the giving of the law at Sinai with the presence of angels (Galatians 3:9; Hebrews 2:2). Possibly the most explicit place where this is done is in the speech of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, before his death (Acts 7: 30, 35, 38, 53).

Alien abductions are not just a modern phenomenon. There are several examples in the Bible of prophets experiencing a situation in which they were taken up into heaven. There, they met God and the angels. The descriptions of these angels take us far away from usual artistic depictions. Isaiah saw six-winged beings called the “seraphim,” which can either mean “burning one” or “serpent” (Isaiah 6:2). A combination of both senses is probably intended here. Ezekiel saw another class of angels called “cherubim.” These are described as four-headed, wheel-shaped, and covered with eyes (Ezekiel 1:18; 9:3). Both these groups form part of the angelic hierarchy.

The impact that encountering such celestial beings had on each prophet was terrifying and overpowering. When John was told to “come up” and have his apocalyptic vision, he saw beings similar to the seraphs of Ezekiel, that spoke like the cherubs of Isaiah, surrounded by the thunder and lightning of Sinai (Revelation 4:6-8). His reaction was to fall down like a dead man or try to worship these beings, which they prohibited (19:10; 22:9). When Paul was similarly “caught up,” he frankly admitted he didn’t know how it happened and what he heard was, in any case, inexpressible (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

Interbreeding Programs

Some of the strangest material in the Bible to do with angels can be found in Genesis 6, in which the “sons of God” are described as mating with the fair “daughters of men.” This occurred at the time of Noah and was depicted in the 2014 film of the same name in which beings called “Watchers” helped him build and defend the ark. These Watchers are portrayed as fallen angels, now encased in stone bodies, who descended from heaven to help Adam and Eve but were now stranded here. According to Christian tradition, Satan is their leader.

Commentators have given different interpretations of the identity of these “sons of God.” They have been variously identified as human judges or kings (who elsewhere in the Old Testament are named in this way), or members of the godly line of Seth, who intermingled with the evil descendants of Cain. Perhaps the best argument for identifying them with angels is the seemingly superhuman nature of their offspring — the Nephilim, elsewhere referred to as giants. Not only are these giants described as tall beyond the normal range for human beings, but they also possess other physical mutations, such as six toes and six fingers (2 Samuel 21:20; 1 Chronicles 20:6). Goliath is the most famous specimen of such gigantism.

Christian tradition has a different view on fallen angels from the one described in Enoch. Historically, the leader of these fallen angels has been identified with the one called Lucifer in Isaiah 12, although modern commentators are less certain about this link. Many recent versions of the Bible do not employ the name “Lucifer” here at all but instead speak of the “Morning Star,” the “Shining Star,” or something similar. The name Lucifer itself means light-bringer or light-bearer, and the allusion might be to the planet Venus. Whoever this refers to, there is certainly an astrological component, since this Lucifer had “fallen from heaven” even though he wanted to raise his throne “above the stars of God” (vs 12-13).

In the New Testament, Jesus said at one point that he “saw Satan fall as lightning falls from heaven” (Luke 10:18) to describe the impact of demonic exorcisms. This image of a fall from the heavens continues in Revelation 12, where a great, red dragon appears in heaven. Its tale sweeps a third of the stars out of heaven and throws them down to earth (v 4). This is often taken as a symbol of Satan’s rebellion with other angels before the creation of man. This chapter speaks of a war breaking out in heaven, after which the dragon was thrown out and down. This dragon is explicitly identified as “that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (v 9).

There are passages in the Old Testament that describe angels as flying, such as the passage in Isaiah already discussed (6:2, 6). There are other texts that describe God himself as flying, especially in the Psalms. For example, Psalm 68 says that God “rides on the clouds” and “across the highest heavens” (vs 4, 33). Psalm 104 states that God “makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind” (v 3).

Perhaps the most interesting text is one in Psalm 18 that brings both of these ideas—angels flying and God flying—together in one unique image. The context is a situation where the psalmist (here identified as David himself) was in trouble and cried to God for help. God comes to David’s rescue. As God approaches, typical atmospheric phenomena appear — fiery smoke and dark clouds, with thunder and lightning. But it is the way God approaches that is fascinating.

“He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.”

Psalm 18:10

The picture is one of God riding on top of or being carried by angelic creatures through space and sky. Some commentators compare this to Assyrian artwork of their gods in chariots pulled by winged attendants. Others prefer Persian conceptions of griffin-like creatures upon which the gods rode. Whatever the exact picture, it is clear here that angels are not only ambassadors who carry God’s word and message to earth but who ultimately carry God himself through the skies.