The Existence, Number,
and Nature of Angels, part 2
by Renald Showers
The second truth about the nature of angels is that they are creatures. They were created by God. They owe their existence to Him. They are not self-existing beings. This is indicated in several ways in the Bible.
For example, in Psalm 148:2–4 all of God’s angels and other parts of the universe are commanded to praise the Lord. Verse 5 explains why they should praise Him: “Let them praise the name of the Lord; for he commanded, and they were created.” In addition, the Apostle Paul declared that angels were created (Col. 1:16).
Two major things should be noted concerning the creation of angels: the nature and time of their creation.
The Nature of Their Creation: Because, as noted earlier, angels by nature do not have sexuality, they do not reproduce. No angel has come into existence by reproduction. By contrast, humans reproduce because they possess sexuality by nature.
Because angels do not reproduce, we must conclude that every angel was created directly and individually by God. In line with this, in the Bible angels are called “sons of God” (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7), indicating that God is their source of origin, but they are never called “sons of angels.” By contrast, because humans are reproduced by humans, the Bible calls them “sons of men” (Eccl. 1:13; 2:3, 8; Dan. 5:21).
Because all angels were created directly and individually by God and do not reproduce, certain things must be true of them. Angels have no ancestors, no offspring, and no families. There are no mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or cousin angels. And although artistic representations of baby angels may be cute, there is no biblical verification to back up their existence.
By contrast, because humans reproduce, they have ancestors, offspring, blood relatives, and families.
In addition, because every angel was created directly and individually by God, they, contrary to popular opinion, are not departed spirits of deceased human beings.
Years ago a Christmas television special entitled “The Littlest Angel” portrayed the fictional story of a small boy who tried to catch a beautiful dove. As the dove flew higher up the side of a mountain, the boy pursued it by climbing the mountain. When he came to the peak and reached out to grasp the dove, the boy lost his footing and plunged to his death. Immediately the boy’s spirit ascended to heaven. There adult angels were given the assignment of converting his spirit into an angel. Through time, they accomplished their task, and so the boy’s spirit became the littlest angel in heaven.
This was a sweet story, and it probably gave many people a warm, fuzzy feeling at Christmas, but it was contrary to reality. Departed spirits of deceased humans are not the source of angels. Each angel was created directly and individually by God.
The Time of Their Creation: The Bible does not give a clear, specific statement concerning when angels were created. However, the teaching of three passages, taken together, indicates the time of their creation.
The first passage is Job 38:6–7. It is important to note that it was God who spoke in this passage (see v. 1). He declared that when He created the earth, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (v. 7). God thereby revealed that the morning stars/sons of God were already present to observe His act of bringing the earth into existence, and they were so impressed with this great work that they sang and shouted His praises. This declaration of God indicates that the morning stars/sons of God existed before the earth was created.
Who were these morning stars/sons of God In attempting to identify them, we should note three things. First, the fact that they sang and shouted God’s praises indicates that the morning stars/sons of God were personal beings, not impersonal objects.
Second, the Book of Job is an Old Testament poetic book. A major characteristic of ancient Hebrew poetry was parallelism, where two lines express the same thought but through different words. The two lines “the morning stars sang together” and “all the sons of God shouted for joy” of Job 38:7 are an example of Hebrew parallelism; therefore, they express the same thought and do not represent two sets of beings.
Third, “the sons of God” were mentioned earlier in the Book of Job (1:6; 2:1). Scholars are convinced that in those passages and Job 38:7 “the sons of God” are angels. This means, then, following the poetic use of parallelism, that the expression “the morning stars” is also a reference to angels.
In light of what has been seen, it can be concluded that in Job 38:6–7 God revealed that the angels were already existing and present when He created the earth.
The second passage related to the issue of when angels were created is Exodus 20:11. There Moses declared that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” (The Hebrew text says “the heavens” [plural] “and the earth.”) This statement is very significant because it indicates that within the scope of the six days of creation of Genesis 1 God created not only the heavens and the earth, but also all the different kinds of life forms that exist in the heavens, the earth, and the sea (see Gen. 2:1–4; Neh. 9:6).
The Bible indicates that the angels are a kind of life form that exists in the heavenly realm (1 Ki. 22:19; Ps. 103:19–21; Mt. 18:10; 22:30; 24:36; Lk. 2:13–15). As a result, Moses’ declaration in Exodus 20:11 is applicable to them. It strongly implies that the angels were created within the scope of the six days of creation of Genesis 1, not before or after those days.
The third passage that sheds light on the time when angels were created is Genesis 1:1 which states, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (the Hebrew text says “the heavens” [plural] “and the earth,” exactly as does Exodus 20:11). Because Exodus 20:11 indicated that the heavens and the earth were created within the scope of the six days of creation of Genesis 1, it can be concluded that the creative activity of Genesis 1:1 took place within the scope of those same six days, not before or after those days.
In light of this, a reading of Genesis 1:1–5 prompts the further conclusion that those verses refer to the first day of the six days of creation.
In light of these passages, three strong conclusions can be made about the time the angels were created. First, they were created sometime before the creation of the earth (Job 38:6–7). Second, they were created within the scope of the six days of creation of Genesis 1, not before or after those days (Ex. 20:11). Third, God created the heavens and the earth on the first day of the six days of creation (Gen. 1:1).
Thus, the angels were created by God on the first day of the six days of creation, but before the earth was created on that same day. It is interesting to note the order of Moses’ statement in Genesis 1:1. He referred to the heavens first, then the earth. It would appear that early on the first day God created the heavens. Later on that day He created the angels to inhabit the heavens. Still later on the first day He created the earth in its undeveloped, uninhabited state.
The Nature of Angels: They Are Personal Beings
The Bible indicates that three different kinds of personal beings exist in the universe: divine, angelic, and human. Although the beings in each of these kinds possess some attributes that differ from those in the other two kinds, all possess the three attributes of personality: intellect, emotions, and will.
Angels and the Attributes of Personality: The Bible presents evidences to the effect that angels possess the attributes of personality.
Intellect: Angels, other divine and human beings possess an intellect that is far superior to that of animals. According to 2 Samuel 14:20 the holy angels possess great wisdom. In addition, they have the ability to communicate intelligent thoughts by arranging words in logical order to form propositional statements (Gen. 19:1–2; Mt. 1:20–21; 2:13, 19–20; Lk. 1:11–20, 26–38).
When Jesus confronted a demon-possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum, the demon used intelligent language to speak to the Lord and possessed knowledge, discernment, and the ability to understand a verbal command (Lk. 4:33–35). From all we can determine, demons are fallen, evil angels.
Although angels possess a great degree of intelligence, they do not know everything. They do not know the day and hour of Christ’s Second Coming (Mt. 24:36). They learn about the manifold wisdom of God by watching the way He builds the church (Eph. 3:10). God’s work of saving sinful human beings is a mystery to them (1 Pet. 1:9–12).
Emotions: Angels possess and experience emotions. When they watched God create the earth, they experienced great joy (Job 38:4–7). As an angel, Satan will experience great wrath when he and his fallen angels are cast to the earth from their heavenly sphere during the future Tribulation (Rev. 12:7–12).
Will: The Apostle Paul referred to people who are taken captive by Satan “at his will” (2 Tim. 2:26). He thereby indicated that Satan, who is an angel, has a will. Early in history, some angels decided to rebel against God and thereby became evil. Other angels chose to remain loyal to God and thereby remained holy. The fact that angels made such decisions indicates that they have a will. They are not simply driven to serve God.
In light of these evidences, we can conclude that all angels possess the attributes of personality and, therefore, are personal beings.
The Nature of Angels: They Are Powerful Beings
Angels possess great power. David wrote, “Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength” (Ps. 103:20). The Apostle Paul ascribed the term “power” or “powers” to angels (Eph. 2:2; 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16), and he declared that they are “mighty” (2 Th. 1:7). Peter indicated that angels have great “power and might” (2 Pet. 2:11). The Apostle John described angels as being “strong” (Rev. 5:2) and “mighty” (Rev. 10:1; 18:21) and “having great power” (Rev. 18:1).
The Bible presents demonstrations of their great power. For example, angels had the power to inflict blindness upon the men of Sodom without the use of physical means (Gen. 19:10–11). An angel shut the mouths of lions so that they could not hurt Daniel (Dan. 6:22). Because of unbelief, Zecharias, the father of John the Baptist, was inflicted with the inability to speak for a period of time by the angel Gabriel (Lk. 1:19–22). The mere presence of an angel caused a great earthquake (Mt. 28:2). An angel freed apostles from imprisonment by causing chains to fall off and prison doors to open without using keys or physical force (Acts 5:17–19; 12:1–11). An angel smote King Herod Agrippa I with a fatal illness because he accepted the ascription of deity to himself by some of his subjects (Acts 12:20–23). During the future Tribulation, angels will inflict awesome judgments upon the world (Rev. 8–18). At the Second Coming of Christ, angels will remove all living unsaved people from the earth and will cast them into a terrible place of judgment (Mt. 13:37–42, 47–50). At that same coming, the remnant of saved Jews alive on the earth will be gathered from the whole world to their homeland by angels (Mt. 24:29–31; cp. Isa. 27:12–13).
The Bible reveals that the power of angels is superior to the power of human beings. The Apostle Peter indicated that angels “are greater in power and might” than mortal people (2 Pet. 2:11). Paul commanded Christians to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” and to “Put on the whole armor of God” in order to stand against attacks by evil angels (Eph. 6:10–18). He thereby implied that, by themselves, mortal Christians are no match for the power of evil angels. The only way they can deal effectively with that superior angelic power is to use the equipment God has made available to believers. It is therefore clear that there is a major distinction between the power of angels and the power of human beings. Angelic power could be classified as supernatural. By contrast, human power is only natural.
It is important to note that although angelic power is supernatural, it has limitations. Angels are not omnipotent. The Bible indicates that only deity is all-powerful and, therefore, angels are no match for the power possessed by the persons of the triune Godhead. The reality of this has been demonstrated in several ways. God had the power to imprison a group of angels in a place of darkness and to keep them there until their final future judgment (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). He also had the power to restrict Satan’s attacks against Job (Job 1:8–12; 2:1–6). Christ had the power to cast out demons (fallen angels) and to make them go wherever He commanded (Mt. 9:32–33; Lk. 8:26–36).
At the end of the present earth’s history, God will crush a final satanic revolt and cast Satan into the lake of fire, where he will be constantly tormented for all eternity (Rev. 20:7–10; cp. Mt. 25:41). This is most significant because it appears that in his original holy state, Satan was the most powerful angel created by God (Ezek. 28:11–15). Because the most powerful angel is no match for God’s power, it is certain that no angel possesses power equal to God’s.
 Dr. Renald E. Showers is an author and an international conference speaker for the Friends of Israel.
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