Angels Among Us

The thought of angels among us is interesting.  I've always believed in angels, yet didn't encounter any until later in life.  In a 2011 poll done by CBS, 8 out of 10 people believe in angels – even among those who did not readily identify as being “religious.”  For most, 80 percent is a lot!  However, I know I have personally been impacted by several angel encounters; so to me, those numbers are not surprising.   

The first angel encounter was actually through my daughter.  She was around 18 months of age; barely talking.  When playing, I noticed she was talking to herself.  Not uncommon to have an imaginary friend.  But when I questioned her about it, she said she was talking to her “angels.”  Odd, since our children were not introduced to any sort of religion before their teen years and no talk of angels in our home.  I pressed her about her angels.  She told me she had 4 good angels and a bad angel.  I do remember one’s name was Rachel.  After talking with her, I had no doubt that child was seeing and interacting with angels.  Furthermore, the movie “Heart and Souls”, depicted what I imagined her angel encounters to have been like to her.

As for me, my own angel encounter happened after the Tsunami of 2004.  I was watching the images from it on the news, and it was just too horrific to even fathom.  My mind simply could not wrap around what I was seeing.  What could I do to help?  What could my church do to participate in helping people in that part of the world?  I did the only thing I could think to do, which was to attempt to do something normal.  I went to the local mall.  The entire time I was at the mall, my mind was completely preoccupied by those television images.  However, while going down the escalator, I spoke with a woman who had turned around to look back at me.  We talked about shopping and how we hide purchases from our husbands;  you know, “normal” stuff.  Just as she started to get off the escalator, she turned to me once again and said, “Pray for the world.”  Then she rounded the corner.  I had chills.  I had no doubt that was an angel in physical form.   No one knew what I was thinking; but, she certainly did.  We had made no mention of the tragedy that had unfolded and yet, she seemed to know how disturbing I found it.    

Another angel encounter happened when I was driving.  I was taking my youngest son to middle school and within approximately 20 feet, a school bus pulled directly in my path.  I had a split second to make a decision -- I turned the wheel as hard as it would go and slammed my brakes.  I don’t know why that bus driver chose to pull out directly in front of me but my actions caused my car to hit the bus with much less impact and fortunately, no children were injured.  My car was totaled but, neither my son nor I were injured.  I know there was the hand of an angel on us that day and on those children in that bus.  Furthermore, people actually stopped their cars to tell me they would serve as witnesses to the event.  No one could understand how the bus driver did not see us or why she chose to pull out at that time.

So, what is an angel?  The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 4^th edition (2000) defines it as a “typically benevolent celestial being that acts as an intermediary between heaven and earth…” In Christianity, “The last of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.  From the highest to the lowest in rank, the orders are: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations or dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and angels.  It is also defined as “a guardian spirit or guiding influence”. 

I was curious as to what the Bible had to say about angels,  so I did what everyone does -- a Google search.  I found an interesting article on the website www.About.com. In it, Mary Fairchild writes that angels are mentioned in the Bible 273 times.  Some angel facts according to the article are as follows:

Angels were created by God. 

Colossians 1:16 says “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things were created by him and for him.

Angels live for eternity.  

In Luke 20:3 it says “…for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”

Angels don’t get married. 

“At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Matthew 22:30

Angels are wise and intelligent.

2 Samuel 14:17 says, “now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king secure my inheritance, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil…”

Angels have knowledge of and are interested in the affairs of mankind.

 In Daniel 10:14, it says “Now I have come to explain in you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

Angels are faster than man.

 “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” Revelation 14:6

Angels can be invisible.

 In Job 4:15 it says, “A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.”

Angels are subject to Christ.

 1 Peter 3:22 says “...who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”

One question we probably all have wondered at one time or another is why were angels created? 

In Revelation 4:8, it describes how angels are made to worship and glorify God the Father and God the Son.  “Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

Angels are sent to help mankind.

  In Hebrews 1:14 it says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

These are just a few of the references the Bible makes concerning angels.  I was curious as to what “regular” people thought about angels.  And so, I asked people on Facebook and Twitter to send me their stories.  These are some that I received.

Someone told me her mother-in-law visited her in her bedroom at the exact moment of her passing.  She shared the incident with her husband just before he received the call that she had passed.  This encounter  allowed her to witness God’s love and faithfulness with him.  Ultimately, his faith became stronger as a result.

Another said  while sightseeing, her shoe got caught and she nearly plunged 15 feet into water below, which would probably have resulted in a certain death.    She described that she felt a push, which prevented her from falling backwards into the water.  Her daughter, who saw the incident, said it appeared as if she was pushed forward by someone but no one was physically there. 

Someone else saw a small child in the road while driving to see her father, who lay deathly ill in the hospital.  She was on a dark, winding road and could barely see the road through her tears.  When she saw the child, she stopped.  Her stopping allowed her to clear her head and eyes so that she could get to the hospital safely.  She ultimately made it to the hospital in time to see her father.  He survived but passed away a few months later.

Lastly, someone described how on the day of her mother’s funeral she saw an angel as she was entering the funeral limousine.  Her mother had passed suddenly and in a tragic manner.  She said the angel looked like a woman she knew who had passed away previously.  She thought it was the family member of a friend of hers.  She said that seeing the angel left her with a feeling of peace.

Angels are God’s way of helping us through difficult times.  They are there by our sides, to lift us up when we are down or help us along the way.  Not everyone sees angels nor has to see angels to believe in God’s existence.  Like us, they were created to glorify and worship God.  They observe, help, minister and bring messages to us.  Though lowest on the holy hierarchy, they are still above us.  Like God, we can probably never truly understand them; but as we seek to know Him better, so we can embrace those heavenly beings He has sent to embrace us.