It’s Just an Angel Our perceptions of angels are likely skewed by paintings we have seen. While many of these paintings are great works of art, they cannot begin to capture just how breathtaking and astounding angels must be. Consider Daniel’s angelic encounter: “His body was like [a precious gem], his face like lightning, his […]
The Devil’s Army Is Not Cute and Cuddly but Dangerous and Deadly Given their depiction in animated movies, many people view minions as adorable little yellow creatures who bungle through life. Their antics—with varying degrees of incompetence—come across as humorous, even endearing. But this is not true in the spiritual realm when it comes to […]
Supernatural Encounters May Be Scary The Book of Mark wraps up with three women going to the tomb of Jesus to anoint his body. They are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. They approach the tomb preoccupied, wondering how they will roll the stone away to gain access. As it turns out, […]
Celebrate the Holiness of God The prophet Isaiah has a dream, a vision. He sees into heaven. God sits on his throne over the temple. Six-winged angels, seraphim, hover above him. They sing out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. Earth fills with his glory.” As their voices ring out, the temple shakes and […]
Embrace Seraphim As Celestial Beings Quick, are seraphim angels? Until recently I would have said “yes” without hesitation. That’s what I was taught. However, after researching for the post Holy, Holy, Holy, I’ve reached a different conclusion. First, the dictionary says seraphim are “celestial beings.” Celestial implies heaven or the divine (God). I equate celestial […]
We Can Only Guess about Battles in the Spiritual Realm, but Angels Fight for Us The book of Daniel contains six stories and four prophetic visions. In Daniel’s final, and longest, vision, we get a glimpse— perhaps metaphorically—of what happens in the spiritual realm and how angels fight for us. Starting with chapter 10, Daniel […]
God Sends an Angel to Guard and Guide His People into the Promised Land I’ve read the book of Exodus a dozen or so times, but I never remember reading today’s passage. I’m sure it was there, but it never clicked with me until now. The Israelites have left Egypt. They wander around in the […]
Most of the time when angels are mentioned in the Bible, their names are not given. Apparently, their names aren’t important; their message is what matters. However, the names of four angels are mentioned: Michael The only archangel in the Bible is Michael. Jude reveals Michael argued with Satan about the body of Moses (Jude […]
God’s Messengers I’m not sure if I assumed it or someone taught me, but I always thought seraphim and cherubim were two special classes of angels. Though seraphim and cherubim aren’t mentioned often in the Bible (2 and 69 verses respectively), angels make a much more frequent appearance, in some 290 places. In none of […]
The short book of Jude, contains many examples to illuminate the main theme of his letter (concerning ungodly people in the church). However, some of these illustrations fail to accomplish that goal for us in our world today. They are more cryptic than clarifying. The first is in verse 9, where Jude talks about the […]