The Worship of Angels
Angel adoration is a practice that calls for the worship of angels. Its proponents consider these heavenly beings to be lower emanations of God. Such people teach that human bodies are utterly worthless and unworthy to approach God, and therefore need intermediaries. These false teachers promote angels as being superior to man and, in a sense, extensions of the Deity.
Although angels are individuals with unique personalities and amazing abilities, the Bible expressly directs that we are never to worship them. “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels” (Colossians 2:18). Angels serve the divine order but they are not divine. While God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are eternal, angels have a beginning point (Colossians 1:16). Good angels will live on throughout eternity, but the evil ones have a certain end to their existence, at the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
Satan, a fallen angel, demanded worship when he tempted Christ in the wilderness. Satan promised Jesus the whole world if the Savior would only worship him. Jesus refused to comply with the devil’s demand and said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’ ” (Matthew 4:10).
The Ten Commandments plainly tell us, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Even praying over images of these heavenly beings is prohibited. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them” (verses 4, 5).
Note what the angel said to John in Revelation 22:8-9: “Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
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In His service,
BibleAsk Team
