What Do Angels Do?
Angels do a variety of tasks for God the Creator of all:
- They worship God. “Let all the angels of God worship Him” (Hebrews 1:6b also Revelation 5:8-13).
- They praise God. “Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts!” (Psalm 148:1-2 also Isaiah 6:3).
- They are messengers. They serve as messengers to communicate God’s will to men as in the book of Daniel and Revelation.
- They guide. Angels gave God’s instructions to Joseph about the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1-2), to the women at the tomb, to Philip (Acts 8:26) and to Cornelius (Acts 10:1-8).
- They provide. God used angels to provide physical needs such as food for Hagar (Genesis 21:17-20), Elijah (1 Kings 19:6) and Christ after His temptation (Matthew 4:11).
- They protect. God send His angels to protect people out of physical danger as in the cases of Daniel and the lions and his three friends in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3 and 6).
- They deliver. God sent His angels to deliver the apostles from prison in Acts 5 and repeated the process for Peter in Acts 12.
- They strengthen and encourage. Angels strengthened Jesus after His temptation. “Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:11). They encouraged Paul who wrote, “For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me” (Acts 27:23-25).
- They bring answers to prayer. When Peter was imprisoned and the church was praying for him, the Lord sent an angel to deliver him out of prison (Acts 12:5-10).
- They help in winning people to Christ. “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert” (Acts 8:26 also 10:3).
- They serve as executioners. Angels are used by God to punish sin. “And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead” (2 Kings 19:35).
In His service,
BibleAsk Team