messages and announcements. The most famous instance of this was the moment the herald of angels came to proclaim the birth of Jesus Christ.
Bene Elim (meaning ‘sons of God’) are angels or archangels who sing the praises of God.
When you see an angel do you always hear music?
No. Some people hear music, some hear bells or ‘human-like’ voices. Others hear nothing at all.
‘Every time you hear a bell ring, it means that some angel’s just got his wings.’
HENRY TRAVERS TO JIMMY STEWART IN IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
Would angels be looking after my son who died as a small baby?
Angels are regularly seen by the dying and those sitting with the dying. They appear to help our loved ones cross over to the other-side and support and care for them when they get there. For more details see the specific references to Archangel Azrael, who traditionally has been called ‘angel of death’. Nowadays we would probably call them the ‘passing-over’ angels.
Is it true that children can see angels when adults can’t?
Sometimes this does seem to be the case. I think that with younger children, especially, it is because they do not know that others can’t! The other explanations that adults look for to explain visions simply do not occur to a child! They go for the most obvious explanation – if it looks like an angel then it is one!
‘Perhaps children’s innocence, wherever it comes from, contributes to the fact that they seem to see angels more often.’
JOHN RONNER, KNOW YOUR ANGELS
Some stories reach me where very small children describe or talk to an angel when their parents say that they have no prior knowledge of what an angel might be! Although in most nursery and junior schools (at least in the UK) even the very tiniest of children take part in nativity plays and dress up as angels!
What’s the difference between an angel and an archangel?
The word ‘angel’ is the collective name for all the ‘celestial beings’. There is an ‘angelic hierarchy’ of angels, with angels divided between three spheres. In the group of angels closest to earth (the third sphere) and working with humankind are the angels we usually call ‘Guardian Angels’.
In many references the archangels are said to be the higher-ranking angels.
Do all angels have wings?
Many religious sources do list certain angels as having wings. The Archangel Gabriel is said to have 140 wings! Some people see angels with wings and some do not. Many people believe that angels are beings of light and do not need wings at all, and that it’s the ‘light’ which is mistaken for wings. This idea is thought to go back to the earliest times when humankind assumed that to fly, an angel would need such assistance.
Some people who see angels believe that the ‘wings’ are, in fact, streams of upward-flowing energy.
Winged creatures were known to the Vikings, who called them ‘valkyries’; the Greeks called them the ‘horae’. The Greek god Hermes served as a messenger and was shown with wings on his feet. Do these early references contribute to the angels-have-wings tradition? Angels were not really known as having wings (with any regularity at least) until the time of the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century after Christ, and it is the art of the Renaissance which gives us much of our angel imagery. In the Bible, for example, the angels who gave the news of the resurrection of Jesus are described as ‘two men’, but they appear in the light associated with angels.
Ancient cave drawings and carvings do show beings with wings. Were these angels or something else? We may never know.
Do all angels visit the earth?
No, I don’t believe they do, although many angels are assigned the role of guardians of the Earth and protectors of humans. Many millions more have roles in heaven and other realms and planes of existence.
Sometimes angels are known to pass their message through people rather than enter our atmosphere, which is difficult for them to do. It can also be frightening for humans!
Do angels go to other planets?
Almost certainly. Each planet has its own angels who look over it.
Have angels existed since the beginning of time?
Yes, angels were made right at the beginning and the spirit that resides in the human form was made later, but as to whether angels were created just before or just after the beginning of the world is up for debate.
‘On the second day, God created the angels with their natural propensity to good. Later He made beasts with their animal desires. But God was pleased with neither. So He fashioned man, a combination of angel and beast, free to follow good or evil.’
HEBREW BIBLICAL TEXT
In Psalm 148 in the old Testament it says,
‘Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him all his angels praise him, all his host!…Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created.’
Others believe that the seven great archangels were made to help with the building of the Cosmos. Jewish writings suggest that they came into existence each morning through the breath of God, only to be reabsorbed each evening after their work had been completed. The Catholic Church teaches that before God made the world he made the angels – and all in one go! So I guess the answer to that question depends on whom you ask.
How many angels are there?
Many times it is quoted that there are more angels in the heavens than there are men on the Earth which will put the numbers of angels at billions!
Jesus said:
‘Do you think I cannot call my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?’
MATTHEW 26:53
There is also another mention in the Bible:
