The conclusion can be drawn, then, that angels—those divine beings sent to earth to interact with people—look like people and do not have wings.

The idea that believers become angels after death draws on several scriptural threads. Two that might be familiar to most Christians are the doctrine of glorification (being made like Jesus; 1 John 3:1–3); statements that a believer’s existence in the afterlife makes them “like the angels” (Matt 22:30; Mark 12:25); and Paul’s teaching that the beli

With respect to the New Testament, the primary appeal to angels having wings comes from Revelation 10:1: Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.

The point is that God wants to be with his children. He wants us where he is. The plan was to blend his divine and human families on earth in deference to the limitations of human embodiment. Home is supposed to be where God is.

The ability of spirit beings to assume human form, including material corporeality, becomes even more interesting when considering 2 Corinthians 11:14, where Paul wrote that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” The verb translated “disguises,” metaschēmatizō, is rendered “masquerades” by other translators and scholars.

suggest that Revelation 9:1–2 ought to be interpreted in light of Revelation 20:1. This prevents several interpretive inconsistencies: First, it makes little sense for God to give a fallen being control over the pit. Second, the idea that a fallen angel functions as a servant of God runs contrary to the rest of Old and New Testament angelology. Thi

Angels are not “timeless” in the sense of being eternal beings. They had a beginning as created beings. They are immortal (Luke 20:36), but that immortality is ultimately contingent, based on God’s authority and pleasure. As God wills, angels are not subject to time in terms of aging or having a necessary terminus point for their existence, but thi

The second way a biblical theology of the heavenly host helps mold eternal perspective is to remind us that the terrestrial world as we know it isn’t our true home.

How is it we have this authority? John tells us: “all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). We are the children of God who rule the nations. Old Testament angelology makes the meaning of this clear—the nations are currently ruled by fallen sons of God, who oppress their populations