8 Things Angels Do & What They Don’t Do
In the New Testament, angels are entrusted with the care of the elect — the heirs of salvation (see Hebrews 1:14).
There is no record in the Bible of angels assisting evil people, although there are multiple references of angels releasing judgment against the wicked. The primary assignments of Heaven-sent angels are in respect to the elect. God sends angels to meet His people’s needs; to strengthen the weary; to give believers supernatural guidance (which, in the New Testament, most frequently occurs in dreams or visions); to provide protection and deliverance from harm; to carry out superhuman feats; to make special announcements; and to release divine judgment. The Bible never explicitly states how many angels God created, but Hebrews 12:22 says that the heavenly hosts of angels are “innumerable.”
The apostle Paul strongly warned against a preoccupation with angels (see Colossians 2:18). So-called angelic preaching and teaching was viewed as one of the primary sources of false doctrine in the Early Church (see Galatians 1:8). During the First Century, much of the false teaching Paul combated was due to so-called “revelations” that purportedly came directly from angels. For instance, the doctrinal problems that were emerging in the church at Colossae and other churches in the Lycus Valley could be traced to claims that angels had appeared with new teachings and revelations. Hence, it is no surprise that many cults and sects in existence today were also formed on the basis of alleged angelic revelations and teachings.
Following is a New Testament list of activities that angels perform. As you carefully read this information, note that there isn’t a single record anywhere in the New Testament that encourages or endorses the concept that angels are charged with preaching or teaching God’s Word. There is also not one instance in which God sends angels to bring correction or rebuke to a local congregation of believers.
In addition, angels are not redeemed; they have no personal experience with the indwelling Holy Spirit, as believers do. Therefore, although the roles of angels are varied and vital, they do not include preaching or teaching about redemption. These responsibilities are assigned to human messengers — specifically to the five-fold ministry gifts (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) — who are anointed by God’s Spirit to speak on behalf of Jesus Christ to His Church. In fact, angels watch preachers to hear what they say (see 1 Peter 1:12). Finally, please keep in mind that this is about what angels do today. In the future, they will have additional roles, such as separating the righteous from the lost (Matthew 13:41,42,49,50), accompanying Jesus at His Second Coming 2 Thessalonians 1:7,8), and so on. But for the purposes of this discussion, we will focus on the roles of angels in this present Church Age.
Angels Meet Physical Needs
Matthew 4:11 and Mark 1:13 state that when Jesus concluded His 40-day fast in the wilderness, angels appeared to Him and ministered to Him, thereby meeting Jesus’ physical needs.
In both of these verses, the word translated “ministered” comes from the Greek word diakonos. Wherever this word is used in the New Testament, it depicts a servant whose chief occupation is to meet some kind of physical or tangible need. The word diakonos is most notably used in Acts 6:2, where it is translated as “serve,” referring to the role of the men who were chosen to meet the physical needs of widows in the church at Jerusalem. So when Matthew 4:11 and Mark 1:13 relate that angels “ministered” to Jesus, this means that they took on the role of servants and ministered to Jesus’ physical and tangible needs after His 40 days of fasting and being tempted by the devil in the wilderness.
Angels Give Strength
The Bible provides many examples of angels strengthening the weary; however, the best New Testament example is found in Luke 22:43, where an angel strengthened Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane during the most difficult time of His earthly life. This verse says, “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.”
When Jesus could find no one else to stand with Him in His hour of need, God provided supernatural assistance in the form of an angel to “strengthen” Jesus. This word “strengthen” comes from the Greek word enischuo, a compound of the words en and ischuos. The word en means in, and the word ischuos is the Greek word for might or strength. In New Testament times, the word ischuos denoted men with great muscular abilities, such as champions or heroes. But when these two words en and ischuos are compounded, the new word means to impart strength; to empower someone; to fill a person with physical vigor; or to give someone a renewed vitality. In essence, it describes a person who may have been feeling exhausted and depleted but then suddenly receives a robust blast of energy that instantly recharges him. This means that when Jesus’ disciples and friends couldn’t be depended on in His hour of need, God provided an angel who empowered, recharged, and imparted strength to Jesus, thus renewing His vitality so He could victoriously face the most difficult hour of His life. Thus, Luke 22:43 provides a vivid New Testament example of how angels strengthen the weary.
Angels Give Supernatural Guidance
Examples of how angels provide supernatural guidance are abundant in the New Testament. In Matthew 2:13, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to quickly take Mary and the young Christ Child into Egypt because Herod would seek to kill Jesus. When Herod died, an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, informing him that Herod was dead and that he and his family could now return to Israel. In both of these instances, the supernatural angelic guidance occurred in dreams.
In Acts 8:26, an angel spoke to Philip the evangelist and told him to turn south from Jerusalem toward Gaza. Whether or not the angel told Philip the reason for that divine command, he was quick to obey. Following the guidance provided by this angel, Philip turned south and soon met a powerful Ethiopian eunuch who served under Queen Candice of Ethiopia. At that precise moment, this influential man was reading the book of Isaiah and longing for someone to explain the Scriptures to him.
God had heard the heart cry of the eunuch and sent an angel to tell Philip to turn south. If Philip had disobeyed or had second-guessed the angel’s guidance, the eunuch’s questions would have remained unanswered. But because Philip listened and obeyed, the eunuch was saved and then baptized in water — and his story became one of the most famous conversions in the book of Acts. This landmark event came to pass because of supernatural angelic guidance.
In Acts 10, we find a powerful example of angelic guidance that changed the course of history. In this passage, an angel appeared in a vision to an Italian centurion named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea. Although Cornelius was unsaved at that moment, he was also divinely chosen. God heard this man’s prayers and saw the alms he hadgiven to the poor, so He intervened on Cornelius’ behalf by providing angelic guidance. The angel who appeared to Cornelius instructed him to send his servants to Joppa to summon Peter and his companions to come to him. When Peter arrived at Cornelius’ residence, the apostle preached the Gospel to those who were present. All who heard Peter repented and were filled with the Holy Spirit. At that historic moment, the door to salvation was opened to the Gentiles, and the Gospel message began to go forth into the Gentile world.
The apostle Paul also experienced supernatural angelic guidance when he was on a ship in the midst of a raging storm at sea. After the ship’s crew had fought the storm for many days, Paul came forward and boldly declared, “And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee” (Acts 27:22-24).
Although the storm still raged for many more days, the message that the angel spoke to Paul came to pass exactly as it has been said. The ship was lost, but not a single soul perished in that destructive storm. When Paul and the other men were tempted to fear for their lives, God sent an angel to calm the inner storm that was raging in their minds and souls. And because Paul believed the word of the Lord spoken through the angel, everyone on board survived. This ordeal, which could have ended so horribly, resulted instead in a great revival on the island of Melita, where they were stranded after the ship was lost at sea (see Acts 28:1-9).
Angels Provide Protection and Deliverance
The Old Testament is filled with clear evidence that God assigns angels to guard and protect His people. For instance, Psalm 34:7 says that angels encamp around those who fear the Lord to deliver them. Psalm 91:11 promises that God will give His angels charge over His people to keep them in all their ways.
We see an example of how angels guard and protect God’s people in Acts 5:17-20. In this account, the high priest rose up against the apostles and had them arrested and thrown into prison. Then Acts 5:19,20 says, “But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”
That night an angel intervened to protect the apostles and set them free. In an instant, they were delivered from harm. However, it must be noted that the angel told the apostles to go preach and teach. If it were possible for an angel to preach and teach, this was that moment. Imagine how powerful the effect would have been if an angel had appeared in splendor to preach the Gospel on the temple grounds. But angels can’t do this because they are never assigned the duty of preaching or teaching — even though they often provide supernatural strength, support, protection, and, if needed, deliverance for believers who do preach and teach. A few chapters later in Acts 12 is the account of Peter’s arrest and imprisonment — one of the best illustrations of how angels protect and deliver God’s people. After Herod ordered the beheading of James (see Acts 12:1,2), he saw that many Jews approved of his action. Therefore, in order to garner more support and popularity with the angry mob of Christian-haters, Herod gave the order for the apostle Peter to be arrested next. The authorities may have recalled the previous time when the group of apostles miraculously escaped from prison, because this time Peter was delivered to “four quaternions of soldiers” (Acts 12:4).
A “quaternion” referred to a group of four Roman soldiers. So four quarternions (i.e., four different groups containing four soldiers each) successively took turns guarding Peter throughout the four watches of the night — one quaternion for each watch. In total, 16 heavily armed Roman soldiers were assigned to guard Peter that night. However, Peter had an invisible guard that was far more powerful than all 16 Roman soldiers combined!
Acts 12:6 states that Peter was sleeping between two prison guards while two other guards stood watch at the prison door. Suddenly the angel of the Lord came into the prison cell and awoke Peter from his sleep, telling him to rise up quickly and leave the prison. Instantly the chains that held Peter loosened and fell to the ground. The angel then told the apostle to put on his shoes and follow him — and Peter obeyed.
Not only did the angel of the Lord set Peter free from the chains that held him, but apparently the angel also temporarily blinded the guards so they were unaware of what was happening. Peter followed the angel through the first and second ward until he came to an iron gate, which supernaturally opened in front of him without anyone touching it. Perhaps Peter didn’t realize he wasn’t dreaming until he actually stood on the street outside the prison — free. An angel had just delivered the apostle from the horrible fate that awaited him at the hands of Herod (vv. 7-11).
There are many more examples in both the Old and New Testaments of angels providing the elect with supernatural protection and deliverance from harm. This is an essential part of the ministry God has assigned to His heavenly hosts.
Angels Make Divine Announcements
Although angels do make announcements, their vocal role in the affairs of mankind is not the same as that of human preachers and teachers. Ministers who preach and teach must study, pray, and prepare to teach the Word of God. Once their preparation is complete, ministers then depend on the anointing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit as they speak from their spirits and souls — elaborating, processing, and using human experience to convey what God has shown them in the Scriptures.
Angels don’t need to study, pray, or prepare. They listen and speak verbatim what God has instructed them to speak. They are repeaters, not preachers. Once an angel has delivered the message to someone exactly as God dictated it, he disappears as quickly as he initially appeared.
Thus, angels are God-sent heavenly messengers who make word-for-word announcements. Only twice in the entire New Testament is there a record of an angel ever conversing with a person — in the cases of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
In Mary’s case, the angel Gabriel appeared to this young virgin and made the announcement that she would give birth to Jesus. Mary asked the angel, “…How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” (Luke 1:34). Gabriel answered her question and clarified that this would be a miraculous birth (v. 35). As God’s angelic messenger, Gabriel was only permitted to speak information that was spoken to him — so once Gabriel’s mission was complete, he disappeared. Although he was an archangel, Gabriel’s function was to repeat the exact message God had entrusted to him and nothing more.
As humans, we are commanded to preach the Gospel and teach God’s Word. It is our lifelong responsibility — especially if we are called to the ministry — to study, preach, teach, expose error, rebuke, correct, and instruct (see 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2). In fact, for all their supernatural abilities, angels cannot even grasp the full glory of our redemption in Christ. As Peter wrote: “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12).
In this verse, the apostle Peter described the great privilege human beings possess to preach and teach God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, angels are so fascinated by this divine privilege that they watch in amazement as men and women preach the Gospel. Angels observe believers as they preach and teach, and they supernaturally assist believers by orchestrating circumstances to eliminate any hindrance to the preaching of the Gospel. But angels are spectators — never participants — when it comes to preaching and teaching.
The Bible is replete with illustrations of angels being sent from Heaven to repeat word-for-word announcements from God. The book of Revelation alone is filled with angelic announcements that initiate judgments upon the earth and its unbelieving inhabitants.
The seven “angels” referred to in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 are charged with the responsibility to speak messages to the local congregations. This previous discussion explains why Jesus could be referring only to human messengers — the pastors of those local congregations. The role of angels as heavenly messengers is to repeat verbatim the specific, limited message God sends them to deliver — not to teach, rebuke, correct, or preach to the Church of Jesus Christ.
Angels Perform Superhuman Feats
There are multiple examples in the Old Testament of angels performing superhuman feats. But the New Testament also portrays angels in this way. Perhaps the best example is when the angels rolled away the massive stone that lay before Jesus’ garden tomb. Matthew 28:2 says, “...The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.”
The word “stone” is the Greek word lithos, which simply means a stone. It is known, however, that the stones placed in front of such tombs were very large — impossible for a human being to move without the assistance of several people. It must also be noted that the word “sat” in this verse is the Greek word kathemai, which means to sit down. Some have suggested that the angel’s ability to sit on top of such a huge stone as if it were a chair may indicate the gigantic size of the angel himself. However, regardless of this heavenly angel’s size as he appeared to those who gazed upon him, the removal of this immense, heavy stone in front of Jesus’ tomb would have been a simple feat for such a supernatural being.
A remarkable example of an angel’s superhuman strength is recorded in Revelation 20:1-3, where John writes: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
At the appointed time, an unnamed angel will seize Satan, bind him with a great chain, shut him up in the bottomless pit, and then seal it so he cannot escape. No natural human being would ever be able to perform such a feat, but this passage of Scripture clearly states that a day is coming when an angel will single-handedly accomplish this task — scriptural proof of the great power heavenly angels possess.
Angels Worship
Revelation 5:11,12 says, “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”
Notice in these verses that the angels declared praises to the Lamb, but it doesn’t say they sang to Him. Since singing is a primary feature of worship, most theologians believe that angels do sing, but there is actually no record in Scripture to support this proposition. However, there are many scriptural instances where angels worship by making declarations about the character and greatness of God (see Isaiah 6:2-4).
One of the most famous passages is found in Luke 2:13,14: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Most people mistake this text to mean that the angels were singing when they appeared to the shepherds, but these verses state that these heavenly hosts were praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest….” Nonetheless, based on everything the Bible teaches about worship, it would be logical to conclude that besides making declarations in worship of God, angels also worship God with music, both instrumental and vocal, that is beyond the human imagination to conceive.
Angels Release God’s Judgement
Many New Testament scriptures portray the ability of angels to release God’s judgment. One of the clearest examples is found in Acts 12:22 and 23, where it states that people began to worship Herod as a god. Rather than protest against the praise of men, Herod seemed to encourage it. Verse 23 says, “And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” Herod’s death as a result of worms is a fact well established in historical records. However, this event as it is recorded in Acts 12:23 makes it clear that Herod’s miserable death was the result of a judgment released against him by an angel.
Nowhere in the Bible is the remarkable power of angels to release judgment better demonstrated than in the book of Revelation.
In Revelation 7:1, four angels are sent to release judgment upon the earth and sea.
In Revelation chapters 8 through 11, seven angels sound seven trumpets that release seven judgments into the earth.
In Revelation 14:17-20, an angel swings a sharp sickle on the earth that releases great wrath.
In Revelation chapters 15 and 16, seven angels pour judgment out of seven bowls onto the earth and its inhabitants.
All the angelic roles listed in here are recorded in God’s Word, giving us a clear picture of what angels do and don’t do.
