The disciples looked intently up into the sky as Jesus was ascending. Suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them Acts 1:10
Angels are mentioned in many parts of the Bible. The word ‘angel’ literally means ‘messenger’, so the Bible always describes angels acting as go-betweens, communicating messages and giving comfort from a conceptually remote, spiritual, God to physical humankind.
In many parts of the Bible, the angels is not described in much detail because it’s the message that is important. For example, in Acts 12:7, Peter is locked in a cell when suddenly, ‘an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell’. Often, the angels is dressed in white an looks vaguely human. For example, in Mark 16:5, when the disciples entered the rock tomb in which Jesus came back to life, ‘they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side’. Similarly, they Mary Magdalene saw ’two figures in white’ (John 20:12). There is never more detail on their appearance.
The prophet Isaiah had a vision of heaven in which he saw many seraphim. He saw strange-looking creatures: verse 2 says, ‘Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying’ (Isaiah 6:2). The beings seen by Ezekiel were again different—this time cherubim and each had four wings (Ezekiel 1:4–9).
These visions inspired our current idea of angels having wings but in fact the Bible never describes an angel with wings.
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