Ps.91:11. "For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways."

The Bible speaks of angels in three different senses.

In the first and most common sense angels are invisible beings that God has created. There are both good and evil angels of this type. The evil angels are those who fell into sin. The good angels praise God. God has sent them especially to protect His children. Angels are present when members of Christian congregations assemble together, and Christians are exhorted for the sake of the angels to act properly and respectfully and to submit to God's order of creation.

The existence of angels cannot be proven by scientific methods, for as spiritual beings the angels are not of this world. Certain miraculous escapes from injury and death may offer a rational reason for some to believe in the existence of angels. Christians believe in the existence of angels on the basis of the Bible. If someone denies the existence of angels he also most likely denies the virgin birth of Jesus, His vicarious suffering, His resurrection, His ascension into heaven and His coming to judge the world, for the angels participate in all these events.

Christians also believe in the existence of evil angels. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the worldforces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). In fighting against the evil angels we need spiritual weapons, namely a faith that has Christ as its object and adheres to God's Word.

The Bible also sometimes uses the word angel in referring to people. The word angel means messenger. Of Jesus' forerunner, John the Baptist, God says: "Behold, I send My messenger before your face" (Matt. 11:10). The Apostle John wrote the seven letters in the Book of Revelation to the angels of the churches. He had no need to write to heavenly angels; the angels in question were the pastors of the congregations.

The third sense in which the word angel is used in the Bible is in reference to the Son of God, "God's Angel" (Ex. 3:1?15; Gen. 48:15,16, etc.). In these passages Angel and Lord (or Jahve) are equated. "Two designations, God and Angel, are used here for two different Persons, who are one in essence. The Angel is by nature the eternal God, otherwise Jacob would not have prayed to Him. He is nevertheless called an angel because of His office and work, which as a Son He had been given by the Father" (Luther). God "sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). That was His office.