Only Birds, Planes and Angels Have Wings

I had a dream that I was dying. There at the foot of my bed was a large being, glowing like the sun,  with what appeared to be a set of angel wings in his hands. He looked at me and said, “I have been sent by God to escort you to heaven when you die. These are your wings.  You are about to become an angel.”

I became very angry and rebuked that demonic impostor. I said, “You are a liar, and you are not a messenger from God. I am his precious child. God has promised me a rich inheritance given only to his children . When I die I will become like Jesus who has already prepared a home in heaven for me. I trust God to keep his word. He would not demote me by making me an angel. “You know that we, Christians,  will rule and judge angels, not to mention things in this life, don't you?” 1 Corinthians 6:3 Children of God will be greater than the angels.

What are angels? They are heavenly messengers, and servants who praise God. They were created by God before the earth was created. God asked Job, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation … and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4,7). If the angels shouted for joy when the foundation of the earth was laid they would have had to been created much earlier. In the Genesis 1 account of creation the angels were not mentioned.

The angels are mighty warriors who fight evil forces and the unseen spirits of this world. The Bible says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word” (Psalm 103:20). Now, do any of us want to leave this violent world and go to heaven only to become warriors who fight demons? I know I don’t.

Angels are powerful and strong. “And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. (One angel killed 185,000 men in a matter of seconds.) And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.”       Isaiah 37:36 The angels had to be powerful to go against the demonic forces of evil that carry out Satan’s wicked purpose.

"God had sent a message to Daniel by the Archangel Gabriel. Gabriel, who normally would have delivered God's message the moment after he got it, was unable, of himself, to get past the 'prince of the kingdom of Persia!' This prince was not human. He was a powerful demon. It took the power of another one of God's holy angels, Michael (the only other Archangel the Bible mentions), to come and help him fight his way through to deliver his message."

 Angels are spiritual beings. Unlike us they are non-sexual. They can and do take on the form of men. They are great in power and wisdom. Angels are not devine and should not be worshipped. As with the conflict between the prince of Persia, they constantly fight battles unknown to us. Angels can appear to us in dreams and visions. That happens today, frequently, in Muslim countries.

Angels will never be human and humans will never be angels. There is nothing in the Bible that even remotely suggests that a person becomes an angel when they die. It is not biblical to say such a thing.  To say of a loved one, when they die, that he has gotten his wings as though receiving some metorious honor,  or that heaven gained another angel is a very unkind thing to say. It is to devalue that person’s decision to follow Jesus. It is to remove the most wonderful identity that a person can ever gain, Child of God. Anyone who knows the difference between a Christian and an angel will never want to be an angel. Don’t insult the dignity of the departed by inferring that they are angels. God loves the angels, but he loves us much more. We are his children and we won’t have wings when we go to be with him in heaven.

By the way, I just made up the part about the dream I said I had.