What do angels look like?

What do angels look like?

The word most often translated in the Bible as “angel” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “messenger.”  Angels, then, would be ones who are sent to share a message from God.  We definitely see this in the Gospel of Luke when the angel Gabriel is sent to tell Mary about the coming of the Christ child (Luke 1:26).  The Gospel of Matthew tells us that an “angel of the Lord” appears to Joseph in a dream to deliver the same news, but that angel is not named (Matthew 1:20).

Sometimes angels have names.  Gabriel, for example, as we’ve already seen, presented most often simply as a messenger.  Revelation describes another named angel Michael, who is depicted as a warrior (Revelation 12:7).  Other ancient books not included in our Bible name different angels such as Raphael and Uriel.  And many other references to angels do not include names, such as the angels who appear to the women at the empty tomb (Matthew 28:2, Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4). 

In the Bible, angels serve several functions.  Messengers and warriors, of course.  But also as members of a heavenly council/court surrounding the throne of God (1 Kings 22:19-22) or coming down to earth from heaven (Genesis 28:12).  Sometimes angels are described as a heavenly army (Deuteronomy 33:2), an image which carries over into the New Testament as we see in the proclamation to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:13).  Angels are also considered to be guardians or protectors (Genesis 3:24, Revelation 2-3).

What do these angels look like?

• Sometimes they are described simply as regular people, such as the three visitors who came to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:2) or the man who wrestled with Jacob at the River Jabbok (Genesis 32:24).  This is what the Book of Hebrews is referring to when it says we may have “entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). 
• Often, angels are described as being dazzling and radiant—wearing equally dazzling, radiant clothing.  We see this in the resurrection stories at the end of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Matthew describes the angel who comes down to share the news of Jesus’ resurrection with “an appearance like lightning, and clothing white as snow” (Matthew 28:3). 
• The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament describes an angel whose body “was like beryl gemstone, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, with a voice like the roar of a multitude” (Daniel 10:6).  
• And then there are the angelic beings called cherubim and seraphim.  Cherubim are pictured as winged creatures, part human and part animal (Ezekiel 10).  Seraphim, likewise, are winged creatures with six wings each and voices like human beings (Isaiah 6:2-3).