Angels reside in heaven (Luke 2:15) — the heavenly court and throne-room, where they’re obedient to God’s Word and devoted to enacting his will (Psa 103:20-21).
So what do they actually do up there, and how is the whole thing organised?
Their reason for being is rendering service to God.
Worship, and Testimony
In heaven, angels are fundamentally dedicated to God’s praise and worship. Serving without interruption, in direct proximity to God’s immediate presence, they are said to see God’s face (Matt 18:10).
They also function as witnesses there, to the testimony of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ — both to believing faith in Christ and to the denial of him (Luke 9:26; 12:8-9).
That second function is worth sitting with. The heavenly court isn’t only a place of worship. It’s a place where testimony gets given about what happens down here.
Ranks, Princes, and Armies
Some angels appear mightier than others (Rev 10:1; 18:1), with archangels being commanding figures (1 Thess 4:16; Jude 9).
The archangel Michael is called ‘one of the chief princes’ (Dan 10:13) and ‘the great prince’ (Dan 12:1), with other angels under him (Rev 12:7-9). More exact chains of command aren’t explained. Michael is said to have charge of the defence of God’s people (Dan 12:1).
The Hebrew word usually rendered ‘host’ (tsab’a) is also translated ‘army’ or ‘troops’ (1 Ki 4:4; 16:16). They’re called ‘hosts,’ Calvin reckoned, because ‘as bodyguards surround their prince, they adorn his majesty and render it conspicuous.’1Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.5; Battles trans., 165.
But notice who stands above all of them. God himself is emphatically and repeatedly presented as ‘the Lord of armies/hosts/troops’ — and in one instance as ‘Prince of the army/host/troops’ (Dan 8:11). However impressive the ranks, the point of the imagery is always the majesty of the one they surround.
Why Guesswork Has to Stop
Beyond the command structure implicit in military ranking, we don’t have further detail about relationships between angels.
They’re evidently directed by God — ‘the Lord of hosts’ — and clearly organised in some order of rank, with differing levels of official dignity and varying degrees of authority. But we have little if any information about the structure, combination or sequence of angelic relations.
During the medieval period elaborate speculative systems were developed for grouping and ranking angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim.2Pseudo-Dionysius, The Heavenly Hierarchy, dates from late fifth century Syria. This work proposes a three-fold division of nine spiritual beings (seraphim-cherubim-thrones, dominions-authorities-powers, principalities-archangels-angels), attributing each with respective functions. This work was influential on the lengthy elaborations about angels and demons by Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1.50-64, 107-114, and Summa Contra Gentiles 2.91-101. Barth’s critique of these and other over-imaginative treatments is penetrating (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 3.3, eds. G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance (T&T Clark, 1960), 381-401). Here, as everywhere, we must stick to clear biblical teaching and avoid undue speculation.
Over-active speculation often produces the corresponding over-reactions of denial and neglect.
And here’s a dynamic worth noticing: over-active speculation — combining fact with fantasy — tends to produce the corresponding over-reaction of denial and neglect. The two errors feed each other. Extravagant claims about angelic hierarchies invite sceptical dismissal of angels altogether, and dismissal in turn leaves the field to the speculators.
Angels ought to be taken as seriously as Scripture itself determines. But beyond the sheer fact of hierarchy in their ranks — that angels and archangels are differentiated by degrees of authority and spheres of responsibility — only limited information is given. ‘[W]ho could on this basis,’ Calvin questioned, ‘determine the degrees of honor among angels, distinguish each by his insignia, assign to each his place and station?’3Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.8; Battles trans., 168.
The Divine Council
Taken together as a group, the company of angels in heaven is called an ‘assembly’ (Psa 89:5), ‘the divine council’ (Psa 8:21; 89:7), the ‘host’ or ‘hosts’ (Gen 2:1; Psa 148:2) — as in ‘LORD of hosts,’ which appears from 1 Samuel 1:11 onward, including more than sixty times in Isaiah. Also the ‘heavenly army/host’ (Luke 2:13), and ‘thrones,’ ‘dominions,’ ‘rulers,’ ‘authorities’ and ‘powers’ (Col 1:16; 1 Pet 3:22).
Those last expressions are used by Paul and Peter of angels in positions of cosmic power — whether for good or evil (Rom 8:38; Eph 6:12; Col 2:15).
Much is accomplished in heaven and many arrangements are made there, because it’s God’s place and the realm where his goals, decisions, decrees and will are fully enacted.
However — and this is where honesty is required — we don’t know the essential being of ‘the divine council,’ the particular nature of ‘the assembly’ of heavenly beings, or the specific contents of its agenda. We also don’t know how the individuality of particular members relates one to another. Their being is a mystery.
What we do know is that the heavenly beings exist both as individuals and as a group. And that, individually and collectively, they exist in unwavering devotion to God. Their reason for being is rendering service to him. ‘It is their existence and nature to observe the will of God and to stand at his disposal. Their heavenly glory consists solely in this determination.’4Barth, Church Dogmatics, 3.3, 451-452.
Administrators of God’s Government
Without much detail beyond the obvious presidency of God, Scripture indicates a heavenly council comprising a membership of spiritual beings — ‘all the host of heaven’ (1 Ki 22:19-23; Jer 23:18) — each elected to office and commissioned with particular tasks and responsibilities.
Elements of God’s providence, his preservation and government of creation toward its promised end, are delegated to the business of angels. The administration of God’s authority in some aspects of the universe has been devolved, entrusted to their arrangement.
In everything they conduct, angels are plenipotentiaries — fully invested with the power of God to act. They are, wrote Calvin, ‘celestial spirits whose ministry and service God uses to carry out all things he has decreed.’5Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.5; Battles trans. 165. In particular they’re those through whom God has chosen to dispense ‘his benefits among men,’6Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.9; Battles trans. 169. effectively administrators of the grace of God and ‘of all good things to us.’7Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.10; Battles trans.170.
Which gives some substance to recent comparisons of angels to ‘ambassadors,’ ‘secret agents,’ and celestial ‘civil servants.’8Respectively, Barth, Church Dogmatics 3.3, §51; Billy Graham, Angels: God’s Secret Agents (Doubleday, 1975); Gerald Bray, God is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology (Crossway, 2012), 260. Each image catches something real about a creature whose entire existence consists in carrying out another’s will.
There is in the heavenly council a harmonious order among individual members working together as an entourage in service of the Kingdom of God. And the shared direction of their action is from heaven to earth.
Superior — For Now
Though separate from God, angels attend upon his immediate presence, are involved in the current life of heaven, and worship him without interruption (Rev 5:11-14).
In that sense — in their instant proximity to God, and the capacities that go with it — they are for the moment superior to human beings.
For the moment. That qualification carries a great deal, and it’s worth ending on. The present superiority of angels is a matter of circumstance rather than destiny.
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- 1Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.5; Battles trans., 165. ↩︎
- 2Pseudo-Dionysius, The Heavenly Hierarchy, dates from late fifth century Syria. This work proposes a three-fold division of nine spiritual beings (seraphim-cherubim-thrones, dominions-authorities-powers, principalities-archangels-angels), attributing each with respective functions. This work was influential on the lengthy elaborations about angels and demons by Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1.50-64, 107-114, and Summa Contra Gentiles 2.91-101. Barth’s critique of these and other over-imaginative treatments is penetrating (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 3.3, eds. G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance (T&T Clark, 1960), 381-401). ↩︎
- 3Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.8; Battles trans., 168. ↩︎
- 4Barth, Church Dogmatics, 3.3, 451-452. ↩︎
- 5Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.5; Battles trans. 165. ↩︎
- 6Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.9; Battles trans. 169. ↩︎
- 7Calvin, Institutes, 1.14.10; Battles trans.170. ↩︎
- 8Respectively, Barth, Church Dogmatics 3.3, §51; Billy Graham, Angels: God’s Secret Agents (Doubleday, 1975); Gerald Bray, God is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology (Crossway, 2012), 260. ↩︎