What is an angel?
When you hear the word ‘angel’, what do you imagine? A cute little cherub with feathered wings and a halo on the head? If a little cherub came to Zechariah, the soon-to-be father of John the Baptist, would he have been frightened?
LUKE 1:12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah …
The same angel, Gabriel, was sent to Miriam with a message.
LUKE 1:30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
When St. Peter was rescued in the Book of Acts, it was a mighty angel!
ACTS 12:6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. [Peter may have been a little sleepy yet!] 10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
And the Book of Revelation, shows another angel who is mighty.
REV 12:7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon [namely Satan]. And the dragon and his angels fought back
“MALAK” and “ANGELOS”
The Hebrew word “malak” and the Greek word “angelos”, both define these words as “messengers”.
HEB 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
“Angels” are generally supernatural beings. However, sometimes they could be just plain ordinary people!
This use is seen in Genesis 32.
GEN 32:3 And Jacob sent messengers [malak] before him to Esau his brother …. 6 And the messengers [malak] returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.”
In Revelation 2 and 3, “angels” are being given the task of sharing what the LORD has prescribed. Some people think that these “angels” are supernatural beings, however, I tend to agree with this from GotQuestions:
“… that the ‘angels’ are envoys sent to John. During the time that the apostle was exiled on the Isle of Patmos, it is possible that local congregations sent delegates to him to inquire of his condition. These delegates could be the ‘angels’ or ‘messengers’ that were entrusted with the letters on their return trip.”
OR
The angels could be “church leaders, and these leaders would then share the messages with the rest of the church”.
ANGEL OF YAHWEH
But the greatest Angel is the Angel of Yahweh! This is translated as an all-capitalized “LORD” in English versions. It is clear in these following passages that this is God as an angel who is speaking! This angel is a pre-incarnate Christ! The first two occurrences are known as theophanies. (There are other theophanies but for now we are dealing with the Angel of the Yahweh.)
The hero Gideon was amazed when the Angel of the Yahweh came to him, but he didn’t realize it at first.
JUDGES 6:11 Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth … while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” … 21 Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” 23 But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace…”
To prepare the parents of the soon-to-be-born Samson, the angel of the LORD visited them.
JUDGES 13:21 The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”
Read the whole story in Judges 13.
In Genesis 22, the angel of the LORD is speaking “from heaven”.
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
The nations will be blessed because through Abraham’s lineage the Messiah was born!
On Messiah’s birth: O Tower of Eder
CONCLUSION
An “angel” is a messenger whether it is a person, a supernatural being, or God Himself!
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Scriptures are in English Standard Version.
His Inheritance Ministries 
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