By Barry Buzza

Last week I wrote about a couple, of what I believe were, angelic visits. A verse in the Bible cautions us to be very hospitable to strangers we meet, because that unknown guest may actually be an angel.

There are four different types of angels described in the Bible, and since our belief in angels comes from the Bible, it may be wise to see how each is introduced by the various writers.

At Christmas, we are made a little more aware of angels, because they not only play a significant part in the Nativity story, but we often decorate our homes with the heavenly creatures. Usually, we see a couple of shapes--the little pudgy, baby-shaped angels, we call cherubim; and the two winged, blonde-haired feminine beauties we often top our trees with. I'm not sure where either style originated, but I do know they are not like the ones described in the Bible.

In angel ranking, the highest ones are called cherubim. (Cherubim is plural and cherub is singular.) These are the four creatures who surround the throne of God. They are massive in size, covered in eyes, with four faces facing north, east, south and west; they zip around at the speed of light and sing, "Holy, holy, holyÉ" around the throne of Almighty God. In human terms the way Ezekiel describes cherubim is unimaginable, but their heavenly description is magnificently beautiful. They are nothing even similar to the cute little "cherubim" we use to decorate our homes for Christmas.

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Secondly, there are archangels. One, we are told has a name--Michael. We are not given a description of him, but again, he is a mighty creature, who has been given the assignment of overseeing the destiny of the Jewish people. He has millions of other angels under his authority. He is called the prince of God.

Thirdly, there are Seraphim. Isaiah describes these awesome creatures as having six wings (this is where the idea that all angels have wings came from). They are high ranking angels who also surround the throne of God, maybe like court heralds. They also cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty"

Fourthly are the angels who serve God as heavenly soldiers or ambassadors. The word angel simply means "messenger". It's the same word as is used for human ambassadors or messengers. These seem to be invisible spirits, who can, and do, take on human form and sporadically visit us on earth.

We sometimes refer to our "guardian angels" and often hear stories of angelic visits (I wrote about a couple of them last week), but Moses wrote in one of his psalms, "He will give His angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways." Maybe we each have many guardian angels.

Next week I'll continue writing about angels. Have you ever seen one? Have your family members who've died, become angels? Are there bad angels, as well as good angels?

March 5/2009