In eternity past we know God made an innumerable number of angels all at one time and God isn’t making any more. God created the angels to serve him in heaven. Why does God require so many? How many angels does it take to serve the throne of God? The Bible doesn’t tell us explicitly but God’s Word does make numerous references to believers having guardian angels. There are approximately 2.5 billion people in the world today who profess to be Christians. Let’s say 40% or one billion Christians have actually been saved unto eternal life. One billion is still a lot of guardian angels if every believer gets one.
Don’t forget, the top angel in heaven (Satan) once rebelled against God along with one third of the angels. There was war in heaven and after the fallen angels were defeated they were thrown to earth. These fallen angels are now referred to as demons and their sole purpose is the destruction of man. If it weren’t for the demons bent on our destruction we wouldn’t need angels to protect us. The point is, God is the author of history and he made the exact number of angels he would need, no more and no less. God knew how many angels would fall and how many saints would need protecting. Sometimes you have to take what you know to be true and work backwards to fill in the blanks where information is lacking.
Psalm 91:11 – For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.
Matthew 4:6 – He shall give His angels charge over you.
Luke 4:10 – For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you.
Matthew 18:10 – (Jesus speaking) – Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones (children), for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
Hebrews 12:22 – But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.
God makes it clear in the above scriptures that he assigns guardian angels to all believers. God didn’t say he might. God said he “shall,” which is a promise God cannot break. When God says, “charge over you.” he means specific angels have been assigned to you for your protection. Think of it as a heavenly Secret Service detail. When we get to heaven we’ll be introduced to our guardian angel and he’ll be our special friend for eternity. When God says to, “keep you,” he means to protect you. In heaven we’ll be amazed at the number of times we were kept from harm by our guardian angel and didn’t even know it.
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Psalm 106:1 – Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Romans 11:33 – Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
Psalm 31:15 – My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
I know bad things happen to good people and some Christians are tragically killed. Why weren’t they protected from harm? I don’t have the answer. God is unfathomable as scripture reminds us. We don’t know why God does the things he does so we just need to accept it as God’s will. Focus on what we know and accept everything else by faith. God has a plan for our lives and a reason for everything he does. God is good and he means us no harm. In fact, God works everything to our benefit as the Bible reminds us.
Psalm 18:30 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
Luke 16:22 – (Jesus speaking) – So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
The above verse is from Jesus’ parable about the beggar and the rich man. The rich man died and went to hades (hell) within the earth where he was in constant pain and agony. The beggar died and went to paradise within the earth, also known as Abrahams’s bosom. This was where all the righteous saints went when they died before the time of Christ. If you remember, while Jesus was three days in the earth he went down to paradise and escorted the saints to heaven because he had paid for their sins on the cross. Any believer dying after the crucifixion of Jesus goes directly to heaven upon his or her death. My point is this, if angels were responsible for carrying the spirit of the beggar to paradise then that means angels will escort all souls to heaven. The beggar’s death wasn’t an exception or a special case. God doesn’t have multiple paths for a spirit to reach heaven; only one.
God always has a reason for any information he places in the Bible and I believe God wants us to know from this parable how we get to heaven so we’re comforted by that knowledge. Does our spirit know the way to heaven on its own? I doubt it. Is our spirit beamed up to heaven like on Star Trek? I don’t think so. This verse tells me our guardian angel, who is on duty protecting us anyway, will be the one who escorts us to heaven to meet Jesus. It wouldn’t make sense for any other angel to do it since our special angel may have been with us for many years protecting us and he’ll know us so well. To my simple mind this makes perfect sense to me. If that’s true could the opposite also be true? If someone dies in their sin who takes them to hell? If believers are escorted to heaven it makes sense nonbelievers are also escorted to hell. If angels escort believers to heaven then demons have to be the ones escorting the unsaved to hell. Who else is there?
Lost souls certainly wouldn’t go to hell voluntarily or on their own even if they knew the way. Could the millions of demons be here on earth, in part, to escort the eternal spirits of the unsaved dead directly to hell to meet Satan in person? Or do demons already in the pit come up to drag the spirits of the condemned back to hell like in the movie “Ghost?” We don’t know for sure. Those who don’t accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will find out when they die. All of us are only a heartbeat away from our eternal destination either way. I’m at peace because I know where I’m going but are you sure? It’s a chilling thought to consider if you’re not saved because you must be right about this. Eternity is a very long time. Make sure your spirit is securely in God’s hands.
Isaiah 45:22 – Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.