Heavenly Creatures
Ok, lets get the obvious out of the way first… Angels do NOT have wings.
Why did people start drawing them with wings? Well, that’s a long story but the short answer is that it started in the Catholic religion which incorporated nearly everything from the Pagan Roman religion into their version of “Christianity” which is not Christianity at all. The fact that Catholics do paint their angels with wings should be a strong indicator that angels don’t have wings. If the Catholics do it, it’s probably not in the bible.
There are, however, some heavenly creatures in the bible that do have wings: Cherubs/Cherubim (Exodus 25, Ezekiel 10,11) and Seraphims (Isaiah 6). More is known about the former, however, neither of those heavenly creatures are angels.
So lets take a loot at what the bible says Angels look like.
What the Bible Says About the Appearance of Angels
First things first, “the angel of the Lord” is Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. The bible says he was around since the beginning (John 1:1-17), and in the old testament he was “the angel of the Lord.” This matter is made plain in Acts 7 when Stephen says that that the “angel of the Lord” was actually the one in the burning bush, talking to Moses “Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” What Angel could say “I am the God of thy fathers”? That could only be ONE person! Jesus Christ!
But for now lets look at a few places in the bible that helps us see what regular angels actually like (not the angel of the Lord):
1And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
Genesis 18
2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
In the Above verses the Lord (as the angel of the Lord), appears to Abraham with two men.
These two men are angels (as we find out in the next chapter). So then here, these angels are described as men. No wings. Just men.
Let’s follow them now into the next chapter as they approach Lot, in Sodom:
1And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
Genesis 19
2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
Once again, these angels are described as men in verse 5. They must have been very handsome men because as the chapter continues it’s clear that the men of Sodom want to rape them. Handsome as they likely were, still, no wings.
Now lets go back to Jesus as “the angel of the Lord”. Do you remember the story of Samson? Well, Samson’s birth was prophesied by “the angel of the Lord” to Samson’s mother and she describes the angel to he husband like this:
6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:
Judges 13:6
Notice, she describes him as a man, but also as having the countenance of an angel. Now this is an interesting topic because what is the countenance of an angel?
The Countenance of Angels
First things first, we can see already that angels are described to look like men. The apostle Paul even says, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,” in Hebrews 13:2. So angels can appear like ordinary men and you wouldn’t even know it… BUT… they can also appear in “glory.”
If you haven’t read my article on glorified bodies, you should (you can check it out HERE). In short, “glory” is often associated with “light” in the scriptures. In fact, angels have been described like “stars” in the scripture (see Rev. 1:20, Job 38:7), and that each star differs in glory/light:
41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
1 Corinthians 15
Sometimes, not always, angels appear in glory, in light, and the appearance of them is not one of being “unawares” (as Paul states), but of fear:
“And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.” -Luke 2:9
“And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.” -Luke 1:11-12
“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” – Matthew 28:2-4
So, when Samson’s mother describes the angel as “A man of God” “and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible:” in Judges 13:6, the countenance she is speaking of is, most likely, light.
If you read my article on glorified bodies you’ll see how this countenance came upon Jesus when he was on the earth, on the mount of transfiguration. It also came upon Moses and the people feared him (Exodus 34), and, Likely, the same countenance fell upon Stephen (Acts 6:15).
Conclusion
In conclusion, angels look like men. No wings. Sometimes they look like ordinary people, just like you and me. Other times they appear in glory. Still as men, but also with light.
Angels are powerful creatures, capable of slaying nearly 200,000 men single handedly (Isaiah 37:35). They are invincible to mortal weapons (Joel 2:3-11). And, they are beautiful (Gen. 19) . But, given all of that… they still look like men. And, one day soon, those of us in Christ will be made like unto them (Matthew 22:30).