Literally hundreds of books have been written about angels. I have read dozens. My goal in writing this book was to provide a new perspective on age-old truths. Rather than addressing basic questions that can be answered by reading almost any book on the subject (e.g., What do angels look like? How many angels are there? Are there evil angels?), I will focus in this chapter on some of the more difficult, unusual, and even controversial questions about the angelic.

Q: Do you see angels all the time?

A: As with all gifts of the Holy Spirit, we need to step out in faith to activate the gift.

For instance, while the Holy Spirit will sometimes sovereignly act to heal someone, most of the time we must engage our faith. Jesus often commanded an act of obedience to activate faith for healing. For example, He said, “Go show yourself to the priest,” “Go wash the mud from your eyes,” or “Take up your bed and walk.” In each case, the physical healing occurred after the person responded in faith by obeying the command.

When the Holy Spirit gives a prophetic word, we must participate by cooperating with the Spirit and delivering the word. When you act in faith, you enter into the things of the kingdom, healing, prophecy, miracles, discerning of spirits, and so on. I do not see into the spirit realm all the time, but I can activate my faith, and I know the Holy Spirit will meet my faith, and the gift of discerning spirits will operate through me.

Q: Do you see angels like you see other people?

A: When I see angels, I see them in a manner similar to Elisha, Balaam, or Balaam’s donkey. I see them superimposed over the natural realm. I do not see them as clearly as a person in the flesh, but my spiritual eyes perceive them.

As we studied in the chapter on the spirit realm, there is scriptural precedent for an individual seeing an angelic being while others do not.

Q: Does seeing into the spirit realm mean you also see the demonic?

A: Yes, once your eyes are opened and you are able to see, you should be able to discern the spiritual roots of illnesses, perhaps things in a person’s past, or even sometimes the presence of demonic spirits.

This is a good thing because as we walk under Christ’s authority and encounter the demonic, we can address it and advance the Kingdom of God. I have spoken with many people who began to see the dark side before they started seeing angels and the light side. I don’t have an explanation for this, but I have some speculative theories.

First, entertainment in our culture is full of horror and violence. This has polluted the spiritual eyes of many and needs to be repented of so purification can be released. Second, a familiar spirit may linger around a family or individual due to a generational curse. This can be broken by the blood of Jesus. Third, Satan fully resists the gift of discerning spirits. If he can dissuade a person from using their gift, he has succeeded. As you continue to mature and progress in your gift, other areas of discernment will begin to open as well.

Q: Are there female angels?

A: There is no reference to an angel as being a woman in the Scriptures. This is an important point because the New Age movement has brought so much confusion into the Western world’s Church. Angels are most often depicted as women followed closely by a fat cherub baby with a bow and arrow, which are not biblical.

There are female spiritual beings in the Scriptures, such as those mentioned in Zechariah 5:5-11. These verses are commonly used to teach that there are female angels. But if we study this passage closely, these beings are never called angels.

“Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, ‘Look up and see what is appearing.’ I asked, ‘What is it?’ He replied, ‘It is a measuring basket.’ And he added, ‘This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.’ Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, ‘This is wickedness,’ and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it. Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. ‘Where are they taking the basket?’ I asked the angel who was speaking to me. He replied, ‘To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.’” Zechariah 5:5-11.

The angel standing next to Zechariah in his vision is described as male. Then he sees two women appear and fly away.

The first erroneous assumption is that angels generally have wings; therefore, these must be angels. In the Bible, seraphim (see Isaiah 6:2) and cherubim (see Ezekiel 10:8) are clearly described as having wings, but they are a different class of spiritual beings, not angels. Angels are a specific class and order of beings—not to be confused with other spiritual beings such as cherubim, seraphim, the four living creatures (see Rev 4:8), and the seven spirits of God (see Isaiah 11; Rev 4:5). If you look at the many references to angels in the Bible, you will find that most of them resemble men (not with wings). Hebrews 13:2 says:

“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

If all angels had great Hollywood-style wings, this verse would not make sense.

An interesting detail is that Zechariah says the wings were like those of a stork. Nowhere else in the Bible does it say angels have wings like a stork. If Zechariah were trying to say these two women were angels, he could have said they had wings like an angel. Instead, he chose to describe them as something completely unique to his vision. As an additional note, God had told the Israelites that the stork was an unclean and detestable animal, so this vision was a negative image (see Leviticus 11:19).

Could it be that Zechariah was confused perhaps he had never seen an angel, or he could not tell that these were angels? This is an invalid claim as he is standing next to an angel during the encounter. Looking at his whole book, Zechariah is not unaware of the angelic realm. Zechariah could have said two female angels came in a vision, but instead, he described what he actually saw in this interesting vision namely, two women with wings like those of a stork.

There is no direct reference to an angel depicted in a feminine form in the Bible, but there are many references to female spiritual beings. Examples include the two women in Zechariah 5, the woman and the dragon in Revelation 12, the prostitute of Babylon in Revelation 17, and the spirit of wisdom, which is referred to in the feminine throughout the book of Proverbs (see Prov.1:20-33; 4:5-9; 8; 9).

Q: Do angels have a gender?

A: Let’s look at a passage that is commonly used to say that angels are genderless:

“That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?’ Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead have you not read what God said to you, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.’ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.” Matthew 22:30-33.

Many have extended this verse to mean that angels are genderless because they do not marry and are not given in marriage. What does this verse really say? When Jesus says that people will be like the angels in heaven at the resurrection, how does that have anything to do with gender? If we are to believe that angels are genderless and we will be like them, then once we are resurrected, will we also be genderless? Obviously not!

Consider that every reference out of the hundreds in Scripture always refers to angels as masculine. To conclude that angels are genderless and that this is why they do not marry is like saying that people who have the gift of celibacy (see 1 Cor. 7:7) are genderless and that is why they do not marry. Some have gone so far as to suppose that since angels do not reproduce, they must be genderless. The truth is that angels are not a race; they are individual creations and that is why they do not reproduce.

Suppose we had to broaden the meaning in the other direction and say that since every reference in Scripture shows that all angels are male, if we want to be like them, then all women will turn into men at the resurrection. Surely no one would support this as a valid argument.

When Jesus says that we will be like the angels, the statement might have more obvious implications, such as having eternal life, glorified bodies, and a life without sin. Perhaps Jesus was actually answering their question, which had nothing to do with the gender of angels. He could have been saying that we will live in the heavenly kingdom like the angels and that we will not have the difficulties and complications of this earthly life, such as death, marriage, and remarriage.

Q: What is a typical physical response to an angelic encounter?
A: I think everyone reacts differently. I would like to quote one of my favorite books on angels, “Angels, Elect and Evil” by Fred Dickason:

When angels appear, their presence produces various effects on people. No special effect is noted on Joseph except the calming of his human concern about Mary and his obedience to God’s revealed will (see Matthew 1:18-25).

Mental and emotional agitation came upon Mary when Gabriel announced the news of Christ’s virgin birth to her. Nevertheless, she conversed with him and accepted his message as coming from God (see Luke 1:29, 34, 38). Zechariah was troubled and gripped with fear when an angel appeared to him in the temple (see Luke 1:12). The shepherds to whom the angelic messenger announced the birth of Christ were very afraid at first (see Luke 2:9), but they rationally investigated the news and marveled at the message (see Luke 2:15-18).

Mental and physical weakness, sometimes accompanied by a total lack of composure, results from the presence of angels. Consider the Roman guards who saw the angel who rolled the stone from Christ’s tomb. They trembled with fear and became like dead men (see Matthew 28:4). When Daniel saw an unusual creature resembling a man of brilliant appearance, he found himself without strength and without composure (see Daniel 10:8). Even those who did not see the vision trembled greatly.

Strange sensations drove them to flee Daniel’s presence in fear. Animals, by God’s will, may see angels and thus hesitate or fall, as Balaam’s donkey did (see Numbers 22:26-28, 31).

Q: Why didn’t Jesus die for the sins of fallen angels?
A: Many theologians have suggested that the primary difference between humans and angels is that angels are not a race of beings.

Humans are a race of beings; we reproduce, we die, and we have a blood circulation system in our bodies. When Jesus came and died for us, Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus became a part of the human race. Romans 5 talks about how Jesus established a new bloodline. On earth now, there are two races, those in the line of Adam, the first fallen man, and those in the line of the last Adam, Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor. 15:44-49). This is why we are new creatures and why 2 Peter 1:4 speaks of our participation in the divine nature. As a race, Jesus could die once for all (see Hebrews 10:10) and establish a new race.

Angels, however, are each an individual creation. They are not a bloodline (they may not even have blood) and they do not reproduce. If Jesus were to die for their sins, He would have to die for each fallen angel individually, again and again, perhaps millions of times to be able to die and rise again for each one.

Q: Is it unbalanced to focus so much on angels?
A: I have been writing this book for many years, and I have sometimes felt strange writing so much about the spirit realm and angels.

In fact, there has even been an outcry in some church circles against the prophetic movement and its teaching focused on the angelic realm. I sought the Lord to know if we are unbalanced in talking about angels and focusing on them. The answer I received from the Lord was surprising.

In essence, the Lord showed me that the fundamental problem of those who have an issue with talking about angels and the spirit realm is that they do not exactly understand what a Christian is. The Lord took me to Hebrews 1…

This text is an extract from the book “THE SCHOOL OF SEER” written by Dr. Jonathan Welton.

We invite you to read the following article “DISCERNING SPIRITS.”