In an effort to comfort the grieving we often hear "Your child is now your guardian angel." Or "Your child has gone on to be an angel." It's a well meaning sentiment; however, it lacks understanding that angels are their own created order in heaven. The Bible tells us that God created Adam after his own image (Genesis 1:26), but it is never said that angels are created after his image.
Hollywood has fostered this imaginary world by making angels seem human-like, and depicting them as people who have died and performing good works so they earn their wings (i.e. It's a Wonderful Life).
But what are angels really? We are told that angels are messengers who do the will of God, but people are redeemed by God. Angels are never said to be redeemed by God; in fact, the Bible doesn't even mention redemption of angels when they were cast out of heaven with Lucifer.
I imagine that angels can be fearsome creatures, for the first thing they tell people when they appear is "Fear not!" Why do you suppose the angels (and the writers of the Bible) think our first reaction will be fear? Why would we be afraid if it’s good news? Granted, seeing a paranormal apparition might be startling, but I don’t think that’s the reason we need reassurance. I believe the angels know we shrink from anything unfamiliar, even if it’s for our greatest good.
Another reason I think that angels aren't people is the fact that 1 Peter 1:12 tells us that the angels long to look into things regarding the gospel. If they were people who were good and saved and became angels, then it would make no sense to say they desired to look into the things regarding the gospel.
Jude 6 tells us there were angels who "abandoned their proper abode" and were then reserved for judgment. This "proper abode" would not be the human realm but the angelic one. So, this would tell us that the first abode of angels is not earth, which would negate the idea of people becoming angels. 1 Corinthians 6:3, "Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?"
It would not make sense to say that we (people) will be judging the angels if the angels were really people who became angels. Furthermore, if people became angels, it would create a problem dealing with the nature of being human. Everything that exists has an essence, and we are able to distinguish between things because we can recognize differences in things. An angel is different from a human. If a human becomes an angel, then he's no longer human. Essentially, this would mean he stopped being one thing and became another; he stopped being human and became an angel. People might mistakenly equate humanity merely with the biological function and attributes as it relates to having a human body. But being human is not restricted to physical form since our human souls can be separate from the body and to be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), and we are still human in essence as is exemplified in Luke 16:19-31. (carm.org)
*I'd like to thank my friend Matt Slick of carm.org for the usage of his text
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