Appearance of Angels

I believe that we cannot really understand what angels look like when they are operating in the spiritual realms. Our eyes and minds can only cope with a three-dimensional world. The spiritual realms are multi-dimensional, so we can’t even conceive what they look like.

When God lets humans see angels, he reveals them in a way that we can understand, and often the way that we expect them to be, so that we recognise them. Elijah’s servant saw riders on horses (2 Kings 6:17) That does not mean that angels ride horses. Rather God showed him the angels that way so that he would understand their power in battle. Isaiah saw them with three pairs of wings (Is 6:1). John in Revelation saw creatures that looked like a lion, an ox, a flying eagle. One had the face of a man (Rev 4:7-8). We see what God enables us to see, rather than what they are really like in the spiritual world.

When they operate on earth angels seem to take human appearance (Gen 18:2-8). They were able to walk, stand, eat food and eat, which suggests that they had legs, hands and mouths. Many of the biblical records of angelic visits to earth suggest that they appeared like humans. They were sometimes distinguished by bright clothing (John 20:12).