What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a cowboy. I wore my two six-shooters most of the time. One of my dad’s friends always called me “Tex”, even as I got older. As a boy, I assumed there were still places where the streets were dirt and people rode horses. My favorite tv shows were The Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid & Poncho, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman, and Gunsmoke. But as I grew up, reality became clearer and I realized that the wild, wild west didn’t exist anymore.
Just as I thought I’d be a cowboy in the future, some Christians mistakenly think that God will make them angels once they enter Heaven. Just as astronauts must put on special clothing before taking a spacewalk to protect themselves from the vacuum of space, God is going to give Christians new “imperishable” bodies that will last forever in Heaven. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51–52) However, God is NOT going to turn us into angels or give us wings.
First, angels don’t have wings. Only the four Living Creatures, the Seraphim, and the Cherubim are mentioned as having wings (See Exodus 25:20; Isaiah 6:2; Ezekiel 1:5-6; Revelation 4:8). Any time an angel has taken on the appearance of a man, there is no mention of wings.
Second, to become an angel would be a major step-down for the Christ-follower. Angels are merely God’s SERVANTS, but those who trust Christ are God’s CHILDREN. “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to SERVE those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14) To become an angel would be like changing your status from a member of the family to one of the working staff.
Third, angels will never be able to experience salvation. It is a mystery to them. Peter says, “Even angels long to look into these things.” (1 Peter 1:12) God never instituted a plan to redeem fallen angels. He became a man for the sole purpose of making atonement for our sins. “For surely it is NOT ANGELS He helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might … make atonement for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:16–17)
Take joy in the fact that when you received Christ, you instantly became one of His children. “Dear friends, NOW we are children of God, and what we WILL BE has not yet been made known. But we know that when He [Jesus] appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2)
We may not know everything about life in Heaven, but as soon as we accepted Christ, we became sons and daughters of the King, never to be reduced to the status of a servant.
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