What does it mean that angels are ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14)?

He therefore is in the place of absolute authority, but angels are "all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." Theirs is the place of servants simply, their place infinitely lower than His, just as in person they are as much lower. But it is nevertheless a blessed place they occupy, in being delegated to minister in temporal protection, comfort, sustenance, to those destined to eternal glory. Doubtless we owe to angelic ministry far more than we discern in matters of physical strength and wellbeing, yet as spirit beings their ministry is completely veiled, and they are content to remain unknown to us, that glory for this may be given only to God. Blessed service indeed! Compare their ministry to the Lord Jesus in Mark 1:13, and an angel strengthening Him (physically of course) in Luke 22:43.

This leads us to the great text of Hebrews 1:14, which clearly indicates the service that angels render to the Lord’s people. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

Indeed the epistle to the Hebrews is full of allusions to the angels, for their ministry was well-known in the olden times. The verse quoted clearly establishes the fact that angels are active on behalf of the “heirs of salvation.” We are not told in what way, save that they protect us providentially. If details had been given we should have the door opened for the imagination of ill-balanced minds. Rather are we left with with this great comfort, that angels, unseen and unnoticed, minister to us in a way that is sufficient for our needs and that they are directed of God in His love and wisdom.

Once more are angels spoken of as ministers. "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?" They minister now to those who are the heirs of salvation, who bear the title of sons in His Son and who possess His life. How little God's people make use of this comfort. An active and simple faith is needed to perceive in what men carelessly regard as accidents of time and place, the positive workings of angels' ministry. They minister to God's people now in a way unknown to us. "It is a truth which brings the shadow of God's majesty with a peculiar nearness over the believer's soul. That we are seen of angels is an assurance to which the Spirit elsewhere practically bids us heed (1 Cor. 11:10). A happy thought, yet one of sobering effect to be thus seen; to be the objects of near gaze, and very contact, to those holy visitants of watchful love, who, standing as the bright apparitions of heavenly majesty beside the throne on which the Son of God now rests, are sent forth to speed upon their way the pilgrim brethren of the Lord" (A. Pridham).

And now another marvel is revealed. We have seen how all God's angels are prepared to greet with worship the second entrance of the First-begotten into the world. We have seen, too, that they are already the willing vassals of Him who is the Head of all principality and power. The nature of their present service is now more particularly declared. "Are they not ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who are about to inherit salvation?" A wondrous truth! Yet let it not seem strange in the eyes of those for whom Christ died that even such things should be found among the true sayings of the blessed God. A grateful portion is it, surely, of the "present truth," and one in which we shall do well to settle our souls. The ministers are angels. The receivers of the ministry are heirs. They are fellow-heirs with Christ. They are heirs of a Father whom they know and joy in as their Saviour and their God. Once sunk in sin beyond all natural hope, they are now, through grace, become in Christ the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty — begotten to the living hope of their enduring heritage through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The heritage for which they wait is in one single word, "Salvation." Christian salvation is not a mere escape from wrath. The vessels of God's mercy are by Him prepared in Christ for glory. They who receive abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. The receivers of Divine forgiveness through the blood of Jesus are also sanctified through faith in Him. Now the inheritance of God's saints is in light. They are themselves the children of light. They will shine thus in glory to His eternal praise, who is the Father of glory. Angels assent to this. Great is their pure joy in heaven at the turning of one soul to God. They celebrate, with louder strains of joyful adoration than were rendered at creation, God's chiefest work of wisdom and of love. They desire to behold, with deeper search, the still unfathomed mysteries of Divine redemption. Meanwhile, they bear their willing part in the furtherance of His good pleasure, whom they only live to serve. They are sent forth to be the ministers of help to those whom God holds worthy of such ministry, because they bear the title of His Son.

Little, indeed, it may be feared, is this truth at present estimated in the Church of God. For faith is needed to perceive in what men carelessly regard as accidents of time and place, the positive working of angelic ministry. And faith, in its application to the things of daily life, is at a feeble flow indeed in this our day of evil. Yet it is only thus that the just man may live. A Christian, if the Spirit lead him, does not walk by sight. It is not from events, or from appearances, that he is left to argue that God does at times exert immediate influence on present things. Men can do this, who naturally know not God. For God is not as yet ostensibly disowned of men. Remote and general dispositions of Divine Providence are commonly acknowledged by the thoughtless world itself. It belongs to faith alone, which knows its access by the Spirit to the Father's presence in the full welcome of the Son's acceptance, to walk, in a confidence not unmixed with fear, under the sweet yet solemn consciousness of being thus attended from on high. It is a truth which brings the shadow of God's majesty with a peculiar nearness over the believer's soul. That we are seen of angels is an assurance to which the Spirit elsewhere practically bids our heed (1 Cor. 11:10). A happy thought, yet one of sobering effect, to be thus seen; — to be the objects of near gaze, and very contact, to those holy visitants of watchful love, who, standing as the bright apparitors of heavenly majesty beside the throne on which the Son of God now rests, are evermore sent forth to speed upon their way the pilgrim brethren of their Master's love.

This is true now. We are all very much cared for by the angels, more than we are apt to think. We read of them in Hebrews (Heb. 1:14): "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" So we are indebted to angels now. I do not say it is Michael or Gabriel, but I do say that the angels are acting a special part at this present time in Christianity for all the heirs of salvation. You see that at this time, in Daniel, it was not so much a question about the heirs of salvation; it was a question of the Jewish people. They were the great object of God's care in their fallen estate. They had been most guilty, but they were beloved. They were carried into captivity by the Babylonian power. And they were going to be the slaves of other powers on the earth; but for all that Michael stood up for them and this other angel who speaks to the prophet Daniel. There were also other angels that were opposed, whom they had to fight.

Finally the servant is told that God's angel would go before him. We know that the angels are "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." Their service ever seems to be of a providential and guardian character. The Holy Spirit deals with souls, while the angels would seem to act in relation to circumstances. An angel may direct Philip as to the way he should take; but the Spirit directed him in dealing with a soul (Acts 8:26, 29).

We would say, then, that Scripture does not warrant the thought of special guardian angels. They are all ministering spirits, engaged, unseen by human eye, in errands of providential care and mercy for the heirs of salvation. They are not prominently brought forward in the New Testament, doubtless for the simple reason that Scripture, foreseeing the misuse by men of this ministry, putting it in the place of Christ and the Holy Ghost, has kept them in the background. Christ, the Sun, has eclipsed the other lights which in darker days might come more prominently into view.

Much has been made of this passage in teaching that there is a "guardian angel" for every believer. That angels have ministries which we cannot fully grasp now, cannot be denied.

"Are they not all ministering spirits sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?" (Heb. 1:14). Faith can enjoy it, child-like faith, without going into speculation. However the passage does not teach that every believer has an angel who guards and protects him and who sees the Father.

I come to that which, in these notes, is said of angels. The author seems to be very intimate with them. With reference to the passage 1 Timothy 3, I read: “There is another important statement in verse 16—‘Seen of angels.’ Exercises in a locality are sometimes not supported, because angels have not seen them … Sometimes people want to change things from human motives; but the angels cannot see these things … The angels observe what God has in relation to His house, and when they see the thing it is attended to at once … I think that Moses’ body was of great importance to the testimony, and Satan wanted to hold it. I think it was wanted for the mount of transfiguration, and possibly Satan had some clue to this … Take the case of a clergyman; he has got light, but has never known how to earn his living. He has not the courage or faith to break away and take the step, because he looks on the human conditions. But if he took the step, there would be enough angels to keep him employed till he got to heaven … It is very important that you should be in conversation with an angel. You take character from that… The last angelic service connected with the believer is the return of the body from the dust … The great difficulty in taking the Supper is that one has not communed with the angel as regards oneself … I think that is one feature about the brethren, that they take care of the house of God and His holy love. They do not want to refuse you, but they want to keep the spot so that the communications of the angel are possible.” I have just noticed a few of the statements that refer to angels. I had no idea that things were returning to that which is so strongly condemned, in Colossians 2, where we have these warning words: “Let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels, entering into things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body ministered unto, and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God.” This is so with regard to the author of these notes. He is occupied with things that he has not seen, and of which he has but little information in the revelation that God has been pleased to give to His people. That they are all ministering servants, sent forth to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation, and that they do the will of God, but with whom in this dispensation, no one who has received the Holy Spirit has any communications, is pretty nearly all we know about them. God gives them their work to do, and they do it; and though they may in certain things have a service to do for us, we have, on our part, nothing to do with them. Let us not be intruding into things that we have not seen.

That leads us to the next quotation, from the 104th psalm, the psalm of creation. It says of the angels, "Who maketh His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire." Here God is speaking of His works of creation and providence, and the messengers that He uses: they are angels, beings who excel in strength, and delight to do His will. He makes the angels spirits, and they go as the lightning or as the wind, quick and certain in their work. Blessed position they have, the place of exaltation as far as man is concerned but after all, they are ministers and — as we read in the last verse of our chapter, "Are they not all ministering spirits" — not merely those who minister to God, those who go as the rushing wind or as the flame of fire to do His will, but are they not ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to us?