Question:

Matthew 18:10 says, “For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My father in heaven.”  Does this mean that they have guardian angels?  If so, do we all have guardian angels?

Answer:

The Bible doesn’t say that each believer has one specific angel.  Angels are plural in this verse, and in Hebrews 1:14 we read, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation?”  This denotes a broader range of activity than being “guardians.”  Angels help us a lot, no doubt in many ways that we are not aware of.  “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2).  Generally, if we think we have been helped in a supernatural way, we have no way of knowing whether the help came from angels or from the Lord Himself.  In any case, we must always give thanks to God who “is our help” (Psalm 33:20) and who directs and sends the angels to help us.

Angels are not to be prayed to or worshiped.  When the apostle John “fell down to worship before the feet of the angel,” the angel responded, “See you do it not: for I am your fellow servant … worship God” (Revelation 22:8,9).

There are a number of instances in the Bible in which angels visited God’s people, including Abraham and Lot (Genesis 18:1-19:22), Gideon (Judges 6:11-23), Samson’s parents (Judges 13:3-20), Zechariah (Luke 1:11-20), Mary (Luke 1:26-37), Joseph (Matthew 1:20,21), and others.  When Elisha and his servant were surrounded by a great army of Syrian troops with horses and chariots, an even greater army of angels came between the two men and the Syrians (2 Kings 6:14-17).  There are modern day stories of similar happenings, such as bandits threatening to strike a foreign mission compound being turned away by the appearance of armed guards on the roof of the building.  Another story was told of a minister of the Lord who left his attaché case in an airport, returned a couple of hours later to try to find it, and found it just where he left it but with a “man” standing there straddling it between his legs.  The minister leaned over to identify the case and when he started to say something, the “man” had totally disappeared.

Do only important people have angels helping them?  This brings us back to the original question.  Even “these little ones” have angels helping them (Matthew 18:10).  It was brought out in the Bible Reading on Matthew 18 that this verse might be referring to the fact that the spirits of little ones who die would be taken to heaven instead of referring to angels who help the little ones.  The commentaries disagree on this point.  The Greek word found in this verse is the ordinary one for “angels” and not the word for “spirits.”

Do we become angels when we die?  No, but rather we are closer to Christ than the angels are (Hebrews 2:14-18), and in fact will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).