Angels from the Bible and How the Angels really look like

 When we think of angels, the images conjured are often quite similar. Radiant winged figures with many human traits, we see this imagery in modern depictions, as well as in classical art, so one will assume this is how they are described in biblical and ancient texts, but this is far from the truth, angels take more of a spiritual form, as opposed to a physical one. There is no real description of what Angel's true form is, but there are some descriptions of the bodies they assume and be warned that they are very strange. So let's take a look at some of the different types of angels. In the 12th century, scholars divided all of the angels around God into categories based on a hierarchical system. In Christianity, this is sometimes referred to as the three spheres, and nine orders of angels, because it described the three-tier system with three types of angels in each near the bottom of this hierarchy are the 

Cherubim  

The book of Ezekiel describes them as having four faces, each one representing something different. The lion represented a wild animal. The ox domesticated animals. The eagle, birds, and the human represented humanity the cherubim had long straight legs with hooves, and two pairs of wings. You may also see them with regular feet, and four pairs of wings, being much different appearance to the young plump cherubs we would associate with figures such as Cupid, that stem from Christian scholars such as Thomas Aquinas, who characterize them as having a burning love for God, the Hebrew Bible mentions the word cherubim almost 100 times, but their purpose is still fairly ambiguous. The general belief is, they exist to guard the Garden of Eden, especially the tree of life. The cherubim having numerous faces have this almost a chimera feel, but the human face is more akin to a sphynx. Either way, there is something very unsettling about their appearance.

The Seraphim 

 The Seraphim are a type of angel that appeared in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, but their importance varies

In Judaism, they are middle of the road, but in Christianity, they assume the highest rank possible just under God, the book of Isaiah describes them as having six wings. Above it stood the  Seraphim. Each one had six wings with twine he covered his face, and with twine, he covered his feet, and with twine, he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory from this passage we gather that two of the six wings were used to cover their faces two to cover their feet. And the last two were used to fly. The second passage describes them almost as cheerleaders who fly around the throne of God spreading his word. This description is not as detailed as the cherubim. So all we know for sure is that the Seraphim were made up of mostly wings 

the book of Revelation only differs slightly describing their six wings as being full of eyes. In Islam, we see the term Seraph, which is used to describe Archangels who were born from celestial fire.

Ophanims

Next, we have the thrones or ophanim. These are about as far from a traditional looking Angel as one can get in Christianity the ophanim were the entities that acted as chariots, or transportation for the cherubim. They were giant interlocking wheels with wings and eyes, that would reside in the part of the cosmos where material form began to shape, like the Seraphim they would also chant, God's glory whenever in His presence. The Book of Enoch describes them as the many-eyed ones, and places them in the same category of celestial beings, as the cherubim and Seraphim their role here was much more than transportation. The ophanim never sleep and forever Guard the throne of God. When his Ezekiel has his vision of the great chariot. He describes all three of these angels as the guardians but given the strange nature of what he's describing some believe this was a hallucination. Others take his  Ezekiel account as an encounter with a UFO. So no one really knows where they came from, and why they look so strange,

the Virtues

 the virtues are a group of angels who do not possess a physical body but have control over the elements, they were referred to as the shining ones because they appear as sparks of light. The main role of the virtues was to perform miracles for those who were deemed as deserving, they would receive orders from the angels above them and traveled to Earth to perform these miracles. Once on Earth, they will assume a human form. There are several types of angels, along with the virtues whose primary form resembles a source of light. Angels are celestial beings. They are neither male nor female, and essentially they can take whatever form they desire. Is it a surprise that the angels who spend all of their time in the cosmos with God are the strangest and most unorthodox looking? No, not really. If you're talking about regions that are supposed to be outside of our comprehension, then surely the beings that inhabit them would also look out of place, even if that means they resemble something you'd expect to see in a Lovecraftian Horror, or perhaps the writings of someone coming down off an acid trip. It also makes sense for the archangels and regular angels to appear in a more human light, as they have the most human interaction, the further back you delve into various religious texts, the stranger angels appear to be as later books were added and revised, the more human-looking angels became the norm. And maybe this was done to make things easier to understand. In reality, we may never know. But it's still interesting to examine.  I've been your host the introvert scholar