Moreover, when people die they don’t ascend as conscious disembodied souls to heaven to join the ranks of God’s spirit messengers. Rather, people who die are unconscious, having no awareness (Ecclesiastes 9:5; Ecclesiastes 9:10). The Bible compares death to sleep from which people will later awaken in a future resurrection (Daniel 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16). (To learn more about this, download or request our free study guide What Happens After Death?)

And God created human beings with a higher purpose than that of the angels. People are made in the image and likeness of God, as children are in the image and likeness of their parents (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 5:1-3). People were thus made to become God’s divine family (see our free study guide Why Were You Born? to learn much more about this amazing destiny).

Regarding Jesus Christ it is stated: “For to which of the angels did He [God] ever say: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’?” (Hebrews 1:5). And while Jesus was certainly the begotten Son of God in a unique sense, He nevertheless led the way for other human beings to become spiritually begotten sons of God as well—thus “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), Himself being “the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

Hebrews 2 states that God “has not put the world to come . . . in subjection to angels” (Hebrews 2:5), but rather that man is to have this responsibility, with Jesus as a forerunner in this (Hebrews 2:6-9). It’s further pointed out in these verses that man, with Jesus leading the way, was made “a little lower [or for a little while lower] than the angels” to then be crowned with glory and honor. The book of Revelation tells us that the saints, Christ’s followers of this age, will reign with Christ in the coming Kingdom of God as kings and priests (Revelation 2:21; Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20:4; Revelation 20:6). In 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, the apostle Paul remarkably writes: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? . . . Do you not know that we shall judge angels?”

Yes, human beings who become God’s spiritual children and remain faithful will ultimately be exalted above the angels. In the meantime, we are told of the angels, “Are they not all ministering [serving] spirits sent forth to minister [serve] for those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). We can perhaps think of it like the adult attendants of a royal child who is heir to the throne of a kingdom. These are above the child in many respects as the child is growing up, but one day that child will become the ruler of these attendants. So it is with God’s human children eventually being glorified and then ruling over the angels.

Even now, God has a special relationship with His human children that the angels do not directly share in—as God has given these people His Holy Spirit, His very essence, so that they have become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). And it is by the Holy Spirit that the deep things of God are revealed (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).

Indeed, God has revealed aspects of His divine plan and purpose through His human children that angels had not yet been privy to. As Peter writes of Old Testament prophets under inspiration of the Holy Spirit: “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel [or good news] to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12, NIV). Thus, angels gain some understanding from what God reveals through His people.

Clearly, God intended human beings to ultimately be much more than angels!