The Bible teaches the existence of righteous angels and fallen angels. Fallen angels are those which followed Satan in his rebellion against God and fell under the condemnation of God. The righteous angels are those who continued to faithfully serve God. The Bible says much about salvation, but all of it is about the salvation of men.

Salvation is necessary for every person. All the unsaved are under God’s condemnation and will find themselves sentenced to eternal punishment in the place prepared for Satan and his angels. (Matthew 25:41) Being saved does not mean getting to go to heaven. Entrance into heaven after death is the result of salvation but it is not salvation. Salvation is reconciliation to God, forgiveness from sin, deliverance from the bondage of Satan and transformation of the heart that results in eternal life. Those who are saved will enter heaven when they die but going to heaven is not the same as being saved. Satan and the rebel angels have access to heaven right now, but they are not “saved”.

Since salvation relates to forgiveness of sin those angels who never sinned are not saved because they do not need to be saved. Man needs salvation because he carries within him the taint of Adam’s sin and continues to sin against God. Angels are not descended from a small group of parent angels. They are not inheritors of their forefather’s disobedience. Each angel was created directly by God. Every angel was created without sin. Those angels which did not join Satan in rebellion against God still retain their righteousness. The righteous angels never fell into sin and do not ever disobey God. The righteous angels are not under God’s judgment and thus have no need of salvation.

Though they do not need salvation, the righteous angels desire to know more about it. The angels watched the means of salvation with great interest. They looked on as God the Son became man, died on the cross, bore the wrath of God, was buried, restored to life, ascended back to heaven and regained all His previous glory.

Some of the angels have played a part in announcing the message of salvation. Angels announced the birth of Jesus. In the book of Acts an angel told Philip to go speak to the Ethiopian eunuch and an angel told Cornelius to send men to find Peter. In the book of Revelation an angel preaches the gospel to every nation on the earth. Though God does not normally use angels to preach the gospel, He does at times give them a role to play in announcing the message of salvation.

They do not experience salvation for themselves but the righteous angels are deeply interested in God’s redemption of men.