When did God create the angels?

WHEN DID GOD CREATE THE ANGELS?

By Elijah Asuo Wiredu

It can be challenging to pinpoint the exact period that God formed the angels because everything He did "before the foundation of the world" is outside of space and time. Time and space are features of our world, not that of God. Unlike us, he is not constrained by the hours, days, and years. Actually, according to the Bible, "with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" (2 Peter 3:8).

We do know that God made angels before He made the universe. The angels celebrating God when He created the world are described in the book of Job as saying, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me if you get what I mean. Who outlined its measurements? Of course, you do! Who crossed it with a measuring line? What foundation was it built upon, and who laid its cornerstone while the angels rejoiced and the morning stars sang together? (Job 38:4-7).

Because one of the functions of angels is to serve as "ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14), we can assume that God created angels shortly before creating humans. We also know they existed before the Garden of Eden because Satan, who was originally the fallen angel Lucifer, was already there. However, since one of the roles of angels is to serve and worship God, it is possible that they existed millions of years—according to our reckoning of time—before God created the earth.

Therefore, even though the Bible is unclear on the precise date of God's creation of angels, it was probably before the world was made. We cannot be certain if something occurred yesterday or billions of years ago due to how we measure time.