I would say that the primary abode of angels is heaven with God; but they are also kept busy on the earth doing His will. We may recall in Genesis the story of Jacob’s dream (Gen. 28:12). He dreamed of a stairway that reached from earth to heaven. And he saw angels of God ascending and descending. This vision I think, though a dream, is quite true of the movement of angels, back and forth from heaven to earth doing God’s will. Here are four things we see in Scripture that angels are involved in.

Angels are kept busy helping believers. I especially like Psalm 91:11-12, how God commands His angels to help us when we have any needs.

For He will give His angels charge concerning you,

To guard you in all your ways.

12 They will bear you up in their hands,

That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

We also remember the classic occurrence in Jesus life just after He was tempted in the wilderness, when angels came to Him and ministered to Him (Matt. 4:11).

Angels gather people together either for judgment or for blessing. In Matthew 24:30-31, we read that when Christ returns, “He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” I take it that this gathering is to bring all believers from world history into the millennial kingdom.

But angels will also be used at the end of the age to gather all the wicked together to be cast into hell (Matt. 13:39-50).

Angels are used in Judgment. Angels have had and will have the gruesome task of carrying out God’s judgment on evildoers. In Revelation 8:6 we see that they will have the task of announcing His judgments by blowing trumpets.

Also, in Revelation 16:1, by the command of God they were told to pour out on the earth seven bowls of the wrath of God, bowls filled with deadly plagues that will torture and kill many.

And then during the battle of Armageddon certain angels will be given the task of killing evil ones by the thousands. In this passage in Revelation 14:14-20, it seems that these angels along with Christ had this task.

I [John] looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. (NIV)

Angels are in heaven worshipping God. In Revelation 7:11-12 we read,

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,

“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”