You may not want to meet an angel. But perhaps you would consider it due to the popular perspective about angels. On television, they rush to rescue the despairing. They present themselves as beautiful women and, of course, confident, attractive men. They don soul-stirring Hallmark cards. They grace window sills during the holidays—so cute! But trust me; angels are not what many think.

Maybe you are still thinking it is something you would like to experience. Let us take a trip back in time to some moments in history when a couple of men got a chance to meet real angels. Daniel, a man associated with things truly out-of-this-world, once encountered Gabriel, a heavenly messenger of God. Pay attention to Daniel’s recollection of this experience. “So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face…” (Daniel 8:17). The sight and appearance of Gabriel terrified Daniel. Apparently he did not stumble across an adorable, chubby, dimpled baby with wings!

Zacharias, before understanding his role in God’s plan, endured the chilling dread of catching a glimpse of one of God’s angels. “Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him” (Luke 1:11-12). Again, God’s angel was nothing to cuddle up to. The Bible paints a strikingly different image of angels than that of popular culture. Like I said, you may not want to meet an angel.

Not only do the appearance of angels strike fear and awe into unsuspecting hearts, their abilities will blow you away. Men pose no threat to angels. Single angels have annihilated great armies (2 Chronicles 32:21). God has intervened in history many times through the agency of angels, which have accomplished beyond-human feats. Check out the story in 2 Samuel 24 where God calls on an angel to deliver judgment for David’s sin.

Many words describe angels. But those like cute, soft, harmless and delightful will not work. Fierce, commanding, dangerous—now, that is more like it. I just do not think our cultural perspectives of angels have prepared us for what we would see if we were to rip open the curtain of our world and peer into theirs.