December 10
“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:26-28
In Christmas pageants in churches across the world the angel or angels in the story are usually played by sweet little innocent preschoolers. They are dressed in white robes with perfect little wings and halos that make for precious pictures to post on Facebook. This, however, is not an accurate picture of the angels found in Matthew and Luke’s description of the events leading up to Jesus’ birth. There are four mentions of angels in these accounts. The first one is the angel Gabriel. He is specifically named as the angel who comes to Zechariah when he is serving as a priest in the temple. He appears suddenly standing to the right of the altar of incense. When Zechariah sees him, he was startled and overcome with fear. The name Gabriel means, “Strong Man of God.” He is a warrior, strong and mighty. He is definitely not a sweet little child with a halo. He came to inform Zechariah that he and Elizabeth were going to have a baby and that the baby would be the one who would come to prepare the way for the Messiah.
Gabriel appears again, this time to Mary, to tell her that she is going to be the mother of the Messiah. She does not appear to be afraid of him but is troubled by his greeting. The second angel we find is the angel who comes to Joseph in a dream to inform him that Mary is going to have a baby by the power of the Holy Spirit and tells him not to be afraid to marry her. We don’t know the name of this angel, but there is no indication that he is anything less than a strong and powerful warrior as well. And then finally an angel appears to shepherds in a field near Bethlehem. The glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. The angel told them that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem and they would find him wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Then suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host appeared with the angel singing and praising God. What an amazing sight this must have been! We miss the power of this moment if we imagine a choir of cute little preschoolers instead of a mighty army of powerful angels singing praises to God. It is important that we have an accurate view of angels that are in the heavenly realm battling the forces of darkness and evil. It is more realistic to picture them as superheroes battling evil than innocent preschoolers with haloes and feathered wings.
It is interesting to note that Gabriel only appears three times that we know of in the Bible. He appeared to Zechariah and Mary as mentioned above and we find him in the book of Daniel. He is first mentioned in Daniel 8:16. Daniel had many visions of the future. After one of those visions Gabriel appeared to him to explain the meaning of the vision. He returned in Daniel 9:22. This time he was sent in response to Daniel’s prayer and came to give him insight and understanding. In this encounter, Gabriel explained Daniel’s vision about the Messiah who was to come. Whenever Gabriel appears he is providing prophecy and promises of the coming of the Messiah. He is the messenger of hope that points to Jesus.
With all of the evil and darkness in the world, it is comforting to know that there are mighty warriors in the spiritual realm fighting for good, truth and righteousness. God’s purposes are not thwarted. His plans will be done on earth as well as in the heavenlies. If Gabriel’s job is to herald the coming of Jesus, perhaps he is standing ready to do that again soon.
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