The term Angel just means messenger…and the most famous of the messengers is Gabriel. The first time he is mentioned in the Bible is in the Old Testament, in the book of Daniel.
Daniel 8:15-17 “15 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. 16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” 17 So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end.”
In this passage Gabriel is doing what he is always doing…scaring people and delivering an important message. It seems that every time Gabriel appears to someone, it causes them to be afraid. Most of the time Gabriel starts his message with the words. Don’t be afraid.
The first time we see the messenger Gabriel in the Christmas story, he is not visiting Mary or Joseph. He is visiting a priest named Zachariah. Zachariah was the father of John the Baptist. John was the one God sent to announce the arrival of the King…Jesus, as His ministry started. Any time royalty is about to enter, someone announces their arrival. Gabriel was sent to Zachariah to let him know that his son would play this role in God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
Zachariah and Elizabeth
Luke 1:5-7 “5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
We will see in just a few verses later that although they were advanced in years, they had been praying for a child, because Elizabeth had been barren. They continued to pray, perhaps because they knew the story of Abraham and Sarah, God had provided them a child according to His plan when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90. So there is still hope.
Luke1:8-10 “8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.”
Going into the Holy Place in the temple would have been a once in a lifetime honor. His division only served in the temple once a year and they decided who got to go into the Holy Place by casting lots. Basically a roll of the dice. The odds were very low that you would ever get chosen for this duty. But as God would have it, Zachariah was chosen, and so he entered the Holy place.
Luke 1:11-13 “11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”
Look at where Gabriel is standing when he appears to Zachariah. He is right beside the Altar of Incense. The incense represents the prayers of God’s people. And what does Gabriel say to him? “Your prayer has been heard, and Elizabeth will have a son.”
Luke 1:14-17 “14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
What amazing news! Not only was God granting their request for a child, but this child was going to have the honor of announcing the arrival of king Jesus. This word should have been met with great rejoicing, but that’s not what Zachariah did.
Luke 1:18 “18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
Zachariah questioned: How shall I know this? He wanted some proof that Gabriel was telling him the truth, because he doubted the words of Gabriel. His question is met with a harsh response.
Luke 1:19-20 “19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
Gabriel seems to be a little touchy about being questioned. I imagine that if you are the messenger who stands in the presence of God and delivers His messages, you are probably not used to being questioned.
You would think that Zachariah would have welcomed the news of a child, since he and Elizabeth had not been able to have any children. A child is what Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth had been prying for. When the answer comes, he questions if it’s true. He should have remembered reading how God allowed Abraham and Sarah to have a child in their old age. This is just the kind of thing that God does, in order to move His plan forward.
But that was not his reaction. Doubt was his reaction, and doubt is always the wrong reaction when God has said something. Isn’t that what Satan did in the garden?
Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
Satan’s first line of attack is to get you to question God’s words. To repel his attack, all you have to do is not agree with him. But so often we decide it’s a reasonable question, so we begin to doubt. Then we allow our mind to run down that road.
Let’s look again, for a second, at what the passage says about Zachariah and Elizabeth concerning their spiritual condition.
Luke 1:6 “6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.”
They had been walking blamelessly before the Lord while praying for a child. But as soon as God grants their request, doubt is the first response. If it can happen to Zachariah and Eve, it can happen to you. You have to keep believing what God said.
What have you been praying for, while at the same time doubting that God can or will provide it for you? Are you asking and doubting at the same time. In the book of James, the scripture calls this being double minded and says you shouldn’t expect to receive anything from God if you are double minded.
Luke 1:19-20 “19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
And so because of his doubt and unbelief, Zachariah could not speak until John was born.
Luke 1:21-23 “21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.”
This was Zachariah’s encounter with Gabriel. It started ok, but didn’t end to well. Let’s look at who he visited next in the Christmas story.
Mary
Luke 1:26-33 “26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
It’s easy to see how maybe Mary would not have been super excited about this “good news.” She had certainly not been praying to get pregnant. The news that Gabriel brought was not an answer to prayer. How will she explain this pregnancy to her parents and to Joseph? Can you imagine the stress of that?
Luke 1:34 “34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
Instead of panicking Mary asked: How will this be? Mary just wanted to understand the process. It was her assumption that the words were true. We can know this by the wording of her question. She said: How WILL this be done? It wasn’t a question of will it happen, only a question of how it will happen.
She believed the words of Gabriel and was just asking how it was going to be accomplished. She didn’t know if the child would have Joseph as a physical father or maybe she was supposed to marry someone else. She was asking for instructions. So, Gabriel explains the process to her.
Luke 1:35 “35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
What we see in the first two visits of Gabriel in the Christmas story is that Zachariah and Mary both had a question, but they ended up with very different responses. Zachariah wanted to have proof that the word was true, but Mary just wanted to understand the process of how the truth would come to pass. Zachariah was dealing with doubt, but Mary was operating in faith.
Gabriel goes on to tell Mary about her cousin Elizabeth, who is married to Zachariah.
Luke 1:36-38 “36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”
Mary immediately humbled herself and submitted to the will of God through the word that Gabriel delivered. Despite what the people in town would think and say about her. Despite what her family would think about her. And despite what her fiancée would think about her. She willingly submitted her will to God’s will.
This is the same level of commitment God wants from us. No matter what the personal cost, we should submit our will to God’s will. That’s how He moves the kingdom forward.
As soon as Mary gets the news about Elizabeth, she leaves to go visit her. I think this had two purposes. The first was to not be in town when she started looking pregnant. The second purpose was that she needed to hear what Elizabeth would tell her. The Holy Spirit had a message for Mary. Here is what happened.
Mary and Elizabeth
Luke 1:39-41 “39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
Just as Gabriel had told Zachariah back in verse 15, the Holy Spirit would fill his son John, even from the womb. When the Holy Spirit filled John, even as a baby still three months from being born he responded to hearing Mary’s voice by leaping. The Spirit that was in John, and Elizabeth was also in Mary, because Jesus was in Mary. The Spirit was confirming this.
Luke 1:42-45 “42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Notice the very last verse of that passage. It says that Mary believed what Gabriel told her. This is the exact opposite of how Zachariah responded to the word’s of Gabriel. Mary believed but Zachariah doubted. Remember, at this point Zachariah had been mute for at least 6 months because of his unbelief. This message from the Holy Spirit through Elizabeth was wrapped up with a blessing for Mary because she believed what God said.
Joseph
The last individual who received a visit from an angel is Jospeh, Mary’s fiancé. Although we are not told the name of the spiritual messenger who visited Joseph, it’s highly likely that it was Gabriel.
Matthew 1:18-19 “18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Mary comes back home after spending about 3 months with Elizabeth and Zachariah. This would mean that she was probably there when Elizabeth gave birth to John. When she arrives home, it becomes apparent that she is pregnant.
Joseph was not interested in being part of this public scandal so he made up his mind to divorce her quietly. He didn’t want to shame her…or himself. A quiet divorce would have been good for his pride, but that was not in God’s plan.
Certainly calling off the engagement because Joseph thought Mary had been unfaithful, would have caused issues for the prophesy that the Messiah would born of a virgin. So once again, Gabriel is dispatched to deliver a message. This time to Joseph.
Luke 1:20-24 “20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”
It was important that Joseph remain with Mary, so that the prophesy of the Messiah would be born of a virgin would be completely fulfilled.
It’s interesting to think that the only reason Gabriel had to visit Joseph was to prevent him from messing things up. Joseph had let his pride make the decision for him. After Gabriel’s visit, he understood that how he looked to the community was not the main priority. Mary was able to put her pride on the back burner, and so did Joseph.
Are you making life decisions based only on how it will make you look to others? As believers, we are supposed to make decisions based on how it will make the King and his kingdom look to those outside.
Yorumlar