The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” Luke 1:19
The role of the angel in the Christmas story has always intrigued me. Those of us living in the centuries following the events of Jesus’ birth take for granted the presence of the angel. In children’s Christmas programs, someone gets dressed up in a white robe with cardboard wings and a tinsel halo and joins the other characters on stage as if the angel was the next door neighbor or a relative known to the people who saw him before the events of the Christmas story happened.
But this wasn’t the case. Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and then to Mary out of nowhere. If Mary and Zechariah were familiar with the stories of the Old Testament prophets, they would recognize the name Gabriel from Daniel’s experience. But no one would have ever anticipated another visit from him. Not during routine worship rituals in the temple and certainly not to a common teenage girl from a small town.
Imagine what a surprise that would have been for them. It makes sense that Zechariah’s and Mary’s initial response was fear. The angel Gabriel, second in command to Michael the archangel captain of angel armies, would have had the essence of a warrior about him. He would have shone with the pure light of God’s glory while carrying the demeanor of a fighter accustomed to victory. Beautiful and militant. Holy and intrepid. This was the angel Gabriel. Enough brilliant glory to light up the entire village. Adequate grace to speak the truth and calmly assure of God’s favor.
What would the Christmas story be without the angel? Zechariah probably would still have had a son. Mary most likely would have given birth to Jesus. John the Baptist and his cousin came into the world according to God’s sovereign plan and therefore would have fulfilled the prophecies about them regardless of the method of communication used at the time of their births.
And yet the angel’s role is vital. Associated with God’s work is his word. He speaks things into creation. Someone needed to be sent as his representative to announce into the earthly realm what God was in the process of creating.
New life in Zechariah’s family would lead to a new order. John would grow up and preach repentance. He himself would become a mouth piece for God making a way for the Lord and his kingdom to come to earth and to enter people’s hearts.
God’s work wasn’t necessarily dependent on the angel’s visitation, but it did benefit from the angel’s prophecies. God had a good reason for sending the angel ahead of time. Without Gabriel, a call to faith would not have occurred.
His words, “I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news” needed to be said. They needed to be heard in order to deepen people’s belief in God. The Messiah had been promised for hundreds of years. Is this announcement by a heavenly being the one to take seriously? Did the people of Israel dare to get their hopes up and keep them there?
God spoke, and he did it through the angel he sent. His work of redemption had begun. Salvation was being made available to all. This was good news.
Gabriel’s message is for us too. He brings good news. The one to be born will be called the Son of God. Praise God for the angel. Gabriel teaches us to have hope and to believe in the new work God is doing.
