At the Speed of Angels

Gabriel announces this newborn baby is not only the Savior, he is the Christ Messiah. This is the anointed one of God. This is the only one qualified to sit upon the throne of David. Gabriel also said his newborn is also the Lord, Kurios.

Literally, he is God. Listen to the gospel first delivered by Gabriel. Today, in the city of David, there's been born for you a deliverer who is the anointed one to sit upon the throne of David who happens to be God incarnate. Luke's gospel gives us a glimpse into the role angels played in the Christmas story as well as the role they play in the gospel story. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, we're going to take a look at the role of these mysterious creatures, especially as it relates to Christmas. Mary is unique among women. Of course, God chose her to be the mother of our Lord, but she also had the rare opportunity to have a conversation with an angel. Today, Stephen Davey is looking at the messenger that God sent to Mary, the angel Gabriel.

Stephen's calling today's lesson At the Speed of Angels, and it begins now. In the early 1830s, there were two groups of individuals, one in America and one in England, racing to become the first to independently build an electric telegraph system. The American group would win the day with its unique use of magnetic pulses and a special code invented by their group's leader named Samuel B. Morse.

Samuel was by occupation a painter, a skilled painter who specialized in portraits. But by the late 1800s, his invention had taken the world by a storm and electric telegraph companies were soon in operation. If you can imagine this, 150 years ago, the fastest way to get a message from New York to California, the fastest way was the Pony Express.

Could you imagine how much has changed in 150 years? With the invention by Samuel Morse and the creation of his Morse code, that distance could now be spanned in a moment, nearly as fast as the speed of light. The Wright brothers would use it in 1903 to tell their daddy that they'd had a successful flight. World War I would be announced through this means of communication. The world would be kept abreast of the details. I saw, by the way, a picture in my study of this telegram sent by the Wright brothers.

It was dated May 24th. In fact, I saw the first telegram, a picture of the very first one in 1844. On that historic day, Samuel Morse made the first public demonstration by sending a message from the Supreme Court chamber in the Capitol to a railway station in Baltimore. And his famous first message was four words, what God hath wrought. In other words, look what God has done. Fascinating to see the inventive abilities of mankind and on this occasion, Samuel Morse giving his creator, God, the credit.

His invention would be used for more than 150 years. And I found it interesting to discover that on January 27th, 2006, the last batch of telegrams were sent. Just 11 months ago, this form of communication was finally put to rest. Those last telegrams sent last January included condolences on the death of a loved one, emergency news, birthday wishes, and several people trying to be the last ones to send a telegram.

You can imagine it now, of course, put to bed permanently. Now, the number of text messages sent every day exceeds the population of the world. Every day. Billions of them. I believe it.

My youngest daughter is responsible for at least 10 million of those. But to this day, there is one communication system that has no rival, that only God has access to. Message delivery by angel service.

Angel grams, we'll just coin a new word here today. They travel faster, much faster than the speed of light. They're never lost in transmission.

They never fail to deliver. They are never coded so that anyone who hears these divine outbursts of information can immediately understand the message. The number of angels in this network is so vast that no one can comprehend their total. Micaiah the prophet reported his vision in 1 Kings 22 of the innumerable angelic hosts surrounding the throne of God. If you literally multiply Daniel's vision and accounting of the angels around the throne of God, you would have 100 million angels worshiping God in Daniel 7. We're told the same number of 100 million angels and more will sing praise to God around his magnificent throne in Revelation chapter 5. These numbers are probably intended to be symbolic of just simply a numberless throng of angels who raise their voices in worship.

You just can't count them. The writer of Hebrews informs us that thousands upon thousands of them are in joyful assembly. Hebrews 12, 22. It occurred to me, listen, if you were God and you wanted to deliver the birth announcement of God the son to the world, how would you deliver the message but better way than angels and not just by any angel, one particular one. One angel blessed uniquely with the singular task of informing all the critical parties involved that God was moving the redemptive plan to the next stage. This special angel's name is Gabriel. In our last session, we introduced this angel in Daniel's description of him whose eyes blazed as if they were on fire, his arms and feet shown as burnished brass or bronze, his lightning appearance, his bright appearance, and this amazing deep majestic voice. He would break 400 years of God's silence by delivering the gospel of the coming Messiah. If you turn back to Luke's gospel account, you discover Gabriel appearing not just to Zacharias where he broke the silence of God, but he delivers this message to a young teenage girl in the middle of her Kirushin that is the customary period of betrothal or engagement to a young carpenter named Joseph. If you notice verse 26 of Luke chapter 1, it says, Now in the sixth month, this is relative to Elizabeth's pregnancy, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel now was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. Don't miss the significance, by the way, of this phrase. In fact, this text is so well worn by those reared in church that we often miss wonderful things. Gabriel was sent from God.

Can you imagine? Gabriel, yes, my king, deliver my message personally to this specific girl down there in that specific village called Nazareth. Yes. When shall I deliver it? Wait a moment. Wait a moment. Now.

Now. And he wings his way from the highest heavens, crossing the universe far faster than the speed of light. This is this is the speed of angels flight. But would you notice that when Gabriel arrives, he doesn't ask Mary to wait a minute while he catches his breath. Not only do we not understand the communication methods in the heavenlies, we do not understand flight patterns. What we do know is that God ordered and Gabriel delivered verse twenty eight and coming in.

He said to her, Greetings, favored one. The Lord is with you. Mary nearly faints. So Gabriel has to say what angels are always saying to people.

They encounter verse 30. Do not be afraid. Now, here's the message.

Here's the first part. You have found favor with God. Imagine the word caress grace coming from the mouth of an angel. Mary, you are the recipient of unmerited, undeserved grace from God. This is the gospel God visits mankind and offers undeserved favor.

The day of caress. The day of grace has come uniquely here. Not only is Gabriel's message a message of God's grace. I want you to notice Gabriel's message is a message of God's greatness. Look at his sovereign control implied in these phrases.

It just sort of tumble out. He speaks so matter of factly beginning in verse thirty one. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no end. Gabriel just sort of laying it all out. No problem with him, by the way, for all this to take place.

Why? He has just come from the throne of God. Ladies and gentlemen, the closer we live as it were to the throne of God. The less of a problem we will have with his sovereign wills in our own lives. Mary has just heard the stunning news. She will bear the Messiah.

Gabriel, by the way, is loosely quoted. Second Samuel Chapter seven and the Davidic Covenant. Not only are these first four assertions coming true with his birth, but the last three are going to come true as literally as the first four. He will mount the throne of David one day. He will rule in a kingdom one day. He will literally be the son of a literal girl.

And his name will literally be Jesus. You remember that Gabriel had announced earlier to Zacharias that his wife would get pregnant and bear the forerunner of the Messiah. Now he is announcing to Mary that she will bear the Messiah. And it occurred to me as I study this text again that in the first encounter, Gabriel would inform Zacharias that his wife, Elizabeth, who couldn't get pregnant, will. And now in the second encounter, Gabriel is informing Mary, who shouldn't be pregnant, that she's about to be.

Elizabeth couldn't get pregnant, but would. Mary shouldn't be pregnant, but will be. And she staggers under the weight of this news, especially this part, notice verse 34. Mary says to Gabriel, how can this be since I am a virgin? You remember Zacharias responded to Gabriel's announcement with the word how. And now Mary responds by asking how. Zacharias, in our last session, you remember, was disciplined with an inability to speak for nine months. But Mary isn't disciplined for unbelief.

That's because they're asking two different kinds of how. For Zacharias, it was a question of belief. For Mary, it's a question of biology.

Zacharias wanted more proof. Mary just wants to understand the process. Besides, think of it this way, it's one thing to tell an older woman who has a husband that she's pregnant.

It's another thing to tell a virgin that she's pregnant. And the angel, verse 35, answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you. And the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child will be called the Son of God. That Greek word overshadow is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the overshadowing presence of God in the holy of holies. Warren Wiersbe said it this way, the womb of Mary will become the holy of holies for the Son of God.

So she must be perfect. She must have been sinless for God's Son to indwell her and the Spirit of God to overshadow her. Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten that your body is the temple of the living God? Have you forgotten that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, 1 John 4.15. Just as Mary's womb became the holy of holies, so is your heart today. For God has made you his place of residence. Listen, just as Mary carried Christ physically, so we bear Christ spiritually. You, Christian, you are literally carrying the Messiah today wherever you go.

Why? Because you are perfect? Because you are sinless? How can we be honored to carry about, as it were, within our bodies, the holy of holies, the presence of God, becoming, like Mary, the recipient of undeserved, unmerited, favor, caress, grace of God? This is the Gospel according to Gabriel delivered to Mary and to us. What did Mary do? Verse 38 records her testimony. The bond slave of the Lord may be done to me according to your word. Mary surrenders.

This was no simple matter. She was being asked to reveal to her family and to Joseph that she was carrying a child and it wasn't his. And standing up for God and his power and his plan, she will become the object of ridicule and slander and doubt. Talmud, the second century compilation of Jewish law and commentary and tradition includes the record that Mary was the mistress of a Roman soldier named Panthera and that Jesus was illegitimate. The story, of course, spread. And by the time of Christ's ministry, the Pharisees said to him in John 8 41, we were not conceived in sexual immorality as you were. In other words, you don't know who your father is.

Who are you to tell us the ways of God? Christ never outlived the whispers, which meant Mary never lived down the accusation. She would always be in the rumor mill. So she would surrender her life to a life of mistaken identity.

She would be viewed as someone she was not. But Mary said, in effect, to Gabriel, listen, I want you to wing your way back. Wing it back through the universe as quickly as you can and up to the throne of my Lord and say to him, I accept.

I accept. I will cooperate with God. Mary presented her body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which was her most reasonable act of service. I wonder, my friend, today, what has God asked you to do that is inconvenient and uncomfortable and upsetting? What has he asked you to surrender? Luke's account in Chapter two, Gabriel appears using the same introduction as with Zacharias and Mary and even using that profound word, you can get the lids on my the gospel or the good news. He stands before the shepherds in verse 10 and says, Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you the gospel. I bring you the gospel. I bring you the good news of great joy. This has always been a moving scene to me.

Let me briefly touch on it. Gabriel isn't talking to just any shepherds, is he? He's talking to temple shepherds to see that the supply of unblemished lambs were always available. The temple authorities we know had their own flocks. We know from historical records that they kept those flocks in and around Bethlehem. Zacharias has seen lamb after lamb after lamb after lamb offered in the morning and evening sacrifices in the temple. Imagine then Gabriel is announcing to shepherds who are looking after sacrificial lambs that the final sacrificial lamb has just been born.

Here they are. They're keeping watch over lambs destined to die as sacrifices for the sins of the people and they will soon be the first to witness the birth of the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. By the way, according to the Jewish traditions recorded in the Mishnah, which is part of the Talmud, shepherds could not worship in the temple. They were consistently unclean dealing with blood and animal birth, dead animals unable then to come into the temple precinct living outdoors, often stealing to survive. The Talmud considered them all as thieves.

In fact, according to the Mishnah, the only class of people lower than shepherds were lepers. It's as if God gives a foretaste of the redemptive grace of Christ, delivering it to the outcasts. Can you imagine the glory of the Gospel here? Look at verse 11. For today, the shepherds are told, for today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. The baby is identified to them three ways. The first expression is Savior, Soter, Deliverer. The Deliverer has come. You've been praying for Deliverer. The people have been waiting for Deliverer.

He's come. Gabriel announces this newborn baby is not only the Savior, he is the Christ. This is the Greek word for the Hebrew, Mashiach, Messiah. This is the anointed one of God. This is the only one qualified to sit upon the throne of David. Gabriel also said this newborn is also the Lord, Kiryas.

Literally, he is God. Listen to the Gospel. Listen to the Gospel first delivered by Gabriel. Today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Deliverer who is the anointed one to sit upon the throne of David who happens to be God incarnate. But Jehovah's Witness cannot say that. A Mormon cannot sign on to that. A Muslim cannot agree with that. They might say that Jesus is a Savior, that he was a prophet, that he was a good man, but they cannot say that he was Savior and Messiah who is God in the flesh. But don't miss this unmistakable distinction Gabriel makes between himself and the shepherds.

Did you catch it? Today in the city of David, there has been born for whom? For you. For you. Not for angels. For people. For lepers. And shepherds.

Sinners like you and me. May I suggest that you write your name into the margin of your Bible so that it personalizes the birth of Christ even further, as I have in mine. There has been born for Stephen a Savior.

You ought to write your name there. What an announcement. What a series of visitations by this angel.

Did you notice the spectrum over these scenes? He comes and delivers the gospel to the descendant of Aaron, connected, religious, clean, in the holy place. He delivers the message to a common ordinary girl who is the recipient of divine grace and favor. And he delivers the message to the outcast, to the sinner who can't get into the temple and worship God. This is the glory of the gospel of Christ delivered through this angel who at this moment is lying wrapped in strips of cloths, swaddled, swaddling clothes, lying in a dark stable in the Bethlehem night. This is the same one who asked Job centuries earlier, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you understand when I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling clothes. Imagine the one who wrapped the universe in darkness as he birthed it by his word is now lying in a manger wrapped with swaddling clothes under the dark sky of Bethlehem.

The creator, now the baby. And Gabriel is joined here in verse 13 with a host of angels, an untold number. One commentator argued that every angel would have been present. For just as they had sung at the birth of the created universe, they are not going to be absent to sing at the birth of their creator.

Amen? So they just pile into the sky. Millions upon millions upon millions of the hosts of heaven. It was the Jewish custom for fathers to hire musicians to celebrate the birth of a son. Mary and Joseph have no connections. They have no relatives to come by.

They have no musicians to hire. But that's all right. The father has connections. And the father won't hold back. And there above Bethlehem the angelic host serves as the musical choir celebrating the birth of God's son and the glory of this gospel as they sing glory to God. With this, the gospel announcements of Gabriel and the angels come to an end. He's given us the privilege of going and delivering the gospel and making disciples of all the nations, Matthew 28 and 19. It's up to us who are now inhabited by the Messiah to sing glory to God in the highest and to invite all who by faith will believe in the Savior, who is the anointed one, who is God incarnate. And all who do believe will one day, according to Revelation chapter 19, will all gather and sing with the hosts of heaven praise to God the Father and Christ the Redeemer, our Savior and our Lord. So it is no longer up to angels.

It is up to you and me. Thanks for joining us today here on Wisdom for the Heart. We've looked at one of those unique times when God delivered his message through an angel. But God called us to deliver his message as well. We have a resource that you can use to share the truth of the gospel with your family, friends and associates. If you'd like information about getting a supply, please contact us at 866-482-4253. You'll also find it on our website, wisdomonline.org. That's all for today. Join us next time here on Wisdom for the Heart. .