In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
Luke 1:26-33
The Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, once said, “If you had the talents of an angel, you could do no good with them until [your] hour is come.”[1] His assertion rightly implies that an angel has no authority apart from the One who sends him; for, angels are sent from God to specific people, at specific times, and to communicate a specific message. As Spurgeon alludes, even angels must wait upon God’s sovereign timing to execute their divine tasking. As we set out to examine the work of Gabriel at the First Advent of Christ, we must note that in this instance, as Luke records it, the messenger, Gabriel, is inferior to the subject of his message: Jesus (see Hebrews 1). We do not set out to make much of Gabriel, but much of God’s use of Gabriel. Nonetheless, Gabriel, perhaps more than any other character within the scenes of Luke’s advent narrative provides the most insight to the results and ramifications of Christ’s first advent.
Angels: The Dispensers of Divine Bounty
The word angel means “messenger.” Throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, we see the messages of many angels go out to their recipients in an expression of God’s grace, sovereignty, and provision in their lives. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin, who calls angels “noble and illustrious”[2] captures the essence of their ministry eloquently, saying,
But the point on which the Scriptures specifically insist is that which tends most to our comfort, and to the confirmation of our faith, namely, that angels are the ministers and dispensers of the divine bounty toward us.[3]
Here, Calvin captures the reality that angels dispense “divine bounty,” meant for God’s people. And this necessarily requires us to ask, “From whom does such a bounty come?” Thankfully, when Gabriel appears to both Zechariah and Mary, he makes it well known who he works for and from whom such divine bounty derives.
Gabriel’s Appointed Hour
While standing to the right side of the altar of incense, Gabriel responds to Zechariah’s inquiry, saying, “I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you good news” (Luke 1:19). This good news, as we have seen, is the conception, birth, and ministry of Zechariah’s future son, John the Baptist. And when we hear Luke 1:19, isn’t it easy to focus on the last part of the verse, the good news? But notice the other pieces of information Gabriel gives Zechariah during their encounter in verse 19: 1) Gabriel stands in the presence of God, and 2) he was sent to speak.
Have you ever thought about what the First Advent of Christ was like from Gabriel’s perspective? There is a scene in Isaiah 6 that I cannot help but picture in my mind when I think of what it was like to be Gabriel just prior to Christ’s first advent. In Isaiah 6:1, we read, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” As Isaiah unfolds the details of the scene of God’s throne, we see angels calling out to one another, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (v. 3). Now, I am not suggesting that Gabriel was necessarily among the angels in Isaiah 6 but simply that when he tells Zechariah that he stands in the presence of God, we can utilize the scene in Isaiah 6 to picture Gabriel standing before the throne of a thrice holy God. And, as Gabriel informs us, at some point God gave him his tasking: a message, a place, and a person.
At Gabriel’s second appearance in Luke’s Gospel, his tasking is to go to Nazareth and speak to a virgin named Mary. I cannot help but wonder if Gabriel looked down upon the clouds as he descended upon the Galilean town? And while I am not certain of Gabriel’s exact mode of transportation when he came to Mary, I am certain on the content of his communication to the frightened virgin. Gabriel’s message that day was an announcement of the first advent of the Savior, saying,
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:30-33).
Gabriel’s message is theologically robust, to say the least. His statement contributes to the doctrines of Christ’s deity, his manhood, the Trinity, God’s sovereignty, covenant, and the nature and extent of Christ’s dominion. Even before the child was born, Gabriel pointed Mary to the hope in his eternal reign. Remember, Mary lived in Nazareth, a small village southwest of the Sea of Galilee, under Roman rule and occupation. Her life was marked by the presence of Rome which was a constant reminder of Israel’s need for a Savior and Ruler. It is no wonder that Mary received the angel’s message with willing obedience (Luke 1:38).
A Message of Our Own
Although Rome does not occupy Israel today, there is still hope in the message of Christ’s eternal reign. Like Gabriel, we have been given a specific message to share with specific people in specific places. Where has God placed you and who is it that is close to you but far from God who needs to hear the hope of Christ’s first coming and the warning of his second coming? Perhaps, you’ve identified this person prior to now but maybe fear or timidity has prevented you from sharing the gospel message? If so, consider this:
I propose to you, that it is not your responsibility for how others respond to your evangelistic efforts but rather it is your God-given responsibility to deliver the God-given message.
And we can see this when we compare the two messages Gabriel delivered in Luke 1, when we see two different responses. First, Zechariah responded in unbelief when Gabriel delivered God’s message to him and his tongue was tied because of this unbelief. Secondly, Mary responded to the angel’s message in resolute faith leading to joy and worship. This is an encouragement to those who are afraid to share the gospel because as far as the reader can determine, Gabriel’s responsibility was never the response of Zechariah or Mary to his message, but the faithfully delivery of the message. The same is true of us today. Like Gabriel, God has given believers a message to share and we are not responsible for their response to our words, but rather we are responsible to obediently share the message and simply trust God with the outcome.
Today, we can learn a lesson or two from Gabriel, the angel who stood in the presence of God. We must listen intently to God’s word and learn it well so that we can share its message with others. We must call sinners everywhere, and especially those nearest ourselves, to reflect on the First Advent of Christ–how he came to deal with sin by dying on the cross to reconcile us to God. And then, project the Second Advent of Christ-when He will come to cast those who are not his in the lake of fire for eternity and share in His glory with His people and reign, as Gabriel says, over a kingdom in which there is no end (Luke 1:33). In the spirit of encouraging you to share God’s message of the gospel with those who are close to you but far from God, we end with 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. The Apostle writes, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” Praise God that at the first advent our Savior lived a life and died a death to provide a way for us to always be with the Lord. Do as Paul said, and encourage one another with these words!
[1] C.H. Spurgeon, A Call to the Ministry (United States: Revival Literature, n.d.).
[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 91.
[3] John Calvin, Institutes, 93.
The Twelve Days of Advent 