Angel Upon Angel
December 21-22
Friday night I decided to slip into Luke 1-2 in The Message version and look back upon some of the angelic encounters in The Christmas Story. We come to except the fact that angels were the norm, as messengers with block buster news!
I believe with all my heart angels are still around! One of our grandsons has been dreaming about them every night. One morning he told his mom he dreamed about angels who had saved him! The next night he said they were singing. His mom asked if they were singing to God and he said, "No! They were singing to me!"
A child like faith most likely makes angel encounters less frightening than for those of adults!
Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was parlayed in fear. Bit the angel reassured him, "Don't fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. Luke 1
In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty.
Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.
She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that.
But the angel assured here, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you:
You will become pregnant, and give birth to a son and call him name Jesus.
Luke 1:26-31
In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty.
Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.
She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that.
But the angel assured here, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you:
You will become pregnant, and give birth to a son and call him name Jesus.
Luke 1:26-31
There angelic visits all seem to come on by surprise and shock the living daylights out of the recipients of the unannounced encounters. What follows each time is a "setting at ease" of those chosen by God for this experience. They stick around and are forever changed.
Friday, I thought something had dropped out of the sky and landed on my car. I was parked in front of a local business waiting to meet someone. My head was down, as I read my mail. All of a sudden, a huge thud was heard and felt on the hood of my car, but when I looked up I saw no one. Then I looked out my window and the body of a man was on the ground up against my car. I can relate to how these individuals, who saw the angels, felt. I was shaken up. I couldn't open my door without hitting the man, so I put my window down and called to him. He was alive, but afraid to move. He did not want me to call 911. I told him the first thing I was going to do was pray over him and then crawl out another door.
The story has a happy ending, angels were watching over him. I was thoroughly shaken though like Mary!
Monday, I have a follow up for you on angels. If you have Max Lucado's little book The Angels of Christmas get it out for a quick read this year!
