- [Narrator] Gabriel is one of the most well-known angels
in the Bible.
Gabriel means God's hero, the mighty one,
or God is great in Hebrew.
He is commonly referred to in scripture
as Jehovah's messenger or the Lord's messenger.
The Bible never refers to him as an archangel,
contrary to common belief.
Despite this, the Bible makes reference to his work
more frequently than Michael's.
Angels are one of the most misunderstood beings
on the planet.
These heavenly messengers, according to the Bible,
are supernatural beings,
not human beings who have earned wings in the next life
by being virtuous in this one.
People in the Bible are also overwhelmed with awe
when they see an angel.
Ministry of Gabriel,
Gabriel is essentially God's merciful
and promising messenger,
he appears in the Bible four times,
each time bringing good news.
Daniel 8:16,
Daniel 9:21,
Luke 1:19,
Luke 26.
However Gabriel's disclosures are crucial
in the unfolding of God's plans, purposes, and verdicts.
Chapter one, Daniel.
In Daniel 8:15 through 16,
we get our first glimpse of Gabriel in the Bible.
He delivers God's vision for the end time there,
God has given him the task of relaying a message
from heaven's situation room
that exposes God's plan for history.
however, Gabriel came to interpret the vision.
Daniel speaks about how worn out he was
after he met the angel.
Daniel 8:27.
"I Daniel was worn out.
I lay exhausted for several days.
Then I got up and went about the King's business.
I was appalled by the vision, it was beyond understanding."
The prophetic announcement by Daniel in his prayer to God
is twofold.
He expressly refers to the more immediate judgment
upon Israel.
Daniel 9:16,
and then to the awesome portent of end-time judgment
and tribulation, which shall be for seven years,
Daniel 9:27.
Daniel while in prayer records Gabriel's second appearance
to him.
"While I was still in prayer,
Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision came to me
in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
He instructed me and said to me,
'Daniel, I have now come to give you insight,
and understanding.
As soon as you began to pray, a word went out,
which I have come to tell you for you are highly esteemed.
Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.'"
Daniel 9:21.
to Daniel he said, "Understand the vision,"
then revealed to him the magnificent sequence of events
at the end time,
it was a time of despair for the nation
when Gabriel came to Daniel with the message of hope.
His name, God is my strength or mighty one
testify to the all powerful God
Who was about to deliver his people from captivity,
and to bring them back into the land of promise.
Chapter two Zacharias telling of his prophet.
In Luke 1,
Gabriel makes his first appearance in the New Testament.
God had commanded that a prophet should go
before the Messiah, both to proclaim His coming,
and to prepare the hearts and minds of the people for Him.
Therefore, the account of angelic involvement
in Christ's life must begin
before we even look at Mary and Joseph.
God decided in His wisdom and sovereignty
that the birth of this prophet should be a miracle
in and of itself.
Zacharias was waiting before the Lord in the temple.
Suddenly there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord
standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
Luke 1:11.
"Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him
standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
When Zechariah saw him,
he was startled and was gripped with fear.
But the angel said to him,
'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard.
Your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you are to call him John.
He will be a joy and delight to you,
and many will rejoice because of his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He is never to take wine or other fermented drink,
and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,
even before he is born.
He will bring back many of the people of Israel
to the Lord, their God.
And he will go on before the Lord
in the spirit and power of Elijah
to turn the hearts of the parents to their children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'
Zechariah asked the angel, 'How can I be sure of this?
I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.'
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.
You now will be silent and not able to speak
until the day this happens,
because you did not believe my words,
which will come true at their appointed time.'
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah,
and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.
When he came out, he could not speak to them.
They realized he had seen a vision in the temple
for he kept making signs to them,
but remained unable to speak.
When this time of service was completed, he returned home.
After this, his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant,
and for five months remained in seclusion.
'The Lord has done this for me,' she said.
'In these days He has shown His favor
and taken away my disgrace among the people.'"
Luke 1:11 through 26.
The parents chosen for the prophet were Zacharias, a priest,
and his wife, Elizabeth.
They had never had children because Elizabeth was barren,
and now they were also beyond the childbearing years.
Luke 1:7.
"But they were childless,
because Elizabeth was not able to conceive,
and they were both very old."
Notice also how this account closely parallels
the case of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:11 through 12,
"Abraham and Sarah were already very old,
and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought,
"After I am worn out and my Lord is old,
I will now have this pleasure?'"
But as we saw earlier,
God sent the angel Gabriel to Zacharias
to tell him that he and Elizabeth would have a child,
and that this child would be the Messiah's forerunner,
John the Baptist.
Later when John the Baptist and Jesus were grown,
John did indeed prepare the people for Christ,
pointing out their sins and calling for repentance.
When Christ was ready to begin his public ministry,
and John's job was complete, John said to Christ,
"You yourselves can testify that I said,
'I am not the Messiah, but I'm sent ahead of Him.
The bride belongs to the bridegroom,
the friend who attends the bridegroom awaits
and listens for him and is full of joy
when he hears the bridegroom's voice,
that joy is mine and it is now complete.
He must become greater, I must become less.'"
John 3:28 through 30.
Chapter three, Mary.
Whatever epic assignments Gabriel had previously undertaken
for the Lord, this one surely topped them all.
He was sent to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph,
a descendant of David.
The Virgin's name was Mary.
What a wonderful message Gabriel had to deliver
to that young lady,
"Thou shalt conceive in thy womb,
and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus.
He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest
and the Lord God shall give unto Him
the throne of his father, David."
Luke 1:31 through 32,
God bestowed such great honor and responsibility
on this particular angel.
Angelic involvement in Christ's life began
long before He was born,
because His birth was to be a one-of-a-kind event.
A new life generated outside of the regular human process
in a virgin without a man.
Certainly the lady who was to bear the Christ child
had to be informed beforehand.
She had to be prepared for an event
that would have been impossible without God's help.
Furthermore, even if the occurrence was to be a work
of the Holy Spirit,
the young woman would be subjected to ridicule and abuse
from others in her family and community
who did not believe in the miraculous nature
of the conception.
Indeed, fornication, which would be the only normal way
for an unmarried woman to become pregnant
was punishable by death under Mosaic la.,
Leviticus 20:10,
"If a man commits adultery with another man's wife,
with the wife of his neighbor,
both the adulterer and the adulteress
are to be put to death."
"'How will this be?' Mary asked the angel,
'Since I am a virgin.'
'The angel answered the Holy Spirit will come on you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Even Elizabeth, your relative is going to have a child
in her old age.
And she who was said to be unable to conceive
is in her sixth month.
For no word from God will ever fail.'
'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered.
'May your word to me be fulfilled.'
Then the angel left her."
Luke 1:26 through 38.
When Gabriel gave her the news,
Mary was understandably perplexed.
Gabriel explained however that it was the power
of God Himself, Who would cause it to happen.
Notice Mary's reaction then to the news.
"May your word to me be fulfilled," Luke 1:38.
Next,` read Mary's beautiful magnificent poem
to see how thrilled she was to play such a part
in God's eternal plan.
"And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior,
for He has looked on the humble state of His servant.
For behold, from now on,
all generations will call me blessed,
for He who is mighty, has done great things for me,
and holy is His name.
And His mercy is for those who fear Him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm.
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of humble state.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant, Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy.
As He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to His offspring forever,'"
Luke 1:46 through 55.
What an example she gives us of obedience
and readiness to be used by God in whatever way He sees fit.
After Mary was discovered to be pregnant
with the Christ child, Joseph, her promised husband,
wanted to put her away secretly to shield her from shame.
Certainly Mary had told him
how the pregnancy had come about,
but evidently he was having trouble accepting it.
So an angel was sent to reassure Joseph
of the miraculous godly nature of Mary's pregnancy,
and to encourage him to take her as his wife,
Joseph submitted giving us another instance
of gracious obedience to God.
Matthew 1:18 through 23.
"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about.
His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph,
but before they came together,
she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit,
because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law,
and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace.
He had in mind to divorce her quietly,
but after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said,
'Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give Him the name Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins.'
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet.
'The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,
and they will call him Emmanuel,
which means God with us.'"
but in his most prominent appearance,
Gabriel notifies the Virgin Mary
about Jesus, the incarnate God.
What a message to deliver to the world
through a teenage girl.
What a stunningly, holy girl she must have been
to be visited by the mighty Gabriel.
He proclaims, "And He will reign
over Jacob's descendants forever.
His kingdom will never end."
Luke 1:33.
throughout all time, this divine declaration of Gabriel
shall be the Magna Carta of the incarnation,
and the foundation stone of the world to come.
God became flesh to redeem us.
One of the main services of angels to human beings
is to transmit knowledge from God to us.
We have already looked at a few cases
in which angel served as God's messengers.
When angel spoke to the pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar,
in a dream, and when Gabriel prophesied
to the births of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus.
Many times men have needed messages from God,
and the angels have delivered them.
Consider for example,
the tremendous burden that rested on the shoulders of Moses
as he undertook the leadership of God's people.
They needed commandments for one thing,
so that they could know how to live a life
that was pleasing to God.
Angels had a part in that,
because we read that the nation of Israel,
"You who have received the law
that was given through angels,
but have not obeyed it."
Acts 7:53.
In summary, Gabriel is one of the angels mentioned
in scripture.
His ministry appears to be that a mercy and promise.
We know that he appeared to Daniel, Zechariah,
the father of John the Baptist, as well as to Mary,
who is the mother of Jesus,
and finally he is called the angel of the Lord and Luke 1.
However, there is need for victory in the scriptures,
and to see our video on angel Michael, click here,