AWWR #12

Read: Luke 1:18-25

Sing: Hark, the Harold Angels Sing

"I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news." Eek. The priest had just questioned the messenger of God, and the response is earth shattering. I can't imagine the lump that formed in Zechariah's throat when Gabriel not just states his name (which as a priest his mind probably would have recalled his presence in the people of Israel's past) but that he stands in the presence of God. A messenger, to whom the greatest of honors he announces as his qualifications; that he stands in the presence of God.

How awesomely terrifying. This angel was sent from the presence of God to deliver a message face to face to the righteous priest, and the priest did not believe him. 

Gabriel is mentioned by name also in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21. Gabriel is sent to Daniel to help him understand a revelation from God. Daniel responds in fear and falls to his face. Gabriel would appear a second time to Daniel saying he had come to give insight and understanding, and to tell Daniel his pleas for mercy have been heard and that he is greatly loved. "Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. (9:23)

Gabriel seems to have the same role here. He had been sent and starts his proclamation to Zechariah the same way, your prayers have been heard! A messenger sent directly from the throne of God to the children of man. This is much to take in. Yet where reverence and fear filled Daniel, fear and unbelief overcame Zechariah. The beauty of the Word is that the narrative is true, Luke could have smoothed this over to try and make the priest of the lineage of Aaron look better, or smudge the details. But we get to read the humanity of the story and the grace of our Lord. 

Moving onto verse 25, Elizabeth gets her first spoken words. "Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people." Elizabeth acknowledges the miracle, the kindness, the blessing and the humility of the situation. She is well in age, and being with child must have at first been a shock but after a confirmation that her husband heard from the Lord. She thanks the Lord for removing from her the term barren one to that of the mother of "he who is the greatest among men."

May our hearts be full of gratitude and grace as we encounter the Lord Most High through His Word today.