Christmas Characters: The Angel Gabriel

This week is our week of Christmas Characters.  Today, Angel Gabriel.

The Christmas message would not be the same without the angels. In Luke’s account the story of Jesus begins six months earlier with the announcement of Gabriel to Zechariah concerning the birth of John. Zechariah was in the temple performing his priestly duties. Suddenly a routine morning service was transformed. Totally transformed. We have the electrifying account of how the Angel Gabriel appeared at the right hand side of the altar of incense and took over the morning ministrations with his own message from God. Where had the Angel come from? He gave the answer to Zechariah. “I am Gabriel that stands in the Presence of God.”

But where was God? Zechariah knew the answer to that question: God was a matter of a few feet away, hidden by the great curtain.

In other words, when God sent Gabriel to speak to Zechariah he only had to move a few feet to pass through the veil to give his message. Heaven was that close.

Actually heaven is always that close, and it seems to me that the Christmas season brings heaven even that much closer, even to our very finger tips. The art of living by faith is to keep heaven that close through out the year.