Angels 3: Angels in the Christmas Story

I had planned to make part three about close encounters of the angelic kind in modern times, but I am still working on that one. I have three friends who have had fascinating experiences with angels, and I will share their stories as soon as two of them get around to sending answers to my questions. Their angels don’t seem to be helping them to overcome their procrastinating ways!

So, part three will focus on the role that angels played in setting the stage for the royal visit to our planet. I’m sure that everyone knows about the heavenly choir singing “Glory to God in the Highest” to a group of shepherds, but the involvement of angels in the Christmas story began about six months earlier.

In part two of my angel series, I listed some of the functions that God has assigned to angels. One of those functions was to foretell the arrival of babies in situations where conception was biologically impossible. There are several accounts in the Old Testament of angels coming to announce the upcoming arrival of babies born to women who were considered barren and far past the age of conceiving. For example, in Genesis 18, we read about three angels who appeared to Abraham in human form and told him that “about this time next year, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah laughed when she heard this, and thought “After I am worn out and my husband is old, will I now have this pleasure?” They named the child Isaac, which means “he laughs”.

In the Christmas story, a priest named Zechariah received a very similar message delivered by an angel who was not in disguise. We can read this account in Luke 1. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth was barren and they were both “well along in years” (verse 7). One day when it was Zechariah’s turn to go into the temple of the Lord to burn incense he was “gripped with fear” by the sudden appearance of an angel, who told him “Do not be afraid”. Angels must be very awesome, since almost every Biblical account of their encounters with humans start with this phrase. This angel had come to give Zechariah the message that Elizabeth would bear him a son. We will take up the story starting with verse 18:

18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel answered, “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. 20 And now you 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 proper time.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 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. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “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.”

This miracle baby was Jesus’ cousin John, who would later be known as John the Baptist. He was sent to prepare the way for Jesus.

About six months later, the angel Gabriel made his next appearance in Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph. This time Gabriel’s job was to announce the coming arrival of an even more biologically inconceivable baby. The virgin’s name was Mary. Once she got over the shock of seeing an angel, she stated the obvious: “How can this be?” She knew where babies normally came from. Gabriel answered:

The Holy Spirit will come upon 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. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

The Bible does not reveal much about Joseph’s life, but from his actions we can conclude that he was a righteous man, kind-hearted and devout. When he first heard the news that the virgin to whom he was betrothed was pregnant, he assumed that she had been unfaithful to him. According to the law, he was within his rights to bring her to the authorities and have her stoned to death. But Joseph decided that he would rather just divorce her quietly and not expose Mary to public disgrace. God intervened here to let Joseph know that his betrothed had committed no sin.

Joseph did not receive a startling visit from an angel in the same way that Mary did. Rather, God dispatched an angel to appear to Joseph in a dream. This angel instructed Joseph:

“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. 21 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.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:20-25)

I wonder if Joseph felt any disappointment that Mary actually got to see an angel, while he just had a dream, but fortunately he took the dream seriously. It would be Joseph’s duty to keep Mary and the baby safe.

Now we get to the part of the story where the heavenly choir shows up to serenade the shepherds. The first reaction of the shepherds was – you guessed it – they were terrified! But the angel said – you should know this one by now: “Do not be afraid.” He went on to say:

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

If seeing one angel is startling, imagine what the shepherds must have thought when a whole bunch of them showed up:

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. (Luke 2:13-18)

This is the part of the Christmas story that we usually associate with angels – in children’s pageants, Christmas carols, and nativity sets. But an angel’s work is never done! After they finished delivering their messages to announce the arrival of Jesus, they now turned to guardian duty.

Not much is known about the wise men (magi, kings) who came from the east to worship the newborn king of the Jews. We do know that they traveled thousands of miles following a star. We don’t know much about the star either. We do know that they made what could have been a fatal mistake. Since they were searching for a king, they went to the most logical place: Herod’s palace in Jerusalem. Only, the wise men apparently didn’t know that Herod was not the rightful heir to the Jewish throne, or that he was lying through his teeth when he told them that after they had found the child, they should come back and tell him so that he could also go and worship.

We do know that the wise men found Jesus, who by this time was probably a year or two old, and that they gave him some pretty impressive gifts. Then another angelic intervention is needed to foil the wicked plans of Herod. The wise men were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their country by another route.

Herod was rather annoyed by the tattling angel, since he of course had no intension to worship the royal child but rather to kill this potential usurper of his throne. When Herod found out that that the wise men had outwitted him, he sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under.

Another angel is dispatched to warn Joseph in another dream. The message of this angel was:

“Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:13 – 15)

Joseph obeys the angel and scoops up Mary and Jesus in time to save the holy child from Herod’s murderous rampage. After Herod’s death, Joseph receives two more divine warnings – you guessed it- through his dreams. The first was that it was now safe to return to Israel (they didn’t have CNN back then. If not for the angel-grams, Joseph would not have known when the coast was clear.) The last angelic dream instructed Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to live in Galilee, in the town called Nazareth.

If you were keeping track, there were eight angelic visits recorded in the Biblical record of the birth of Christ. Joseph received four divine warnings to help him to safeguard Mary and the baby Jesus. Zechariah the priest and Mary were both visited by the angel Gabriel. The wise men also received a divine warning in a dream.

Angels were busy creatures in Bible times, and they are still busy today, guiding, guarding, and giving comfort to humans. They should not be worshiped or prayed to, since they are not God and only God deserves our worship and hears our prayers.