I have to tell you, we marveled as we watched his life. He was everything God intended a human being to be. Imagine, we said to each other, imagine if other men and women could become like him. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. And Colin, when we hear the Christmas story we often think about the people involved, Joseph, Mary, Herod. But today we’re going to see it from the perspective of the angel Gabriel. Here’s the story of Jesus viewed from heaven itself. And there’s a fascinating reference in the New Testament, even angels long to look into these things. So let’s take a look at the Christmas story from the perspective of the angels who were witnesses to it. Of course, they knew Christ in his glory before he came. What an astonishing thing it must have been for them to see him born as a baby. Stay with us for Gabriel’s story. Here’s Colin. Really it’s great to be here. And you know, I guess the first thing to say is it really doesn’t feel all that strange. Because you see, every time you worship, my colleagues are here. So this is a familiar place. And the truth is that my colleagues are around you far more than you probably think. You know, the great privilege of my life is to stand in the presence of God. I see how the divine love flows between the Father and the Son and the Spirit, and then from them to us all. But what I want you to understand today is that you can experience the love of God in a way that is beyond anything I can ever know. Let me tell you about it. See, our Father has made three orders of creation. There are the animals. They have bodies, but they don’t have souls. Then there are us, the angels. We have souls, but we do not have bodies. We can appear, as you know, but we have no physical form. Then there are you, the humans. You are body and soul knit together in a strange and wonderful union, which to us is endlessly fascinating. You know, we are amazed at how often human beings miss the unique glory of your creation. That used to make us laugh, you know. In past generations, your scientific materialists dismissed the spiritual, and they placed all their interest in the physical as if a human being were no more than a highly developed animal or a programmable machine. Had they never heard of love? Did they really believe that what they experienced in the birth of a child or around the Christmas tree with the family was just the chemical stimulus of something going on in the brain? Boy, if you think of yourself as a highly developed animal or a programmable machine, you have totally undersold yourself and misunderstood the glory of your unique nature created by God. Of course, today as we watch the human world, we see the opposite problem. Spirituality is back in vogue, and so now folks have the idea that as long as you are spiritual in some way, it really doesn’t matter what you do with your body. So, we see kids spending hours and hours looking at grotesque images on film and in video games, completely unaware of how what they see with their eyes goes through the body and right into the soul. And it shrivels the emotions, it dulls the conscience, and dampens spiritual life. In fact, it dulls all the senses, which is exactly what your enemy wants. Now, just a word of personal introduction before I get into my story. Did you know that there are only two angels mentioned by name in the Bible, apart from the other fallen one who I want to speak about today? But one’s name is Michael, my colleague, the archangel. The other is me, Gabriel. I was chosen to be God’s special messenger, a great privilege, not on one but on three occasions. The first was when I was sent to the prophet Daniel. He’d been given a vision that he didn’t understand. Actually, Christians have struggled to understand it a great deal ever since as well. But I was sent at least to help him to make sense of it all. I remember when I appeared to him, he was utterly devastated. Prostrate on the floor he was, trembling. It took him days to recover. The second time I was sent on a mission was to a man called Zechariah, the priest serving in the temple of God. My mission then was to announce the birth of John the Baptist. When I appeared to Zechariah, it seemed the same. He also was gripped with fear. I told him the word of God, but he didn’t believe it. Well, you can’t have spiritual leaders going around speaking unbelief, can you? And so speech was taken from him until his son was born. And then his speech returned, and he used it to praise and glorify God. I tell you that so that you understand that my previous visits to Daniel and Zechariah had obviously been quite devastating for them. And so when I was summoned for my third mission and told that it was to visit a country girl in her early teens, my first instinct was to say, are you sure you have the right angel for this? There is a young woman, I was told, to whom you must give this message. It is the most important announcement we have ever made, and the future of the world hangs upon it. When I heard the message I was to give, I was the one who couldn’t speak. I could hardly take it in, and the truth is I still can’t. If you had seen his glory as I did, if you knew him as I do, you would have been staggered and speechless as well. Well, I took down the details and off I went. Not to Jerusalem, not to the temple, not to a daughter of Caiaphas the high priest, but to a peasant girl in a despised, down-in-the-heel community called Nazareth. Why she was chosen, I cannot say. God’s choices are as inscrutable as they are glorious. All I can tell you is that he also has the right to choose. Her name was Mary, and she was a virgin. She was already pledged to be married to a man called Joseph who was in the line of descent that came from David. Their marriage was planned, but it had not yet taken place. When I appeared, I gave her my warmest greeting. Greetings, I said, you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you. Honestly, I don’t know who was more afraid, she of what was happening, or me as to how she might respond. I mean, if she were to scream and run away, what was I to do next? It was obvious to me that she was a woman of great faith. She seemed to sense that I had come as a messenger from the Lord. I saw how much she was troubled, and so I said to her, don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. See, I’ve noticed that with humans, when God comes close, your first instinct is to assume the worst. You just assume that God coming near means trouble for you. No human conscience is completely clear before God, and so your first instinct is to be more comfortable with God at a distance than near at hand. I guess that’s what Mary was thinking too. That’s why I said to her, you have found favor with God. The word favor means grace. You know that word well. You have been graced by God. That’s what I told her, and it wasn’t just her. It’s all of you as well. The whole human race has been graced by God in the coming of Jesus into the world. The only question is how you will respond to God’s grace that is held out to you in his son, Jesus. Well, then I gave her this message. You will be with child, I said, and you will give birth to a son. You’re to give him the name Jesus. He will be great. He will be the son of the most high, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end. I paused, and I wondered what she’d say. It seemed like time stood still just as it does in eternity, and then she spoke. How will this be since I am a virgin, she asked me. Now, that was when I realized that she had not grasped what I was really saying. She thought that I meant that she and her husband would at some time in the future have a son who would turn out to be one of the great figures of human history, but since she was not married, that was not yet possible. So I tried to explain. It wasn’t easy to find words to express the greatest mystery your world or ours has ever known, but what I said to her was this. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, I said. The power of the most high will overshadow you, so the Holy One to be born will be the Son of God. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and Gabriel’s Story, part of our series, Christmas Stories, which we’re featuring all this month. And if you ever miss one of the series, you can always catch up or go back and listen again online. Come to our website, that’s openthebible.org.uk. Back to our message now, here’s Gabriel’s story. How the light and life of heaven could take a human form is beyond what even angels can grasp. How he could be helpless as a human child is beyond what we can fathom. It is a mystery to me still, as much as it is and always will be to you, but what I tell you is it happened. All I can say is what I said to Mary, with God, nothing is impossible. Well, after that, I held my breath. Actually, angels don’t have breath, but it’s just a way of speaking that you would understand. I waited to see what she would say. God would never do this work through someone unwilling. He has his way, of course, of drawing our will, but he does not force his way or his will on anyone. No, Mary had a choice to make, as all of us do in response to God, and I trembled as I waited to hear what she would say. Then she spoke. I am the Lord’s servant, she said. Let it be to me as you have said. And so it was that nine months later, Jesus was born. A whole company of my colleagues appeared in the sky that night, praising God and announcing the good news to men and women. I have to tell you, we marveled as we watched his life. He was everything God intended a human being to be. Imagine, we said to each other, imagine if other men and women could become like him. His ministry brought more good to the world than anything we had seen in all of human history, and that happened over a period of just three years. That is why we could hardly believe what happened next. You people crucified him. I’ll never forget that day. We watched as he was scourged and bound and led away. We waited for him to call us for deliverance, but he never did. When he was nailed to that cross, we said to the Father, please let us go now, but he held us back. God’s forbearance at human sin has always amazed us. But this had to be humanity’s day of reckoning. We knew that God’s judgment must fall that day. But as we watched, we realized that the judgment for human sins was falling on Jesus. That he was absorbing it in his own body on your behalf. That he was actually making himself the sacrifice, the sacrifice for your sins. Then he died, and heaven fell silent. Of course, we fully expected his spirit to return to heaven where he belongs, but that would have meant abandoning his humanity, which would have been of no help to you. So it wasn’t until the third day that we understood what God was really doing. I will never forget that glorious morning. The corpse of Jesus had been laid out in a sealed tomb, and it was animated that morning with his life. His human body was transformed, it was energized, it was adapted for all eternity. Women came to the tomb that morning looking for his body, and one of my colleagues was sent to tell them he is risen. After that, he appeared to his disciples many times, and then he ascended into heaven. You can imagine our joy in receiving him back. But I’ll tell you, your joy should be greater than ours. You see, he didn’t die for angels. It wasn’t the nature of angels that he assumed when he came into the world. He became a man. He died and rose for folks like you. And there’s a man in heaven, and his name is Jesus. He’s there for you. He’s the pioneer. He’s the first of many men and women who will become like him and share his resurrected body, soul, his risen new humanity into everlasting life. He’s your hope. He’s your savior. He’s your king. He’s your lord. Now all the talk up there is about the day of his second coming. I’ll be with him then. So will Mary and Joseph and all of the disciples, along with everyone else who has ever put their trust in him. And all his people who are still living will rise to meet him in the air. You’ll see me then, though you’ll be much more interested in him. You know, talking about seeing angels, it reminds me, sometimes we hear people say, oh, if only I could see an angel, then I would believe. As if an appearance from one of us could be greater than what God has already done in Christ. My colleagues did a fair bit of appearing before he came, but since he’s come, you shouldn’t expect to see us today. We’re always at work, but since he’s come, there is nothing that we can add to what God has revealed in him. Candles are of great value in the darkness, but what would be the point of lighting a candle in the brilliance of the midday sun? I’ve only got a couple of minutes, and then I really must fly. So let me just say this. There are some things known to us that are hidden from you, and there are some things known to you that are hidden from us. We can’t imagine what it’s like to be forgiven, to be reconciled, to share the nature of Christ, and to have his spirit living within your own being. See, we have not experienced your tragedy, so we cannot imagine the joy of your restoration. We’ve never been lost, so we cannot know what it is to be found. We have not sinned, so we cannot know what it really is to be forgiven. We are his servants, but you are his sons and his daughters adopted into his family for all eternity. The intimacy with God that is possible for you is staggering to us. We see his presence, but you share his nature. He has made himself one with you and bound himself to you forever. That’s why I said you can experience the love of God in ways that are beyond anything that is possible for me. But then there are other things that are known to us and hidden from you. You can’t imagine heaven or hell. I’ve seen them both. You can’t begin to imagine what he has saved you from or what he has saved you for. But having seen it, I tell you we find it staggering that so many human beings give such little thought to their eternal future, living as if this fleeting world that is passing away was everything, totally unaware of the eternity that is just beyond the line of your sight. Jesus came into the world to seek and to save the lost. We see men and women losing their way all the time. I have to tell you that whenever anyone repents and comes back to him, there is such joy and celebration among all the angels of heaven. God is for you and however far you may be from him at this very moment, he wants you back and this is why Christ has come into the world. Believe in him and you will not be disappointed. Follow him and you will never go wrong. Live for him. You will find your life’s true meaning and your purpose. I know that I speak for all of my colleagues when I say that Jesus Christ is our greatest joy. Is he yours? See, that’s how you know if you belong to heaven. Christ is the joy of heaven and he’s the joy of all who belong there too. That’s my story. So may God bless you and give to you a very, very wonderful and a very happy Christmas. What a fantastic insight today into the Christmas story that our freedom to enjoy eternity with Jesus is even greater than that of the angels. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and Gabriel’s story. Part of our larger series, Christmas Stories, and if you’ve missed any of the series or if you’d like to go back and listen again, you can do that by going online. Come to our website, openthebible.org.uk. You can now also enjoy listening to Pastor Colin Smith’s teaching as a podcast, if that’s better for your schedule. You can find our podcasts on any regular podcasting site, just search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. Open the Bible is supported by our listeners and this month, if you’re able to begin supporting Open the Bible with a new donation in the amount of £5 per month or more, we’d love to thank you by sending you a book of prayers called Valley of Vision. Colin, who would you say this book is for? Oh, for every Christian who wants to pray. And it’s beautifully laid out to help us in different areas of prayer. So there are prayers here that will help you in expressing worship to God. There are prayers here that will help you in confessing sin to God. Prayers here that will help you in bringing your own needs to God. And they’re beautifully crafted. These are prayers that have come down to us over centuries from Christian believers who have crafted words that really help us speak from the heart to God. I just love this. I mean, for example, here’s one of the prayers speaking about how the broken heart is the healed heart. The contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit. The repenting soul is the victorious soul. To have nothing is to possess all and to bear the cross is to wear the crown. Well, you know, you read things like that. They’re not only prayers that you can offer to God, but they stimulate and they enrich the mind and the heart. This is a marvellous resource for a Christian to have. I would love that there was a copy in every Christian home because it’s really going to help stimulate prayer to God. Well, we’d love to send you a copy of this book if you’re able to set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount of five pounds per month or more. Full details of this offer and lots of other information and resources on our website, openthebible.org.uk. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick and I very much hope you’ll join us again soon. Abraham experienced God’s blessing in his lifetime, but he was still looking and waiting for something when he died. Find out what that was next time on Open the Bible.