Angels Indication

by: Adam Navis

If a Bible story has angels in it, it’s a sign that the course of human history is being adjusted.

Angels drive Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. They visit Abram and Sarai and promise a son and a great nation. Jacob wrestles with an angel and receives a blessing and a name change. Isaiah writes how an angel touched his mouth with a burning coal and atoned for his sins. When angels appear, the boundary between heaven and earth grows thin. Angels bring news, direction, and divine commands.

It makes sense then that the time of Jesus’ birth is positively teeming with angels. An angel appears to Zechariah, predicting John the Baptist’s birth and silencing his tongue. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary to herald her pregnancy. An angel appears to Joseph to assure and comfort. And most dramatically, the news of the Messiah’s birth is announced first by one, then by an entire host of angels. The word here is stratia which means “army.” An entire army of angels is mustered to boisterously sing our incarnate God’s praises. On Christmas night the boundary between heaven and earth was not just thin, it was shattered.