Christmas At Innermost: Gabriel

Part 3

Almost six months of earth time had passed since Gabriel announced that Zechariah and Elizabeth would bear a son. Now he was once again sent with a message. He had long known that this girl, Mary of Nazareth, was the chosen one through whom the Eternal Himself would be born as a human baby. What a mystery!

The angel stood quietly in a dark corner of the room. His instructions from the Most High were clear and he joyfully waited to make his presence known. As he did so, he pondered further the way the Creator had planned His creation.

Before what became known as "life" was spoken into existence by the Lord, He had created an entire race of spiritual beings; including Gabriel himself. Each of them was directly a "son of God." They themselves could not create life, nor were they given the ability to participate in the creative process. The ability to procreate was uniquely given to humans and animals on earth. Humans alone were also given the ability to make moral choices like those made by the Most High.

Animals could create, but could not morally differentiate between right and wrong. Angels could make that moral delineation, but could not create. Humans could do both.

Gabriel thought of the effect this had in the history of mankind. Early in the history, Satan (Lucifer's fallen name) had sent many of his cohorts to take on physical forms and do as humans what they could not do as angels: procreate (Genesis 6:2-4). Later, Satan tore apart entire communities named Sodom and Gomorrah by pulling humans down into twisted sin. The devil had obviously discovered that this wonderful gift from the Eternal -- participation in creation through an act of love and devotion -- could tempt many humans to follow his bent ways.

Now the Most High himself was becoming united with a human female so that He could enter the world in human form. A mystery!

Gabriel gazed at the young woman sitting in her parents' home. It was time...

"Greetings, woman favored by the Eternal!"

To my readers: the events surrounding the birth of Christ are given extensive coverage in Scripture. The parts we don't always know about are the human elements, especially from the viewpoint of Jesus' participants. My attempt this Christmas is to stay true to the Biblical text, while shading in what it may have been like "between the lines." Please distinguish my ruminations from God's Word by reading the first few chapters of Matthew and Luke. My hope is that reading my words impacts you even a tiny percentage as much as writing them has impacted me.