Christmas At Innermost: Gabriel

Part 6

"I have a plan..."

They sat there perfectly still. No one dared move. One hideous, bat-like creature felt a drop of greenish saliva drool from the corner of his lip. He let it drop, not moving to catch it, lest he attract attention. His eyes darted to those around him. They sat there, obviously nervous. They had all seen situations in which THE evil one pointed his perfectly manicured finger at someone, who then fell onto the floor, gasping in undying agony. 

No. One. Moved.

"Thrum! Bum! Thrum! Bum!" echoed in the distance. The smell of sulfur permeated the air. 

If a human had been sitting there, the impression would have been of a handsome actor or model. Every hair was in place. The lean face carried a certain boyish charm, with high cheekbones and lips that turned slightly upward when he spoke. As if he was smiling to hide the permanently etched sneer which was his normal "look." His voice was not the deep, amplified voice of something like the Wizard of Oz; it was of medium pitch with a refined lilt to it. It was only in the cold, lifeless eyes that one began to see the evil that resided behind this carefully contrived visage. 

When one saw the eyes, the voice carried the sound of perpetual death.

Every eye. Every ear. Focused on him.

Thrum! Bum! Thrum! Bum!

"I stood before His mother when He was being born. (see Revelation 12) I was ready to catch Him and crush Him as He uttered His first cry. But the Enemy would not allow it. All this time you thought I was done in. You fools!"

A chorus of shrieks and cries of "No!" and "We always believe in you, lord!" rang out from around the table.

"You thought I was held back. Ha! I pretended to be stymied so I could display my real power later!"

"I told you," snorted a demon with a pig-like snout to his friend sitting next to him. "He always has a plan. Always!" 

"Now, we wait," said the evil one. "When He is an adult, I will put Him to the test. Perhaps he can be convinced to switch allegiances and follow me. Probably not, but I will try. Then, I will turn my ultimate plan loose on Him."

"Ultimate plan?" asked a principality. "What is that?"

"We have a weapon," replied the evil one. "We have been refining it for hundreds of earth years. We have infiltrated the very religion practiced by our Enemy's chosen people. We have taught them to love their religion. In doing so, most of them no longer know what it means to be devoted to Him. They will do anything to defend their religious tradition. Anything!!"

Thrum! Bum! Thrum! Bum!

"Even kill!!!!"

Finally, he whispered: "They will do our work for us."

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.

Christmas At innermost: Gabriel

Part 5

The war drums beat incessantly in the hills. Great trails wound down to converge on this spot in the dark valley. All around, smoke and the smell of brimstone rose from large rents in the rocks. Below the surface one could hear agonizing cries of those in torment. Thrum! Bum! Thrum! Bum! The drums beat on.

Off in the shadows, little cliques of hideous beings played games of chance. "The winner dines on goat and the loser on buzzard!" called the hawkers. They all HATED buzzard. It was too much like eating leeches.

The large, stone altar stood in front of their evil palace. On it, blood was shed. Human blood, when possible.

Inside, the council was discussing their strategy.

"We must stop Him!" they cried in unison. 

"Yes, but how?" asked an evil prince.

"We will set a trap for Him on the road and ambush Him!"

"Oh," said the prince. "You mean like we tried to ambush His mother right after our Enemy came upon her and she was with child? You remember that day. We sent a whole legion of great warriors to attack that little caravan on the way from Nazareth to Hebron. They never got close. They were blinded by a bright light and ran away screaming in pain."

"We can destroy His reputation!" This from the sniveling voice of a particularly insidious and slimy creature sitting in a corner stool. "A word here, an insinuation there..."

"You mean," replied the prince, "the way we tried to destroy Mary's reputation? We had Joseph ready to fall into our hands when that jolly Gabriel got to him! We would have washed her away in a flood of ill will!" 

Thrum! Bum! Thrum! Bum!

"I have an idea," sneered a supervisor known as Legion. "We can turn the might of Rome against Him."

"The way we turned Herod against all the little boys in Bethlehem? We sent the flood of political power against Him and it was if the planet itself opened up and swallowed down our might. He escaped, as you remember."

Thrum! Bum! Thrum! Bum!

"Then what do we do?" The chorus of complaints and snarls and sickening cries filled the room.

They all looked up. His eyes were as dead as his voice.

His voice. Dread. Evil. Confident. Icy.

"I have a plan..."

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.

Christmas At Innermost: Gabriel

Part 4

Gabriel stood in amazement as he saw the intricate details of the Most High's orchestration to involve the right people in His redemptive plan. He hadn't yet revealed himself as he watched Joseph of Nazareth wrestling with the knowledge he had received. Joseph was a "righteous" man, a man who took the Law of Moses quite seriously. As such, he was obviously weighing out his limited choices of what to do with Mary's pregnancy. 

The Eternal knew that Joseph would struggle; that's why His messenger had come this night. Gabriel considered the joyful news he would bring shortly and then remembered how one of his kinsmen, a mighty warrior, had been given a message long ago.

One of the Lord's choice prophets, a man named Daniel, was given a great vision of something in his future. Perplexed because he often knew interpretations immediately, Daniel couldn't understand the meaning of this one. He began to fast and pray, continuing for 21 days. (Daniel 10) 

In the meantime, the Most High had immediately dispatched his messenger with the interpretation for Daniel. But the messenger was thwarted by none other than the fallen principality (Ephesians 6:12) of the nation of Persia. This great, twisted demon fought against the messenger day after day with Daniel holding fast in prayer. Finally, the Almighty sent Michael the archangel to join in the fight. Michael held the demon prince at bay until the messenger could break through to Daniel. Then the messenger had to go back the same way, knowing that the demon prince of Greece was now joined in the battle. It was one of the historic battles in the invisible realm!

For some reason, Gabriel's announcement to Joseph met with little resistance. He knew, though, that a great battle was yet to come and would begin soon!

"O, Eternal," Joseph prayed in his exhaustion, "what do I do?"

Gabriel recognized the moment. "Joseph, son of David..."

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.

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.

Christmas At Innermost: Gabriel

Part 2

Gabriel continued to watch silently as the old priest stood gazing through the smoke of burning incense at the heavy curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. These rooms which mirrored the Eternal's actual throne room in heaven were, he had heard, places in which the priests most felt the presence of the Most High. The angel waited patiently as Zechariah knelt down and began to pray. The Lord had told him to expect this and to reveal himself at a precise moment.

It amazed Gabriel that the Eternal had obviously planned for this day even before He created such a thing as "days." That thought flashed an entire scene in the angel's memory...

The smooth lure of Lucifer found it's way quickly into the lives of many more angels. Some, to be sure, followed him because they were afraid of him and the angel of light became far more fearsome after his rebellion. Others were drawn into his temptation, "Join me! We shall topple the Most High and I will share the throne with you. It is no longer necessary for you to go about like slaves to His will. I shall set you free!"

The promise of freedom worked its way deep into the hearts of angels. First, a handful; then a hundred, then a thousand. Finally, a third of all the angelic beings were swept up in rebellion and were cast out of heaven. Of course, what they received was anything but freedom. They began to feel the agony of their separation from their creator. Lucifer tried to take His place, but he replaced the nurture and spiritual sustenance the Most High had provided with what amounted to a slow-acting poison. In their misery, they became more and more twisted and dark. It seemed that they completely forgot the beauty, light and joy of their former estate. 

Now, sharing their misery and pain with the humans so loved by the Eternal had become the very reason for the existence of the fallen horde.

Zechariah began to pray. "O Eternal, I confess that I do not understand. I have been given the privilege to burn this incense before You. I have received Your approval to do so as shown by the sacred lot. All my life I have longed for this day. Now that it has arrived, I stand here with a broken heart. O Eternal, please hear my cry! Through the many years of our marriage, my wife Elizabeth has been barren. We have prayed. We have wept and cried out to You. We have sought the help of the physicians. Now, we have been told that it is too late. Please, Eternal, comfort us. We do not understand."

The old priest got up and turned to leave. Gabriel suddenly appeared to him and saw the look of great fear in his eyes. 

"Don't fear, Zechariah..."

Note: For background study today, see Revelation 12. 

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.

Christmas At InnerMost: Gabriel

Part 1

He stood and watched as the old man moved quietly and deliberately through his assigned task. Incense was spread evenly over the altar and smoke was beginning to rise through it. He sensed the nervousness of the man as he paused for prayer.

In that tiny moment, Gabriel thought about the history of this planet and what was happening here. Long before people had been placed here, the Eternal of the heavens was at work in preparation. 

When the Eternal named a mighty prince to rule over this planet which humans called "earth", He -- not surprisingly -- chose Lucifer. Often called Morningstar, Lucifer was not only powerful; he was beautiful. To describe his beauty would of necessity require mental images of precious stones. It was as if he was covered by rubies, topaz, diamonds, beryl, onyx, jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and emeralds. Plus, it was like each of these jewels was set in pure gold. No, none of the angels was surprised when Lucifer was named.

As prince, Lucifer went regularly into the councils of the Eternal Himself. His occupation; his trade, as it were, was to bring instructions from the Eternal's throne and pass them on to the heavenly host which was already at work on the planet. Then, the way a teacher might collect the examinations from a room of students, Lucifer was to gather up all the praise and worship meant for the Eternal. He was to present those in heaven's throne room. 

But there was a problem. Lucifer fell in love with his own beauty and power. Therefore, he began usurping the will of the Eternal. First, he did it in small ways, neglecting to give an instruction from the Eternal to a particular angel. Then Lucifer began substituting some of his own instructions in their place. 

Very quickly that mighty prince found himself lusting after the praises which were meant only for the Eternal. He started holding back some of those praises and heaping them upon himself. It wasn't long until Lucifer decided that he would raise up his own throne above all -- even the Eternal!

This set the scene for a great war in the heavenlies...

Notes: Some of you will wonder where in the world I came up with some of today's narrative. If that's they case, you might want to see Ezekiel 28:11-18; Isaiah 14:12-17; Job 1:6-7.

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.