Luke 1:18 And Zacharias
said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my
wife well stricken in years. 19 And the
angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God;
and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able
to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou
believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. 21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and
marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he could not speak unto
them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he
beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. 23
And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were
accomplished, he departed to his own house. 24
And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five
months, saying, 25 Thus hath the Lord
dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my
reproach among men.
Zacharias’ questioning
attitude reminds me of Gideon and the fleece. Gideon had already perceived that
he was talking to God’s angel so what he asks seems sort of shocking at first.
Judges 6: 22 And when
Gideon perceived that he was an
angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an
angel of the LORD face to face. 23 And
the LORD said unto him, Peace be
unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. 24
Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it
Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is
yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites…36 And
Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,
37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool
in the floor; and if the dew be
on the fleece only, and it be
dry upon all the earth beside,
then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.
38 And it was so: for he rose up early
on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the
fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 And
Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak
but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it
now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.
40 And God did so that night: for it was
dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
The Jews required a
sign and were not easily convinced of the intentions of anyone from the other
side, even, it seems, God Himself. Just read over their stubbornness in the
Exodus, their doubts, in spite of all of the amazing things they had seen.
Deuteronomy 29:2 And Moses
called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did
before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants,
and unto all his land; 3 The great
temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:
4 Yet the LORD hath not given you an
heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
1Corinthians 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
The angel identifies
himself as Gabriel. Do you think he stood there with the huge wings that
Christian mythology has shown for two thousand years? No, there are no winged
angels in the Bible. That was a myth brought over from Persian religion by the
Roman Catholic Church. Gabriel is described as a man and no mention is made of
wings.
Daniel 9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man
Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being
caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
An angel looks like a
person, not some kind of hybrid cross between a person and a bird.
Revelation 21:17 And he
measured the wall thereof, an hundred and
forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man,
that is, of the angel.
Cherubim are winged
creatures but they are not angels. They are winged creatures representing a
type of animal on earth, perhaps the prototypes in the spiritual world for
those animals. In Ezekiel 10 they are called living creatures. Satan was a
cherubim, apparently reptilian in appearance as per Job 41 and is not a “fallen
angel” although he did lead angels in defiance against God.
Ezekiel 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub
that covereth; and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the
midst of the stones of fire.
Revelation 12:7 And there
was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the
dragon fought and his angels,
The point is that the angel
Gabriel looked like a man, only a very impressive and scary presentation of a
man, who as a glorified inhabitant of the eternal, unseen (to us) world, stands
before the throne of God, that terrified Zacharias but did not keep him from
questioning the truth of his statements.
While we are here our
angel, our spiritual representative, is elsewhere. They understood this then.
Acts 12:14 And when she
knew Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told
how Peter stood before the gate. 15 And
they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even
so. Then said they, It is his angel.
It is in heaven that
the spirits, the angels, of the church on earth sit.
Ephesians 2:6 And hath
raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Hebrews 12:22 …But ye are
come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels, 23 To the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect…
Revelation 5:11 And I
beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing.
(Note the difference
between the angels in Revelation 5 and the reference to the martyrs that came
out of great tribulation in Revelation 7 who have their glorified bodies
apparently, the souls slain for the word
of God in Revelation 6.)
Zacharias is struck
dumb, not being able to speak as a punishment for his unbelief. Elisabeth then
conceives with him and goes apart for five months.
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