Angels seem to be big business in the spiritualised (but not religious) marketplace of pick n mix beliefs and behaviours. From angels cards to angels in your pocket, from angels whispering in your ear to cuddly fluffy fat babies with wings, angels seem to be all around us. Popular culture (and to a certain extent, the churches) have so romanticised angels that we don't think anyone would be afraid if they were to see one face to face.
Yet the testimony sounds again and again that when you see a biblical angel, you are afraid - Zechariach, Mary, the shepherds, Daniel among others all feared for their life when they encountered a heavenly messenger.
Today we're thinking about the time when the angel Gabriel came to see Mary, to bring good news of her pregnancy, a very special pregnancy. Special, because Mary was a virgin - and we all know that virgins don't have children! Except nothing is impossible with God. A special pregnancy, for a special baby:
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:32-33)
Son of God, son of David, whose kingdom never ends. It's the 2 Samuel 7 promise finally coming to fulfillment. O come, great David's greater son.
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