5 December 2018 St. Athanasius Lutheran
Church
Advent 1 Midweek
Vienna, VA
“The Time Has Come”
Text:
Luke 1:5-24a; Genesis 3:22-24
The time has come,
the Lord said to me. I couldn’t believe my ears! If I had a heart if would have
jumped for joy! But I am an angel. Gabriel, is what
God named me. I serve at His pleasure.
And we do serve, me and the other angels. You wouldn’t believe how
much. You don’t know we’re there, you can’t see us, but we’re fighting for you
all the time. Because my former brother is fighting against
you all the time. Satan is the name he is now known by. Or the devil. And he is. He used to be one of us, serving
the Lord. But he fell away. Rebelled. The great mutiny
is what we call it here. And he took a third of my brothers with him. That was
such a sad day. When we had to fight those we used to serve with and they were
kicked out of heaven, now to make war on the earth. Against
you. And if it wasn’t for us fighting for you .
. . well, you don’t want to know what would happen if we weren’t fighting for
you.
But I have to tell you -
as sad as that day was, there was an even sadder day
for us: when our Father stationed us on guard duty, to guard the tree of life.
You see, our now-evil-brother deceived Eve into eating that fruit - that fruit
our Father told Adam, and Adam told Eve, not to eat. And then Adam ate it, too.
Our Father still loved them, His children, but they could no longer be allowed
to eat from the tree of life. Because of what they had done, because of their
sin, it was not not good for them
to do so. And so our Father sent us to guard the way to it. We obeyed,
of course. We’re warriors and it was easy duty. But sad.
Sad because of what our evil brother had done to you.
But on that day the Lord
posted us on guard duty, we also heard Him speak: a promise. To undo what His
children had done. They plunged the world into sin, and He would get them out
of sin. He would send a Saviour. It would be His own Son!
But I’m getting ahead of
myself. That part of the story comes later.
First, our Father said He
was going to send a prophet to prepare the way for His Son. To
get people ready for His coming. To point to Him and
proclaim Him to the world. Someone in the spirit
and power of Elijah, that great Old Testament prophet. He would
call people to repentance. He would proclaim forgiveness. He would make
ready for the Lord a people prepared.
And now, the time has
come, He said to us! It had been such a long time! Well, for you, of
course. We don’t have time on this side of eternity. That’s something God
created for you, to help you. But we spend so much time with you, fighting for
you and helping you, we kind of get a sense of it, too. And in your time it had
been a long time. But that’s okay. Because it was now just
the right time. For our Father always does things
at just the right time.
So the time has come,
He said! I feel joy even after all these years whenever I just think about
those words! It was such a great and awesome day. And that He picked me,
Gabriel, to bring this news to you.
Go, He said, to a priest
named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. You’ll
find him in the Temple. He was chosen to burn the incense this day and lead the
people in prayer. I knew of him. Our Father had used me to help and fight for
him before - though he, of course, did not know it. And his
wife Elizabeth, too. You know, I always had a sense that our Father was
going to use them for something special. Was he ever! They were old now, and
Elizabeth was barren, unable to have children. But that was of no concern to
me. I knew that was no obstacle for our Father. Abraham was 100 years old and
Sarah 90 when God fulfilled His promise to them and gave them their son Isaac.
Hannah was barren, and yet God opened her womb to have Samuel, and then other
children after that. No, our Father was able to do this. Of that I had no
doubt!
But old Zechariah . . .
he wasn’t so sure. He had doubts. I went to the Temple that day, just as our
Father told me. I wasted no time! As soon as He spoke, I obeyed, like all good
and faithful soldiers. And I found old Zechariah just as He said I would,
offering the incense there. When I appeared to him, he was troubled and afraid
of me. That’s what sin has done to you - made you afraid of us. But I told him:
Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your
wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
Those were my exact words. I remember them as if it were yesterday. For I don’t
think I’ll ever forget that day. I told him more, too, about this son he would
have. How he was going to be the forerunner of God’s promised Saviour!
But as I said, Zechariah
didn’t believe me at first. He had doubts. It wasn’t me he was doubting, though - it was the Word of God. That our Father could do this Word that He had sent me to speak.
It wasn’t the first time. That’s another thing sin has done to you all - it has
made you afraid of us, and it makes you doubt our Father’s Word. That’s been
your history for a very long time! You don’t realize how foolish that is! It’s
like doubting that water is wet, or that fire is hot. When God speak, it
happens. Like in the beginning, when our Father created all things. He spoke,
and it came to be. Light, worlds, heaven and earth, plants,
animals. Do you think this is harder than that? But sin has messed you
up big time. You don’t think right anymore. That’s why our Father was now
sending His Son - to fix it. To fix you.
Well, our Father had told
me this would happen. So I knew exactly what to say in answer to Zechariah. If
he didn’t believe the Word of God spoken to him, then he himself would be
unable to speak until the child was born. It is our Father who gives all things
- even the ability for you to speak. And this He would take away from
Zechariah. That’s how you’ll know, old man. It didn’t give me any pleasure
speaking those words to him, but it couldn’t lessen the joy in my heart - if I
had a heart! - that the time had now come for your Saviour to come.
So I vanished from
Zechariah’s sight, but I was still there, watching. He finished his service in
the Temple, finished offering the incense, and he turned to leave. I don’t know
how long we had been there, for as I said, time doesn’t effect us angels! But apparently it had been some
time, an unusual amount of time, for the people were worried that something had
happened to Zechariah. He opened his mouth to tell them, but no words came out.
He couldn’t speak, of course. He began trying to tell them with signs, and he
was able to communicate a little, for the people thought the reason for his
delay was that he had seen a vision in the temple. Not really. He
saw me, Gabriel - angel, soldier, messenger, of our
Father. Serving you faithfully from the very beginning.
Zechariah went home and
tried to live normally. But when our Father picks you for service, normal is
not a word that will describe you anymore. And just as our Father spoke, so His
Word did: Elizabeth conceived a son. Oh, how Zechariah wanted to
tell everyone he was going to have a son! You know how it is, when couples get
pregnant and want to tell the world. But he couldn’t. A
reminder to him of his doubt and unbelief. But he would be able, I knew.
Later. Once his son was born.
So the plan was now set
in motion! The day we angels had been looking forward to for so long. We hadn’t
had to guard the tree of life for a long time - ever since it had been
destroyed by the flood. But we had still been fighting for you, for our once
brother-in-arms and his horde had still been fighting against you. But the
forerunner had now come, and I knew what that meant - the one coming after him,
the one whose way he would prepare, was coming too! And soon.
Oh, what joy when we see our Father work His good! I hope you realize it too. And believe His Word. Because as we angels know, there is nothing more sure in all creation than His Word. So signing off, with His Name, which our Father told you in His Word: In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.