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I Know Why Angels Sing: The Testimony of Gabriel
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I Know Why Angels Sing
Photo Credit: “Head of an Angel, After Rembrandt,” Vincent van Gogh (1889)
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
(Luke 2:8-15 ESV)
It was nighttime. It had to be night. Stars always shine brightest against the blackness of night. I saw them there long before I visited them—there in the hills just outside of Bethlehem. They looked exhausted, warming their hands by the fire. Most would notice these were peasants. But one thing I noticed right away is that these were good shepherds. You could tell. The sheep slept peacefully, and those shepherds knew every sheep by name. And there they were…watching over their flocks by night.
I didn’t intend to frighten them, but what can I say? My presence pierced the night sky. I hovered over them shining bright. And it wasn’t just my brightness. I came in the name of the Divine One himself; I came wrapped in his glory. No wonder they were afraid. I imagine no world could contain it.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said. I really meant it. “I’ve got news. It’s not just good news. It’s THE good news. It will fill your heart—it will fill the world—with joy; a joy for all people (of every race, with every language, in every nation). You see, the time has come. The King has arrived.”
I was very careful to really emphasize the next two words: “for you.” Unto YOU has been born this day a Savior, Christ the Lord. And you’ll find him if you seek him.”
I almost couldn’t wait for the encore. I knew this would blow their minds. I pulled the cord that stretched between heaven and earth, and the curtains pulled back. It was as if the whole night sky brilliantly came to life as the whole heavenly chorus stood shining all around us. You should have heard us shout. It was like a thunder roll. “May Glory be given to God in the highest, and may peace come to earth.”
It didn’t dawn on me until after we said those words. No wonder God chose for us to share this message with shepherds. Just as Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to find the future king of Israel, he could not be found in the home, but in the fields. It was the shepherd boy, David (1 Sam 16:11). And now, in the city of David, the great Shepherd of the sheep would be born among shepherds. We heard God tell the prophet Micah “you, Bethlehem, you who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come the one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days…And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, and they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be their peace” (Micah 5:2-5 ESV).
And, just think of it. While Augustus Caesar sat on a throne 1500 miles away, with all the pomp and circumstance earth can muster, being called Savior and Lord by people all over the known world, on this night the glory of God came to a farm…to the lowest rung of society…to shepherds in the city of David.
We…are the angels. My name is Gabriel, the personal servant of God. No, the text doesn’t say specifically that I was the one who spoke to the shepherds that night. But I’m the one doing everything else on behalf of the angels in this story. I’m mentioned twice in chapter 1. I’m one of only two angels named in Scripture (Me and Michael). I serve as special servant and envoy for God, and I’m the one telling you all this story today, so it might as well be me! (Daniel 8:16; 9:20-21; Lk 1:19, 26).
The first time you hear about us in the Bible is in Genesis 3, but we were around long before that. God never revealed to all of you exactly when he thought up the idea to make up his heavenly host, but you need to know that we were praising the name of God Almighty long before we were ever sent to earth. That was our main job—a bit like priests and Levites here on earth years later, our job was to praise God with no end.
Do you remember that tantalizing line God shared with Job as his voice thundered from the heavens: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations, when the morning stars sang together, and the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7). That’s one helpful translation. We were actually called “Sons of God” back then. But we share that name now…with you, O sons and daughters of Adam. In fact, that phrase means something even more special now than it ever meant for us…when God whispers your name. But I’ll come back to that.
The word “angel” is found in both Testaments. The Hebrew word is malach (think of Malachi) and the Greek word is angelos (that’s where ‘angel’ comes from). But both words just mean “messenger.” God added to our first job of praising him endlessly a second job—that of running his errands—to warn or comfort or guide people on whom God simply chose to rest his favor. I can’t tell you how many times we angels looked at each other and thought “why in the world did God chose them?” Hm. But God always has a reason, and his stories always end so beautifully.
The first time you see us on earth is right outside the garden. Do you remember that story? The text actually says God didn’t make Adam in the garden. He made Adam from the ground and then placed him in the garden. The garden, you see, is an almost magical place where heaven and earth collide. God who lives in heavenly space walked with Adam and Eve on the ground known as earthly space. There was no opposition to God or his will, and everyone and everything in it lived at peace. The catalyst for this ongoing paradise was love for God and a desire to do as He would.
But you just couldn’t help yourselves, could you? There’s a rumor that even we angels know what its like to taste of the bitter poison of sinful ambition. You’ll hear about a fall among us, a failed coup by the ring leader Lucifer, Son of the Morning, and how that fall either led them to the earth where they wreaked havoc, or into the abyss where they are kept in chains for the final day, or both (Job 1-2; Isa 14:12; Luke 10:18; Rev 12:9; . It’s a complicated story and I don’t have time to unpack all of that here. But let me just say that I get what the word “temptation” means. And I know what it did to you. And not just you—what it did to the world.
The place where heaven and earth collide can’t be a place where sin reigns. So God sent Adam (and, by extension you—O Sons of Adam) out into the wilderness outside the garden into the harsh realities where survival is a struggle, and death is a bitter reality. You were sent back to where you came from, and God sent bouncers to stand and protect the garden’s eastern doors to keep sinful creatures from inhabiting paradise. That’s us—God’s bouncers.
But don’t you see? Even here we were God’s messengers. We stand at the gate, and our presence announces there is a rift between you and the place of your dreams; the rift is made by choosing this life instead of the one God wanted to give you. The way of earth vs. the way of the heaven.
In the next book—the one you call Exodus—God takes this special people he has called, and whom he has delivered, and he sets up the most interesting symbolic world. He wants you to re-create a model to show you what you had, and—if I can skip to the end of the story—what you will experience later. A world where heaven and earth touch, and where Adam and God could once again hold hands. It was called the “tabernacle” (or the tent of meeting). There was a holy space in that tent, and just as God placed us at the entrance of the garden, he had your most skilled craftsmen use their fertile imagination to embroider angels on curtains. And that’s where you gave us wings. But can’t you see how God wanted you to be reminded of what you lost—as angels guard the space between the holy place and the Most Holy Place (Ex 25:31-33). Only one would be allowed to pass—only one Son of Adam to represent the people to God.
In that most holy space, God had you build an ark—something to symbolize the promise and presence of God. There was to be a “mercy seat” on top—where God himself would sit, where he would dwell, and from which he would speak. And on both sides of that seat, you were to forge two angels out of solid gold (Ex 25:18-22). Did you catch that? Just as we stand at the entrance between the barren wilderness of a world in which sin reigns and a beautiful, peaceful world where the kingdom of heaven reigns, even here angels rest at the throne of God’s presence, and we guard his sacred space.
All of this was meant to remind you that entering into a place where peace abounds and life is everlasting will not come to you in the wilderness of sin by your hard work or careful crafting. You cannot enter, you cannot pass, unless God calls you into a space where His will is done on earth just as it is in heaven, and we angels welcome you in.
This is where I come in. I bet you haven’t noticed this before, or if you did, you maybe didn’t notice the significance of it. About a year before the shepherd scene, I came to Zechariah—you know, John the Baptist’s daddy. Did you notice where he worked and what he did? He worked at the temple, and he served just outside the door where God dwelled in his sacred space (Luke 1:9-10). I imagine every time he would go to offer sacrifices in his priestly role, he would stare at those curtains with images of me. Can you imagine what he thought on that day when one of those embroidered angels…came to life? To be honest, it was kind of fun to get that assignment.
It was the time of the evening sacrifice, just as it had been in Daniel’s day when I showed up to announce my name and the future of God’s chosen people (Dan 9:21, 24). I knew where I was, and I knew what my role was, so I didn’t just tell Zechariah my name. I said “I’m Gabriel who stands in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19).
I suddenly felt a bit of de-ja-vu. I’d been here before. Oh yes…a long, long time ago. Abraham and Sarah, wasn’t it? Both there and here, God sent his angel to an older barren couple (Gen 11:30; 17:1; Luke 1:7) to announce that he was going to make something great...back then a nation (Gen 12:2) but this time a person (Luke 1:15, 32). And what was it that Abraham said back? “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?” Didn’t Sarah laugh at it all? (Gen 17:17; 18:11-12). It all came back to me as Zechariah said back to me “I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in age” (Luke 1:18).
Six months later, God sent me to a little village called Nazareth to the home of Mary. And I told her what we said to Abraham: “Don’t be afraid. You are highly favored and the Lord is with you” (Gen 15:1ff; Luke 1:13, 30). I wish I could have explained the full story to her. That while Adam and all his children were banished from sacred space lo these many years, now deep within her that sacred space would come to dwell, as she would house the ark of God within herself, and the glory of the Lord, like in the holy of holies, would overshadow her. God said through Zephaniah “Rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for the Lord your God is (literally) in your womb” (Zeph 3:14, 17). But that was a metaphor, right? For the ark of God in the center of the city? Could you blame this young girl for not fully understanding how this could be true in real life? Just as we asked Abraham “is anything impossible with God?” (Gen 18:14), I said to Mary “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
And that’s why we sing. Now, I need to explain this one. Did you know scripture never actually says that we sing? It says we shout, say, and proclaim! But you all have turned our shouts into songs…which is why all the songs you sing about us say that we sing!
….Hark the Herald Angels Sing (Charles Wesley)
….Tell how the angels in chorus, sang as they welcomed his birth…
Everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Rhonda Vincent sing about how the angels sing (and we love Ella and Rhonda’s music up here).
I think that’s good. A song is just a prayer or praise. When you “shout hallelujah” you shout as you sing and sing as you shout. When you sing “Worthy is the Lamb” or “You are worthy,” you just take our shouts and turn them into song.
Don’t think for a second that singing doesn’t happen up here. It does. And can I let you in on a little secret. The sound of singing that is the loudest…doesn’t even come from us. Oh, we stand around the throne, and we number ten thousand times ten thousand. But to a little known prophet in a little know village years and year ago, God told them that when he thinks of his people on earth…the Sons and daughters of Adam…HE “rejoices over you with singing” (Zeph 3:17).
And when one of you who ran away decides to re-enter his presence with love, when a lost sheep is welcomed back to the fold, there is more rejoicing “in the presence” of we angels (Lk 15:10). Now just who do you think is in OUR presence, if we stand in the presence…of God?
Oh yes, there’s singing up here. And however you want to imagine it–be a chant, or antiphonal response lines, or holy moaning, or whatever comes to mind, does it hurt to imagine that we sang that night as well? One among you who has studied the Scriptures for some time said this:
“According to the evangelist, the angels ‘said’ this. But Christianity has always understood that the speech of angels is actually song, in which all the glory of the great joy that they proclaim becomes tangibly present. And so, from that moment, the angels’ song of praise has never gone silent. It continues down the centuries in constantly new forms and it resounds ever anew at the celebration of Jesus’ birth. It is only natural that simple believers would then hear the shepherds singing too, and to this day they join in their caroling…proclaiming in song the great joy that, from then until the end of time, is bestowed on all people.”
Oh, I wish you could have heard us sing that night overlooking the hillside of Bethlehem. Those shepherds got a front row seat. But we couldn’t help but lift our voices as high as the throne of heaven. Because TO YOU was born this day in the city of David, the Savior, Christ the Lord. We angels have been around God a long time; but God never said to any of us “You are my Son, Today I have become your Father” (Heb 1:5). But when God brought his firstborn Son into the world, He said “Let all God’s angels worship him” (Heb 1:6; see Psalm 97:7).
We praise, we shout, we lead, we guide, and we tell. We tell the story. We were there in the garden when Jesus struggled with the painful realities of the mission. God sent us there to strengthen him (Luke 22:43). We witnessed the horrible day when Jesus Christ was crucified by the very people he came to save. But then we caught a glimpse of the wisdom of God, that even in that moment—when all the sins of the world were laid on His Son—God reached down and with his hand ripped the veil of the Temple apart. Heaven and earth were becoming one again. God would dwell within, beside, and among his people again.
And when Jesus burst from the bonds of death, we made sure you got the message. A company of daughters of Eve came early to the tomb, and we told them the same glorious message “don’t be afraid.” And they went out spreading the word. Two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus would later say “these women had seen a vision of angels who said Jesus was alive!” (Luke 24:23).
He is alive. He reigns because he ascended. He ascended because he rose. He rose because he died. He died because he lived, he lived because he was born. He became a son of Adam…and in that moment, all of us in the heavenly brigade finally knew what it meant for God to choose you. We always prided ourselves a bid in knowing God had made you “a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8), but crowned in some way with glory and honor. But it was the day when the King who wears the crown, God himself, became one of you, that we came to see just what being crowned with glory and honor means. He became one of you, so that you could one day be transformed into the very image of Christ himself.
Church, it humbles me to say this to you: but you—even you who were far off—God has raised up with Christ, and he has seated you in heavenly places. We sing when we think of Christ; but because of Christ—knowing that would happen, God sings when he thinks of you.
Christ removed the curtain. Christ broke down the middle wall. Heaven and earth meet in him. And you, yes even you, have been called into his presence, as He, with his Father and his overshadowing Spirit, make their new sacred space within you and among you, anticipating the day when all shall be sacred space, and everything shall be as it was in the beginning.
So…what will you do with this message I’ve come to give you? The shepherds “made haste” to see the boy King. That’ll do.
I wish I had thought of this line to say that night to those shepherds—they would have loved it. “Wonderful, merciful Savior. Precious redeemer and friend. Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men?”
This is a sermon preached on December 8, 2024 at the West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) entitled “Why Angels Sing.” This lesson is available to watch or listen, and appears on the Life on the West Side podcast (Season 4, Episode 34). Available on all podcast platforms.
Recent Sermon Series: Our Father
On Sunday nights, we have worked through the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray—lovingly known as the “Our Father.” Links to video and audio below.
Harding’s Healthcare Ethics Initiative Kicks Off
The David E. Smith Healthcare Ethics & Human Dignity Initiative at Harding University enjoyed our formal opening on October 22, 2024. Offering the first Smith keynote lecture in Bioethics and Human Dignity was Dr. Scott B. Rae, a world-renown bioethicist and dean of the faculty at Talbot School of Theology (Biola University). You can watch his keynote here:
Our second Smith keynote lecture will be held on Harding’s campus on Friday, February 7, 2025. The speaker is Dr. Christopher Tollefsen, professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, and co-author of The Way of Medicine. He will be speaking on “Rights, Liberty, and The Way of Medicine.” I hope you can join us.
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My name is Nathan Guy. I serve as associate professor of philosophy, theology, and ethics and as the director of the David E. Smith Healthcare Ethics and Human Dignity Initiative at Harding University (Searcy, Arkansas). I am also privileged to serve as preaching minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Searcy. I joyfully adjunct courses for the School for Professional Studies at St. Louis University and enthusiastically serve as chairman of the board for the Center for Christian Studies. I am happily married to Katie and am the proud father of Grace (who is 3) and Henry (who is wee). You can find more resources on my website over at nathanguy.com. You can follow me (@nathanpguy) on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), Threads, Bluesky, and YouTube.