Now these verses that I have read with you draws attention to the ministry of angels in both the Old Testament and the New Testament scriptures. For example, an angel appeared to Zacharias, an angel appeared to Mary, many angels appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, an angel appeared to Peter, An angel appeared to Paul, and according to Hebrews 1 verse 14, angels minister to believers now. And in Hebrews 1 verse 14, they are described as ministering spirits. That's a reference to the angels, ministering spirits to minister to the heirs of salvation. So we could really say that the angels, these angels are our guardian angels. So I do believe in guardian angels. The angels of God are supernatural beings clothed with the glistening garments that reveal the glory of God's presence. Now, there are many, many angels. Some commentators actually believe there were billions of angels. Now, I don't know how they were able to calculate that. I'm not going to be as forward to say that. But there could have been billions. But we know that there were many, many, many, many angels. But only two are mentioned by name in the scriptures, Gabriel and Michael. Gabriel announced God's purposes. And Michael, he carries out God's decrees. Now, the Bible records four appearances of Gabriel, two in Daniel. and two in Luke's Gospel. Because Gabriel revealed truth from God on each of these occasions, he has been called by one preacher in particular, God's preaching angel. The fact that three of these appearances deal with the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, some have been brave enough to call him God's Christmas angel. That's what some people say about Gabriel, he's God's Christmas angel. Now I want to have a look at these four appearings of Gabriel in the scriptures and see exactly what this preaching angel had to say to those to whom he appeared. Okay. Do you believe in angels? I do. I see quite a number of heads shaking as well. So you must believe the Bible. Yes, you do. Of course you do. First of all, Gabriel appeared to Daniel. We've read these verses. Daniel chapter 8, 16, 9 verse 21. And Gabriel appeared to Daniel. in Babylon about 500 years before the birth of Christ. Now what did he speak to Daniel about? He spoke to Daniel about an amazing promise. Just bear with me, keep that in mind, keep that thought with you. The first time he appeared was to give Daniel understanding of a vision that he had in the third year of Belshazzar before the fall of Babylon in Daniel chapter 5. If you look at chapter 8 verse 1, we're told here, in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar. But you know that the Babylonian Empire came to an end in chapter 5, so things are not in a chronological order here. But this is exactly when the Lord gave unto Daniel this particular vision. What was the vision all about? Well, if you look there at verse 3, you will see what it was about. Then I lifted up my eyes. God was going to show him something, you see. Oh, may God show us something tonight from his word. I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, look at this." That's what the Spirit is saying. There stood before the river a ram. Okay. So we have the picture of the ram, verse three. But then if you look down there at verse five, notice what it says there. As I was considering, behold, look at this again, a he goat. So we have a ram and we have a goat. Now do you remember Daniel chapter 2 and Nebuchadnezzar's great image? Remember it consisted of different parts. It had the head of gold that represented the Babylonians. Let's move down the image, the breast and the arms were of silver. referring to the Medo-Persian Empire. And then the middle parts spoke of Greece. So the Lord is giving us pictures in the word. It's all about history. It's all about the history, Old Testament history. Important for us to understand it. And then legs of iron, that is a reference to the Roman Empire. Then when you come to Daniel chapter 7, you have different images. You have the image of the lion with the eagle's wings. That's Babylon, same thing over again. And then you have the bear. Well, that's representing the Medo-Persian Empire. And then you have the leopard with the four heads and wings. That's a reference to the Greece or the Greek Empire. But we're talking about history, the history of the nations. God is revealing things to Daniel. He's showing Daniel things. And if we're in the Spirit tonight, the Lord will show us things too. And then you have the great monster, and that refers to the Roman Empire as well. And so we're talking here of the ram, and the ram here in chapter 8 speaks of the Medo-Persian Empire. And we're told here that the two horns, and these two horns represent the merging of the Medes and the Persians to form the Medo-Persian empire. According to what we read there in verse 20, they ram, which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of Medo and Persia. It becomes the Medo-Persian empire. following on from the Babylonian empire and then we're told there about the goat and it's in verse 21 and the rough goat is the king of Greece and the great horn is between his eyes as the first king. So we have here in picture form these great empires of the world. So we thought about the Babylonian empire succeeded by the Medo-Persian empire. It gave way then to the Greek empire and then ultimately the Roman empire. This is all about history, a history lesson and God is revealing these things unto his servant Daniel. So the ram represents the Medo-Persians, the goat represents the Greeks and the great horn refers to Alexander the Great. You've heard of Alexander the Great? He was a mighty man, and the goat moved swiftly, and the ram was defeated by it. And the Medo-Persian Empire gave way to the Greek Empire. And the goat continued to become very, very strong until 323 Alexander the Great died at 33 years of age. And as he came to Dahila, he lamented that they had no other land or nations to conquer. The four horns that we read of here that sprang out of the Grecian empire represent four kings because his kingdom was divided into four different parts after his death. And these generals of his became the kings or the generals of these different kingdoms. And the little horn, and you need to read this yourself sometime, and when you do then these things might come back to your mind. So his kingdom, he dies, his kingdom is divided into four parts with these four generals and kings. And then there's that little horn that comes out of these four kings, a man called Antiochus Epiphanes, who rose from the empires to rule one of these four parts, namely the Syrian division. He was the Syrian king who ruled over Israel in the second century BC and persecuted the Jews from 175 BC to 164 BC, the time of his death. He's a little horn. And an enemy of the Holy Covenant, as you read in Daniel chapter 11, he also represents the Antichrist in the final time, the persecutor of the saints of God. And so Daniel has this vision and the Lord is giving to him insight into things that were happening in his present time. He was also revealing to Daniel what would happen to his own people. Daniel had been in Babylon for about six to eight years at this point of time. And the Lord is showing to him what's going to happen to his people in two or three years' time. So he's revealing to him things about his personal times and then something about the future of his people. And the time when the people, the Persians, would conquer the Babylonians, And that was Cyrus, the great king of the Medo-Persians, who liberated the captives and allowed them to return to the land of Israel to build their temple. So God is at work in history. He's revealing these things onto a servant, a man who knew how to pray and call upon the Lord's name. But the second time Gabriel appears to Daniel, it's in chapter nine. And if you look there at verse two, this is what Daniel was doing when Gabriel appeared to him. Remember what we said there in verse 21. Whilst 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. Notice what Daniel was doing in chapter nine, verse two. Well, in the first year of his reign, Daniel understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years and the desolation of Jerusalem. So Daniel was reading the scriptures. seeking to ascertain when Israel's captivity in Babylon would end. He's been there for a lifetime now, carried away when he was only 16 years of age. He's been there all that length of time. And Jeremiah had talked about a time, a 70-year period of time, when in the providence of God, the Lord would use an ungodly man called Cyrus to issue a proclamation permitting the remnant to return to the land of Judah to build again the temple of the Lord. So Daniel begins to pray. He understands now by the book and he begins to pray. He begins to pray and seek the Lord's face. And as a result of his praying what happened? We're told in verse 22 of this, Gabriel came, I read 21 a minute ago, and in verse 22, chapter 9, he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. So here's a man, he's beloved of God. He's a man of prayer. We know he's a man of prayer. He's seeking the face of God. And the Lord gives him an insight into the future of his people, the near future, the deliverance of his people from Babylon. But at the same time, as we continue on reading the ninth chapter, the Lord gives him a vision of something that will take place 500 years later, hundreds of years later. So Daniel was expecting to be given understanding as to when the captivity of his people would end, but Gabriel gave him insight into a far greater matter. He talked to him about the coming of the Messiah. Because in verse 26, So he's praying about the future of his people and the land of Babylon when it was going to come to an end, the captivity that it was. And the Lord certainly revealed that to him, but at the same time, he gave to him a vision of Calvary and the work of Christ, the coming of the Messiah, the death of the Messiah. So in fact, Gabriel came to Daniel and he was saying to Daniel, lift up your eyes off the pressing issues of the date of Judah's release. from captivity to something far more important, the coming of the Messiah. So here we find Gabriel directing the thoughts and the attention of Daniel, a man of prayer, the one who was greatly beloved, the man who was reading the scriptures given to him by Jeremiah the prophet. He was doing all of those things and he received the word from God, a gracious promise. the coming of the Messiah. And Gabriel said to Daniel, Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself. Now think about it. He shall be cut off, but not for himself. That is, he would die, but he would not die for his own sins, but for others. And through that death, he would finish the transgression. Listen to it. He'd finish the transgression. He would make an end of sins. He would make reconciliation for iniquity. He will bring in everlasting righteousness. He will seed up the vision and prophecy that is. He will fulfill prophecy. And then he would anoint the holy place, verse 24. There could be no better statement on the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. He died not for himself, but he died for others. And in doing so, he provided forgiveness for their sins and eternal righteousness before God. And after dying on the cross, Jesus entered into heaven to make intercession for his people and thus anointed the holy place. All of this was fulfilled. All of this fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel, but many other prophecies of the Old Testament as well. So Gabriel, he appears for the first time to Daniel. He speaks about his own people and the present time. Then on the second time he came in chapter nine, he gave Daniel insight into the coming of the Messiah. That's all here in the Bible. This is a wonderful book. Then we need to move on. We need to come to Luke's gospel, chapter one, Because here we read of how Gabriel appeared to another individual. And on this occasion, he appeared to Zacharias in chapter 1. And his story is found in verses 5 through 20. And you can pick up on verse 19, and the angel answering said unto him, that is unto Zacharias, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and I'm sent to speak unto thee and to show thee glad tidings. Now what was the glad tidings? It was about the appointed proclaimer. a reference to John the Baptist who was to announce or proclaim and to prepare the way for the coming of the Savior. This was the responsibility of Gabriel. Zechariah was in the temple, verse 9, verse 21 and verse 22 when Gabriel appeared. Well, we're not in the temple tonight. Well, we're in a church, church hall. And this is where Daniel encountered the angel of the Lord in God's presence. And he's specifically at the altar of incense because when Gabriel came, he appeared at the right hand of the altar of incense. And the altar of incense speaks to us of prayer. It was at the time of the burning of the incense, the people were on the outside. They were praying on the outside. and Zechariah's in his course. It was an honor for a man because there were thousands of priests and a priest may have only had this one opportunity to offer incense in the temple. This was a tremendous time for him and there he was offering the incense on the inside. Do we not have a wonderful picture here of the people of God praying on the outside on earth? And the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, entered in through the veil to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. I think we have. That's what he's doing now for us tonight. We're praying here down on earth. He's praying up there. And he makes our prayers effectual. There's the time of the offering of the incense. It was offered morning and after the evening sacrifice by the priest on Juday. It's a symbol of prayer. You know that by now. Psalm 141 verse 2 connects prayer with the offering of incense. Let my prayer be said before thee as incense. The same thing is found in Revelation chapter 8 verses 3 and 4. The smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended before God and the angel that is mentioned there in Revelation chapter 8 is Christ. And Christ is offering up the incense and our prayers are mingled with the incense of Christ's prayers and makes our prayers acceptable to God. Isn't that a wonderful picture, a wonderful thought? There's nothing in our prayers of any merit. It's only as Christ adds the incense of his prayers that makes those prayers effective. And you can see the incense of standing up before God. And then in chapter 8 of Revelation, things began to happen on the earth when the incense was offered. Things began to happen on earth when we pray, when we lay hold upon God. We need to keep on praying. For 400 years, there had been a silence between the Testaments. Well John the Baptist then he became a great preacher but the silence was broken through Gabriel who came with a word from God to Zacharias the man the priest and the good news was the birth of a child. On this occasion then Gabriel appeared to announce that Zacharias who was an old man and his wife was an old woman and they were saying it's beyond us now we can't have a family with God all things are possible they had to learn that lesson but they're full of doubts they're going to have a child a special son by the way John the Baptist, he would play a very unique role in God's way of preparing for the coming of the Messiah. He would go before him. That fulfills prophecy. The birth of the Son meant the long-awaited Messiah was just on the doorstep, if you like, just around the corner. But Zacharias and Elizabeth were old. I've mentioned this. They're advanced in years. They could not have a child. Zacharias said, I am old and my wife, she's well stricken. Maybe she's older than I am. That's impossible. And Zacharias gave way to unbelief and was stricken with dumbness. He couldn't speak during the whole nine months of Elizabeth's pregnancy. He couldn't hear either, and believe it, he was deaf. Because when the child was born, they had to make signs unto Zacharias. Why did they need to do that? Because he was deaf. Unbelief brought dumbness. Unbelief brought deafness. And for all that period of time, for the nine months, he couldn't speak. That's why they gave him something to write on. They indicate right down the name of the child. And they were expecting Zacharias or whatever. And he wrote down, John, God is gracious. And the minute he put pen to paper, as I was saying, it wasn't pen and a paper as we know it, but let's use that image. When he put pen to paper, what happened? His deafness disappeared, and he received his voice again. And he said, thou shalt call his name John. It's going to be John, because the angel of the Lord revealed it unto me. Just it happened in that way. So Gabriel told Daniel about the coming Messiah, and then Gabriel told Zacharias about the one who would come before the Messiah. And this fulfilled Malachi's message of the forerunner. So Gabriel has revealed something to Daniel, the amazing promise about the Messiah. He's coming. He's going to be crucified. He's going to die. He's going to atone for sins. And then he's going to go back to heaven. Oh, what a message for God's servant to receive. And then the message to 2nd Rosh, you're going to become a parent, going to become a father, and he's going to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. Oh, that was a great day. And his mouth was opened and his heart was stirred. And then thirdly, Gabriel appeared to Mary. And you've got to turn there to Luke chapter 1, and it's verses 26 through 38. But if you look there at verse 26, And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God on to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. So Gabriel has been busy for six months after he appeared to Zacharias he appears again to Mary and we need to be busy in the Lord's work. The first visit came to Zechariah in this chapter. He announced the birth of the forerunner, John the forerunner. And in the second, he announced the birth of Jesus the Savior. And in this appearance, Gabriel stressed the manner of Christ's coming. He told Mary about the Advent program. She's a virgin. She's maybe 16, 17, maybe even younger than that, years of age. It's a lot for a young girl to take on board and take in. And Gabriel explained it to Mary in these words, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. That holy thing which is to be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Now that was a lot for a teenager to take on board. Big message. And Gabriel was saying to her, you are going to play a vital part in the birth of the Messiah. And here he gives the program of the advent. A virgin shall be with a child. This virgin birth is dealt with in Matthew's gospel and Luke's gospel. Now Luke was a doctor, he knew what he was about. And even when you read the opening part of his gospel, his words, having had perfect understanding of all these things from the very first, that really amount to him saying, I have traced all these things accurately. So he was a doctor, he knew this was a mystery, he knew this was a miracle. He wasn't easy to convince, he traced these things out accurately. After a painstaking search, and he records there all about the virgin birth of Christ. So the second person of the divine trinity had to take our humanity, in order to save us, he also had to be different from us. Had he not been different from us, he could not have redeemed us. He would have been a sinner himself in need of salvation. That's why God ordained the virgin birth, to make this clear, without sin. And Joseph did not know Mary in an intimate fashion until after the child was born, that safeguarded the virgin birth of the Savior. While Zacharias refused to believe Gabriel's message, Mary the teenager, the opposite end of the spectrum if you like, the older ones who should have known better, they doubted and the teenager believed. Isn't that an amazing thing? We can learn things from young people and young people also can learn things, good things from older people, the way Timothy learned from Paul. Mary readily embraced it and even though she had a greater obstacle to her faith, there was historical precedent for what Zacharias was being asked to believe and that Abraham and Sarah had been in the same situation. And God told them that he would give them a son in old age. There was, however, no precedent for Mary. No virgin had ever conceived and bore a son. And yet this was the message Gabriel brought to Mary the teenager. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. The throne shall be established forever. And now we can see that the promise that had been given in the Old Testament has now been fulfilled. And Jesus Christ is the king who reigns forever, not over an earthly political kingdom, but rather over a spiritual kingdom. He's reigning in the hearts of his people today. This role is now in the hearts of his people, but will culminate in the kingdom of glory that will be universally acknowledged. When other kings and kingdoms come to an end, Alexander the Great is forgotten about, Cyrus is forgotten about, all that we have in the scriptures and history, forgotten about. But the kingdom of Jesus Christ is forever, and he will reign forever and ever. and we in union with him shall enjoy the bliss of being forever with the Lord. The amazing promise was given by Gabriel to Daniel. The appointed proclaimer was announced by Gabriel to Zacharias, an old man, an aged man. He's going to become the announcer of Christ. Prepare you the way of the Lord. And then the Advent program, Mary, you're going to be the mother of the Messiah. Every Jewish young lady longed and coveted to have that role. But God set his hand upon this teenager. God preserved her and kept her. And in a stable, in a cave, whatever it was, At the end of the journey from Nazareth, whether on the back of a donkey or where she had to walk, at the end of that time, husband and wife, she was great with child, and there the cry was heard. Scripture was fulfilled. The promised seed, after a long journey, had come to the very place called Bethlehem. And there he was born, the born, the dear son of God. We worship him. We don't know what date he was born on. It doesn't really matter. The important thing is he came, and he lived, and he died, and he rose again. He ascended to God's right hand. And let me tell you something more. It's not ended yet. He's coming again. Oh, glory be to God, because he is a wonderful Savior. And he shall reign forever and ever. Do we still believe in angels? Yes. Do we believe in guardian angels? Do we believe in Gabriel and Michael? Yes. Amen. Well, we'll get down to our time of prayer.