A Promise from an Angel [Day 5]

One of my favorite maximums concerning the Bible is that the people of the Bible didn’t know that they would be in the Bible.  They were living life just like you and me, though I suspect they spent less time on social media.  Can you imagine sitting in your home and having an ordinary day interrupted by the appearance of an angel? Now imagine the angel told you that you and your wife were going to have a child!  You might respond as Abraham did by falling down on your face in laughter. (Genesis 17:17).  Maybe, you would respond in disbelief and question the angel like Zechariah the priest. (Luke 1:10-23)

Either way, as we read the Bible it is replete with pronouncements and promises from angels.  However, the most profound promises involve the miraculous birth of children.  In the book of Luke, the angel Gabriel appears to a young woman, named Mary, engaged to be married and tells her that she “has found favor with God and will conceive a Child”. (Luke 1:30-31).  Not only that, but the Child would be the promised Messiah spoken of by the prophets hundreds of years ago! (Isaiah 7:14) Mary’s magnificent response was that of submission to the will of God as she glorified God and recalled the promises of God spoken to Abraham in Genesis 17. (Luke 1:54-55)

This advent season consider that your ordinary days may not be that ordinary after all because we have the assurance of the promise from an angel. Our promised Christ has come and everyday is extraordinary because we know that this promise was not just for Mary but unto us a Child was born! (Isaiah 9:6)

GUEST WRITER: Eric Shipton