angels II

Let’s see some of the other appearances of angels, in the Christmas story. Luke 2

 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

 15And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

In this section we see a choir of angles praising God.  We see angles praising God also in Isaiah 6:3

 ³ And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke

Another job of angles is to praise God and in these two passages you see them doing this.

Let’s view another time the angles appear in the Christmas story.  Luke 1 (sorry yes I could have made this quote smaller but it is hardly ever read at Christmas time I added it.  Also there is a lot here I could do a blog on it so you might have some foreshadowing of one of next year’s Christmas blogs)

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵ In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. ⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

⁸ Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁹ according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹ And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. ¹³ But the angel said to 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. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷ and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

¹⁸ And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” ¹⁹ And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” ²¹ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. ²² And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. ²³ And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

²⁴ After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, ²⁵ “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

You see Gabriel doing the job that angels got there name from messenger. Also Gabriel (which means God is my strength)  is one of only two angels mentioned by name.  The other is Michael (which mean who is like God).  We also see Gabriel in the book of Daniel and later in this chapter.  Daniel 9

²⁰ While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God,²¹ while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.²² He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.²³ At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

 We will see that Gabriel is the angel that does the important announcements for God.  He tells about the first coming of Jesus in the book of Luke but also the second coming of Jesus in Daniel.We see Gabriel announcing to Jesus to Mary in the next part of chapter 1 of Luke.

Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Now again we see that Mary is afraid and Gabriel tells her not to be afraid but Mary seem more trouble with Gabriel words.  We see no mention of the shining of the angel which does not mean it was not there.  Also the Bible says Angels can take a more human form Hebrews 13:2

² Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

The logical thinking here is that if people have entertained angels unawares that they must be able to take on a human form.  Earlier in the Daniel passage it says the man Gabriel thus it is believed that Gabriel took a human form to speak with Daniel and possible here with Mary also.

The last showing of an angel we have not talked about is the one that talks with Joseph.  Matt 1

The Birth of Jesus Christ

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). ²⁴ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵ but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

And the last time Joseph is scared because the angel tells him not to fear.  Again like Mary the fear seems to be more form angels words not his appearance.  Also like Mary there is no mention of great light again as I talked about earlier the angel could have appeared in a human form.  A lot of scholars believe that this angel is also Gabriel but the Bible dose not says.  I would agree that this makes sense because Gabriel is given other announcements about Jesus but again the Bible dose not says.

I know this is very long and as I said earlier I did not go into the detail I wanted to especially about the angel visit to Zachariah.  I will also dived this to two blogs because of the length. 

I also want wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Angels

Around the Christmas story there are lots of angels so I thought it would be a good thing to cover for one of my Christmas blogs plus this was another idea Kaleb my son suggested. 

9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.(Luke 2)

The glory of the lord is another way of saying the Shekinah glory of God is on them.  Remember Moses,  he had a glow on his face after he talked with God and the people were scared of him so he wrapped his face so the Israelites would not be scared of him.  Exodus 34:29-33.

The Shining Face of Moses

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, as he came down from the mountain Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.³⁰ Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.³² Afterward all the people of Israel came near, he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.³³ And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

Just like the Israelite’s of the Moses time the Shepard’s are scared also of the glow on the angles. 

In Isaiah 6:2 describes angles like this.

² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

First they give them a different name they call them Seraphim which in Hebrew means burning one, Angel in Hebrew mean messenger.  You see again the idea that they are very bright.  The next is they are not like the pictures we normally see in painting because they have 6 wings.  Notice they only need two wings to fly and they use the other wings to show respect to God by covering there face and a better translation of the word be the privet area if you get my drift. 

There is also another form of angelic being we see described in Ezekiel 1
⁴ As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.⁵ And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness,⁶ but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.⁷ Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze.⁸ Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus:⁹ their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went.¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle.¹¹ Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.¹² And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.¹⁴ And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.
¹⁵ Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.¹⁶ As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel.¹⁷ When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went.¹⁸ And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.¹⁹ And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.²⁰ Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.²¹ When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
²² Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads.²³ And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body.²⁴ And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings.²⁵ And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings.
²⁶ And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.²⁷ And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.²⁸ Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.
Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

This is what latter in the Bible are called Cherubim. They are some very odd looking creatures. They are also very bright one of the described words is like lighting.  They only have 4 wings but 4 faces that are different but they also look human.  The other thing is that they also have wheels (a wheel in a wheel) that have eyes all over the wheels.  Again this is not like any painting of any angel I have ever seen. 

I point this out to show you why the first word’s an angle says to someone is almost always fear not.  I do not know about you but if I saw something like this all of a sudden like we read in the Bible, I would be scared and have to change my pants.  I am sure it would scare me. 

A couple of more points about the different kinds of angels, it is believed the Seraphim are the angelic being that do the announcements.  Cherubim we normally see in the service of God like here in Ezekiel also seen in Revelations.  Therefore the angels in the Christmas story are the Seraphim the burning ones.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Last year for Christmas, I asked for ideas to put in my blog, and I did that, but I also had a few run over that I would like to continue with this year. In addition, if you have any ideas please feel free to send them to me.  

One of the ideas was what is behind the silly kid’s song, "The Twelve days of Christmas.” Well let me start by explaining the twelve days of Christmas. These are the twelve days from Christmas day to Epiphany. You ask, “What is Epiphany?” Epiphany is the day the Catholic church celebrates as the day that the Wise Men came to see Jesus. In this tradition, they would give children a small gift on each of the twelve days of Christmas.  

This song sounds like some fantastic gifts from a man to his wife or girlfriend. Every year someone adds up what it would cost to give someone each of the gifts and it is mind blowing. I have not heard what is was this year, but last year it was over 27 million dollars.  

But wait; there is more to the story. In 1995, a Friar (Hal Stockert; a Byzantine Catholic) wrote an article that explained that the Twelve days of Christmas was an underground Catechism. You see, in England between the years of 1558 – 1829 it was illegal to be a Catholic. If they caught you with anything in writing that looked like it was of the Catholic faith you would be imprisoned, and then depending the severity you could be hanged, or drawn and quartered. Therefore, they would have the children memorize this song.  

Here is the code.

My True Love is God

A Partridge in a Pear Tree is Jesus Christ.

Two Turtledoves is the Old and New Testaments.

Three French hens are the Theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.

Four Calling Birds is the four gospels.

Five Gold Rings is the first five books of the Old Testament (Pentateuch).

Six Geese a Laying is the six days of creation.

Seven Swans a Swimming are the seven gifts of the Holy Sacraments of the Catholic Church.

Eight Maids a Milking is the eight Beatitudes.

Nine Ladies Dancing are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Ten Lords a Leaping is the Ten Commandments

Eleven Pipers Piping is the eleven Faithful disciples (Minus Judas who betrayed Christ)

Twelve Drummers Drumming are the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles’ Creed

In recent years there have been some critics of this say that Fr. Hal had weak evidence and that the Anglican Church had almost the same doctrine so there was no need for this. I do not know for sure but I really like the idea of it being a Catechism.