ANGELS, PROPHETS  & A NEW ARK, FILLED WITH MYSTERY.

DID YOU KNOW?

Around 500/550 BC, God sent the Arch Angel Gabriel to an Israeli man called Daniel, who was held captive at that time, in a nation called Babylonia.
Because of his special gifts infused in Daniel by the Spirit of God, the pagan king placed a huge amount of trust in Daniels gift to interpret accurately the meaning of dreams that were perplexing him at that time.
The angel was sent to help Daniel interpret firstly, the dreams given to Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, and furthermore, apocalyptic (  meaning unveiling ) dreams that he himself was having, which greatly troubled him. Daniel subsequently received an interpretation of one of the Kings dreams in a vision from God. The vision was of a huge statue composed of four metals and clay...
 
Head of Gold :
Chest & Arms of  Silver :  
Middle & Thighs of Bronze
Legs Of Iron
Feet Partly of Iron & Partly Clay
These indicated the rise and fall of successive worldly kingdoms ( Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans), the great earthly powers of present and future that were to rule, up until a time of heavenly intervention.

At this time Daniel interprets the vision of a rock, not made by human hands (suggesting heavenly origin), crashing into the great statue and smashing it to pieces. This was to lead into a time when God himself would establish an everlasting Kingdom not created by human hand that would last forever. Gabriel re-appears again to Daniel, and describes various events within the visions, helping him to understand what is to happen in the future when one like the ‘ Son of Man’ will come from the clouds of heaven to establish this everlasting kingdom and have dominion over all things. 

He declares in a cryptic timeline of these events in 70 weeks, Church scholars interpret these weeks as 'years' ….so, 70 x 7 equalling a timeline of 490 years.
Roll on some ‘490’ years later around 20/30BC, and ‘behold’ ....the Angel Gabriel intervenes in space and time …. again, firstly to an elderly priest of the temple, named Zachariah and then, shortly after, to a young, Jewish virgin girl called Miriam.
Now Zachariah & his wife Elizabeth, who also descended from the tribe of Levi, were unable to have children and were getting on in years and despite being faithful and righteous before God, probably had given up natural hope of ever having children of their own.

Once a year one of the priests was selected, by the draw of lots, to go into the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies (the most sacred and veiled area of the Temple in Jerusalem) and offer incense at the altar of the Lord, on behalf of the people in reparation for their sins.
Providence had it, that this particular year, it was to be the turn of Zachariah. This was obviously to be a time of great honour, privilege, and blessing for him and his family, but something quite extraordinary were to happen to him while he was within this sacred space. Scripture tells us (Luke 1 Ch 11) that ‘an angel of God appeared to him, ‘standing on the right side of the altar of incense’ this Angel, proclaimed to Zachariah, that his wife Elizabeth was to bear a son and that he was to be named John ( Yohannan in Hebrew) meaning ‘Yahweh has been gracious’.

The angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah that John was to be ordained a prophet by God and was to carry out a special mission calling for repentance and a return of the people of Israel back to God, preparing them for a new Exodus, a special time of the Lords visitation; he was to be…a forerunner of the Messiah. Due to Zachariah’s disbelief at this message he was struck dumb for a period and was to remain mute, until a predetermined time, shortly after Johns birth.

A little while after this announcement to Zachariah, the Angel Gabriel again appeared, this time to Elizabeth’s cousin Mary, she was a young woman, betrothed to a man called Joseph, who was a descendant of the line of King David. Once again, Gabriel announced that God was going to intervene directly into the history in mankind, but this time the intervention was to be even more Miraculous. He greeted Mary with a royal title saying “Hail Full of Grace” and proclaimed to her that she also was to conceive a child, but on this occasion it was to be a supernatural conception, instigated by the Holy Spirit of God, and that Mary was to give birth to a baby boy who was to become the Messiah, the anointed Son of God, sent to reign over the House Jacob, establishing a Kingdom that will never end. Gabriel said that this child also was to be given a specific name ...Yeshua or Joshua, ( my deliverer or saviour) which we now know through the Greek translation as Jesus. Despite her obvious human fear and trepidation at all that this announcement entailed, Mary in complete humility and obedience accepts the invitation to become the Mother of the Messiah.

St Luke, in his Gospel, draws an analogy between Mary: the bearer of this miraculous Christ child and the Ark of The Covenant, that in the Old Testament was the bearer of the symbols of God’s presence to his chosen people. The Church calls this typology. Just as in the book of Samuel, King David ‘arose’ and went to the hill country of Judea to greet the Ark, Luke tells us that Mary ‘arose’ and went to the hill country of Judea to greet her cousin Elizabeth. As David ‘leaped’ for joy in the presence of the Ark, so John ‘leaped’ for joy in the womb of his mother, as Mary's greeting reached Elizabeth. Just as the Ark stayed at the home of Abinadab's’ house for ‘3 months’, before returning to its rightful home in Jerusalem, so Mary stayed for ‘3 months’ with Elizabeth before returning to her home.

It’s clear now, that Luke is suggesting that Mary has now become the New Ark / Vessel containing not just the symbols of Gods’ presence (Stone Tablets, Rod of Aaron & Remnants of Manna) , but the very presence of God himself, incarnate in the person of Jesus, his only begotten son.

After 3 months, Mary returned home from the hill country, to share the news of her miraculous pregnancy with Joseph her betrothed. As Joseph had not had intimate relations with Mary, he was bewildered and distressed, at the news of her pregnancy, and at first, as a righteous man, to protect Marys’ reputation and probably her family name as well, was going to divorce her quietly and release himself and Mary from this covenant relationship that their betrothal entailed. However, Gods messenger, another unnamed angel, appears on the scene in a dream to Joseph and explains and reveals the miraculous nature of events that have taken place within the virgin, his betrothed's womb.
Joseph humbly accepts this revelation and now both he and Mary begin preparations for the birth of this mysterious, supernaturally conceived child,
born to be King of All Nations.