Angels Tutorial - Part Three

Angels Part Three
Gabriel

Christians know Gabriel from the annunciation, when Gabriel informs the Blessed Virgin Mary that if she agrees, she will bear Jesus.

Luke 1:26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth.
Luke 1:28 And when the angel had come to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." [Gabriel on behalf of God bestows upon Mary the title "Full of Grace."]
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; and therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God."
Luke 1:37 "for nothing shall be impossible with God."

Because Gabriel brought the good news of the birth of Jesus, Christians tend to think of Gabriel only in this context, as an angel announcing the birth of a baby. But Gabriel also announced a title given to Mary, "Full of Grace" (which some anti-Mary Christians choose to ignore), the reality of the Holy Spirit and the virgin birth (which secularists and corrupted Christians ignore), and affirmed that God is in control and nothing is impossible with God. Some Christians therefore miss the more robust energy of Gabriel, as the angelic voice of God, since they either disbelieve part of the message, or they focus only on the sound byte of the birth announcement and not the rest of the message.

Muslims do not have that problem because they not only recognize and revere the Annunciation of Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, but Muslims have further experience with Gabriel as Gabriel announced the Qur'an to the Prophet (peace be unto him.) Gabriel is named Jibreel to Muslims. Jibreel revealed and dictated the Qur'an to the Prophet. So Christians need to be aware that the harsh words about penalties and chastisement for not obeying the will of God does come from Gabriel's lips. Angels of God are not sparkly turquoise clothes and feminized faces saying "anything goes just as long as folks are all nice to each other, or better yet, do not interfere in each other's sinful lives."

For example the passage Surah 34:42 states "...We [the angels] will say to those who were unjust: Taste the chastisement of the fire which you called a lie."

It is Gabriel/Jibreel who provides to the Prophet the information about angels' role in the chastisement of sinners who refuse to believe God/Allah's role in judging the soul's dispensation to heaven or hell. It is also Gabriel/Jibreel who provides information about Jesus' birth (such as his ability to speak as an infant). These are just two examples of how Gabriel has been the voice of God/Allah both in the Christian faith and the Muslim faith. By understanding this you can better understand the fullness of an angel's reflection of all of God's will, not just one facet, one attribute, one event, or one emotion or thought. Gabriel announced the Messiah and he announced the Qur'an.