Advent Candles
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. Luke 1:26-27
The fourth candle is the Angel candle. Angels were created by God to serve Him and carry out His acts of love toward mankind. Psalm 91 states that God gives His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways. The Lord sent two angels to Sodom to get Lot and his family out of the city prior to its destruction. The angel of God visited Jacob on his way to meet Esau to let Jacob know that God was with him. Angels even take a special interest in us. “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)
The angels’ mission was to announce the love of God made manifest to the world in Jesus: first to the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus; then to Mary, Jesus’ mother; and then to the shepherds who found out that their Savior was born in Bethlehem on that first Christmas night. The angels’ mission continued at the resurrection by telling the women that Jesus was alive, and at the ascension when they assured the disciples that Jesus would return in glory. The angels will also carry out God’s plan of love in Jesus’ return on the Last Day. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.” (Matthew 25:31) They will carry out the job of gathering together Jesus’ elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31).
When we light the angel candle, let us remember God’s love made manifest in Jesus and announced by the angels.
Angels we have heard on high,
sweetly singing o'er the plains,
and the mountains in reply
echoing their joyous strains:
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Lutheran Service Book 368:1