Chapter 8—And God Sent His Angel

The angel who spoke to Ellen Harmon in vision has carried God’s messages to this earth for thousands of years. We might call him the angel of prophecy, for he is the angel who spoke to the prophets whose revelations of the divine will are recorded in the Bible.HMes 41.1

In the beginning God walked with Adam in the Garden and talked with him face to face. But Adam sinned. For his disobedience he lost his home in the Garden. He also lost what was far more valuable and sacred to him—the privilege of speaking face to face with his Creator.HMes 41.2

But the Master did not forsake Adam when he sinned and was cast out of the Garden. He sent His comforting words to him by an angel messenger. This angel flew swiftly to man, and brought to him the counsel and comfort that God had sent.HMes 41.3

After many years there were whole tribes of people living on the earth. Many times the heavenly Father sent His messenger angel to those who would listen to His words.HMes 41.4

The persons to whom God sent this special messenger were called prophets. God said, “Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream” (Numbers 12:6). The messages that God gave to the prophets were to be held sacred by the people, for were they not the words of God?HMes 41.5

We have record in the Bible of the messages of God that were given to these prophets. Many times God sent His angel to Abraham to tell him what was going to happen, and to guide him in his work. And before the time of Abraham the angel was sent to Enoch and to Noah and to many other prophets.HMes 42.1

The little boy Samuel was called by the Lord while he lay in his little bed at night. Three times the Lord called, “Samuel,” but the young lad thought it was Eli, the aged priest, calling him. When Eli realized that it was God’s voice which had spoken, he reverently told the boy how to answer.HMes 42.2

When the voice spoke again, the boy answered, “Speak; for thy servant heareth.” Then the message of the Lord was given to the child. When Samuel grew older he became a judge over Israel. Many times the angel of prophecy came to him with messages from the Lord, and all through his long life of service he was ever faithful in delivering these to the people for whom they were sent.HMes 42.3

Samuel was known from Dan to Beersheba as “a man of God, ... an honourable man.” It is said that none of his words fell to the ground; there were no idle, wasted words in his speech.HMes 42.4

Sometimes the Lord showed him things that were to come to pass in the future. The people said of Samuel’s messages, “All that he saith cometh surely to pass.”HMes 42.5

When Daniel was a servant in the courts of Babylon, the angel of prophecy appeared to him. Daniel tells us that this angel’s name was Gabriel. The angel showed the prophet the events that would take place down through the ages clear to the end of time.HMes 42.6

John the apostle, the beloved of Christ, was sent to the island of Patmos as a prisoner. While John was there on that rugged island, Gabriel, the angel of prophecy, came and spoke with him. He opened up before the prophet the glories of heaven. In vision John saw the redeemed of earth, and heard the music of the angels. He was shown scene after scene of thrilling interest in the experiences through which the church would pass before the end of time.HMes 42.7

This revelation and other messages to the churches were given to John for the guidance of the Christian church. He was told to write in a book the things he had been shown in vision, that others might read and know the plan that God had for them.HMes 43.1

John called the book that he wrote, The Revelation. He said that it was the “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants” the things which would come to pass. Jesus sent this message to John the prophet by His own angel, the messenger angel of prophecy.HMes 43.2

Once when Gabriel, the messenger angel, came to John, he showed him in vision the new earth and the tree of life, and the river of life that flows out of the throne of God. He told John that there would be no death in heaven, and no night, for the Lord would give light to the people, and that the redeemed of earth should reign forever and ever. The glories he described as he told of the home we shall have in heaven were almost too wonderful for John to understand or believe.HMes 43.3

But the angel told him, “These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.”HMes 43.4

Then the angel added the words of the Master, “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” In telling of the visit of the angel messenger, John writes, “I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.”HMes 43.5

“See thou do it not,” the angel said: “for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book.” And then he added, “Worship God.”HMes 44.1

The messenger angel who carries the word of God is a servant of God. John also was a servant of God, and he shared with the angel in bearing the message. They were fellow servants. They both bore the testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of prophecy, to the Christian church. The angel Gabriel is a fellow servant of those who keep the sayings of the book of Revelation, which he told John to write. Not until the end of time will the work of Gabriel, the messenger angel, be finished on this earth.HMes 44.2

John, on his barren island, was shown a church that would “keep the sayings of this book,” and be waiting to welcome Jesus when He comes. He saw that this church would be keeping the commandments of God, and that it would be different from all others because it would have the testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of prophecy.HMes 44.3

Is it not an inspiring thought that this same angel, who was sent to Daniel, to John, and to the other prophets, to Zacharias, and to Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also sent to Ellen Harmon? This angel said to Zacharias, “I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God.” How wonderful it is that the angel who stands in the very presence of God is sent to this world with messages to guide and encourage His people!HMes 44.4