“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to
be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is
going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be
barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as
you have said.” Then the angel left her (vv. 30–38).These are only a few of the many biblical examples of angelic
messengers sent to men and women when God wanted to
urgently and supernaturally communicate with them.
Does God talk through angelic messengers today? Biblical
scholars don’t agree on an answer, and yet Hebrews 13:2
reminds us: “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for
some who have done this have entertained angels without
realizing it!” (NLT).
Most important, if a message is truly from God—no matter
who delivers it or how it is delivered—it will be proven true and
reliable over time.
Prophets
Throughout the Bible, God also used prophets to speak to
individuals and to nations. In the book of Haggai, God gave a
message to the prophet Haggai that he was to deliver to two
government officials in Judah. He was to instruct them to
rebuild the house of the Lord and, most important, to assure
them—along with the whole remnant of God’s people—that
the Lord would be with them. They received Haggai’s message,
and Haggai 1:14 records: