Angels from the Realms of Glory

A fiery dart zipped through the air and stuck the archangel’s shield. Gabriel moved his shield to catch two more shots while two angels at his flank surged forward to dispatch his foes.

Gabriel chuckled and waited, letting the masters do their work. 

Though he could defend himself well in a pinch, he liked being able to step aside and let the warrior angels do what they’re known for. Even his glorified angel-eyes could barely keep up with his fighters’ fast movements as they sparred step-for-step, blow-for-blow, with the demonic assailants.

Indeed, Gabriel found it difficult to discern little more than the rapid flashing of light and the sound of clashing crystal.

He checked the perimeter for more attackers and returned his attention to the fight.

In moments, the demons were dead masses of writhing, smoking tendrils of spirits divided from their bodies, and all were pulled by an invisible force downward to Tartarus, the hell for celestial beings.

The heavily muscled warrior angels examined their stained swords and turned to Gabriel.

“Uriel, Selaphiel, good work,” Gabriel said, almost singing. 

“Thank you, Archangel,” muttered Uriel in a deep, rhythmic bass voice. He stood tallest and broadest of them all.

Selaphiel nodded and added with a tenor tonality, “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. You should clean your blades. Then, we will—”

A projectile flew from behind Gabriel’s head, grazing the top of his ear, and he jerked his shield up in less than a millisecond and caught it on the shield’s backside right before it could hit Selaphiel.

Both Uriel and Selaphiel had their weapons ready in a moment. They extended their wings and leapt to the ambushing enemy who had appeared behind them just out of sight over a ridge.

Gabriel also flew, but he stayed hovering over the action on the defensive.

Uriel and Selaphiel again moved faster than Gabriel could follow, and Gabriel thanked the Lord of Angel Armies for such good protection.

While waiting for his friends to finish the battle, Gabriel’s weapon was ready, but he allowed himself to think through his next assignment.

Before this ambush, he had just successfully announced the arrival of Immanuel to the humans—specifically to a young woman who would bear the baby as her own child.

Miriam submitted herself to Yahweh’s plan with a grace Gabriel had never seen in humans before. Indeed, she complained not, but instead she seemed to treasure His plan in her heart.

The Lord’s plan was a wonder to angel and human alike. Gabriel never imagined the Commander of Angel Armies would step down from His throne to become a human. 

Michael, Archangel General of the Warrior Class, had confided to Gabriel that his entire division was deeply disturbed by the news.

Disturbing or not, Gabriel was secure in his role. As an angel, he had little time for questions; his worship was expressed in faithfulness to his King, which meant following every order, every time.

Gabriel had long since resigned himself to the fate of duty in the midst of perplexity, and that resignation over the millennia had molded into a deeper expression of worship.

So even as he and his guards faced the fourth ambush since Gabriel had made his announcement to Miriam, he tried to take it in stride.

Just another day as the Herald Archangel of God Most High.

A demon larger than the rest and covered in flames flew into sight and leapt into the fray. Uriel cried in pain. 

Gabriel dove down to assist, but when he landed, the skirmish had stopped quicker than it had started. 

Selaphiel had finished off the larger demon, and all of them were disintegrating and beginning their journey to Tartarus, but Gabriel’s focus went to Uriel.

Sprawled on the ground, Uriel wheezed, one hand on his neck, one hand clenching his broken sword.

Though Gabriel didn’t see any blood, he knew the injury was severe. Both Gabriel and Selaphiel checked his vitals and tried to assess the injuries. Gabriel asked what had happened, but when Uriel tried to speak, it came out as a dissonant, hoarse groan.

“Sela, what happened here? I couldn’t see from where I watched.”

Selaphiel said, “The demon. He charged Uriel and caught him by surprise because he was dispatching one of the others. He threw up his sword to defend, but the demon threw his whole weight into the blow. The sword broke, and the broadside of the demon’s weapon bashed Uriel’s throat. I think the blade was coated in some sort of poison.”

Gabriel said, “Uriel! Can you talk? Can you sing? Please try.”

All Uriel could manage was a wheeze and a cough. Gabriel made sure no poison lingered on Uriel, on his neck or anywhere else.

“Can you walk?”

Uriel grunted and stood.

“Selaphiel, check the perimeter. I don’t want any more surprises today.”

Selaphiel returned almost immediately with a herald angel in tow. “Surprise.”

Gabriel sighed. “What is it, Messenger?”

“New orders from the Lord of Hosts. ‘Continue your mission. If Uriel is unable to accompany you, he may return home to recover.’”

“That was fast,” Gabriel said. “The injury only just happened.”

The herald said, “Word travels fast with the Most High. He obviously placed a priority on your assignment.”

Gabriel floated with gently flapping wings, as if only to look down on the messenger. “Did he tell you what that mission is?”

“No, sir.”

“We were sent to announce our Commander’s arrival as a human to His earth-mother and the man she’s betrothed to. We just succeeded in the first half of the mission.”

The herald said, “I can pass the message along that you will complete the mission soon, then.”

Selaphiel’s eyes widened. He met Gabriel’s gaze and shouted, “We can’t finish the mission!”

The herald said, “So, I should tell the Most High that the mission is a failure?”

“No,” Gabriel said. “We will find a way.”

Selaphiel said, “Sir, we can’t! Not with Uriel in this state.”

The herald tapped his foot. “So what do I tell the Most High, Sir?”

Gabriel said, “Give me a second to think this through. Selaphiel, can you enlighten our messenger friend to the problem, or should I?”

Uriel grunted and waved his broken sword in the herald’s face.

Selaphiel said, “Uriel bears a sword, a special type, one of only seven in existence. His is called Heavenrender.”

Gabriel continued, “Heavenrender’s crystal blade works with Uriel’s voice. Certain notes he sings will activate the sword to cut the barrier between the heavens and the human realm.”

Selaphiel concluded, “Uriel used Heavenrender for the first part of our mission. He cut the path for Gabriel to appear to Miriam. Without it, we can’t appear to Yosef.”

Now it was the herald’s turn to fly above the others to look down on them, and he yelled, “Sir! What do I say to the Lord of Hosts! Can you complete your mission? Please just give me my message and I’ll be on my way.”

Another herald angel flew in and filed next to the first one. In a high pitched voice, he announced, “Message from the Lord of Hosts for Archangel Gabriel, Sir!”

“What is your message?” Gabriel asked.

“The Lord of Hosts says, ‘Your orders are as follows: Announce Immanuel to Yosef as planned. Give him the message as clearly as possible and as soon as possible that my plans may move forth. Also—’”

Selaphiel said, “Doesn’t He know that Uriel—”

The second messenger interrupted, “The Most High says, ‘Yes I know about Uriel. If he is unfit for duty, he may return with the messengers. Otherwise, the three of you must find a different way to announce my message. Another angel with a crystal sword is on his way, but he will not get to you in time. Yosef plans to divorce Miriam tomorrow. You will tell him before that happens.’”

The first messenger said, “There’s not a third one coming, is there?”

The second messenger replied, “One was being prepared just in case these three feel like belaboring the point any longer.”

Gabriel put his hands up. “Alright, alright. Message received. We will find a way. You two are dismissed, but if you see any more demon divisions waiting to ambush us, can you let me know? Or at least have the third guy do it?”

Both herald angels said, “Sir, yes sir!” and they flew off.

Gabriel turned to Uriel. “You’re not going with them?”

He slowly shook his head. 

“You want to help us finish the mission, even with your sword broken?”

Uriel nodded stiffly, his face barely hiding his pain.

“It’s settled then. Let’s find Yosef.”

Gabriel started walking towards the direction of Nazareth. 

“Wait,” Selaphiel said. “We need a plan of some kind.”

“The Lord of Hosts said we will tell Yosef before it’s too late. He wasn’t just telling us to—He said we will accomplish it. So I’m not worried about finding a way.”

“I am worried, Gabriel. We don’t have a plan. We don’t know what we’re walking into, and we have no way of crossing into the human world for Yosef to see us.”

Gabriel kept walking. “We will start with reconnaissance. There will be time for a plan, Sela. Worry not, but keep an eye out. We will find Yosef, and then we can assess the situation.”

It didn’t take them long to find Yosef, and they followed him the rest of the day.

The young man had learned carpentry from his father, and his father kept him busy. All day long, he worked, worked, worked, but Gabriel could see something else.

A dark cloud, visible to the angels but invisible to the natural world, hovered over Yosef’s mind. Demons also stalked around him, whispering lies to his spirit.

The three angels hid from the demons and watched, and Selaphiel named ideas to Gabriel while Gabriel declined each one in succession. 

“We can write a message in the dirt,” he’d suggested.

“Do you know how to make such message visible to Yosef? And even if we could, how would he know the message is for him and from the Lord?”

“A message in the stars?”

“Yosef is a busy man. He wouldn’t even see it.”

“What if we make your image reflect out of standing water?”

That one made Gabriel pause for a moment, but he still refused the idea. “Too many variables. We need a way to tell Yosef clearly that this child is from Yahweh. If he has any room for doubt, he will.”

Selaphiel said, “I’m running out of ideas here. You are so confident we can get this done, but I still don’t see any way short of the original plan. We need to be clear and direct and there’s not many ways we can do that without appearing to the man physically, which we still can’t do. Not to mention—”

Uriel grunted, and the two other looked at him. He held up the hilt of his broken sword, a thin piece of blade still sticking out of it. 

“What are you saying?” asked Gabriel.

Uriel pointed to the blade-shard. Then he made a cutting motion.

Selaphiel said, “There’s no way that can still cut anything, let alone a way to the physical world.”

Uriel shook his head. He hummed a rough, low tone, and the crystalline shard glowed yellow for just a moment. He did the cutting motion slower and more in a circle, and he held the hilt up to his head. 

Then Uriel pretended to sleep. 

“Of course!” shouted Gabriel. “Uriel, you’re brilliant. It’s the only way, yes, this is the way we finish the mission!”

“No,” Selaphiel said. “You mean to enter Yosef’s dreams? It’s madness. We can’t.”

“We can, Selaphiel. We can and we will. It’s the only way.”

“Sir,” he protested, “it is too dangerous.”

“Well, the way I see it, the Lord of Hosts has provided for this mission. I have the most experience sharing the Lord’s messages; Uriel can use what’s left of Heavenrender to open the way to Yosef’s dreams; and you, Selaphiel, you will be my guide…you are the only one of us who’s entered human dreams before.”

“NO! I mean, no, Sir. I can’t. Not again.”

“You must. We have the means, we have the message. I just need someone to lead me who’s done it before.”

“I told you, it’s too dangerous. Last time I barely made it out alive.”

“Last time, you were sent in alone,” countered Gabriel. “You are not alone. You have enough experience to guide me, but I will have your back. Together, we’ll be in and out, no complications.”

“There are always complications in human dreams! If Yosef so much as eats the wrong thing, it will make our entire journey perilous.”

“This is not a discussion. Though I am not a Warrior Angel, I am still your commanding officer. We have just a few hours to prepare, then we’re going in.”

Selaphiel looked at Gabriel’s eyes, his own eyes unmoving.

“Sela… I did not hear a ‘Yes sir’ from you.”

Selaphiel’s look hardened, and the angel looked away.

“If this mission cannot be completed, I will escort you to the White Throne myself. I don’t have time for—”

Gabriel stopped short. 

Selaphiel had sat down and was looking in the distance, on the brink of tears. 

Gabriel had never seen his friend in such a state. He sighed. He tried thinking of what the Commander would do. 

“Look, Sela, I’m not exactly excited about this either. But the mission must be completed. If you don’t feel up to the task, than I will not force you. It will not be an order, and you will not be court-martialed. You can stay with Uriel on the outside and keep watch. However, this mission is happening. I will be going in with or without you. I would love to have your help if you’re able to give it.”

Selaphiel sniffed and stood, and in a moment he looked completely normal. He said, barely above a whisper, “Yes, sir.”

The three angels made their final preparations, and before they knew it, the sun was dipping out of sight.

Yosef soon entered his bedroom, and he paced for a few minutes, breathing heavy. The cloud above him had only grown. Gabriel thought he looked like he might break, but the young man contained himself, and eventually he went to sleep.

The demons were on him immediately. Two or three shouted lies at his spirit, while one big one drew a jagged, obsidian dagger. He held the hilt to Yosef’s head, and the tip of the dagger punctured a passage between the spirit realm and the dream world.

The gap between worlds was small, but it was a large enough gateway for at least a dozen demons to leap through. More would’ve followed if Gabriel, Selaphiel, and Uriel hadn’t made their move. 

The three of them rushed the demons, and soon they were alone with Yosef in the bedroom.

Gabriel had given Uriel his spare knife, so he held that knife in a defensive position, his eyes checking every shadowy corner in the room. Uriel coughed and rubbed his neck.

Gabriel said, “Uriel, are you able to do this?”

He grunted and held up the beautiful, broken Heavenrender. Within a minute, Uriel found the correct position, and he cut a new entrance into the dream world. 

Gabriel looked at his compadres. 

“No matter what happens, I’m glad the three of us were trusted with this assignment. Uriel, can you protect passage to the dream world?”

He grunted and nodded.

“Selaphiel, what is your decision?”

Selaphiel smiled. “When I was put under your command, I promised to protect you, and I meant it, Gabriel, sir. I will follow you anywhere.”

“Glad to hear it. Let’s go.”

The two of them jumped into the portal. 

Gabriel felt his body swirling into a mass of flashing light, and then, darkness.

After a brief moment of eternal nothingness, he noticed the air was thick, almost like liquid, and he could flap his wings to swim through it. He also noticed that nothing but a far-off light could be seen, so he flew towards it, bumping into Selaphiel in the process.

“Sela, is this what humans truly dream of? I see why you were hesitant to return here.”

“Sir, we aren’t even fully in his dreams yet. This is the dark unconscious at the periphery. The brain takes things from here that needs to be sorted out and mixes them together into the strangest dreams imaginable. And unimaginable.”

“Do we go towards the light?”

“Yes. That’s where the dreams take shape.”

Gabriel noticed an acrid scent. “What is that smell?”

Selaphiel flapped his wings and kept them moving towards the light. “I think it’s the thoughts the demons have been tainting. We need to stop them.”

“This is very unpleasant.”

“I’m pleasantly surprised,” said Selaphiel. “The last time I entered the dream realm, it was King Nebuchadnezzar’s mind. Yosef’s mind so far is much more hospitable.”

Gabriel nodded, and they drew nearer to the light.

Finally, the angels alighted on a platform at the edge of Yosef’s dreams, and they could see the light twisting strands, pictures, and figures out of the substance they had been flying through.

Pictures spun from the light and landed into the landscape ahead of them, which apparently was a recreation of Nazareth.

“Nothing good comes out of Nazareth,” said a gruff voice to Gabriel’s left. 

Gabriel turned and saw a caravan of merchants entering the village, each one repeating the same thing. “Nothing good comes out of Nazareth.”

Gabriel realized the town was teeming with people of all ages and classes, and they were all repeating the phrase, even those who appeared to live there.

“Nothing good comes out of Nazareth.”

They walked fully into the dream and were soon pushed along by the crowd into the village, lit by a hazy twilight.

“Can Yosef hear us?” Gabriel asked. “I want to give the message and get out as quickly as possible.”

Selaphiel said, “It’s all his dream, but dreams are experienced through the eyes of the dreamer, so he won’t consciously hear you or remember you unless we find him in the dream.”

Wind blew over the crowd, chilling the angels as they walked. Thunder sounded in the distance, though Gabriel couldn’t see any lightning. 

They pressed on into town square, and there the throng bunched into a mob, which abruptly stopped in a great, invisible circle.

In the middle stood Miriam, fully pregnant, and laughing.

“There are no good men in Nazareth!” she yelled. “I would know. I’ve been with them all. I know them all. The only thing I don’t know is who the baby’s father is.” She laughed some more, and she moved in drunken stumbles.

Both the angels were speechless. “This is not Miriam,” Gabriel said. “You saw her…this isn’t right. Yosef can’t see this.”

Dream-Miriam screamed, “Oh! Don’t tell Yosef, but the whole town knows who I am. His firstborn son won’t even be his. Ha! Nothing good comes out of Nazareth!”

“Nothing good comes out of Nazareth,” the crowd echoed.

“Yosef!” she screamed, and she pulled him by hand out of the crowd and into the middle of the circle with her. “My husband! My Hosea! The one good man in Nazareth, and he will be mine. I will control you all your days, my bridegroom.” She looked into his eyes with a mocking grin, and he looked at her pregnant belly. “My Hosea won’t find a better woman to spoil his name with. Ha! You think you’re so moral, you think you follow our God’s law…”

She spit on him.

“Nothing good comes out of Nazareth,” the throng shouted once more.

“I am exactly who you deserve.”

She laughed once more in his face, and Yosef dashed away through the crowd, his face red.

The angels jetted into the sky and darted towards Yosef, but a demon intercepted them, knocking them both to the dusty ground. 

Selaphiel drew his weapon and charged the spirit. “Go to Yosef! Share your message. I’ll hold off the rest.”

He killed one demon just in time for another to pop up.

Gabriel flew around them and searched the crowd for Yosef. Which way did he run…

He searched beyond the crowd and flew through abandoned streets until he saw a door closing on a modest wooden house—the only house Gabriel had seen in dream-Nazareth with a door.

Gabriel burst through the door, and within, the home looked like Yosef’s shop. Wooden furniture lined the walls, and his tools were placed neatly on the table in the middle of the room.

There in the middle, Yosef stood with a hammer, facing away from Gabriel, and Yosef sobbed.

Gabriel recognized the shape of the house, and he understood. “Yosef.”

He stopped crying but didn’t turn to face Gabriel. “What do you want? Do you want to tell me how nothing good comes out of Nazareth, not even my wife?”

A heavy wind blew outside, causing the house to creak.

Gabriel said, “It is a lie from the accuser. He is wrong, and you have nothing to fear.”

Yosef turned, and at the sight of Gabriel, his eyes gaped, his mouth stuttered, and his hands threw the hammer at the angel.

Gabriel caught the tool and laughed. “I said you have nothing to fear, Yosef bar David.”

“Son of David…why do you speak to me this way? Are you truly a messenger of God Most High?”

“Yes, Yosef, and I come bearing good news. News regarding your bride, Miriam.”

Yosef said, “I know she is with child, but I also know she would never be unfaithful to me. I promise, I was never going to dishonor her or humiliate her. Heaven knows the pain she must be going through…for a man to do this to her, she must be so scared, but she knows I can’t marry her like this, Lord knows I want to, but my family wouldn’t allow it, but I don’t know…”

“Are you finished talking?” said Gabriel. “I do have a message for you.”

“Yes, Messenger, sorry, continue.” Yosef rubbed his eyes and bowed.

“Don’t bow! I’m not the Angel of the Lord, nor am I the Lord Himself, just simply His messenger.”

Yosef stood again. “Sorry, sorry.”

“The Lord knows, Yosef. He knows that you love Miriam. He knows you don’t want to dishonor her, and He knows that you are doing your best to be a man after His own heart. He knows you were going to divorce her in secret, but here is what the Lord says: 

“‘Yosef bar David, be not afraid to take Miriam as your wife. The child within her is conceived of the Holy Spirit. She will bring forth a Son, and you shall name him Yeshua, for He will save the people from their sins.’”

“Y-y-you mean to say, within Miriam, right now, is Immanuel, the Anointed One?”

“Yes.”

“You mean, from the prophet Isaiah… ‘the virgin shall conceive’?”

“Yes, Yosef.”

“Miriam knows?”

“Yes. I told her myself.”

“How did she respond?”

The angel thought for a moment. “She treasured each word in her heart and dedicated herself to magnify the Lord her God.”

Yosef smiled wide. “Isn’t she incredible? I am not surprised.” He gestured around the room. “I’m preparing a place for my bride. It isn’t for naught. She is my bride. The marriage will happen right on schedule, Lord Most High be praised.”

Wind blew hard against the house again.

Yosef said, “It’ll take more than that to knock down what we’re building. The child is Yeshua, Yahweh is salvation. This changes everything!”

Selaphiel crashed through the door, snapping it off its hinges. “I got most of ‘em, Sir! Do you need more time?”

Six demons filled the broken doorway, and one of them held the pregnant Miriam.

She cried, “Yosef! Nothing good comes out of Nazareth. You’ll see, my Hosea.”

The demons took a step forward as if to attack, but so did Yosef.

“Miriam, I am not your Hosea—I am not your salvation. But the child… He is our Yeshua—Yahweh is our salvation.”

As Yosef spoke those words, waves of thunder echoed from his mouth, and the demons were expelled from his dreams.

Yosef and Miriam embraced, and Gabriel and Selaphiel left the house behind.

Gabriel called to the sky, “Uriel! Yosef can wake up now.”

In a moment, the whole scene faded to darkness, and the angels were sucked out of the dream world. They landed on the ground beside Uriel, who was putting away his broken blade.

Yosef, unable to see them, leapt out of bed. He stifled a scream and settled on laughter instead. He looked out the window and stared at the midnight stars.

With wonder in his eyes, he said, “I’m still getting married, and Immanuel is here.”

Gabriel said, “Mission accomplished.” 

The three angels returned home to the realms of glory to rest and await their next orders.