The Angel Gabriel Visits Mary Bible story for kids

There is an angel whose name is Gabriel. And the Bible tells us where he stands. Right in the presence of God.

One day, God sent Gabriel on a journey. Not to a palace. Not to a king. He sent him to a town called Nazareth, in Galilee... to one young woman named Mary.

Mary was going to marry a man named Joseph. And Joseph came from a very special family. King David's family. Yes, that King David.

The Bible doesn't tell us what Mary was doing that day. Maybe she was sweeping. Maybe she was grinding grain for bread.

And then the angel came in.

"Rejoice, you highly favored one!" Gabriel said. "The Lord is with you."

Rejoice. That was his very first word. A happy word.

But Mary didn't understand it, and she was a little worried. She turned the words over in her mind, the way you turn a smooth stone over in your hand, and she wondered what kind of greeting this could be.

So the angel said, "Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God."

Favor means kindness. God's own kindness, given to Mary like a gift.

Then came the news. Mary was going to have a baby. A little boy. And the angel told her his name. She was to call him Jesus.

A name from God, before the baby was even here. It's the same name as Joshua, the brave leader at Jericho.

"He will be great," the angel said, "and will be called the Son of the Most High." God would give him the throne of King David, the great king from his family long, long ago. Then came the most wonderful part. "Of his kingdom there shall be no end."

Think about that, little one. Every king who ever lived stopped being king one day. But this King? Never. Not ever.

Mary had a question. A real, honest one. She wasn't married yet. "How can this be?" she asked.

The angel didn't scold her. Not one bit. He answered kindly. God's own Holy Spirit would come, and the power of the Most High would cover her, like a gentle shadow. And this baby would be called the Son of God.

How does God do a thing like that? The Bible doesn't explain. Some wonders are bigger than any explaining.

Then the angel told Mary one more surprise. A surprise inside the surprise! Mary had a relative named Elizabeth. Elizabeth had waited a long, long time for a baby, and now she was old. And a baby was on the way for her, too. A little boy, already growing for six whole months.

Do you remember Sarah, who laughed in her tent? Back then, God asked a question. "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" Now, all those years later, Gabriel gave the answer.

"For with God nothing shall be impossible."

Maybe Mary was quiet for a moment. And then she said yes.

"Behold, the servant of the Lord," she said. "Let it be done to me according to your word."

Behold means look. Look, here I am. Let it happen, just the way God says.

And the angel departed from her.

No crowd. No trumpets. Just Mary, all by herself, holding the biggest news in the world.

She didn't sit still for long. The Bible says she hurried off to see Elizabeth. Maybe she just couldn't wait. After all, who in the whole world would understand a surprise like this one better than Elizabeth?

"The Lord is with you." That is what the angel said to Mary. And a baby named Jesus was on his way. But how that baby was born, little one, is a story for another night.

And God was with him. God was with her. God is with you, too.

Sweet dreams, little one. May the same God who sent an angel all the way to Nazareth with one happy word, "Rejoice"... give you something to be glad about when you wake.