Gabriel was doing fairly well at controlling the 500 million angels in his charge. But the other 500 million, in Michael's absence, were on the verge of chaos. The excitement was understandable. This was one of the few occasions in all their long history when all the angels of heaven were in one place. And not since the creation of man had such numbers of angels been invited to pass through the Door onto earth in a visible form. Nonetheless, Gabriel did not want to see a total breakdown of angelic order, and everything was pointing in just such a direction.

To Gabriel's relief, the Door opened slightly, and Michael, his eyes ablaze with joy, stepped into the heavenlies. He raised both hands above his head, his face enraptured, his voice filled with glee.

Excitement gave way to pandemonium as every angel pressed toward the Door. Michael called for order, and though each and every angel was certain he had heartily obeyed, one would be hard pressed to actually call the scene orderly.

Michael looked toward the Door in hope that it may have opened wider. It had not, but he did notice that it had moved. It seemed to have come to rest in a pasture somewhere. Michael's only thought was, If the Door swings open in a pasture, it had better be a very large pasture, with room enough for one billion angels!

He decided to investigate. Just as he stepped onto the threshold of the Door, he was certain he heard two men having a very intense argument.

The place was a pasture just outside the village of Bethlehem. It was evening. The sky was clear and the stars bright. Several shepherds sat around a small fire that was dwarfed by a large boulder nearby…. What these shepherds did not know was that a great and mysterious portal was about to open very near them - in fact, right beside the large boulder that cast a shadow upon their tight circle. Nor could they have possibly known that at that very moment citizens of the other realm were jammed around the Door, anxious to charge through to make an announcement that was doubtless the greatest news ever to be proclaimed.

Sure enough, the Door did open…. ever so slightly. Because it would be his appointed task to cross the threshold first, Gabriel peeked through the small opening. Approximately one billion angels crammed behind Gabriel, trying to see whatever it was that met his eye. The archangel gestured for silence and for some much-needed angelic self-control.

"The Door is opening upon a pasture," he observed. There was a moment's pause. He then exclaimed, "I see the village of Bethlehem in the distance!" A moment of sheer bedlam followed as angels one and all cried out, "The city of David! The city of the King!"

Gabriel waved his hand for silence, then continued. "There are shepherds just beyond the Door. Five of them. I cannot believe they are just sitting there! Do they not know they are but a short distance from the site of the greatest occurrence of all time and eternity? Why do they not go into the village and see what God has-"

Suddenly, the Door cracked open a little more. Spontaneously Gabriel and a few others standing near him darted through the opening, while nearly one billion of their angelic kin tried desperately to follow.

It was obvious to the five men that this huge creature was about to continue when the most phenomenal thing happened. Another of his kind appeared beside him. Then another. And another. And yet another.

Meanwhile, in the other realm, angelic order was once more about to disintegrate. It was every angel for himself. The entire angelic host, one billion strong, was pushing its way through the Door, which, mercifully, had finally opened wide.

The first angels through the Door encircled the shepherds. Those following thereafter filled the immediate surroundings, always careful not to step on any of the sheep. A few of the angels ascended the towering boulder. Still the citizens of the heavenlies poured through the Door. Soon the white-robed visitors had filled the entire pastureland. On they came. Innumerable. Now the hills surrounding the pastures were filled.

And yet came more, until it seemed every inch of earth from the hills surrounding Bethlehem to the outskirts of Jerusalem were filled with messengers from heaven. They were everywhere, as far as shepherds' eyes could see. Mile upon mile the pastures and hills glowed with the light of these luminous creatures.

As the angels themselves began to take in the magnificence of this unprecedented sight, they each began to shout with uninhibited joy. Pandemonium and delight wed in an exquisite moment of rapture. The sound was like a roar of a thousand seas. But as the discordant shouts of joy billowed forth, they began to change and become one colossal anthem of adoration and praise.

The shepherds, left with no other choice, fell on their faces, stunned by the glory of their surroundings.

On and on the angels sang. Dumbfounded shepherds, finally adjusting to the impossible, rose to their feet and quite spontaneously joined in the chorus, though they still had no idea what it was they rejoiced in, and cared even less. After all, in the midst of such a scene, anything less than full-throated praise was simply unthinkable.

Still, the shepherds could not but wonder, What on earth is this? A sudden sea of strange beings. Who are these creatures with the glories of heaven on their faces and in their song? What are they doing here?

Once more Gabriel called out to the shepherds, but this time his hand pointed straight at them and his voice left no room for debate. This was a command! "Why are you standing here? Go into the city of David and see what God has done!"

With that word given, Gabriel and one billion other angels returned to their own habitat, there to continue their glorious anthem. But as the last angel passed through the Door, he noticed that it did not entirely close. A ray of light from the brightness of the glory of heaven seeped through that small opening and poured out into the visible realm.