Luke 1:10-12
 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.

The people wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. They waited for minutes which must have seemed like hours; nothing was happening. This was unexpected, startling, completely unexpected; it was frightening – what was going on inside the Temple! The explanation is given in the following verses.

As Zechariah discharged his duty in the Holy Place, an angel of the Lord appeared to him on the right side of the altar. The exact location where the angel stood is a detail passed along by Zechariah himself and kept intact by writers.

Let’s think about angels today.
A growing number of people believe in the existence of UFO’s and the extra-terrestrial life forms. Their recent motto has become “we are not alone.” The Bible lends support to this claim, but not in confirming UFO sightings and verifying the existence of extra-terrestrials.

The Bible indicates we are not alone; angels good and evil are part of the created order. There is a spiritual dimension of reality which co-exists with the physical world. The Scriptures record many stories of individuals who encountered angels. The Bible even reports, as we have recently seen in our study of Hebrews, at times people without knowing entertained angels (Heb. 13:2).

Confronted by a supernatural, heavenly being, Zechariah was terrified. It is natural for the sudden, unexpected appearance of a holy, dazzlingly brilliant angel to cause a sinful human being to tremble. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.

What is an “Angel”?
We probably all have a different picture in our mind when we hear the word “Angel.” An Angel is not a chubby little baby with a halo and little wings as they were often depicted in the Renaissance era. These creatures still abound in gift shops everywhere, however they have no connection with reality.

The word angel simply means “messenger.” In fact our word angel is a direct derivative of the Greek word “angelos.” When the Bible was brought over into English there was no suitable word to convey the idea of a heavenly messenger and so the word “angel” was created and has passed into our language.

The word is applied in Scripture to an order of supernatural or heavenly beings whose business it is to act as God’s messengers to men, and as agents who carry out His will.

If you are interested in doing further reading on the subject of angels there are numerous good books available. Let me recommend two.
“Angels” written by Billy Graham – This is a simple straightforward discussion of the subject from a biblical viewpoint.
“The Supernatural” written by Michael S. Heiser – this is a summary of a much larger work called “The Unseen Realm” written by the same author. I guarantee some time spent in either of these two works will give you an entirely new appreciation of the biblical concept of angels