Episode Transcript
Jesus is born in Bethlehem, and a heavenly angel appeared, announcing His birth to shepherds in the field.
13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:13-14).
The advent of the messiah was so important that God sent angels to announce His birth in fulfillment of Isaiah 9—a prophecy that predated Jesus’s birth by 700 years. The audience wasn’t who you would expect. Instead of announcing to kings, the announcement was made to lowly shepherds in fulfillment of Isaiah 11; This messiah would defend justice for the poor and weak.
This multitude of the heavenly host praised God, attributing all glory to Him in the highest and declaring peace on the earth with whom the Most High is pleased. This is my favorite Christmas song of all time.
First, they sing, “Glory to God…” There are many reasons Jesus came. Yes, He came to seek the lost. He came because God so loved the world. In all the messianic prophecies and in the foretelling of this messiah’s birth throughout the Old Testament, it is always primarily God’s glory in view. God wants to be seen and known at the perfect time. The only way to accomplish that is to become visible. He did this in the incarnation. Glory is a word that refers to an abundance of wealth, treasure, and honor; dignity; splendor or majesty; and the like. The first Christmas praise to God attributes this wealth, honor, dignity, and splendor to Him—almost like this is God’s primary motivation for sending His Son. God wins glory for Himself by entering into His creation, becoming visible, and conquering sin and death.
There are many Christians who seem to make salvation a selfish agenda. They see themselves as more important than other people because they are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. There are unbelievers who beg the same selfish question as to why God wouldn’t just save everyone or why God would create people as seemingly so insignificant in the universe if He actually existed. We get so wrapped up in thinking God life either does or should revolve around people that we often miss this fact. God doesn’t need us. His world doesn’t revolve around us. Though His coming does result in our salvation, and that’s very good, He primarily came for the same reason He created—His own glory according to His own will, that His invisible characteristics would be clearly observable and celebrated amid all His creatures. Glory to God in the highest.
It’s a little ironic to me that the angels proclaim glory to God in the highest while Jesus is laid in the lowest place—a feeding trough in a barn. God shows Himself in the lowliest places with the lowliest people because of who He is—just, merciful, and unwilling to be partial based on human standards of wealth or status. We also gain some insight into proper trinitarian thought, for how can the angels praise God in the highest if God was in the lowest at that time? How could God still reign on high if He had become a defenseless baby in a manger? He could not. That’s not exactly what happened. Intead, we see that God the Father sent God the Son, Jesus Christ who was God and was with God in the beginning (John 1). As Christians, we believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three distinct persons of the single God essence. The incarnation and knowing God are really impossible without trinity. Because God is one essence in three persons, the Father can still be in the highest while the Son is born in the lowest. Again, I can proclaim, Glory to God in the highest.
God’s glory isn’t the only part of the equation. The angels also make a declaration, “On earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” The Old Testament prophets also talked a lot about peace. Isaiah 9 even tells us that a child would be born called the Prince of Peace and Eternal Father. When He is born, the heavenly host shows up to declare this peace. This Greek word for “among” (εν) here is a pretty versatile word. It could mean among, in, to, toward, for, or anything similar. So, delineating the exact trajectory of this peace in this verse is kind of difficult. I think since Adam’s fall in the garden, people have made war against God. While God disciplined nations on some occasions, His majority response was to pass over people’s sin. When the messiah is born to deliver people from the consequences, presence, and power of sin, God responds to people’s declarations of war against Him by declaring peace between Himself and His people. Sinful people are the ones who want war, not God. Consider Luke 17:30-31,
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
When people truly could not see God, God overlooked those times of ignorance. Now, because God literally pulled back the heavens and made Himself visible in Christ, all people everywhere are called to repent. God didn’t punish people for their ignorance. But, now the time for ignorance is past. Not only was God visible, He furnished proof in the resurrection so we are truly without excuse. God will judge the world in His good timing. We gain more insight into God’s good character. He doesn’t judge people in their ignorance. We will ask the question, “What about the person who never gets a chance to hear the gospel?” I see here that God is good to ignorant people, overlooking times of ignorance. I believe salvation depends on God, not people anyway, and we can trust Him with it. He also doesn’t allow people to remain ignorant because He is good. There are people actively trying to stay ignorant, justifying their unbelief and lifestyles with all sorts of evidence that doesn’t actually justify their lifestyles and unbelief, but there are really no excuses. Jesus was actually born. He really lived. He was really crucified. He was actually raised from the dead—and we still have access to the eyewitness records and historical sources that show people experienced Jesus post-resurrection and experienced changed lives because of Jesus. The time for religious ignorance and rebellion is past. God has declared peace.
Particularly, He has declared peace toward men with whom He is pleased. There are people who still try to live at war against God. They do not accept God’s peace treaty because they are insolent and violent people—only caring about themselves. To those with whom God is pleased, there is peace. I personally don’t understand why anyone would reject God who wants peace and desires to give the gift of eternal life. It is beyond me. But, I guess there are people who would rather be their own gods and fight for their own life against the life-giver. I would rather be with God in Christ.
Glory to God in the highest. On Earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased. This is the very first Christmas song, and the start of our advent season.
