An Awesome Night

Read: Luke 2:8-20 ESV, focusing on v. 14

Record: Shepherds are keeping watch at night, as an angel brings them what Luke calls “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”  Christ, the Savior, will be born lying in a manger.  Then praise rings out with, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Reflect: Shepherds go into the night probably thinking it will be another ordinary evening.  It was anything but ordinary.  They went home in haste having felt utter fear (v. 9), astonishment, excitement, and most importantly a desire to glorify and praise God for what they had heard and seen (v. 20).

For me, the best part of what they heard and saw comes in verse 14:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased”

Thankfully, even with my extremely dull imagination, this verse forces one to paint a grand picture, and with many possible versions too.  The sight would have been awesome!

But better than that sight was what they heard.  Glory is a key word in Luke 2 and it’s what it is used to describe the coming of Christ.  The birth of Jesus is nothing less than glorious, because Christ is glory (v. 9).  He will live a perfect life of obedience for the glory of his father.  After having veiled his glory for a time, he will ask his Father to reveal his glory again.  And one day we will live in the eternal light of his heavenly glory.

In verse 14, glory has a companion and that is peace.  It is the promise of the Old Testament Law for man to have the peace of God’s favor rest upon him.  Peace with God is the ultimate blessing that brings glory to God.

Respond: There is no peace with God without the coming of Jesus.  With the coming of Jesus, there would be (for a moment) no peace between Jesus and the Father on the cross.  Peace comes only with judgment paid and satisfied.  God’s favor rests on me because Jesus has paid my judgment and satisfied his wrath on my behalf.

I’m so thankful for this assurance.

My prayer is that I would constantly live with a reverential fear of God, grow in my astonishment of God’s redemptive work, get excited for kingdom work, and want nothing more than to glorify and praise my Father for the work that Jesus has done to bring peace between me and God.

Merry Christmas in September!