Skip to main content

Glory to God in the Highest

Luke 2:8-14 – “Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

            One of my favorite Hymns to sing during the Christmas season is Angels We Have Heard on High. The English version of the hymn was translated from French by Bishop James Chadwick.  The song tells the story of the shepherds who are surprised by angels announcing the birth of the long awaited Messiah.

            These shepherds were living out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks during the night. The only light would have been the small campfire they huddled around in the field at night.  Just another routine night of watching over the flocks was interrupted by the sudden appearance of an angel. 

            These shepherds were likely to be mostly younger men.  Younger sons were assigned the duty of tending the flocks. The Scriptures do not tell us how many there were or their ages.  It simply says, “there were in the same country shepherds living out in the field.”  What was the reaction of these shepherds to this unexpected visitation of an angel?  Verse 9 says, “They were greatly afraid.” 

            The first words of the angel were, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

            This could have been the very moment of the birth of the Lord.  Luke 2:13-14 says, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 

            The third verse reads, " Come to Bethlehem and see Him Whose birth the angels sing; Come, adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King.”  The refrain follows, “Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!  This translates from Latin as, glory to God in the highest. May we join with this chorus of angels in declaring in this season that celebrates His birth, “Gloria, in excelsis Deo!” “Glory to God in the Highest.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Declaration of Ownership

Psalm 24:1-2 – “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.”               Psalm 24 is the third part of a trilogy with Psalm 22 and 23. David opens Psalm 22 prophetically with the words Jesus would say on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” Psalm 23 reveals our Lord as the Great Shepherd who cares for His sheep. Psalm 24 reveals the Lord as the King of Glory.  Psalm 24 begins with a declaration of ownership. The Psalmist identifies the Lord as the Creator. Psalm 24:2 says, “He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters. Psalm 89:11 says, “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them.”  The beginning of cr...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tent Peg of Jael

Judges 4:21-22 – “Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her  tent,  there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.”             The book of Judges covered a chaotic time in Israel’s history.   A key Scripture for Judges in found in Judges 21:25, “Every man did was right in his own eyes.” There were seven cycles of apostasy, where the covenant children of God would turn away from the principles of the Word of God.             When they had godly leadership they would serve the Lord.   When that leader would die they would turn f...
1 comment
Read more

Rebuilding the Broken Altar of Prayer

In Matthew 21: 12-13 , “ Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” Jesus made this declaration, “My house shall be called a house of prayer!”  I believe that God is calling us back to the altar of prayer.  For several weeks the Lord has dealt with me about rebuilding the broken altar of prayer in our personal and corporate lives.  If we are going to see spiritual breakthrough in our churches and communities then we must rebuild and return to the altar of prayer. Wayman Rogers writes, “The ministry of prayer is the most important of all ministries in the church.  Prayer creates the atmosphere and binds the powers of darkness so the gospel of Jesus can go forward and the church can prosper....
Post a Comment
Read more