ANGELS AND SHEPHERDS #2/4
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ANGELS AND SHEPHERDS #2/4
WHEN ANGELS PRAISE
December 7, 2008
TEXT: Luke 2:13-14
Last week I spoke about angels as messengers. The Greek word from which we derive our word angels means messenger or envoy. During the period we have come to regard as the Christmas story, angels delivered some very important messages. On two of these occasions, the angel is positively identified as Gabriel, an archangel who stands in the presence of God. These were messages of the highest degree of importance.
In spite of their role as messengers, though, carrying messages is not the only function of angels. In fact, delivering messages may not be their primary duty at all. As we search the Bible for the accounts and activities of angels, we readily observe that the primary activity of angels is praise and worship. This is evident in both the Old and New Testaments.
In Isaiah 6, the prophet relates his encounter with God. In the throne room of God, he witnessed the six-winged seraphim declaring the glory and greatness of God. Isaiah 6:3 records their declaration, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory. We may not think of them so, but the seraphim and other living creatures described by Biblical authors are regarded as angels. They may not have the appearance of what we regard angels to look like remember Bill Crowders memory of an angel being blondes in sparkling gowns but they are angelic beings nonetheless. The role of the seraphim described by Isaiah is the perpetual worship of God. They exalted the glory of His holiness.
In the book of the Revelation, John described many scenes of worship in which the living creatures declared the holiness of God. Revelation 5:11-12 reveals, for instance, the celebration of angels: Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!
Throughout Revelation, the angelic realm celebrates Gods creation and Christs salvation as they encircle the throne. In the Christmas story, though, they assemble in a glorious mass choir to celebrate Gods invasion of the broken world that is always the object of His eternal love. When the angel announced the actual birth of the Son of God, the heavenly host could not remain silent. They exalted God for His glory, for His Son, and for His plan to rescue the lost, tired, and confused race of men and women who, like the sheep guarded by the angels shepherd audience, had long gone astray. This angelic exaltation becomes the great thread of worship that began that first Christmas and continues in our worship today. Their message was simple but powerful. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. (Luke 2:13-14)
In their respective encounters with God, Isaiah and John experienced angelic worship in the sanctuary of heaven. The shepherds witnessed and experienced the worship of angels on a Bethlehem hillside. They heard the angels affirm the glory of God. They heard the angels announce that Jesus had come to offer peace with God to His creation that was in rebellion against Him.
Notice that the reconciliation between God and humanity the solution for the human condition of sin is summed up by the angels in the simple word peace. Remember that this peace is not merely the absence of conflict. That is how we have gotten used to understanding the word, but that falls short of its full Biblical meaning. Biblical peace is understood to be the presence of Christ who is described by the prophet Isaiah as the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) Through Christ, peace is the reality of a relationship with the God of peace. Paul declared this many times, such as Philippians 4:9, Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in meput it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. You have probably heard the Hebrew greeting, Shalom. This is a Hebrew word for peace. In its most complete application, it encapsulates the Biblical idea and ideal expressed by the prophets, Jesus, the apostles, Paul, and others. Along with peace, shalom carries the meaning of such realities as completeness, soundness, and contentment. That is the total meaning of the peace that comes from God. That is the peace that comes from God. There is no other.
The angels made this announcement and promise to the shepherds, and to us through the Biblical testimony, because the Christ who makes such peace available to us had just been born into this world. When angels praise, they lift their voices in exaltation of the living God.
Now we might easily think, So what? So what if the angels praise God? What does that have to do with me? What else are angels going to do, anyway? While concern about the praise of angels is likely far away from us as we engage in our own struggles on this earth, we must recognize that God wanted us to know something about it because He included it in His revealed Word. There is something about the praise of angels we should learn. In 1 Peter 1:12, we read, It was revealed to them [the prophets] that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. Concerning the last phrase, Even angels long to look into these things, Bible teacher and commentator Adam Clarke writes, [The Greek phrase means] to stoop down to the posture of those who are earnestly intent on finding out a thing, especially a writing difficult to be read; they bring it to the light, place it so that the rays may fall on it as collectively as possible, and then stoop down in order to examine all the parts, that they may be able to make out the whole. There is evidently an allusion here to the attitude of the cherubim who stood at the ends of the ark of the covenant, in the inner tabernacle, with their eyes turned towards the mercy-seat or propitiatory in a bending posture, as if looking attentively, or, as we term it, poring [over] it. Even the holy angels are struck with astonishment at the plan of human redemption, and justly wonder at the incarnation of that infinite object of their adoration. If then these things be objects of deep consideration to the angels of God, how much more so should they be to us; in them, angels can have no such interest as human beings have.
Here is the point, then. The act of infinite love and compassion delivered through the birth, life, and suffering of the Holy Son is for humans, not for angels. Outside of delivering messages and ministering to Jesus, they have no part in the incarnation or the resurrection. Salvation is not for them. Angels do not disobey God and then receive mercy. Angels either obey God and remain angels, or they disobey God and are condemned as demons. They do not cross that bridge that God built between humanity and Himself; only Gods human creation are afforded the opportunity to cross that bridge so lovingly and sacrificially built by Jesus Christ.
In spite of this, the angels still pour out all of their exaltation, worship, and praise to God the Father and the Son. They still praise His inexpressible love and share that testimony with men and women as they did to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem. The angels know what we too easily forget: that the Lord Jesus Christ is ever and always deserving of the highest exaltation. And, as Dr. Clarke said, if the angels, who can only observe redeeming love but never experience it, exalt Christ for his grace, then how much more should adoration of the Savior drive the hearts and passions of the men and women who have been granted Gods great grace! When angels praise, then we who have been saved by Gods grace alone should praise even more!
The voices of the angels, raised in exaltation to the living God, continue to ring out in our celebrations today. The hope of peace, the longing for glory, and the gift of Jesus are all desires that reverberate in the lives of every believer throughout the centuries. When angels praise, it is our minds that are stirred to sober, yet joyful, reflection, and it is our hearts that are stirred to passionate worship and praise to the living God.
This marriage of awe and exaltation from the observing angels and from redeemed humanity finds wonderful expression in one of our familiar Christmas hymns:
Hark! The herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem!
Hark! The herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King!
When angels praise, may we, with grateful hearts and joy-filled minds, join in the exaltation of the birth of Christ, Gods glorious gift to us! Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. (Luke 2:13-14)
Rev. Charles A. Layne
First Baptist Church
PO Box 515
179 W. Broadway
Bunker Hill, IN 46914
765-689-7987
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