The Glory of the Nativity (Christmas Eve)

for all the things they had heard and seen,

which were just as they had been told.

This is the Word of God.

Now, as I mentioned, this is obviously a very familiar passage to many of us,

whether you are churched or unchurched.

Certainly you have heard this passage before and heard this story.

And while that's truly a blessing,

sometimes when we hear a story over and over again,

it can be somewhat domesticated.

It can easily be lumped into the rest of Christmas that we celebrate, right?

We think of the Santa Claus and the Christmas markets

and the trees and the lights and the gifts.

And while all these things, there's nothing wrong with them individually,

so often we put this story of the Nativity on par with all these cultural elements.

In fact, probably this Nativity story,

if you think about Bible stories and unbelievers,

this would not be an offensive story to most, right?

Because they see it as being something that's tame,

that's warm-hearted, that's cute, perhaps.

But as we look at this passage tonight,

I want this to be anything but that.

I want to be able to see this story with fresh eyes tonight

because this is a story about fear.

It's a story that has elements of shock.

This is an army of angels, a coming king, a radical salvation plan.

And so while this story certainly brings comfort to us,

it should also invoke awe and wonder and praise and worship

because this story screams to us of the glory of God.

And so that's what I want us to focus on tonight

is the glory of God that we see in this passage.

And so if I were to ask you to define what the glory of God is,

I imagine there would probably be as many different answers

as there are people here this evening.

And not to say any of those answers would necessarily be wrong

because the glory of God is revealed and defined

in many different ways within the Scripture.

And so tonight I want us to look at just three of these different ways

where we see the glory of God

because glory is mentioned three different times in this passage.

And each time that glory is mentioned,

it's used in a slightly different manner.

We see glory when the glory of God,

it says it surrounded the shepherds and they were afraid.

It says that the angels sang of the glory of God.

And then it says that the shepherds glorified God

for all they had heard and seen.

And so these are the elements that I want us to think about.

God's glory in three parts.

I want us to consider the glory of God in His presence.

I want us to think about the glory in God's essence or His being

and the glory in man's response.

And so let's look first at the glory of God in His presence.

Look again at verse 7 and 8, or excuse me, 8 and 9.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,

keeping watch over their flocks at night.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to them,

and the glory of the Lord shone around them,

and they were terrified.

Now I'm sure many of you have different Christmas traditions in your home.

One tradition that my family has done for a number of years now

is something we call a shepherd's meal.

So on Christmas Eve, and we'll do it this evening,

on Christmas Eve before the kids go to bed,

we gather in our living room,

and we lay out a blanket on the floor,

we turn off all the lights,

and we have a very simple meal of usually fruit and bread and cheese,

something similar to what the shepherds might have had that night.

And we sit there, and we think and we talk about

what the shepherds may have experienced

when they were confronted by those angels,

what they would have seen, what they would have heard,

what they would have felt.

And while certainly this would be probably more realistic

if we were to go like up to the Pentlands

and do this in the middle of the night rather than just in our living room,

it's a good exercise for us to think about

what the shepherds would have experienced.

But I think the thing that often happens here

is that we can jump forward in the shepherds' emotion.

Right?

We can jump forward to the awe and the excitement

of what they experience

without really recognizing that first emotion

emotion that they felt was terror and fear.

It's hard to replicate terror and fear in our living room.

But think about this level of terror and panic

that the shepherds would have experienced here.

Why were they fearful?

It says, because the glory of the Lord shone around them.

See, the Bible, it often speaks of the presence of God as his glory.

If you're familiar with the Old Testament,

you know that the people of Israel were led out of Egypt

by this pillar of light or this cloud that led before them,

which was the glory of God.

In the tent of meeting,

it talks about this glory cloud that hovered over it.

When the tabernacle was completed,

it says the glory of God filled the temple.

And so the Old Testament,

the people of Israel so closely related

God's presence with his glory

that when they lost in battle to the Philistines

and the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant,

they cried out.

He said, the glory of God has departed from Israel

for the Ark of our God has been captured.

And so we see then that glory is this special term

that's used in the Bible often

that depicts God's visible and active presence

among his people.

And so what happens when often in the Bible

when we see people are confronted with the glory of God,

how do they respond?

It's with fear.

Right?

We read earlier from Isaiah 6,

which talks about Isaiah sees God on his throne

in all of his glory.

And how does Isaiah respond?

He says, woe is me, I am a dead man.

When Peter, James, and John,

they recognize they're with Jesus

when he is transfigured,

and they hear the voice of God from heaven,

what do they do?

They fall on their faces in fear.

And so almost every time in the Bible

when these men and these women

encounter the presence of God

and they fall on their faces in fear,

what's the next command?

Don't be afraid.

It's what we see here as well.

Don't be afraid.

Why should they not be afraid?

Because this is not God coming to judge.

This is God coming to announce good news.

When it says good news,

this is where we get our word for the gospel.

This is the good news,

that God is not merely revealing his glory

through these angels for this one-time announcement.

The good news is that God is revealing his glory

through his Son.

God's presence will be with his people

through the coming of his Son, Jesus.

And so he says this is the good news

that brings great joy for all people.

This is not good news.

The good news of Christmas is not for some people.

It's not for the religious,

and it's not for the righteous.

It makes no difference your nationality

or your race,

your socioeconomic status,

your background,

your history.

This Christmas story,

this gospel message,

is good news for all.

And we see that

because who is this message delivered to?

Right?

This message isn't for the political leaders

or the religious leaders of the day.

This isn't for the chief priests

or the Pharisees

or an announcement to Caesar himself.

This is a message to a bunch of lowly shepherds,

a bunch of wandering,

smelly outdoorsmen,

the lowest of the low in society,

people who were ritually unclean,

who were regarded as so untrustworthy

that their testimony

wouldn't have even been accepted in court.

Yet God chooses these men

to announce the birth of Jesus,

that they may hear it

and share it with others.

And so this is the good news

that's announced in verse 11.

Today in the town of David,

a Savior has been born to you.

He is the Messiah, the Lord.

Listen to those three titles

that we hear in here.

It talks about Jesus as our Savior,

as our Messiah,

and our Lord.

This is the only place

in the whole New Testament

that we see these titles combined at once.

And so while we don't have time

to kind of break apart

every single title

and what their significance is,

I want to look at them

at least briefly

to recognize

when it talks about Jesus

as our Savior.

What does that mean?

Jesus has come

to take away our sins.

In the Old Testament,

God is referred to

as the God of our salvation.

That salvation has now come

in the person of Jesus.

It says he is our Messiah

or our Christ.

It's a title for the Anointed One.

This is what we read also

from Isaiah,

that this coming king

would reign on David's throne

over his kingdom.

And it says he is Lord.

It's making clear the point

that Jesus was not just

a regular man,

that this is Yahweh,

the Lord God Almighty

is now dwelling among his people.

And so the question then is,

well, how is this glorious king

going to save?

The angels say

that there's a sign.

What do you think

that the shepherds

would have anticipated

when they see the glory

of God in their presence

announcing the coming

of the Savior

that Jesus is coming

on this flaming chariot

from heaven?

That Jesus' presence

is somehow going to

kind of manifest

in the temple somehow?

Or at least he's going

to be born

to this wealthy,

religious family

or some political leader

to establish his kingdom?

No.

This will be a sign to you.

You will find the baby

wrapped in rags

and lying in a feeding trough.

Does that not just

strike you as bizarre?

Can you imagine

how the shepherds

would have responded to that?

The presence of God,

the glory that we see now,

his presence coming

in a barn,

in a poor baby.

How is this glorious?

How is this going to lead

to anyone's salvation?

How in the world

is this little baby

going to become king?

This passage is telling us

of the humiliation of Christ

that he took on our nature.

This infinite God

became a finite man.

The creator of the universe

was born of a woman.

Not only did he take on our nature,

he took on our condition.

Isaiah also says

in chapter 53,

Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering.

Yet we considered him

punished by God,

stricken by men,

and afflicted.

You see,

he came to save sinners

like you and me

by standing in our place,

by taking the penalty

for our sin.

And so this is the presence

of God that we see

in his glory.

Let's think then

of that second instance

of glory.

The second time

that we see glory

in this passage.

The glory of God's essence

or his being.

Verse 13,

Suddenly a great company

of the heavenly hosts

appeared with the angel

praising God

and saying,

Glory to God

in the highest heaven

and on earth peace

to those on whom

his favor rests.

Now have you ever thought

about this term glory here?

Because I think we read it

and we think

this must be a command.

Right?

This is a verb.

The angels are telling

the shepherds

that you need to glorify God

or at least we angels

need to be glorifying God.

Glory here is not a verb.

There's actually no verb

in this sentence

in the Greek.

Glory is a noun here

and it's used more

as an observation.

It's used more

as a statement of fact.

The angels here

are praising God

for who he is.

He is intrinsically glorious

in his worth,

in his sufficiency,

in his beauty,

in his splendor,

in his majesty.

God is glorious

in his very being.

And his glory

doesn't fluctuate.

It doesn't change

based on what you think

of God,

whether you acknowledge it,

whether you appreciate it

or not.

He is who he is.

But the wonderful thing

about this passage here

is that he is revealing

his glory to us.

God is bringing

his presence down.

He's displaying for us

just a glimpse

of his divine perfections

to us.

And so think about

what we read again

in Isaiah 6.

This image that Isaiah has

of the Lord,

high and exalted,

seated on the throne.

The train of his robe

filled the temple.

These angels crying out,

Holy,

Holy,

Holy

is the Lord Almighty.

The whole earth

is full of his glory.

This is the glory

that the angels witness.

This is the glory

that these angels

have worshipped

since their creation.

And so now these angels

with that knowledge

are announcing this glory

to the shepherds.

Not only what God

is doing here,

not only who he is,

but also what he's doing.

Because they're proclaiming

that this glory of God

is now being revealed.

The glory is being revealed

to man

through the birth of Jesus.

And so what's the result

of this glory?

It says peace.

God's glory

displayed in the person

of Jesus

brings us peace.

Isn't that astounding?

I mean,

think about these angels.

Oftentimes when we picture

these angels,

right,

they're rather feminine looking,

they're in these long,

flowing white gowns

with long hair,

and they're all floating about

like a choir, right?

That's not how Luke

describes them here.

Luke describes them

as a large heavenly army.

An army announcing

the arrival of a perfect,

almighty king

of the universe

who's come into a world

of rebellious sinners.

How does that strike you?

What is this message

that's to be brought?

It sounds like judgment

is about to rain down.

That God is going to come

with his royal armies

to seek to destroy

and bring death.

But yet that's not

what these angels

are announcing.

Not death and destruction.

They are announcing

the peace

that God is bringing.

Peace between heaven

and earth.

Peace between

an infinite,

holy God

and a corrupt,

sinful people.

And it's this peace

that only comes

through the shedding

of blood.

It's a peace

that only comes

by the washing away

of our sin

and our guilt,

by receiving

a righteousness

that is not our own

and that we do not deserve.

Peace that only comes

through this baby Jesus

who is born to die

so that we might live.

This is what we're going

to sing about at the end

when we sing

Hark the Herald Angels

sing this refrain.

Mild he lays his glory by.

Born that man

no more may die.

Born to raise

the sons of earth.

Born to give them

second birth.

This is the glory of God.

So let's consider

then that third glory.

The glory that we see

in the response

of the shepherds.

The shepherds

receive this message

from the angels.

They hurry off

to see what the Lord

had told them about

and verse 20

it says the shepherds

returned glorifying

and praising God

for all the things

they had heard

and seen

which were just

as they had been told.

Now we see here

that the shepherds

they witnessed

the glory of God

in this infant baby Jesus

and it says

it leads them

to glorify God.

So you see

while God's glory

it can refer to

his presence

it can refer to

his essence

it also describes

the appropriate response

of God's people

to respond

in worship.

These shepherds

were the first

to be told

of this Messiah's birth

and how do they respond?

They go immediately

to Bethlehem

they see this baby Jesus

they tell others

what they saw

and they glorify God.

when we see

God's glory

it should compel

us also

to give God glory

because remember

these shepherds

they didn't have

the full story

right?

They were told

a limited amount

of information

by those angels

that they would

find the baby

wrapped in swath

and clothes

lying in a manger.

They weren't told

how this baby

would be their savior.

They didn't have

the benefit

of hearing him preach

or seeing his miracles

performed.

They didn't know

how he would live

or die

or rise from the dead

and yet they're still

compelled to give him glory.

And so consider

our own situation.

We know

the full story.

We have

the gospel message.

We have God's word

that tells us

this good news

that the son of God

humbled himself

was born

of a poor virgin

in a stable.

As a child

he was a refugee

raised by peasants.

When he began

his ministry

he was rejected

by his hometown

despised by religious leaders.

When he traveled

it was on foot

usually with no shelter

and no food

and no provision

all the while

journeying to the cross

where he would pay

the penalty

for your sin

and mine.

We know

the full story.

How much more

ought we

to receive

this good news

and respond

with glory to God?

God.

Because when we

think about glory

the ultimate goal

of God

displaying his glory

is that he may

receive glory.

The ultimate goal

of his revealing

his glorious plan

to us

of him extending

his glorious grace

to us

is that we may

respond with glory

to God.

Paul says

in Ephesians 1

he says

we have been chosen

and adopted

and redeemed

to the praise

of his glory.

And so the reality

is

is that night

that song

that that angels

those angels sang

it's a song

that has not ceased.

It's a song

that continues

today

in the heavenly places

among God's people

it's a song

that we should

look forward to

participating in

at Christ's return

that we will glorify

God

with all the saints

as it says

in Revelation 19

then I heard

what sounded

like a great multitude

like the roar

of rushing waters

like the loud

peals of thunder

shouting hallelujah

for our Lord

God almighty

reigns

let us rejoice

and be glad

and give him glory

is this not the same

song

that the angels

sang

this is the

eternal song

of the redeemed

this is the song

that we too

shall sing

so I say

see

the baby

born in Bethlehem

he is the Messiah

born for your salvation

and mine

so the invitation