Glory to God in the Highest

In anticipation of the celebration of Christ's birth our little congregation last Sunday invited the children to briefly portray Mary, Joseph and the holy Child lying in the manger with the angels praising God and shepherds kneeling while we sang verses from familiar hymns. It was a live nativity scene so common in this season.


All that got me to thinking—again—about angels coming from heaven and their presence in our lives. And, since I'm rather hung up with exploring the theological and philosophical roots of Nazism and WW II, I found myself turning over the teachings of Madam Blavatsky. Along with her, of course, came bouncing in all the stuff of Eastern theology: Hinduism and Buddhism, karma, etc. And along with that came the crazy background of the so-called Aryan race, Lemuria, Atlantis, giants and supermen. What a mess of jumbled thoughts. How shall I sort through it all and help you since you stumbled upon this article today?

I'd like humbly to suggest that we briefly ponder the actual text about the angels in the Gospel of Luke. Here it is (Luke 2:8-15):


⁸And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. ¹⁰And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." ¹³And suddenly there was 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 those with whom he is pleased!" ¹⁵When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."


We could get into a huge argument, I suppose, about the reality of heaven and angels and a God who laid out plans for all this to happen from the very moment He created what we call the universe. But I won't do that. Instead I shall simply ask,


What if it really, really happened?
What if there are angels who can and do appear quite suddenly in the lives of simple people?
What if these strange messengers can indeed come and go to somewhere not that far away, some place called heaven?
What if God is pleased with those who kneel before the Child in adoration?
What if the Child truly brings peace to troubled hearts on earth?
What if the LORD wants us all to join those angels with Him in heaven forever?


I believe that the answer to all those questions is yes, it is true. And in spite of all those other jumbled thoughts, all that craziness stuff that men and women have taught, this is what God has revealed. And I invite you to join me in again this Christmas in affirming its truth.