Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 2:13

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

13. a multitude of the heavenly host ] The Sabaoth; Rom 9:29; Jas 5:4. “Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him,” Dan 7:10; Rev 5:11-12. The word is also used of the stars as objects of heathen worship, Act 7:42.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Luk 2:13

With the angel a multitude of the heavenly host

The angels song

I.

CONSIDER THE PASSAGE AS IT LIES BEFORE US IN THE HISTORY.

II. MAKE SOME PRACTICAL REMARKS UPON THE SUBJECT.

1. If this be the song and taste and sentiment of heaven, what is the taste and sentiment of the men of the earth who call themselves wise, and call us fools for believing the Bible?

2. We learn from the song that no goodwill from heaven can be communicated to man, nor any peace on earth, but what is consistent with the glory of God.

3. Herein are afforded sufficient encouragement and direction to every believing heart. (R. Cecil, M. A.)

A multitude of the heavenly host

In that distant age, as by no means since, the ministry of angels was familiar to the human mind–was required to answer, in fact, the necessities of human thought. On occasions infinitely less important than the birth of One whose name should be called Jesus, the Saviour, the angels then came and went in the universe freely, because in mind and for mind the universe was what it was. Since then not one has come. So the impression made then by its being said that this event was made illustrious by the attendance of a multitude of the heavenly host, and that which is made now, cannot be wholly the same. With all our ideas of the universe, it is infinitely more wonderful now than it was then. As it is so much more wonderful, it is so much more difficult to realize in thought. And so it is with reference to all else that is wonderful in the story of that birth to which the thoughts of the best part of the human race go back as to no other event in all human history. The modes of thought and of expression with regard to all that are unchanged by the lapse of ages–in the letter unchanged–but are they actually the same in spirit to us as they were in another age under cruder and almost opposite conditions of human thought? So shadowy has the angelic host become to mortal men now, to whom in their direst need or in their loftiest ecstasies no angels come, that the joy of that angelic host over the birth of the Saviour of mankind, so far from communicating itself to the Christian world of to-day, as it did once, is never felt save at Christmas, and then it would be hard to say by whom. This is not as it should be. To the thought of Christian men and women eighteen centuries ago the angelic host and their joy were real. Why should they not be so to our thought too? That these men and women were even as we are is the key to all history. With all that there is in our modern modes of thought to make the supernatural seem to us in fact, however it may be in name, one and the same thing with the incredible or faintly believed–with all that there is of this in our modern modes of thought, that which is in them, too, of a powerful apprehension of the idea of Christs life as the most signal manifestation of the Divine, is enough, if it be only well and truly considered, to make the angelic host and their song as real to us as ever they were to any generation of men–much more real, at any rate, than they have been to many in this generation. (J. Service, D. D.)

Music

Music has been called the speech of angels. I will go further and call it the speech of God Himself. Without words it is wonderful–blessed–one of Gods best gifts to men. But in singing you have both the wonders together, music and words. Why is there music in heaven? Because in music there is no self-will. It goes on certain laws and rules which man did not make, but has only found out. Music is a pattern of the everlasting life of heaven, because in heaven, as in music, is perfect freedom and perfect pleasure; and yet that freedom comes not from throwing away law, but from obeying Gods law perfectly; and that pleasure comes not from a self-will, and doing each what he likes, but from perfectly doing the will of the Father who is in heaven. And that in itself would be sweet music, even if there were neither voice nor sound in heaven. Some of us may not be able to make music with our voices; but we can make it with our hearts, and join in the angels song this day, if not with our lips, yet in our lives. Christmas has always been a day of songs, of carols, and of hymns; and so let it be for ever. For on Christmas Day, most of all days (if I may talk of eternal things according to the laws of time) was manifested on earth the everlasting music which was in heaven. (Charles Kingsley.)

Suddenly, or spirit and understanding

There are two classes of persons between whom a mutual distrust exists, because they fail to appreciate each others attitude toward the events of the universe.

I. The first class expects all things to come to pass gradually, so that their courses may be traced. The motive of this class is intellectual; the mind wants to correlate facts. Sudden transitions, having been hitherto supposed to argue the absence of natural causes, are unwelcome to the scientific mind.

II. The other class cares little for natural causes, but rather delights in things supposed to be unexplainable by any but extra-natural interventions. It knows that worship is the highest exercise of the mind, and it desires sudden and mysterious events to quicken the feeling of reverence.

III. Between these extremes our text mediates by affirming the sudden occurrences, but associating them by a copulative, rather than an adversative conjunction with the things that went before them. In this it has the authority of many scientific men (notably Dr. Maudsley), who assert that there are indeed leaps and sudden changes and specific differences, while they assign them to natural causes, thus contrasting them only with other events and things, not with nature as a whole, and connecting them copulatively instead of adversatively with other phenomena. Nor does this destroy the value of such events as calls to worship. The surprise caused by a sudden event often wakes up a sleeping sense of reverence whether the event is explainable or not. God means to surprise us, but He does not mean to put us to confusion. The scientific mind is compelled by the facts to concede the actual occurrence of sudden and surprising events. With the universe full of God the devout mind can afford to concede the presumptive universality of natural causes. Science has kept saying not suddenly; religion has reiterated but suddenly; the Bible calmly says and suddenly. The and suits science, the suddenly suits religion. Let us seek to be devout and scientific both, and sing with spirit and understanding. (American Horniletic Review.)

The birth of our Lord

The manner and spirit in which we ought to spend Christmas.

I. LET US ASCRIBE GLORY TO GOD. The Lord incarnate is placed before us; the Conqueror of Satan; the Saviour of man is thus revealed. Surely, if our hearts can be touched by the motive of gratitude to God for His mercies, we must feel it in the commemoration of the arrival of His Son. Surely we must feel some inclination this day to join the angelic host in blessing, praising, and magnifying His Holy Name.

II. LET US SPREAD PEACE ON THE EARTH. All animosities should cease. If God desire to be at peace with us, let us imitate the heavenly pattern set us at Bethlehem. All is peace in heaven, and it is our duty to promote it on earth.

III. LET US EXERCISE GOODWILL TOWARDS MEN.

IV. Let me impress upon you TO MAINTAIN, when this day and year have been added to the past, and even to the end of your lives, THE SEVERAL GRACES TO WHICH I HAVE ADVERTED. Becoming as they are at this season, they become us always. (A. Garry, M. A.)

The song of the angels

I. THE SONG ITSELF.

I. The song consists of a proclamation of peace. We are in a state of hostility and alienation. Not an easy thing to restore peace, consistently with the Divine nature and glory. Not only is the birth of Christ the occasion of a proclamation of peace between us and God, but it restores peace to our own mind. There is also peace made with our fellows and neighbours and kindred, and with the whole creaturely universe.

II. THE SONG AS SUNG ON THIS OCCASION–that is, as sung by ANGELS.

1. They are the most intellectual part of Gods creation; they have the purest intellect.

2. Observe not merely their intellectuality by their disinterestedness and impartiality. We are ourselves interested in the whole affair; not so with them. They were never polluted.

3. Their unanimity in singing it. There was no jarring string in that song; no dissenting voice in that harmony. Salvation affects heaven as well as earth.

Lessons:

1. A lesson of gratitute to God.

2. Kindness to each other, especially the poor. (J. Beaumont, D. D.)

The nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ

His own appearance was despicable; that of His retinue was most magnificent. He who was the ancient of days became a helpless infant: He who was the light of the sun, comes into the world in the darkness of the night: He who came that He might lay us in the bosom of the Father, is Himself laid in the manger of a stable. But though meanly welcomed on earth, yet heaven makes abundant amends for all.

I. For the first it is said that AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF THE HEAVENLY HOST PRAISED GOD. Strange that they should make this day of heavens humiliation their festival and day of thanksgiving.

1. The holy angels rejoiced at the birth of Christ, because it gave them occasion to testify their deepest humility and subjection. To be subject to Christ while He sat upon the throne of His kingdom, arrayed with unapproachable light, controlling all the powers of heaven with a beck, was no more than His infinite glory exacted from them: but to be subject to Him in a cratch, when He hid His beams, was not obedience only but condescension. Now the time is come when they may express their fidelity and Obedience in the lowest estate of their Lord.

2. The angels rejoiced at the birth of Christ because the confirmation of that blessed estate of grace and glory, wherein they now stand, depended upon His incarnation. The government of all creatures is laid upon His shoulders. He is the head of all principality and power (Col Eph 1:10). The Mediator confirms them in their holy estate; therefore they rejoiced at the birth of Christ, wherein they saw the Godhead actually united to the human nature; since the merit of this union, long before that, prevailed for their happy perseverance.

3. The holy angels rejoiced at the birth of Christ, from the fervent desire they have of mans salvation.

II. WHAT THIS ANGELICAL SONG CONTAINS IN IT?

1. Gods glory. Gods glory is of two sorts, essential and declarative. The abasing nativity of Jesus Christ is the highest advancement of Gods glory. This is a strange riddle to human reason, for God to raise His glory out of humiliation.

(1) In the birth of Christ God glorified the riches of His infinite wisdom. This was a contrivance that would never have entered into the hearts either of men or angels. It is called the wisdom of God (1Co 1:24). The question was how to satisfy justice in the punishment of sinners, and yet to gratify mercy in their pardon.

(2) The birth of Christ glorified the almighty power of God. Is it not almighty power that the infinite Godhead should unite to itself dust and ashes, and be so closely united, that it should grow into one and the same person.

(3) By the birth of Christ God glorified the severity of His justice. His Son must rather take flesh and die than that this attribute should remain unsatisfied.

(4) By the birth of Christ the truth and veracity of God is eminently glorified, by fulfilling many promises and predictions.

(5) The birth of Christ glorifies the infinite purity and holiness of God.

(6) Hereby the infinite love and pity of God are eminently glorified.

2. Peace on earth.

(1) Peace mutually, between man and man.

(2) Peace internally, with a mans self, in the region of his own spirit and conscience.

(3) Peace with God. Christ was sent into this world as a minister of peace, as a mediator of peace.

(a) All the precepts of His doctrine do directly tend to the establishing of peace among men. Christianity teaches us not to offer any injury to others. Christ forbids private revenge and retaliating of wrongs.

(b) The examples of Christ all tend to peace. But Christ says Mat 10:34-35), we must distinguish between the direct end of Christs coming into the world and the accidental issue of it.

3. The infinite love and goodwill that God hath shown towards men.

(1) If you consider the Person sent, this will exalt the goodness of God toward us. He lay under no necessity of saving us.

(2) Consider the manner and circumstances of Christs coming into the world, then will appear the infinite love and goodwill of God. That Christ was sent, as from the Father, freely: as to Himself, ignominiously.

(3) The infinite goodwill of God in sending Jesus Christ into the world appears to be glorious and great, if you consider the persons to whom He was sent. This love is pitched upon froward, peevish, and rebellious creatures.

(4) It is evident from these many great benefits, of which, by Christs coming, we are made partakers. (E. Hopkins, D. D.)

The glory of the heavenly host an argument for more than bare necessity in the service of God

May not sundry ceremonies be left out, say they, and yet our religion be sound and entire? Indeed, our ceremonies are not necessary in themselves we grant it; why, and what if such great cathedral churches had not been built, nor such rich costly ornaments bestowed upon the roof, upon the choir, upon the Communion Table, might not prayers be read, and sermons preached with poorer habiliments and in meaner places?
Well, no man denies but God was faithfully served in dens, and rocks, and caves of the earth, when the apostles and prophets were persecuted. Besides, there are that complain, when one minister may sufficiently and audibly read service to the congregation: frustra fit per plura, what a needless thing it is, to have a choir of singers discharge that, which ordinarily is no more than one mans labour? They that make these objections, let them consider what errors they fall into. They may as well tax God Himself for sending a multitude of angels to congratulate the birth of His Son, when two or three would have done the business; for out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be justified. Why should a reasonable man think it fit to glorify God with bare scanty provision? God hath given us full measure of all His blessings, and running over; therefore no decent ceremony is superfluous, no rich ornament too gorgeous, no strain of our wit too eloquent, no music too sweet, no multitude too great to advance His name, who hath exalted us by the humiliation of His Son, and made us capable to live with angels in heaven, because Christ was content to lie among beasts in a manger. (Bishop Hacker.)

Multitude pleasing to God

And remember that there is no variation or change in God; as He appointed many angels to sing out His birth, so to this time and for ever He loves to be glorified by multitudes. Let two or three be gathered together in His name rather than one separatist alone; but if you will multiply those two or three to hundreds, to thousands Of souls, O then His desire is upon them that fear Him, and upon those thwackt congregations that call upon His name. He that invited the guests in the Gospel did not think his feast well bestowed till his room was full; therefore he bid his servants scour the highways and bring them in, that his number might be augmented. I commend your private exercises of prayer between God and your own heart, that your Father that sees you devout in secret may reward you openly: but those prayers which you would have most prosperous and successful, send them up in the thickest press of prayers, when a great assembly open their lips together. He that joins his spirit with the spirit of the Church shall be heard as if he prayed with ten thousand voices. (Bishop Hacker.)

Trust the heavenly forces

O see how many legions He can command from heaven, and then say, it is a vain thing to trust in the forces of man; it is the Lord that hath powers and principalities in store to awe the world: lo, He cometh with a multitude of the heavenly host. (Bishop Hacker.)

One good work quickly followed by another

The choir was not long a-tuning, but the hymn was sung immediately after the sermon was ended, like a chime that follows a clock without distinction of a minute: one good work follows another incontinently without any tedious pause or lingering respite. Quick motions of zeal and devotion are ever most acceptable. Procrastinating of time is the ready way to be taken tardy like the foolish virgins. (Bishop Hacker.)

Church Psalmody

If Asaph and that choir did lift up their note with all sorts of musical instruments in the old law, while the sacrifice was burning upon the altar, I am sure we have much more cause, not in imitation of Asaph, but of the angels, to praise the Lord with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Luther, I know not upon what reason, unless it were because the angels in my text did begin the gospel with melody, he makes psalmody to be one of the notes of the orthodox Church of Christ. The voice of man certainly is to praise God in its best tunes and elegancies: and the reasons why musical notes are most fit and necessary amidst our Christian prayers are these four:

1. Rules of piety steal into our mind with the delight of the harmony, The Agathyrsians, even to Platos days, were wont to sing their laws, and put them in tune, that men might repeat them in their recreations.

2. It kindles devotion, and fills the soul with more loving affections. Make a cheerful noise to the God of Jacob, says David. As the noise of flutes and of trumpets inspire a courage into soldiers, and inflame them to be victorious, so the psalms of the Church raise up the heart, and make it leap to be with God; as if our soul were upon our lips, and would fly away to heaven.

3. An heavy spirit oppresseth zeal, and that service of God is twice done which is done with alacrity: and our Christian merriment by St. Jamess rule is, singing and making melody to the Lord. When our Saviour and His company were sad the night before His Passion, to put away that heaviness they sang an hymn, when they went to Mount Olivet.

4. To sing some part of Divine doctrine is very profitable, because that which is sung is most treatibly pronounced; the understanding stabs long upon it, and nails it the faster to the memory. (Bishop Hacker)

Angelic insight

So my text lets you see, that if men be silent, and set not forth the praise of the Lord, the angels will speak, and give Him glory. It were a great shame for the Commons to be rude and irrespectful towards their king, when the nobles and princes of the people are most dutiful and obsequious; so when the Cherubins devote their songs to extol the most High, it were a beastly neglect in man, a worm in respect of a Cherubin, not to bear a part in that humble piety: but to speak after the method of reason, had it not been more proper for the angels at this time to have proclaimed Christs poverty than His power, His infancy than His majesty, His humility in the lowest, rather than His glory in the highest? If there were any glory coming out of this work of the Incarnation, it may seem we had it rather than our Saviour, and He lost it. But the piercing eye of those celestial spirits could see abundant honour compassing Christ about, where ignorant man could espy nothing but vileness and misery.

1. They celebrate the glory of Gods justice in sending His Son made of a woman, and made under the law, to suffer for us that had sinned against the law, because that justice would not receive man into favour without a satisfaction.

2. They divulge the honour of Christ unto the ends of the world, for the mercy that came down with Him upon all those that should believe in His name; if His justice was not forgotten in their song, surely His mercy should be much more solemnized. The angels for their own share were unacquainted with mercy, twas news in heaven till this occasion happened; for those rebellious ones of their order that had sinned, they found no grace to remit their trespasses; properly that is called mercy, but a thing so rare and unheard of in heaven, that as soon as ever they saw it stirring in the earth, they sing Glory to God in the highest.

3. They praise the Lord on high for the Incarnation of His Son, because the dignity of the work was so from Himself, that no creature did merit it, none did beseech or intercede unto Him for it, before He had destinate it, nothing but His own compassion could move Him to it. (Bishop Hacker.)

The song of angels

1. They knew, in the first place, the glory and greatness of that Being who was cradled in the manger.

2. The angels knew the sinfulness and misery from which the Saviour came to rescue fallen man, as we have never known them.

3. These visitants, again, knew, as we do not, the happiness of that state to which Christs mission would raise us. We have seen, then, that angels praised God with such lively fervours, because they had so much clearer views than we of what Christ came to accomplish, when He was born at Bethlehem. (W. N. Lewis, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 13. Suddenly there was with the angel, &c.] this multitude of the heavenly host had just now descended from on high, to honour the new-born Prince of peace, to give his parents the fullest conviction of his glory and excellence, and to teach the shepherds, who were about to be the first proclaimers of the Gospel, what to think and what to speak of him, who, while he appeared as a helpless infant, was the object of worship to the angels of God.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The nativity of our Saviour was published first by one angel, but it must be celebrated by a multitude of angels, who appear praising God upon this occasion. These are called the Lords host, Psa 103:20,21, not only because he useth them as his arms, to destroy his enemies, but also because of the order which is amongst them. How they praised God is expressed Luk 2:14, they sang

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. The words may be taken either judicatively, as signifying that was come to pass that day, by which God would have glory, men would have peace, and the good will of God to the sons of men was unspeakably declared: or precatorily, the angels desiring God might have glory, and that peace might be on earth, and the goodwill of God published to the sons of men. But the Vulgar Latin is most corrupt, that rendereth these words, peace to men of good will. When we consider that the heavenly host was here praising God, it will appear very reasonable to interpret these words judicatively; the angels hereby declaring their apprehensions, and the truth concerning this act of providence, no act more declaring the glory of Gods power, wisdom, or goodness; nor more declaring his good will towards men, and more conducing to peace upon the earth, whether by it we understand the union of the Jews and Gentiles, or that peace of particular souls which floweth from a justification by faith in Christ; for though the text seemeth to speak of three things,

glory to God, peace on earth, and good will toward men, yet indeed they are but two; the two latter differing only as the cause and the effect; the good will of God is the cause, peace with or amongst men is the effect, Rom 5:1; Eph 2:14,15,17.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

13. suddenlyas if onlywaiting till their fellow had done.

with the angelwhoretires not, but is joined by others, come to seal and to celebratethe tidings he has brought.

heavenly hostor”army,” an army celebrating peace! [BENGEL]”transferring the occupation of their exalted station to thispoor earth, which so seldom resounds with the pure praise of God”[OLSHAUSEN]; to let it beknown how this event is regarded in heaven and should beregarded on earth.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And suddenly there was with the angel,…. That brought the tidings of Christ’s birth to the shepherds: a multitude of the heavenly host: who being caused to fly swiftly, were at once with him, by his side, and about him; and which was a further confirmation of the truth of his message to them: these were angels who were called an host, or army, the militia of heaven, the ministers of God, that wait upon him, and do his pleasure; and are sent forth to minister to his people, and encamp about them, preserve, and defend them; see Ge 32:1 These are styled an heavenly host, because they dwell in heaven; and to distinguish them from hosts and armies on earth; and said to be

a multitude, for the angels are innumerable; there are thousands, ten thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand of them: it may be rendered “the multitude”, and may intend the whole company of angels, who were all of them together to sing the praises of God, and glorify him at the birth of the incarnate Saviour, as well as to adore him; since it is said, “when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him”, Heb 1:6, and these were

praising God; on account of the birth of Christ, and the redemption that was to be obtained by him, for elect men; which shows their friendly disposition to them, and how much they rejoice at their spiritual and eternal welfare; see Lu 15:10; And thus, as at the laying of the foundation of the earth, these “morning stars sang together, and all these sons of God shouted for joy”, Job 38:7 they did the same when the foundation of man’s salvation was laid in the incarnation of the Son of God;

and saying, as follows.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Host (). A military term for a band of soldiers common in the ancient Greek. Bengel says: “Here the army announces peace.”

Praising (). Construction according to sense (plural, though is singular).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

A multitude of the heavenly host. Host [] is literally army. “Here the army announces peace” (Bengel). Wyc., heavenly knighthood. Tynd., heavenly soldiers.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And suddenly there was with the angel,” (kai eksaiphnes egeneto sun to angelo) “And suddenly there was in company or colleague with the angel,” the particular angel (perhaps Gabriel) a band of colleagues, to assist him in the heavenly revelation, such as surround the throne of God, 1Ki 22:19; Psa 103:20-21; Psa 148:2.

2) “A multitude of the heavenly host,” (plethos stratias ouraniou) “A multitude of an heavenly army,” an innumerable sentry-band (watch band), from the glory world. The Gk. term means an army of soldiers.

3) “Praising God, and saying,” (ainounton ton theon kai legonton) “Praising God, and repeatedly saying,” as they informed, inspired, or motivated the shepherds, serving their humble hunger for the Lord, Psa 104:4; Heb 1:14.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

13. And suddenly there was present with the angel a multitude An exhibition of divine splendor had been already made in the person of a single angel. But God determined to adorn his own Son in a still more illustrious manner, This was done to confirm our faith as truly as that of the shepherds. Among men, the testimony of “ two or three witnesses ” (Mat 18:16) is sufficient to remove all doubt. But here is a heavenly host, with one consent and one voice bearing testimony to the Son of God. What then would be our obstinacy, if we refused to join with the choir of angels, in singing the praises of our salvation, which is in Christ? Hence we infer, how abominable in the sight of God must unbelief be, which disturbs this delightful harmony between heaven and earth. Again, we are convicted of more than brutal stupidity, if our faith and our zeal to praise God are not inflamed by the song which the angels, with the view of supplying us with the matter of our praise, sang in full harmony. Still farther, by this example of heavenly melody, the Lord intended to recommend to us the unity of faith, and to exhort us to join with one consent in singing his praises on earth.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(13) A multitude of the heavenly host.The phrase, or its equivalent, the host of heaven, is common in the later books of the Old Testament, but is there used as including the visible hosts of sun, moon, and stars, which were worshipped by Israel (Jer. 8:2; Jer. 19:13; 2Ch. 33:3). In this sense we find it in St. Stephens speech (Act. 7:42). Here it is obviously used of the angels of God as forming the armies of the great King. The great name of the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of Sabaoth, was probably intended to include both the seen and the unseen hosts, the stars in the firmament, and the angels in heaven. Its use in the New Testament is confined to these two passages. The Hebrew word is found, in Old Testament quotations, in Rom. 9:29, Jas. 5:4.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,’

And then all Heaven broke loose, for as the shepherds watched in amazement they saw with the angel a whole mass of the heavenly host, praising God for what He was doing. Great legions would be called on to welcome the Emperor’s son when he was born, and to hail his birth. But even greater legions welcomed into the world the Son of God. The legions of angels, which would not be called on to prevent His death (Mat 26:53), came to celebrate His birth. What was happening was strange to these shepherds, but it must have seemed even stranger to those angels. No one knew better than they that this baby deserved the highest place that Heaven affords. And yet all He had here was a manger. How they must have cringed to see Him lying there. But it was not for them to criticise their Lord and God. They could only wonder and sing His praise for what He was willing to do in order to save men and women.

When God laid the foundations of the earth, ‘the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of the elohim (‘heavenly beings’ or ‘God’) shouted for joy’ (Job 38:7). How much more fitting that when God laid His new foundation stone (1Co 3:11) and new cornerstone (Luk 20:17; Eph 2:20; 1Pe 2:6) for His new heaven and earth, they should do so even more rapturously.

The contrast with the other appearances of an angel is striking. Gabriel had pointed ahead to what was to be. The angels would have been listening to that also but their cries of praise and their declarations of God’s glory at that point remained hidden as far as earth was concerned. But now that the wonderful and amazing event has actually happened it can no longer remain completely hidden. For a short while, so wonderful is the event, that the curtain between Heaven and earth is allowed to fall away and Heaven’s view of things is revealed on earth to the shepherds (compare 2Ki 6:17).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The angels’ hymn of praise:

v. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

v. 14. Glory to God. in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The message of the first angel had culminated in a song of praise and exultation. But his hymn was a mere preamble to the chorus that was sung there on the fields of Bethlehem and has since rolled out in a triumphant wave of melody over the whole world. For hardly had the messenger finished his announcement, when, with the same suddenness that had characterized his own coming, a heavenly choir appeared, a multitude of the heavenly host. Their joy over the miraculous birth of the Savior of the world was so great that even the heaven of heavens could not contain it all. They must needs come down and celebrate the event which is absolutely unique in the history of the world and sing faith into the hearts of men by their hymn of praise to God. Their glorious hymn, which has since been sung and reechoed by millions of believing Christians that accepted the Babe of Bethlehem as their Savior, may be divided into two or three parts or strophes, according to a slight difference in the reading of the Greek text. Glory to God in the highest, to Him whose abode, according to His eternal majesty and glory, is above all, in the highest places, as supreme over all creatures in the universe. All the glory and praise for the work of redemption belongs to Him alone, who is the Author and Finisher of salvation, who was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing to them their sins, 2Co 5:18-19. “Such fruit, the angels sing, will follow, and is now possible that God be properly honored on high. Not with external works; they cannot ascend up into heaven, but with the heart that lifts itself up from the earth to the height, to such a merciful God and Father with thanksgiving and cordial trust. ” And on earth peace, brought by the coming of the Prince of Peace, Isa 9:5. The transgression of Adam and all his descendants had brought upon them the wrath of God; there was a state of continual enmity and warfare between God and man on account of sin. But in and with the Savior there is an end of the battle. He has restored the right, the proper relation between. God and man. “Just as the angels have sung that those who would know and receive this child Jesus, would give God the glory in all things, thus they sing here and wish, yea, they give us the comforting promise that the tyranny of the devil would now have an end, and the Christians among each other lead a fine, peaceable, quiet life, who also gladly help and counsel, anticipate strife and disunion, and live in all kindness with each other, that among them for the sake of this Child a peaceful government and pleasant manner would obtain, in which each one will do the best for the other. ” And this peace will be toward the men of good will, it will assure all men of the good will of the heavenly Father in and with the Babe in the manger. “That is the third strophe, that we may have a happy, joyful, defiant courage against all suffering which may happen to us, that we may say to the devil: Thou canst not make it so evil that thou spoil my joy, which I have through this child. That is what good will means, a happy, quiet, joyful, courageous heart, that is not much concerned, no matter how things go, and says to the devil and the world: I cannot leave my joy for your sake, and I shall not feel concerned on account of your wrath; do as you please, Christ gives me more joy than you do sorrow. Such a heart the angels grant and wish us with their hymn. ” Note: “This angelic song is the keynote of the famous Gloria in Excelsis, which was used as a morning hymn in the Greek Church as early as the second or third century, and thence passed into the Latin, Anglican, and other churches, as a truly catholic, classical, and undying form of devotion, sounding from age to age and from generation to generation. Sacred poetry was born with religion, and the poetry of the Church is the echo and response to the poetry and music of angels in heaven. But the worship of the Church Triumphant in heaven, like this song of the angels, will consist only of praise and thanksgiving, without any petitions and supplications, since all wants will then be supplied and all sin and misery swallowed up in perfect holiness and blessedness. Thus the glorious end of Christian poetry and worship is here anticipated in its beginning and first manifestation.”

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Luk 2:13 f. . .] a multitude, of the heavenly host ( ), a multitude of angels. The (satellite-) host of the angels surrounds God’s throne, 1Ki 22:19 ; 2Ch 18:18 ; Psa 103:21 ; Psa 148:2 ; Mat 26:53 ; Rev 19:14 , al. On , to be associated with any one, comp. Xen. Cyr. v. 3. 8. On , comp. Plat. Phaedr. p. 246 E: .

. . . According to the reading (see the critical remarks, and Nsselt, Exercitatt. p. 171 ff.): Glory (is, comp. 1Pe 4:11 ) in the heaven to God, and on earth salvation among men who are well-pleasing! The angels declare to the praise of God (Luk 2:13 ) that on account of the birth of the Messiah God is glorified in heaven (by the angels), and that on the earth there is now salvation among men, to whom in and with the new-born child has been imparted God’s good pleasure. [50] They thus contemplate the Messiah’s work as having already set in with His birth, and celebrate it in a twofold manner in reference to heaven and earth (comp. Isa 6:3 ). Their exclamation is not a wish, as it is usually rendered by supplying or , but far stronger, a triumphant affirmation of the existing blessed state of things. The . (genitive of quality , see Winer, p. 211 f. [E. T. 296 f.]) adds to the scene of the the subjects , among whom it prevails (comp. Plat. Symp. p. 197 C); these, namely, are those who believe in the Messiah, designated in reference to God whose grace they possess, as men who are well-pleasing (to Him). Comp. Test. XII. Patr. p. 587: . Observe, moreover, the correlation which exists (1) between and ; (2) between and ; and (3) between and . By ( in regions, which are the highest of all , Luk 19:38 ) the angels declare what takes place in the highest heaven, whence they have just come down. Comp. Mat 21:9 ; Wis 9:17 ; Sir 43:9 ; Job 16:19 ; Heb 1:3 .

By they mean not only peace (usually understood of the peace of reconciliation), but the entire salvation , of which the new-born child is the bearer; comp. Luk 1:79 .

With the Recepta , the hymn would also consist of only two parts , divided by , [51] which is not for (Bengel, Paulus, Kuinoel, and others, comp. Theophylact), but and . And the second part would consist of two parallel clauses, of which the first lays down the state of things in question after a purely objective manner ( ), while the second designates it from the point of view of God’s subjectivity ( . ): on earth is salvation, among men is (God’s) good pleasure ; ., namely, would not be in the case of men (Mat 3:17 ; so usually), but local , as previously . and . Fritzsche, ad Rom. II. p. 372, takes as delight ; “in genere humano (Messia nato) voluptas est et laetitia .” But nowhere expresses this strong idea, but only the state of well-pleased satisfaction (as Ps. 144:16, LXX.), and the latter idea would in this place be too weak; we could not but expect , or the like. Moreover, according to Luk 2:13 ( . ) it is more in harmony with the text to understand on the part of God , in which case the quite usual meaning of the word ( , Theophylact) is retained; “quod sc. Deus gratuito suo favore homines dignatus sit” (Calvin). The opposite: Eph 2:3 . Bornemann, Schol. p. 19 ff., considers the whole as affirmed of Christ : “ . . ., h. e. Messias celebrabit in coelis Deum et in terram deducet pacem divinam, documentum (in apposition) benevolentiae divinae erga homines .” But Luke himself specifies the contents as praise of God (Luk 2:13 ); and the assumption of Bornemann (after Paulus), that Luke has given only a small fragment of the hymn, is the more arbitrary, the more the few pregnant words are precisely in keeping with a heavenly song of praise.

[50] Olshausen (following Alberti, Obss. , and Tittmann, Diss. , Viteb. 1777) places a stop after , so that the first clause says: “God is now praised as in heaven, so also in the earth.” This is erroneous, because, according to the order of the words in Luke, the emphatic point would be not , as in the Lord’s Prayer, but .

[51] Nevertheless Ebrard (on Olshausen) still defends the threefold division . According to him, the angels exult (1) that in heaven honour is given to God for the redemption now brought about; (2) that upon earth a kingdom of peace is now founded; (3) that between heaven and earth the right relation is restored, that God’s eye may again rest with good pleasure on mankind. This alleged third clause of necessity contains somewhat of tautology; and the text itself by its and by its contrast of heaven and earth yields only two clauses. Lange also, L. J. II. 1, p. 103, understands it in a threefold sense, but very arbitrarily takes of the divine good pleasure manifested in a Person , referring to passages such as Eph 1:5-6 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

C. Heaven and Earth united, in celebrating the Nativity. Luk 2:13-20

(Luk 2:15-20. The Gospel for the Day after Christmas.)

13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praisingGod, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will [] toward men [peace among men of His good will, i.e., among the elect people of God, ].17 15And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, [and the men]18 the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19But Mary keptall these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20And the shepherds returned,19 glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk 2:13. A multitude of the heavenly host, .A usual appellation of the angels, who are represented as the body-guard of the Lord. Comp. 1Ki 22:19; Dan 7:10; 2Ch 18:18; Psa 103:21; Mat 26:53; Rev 19:14. To include among the multitude spoken of, the spirits of the Old Testament saints, as well as angels, is a conjecture unsupported by the text.

Luk 2:14. Glory to God in the highest.The song of the angels may be divided into three parts, the last of which contains the fundamental idea, which evokes the praise of the two preceding strophes. Gods good-will toward men: this is the matter, the text, the motive of their song. The reading, , followed by the Vulgate and received by Lachmann, is indeed supported by considerable weight of external testimony, but presents the internal difficulty of introducing a weak repetition in this short doxology: and . being merely equivalents. This difficulty can only be obviated by understanding in its literal sense of peace, altering the punctuation, and reading as the first member of the sentence, , and as the second, . Yet even then, this last expression, in the sense of men who are the objects of the divine good-will, or of those who are themselves men of good-will (homines bon voluntatis), is harsh and unexampled in New Testament phraseology. It is far more suitable to consider the divine ., so gloriously manifested in sending His Son, as the theme of the song. It is because of this good-will that he receives in heaven, Mat 21:9; and , i.e., praise and honor. The parallelism of the members requires this explanation, and a comparison with Luk 19:38 favors it. The connection of ideas, then, stands thus: the good-will of God towards man is the subject of His glorification, both in heaven and earth. The usual explanation of peace as the cessation of a state of enmity through the birth of Messiah, the Prince of Peace, Isa 9:5, must in this case be given up. The appears in this song, not as a benefit vouchsafed to man, but as an homage offered to God.

Good-will.The word expresses not only that God shows unmerited favor to men, but that they are also objects of complacency to Him. The same fact is expressed by Christ, Mat 3:17; Mat 12:18; Mat 17:5. The solution of the mystery, how a holy God can feel complacency towards sinful man, lies in the fact, that He does not look at him as he is in himself, but as he is in Christ, who is the Head of a renewed and glorified humanity.

[I beg leave to differ from the esteemed author in the interpretation of the Gloria in excelsis, especially for the reason that never means praise or honor, but always peace, and is so uniformly translated in the English Version in the 80 or more passages where it occurs in the N. T. (except Act 9:31, where it is rendered rest, and Act 24:2, where it is translated quietness). See Bruders Greek Concordance. If we retain the reading , I prefer, as coming nearest the interpretation of Dr. v. Oosterzee, that of Bengel: Gloria in excelsissimis Deo (sit), et in terra pax (sit)! cur? quoniam in hominibus beneplacitum (est). In other words, God is praised in heaven, and peace is proclaimed on earth, because He has shown His good-will to men by sending the Messiah, who is the Prince of peace (Isa 9:5) and has reconciled heaven and earth, God and man. Or, according to the more usual and natural interpretation, the third clause is taken as an amplification simply of the second, forming a Hebrew parallelism. Hence the absence of after . This will undoubtedly remain the meaning of the Gloria in excelsis for the common reader of the authorized Protestant Versions of the Bible which read in the nominative.But as I have shown above in the Critical Notes, the weight of external testimony is strongly in favor of the reading , in the genitive, so that the angelic hymn consists of two, not of three, clauses: ,the last three words qualifying and explaining . There is a threefold correspondence: (1) between and ; (2) between or and ; and (3) between and . (Cp. Meyer and Bleek.) The sense is: Glory be to God among the angels in heaven for sending the Messiah,and peace or salvation on earth among men of His good pleasure (unter Menschen des gttlichen Wohlgefallens), i.e., among Gods chosen people in whom He is well pleased. () is, in any case, not the good-will of men toward God or toward each other (as the Vulgate and the Roman Catholic Versions have it: hominibus bon voluntatis, Rheims Version: men of good-will), so as to limit the peace to those men who are disposed to accept the Messiah and to be saved; but it means here (as in all other cases but one) the good-will or the gracious pleasure of God toward men, by which He reconciles the world to Himself in Christ (2Co 5:19). Comp. Mat 11:26 ( ); Luk 10:21; Eph 1:5 ( ); Eph 1:9; Php 2:13 ( ); 2Th 1:11. In the same sense the verb is used Mat 3:17 : This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, ; Luk 17:5. For the unusual genitive we may compare the analogous phrases: , Act 9:15, and , Col 1:13.

I will only add that this angelic song is the keynote of the famous Gloria in excelsis which was used as a morning hymn in the Greek Church as early as the second or third century, and thence passed into the Latin, Anglican, and other Churches, as a truly catholic, classical, and undying form of devotion, sounding from age to age and generation to generation. Sacred poetry was born with Christianity, and the poetry of the Church is the echo and response to the poetry and music of angels in heaven. But the worship of the Church triumphant in heaven, like this song of the angels, will consist only of praise and thanksgiving, without any petitions and supplications, since all wants will then be supplied and all sin and misery swallowed up in perfect holiness and blessedness. Thus the glorious end of Christian poetry and worship is here anticipated in its beginning and first manifestation.P. S.]

Luk 2:15. Let us now go.Not the language of doubt, which can scarcely believe, but of obedience desiring to receive, as soon as possible, assurance and strength, in the way of Gods appointing.

Luk 2:16. And found Mary and Joseph, and the babe.Here, as usual in the history of the Nativity, the name of Mary comes before that of her husband. Natural as it was that they should not find the child without His parents, yet this meeting was specially adapted to give most light to the shepherds concerning the mysterious occurrence. The Evangelist leaves it to our imagination to conceive the joy with which this sight would fill the hearts of the simple shepherds, and what strength the faith of Mary and Joseph must have drawn from their unexpected and wonderful visit.

Luk 2:17. They made known abroad the saying that was told them, .The obliges us to believe that they spoke to others besides Joseph and Mary concerning the appearing of the angels. Probably by daybreak there might have been many persons in the neighborhood of the . Though the influence of the shepherds was too little for their words to find much echo beyond their immediate circle; yet they were the first evangelists pro modulo suo among men.

Luk 2:18. And all that heard it wondered.It is a matter of rejoicing, that the good news left no one who heard it entirely unmoved. The contrast, however, between these first hearers (Luk 2:18) and Mary (Luk 2:19), forces upon us the conclusion, that their wonder was less deep and less salutary than her silent pondering.

Luk 2:19. But Mary.Mary appears here, as well as in Luk 1:29; Luk 2:51, richly adorned with that incorruptible ornament which an apostle describes (1Pe 3:4) as the highest adorning of woman. Heart, mind, and memory are here all combined in the service of faith.

Luk 2:20. And the shepherds returned.A beautiful example of their pious fidelity in their vocation. Their extraordinary experience does not withdraw them from their daily and ordinary duties, but enables them to perform them with increased gladness of heart. They probably fell asleep, before the beginning of our Lords public ministry, with the recollection of this night in their hearts, and a frame of mind like that of the aged Simeon. Their names, unknown on earth, are written in heaven, and their experience is the best example of the first beatitude. Mat 5:3. Undoubtedly, their early and simple testimony to the new-born Saviour was not entirely without fruit; though they might soon have been convinced that such a messsage, brought to them from heaven, was not calculated for the ears of every one, nor intended to be proclaimed upon the house-tops.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Granting, as is reasonable to suppose, that the announcement of the first angel produced a heavenly and extraordinary frame of mind in the shepherds, yet the fact of the angels song loses none of its historic reality from this admission. The first message of salvation made them capable of entering into the rejoicings of the heavenly world on this unparalleled occasion. It is easier to believe that the words were imprinted on their memory, than that they could possibly forget them. Happily, however, there is now no need of mentioning or refuting the rationalistic explanations of this occurrence, as they have already died a natural death. The arbitrary assumption, that the history of the song of angels must have immediately resounded through the whole land, could alone have emboldened any one to find, with Meyer, in the subsequently prevailing ignorance and non-recognition of Jesus as the Messiah, a real difficulty against the objective truth of this whole occurrence.

2. Although St. Lukes declaration (Luk 1:3), that he had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, must be applied to every part of the history of the Nativity; yet the historic credibility of the angels song is best demonstrated when it is considered in connection with the personal dignity of the Redeemer. A just estimate of the whole is the best preparation for appreciating isolated facts, in the history of our Lords manifestation in the flesh. The divine decorum manifested in the early history will be evident to those only, who honor and understand the great facts of Christs public life. The supernatural occurrences with which the history opens, can offend those alone who forget the exalted nature of its progress, and the miraculous splendor of its conclusion. (For remarks on the Gloria in excelsis, see the Dissert. theol. de hymno angelico by Z. B. Muntendam, Amsterdam, 1849.)

3. He who acknowledges in Jesus of Nazareth the Christ, the Lord, the Son of the living God, will find no difficulty in the miracles attending His entrance into the world. Four things are here especially in unison with the rank of the King, and the spiritual nature of His kingdom:Angels celebrate the birth of Jesus; angels celebrate the birth of Jesus on earth; angels celebrate the birth of Jesus in the quiet night; angels celebrate the birth of Jesus in the presence of poor shepherds. The first denotes the exalted dignity of His person; the second, the purpose of His coming (Col 1:20); the third, the hidden nature of His glory to the eye of sense; the fourth, the subjects to be admitted into His kingdom. There is something so unspeakably great and glorious in this union of earthly obscurity with heavenly splendor, of angels with shepherds, of the form of a servant with the majesty of a king, that the well-known saying, ce n est pas ainsi qu on invente, can never be better applied than to the whole narrative.

[Rousseau, in the famous Confession of the Savoyard Vicar in his Emile, says against the theory of poetic fiction that the poet (of the gospel history) would be greater than the hero; and Theodore Parker, though himself addicted to this false system, inconsistently, yet truly and forcibly remarks, that it takes a Jesus to forge a Jesus. This is a strong argument against the mythical hypothesis of Strauss, and the legendary hypothesis of Renan. By denying the miracle of the historical Jesus of the gospel, they leave us the greater miracle of the Jesus of fiction.P. S.]

4. It will conduce to our due estimation of the work of redemption, to consider the point of view from which the angels contemplate it. These holy spirits, who desire to look into the depths of these mysteries (1Pe 1:12), who admire the manifold wisdom of God in His dealings with His church (Eph 3:10), and rejoice even over one sinner that repenteth (Luk 15:10), held but one such festival as that they celebrated in the night of the Nativity. It is no marvel, since by the birth of Jesus sinners are not only reconciled with God and with each other, but things in heaven and on earth are also gathered together in one (Eph 1:10). To the question, why the Logos should receive fallen men, and not fallen angels, they know but one answer: !

5. The excellent way in which the wonders of the holy night have been glorified by art, deserves special admiration. We need but call to mind the church hymn of Clius Sedulius (about a. d. 405); A solis ortus cardine; the Quid est quod arctum circulum of Prudentius; the Jesu redemtor omnium of an unknown author; the Agnoscet omne sculum of Fortunatus, not to refer to later ones. Among painters, John Angelicus da Fiesole has admirably represented the Annunciation; Correggio the suggestive image of the night of the Nativity; Raphael the ideal conception of the Madonna with the holy child. In the representation of the entire holy family the Italian school is distinguished above all others. [Roman Catholic art glorifies too much the Madonna in the Divine Child and reflects the doctrinal error of Mariolatry; Protestant art glorifies the Divine Son above His earthly mother and every other creature. The perfection of art will be the perfection of worship, whose only proper object is the triune God.P. S.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The salvation of sinners, the joy of angels.Gods good-will towards men, the matter of His glorification in heaven and earth.What does the angels song announce to men? 1. Bethlehems miracle; 2. Jesus greatness; 3. the Fathers honor; 4. the Christians calling; 5. heavens likeness.The praise of the sons of God in the first hour of creation (Job 38:7), and in the first hour of redemption.The hymns of heaven, contrasted with the silence of earth.The angel, the best instructor in true Christmas rejoicing.The song of the seraphim of the Old (Isa 6:1 ff.), and the song of the angels of the New Covenant.Every Christmas carol a distant echo of the angels song.The song of the angels on earth, and the song of the redeemed in heaven (Rev 5:9).Angels came into the fields, but not to the manger.Angels return to heaven, their Lord remains on earth.The light which disappeared from the shepherds, contrasted with the light which continued to shine before them.The journey to the manger: What must be, 1. left behind, 2. taken, and 3. expected on this journey.The earnest inquiry after the incarnate Redeemer.Through faith to vision; through vision to higher faith.The first act of worship before the child in the manger.The first messengers of the gospel (Luk 2:17).The birth of Christ in us: 1. Its commencement, by wondering (Luk 2:18); 2. its progress, by pondering (Luk 2:19); 3. its end, thankful glorifying of God (Luk 2:20).The testifying faith of the shepherds contrasted with the silent faith of Mary.The first communion of saints around the manger of the Lord, a communion of faith, of love, and of hope.Marys faith tried, strengthened, and crowned on the night of the Nativity.Contemplative faith at the manger of the Lord.The first pilgrims to the stable of Bethlehem: 1. Their pilgrim mind; 2. their pilgrim staff; 3. their pilgrim hope; 4. their pilgrim joy; 5. their pilgrim thanksgiving.The glad tidings of salvation, 1. demand, 2. deserve, and 3. reward, the strictest investigation.Not one indifferent witness of the new-born Saviour.The Sabbath hours of the Christian life, a preparation for renewed God-glorifying activity.To glorify God in our daily work, the best thankoffering for the sight of His grace in Christ.

Starke:Nova Bibl. Tub.: Jesus honored in heaven, however much He was despised on earth.Majus:In Christ heaven and earth, God, men and angels, are reconciled.Bibl. Wurt.:As soon as we hear of Christ, we should run to find him.We should excite one another to exercises of piety.We must seek Christ, not according to our own notions, wit, or reason, but according to the word of God.Nova Bibl. Tub.:They who wonder at the mysteries of God, though they believe not yet, are not far from faith.Be not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word.Luther:It is praiseworthy to imitate the angelic virtues (Luk 2:13-20).

Arndt:True celebration of Christmas, after the pattern of the shepherds: 1. Their going; 2. their seeing; 3. their spreading abroad the saying; 4. their return to their avocations.

Heubner:A childlike disposition is not disturbed by the meanness of outward appearances.

Luk 2:19 : St. Luke here gives us a hint of one of his sources of information.What effects should the announcement of the birth of Jesus produce in us? 1. Desires after Jesus, a longing to know Him by our own experience; 2. zeal in testifying for Jesus, for the encouragement of others; 3. renewed activity in duty, and constant glorifying of God by a holy walk and conversation.

Kitten:The festival of the Nativity, a festival for both heaven and earth: 1. For heaven; for it was, (a) prepared in heaven, (b) suited for heaven, (c) celebrated in heaven. 2. For earth; for it is the festival which commemorates, (a) our illumination, (b) our elevation to the rank of Gods children, (c) our transformation into heirs of glory.

Florey:Our heart, the birth place of the Lord:

1. Hidden from the world; 2. favored by the Lord; 3. blessed within.

Herberger:Christmas day, 1. a day of miracle; 2. a day of honor; 3. a day of grace.

Hfer:In Christ we receive, 1. the love of heaven; 2. the light of heaven; 3. the peace of heaven.

Ahlfeld:The shepherds as patterns for imitation: 1. They seek the child in the stable and the manger; 2. they spread the gospel message everywhere; 3. they praise God with thankful joy.

Harless:The faith of the shepherds, true faith. 1. Its foundation(a) Gods word, (b) Gods deed; 2. its properties(a) emotion of heart, (b) activity of life; 3. its aim(a) the spreading of the kingdom of God upon earth, (b) the glory of God.

Brandt:Joy in the Saviour Isaiah , 1. the greatest, 2. the noblest, 3. the most active joy.

Kraushold:A true Christmas blessing consists in our becoming, 1. more desirous of salvation, 2. firmer in faith, 3. more abundant in testimony, 4. more joyful in praise.

Fuchs:The Christians celebration of Christmas: 1. His visit to his Saviour (Luk 2:15-16); 2. his sojourn with his Saviour (Luk 2:18-19); 3. his return from his Saviour (Luk 2:17; Luk 2:20).

[With malice toward no one, with charity for all. This truly Christian motto of President Lincoln, in his second inaugural address, spoken in the midst of a fearful civil war, March 4, 1865, is an earthly echo of the Divine .P. S.]

Footnotes:

[17]Luk 2:14.Here we meet with one of the most important differences of reading which materially affects the sense. Dr. van Oosterzee follows the Received Text and defends it in the Exegetical Notes. I shall supply here the necessary critical information. The text. rec., which reads , and puts a comma after , is supported by some later uncial MSS., E., G., H., K., L., M., P. (but not by B., as was generally stated before Mais edition, even by Lachmann, Tischendorf, ed. 7, and Bleek), also by most of the Greek fathers, as Origen (?), Eusebius, Athanasius, Epiphanius, Greg. Naz., Chrysostom, Cyr. Alex., Const. Apost. (the Gloria in excelsis), and most of the interpreters. The Authorized English Version, Luther, and most of the Protestant Versions follow the text. rec. On the other hand, (the genitive depending on and connected in one sentence with ) is the reading of the oldest and weightiest uncial MSS., Cod. Sinait. (as edited by Tischendorf), Cod. Alex, or A., Cod. Vatic. or B. (as edited both by Angelo Mai, who derives a prima manu, and by Buttmann), Cod. Bez or D. (Cod. C. or Ephrmi Syri has a lacuna in Luk 2:6-41, and can be quoted on neither side), the Itala and Vulgata (hominibus bon voluntatis, to which Wiclif and all the Roman Catholic Versions conform), Irenus, the Latin fathers, as Ambrose, Hieronymus, Augustine, and it was approved by Beza, Bengel (though not in his Gnomon), Mill, R. Simon, Hammond, and adopted in the text by Lachmann, Tischendorf (ed. 7), Tregelles (Alford is doubtful); among modern commentators by Olshausen, Meyer (who translates: unter Menschen, welche wohlgefallen), and Ewald (unter Menschen von Huld). The internal evidence also is rather in favor of . For it is easier to suppose that a transcriber changed the genitive into the nominative, to make it correspond with and , than that he changed the nominative into the unusual phrase . Tischendorf says in loc. (ed. 7 critica major): Incredibile est a correctore profectum esse, vero facile se offerebat. Prterea lectio a nobis recepta ab ipso sensu imprimis commendatur; aptissime enim hymnus iste duobus membris absolvitur, quorum alterum verbis , usque , alterum verbis usque continetur. But I shall have more to say on the interpretation of the passage in the Exegetical Notes below.

[18]Luk 2:15.The reading before is supported by A., D., E., etc., adopted by Tischendorf, and Alford, also by de Wette, Meyer, and van Oosterzee (who defends it as forming a beautiful antithesis to ); but it is omitted by Codd. Sin. and Vat., the Latin Vulgate, Eusebius, Augustine, etc., and is included in brackets by Lachmann and Tregelles.

[19]Luk 2:20. is the proper reading, sustained by Cod. Sin., etc., and adopted in the modern critical editions against of the Elzevir text.P. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 1472
THE ANGELS SONG

Luk 2:13-14. 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, good-will toward men.

THE circumstances of our Saviours birth characterize in a measure, the dispensation which he came to introduce. The Gospel exhibits a plain, yet profound, scheme of salvation: while its great outlines are intelligible to the meanest capacity, it abounds with the most sublime, and inscrutable mysteries. Thus, in the incarnation of our Lord, there was a meanness, which seemed unsuitable to such an occasion; and at the same time a majesty, that was worthy the person and character of the new-born infant: he was born, not in a palace, but a stable, and had only a manger for his reception: yet did an angel come from heaven to announce his birth; and a multitude of the heavenly host attended to proclaim his praise.
In this divine hymn the incarnation of Christ is represented in a two-fold view:

I.

As a subject for our deepest contemplation

The subject itself is announced in those words of the angel to the shepherds, Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And, in honour of this marvellous event, a multitude of the heavenly host break forth into strains, so abrupt, as to need much careful elucidation, and so ardent, as to express as fully as possible what angels feel in the contemplation of this divine mystery.
Behold, peace now exists on earth
[The whole race of man had fallen, and were subjected to Gods heavy displeasure. Nor was there on mans part any possibility of restoring himself to the Divine favour. But God devised a mode for reconciling the world unto himself through the intervention of his only dear Son. On his co-equal, co-eternal Son, who was the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, he laid our iniquities, that so, his justice being satisfied by an atonement in our behalf, reconciliation might be effected for us in perfect consistency with all the Divine perfections. Hence peace was brought down from heaven to earth, through the sufferings of our incarnate God, who is therefore emphatically called the Prince of Peace. Now every sinner in the universe may hare peace with God, and in his own conscience, if only he welcome this Saviour into his heart, and believe in him as Gods appointed instrument for the salvation of the world.]

And now also is revealed good-will toward men
[The strongest possible evidence of Gods love to men was, the gift of his only dear Son, to die for them. In this view the incarnation of our blessed Lord is always spoken of [Note: Joh 3:16. 1Jn 4:10.]; and Jehovah himself is represented as commending his love to us in, and by, this marvellous event [Note: Rom 5:8.].

But far more than this is comprehended in the expression here used by the holy angels. I understand by it, that, through the incarnation of Christ, a full scope is given to the exercise of Gods good-will to man, so that it can flow down in the richest abundance into the soul of every one that is at peace with him. Yes, to every believing soul will God manifest himself as he does not unto the world, and dwell in him, and abide with him, and give a spirit of adoption, yea, and the witness of the Spirit to attest to him the relation in which he stands to God, and will rejoice over him to do him good, rejoicing over him with joy, and resting in his love, and joying over him with singing. There is no expression of good-will which a believing soul is capable of receiving from God, which shall not, more or less, be vouchsafed by God to every one that is at peace with him through faith in Christ.]

And by all this is the highest possible glory reflected upon God himself

[There is not a perfection of the Deity which is not honoured by this, yea, and more honoured than ever it was before. Wisdom and goodness and power and love had been displayed before in the formation of angels, and in the blessedness diffused throughout the whole creation, and the perfect adaptation of every thing to its proper end. Holiness too and justice had been rendered conspicuous by the expulsion of all the fallen angels from heaven, and the consigning of them over to everlasting misery in hell. But there had been no trace of mercy to be seen in any corner of the universe: nor could the highest intelligence in heaven conceive how the exercise of this perfection could consist with the rights of justice. But now the union and harmony of all the Divine perfections was seen through the incarnation and death of Gods only dear Son, justice exercised in a way of mercy, and mercy in away of justice, or, as the Psalmist expresses it, Mercy and truth meeting together, and righteousness and peace kissing each other. Well then did the angels sing, Glory to God in the highest. They had seen no peace proclaimed in heaven; no expression of good-will towards the fallen angels: but towards men on earth both were most gloriously displayed. Hence with wonder and admiration this blessed assembly pour forth their praises in this appropriate song, Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, good-will towards men.]

But to contemplate this subject will be of no use, unless we enter fully into it,

II.

As a mercy devoutly to be acknowledged

The angels, though in comparison of us they had no interest in this event, came down from heaven to celebrate and proclaim it. And shall not we celebrate it? Shall so much as one of us remain indifferent, now that the glad tidings of it are brought to our ears? Consider, I pray you,

1.

Your own personal interest in it

[Where would all of you have been, if God had not devised and executed these means for your restoration to his favour? You had all participated in the guilt of the fallen angels, and must all have partaken of their misery. What could you have done more than they to avert or mitigate your doom? You would have lived only to fill up the measure of your iniquities, and would then have been reserved, like those unhappy spirits, in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day. But, through the substitution of Gods only dear Son in your place, and the atonement he has offered in your behalf, there is not so much as one of you that may not be reconciled to God, and made an everlasting object of his favour. In fact, I who speak to you at this moment, am an ambassador from God to announce to you these glad tidings. To me, as his servant, is committed the ministry of reconciliation, to declare, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them: and at this very moment it is as if the Lord Jesus Christ himself addressed you: for, as bearing his commission, and actually representing him, I now beseech you all in Christs stead, Be ye reconciled to God [Note: 2Co 5:18-20. This must not be confined to the Apostles.]. Will not ye then adore God for this revelation of his mercy to you? Will ye not all rise as one man to welcome this Saviour, and adore him, and to seek through him the blessings he is come to impart? What if such a revelation of mercy were sent to the fallen angels, do you think they would hear it with indifference? Or, if they did hear it with indifference, is there so much as one of you that would not say, Leave them to themselves; their damnation is just? Know then, that in condemning them, you condemn yourselves; and out of your own mouth will God condemn you at the last day. But I hope better things of you, my brethren; and I call upon you all now at this very moment, in spirit at least, to join the angelic choir, and sing, Glory to God in the highest, who has opened such a way for the effecting of my reconciliation with him, and for these wonderful displays of good-will to my guilty soul.]

2.

The glory that will accrue to God from it to all eternity

[But for this revelation of Gods mercy to us, there would have been little difference between earth and hell: for God would have been no more glorified in the one than in the other. But God is glorified in the midst of us: I trust there are in this very assembly, some at least, who have found peace with God, and can attest from their own experience how sweet are the manifestations of his good-will to their souls. And the time is shortly coming when all shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. And O what a place will this wretched world then be! What bright manifestations of the Saviour will then be vouchsafed to men! Me thinks, the visions of Mount Tabor will then be common upon earth, and this song of angels will become the common tone of intercourse between man and man throughout the whole world.

But raise your thoughts to heaven, my brethren, and consider for a moment what is passing there. There are already millions of redeemed souls that rest not day or night from these songs of praise. There the chorus is swelling louder and louder every day by the accession of saints made perfect, every one having tuned his harp to the heavenly song, and bursting forth at his first entrance into heaven into acclamations and hosannas that shall never end. And what shall we say of that period when all the assembly of the redeemed, together with all the holy angels, shall join in one universal uninterrupted song: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and glory, and honour, and blessing; therefore blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever [Note: Rev 5:11-13.]. Can you, my brethren, contemplate that day, and not rejoice in the expectation of it, and long to be found in the happy number of the redeemed? I call upon you, then, yea I charge you all in the name of the Most High God, to begin this very day this heavenly song. Leave to an ungodly world to make this a season of carnal festivity: make ye it a season of holy joy; a very anticipation of heaven itself.]

Application

[But I cannot close the subject without entreating you all to imitate the conduct of these holy angels. They were not content with being happy themselves; they sought to promote the happiness of others by making known to them these glad tidings, and setting them an example of the frame of mind which they should cultivate. This is the way in which I would recommend to you, my brethren, to spend this holy season. Let each according to his ability improve the opportunities that are afforded him, of diffusing far and wide this divine knowledge, and of stimulating all around him to the attainment and the exercise of this heavenly joy.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Ver. 13. Praising God ] Angels who have neither so much interest in Christ nor benefit by him as we, sing him into the world. And shall we be dumb? They sang when the world was created, Job 38:7 . So now, that it was repaired by Christ.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

heavenly host = host of heaven. So Tr. WH margin host = the Sabaioth of the O.T. Compare Dan 8:10. Rom 9:29. Jam 5:4. Rev 5:11, Rev 5:12.

God. App-98.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Luk 2:13. , a multitude) The article is not added.-, [army], host) A glorious appellation. Here, however, the host [army] are announcing peace [unlike other armies, which bring war].

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

angel

(See Scofield “Heb 1:4”)

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

The Song of the Heavenly Host

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 among men in whom he is well pleased.Luk 2:13-14.

1. In all the Christian year, in all the secular year, there is not a day that has gained the same heartiness of universal welcome as the kindly Christmas. Though Easter-day is chief in the Churchs Calendar, and though it comes in the hopeful spring with the first green leaves, when the most care-worn know some fitful waking-up of the old light-heartedness, it has never taken such hold of the common mind of our race as has the Sacred Festival that comes in the deadest days of the drear December, when in the wild winter-time the heaven-born Child lay meanly-wrapt in the rude manger; when those linked by blood, and early remembrances of the same fireside, but parted the long year through by the estranging necessities of life, strive to meet again, as in childhood, together; and all the innocent mirth, the revived associations, the kindly affection, are hallowed by the environing presence of the Birth-day of the Blessed Redeemer.

Like small curled feathers, white and soft,

The little clouds went by

Across the moon, and past the stars,

And down the western sky:

In upland pastures, where the grass

With frosted dew was white,

Like snowy clouds the young sheep lay

That first best Christmas night.

With finger on her solemn lip,

Night hushed the shadowy earth,

And only stars and angels saw

The little Saviours birth;

Then came such flash of silver light

Across the bending skies,

The wondering shepherds woke and hid

Their frightened, dazzled eyes!

And all their gentle sleepy flock

Looked up, then slept again,

Nor knew the light that dimmed the stars

Brought endless peace to men,

Nor even heard the gracious words

That down the ages ring

The Christ is born! The Lord has come,

Goodwill on earth to bring!

Then oer the misty moonlit fields,

Dumb with the worlds great joy,

The shepherds sought the white-walled town

Where lay the baby boy

And oh, the gladness of the world,

The glory of the skies,

Because the longed-for Christ looked up

In Marys happy eyes!1 [Note: Margaret Deland.]

In an Oxford College Chapel is a famous Nativity window. From the Infant, lying in the midst, light is made to stream on all around. So, through the Christmas chapter, ending with our text, light streams from the manger on the Christmas feast; tingeing alike its festivity and fun, its tender memories and associations, making it the Childs Festival of all the year. Children understand it best, with a fulness of feeling and an implicitness of faith they lose in after years; but still to us older ones each Christmas freshens and recaptures something of our childish feelingsin hymn and carol, in family and neighbour greetings, in fireside merriment and kindliness, we feel again the tender softening emotion which was our childish tribute to the day. With shepherds, angels, kings, we once more go even unto Bethlehem, content if only, after failures and shortcomings past, chances missed, friends lost, aims unperformed, we may win and make our own the Christmas prize which the angels glorified and the Infant taught, anchoring our souls at last upon the steadfast dominating Peace which waits on gentle will.

The sacred chorus first was made

Upon the first of Christmas days.

The shepherds heard it overhead,

The joyful angels raised it then:

Glory to heaven on high it said,

And peace on earth to gentle men.

My song, save this, is little worth,

I lay my simple note aside,

And wish you health and love and mirth,

As fits the solemn Christmas tide,

As fits the holy Christmas birth;

Be this, good friends, our carol still,

Be peace on earth, be peace on earth,

To men of gentle will.1 [Note: W. Tuckwell, Nuggets from the Bible Mine, 144.]

2. In its liturgical use the Gloria in Excelsis contributed a precious element to the devotions of the Church, as was natural from its heavenly origin and its tone of glory and gladness. It was known as the Angelic Hymn (the Sanctus being in later time distinguished as the Seraphic Hymn). The name in course of time signified not only the words of the angels as used alone, but also the full form of praise and prayer and creed, of which those words became the opening and the groundwork. There are traces of this noble hymn as used in the Church from the most ancient times; and the Alexandrine Codex (close of fifth century) gives it at length at the end of the thirteenth Canticle of the Greek Church, entitling it a Morning Hymn. Early Latin translations with differences are found in various quarters, and it seems clear that when the well-known Latin form of the hymn was inserted in the Latin Psalters it was used in the daily or weekly hour services of the clergy.

The introduction of the hymn into the Eucharistic Office of the Western Church has been traditionally assigned to different popes, but it was certainly a part of that Office in the fifth and sixth centuries, and directions are given in the Sacramentaries as to occasions for its use. At times and in places it exhibited doctrinal variations, as in the form given in the Apostolical Constitutions, where it has received a shape possible for Arian use. On account probably of doctrinal diversities the fourth Council of Toledo, a.d. 633, directed that in churches only the primitive angelic words should be sung, without the additions composed, as they said, by the doctors of the Church. But this was a local and temporary restriction. The hymn, or greater doxology, as it was sometimes called, had its place at the opening of the service as it now has with us at the close. There is a fitness in either position.1 [Note: T. D. Bernard, Songs of the Holy Nativity, 116.]

3. This is not the earliest angelic hymn that is recorded or alluded to in Scripture. At the first creation, too, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Whatever doubt there may be in respect of those sons of God mentioned in Genesis whose apostasy from Him did so much to hasten the flood, there can be no doubt or difficulty in regard of these. The sons of God here can be only the angels of heaven, the heavenly host; for there as yet existed no other who could claim, or be competitors with them for, this name. So was it at the first creation; and it might almost seem on this night of the Nativity as if a new creation had taken place, for now again we hear of a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Nor, if we thus judged, should we prove very wide of the truth. There is indeed now a new creation, and a new which is more glorious than the old. In the creation of the world God showed forth His power, His wisdom, His love; but in the foundation of the Church all these His attributes shine far more gloriously forth; and that Church was founded, the corner-stone of it, elect, precious, was securely laid, on that day when the Son of God, having taken upon Him our flesh, was born of a pure Virgin, and was laid in the manger at Bethlehem. Most fitly therefore was that day of the New Creation, which should repair and restore the breaches of the old, ushered in with hymns of gladness; most fitly did the sons of God once again shout for joy, and welcome, with that first Christmas carol which this dull earth ever heard, the birth of a Saviour and Restorer into the world.

Handel, entering fully into the spirit of this narrative, represents the angel as singing this announcement; and there can be no doubt that he is right. This was a grand solo sung by one of the leading choristers of heaven. But when the angel had sung his solo, his companions joined in the chorusSuddenly there was with him a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will.1 [Note: D. Davies, Talks with Men, Women and Children, v. 385.]

4. This song of the angels, as we have been used to reading it, was a threefold messageof glory to God, peace on earth, and good will among men; but the better scholarship of the Revised Version now reads in the verse a twofold message. First, there is glory to God, and then there is peace on earth to the men of good will. Those, that is to say, who have the good will in themselves are the ones who will find peace on earth. Their unselfishness brings them their personal happiness. They give themselves in good will, and so they obtain peace. That is the true spirit of the Christmas season. It is the good will that brings the peace. Over and over again in these months of feverish scrambling for personal gain men have sought for peace and have not found it; and now, when they turn to this generous good will, the peace they sought comes of itself. Many a man in the past year has been robbed of his own peace by his misunderstandings or grudges or quarrels; but now, as he puts away these differences as unfit for the season of good will, the peace arrives. That is the paradox of Christianity. He who seeks peace does not find it. He who gives peace finds it returning to him again. He who hoards his life loses it, and he who spends it finds it:

Not what we give, but what we share,

For the gift without the giver is bare;

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,

Himself, his hungering neighbour, and Me.

That is the sweet and lingering echo of the angels song.

The second member of the hymn celebrates the blessing to mankind, according to the A.V., in the familiar words, On earth peace, good will toward men; or, according to the R.V., in the less graceful English, Peace on earth among men in whom he is well pleased. The literal renderings would be, in the first case, On earth peace, in men good pleasure; in the second, On earth peace, in men of good pleasure. Two different readings are thus represented, each of them supported by large authority. The difference is only in the presence or absence of a final letter.1 [Note: T. D. Bernard, Songs of the Holy Nativity, 162.]

Such was the text of the angels on the night of our Saviours birth; and to that text our Saviours life furnished the sermon. For it was a life of holiness and devotion to His Fathers service, a life spent in doing good to the bodies and souls of all around Him; and it was ended by a death undergone on purpose to reconcile man with God, and to set earth at peace with heaven. Here is a practical sermon on the angels text, the best of all sermons, a sermon not of words, but of deeds. Whoever will duly study that practical sermon, whoever with a teachable, inquiring heart will study the accounts of our Saviours words and actions handed down in the four Gospels, will need little else to enlighten him in the way of godliness.2 [Note: A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, 80.]

I

Glory to God

1. Glory to God in the highest. It is the first doxology of the gospelbrief words, yet bearing up the soul into illimitable regions of thought! Is it a proclamationThere is glory to God in the highest? or is it an ascriptionGlory be to God in the highest? It is both; for ascriptions of praise are also proclamations of fact. Glory given to God is only some manifestation and effluence of His own glory, recognized by created intelligences, and reflected back in adoration and joy. So it is here. In the birth of a Saviour which is Christ the Lord, the mystery of the Kingdom has begun, and the glory of God has appeared. It is a glory of mercy to repair spiritual ruin, of wisdom to solve problems of sin and righteousness, of judgment to convict and condemn the powers of evil, of faithfulness to fulfil promises to prisoners of hope, of grace to conduct a history of salvation, of love to be manifested in the ages to come. This is the glory recognized by the heavenly host in the holy Nativity and celebrated in their responsive praise.

The first words of it are, Glory to God! and a most weighty lesson may we draw for ourselves, from finding the angels put that first. A world is redeemed. Millions on millions of human beings are rescued from everlasting death. Is not this the thing uppermost in the angels thoughts? Is not this mighty blessing bestowed on man the first thing that they proclaim? No, it is only the second thing: the first thing is, Glory to God! Why so? Because God is the Giver of this salvation; nay, is Himself the Saviour, in the person of the only-begotten Son. Moreover, because in heavenly minds God always holds the first place, and they look at everything with a view to Him. But if this was the feeling of the angels, it is clear we cannot be like angels until the same feeling is uppermost with us also. Would we become like them, we must strive to do Gods will as it is done in heaven; that is, because it is Gods will and because we are fully persuaded that whatever He wills must needs be the wisest and best thing to do, whether we can see the reasons of it or not.1 [Note: A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, 80.]

The religious faith on which my own art teaching is based never has been farther defined, nor have I wished to define it farther, than in the sentence beginning the theoretical part of Modern Painters: Mans use and purposeand let the reader who will not grant me this, follow me no farther, for this I purpose always to assumeis to be the witness of the glory of God, and to advance that glory by his reasonable obedience and resultant happiness.2 [Note: Ruskin, Epilogue to Modern Painters (Works, vii. 462).]

2. How does the coming of Christ bring glory to God? It displays all the attributes of God to advantage. The general arranges his forces to display his wisdom; the orator arranges his arguments to display his power; the philanthropist arranges his gifts and so displays his mercy. In the coming of Christ we see wisdom and power and mercy displayed in their fullest and sublimest manner. The whole character of God stands out resplendent in faithfulness and love. How many promises were fulfilled, how many obligations discharged by the coming of Jesus! By setting forth God in His highest glory it brings glory to Him.

The glory which lay hidden from eternity in the creative Mind began to disclose itself in the myriad forms of beauty abounding in the inorganic kingdom, in crystals of snow and ice, in sparkle of jewels, in the exquisite hues of precious stones, in splendour of sunrise and sunset, in glint of moonbeam and gleam of star, in cloud, wave and skythen continued to unfold with ever-increasing beauty and wonder as Life, that great magician appeared, the waving of whose wand inaugurated the organic kingdom, and changed the face of all things into a new Creation. Thus the unveiling of the sublime purpose continued, till through rudimentary forms of sensations, intelligence, and love, in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, it blossomed into completer form in Man, and finally broke into all fruition in Christ the glory of Eternal Love unveiled.1 [Note: L. W. Caws, The Unveiled Glory, 64.]

3. But can God receive increase of glory, more than He has already? Is it not the very idea of God that He is infinitely glorious, and that this He always has been and ever will be? Assuredly so: in Himself He is as incapable of increase as of diminution of glory. But we may ascribe more glory to Him, more, that is, of the honour due unto His name, as we know Him more, as the infinite perfection of His beingHis power, His wisdom, His loveis gradually revealed to us. So too may angels; and the heavenly host declare in this voice of theirs that the Incarnation of the Son of God was a new revelation, a new outcoming to them of the unsearchable riches of the wisdom, the power, the love, that are in God; that in that Church of the redeemed which now had become possible would be displayed mysteries of grace and goodness which transcended and surpassed all Gods past dealings with men or with angels.

We have St. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians declaring the same thing; that heaven was taught by what was done upon earth; that angels, as they stooped from the shining battlements on high and looked toward this dim speck of earth and on one obscure province of it, and at a little village, and to one lowliest household there, learned about the mind of God things which they had not learned standing upon the steps of the throne and beholding the unapproachable brightness of Him who sat thereon. Can we doubt this? Does not St. Paul declare that he was himself set to proclaim the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God, more or less concealed therefore from men and angels alike? And why to proclaim it? He proceeds to give the answer: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly placesin other words, to the angelic hostmight be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Here then is the explanation of the angels song, of this Glory to God in the highest, this melody of heaven, to bear a part in which they invite and challenge the listening children of men upon earth.

Of Gods goodwill to men, and to all creatures, for ever, there needed no proclamation by angels. But that men should be able to please Him,that their wills should be made holy, and they should not only possess peace in themselves, but be able to give joy to their God, in the sense in which He afterwards is pleased with His own baptized Son;this was a new thing for angels to declare, and for shepherds to believe.1 [Note: Ruskin, Val dArno, 253 (Works, xxiii. 148).]

4. The glory thus manifested, apprehended, and given back, is glory in the highest. What is intended by this superlative? What noun shall we read into this adjective? Things, places, beings, realms of space, regions of thought, worlds of life? The unexplained word embraces and exceeds all these. At least the angels knew their meaning, cognizant as they are of the gradations and levels of creation, the lower and the higher, the higher and the highest. Men may employ such a word with vague and partial intention; but angels know whereof they affirm, and the single word declares the glory of God in this Nativity to be no secondary manifestation in the common level of human history, but a fresh effulgence of His highest attributes to which the highest heavens respond.

There are some who take the word highest to mean that there is glory to God in the highest degree by the coming of Christ. God is glorified in naturethe heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. He is glorified in every dew-drop that sparkles in the morning sun, and, in every tiny wood-flower that blossoms in the copse. Every bird that warbles on the spray, every lamb that skips the mead, glorifies God. All creation glorifies God. Do not the stars write His name in golden letters across the midnight sky? Are not the lightnings His sword flashing from His scabbard? Are not the thunders the roll-drums of His armies? From least to greatest the whole of creation tells forth His glory. But the majestic organ of creation cannot reach the compass of the organ of redemption. There is more melody in Christ than in all worlds. He brings glory to God in the very highest degree.

An Indian rajah has built over the grave of his favourite wife a mausoleum which is one of the wonders of the world. So perfectly and wonderfully is this built that a word spoken at the entrance proceeds from point to point and is distinctly re-echoed until it reaches the very topmost height. So would the angels have it to be in living glory to God. They would have all men praise God for His great love-gift, the praise proceeding higher and higher, gathering in volume as it proceeds, until it surges up against the throne of God, and bursts into the spray of ten thousand songs. Oh, let us praise Him! If angels did who were spectators, surely we ought who are recipients of such blessings. Let us say, Highest! highest!

Remember the words of Edward Perronet when dying, and try to catch his spirit:

Glory to God in the height of His Divinity:

Glory to God in the depth of His Humanity:

Glory to God in His All-sufficiency.

Glory to God in the Highest!1 [Note: W. L. Mackenzie, Pure Religion, 105.]

II

Peace to Men

Peace how precious is the word! There is warmth in it. There is music in it. There is Heaven in it. What pictures it paints! We can see in this mirror-like word a hundred dear delights. A sky without a cloud. A sun whose rays are benignant. Fields rich in harvests, white-washed farmsteads looking cosy and clean on the hills and in the dales, cattle browsing in sweet content, workmen plying their common tasks in undisturbed serenity, no war or battles sound creating feelings of dread apprehension in human breasts anywhere. Oh, lovely peace! But other and sweeter images are in that word: men and women find reflexion therein, with happy faces aglow with innocent pleasure, no strife in their hearts, their passions orderly and under correct government, their feelings pure, their emotions, all noble, their aspirations all heavenly, their consciences tranquil at peace with themselves, their neighbours, with nature, and with God. This is the peace that Jesus brings. The angels song has set men dreaming, and the dreams are not unworthy; they have dreamt of peace in the workshop, the ending of the unhappy misunderstandings between master and man; peace in the home, the ending of all domestic disquietude; peace in the State, rival parties in unholy rivalry no longer, but all mens good each mans rule; peace betwixt the nations, the sword no longer to do its inhuman butchery, and the cannon no longer to be the cause of unspeakable horrors; but, beautiful as are all these dreams, and compassed as they are by the angels words, they fall far short of what Christs gift involves. The peace He gives is not superficial, but radical: it means, first of all, peace in man, peace at the centre of things. He does not make the profound mistake of beginning at the circumference; He works at the centre. He puts His peace into men, and the charm of it is sighted, and the power of it is felt, and the contagion of it is diffused. He influences the world within, and in that way the world without.

Placed in the midst of Europe, the Emperor was to bind its races into one body, reminding them of their common faith, their common blood, their common interest in each others welfare. And he was therefore, above all things, claiming indeed to be upon earth the representative of the Prince of Peace, bound to listen to complaints, and to redress the injuries inflicted by sovereigns or peoples upon each other; to punish offenders against the public order of Christendom; to maintain through the world, looking down as from a serene height upon the schemes and quarrels of meaner potentates, that supreme good without which neither arts nor letters, nor the gentler virtues of life, can rise and flourish. The medival Empire was in its essence what its modern imitators have sometimes professed themselves: the Empire was Peace: the oldest and noblest title of its head was Imperator Pacificus.1 [Note: J. Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, 254.]

1. What then is this peace? Let us understand it as a fourfold personal peace.

(1) The peace of an illumined life.No one can canvass the worlds literature, listen to his fellows, or interrogate his own heart, and be unaware how chafed and bewildered men are apart from Christ. We are capable of thought, but our reflexions are at times of a mutinous and melancholy order. We appeal to what we call the master-minds of the world, but as we note the earnest, far-away look in their eyes, the pallor on their countenances, the grave lines which thought has carved on their foreheads, and the note of interrogation which is ever and anon upon their lips, we are distressed to find that the secret of peace is not in dreaming, inquiring, speculating. We listen to science, and it seems to clash with all our best thoughts and feelings. We feel that there is a God, and it smiles at our weakness and whispers, No, only a Force; we feel that we are greater than we seem, and it talks seriously of matter as though we were only that; we feel we ought to pray, and it laughs at our credulity; we feel that our life is unending, and it points with cruel finger to the grave. Science does not calm us; it chafes us. Where, then, can peace be found? Not in ignorance, for darkness evermore distresses; not in superstition, for error is disquieting; not in unbelief, for men have flung away rare and long-cherished beliefs for the incertitudes of intellectual charlatans, only to find that peace has deserted them; not in literature, for many a book is only the foam of a storm-lashed mind, and not a few are the progeny of a diseased pessimism; not in the voices of the world, for strife of tongues is sadly discomposing. Then where? Thank Heaven, fooled though we be everywhere else, and disappointed with the pretty lanterns which men have hung out to lighten the gloom, we hear the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest, and peace steals over us as He gives His gracious and sufficing answers to our sundry questions.

I had a deep peace which seemed to pervade the whole soul, and resulted from the fact that all my desires were fulfilled in God. I feared nothing; that is, considered in its ultimate results and relations, because my strong faith placed God at the head of all perplexities and events. I desired nothing but what I now had, because I had a full belief that, in my present state of mind, the results of each moment constituted the fulfilment of the Divine purposes. I do not mean to say that I was in a state in which I could not be afflicted. My physical system, my senses, had not lost the power of suffering. My natural sensibilities were susceptible of being pained. Oftentimes I suffered much. But in the centre of the soul, if I may so express it, there was Divine and supreme peace. The soul, considered in its connexion with the objects immediately around it, might at times be troubled and afflicted; but the soul, considered in its relation to God and the Divine will, was entirely calm, trustful and happy. The trouble at the circumference, originating in part from a disordered physical constitution, did not affect and disturb the Divine peace of the centre.1 [Note: Madame Guyon, in Life by T. C. Upham, 130.]

At the close of a sermon on the words, The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep (Gr. shall keep as by soldiers in a fortress) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, Dr. Duncan came up to the preacher with his own summary of the text, clinching it with his sharp incisive What?his constant mode of eliciting assent to a sentence which in his own judgment was both justly conceived and rightly worded. His beautiful paraphrase of the text was this: Christ Jesus is the garrison, and Peace is the sentinel.2 [Note: A. Moody Stuart, Recollections of John Duncan, 218.]

(2) The peace of a purified life.We have had fair dreams of a peace which passeth all understanding. We have looked on the sea when it has been beautifully placid: of thunder there was none, but the waters made a murmuring music as they broke in cresting waves upon the beach. Can my life be like that? This imagination, can it be saved from the base dreams which are fatal to its pleasure? This memory, digging open long-closed graves and giving a resurrection to painful and hideous incidents, can it ever be satisfied? This conscience, may I ever hope for the silencing of its accusatory voices, the stilling of this inward thunder? This soul, which has so sadly damaged and deranged itself, can its equilibrium and equanimity ever be restored? Thank God, yes; in Jesus Christ we may find life and peace. Too impotent to emancipate ourselves from our bitter past, to free ourselves from, the burden of our sin, to rectify our self-inflicted wrongs, to dispose of the disabilities which are the fruit of our unrighteousness, He comes to our conscience, to pardon our iniquity, to change our nature, to renew our hearts. Peace on earth; yes, that is the meaning of Bethlehem and the story of the great humiliation; that is the teaching of Calvary, with its all-sufficient sacrifice; we have peace through the blood of the Cross, and only through that blood.

The Christian may have, must have, an outer life in the world, of training, toning, educatingin fact of tribulation; but with equal certainty he has a true life, an inner life, in Christ. The character of the inner lifeas of the majestic life of the Eternal even in His Passionis this, in Me ye may have peace. Examine, then, some of the conditions of the Mystery of Peace. And think, I have called it (and rightly, have I not?) a mystery. It is no mere acquiring the right of rest by the sacrifice of principle, it is no mere buying of freedom from disturbance at any price, it is no mere making a solitude and calling it Peace. No, it is an inner condition of soul realized, and blessed; and that it may be ours some conditions must be fulfilled. What are they? Sin must be forgiven, its weight removed, its tormenting sense of ever-reviving power attenuated, the wear and tear of its memories softened and relieved by penitential tears. This is a possibility of supernatural life; this is a result, a blessed outcome of life in Christ.1 [Note: W. J. Knox Little, The Mystery of the Passion, 168.]

(3) The peace of a harmonized life.Not a little of our acutest misery is due to an internecine war which rages in man, and which makes itself felt subsequent to our forgiveness and renewal. The Apostle paints an elaborate picture of it in the seventh chapter of Romans, and calls our attention to that dual self of which every nature consists: the flesh and the spirit, the law of the members and the law of the mind. Both strive for the ascendancy, and full often the battle waxes hot. Virtue contends with vice, pure instincts with unholy tendencies, aspirations of the heavenliest with desires the most hellish. Assuredly this is never the life of peace our God intends us to find. The human soul was never meant to be the scene of conflict so terrible. Can it end? Is there a deliverer? Thank Heaven, the Apostle found an answer to his question. With unmistakable clearness his voice proclaims that the strife can end, the discord can cease the life-long bleeding of the soul be oer. Listen to him: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Christ comes to restore our whole nature. As the able physician searches into the out-of-the-way places of our body, and shows no mercy to the microbes which would lay waste our earthly house, but drives them thence, so Jesus has no pity for our carnal self. He tears it out root and branch, destroying the works of the devil, and making man at one with Himself and at one with his God. And this is the way of peace: peace at any price is not the will of our Father. We are not to be content with the peace that comes from making concessions to the carnal nature, or with sundry respites from the more serious strife, but only with the peace that comes from the complete rout of the foe, deliverance from bondage to the flesh, the elimination of the law of antagonism, the restoration of our inner life to its original homogeneity. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. And this, too, is peace on earth.

Steep Cliff Bay is now a Christian village. A dramatic incident took place not long ago in the middle of a great native feast in North Raga. The biggest chief of the whole district was presentone of the few then still heathen. He stepped forward, and handing his war-club to the giver of the feast, announced that it was to be chopped up and distributed among the other chiefs as a declaration of peace and good-will.1 [Note: Florence Coombe, Islands of Enchantment, 10.]

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The household born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

There is no peace on earth, I said;

For hate is strong

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

God is not dead; nor doth He sleep!

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!1 [Note: H. W. Longfellow, Christmas Bells.]

(4) The peace of a solaced life.We are not allowed to live our life untempted, untroubled. There are stern factors in human experience. There was a shadow even on the cradle of the Worlds Redeemer, and the shadows are thick on the lives of many. We are mariners, and while sometimes it is fair sailing, at others fierce euroclydons threaten us with wholesale wreckage. There are times when life seems almost unendurable. The troubles of our hearts are enlarged, hell attacks us with unwonted ferocity, the world seems cold and callous, sorrow grips us like a tiger as if it would draw our last drop of blood. Bereavement sucks all the sunshine out of our landscape, tramples on our sweetest flowers, silences voices which gave us cheer. Alas! alas! for the riddles of this painful earth. Well, blessed be God, here again Christ is more than precious. He understands us perfectly. Has He not been in the thickest shadows? Has He not braved the dreadest storms? Has He not fought the gravest battles? He brings peace to the earth. Wet eyes He touches with kindly hand, broken hearts He comforts and heals, desolat homes He cheers by His presence, reeling lives He steadies and supports by His grace, and in lifes gravest vicissitudes He afford us the secret of tranquillity.

Peace is more than joy: it is loves latest boon, and her fairest. I hesitate to speak of it: I know so little what it is One may have love in a measure, and joy many times, and yet be but a raw scholar in this art of peace. The speaker here, methinks, should be one far on in pilgrimage; or, if young in years, old and well-stricken in grace. Well-stricken, whether the rod have been heavy or light; weaned and quieted, like a child, from a child; or, though it have burned the hair and bent the shoulders, still weaned and quieted. Peace, what is it? It is what remains in the new heart when joy has subsided. Love, that is the new hearts action, its beat; joy its counter-beat; peace is the balance, the equilibrium of the heart, its even posture, its settled attitude. It is neither the tide going, nor the tide flowing, but the placid calm when the tide is full, and the soft sea-levels poise themselves and shinepoise themselves because there is such fulness within them; shine because there is so much serenity above them.1 [Note: R. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 2.]

2. Have we any proper sense and feeling of this good-will? If we have, we shall be humble, inasmuch as we are saved, not by our merits, but by the love of God, in spite of our manifold demerits. We shall be thankful; for surely kindness like this ought to fill our hearts with gratitude. Gods love toward us should beget in us love toward Him. Above all, we should be full of faith, trusting that He who has begun so excellent a work will bring the same to good effect; that He who for our sakes gave His only Son to live a poor and humble life, and to die a painful and shameful death, will together with that Son freely give us all things. We cannot suppose it was a pleasure to the Son of God to suffer the pains of infancy, the labours and mortifications and trials of manhood, the pangs of a cruel death. It was no pleasure to Him to quit the glories of heaven, in order so dwell in lowliness and contempt. Why then did He undergo all this? From good-will, to save man. And think you He will leave this salvation imperfect, and so render His incarnation, and birth, and human life and death, of no avail? O no! He must desire to finish His work; He must be anxious to make up the known He has toiled and bled for, by placing in it all the jewels, all the souls, He can gather. He will never be wanting to us, if we are not wanting to ourselves.

Think of itThe love of God! We use those words very ten, and get no comfort from them, but think what human love means,a perfect oneness of sympathy and will with any near friends, and imagine that purified and intensified to Infinitude! The depth of our misery now is to me a witness of the immensity of the blessing that makes all this worth while.1 [Note: Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, ii. 163.]

3. If we look closely at the expression men in whom he is well pleased, we shall observe that this striking and remarkable description of men is parallel with the words used by the Father at the baptism of Jesus Christ. As Christ rose from the Jordan the voice of the Eternal said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mat 3:17). In the text exactly the same phrase is used of men. God is well pleased in men as He is well pleased in His beloved Son.

But in what sense can God be well pleased with men? He cannot be well pleased with their sins, or even with their folly. No! He is well pleased with men in so far as they are capable of salvation in Christ, are capable, that is to say, of being made Christlike. On the other hand, as He declared at the baptism of Christ in the Jordan, He is well pleased with Christ as being actually and already all that He intended every man to be when He declared, on the sixth day of the creation, that man, the final outcome and masterpiece of the evolution of the world, was very good (Gen 1:31). In a word, Christ is actually what every man is potentially. Christ is the new Head of humanity, the last Adam (1Co 15:45). Christ realizes the Divine ideal of man. He is the proof and pledge of what every man may yet become. When the sculptor sees the rough, unhewn marble, he is well pleased with it, not because it is shapeless and rough and ugly, and for immediate purposes useless, but because it is capable of being chiselled into forms of enduring beauty and service. The incarnation of the Eternal Word is the definite, concrete, decisive evidence of what human nature can become when sin is eliminated.

Jesus of Nazareth was God and man, not because His physical birth and death took place under conditions impossible to the normal human organization, but on the contrary because having the normal human organization, in its entirety, He realized in and through it His absolute union with God, and became actual fact what all men have it in them potentially to become This divinization of humanity, this incarnation, took place in Him at a certain time and place, under special historical conditions, which the gospel narrative enables us partially, but only partially, to reconstruct. The incarnation is not completed, the truth which Jesus proclaimed is not fully revealed, until the whole of mankind and the whole of nature become a perfect vehicle for the life which lived in Him.1 [Note: R. L. Nettleship, Memoir of Thomas Hill Green, 48.]

Not long ago a gentle Christian lady went to a house of infamy in London to see a fallen girl whom she hoped to rescue. The door of that house was opened by one of those ferocious bullies who are employed in such establishments to negotiate between the victims and their clients. For a moment she was terrified at the fiendish appearance of this monster of iniquity. It was a low neighbourhood; she was far from home; she was alone. But, inspired of God, she resolved to appeal to the better self even of that foul and savage man. Taking her well-filled purse out of her pocket, she suddenly placed it in his hands and I do not like to take my purse about here, will you please keep it for me until I return? The man was speechless with amazement; a tear burst from his eye. She passed on. In that vestibule of hell she found the girl and arranged for her delivery. After some interval the lady returned to the door, and there was the man where she left him, with her well-filled purse in his hand. He stored it to her, not a single penny had been taken from it. For the first time in his life, probably, he found himself trusted by a lady. It appealed to all the courtesy and nobility that was left, or that was undeveloped, in his nature. He responded at once to that appeal, and proved worthy of that confidence.2 [Note: H. P. Hughes, Essential Christianity, 284.]

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Literature

Aitken (W. H. M. H.), The Revealer Revealed, 1.

Alexander (W.), Leading Ideas of the Gospels, 148.

Askew (E. A.), The Service of Perfect Freedom, 32.

Austin (G. B.), The Beauty of Goodness, 202.

Blake (R. E.), Good News from Heaven, 1.

Brooke (S. A.), The Kingship of Love, 215.

Carter (T. T.), Meditations on the Hidden Life of our Lord, i. 44.

Channing (W. E.), The Perfect Life, 215.

Collins (W.E.), Hours of Insight, 124.

Craigie (J. A.), The Country Pulpit, 49.

Doney (C. G.), The Throne-Room of the Soul, 95.

Ellicott (C. J.), Sermons at Gloucester, 11.

Greenhough (J. G.), Christian Festivals and Anniversaries, 204.

Hancock (T.), The Pulpit and the Press, 41.

Hare (J. C.), Sermons Preacht in Herstmonceux Church, ii. 167.

Harper (F.), A Year with Christ, 14.

Leathes (A. S.), The Kingdom Within, 1, 15.

Macmillan (H.), The Garden and the City, 31.

Marjoribanks (T.), The Fulness of the Godhead, 44.

Massillon (J. B.), Sermons, 407.

Miller (J.), Sermons Literary and Scientific, i. 211.

Moody (A.), Buy the Truth! 29.

Morrison (G. H.), The Footsteps of the Flock, 385.

Murray (W. H.), The Fruits of the Spirit, 201, 485.

Parker (J.), The City Temple, iii. 307.

Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in the College Chapel, i. 76.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xii. (1866), No. 727; xvii. (1871), No. 1026; xxii. (1876), No. 1330.

Thorne (H.), Notable Sayings of the Great Teacher, 250.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xix. (1881), No. 1171; xxi. (1882), No. 1204; xxvi. (1886), No. 1309.

Watkinson (W. L.), The Education of the Heart, 247.

Christian Age, xli. 83 (Lyman Abbott).

Christian World Pulpit, xliv. 161 (J. O. Dykes); lxxiv. 409 (W. D. Lukens).

Homiletic Review, xxxiv. 43 (E. D. Guerrant); xlviii. 459 (W. D. Lukens); liv. 461 (W. A. Quayle); lxiii. 51 (J. Denney).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

a multitude: Gen 28:12, Gen 32:1, Gen 32:2, 1Ki 22:19, Job 38:7, Psa 68:17, Psa 103:20, Psa 103:21, Psa 148:2, Isa 6:2, Isa 6:3, Eze 3:12, Dan 7:10, Luk 15:10, Eph 3:10, Heb 1:14, 1Pe 1:12, Rev 5:11

Reciprocal: Gen 2:1 – host Lev 9:21 – the breasts 1Ki 6:29 – carved figures 1Ki 18:15 – of hosts liveth 1Ch 16:31 – Let the heavens Psa 96:11 – the heavens Psa 148:1 – Praise ye the Lord Isa 49:13 – O heavens Luk 2:28 – and Luk 15:6 – his Joh 1:51 – and the Act 2:2 – suddenly Act 10:3 – an

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE CHRISTMAS SONG

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.

Luk 2:13

I. The heavenly host.In making the great announcement one angel does not suffice. The soothing words of the herald angel being uttered, Fear not, the assurance being given that he was a bearer to the shepherds of good tidings; the joy of the heavenly choirs can be no longer restrained, and the firmament rings with the glad announcement: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men. Of this supplementary announcement by the collective body of angels, we see the design. It was that they might do homage to their liege Lord in the first stage of His wonderful abasement. For the next thirty years no nobler employment could they have than to wait upon Him until His Ascension.

II. The conduct of the shepherds on hearing this announcement. They said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. They required no other reason. A message from heaven had told them what they must do, and which if they would do, they should of a certainty find the Lords Christ. They obeyed the vision, and they made known abroad the saying which had been told them concerning this child. Far be it from them to keep back such an inestimable discovery. Every friend, every neighbour shall be told of it. In the same spirit as Philip (Joh 1:45), of the woman of Samaria (Joh 4:29), these shepherds sought out those dear to them.

III. How many such messages have been sent to each one of us! Have we found Christ as truly as these shepherds found Him? Oh, it is a sad thing, spending Christmas without Christ! Such a Christmas is a Christmas of sad tidings. It is no birthday anniversary, but the anniversary of a despised and wasted birthright. Its festive gatherings are a profane banquet; its songs the mocking carols of death.

Rev. Prebendary Daniel Moore.

Illustration

There is a Christmas bookletThe Birthday of Hopewhich contains some most beautiful thoughts about those words: If I had not come The author dreamed a dream. Christ had never come. There was no Christmas. There were no Christmas hymns or bells or gifts or cards or charities or gatherings. The world went on its dull way. The prison was there, but there was no Church. There was no hospital or orphanage. There was no Cross with its cleansing blood, no Good Shepherd to give His life for the sheep, no grave in which sin could be buried, no New Testamentthe most beautiful pages of the poets were gone, the world of music was like the world of poetry, ever so much poorer, there was no comfort for the dying, and no consolation for the mournersEarth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. That was all. And the author awoke and it was a dream.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

3

The “shock” was eased by the appearance of only one angel. Then suddenly a multitude of the angel band of the heavenly army appeared shouting praises to God.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

[A multitude of the heavenly host praising God.] The Targumist upon Eze 1:24; a host of angels from above. So in 1Ki 19:11-12; “A host of the angels of the wind. A host of the angels of commotion. A host of the angels of fire; and after the host of the angels of fire, the voice of the silent singers.”

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Luk 2:13. A multitude of the heavenly host, i.e., angels, who are represented as a host surrounding the throne of God (1Ki 22:19; 2Ch 18:18; Psa 103:21; Dan 7:10; Mat 26:53; Rev 19:14). Nothing is said as to whether the song was in the air or on the earth; probably it was heard by the shepherds alone.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Although the birth of our blessed Saviour was published by one angel, yet is it celebrated by a host of angels; a whole choir of angels chaunt forth the praises of Almighty God, upon this great and joyful occasion.

Here observe, 1. The singers.

2. The song itself.

The singers of this heavenly anthem are the holy angels; called a host, partly for their number, and partly for their order.

Where learn, 1. The goodness and sweet disposition of these blessed spirits, in whose bosom that cankered passion of envy has no place; if it had, there was never such an occasion to stir it up as now: but heaven admits of no such passion; envy is a native of hell, ’tis the smoke of the bottomless pit, the character and temper of the apostate spirits; these grieve at the happiness of man, as much as the angels rejoice.

O ye blessed angels! what did these tidings concern you, that ruined mankind should be taken again into favour; whereas those of your own host, which fell likewise, remained still in that gulph of perdition, into which their sin had plunged them, without either hope of mercy, or possiblitly of recover! The less we repine at the good, and the more we rejoice at the happiness of others, the more like we are to the holy angels; yea, the more we resemble God himself.

Learn, 2. Did the angels thus joy and rejoice for us? Then what joy ought we to express for ourselves? Had we the tongue of angels, we could not sufficiently chaunt forth the praises of our Redeemer. Eternity itself would be too short to spend in the rapturous contemplation of redeeming mercy.

Observe, 3. The anthem or song itself, which begins with a doxology, Glory be to God in the highest; that is, let God in the highest heavens be glorified by the angels that dwell on high. The angelical choir excite themselves, and all the host of angels, to give glory to God for these wonderful tidings; as if they had said, “Let the power, the wisdom, the goodness and mercy of God, be acknowledged and revered by all the host of heaven for ever and ever.”

Next to the doxology, follows a gratulation: glory be to God in the highest, for there is peace on earth: and good will towards men. The birth of Christ has brought a peace of reconcilitaion betwixt God and man upon earth; and also a piece of amity and concord betwixt man and man, and is therefore to be celebrated with acclamations of joy.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 2:13-14. And suddenly there was with the angel, &c. The welcome news was no sooner published, than a multitude of heavenly beings were heard celebrating, in songs and hymns divine, the praises of God, on account of his unspeakable mercy and love to men; and saying, Glory to God in the highest, &c. The shouts of a multitude are generally broken into short sentences, and are commonly elliptic; which is the cause of some ambiguity in these words, which may be understood in different senses. Some read them thus: Glory to God in the highest, that is, in heaven, and on earth peace, yea, favour, toward men. Others understand them as signifying, That the good-will, or favour, which was now shown to men, is the Glory of God in the highest, and is the peace and happiness of those who dwell on earth. This is doubtless an important sense, and what the original will very well bear, but it changes the doxology into a kind of proverb, and destroys much of its beauty. As Dr. Campbell observes; The most common interpretation of the passage is the most probable. The words are doubtless to be considered as expressions of rejoicing exclamation, strongly representing the piety and benevolence of these heavenly spirits, and their affectionate good wishes for the prosperity of the Messiahs kingdom; as if they had said, Glory be to God in the highest heavens, and let all the angelic legions resound his praises in the most exalted strains, for, with the Redeemers birth, peace and all happiness come down to dwell on earth; yea, the overflowings of divine benevolence and favour are now exercised toward sinful men, who through this Saviour become the objects of his complacential delight. The words, considered in a doctrinal point of view, teach us, what it is of great importance to know, 1st, That the birth of Christ is an event which, above all others, brings glory to God, giving such a display of several of his perfections as had never been made before, particularly of his holiness and justice, in requiring such a sacrifice as was hereby to be prepared for the expiation of human guilt, and his mercy, in providing and accepting it; his wisdom, in devising such a plan for the redemption of lost man, and his power, in executing it. 2d, It brings peace on earth, that is, peace to man, peace with God, through the atonement and mediation of Christ; peace of conscience, as the consequence of knowing that we have peace with God, and peace one with another. 3d, It displays the good-will, the benevolence, the love of God to man, as no other of his works or dispensations ever did, or could do. See 1Jn 4:7, &c.; Joh 3:16.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel {f} a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

(f) Whole armies of angels, who compass the majesty of God round about, just as soldiers, as it were.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Frequently God waits to act a long time but then acts suddenly, as here (cf. Mar 13:36; Act 2:2; Act 9:3; 1Th 5:3). The sudden appearance of the other angels represents God’s sudden action in providing a Savior. The term "heavenly host" derives from the Old Testament and here refers to a band of angels (cf. 1Ki 22:19; 2Ch 33:3; 2Ch 33:5; Jer 8:2; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5).

". . . when a child was born the local musicians congregated at the house to greet him with simple music." [Note: William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, p. 17.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)