Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 09 – December 1975
Glory To God
Sermon by Rev. John Vanderbom, B.D. on Luke 2:130-14
(Christmas Sermon)
Scripture Readings: Luke 2:1-20; Psalm 150
Psalter Hymnal: 346:1,5,6; 337; 348; 431:2; 341
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
with whom he is pleased.’
Congregation, and friends, and guests,
As we listen to the Song of the Angels today, we would do well to keep our feet on the ground!
You see, the Christmas message of the Bible is not as romantic as the Christmas stories that were made by men’s hands. And you know that the real aim of our coming to church today is not so very different from what we try to do on every Lord’s Day: we wish to have the Scriptures opened, and then to worship the Lord and thank Him for his wonderful Gift.
And here we can learn from the angels: after one of them had spoken the message, ‘Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy,’ then there was immediately a whole choir to respond. It says, ‘suddenly’: this means that even before the shepherds found the time to say a word, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.
When we read all this, we could easily begin dreaming our dreams, and let our imagination take wings. Think only of such a singing multitude of angels! There must have been a perfection of beauty.
Yet the Bible tells us very little to satisfy our curiosity.
We all know that there is joy in heaven. The angels rejoice for every sinner that repents. Angels are God’s ministering spirits, God’s servants on behalf of those who will inherit salvation. And you may remember that even poor Lazarus was carried by God’s angels into the bosom of Abraham.
And now they have come in big hosts to bring their heavenly joy down here!
But then we must remember that angels could also scare you. Under the dispensation of the Old Testament, they had nearly always come with a frightening message, to keep the distance, and to remind man of the great dividing wall. In Paradise, they had come to guard the tree of life, and to bar the entrance for sinners. In the temple there were the cherubs to keep the inner sanctuary closed for an unholy nation.
And now they appear suddenly in the open, praising God with their song. Paradise will be re-opened, and the temple of God is with men, because the ladder of God is let out. Jesus the Saviour is born. And the angels, as God’s willing servants for those who will inherit salvation, make their first appearance in the darkness of the paddocks of Bethlehem-Ephratah. Poor shepherds have seen a great light. The angels must have been longing, looking forward to this day!
Yet we must stop being romantic. There is no genuine picture of what the shepherds could see. And we don’t even know the music or the melody of what they sang. Did they really sing? Our text says simply: they SAID….!
We don’t know the music of their words. Some very curious people, theologians in particular, have wondered, what language was used by the angels: they may even have spoken in Pentecostal tongues!
But the main thing was the message of the song. And this was understood, even by the shepherds. The Kingdom of God had now come, the Kingdom of heaven was at hand! And in the darkness of the night they have heard God’s Salvation Army Band, singing of the great victory of that Kingdom! They sang, as if the strife was over, as if the battle was done, as if victory and peace were already won. The reason why they could sing? The angels have understood that the battle WAS won because Jesus had come upon earth. A Child in swaddling clothes….But He is the Victory and the Glory of what they sing!
You remember how one angel had announced the EARTHLY names of the Child: “Unto you is born today a Saviour (Jesus) who is Christ, the Lord… in the city of David. Now, in their song they celebrate THE HEAVENLY NAMES OF THE SAVIOUR.
1. In heaven they call Him DOXA, which is: Glory to God;
2. The angels praise Him as EIRENE, which means: Peace;
3. In heaven they speak of Him as God’s EUDOKIA, which means: Pleasure in Men.
1. DOXA, Glory to God in the highest: …this is how it begins.
But do we understand the meaning of these well-known words? We hear them often from the pulpit. And we love to sing these words, especially on Christmas Day, when everybody is happy and we are in a good mood. Man’s chief end is to glorify God. . . !
But, brother, sister, have you ever heard people singing a “Glory to God” after a car accident, or at the grave side? Or is our Glory to God a fair-weather song?
I’m afraid to say that in our everyday lives we don’t bring so much glory to God. We would rather commit robbery. Jesus told the people of his days: you take the glory and honour for yourselves!
Yes, this robbery was man’s first sin. Man wanted to be like God. So he robbed the glory that was due to His Name. In Psalm 150 we read: let everything that breathes praise the Lord! But we are very silent as far as God’s praise is concerned. And we are very touchy on, what we call, our self-respect. Don’t tread on my corns. Don’t dare to touch me or to hurt my children.
Luther tells of a student who was a good for nothing. He could only play a bagpipe. Yet he was very touchy. It made him violent when some-body dared to tell him that he didn’t play the bagpipe well.
Now there is no doubt about it that man has got his self-respect. Because man was made after the image of God, it makes us very sad to see that he can lose his honour. Nothing is so sad as to hear of a girl who has lost her honour, or of a man who is not respectable.
But how much worse is it when man robs God of the honour that is due to His name! Brother, sister, has the lack of honour ascribed to your God ever worried you with a sleepless night?
The glory of God is not safe with us. This is the biggest problem for Australia in 1975, that our leaders, our politicians, our teachers, our church people, have very little concern about it. For they have all sinned, there is no distinction, they fall short of the glory of God.
1975 was a bad year, wasn’t it? Inflation, strikes, unrest … Yet many of us are quite happy. We plan our overseas trips. But who was it again who gave her child the name Ichabod, because the glory of God had left the Country?
You know, the angels in heaven have been waiting for the glory of the Lord to be revealed. Day and night they have been watching the throne, crying: Holy, holy, holy. When would the Lord come down to consume the enemy?
Here they are, in the night, with the message: Good tidings of great joy! A baby is born! Yes, the first one of a new creation, a new Adam. His breathing shall be in the fear of the Lord. He will say: I do not take honour for myself. I seek the honour of Him Who has sent me. Jesus, the Saviour is born.
But then, this means that Christmas is only the beginning of a hard battle. For to give recognition, honour to God in the present world was a work, a burden that took more than one night in Bethlehem! Christmas night was only the entrance to a road that led to the Cross. The Child that was born to save God’s honour would cry out later on I am a worm, not a man. He was robbed of everything that was dear to him Foxes have holes, and birds have nests. But what was left for the Son of man? And yet at the beginning of the dark road, the angels were already singing their “Glory to God.” “The heavens praise, O Lord, Thy wonders, day and night; Thy saints on earth extol Thy faithfulness and might.” And at the bitter end of the road to the cross there would be the testimony of a pagan soldier: ‘Truly, this man was the Son of God”.
DOXA was his first name ‘Father I have glorified Thy Name!’
2. And EIRENE, peace, would be his second name.
Yes, the angels sing also of Peace on Earth. Although the battle, the fight is still to begin, the angels are singing of peace already! Are you listening?
Singing of peace on earth in a world so full of trouble must sound crazy. You must be a complete stranger, like the angels were, to believe in peace. People will tell you: When I read my papers, and watch the world with all its violence and crimes, then I cannot sing my Christmas carols. The world makes me mad…….!
No better advice, my brother, and no better remedy for our mad, mad world than to go back to the Glory of God. If you don’t want to become mad, then I would plead with you to believe the Gospel today! Jesus the Saviour is born. He has come to bring glory to the Father. And there is a wonderful peace for all those who believe in Him. We may tell you, that people who believe the Word, won’t get mad…… It is marvellous, great news, that in Jesus Christ we have our Peace with God, because He has come to restore glory and honour!
When the angels sing of Peace on Earth, this is not wishful thinking. They sing of the second name of the Christ Child: EIRENE He is our Peace. This means: He brings peace where there was war. He leaves a peace which the world doesn’t know, a peace which passes all understanding. The angels proclaim this new reality.
Apart from Jesus Christ, our world is a frightening, terrible place. People are afraid of people. People are afraid of themselves. People are afraid of God. No statesman, no politician is able to alter that.
But Jesus Christ has come to make the wars cease. He has come to take the curse, our condemnation, away. You may remember the question of our Catechism: How can you escape the punishment, and receive God’s favour? And the answer says, There is no other way but the way of the Mediator. He makes us, sinners, acceptable in the sight of a glorious God.
And since I may know Him, I am not given to despair and madness any more. I have found a city of refuge. Every night I may flee to Him for pardon. Jesus is my peace.
But I also know how to make peace with men. How wrong it would be to say that the peace of Christmas is only something very personal. No, it has its message for the blessing and healing of the whole world, also for Ireland and Palestine and Africa.
Yet, Christmas begins at home. As soon as I begin to acknowledge Jesus Christ, I shall be a different person. Why do wars and fightings continue in the church? Simply because of our passions.
So then, come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, o come let us adore Him! In the adoration of the Lamb of God we’ll find a real brotherhood. And we’ll have peace with the difficult brother for whom Jesus was willing to die.
However, we must remember that the peace of God won’t become a reality in every home. It all depends on and waits for, our ‘Glory to God’.
There are still so many hearts and homes in our society where God’s name does not receive the honour due to Him. And where man is not willing to receive the new birth, there won’t be peace. The wicked have no peace. Peace is only given to the people of God’s pleasure. And without faith it is impossible to please God.
So when people around us are looking with big and starry eyes at all the trouble-spots of the world – and wonder: where does Christmas come in? – then you and I must tell them in God’s Name to examine their own hearts and lives. Yes, where does Christmas come in?!
Let Jesus Christ rule in your heart! May this be your Christmas-conclusion! Is your own poor heart still full of unrest and of conflict? Then listen to the Gospel. And begin to sing: Jesus, you are the hope of my glory, you are my DOXA! And Jesus, in you alone will I find my rest, my peace, my EIRENE!
3. Then follows the third name: EUDOKIA, goodwill among men.
Doesn’t this sound incredible? God finds pleasure in men! But then, only for the sake of Christ, the Son in Whom the Father is very pleased!
We read in Hebrews 2 that Christ didn’t come for angels, but for the poor seed of Abraham. By nature we are children of God’s wrath. But not now any longer. In Bethlehem’s manger was a little Child who would bring glory to the Father. And He is our peace. God has chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world. In Him we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He has lavished upon us.
EUDOKIA, goodwill towards men. Believe the gospel: God is willing to receive you, to accept you/ This makes it possible, not only for angels, but also for the church, for you and for me, to sing our hallelujah’s, even in a world that is so dark and miserable. “They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.*
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Congregation, Christmas guests, young people, yes, now it is our turn to sing.
Oh we love it to hear of the song of the angels. But angels are only servants.
Today, God waits for you and me to sing. Or, are we not truly the children of God in the World? God loves it, to hear our voices joining in. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Paul says, that from now on the praises of God should be told to the universe through the congregation! ‘We praise, O Father, Thine unlimited compassion: unfailing is Thy love in spite of our transgression!’
So then, come, let us adore Him, on Christmas Day.
This is what the shepherds did. After they had listened to the message and the song of the angels, they went.
In the first place to confirm their faith. They saw the Child with its wonderful names. The Saviour, Jesus, which is Christ, the Lord, in the city of David.
But then, in Him they have also seen God’s Glory, DOXA; Peace on earth, EIRENE; and God’s Pleasure in men, EUDOKIA.
And when they saw it, they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this Child.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as it had been told them!
Amen.