The angels sang a glory song because Glory had come to earth to unleash his glory on all who would put their trust in him.
I love Christmas. I love the excitement of the season, the gift giving, Christmas cookies, decorating the biggest tree we can get in our home, the special moments with people whom I love, but most of all the deep, encouraging, humbling, and hope-giving story that is at the heart of this season. I can remember as a little boy the excitement that would begin to grow as my mom and my grandma began making dozens and dozens of cookies. And I remember how my excitement would elevate as my dad began to drag out the Christmas decorations. But maybe the thing I loved the most was the music. Sure, I liked hearing all those silly seasonal songs as we went shopping in downtown Toledo, but what I loved then and love even more now are those rich hymns about the birth of Jesus. I learned them as a boy, but I understand them today, line by line, in a way I never did during all the excitement of those boyhood Christmases.
There is something particularly glorious about the hymns that explain and define the significance of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Words like “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity” or “He comes to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found” or “Radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace” shimmer with glory. This makes sense because they echo the glory song that the angels first sang on the night when the most glorious thing in history happened: God took on human form. Let these words ring in your heart for a moment: God took on human form. God became a man. Deity took on humanity. Glory came to earth in common human form. If you or I had been writing the big redemptive story, we would have never conceived something so amazing and miraculous as God actually coming on a rescue mission as a real human person. There is only one word that captures this one amazing, history-altering event: glory.
The angels sang a glory song not only because the events about which they sang were glorious, but also because the One who came was, is, and will ever be the sum and definition of glory. The angels sang of glory because Glory had come to earth to rescue us from the in glory of sin and to unleash the forgiving and transforming glory of his grace on all who would believe. The hymn of the angels, and the hymns that have been written by God’s people since, shimmer with glory because the incarnation of Jesus is about a glorious Savior coming to give glorious grace to people who have forsaken his glory for the temporarily satisfying shadow glories of the created world. If you write a hymn about glory, you will end up pen- ning glorious things.
But there’s something else I want us to think about. The angels, as they sang their glory song that night, began the singing of a glory song that would never end. God’s people have penned and sung glory songs about Jesus ever since. Whenever and wherever they gather, they sing together of the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, the promises, the presence, the power, and the grace of Jesus. Around the world hearts lift and hope comes rushing in as melodies carry the precious truths of God’s most wonderful gift to us, the gift of his Son.
And think about this: the final book of the Bible, Revelation, invites us to listen to the voices of those who have passed over to their final and eternal home. What do we hear them doing? We hear them singing glory songs about Jesus, just as the angels did on the night of his birth. “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” (Rev. 19:1); “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory” (Rev. 19:6–7). On into eternity the song echoes. It is the celebration chant of the redeemed. And one day we will join that multitude, no longer looking forward in hope but looking back with the security of redemption accomplished, and with the angels and the saints of old we too will sing glory songs about Jesus forever and ever and ever. Yes, it is true: that night the angels began a song that will never ever end. The Savior who rescued your heart now claims your song. Have you joined the choir?
For further study: Revelation 19:1–10
For parents and children:
Central theme: Glory
Get your children to talk about what they think glory means. Ask them if there are any glorious things in their lives. Help them to understand that every glorious created thing is meant to point them to the glory of God. Then help them to see that there is nothing more glorious than the coming of God to earth to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.