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Muskegon SDA Church

Jason Sliger

When Angels Sing

Father in heaven, we thank you that today we can be reminded that God became man.

Father as we meditate a little bit on this story of the incarnation of Jesus being born as a child.

Pray father that we would learn whatever lesson it is you have prepared for us.

I ask again, Lord, that you would send your Holy Spirit to take the lifeless words and to breathe life into them, to take the message and apply it to our hearts, that we will be drawn closer to you.

Thank you, Father, for this blessing in Jesus' name.

I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, Luke 2.

All of the Gospels record the story of the birth of Christ.

Luke, for some reason, spends the most time on this.

So this Christmas season, if you are looking for the Christmas story in the Bible, you'll want to go to the Gospel of Luke.

We're going to look at a very small portion of this story together today, and I think you're going to be blessed by it.

The Bible says this, and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

It was customary at this time in earth's history when shepherds were keeping care of their sheep to spend both day and night with their flocks out in the fields.

They would tend to their needs during the day, water and food, and then at night, the shepherds would stay with the sheep during the evening to make sure that there was no harm or danger that would come from any animal, wild animal that would like to eat a sheep as a meal.

And this particular night, as the shepherds were huddled together, perhaps they were sitting around a fire, they were talking in the evening, and we're told in the book, Desire of Ages, what they were talking about.

They weren't just there having a secular conversation.

They weren't just, you know, sleeping there in the field.

But we're told in the book, Desire of Ages, that they were having a very specific conversation together and what they were talking about were the prophecies surrounding the advent of the Messiah.

They were talking about the prophecies of the Messiah and when he would come and what that would look like, what would take place and what would transpire.

And while they were talking about these prophecies, the book, Desire of Ages, tells us that they were praying together, that they perhaps would be ready when the Messiah would come.

Little did they know what was happening just a few, a little short distance Away as they were there talking about the prophecies and and I would like you to think in your minds with me this morning about How you feel when you study the prophecies about the second coming of jesus?

How does that make you feel does it make you feel warm and fuzzy and excited and something to look forward to.

It thrills our hearts with the prospects that Christ is going to come back and take us from this world of sin and suffering and take us to the place of eternal peace.

And much the same we feel when we think about the prophecies of the second coming.

This is how the shepherds felt as they were talking about the prophecies of the Messiah.

And there they were in this field watching over their flocks by night talking about the prophecies of the coming Messiah.

Chapter 2 and verse 9 goes on and it says, and lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.

How do you think you would feel if you were in the middle of a field at night, talking about the prophecies of the Messiah, and then all of a sudden, boom, out of nowhere, there's an angel that stands in front of you?

You think you might be a little bit afraid?

So here they are, their conversation has been rather abruptly cut to the chase, or rather cut short.

And there's this angel that's standing in front of them, and their hearts begin to quiver inside of them they are fearful for their lives perhaps and as they are standing there in the presence of the Lord the Bible says the glory of the Lord shone round about them the angel has an incredible message that he wants to deliver to them.

The Bible says in verses 10 and 11, and the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a what?

The birth of the Savior, and what did the angel just come and tell them?

At first, the Bible says they were so afraid their hearts were trembling They were fearful and then he says the Savior has been born the very thing that you've been talking about the very prophecies You've been studying have now been fulfilled and now their fear is turned into what?

They start out fearful, and as they continue to listen to this conversation, their hearts are filled with joy.

And what we're told in the book, Desire of Ages, is that the angels of the Lord, they came to Jerusalem, and they were looking, they were looking for somebody, for some group of people That they could come and tell the good news that the messiah had been born But as they went from 1 place to another throughout jerusalem They found that much of the inhabitants were rather careless and indifferent to the prophecies concerning the Messiah So they continued their search and all they could find was a small band of uneducated men who are in the fields, perhaps reciting from memory some of these messianic prophecies.

And the heart of the angel thrills, and they go quickly to that small band of men, and they deliver the message that the Messiah had been born.

That's not what I wanna talk about this morning.

I wanna talk to you about something that the angel said after this.

Verses 13 and 14 is where we're going to focus our attention.

The Bible says this, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

It's the shortest Christmas carol, if you will.

These 14 words, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.

As the angel delivers the message that unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, it appears as though there's only 1 angel, but then the Bible says that there was a great multitude of the heavenly host.

That word host in the Greek is the word that is, it's a military term that is used for an army.

You see, it wasn't like the angel said, hey, you know what, why don't you go tell them and we'll just hang out here.

It was something that they had anticipated and looked forward to that all of the angels came down here to this earth to accompany this message that the Savior had been born.

How many of you would have liked to have been those shepherd men that heard those angels sing?

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

Heaven and earth are no wider apart today than when the shepherds listened to the angels' song.

I mean, it seemed like heaven and earth were pretty close at that point.

Here you have shepherds and they're standing in front of the angels and the angels are delivering the message and singing a song.

He was laying in a manger in the city of David just a short distance away from where the shepherds were but we are promised that heaven and earth are no wider apart today than it was when the shepherds listened to that heavenly concert.

As we look at these 14 words together for a few moments here this morning, There are 3 things that I wanna look at.

Take just a little bit of time to look at that.

I wanna look at their prophetic implications to us.

And then lastly, I wanna look at the application of it.

Now, when we look at these 14 words, this short Christmas carol, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

Usually we think of it in the context of the birth of the Messiah, the advent of the Messiah there in Bethlehem.

When the plan of salvation was revealed to the angels, when what was revealed to the angels?

When the plan of salvation was revealed to the angels, joy, inexpressible joy, filled heaven.

Were the angels happy when they heard about the plan of salvation?

The glory and blessedness of a world redeemed without measure, even the anguish of the prince, or sorry, The glory and blessedness of a world redeemed without measure, even the anguish of the prince of life, through the celestial courts, echoed the first strain of that song that the angels sang above the hills of Bethlehem glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men when was this song first sung When the angels heard the plan of salvation.

So thousands of years before Jesus was born in the heavenly court when the Father and the Son delivered the plan of how they would redeem fallen man, how man could be brought back into a relationship with God.

When the angels heard the plan of salvation, the redemption of fallen man, they could not but help sing this song, glory to God in the highest.

And when God became man, when Jesus left heaven and came down here to this earth, and was born in the manger, when the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world was incarnate and here on this earth, the only thing that they could think of singing was glory to God in the highest.

When man, when the plan that God and Jesus orchestrated to redeem fallen man is expressed to the angels.

Their hearts are filled with joy when they think about your and my salvation.

4000 years later, when the plan is put into motion, it's implemented at this point, there they are on the plains of Bethlehem, singing, glory to God, glory to God in the highest, And on earth, peace, goodwill toward man.

3 things we find as we look at the instruction that we find in this song.

The first thing, glory to God in the highest.

The first thing we see here is that the plan of salvation, the plan of reconciliation between God and man, that plan brings glory to God.

When Angels Sing

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