Luke 2:13-14
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Last night I went with our youth group to another church to participate in their Advent service. This was a great fit because the other church is liturgical and we are not, the other church has no children or young people and in our youth group everyone but myself and another leader are under twenty. We had a meal together and then broke up into discussion groups while Pastor Rich led the Advent study out of the Luke 2 passage and blended it with John 1. He pointed out that when the angels came as the heavenly choir and appeared to the shepherds they did not appear in neat choir rows with thirty to forty angels but were there in multitudes, thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands, too many to count. They were not adding a little adornment to the birth of the baby Jesus with a special music selection but were there to witness and proclaim the birth of the Incarnate Creator God, the Word made Flesh, and to worship Him. This same Word that spoke them into existence now came to earth as the Son of Man to speak man’s redemption into existence. Well, from the angels perspective I can only imagine how incredible this must have been.
1 Peter 1:10-12
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
That time of Advent celebration with our sister church brought together two age groups, two tribes and two traditions. Our kids were enriched and experienced warm and welcome fellowship and powerful teaching from a great man of God in our city who shared an insight that will always now be part of my Advent meditations.
