Reflections on Advent Part 14

Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

Luke 2:14

I have recently become aware of what I believe is a spiritual attack on my soul.  I say this because in my mind I know it is not true.  But there is a divide between my heart and my mind.  My heart is hearing the faintest of echoes, one that brings deep sorrow.  It is a lie that could consume me if I let it.  It is the lie that says I am not loved.  It is a recurring attack and is usually accompanied by thoughts such as "You're not enough," smart enough, or popular enough or pretty enough.  Name your poison.  You've heard it before, haven't you?  I think it's because we've all experienced rejection at one time or another.  Sounds like a pretty depressing Christmas, doesn't it?  But not so!  Because when I start feeling this way I know I have to fight.  I strap on the belt of truth and take up the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:14, 17)  

Perhaps the most stunning aspect of the Christmas story was told by Jesus Himself as He tried to explain to Nicodemus how one can be with God.  He eventually speaks what is perhaps the most memorized verse in all of Christendom "for God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son." (John 3:16a)  God loved.  God gave.  We experience the start of this story with a baby lying in a manger.    And not just any manger, but the manger where the sacrificial lambs were laid!  This is not just any love, but rather sacrificial love!  It is the steadfast, covenant-keeping hesed of the Old Testament and agape of the New Testament.  The psalmist writes in Psalm 136:1:  "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."  The phrase "for His steadfast love endures forever" is repeated 26 times.  "Why?" you might ask.  It is to show that absolutely everything God does is driven by His hesed, His steadfast, covenant-keeping love.  So when God gives us Jesus, Immanuel, He is doing so out of His hesed (or agape in the Greek) love for us.  Keep that in the forefront of your mind as we explore today's verse.

The message of the angel army (for that is literally what a "host" implies here) is God bringing peace to mankind with whom He is pleased.  (Luke 2:13-14)  Imagine the astonishment of the shepherds!  An army delivering a message of peace.   Seems a bit ironic, doesn't it.  It must have initially terrified those shepherds!  But once it sinks in, I think the message is pretty clear to them.  A baby has been given who is going to fight for peace.  Perhaps they, like so many others in the gospel accounts, including Jesus' own disciples, saw the coming of a great King who would literally fight for their physical freedom and peace, restoring the throne of David.  And He will.  But I don't believe that was the initial message God wanted them (or us!) to see.  This baby, this Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11) would fight to restore peace between God and mankind.  This is what Jesus explains this to Nicodemus in John 3:16.  God loved.  God gave.  The fact that God chooses an angel army, I believe, shows how great this baby, this given Son really is.  He is the only one who is able, acting according to God's hesed, to bring God and man together again, not even an entire angel army can do that.

God's love shows up in this account in another way, as well.  The angels tell the shepherd that God is pleased with them.  In the Greek the word eudokia  "implies a gracious purpose, a good object being in view, with the idea of a resolve, showing the willingness with which the resolve is made." (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament words)  Doesn't this speak love as well?  God freely gave.  God freely loved...with a gracious purpose intended for all mankind.  That purpose is to pour out His love in sacrifice for all of us, you and me included.  Paul tells the Galatians, "the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  Now that is a Christmas message I needed to hear today!