Glory to God in the Highest

Luke 2:1-14

Luke 2:14 NIV

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:14 NA28

14 δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας.

This afternoon we join with the angels who sang at the birth of Jesus - Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests. Focussing our attention on verse 14.

The story of the birth of Christ is something we are all so familiar with, we’ve probably each heard these verses a thousand times and could probably retell the events of Luke 2:1-14 from memory with a reasonable degree of accuracy. But just because something is very familiar to us doesn’t necessarily mean that we have an accurate knowledge of it.

You see - when stories become well known within a culture they almost take on a life of their own, they become tradition. And when we read these famous stories back again if we’re not careful, we’ll actually just superimpose our tradition on to them.

THE THE IMAGE

This eye trick shows us exactly how we superimpose our traditions onto the reading of scripture, and unless we’re careful in our study we can actually miss what the text actually says.

For example, if you pick up a Nativity Christmas card in your local Clintons Cards, you’ll see a picture of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in a stable surrounded by animals. But Ian Paul the anglican scholar has pointed out that no where in scripture does it say that Jesus was born in a stable! This is just one such tradition that we read into the text. The text says that Jesus was wrapped and laid in a manger φάτνῃ - which could have been a sort of animal feeding trough with hay in it. But these troughs were actually traditionally positioned on the lower floor of a house in a communal area with the stables immediately outside.

We tend to assume the stable as a birth place because of what it says in verse 7, that he was laid in a manger because there was no room at the inn. But the greek word Luke uses for ‘inn’ elsewhere in his gospel isnt used here, instead its the word κατάλυμα which means lodging or guest room.

Kataluma (Gr.) – “the spare or upper room in a private house or in a village […] where travelers received hospitality and where no payment was expected” (ISBE 2004). A private lodging which is distinct from that in a public inn, i.e. caravanserai, or khan.

It’s likely that Joseph would have had relatives in Bethlehem that he could stay with, but by the time they arrived the guest room was already full and Mary had to have the baby in the communal area on the ground floor of the house, and lay him in the animal feeding trough.

So if it’s possible that we can be viewing one of the most well known passages in all scripture through traditional lenses what else could we be missing? This is why it’s so important to study scripture as well as read it. And to acknowledge that each of us comes to the Biblical text with our own set of traditions and existing beliefs that we need to lay down.

THE ANGELS

Christs birth comes without human fan fare, there are no fireworks, no press scramble outside the birthplace, no newspaper headlines. The fanfare instead is heavenly, it’s a heavenly host of angels that appears on the night of Christ’s birth to herald His arrival.

The greatest event in all human history had just happened in Bethlehem and practically the whole world missed it. We should be careful not to let the world set our agenda; to tell us what is worth our attention and what isn’t, to tell us what we should celebrate and what we should fear. The world hasn’t got the greatest track record with these things!

Instead let’s be attentive to what heaven says we should be attentive to; let God’s word tell us what to celebrate, what to fear, what to value and what to hold lightly.

An angel of the Lord proclaims to humble shepherds the birth of Christ. He makes these humble men the first evangelists.

And suddenly we’re told there appears a great multitude of angels, one can only imagine the sight. And these angels all cry out in praise

GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST

The arrival of the Son of God in the world means glory for God, before it means anything to us, mankind it means glory to God!

His power was seen in creation. His justice was seen in the flood. But His mercy remained to be fully revealed by the appearing and atonement of Jesus Christ. - JC RYLE

Salvation belongs to God, and therefore all Glory belongs to Him for saving any of you in Christ.

that doctrine, which glorifies man in salvation cannot be the gospel. For salvation glorifies God. The angels were no Arminians, they sang, “Glory to God in the highest.” - Spurgeon

AND ON EARTH...

The song of praise is about the arrival of Jesus Christ and what it means. They were singing theology. Our best hymns are when we put melody to our best theology.

The song looks upward first, into the highest, Glory to God for sending a saviour, for taking on human flesh, for His grace and faithfulness to us while we were sinners.

Then the song looks downwards, to the earth, to the receipients of this gift of grace wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger - AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN. At least that’s how I remember it!

That’s what the King James says. But when you read the NIV, or the ESV or the NLT that’s not what it says. The NIV reads

Luke 2:14 NIV

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The ESV

Luke 2:14 ESV

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

So why the difference? It all centres on one letter. In the oldest manuscripts, the word is eudokias, which would translate as God’s favour or God’s good will, however in some later manuscripts the word is eudokia, which simply means ‘good will’. The consensus now is that the proper reading is not generic good will, but rather the idea of God’s good pleasure. The NIV translation actually gets it the best.

The phrase ‘to those on whom His favour rests’ is actually an ancient Jewish saying which has been found in some of the dead sea scrolls found at Qumran and always speaks of God’s sovereign election.

Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Gloria

This peace is not for everyone, but only for the people whom God is pleased to bless. The Gloria is often taken as a promise of universal salvation: “Peace on earth, goodwill to men.” But as surprising as it may seem, this song actually teaches the doctrine of election. Its wording is important: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14). According to Darrell Bock, who has written the definitive commentary on Luke, the phrase “with whom he is pleased” is “almost a technical phrase in first-century Judaism for God’s elect, those on whom God has poured out his favor.” The peace of God comes according to his sovereign pleasure.

Philip Ryken

We live in a time of war, violence, fear and angst. So where is this peace which was promised to us? This peace, this Eirene, this Shalom is upon the Church, it’s upon all those who are in Christ. That’s where the peace is! The peace that was promised in Christ wasn’t some kind of general pacifism, cessation of war and the like for all the world - it is peace for all those who believe in the gospel!

Jesus vs Caesar Augustus

PEACE HOW?

Peace with God

5 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace[a] with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. - Romans 5:1 NLT

Peace with others

13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. - Col 3:13 NLT

Inner peace

Romans 15:13 ESV

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

So in all that is going on in the world right now, with all that the world is throwing at you, you can have peace this Christmas, you can have joy this Christmas. Because Christ came into this world for you, and nothing can ever change that, no amount of bad news can ever outweigh that one piece of Good News.

So let’s rebel against the world this Christmas shall we? Let’s remember what we’re celebrating and let’s allow ourselves to be joyful, let’s rest in His peace this week, let’s make peace this week, and as we do so, let’s glorify our God!

Pray