The Glory of the LORD

It seemed to be a quiet, ordinary night in the little Podunk-backwater town of Bethlehem, located about six miles south of the glorious capital city of Israel, Jerusalem, the site of the Jewish Temple. A teenage couple, we know them as Mary and Joseph, after about a week of rugged travel from Nazareth had arrived in the city, having to travel there due to a decree from the reigning Casar, that all people return to their ancestral hometown to register for a census (Luke 2:1-5). Mary made the trip while in the third trimester of her pregnancy, bearing a child in her womb whom both she and Joseph had been informed by an angel was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and whose name was to be called Jesus, a name which in Hebrew means “God saves” (Matthew 1:18-25).  There apparently were many who arrived in Bethlehem before them and thus no rooms were available for lodging.  They thus took up temporary residence in what has been described as a stable or animal shelter.  While there, Mary gave birth, wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes, with His first crib being a manger, an animal feed trough.

On that one night, as with every night, there were local Shepards out in the fields, fighting off sleep as they stood watching their flocks, protecting them from predators and rescuing straying sheep who stupidly put themselves in harm’s way.   Suddenly, the quietness and ordinariness of this night is greatly disrupted, at least for the Shepards, as an angelic being appears to them out of nowhere, accompanied by what is referred to in Luke 2:9 as the glory of the Lord, which shone about them and made them very afraid.

The Lord being referred to here is the eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient, infinitely wise, infinitely good, infinitely powerful creator and sovereign ruler of the universe and all that is in it, who 1600 years prior to this night introduced Himself personally to Moses from a burning bush as Yahweh in Hebrew – Kurious in Greek – and Lord in English (Exodus 3:1-15).   He – the Lord – possesses something referred to in Luke 2:9 as glory. The word glory here is a noun that represents the effulgence – the beauty and brightness of an object such as a star, the weightiness or the measure of the greatness, magnificence, beauty and splendor of a person, object or experience.

When we are greatly attracted to – admiring or adoring of the extraordinary beauty, excellence or magnificence of a person, object or event, we are attracted to their or its glory, to attributes that they or it possess, which when displayed in our presence elicit in us an extraordinarily high level of enjoyment, pleasure, excitement and satisfaction.  This is what we experience in observing great performances by talented singers, musicians, athletes and other gifted performers, responding in a celebration of applause and joyful shouts of approval for their exhilarating performances. In our present culture, we are willing to pay large sums of money to experience their glory (think Taylor Swift or the Superbowl).

The Bible reveals to us that we were created by God for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), that mankind, made in His glorious image and likeness, would know our greatest joys, our greatest pleasures, our most thrilling experiences, our ultimate significance and satisfaction in God’s display of His glory, beginning with His creation of the heavens (universe) and earth (Psalm 19:1-6).  They would be the arena, the context in which God would display the infinite perfections of His eternal being in intimate relationship with mankind.  He would display His glory in the beauty of His holiness, the excellence of His infinite wisdom, the awesomeness of His majestic power, and the splendor of His abundant goodness for our enjoyment of Him and His enjoyment of us enjoying Him (Psalm 16:11) (Psalm 32:11) (Zephaniah 3:17).

Tragically, mankind, beginning with Adam and Eve, have rejected this glorious relationship with God and His rule over our lives, what the Bible refers to as sin (Romans 3:23).  In pride, in our desire to be free from dependence upon and accountability to God, we foolishly pursue our joy, our pleasure, our satisfaction, our significance in the now sin-cursed, sin-corrupted temporary glories of the creation rather than in the eternally glorious creator, suppressing the glory of God in our opposition to His design and order for our eternal happiness in Him.  In doing so we have come under His wrath and judgement, incurring the penalty of death, which is God cutting us off from that glorious life with Him for which we were created, partially while in this world, and fully in the world to come in a place called Hell (Romans 1:18-32) (Psalm 9:17).

Yet God, who is rich in mercy and abundant in grace, planned from the foundation of the world to graciously save a people from this judgement and restore them and the creation back to the glory, and the glorious relationship with God for which we were created (Ephesians 2:4-8) (Revelation 13:8) (Ephesians 1:3-7) (Romans 8:19-23).  He would do so through the one born over 2000 years ago in the city of David, whom the angel proclaimed to the Shepards (and to us) “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” 

God had previously raised up out of this sin-corrupted, glory-suppressing world, the nation Israel to reveal His glory and to be His witnesses to the rest of the nations of His glory and saving work. God had revealed His glory to them in their miraculous deliverance from Egypt, in their travels to and His conquering of the Promised Land on their behalf.  He revealed His gracious and saving presence with them through a brightness of light that transcended any natural or manmade light, referred to as the Shekinah or “glory cloud” that rested over the Tabernacle during their journey to the Promised Land, and which filled the Temple that Solomen built so that Israel would know that God was intimately with them to fulfill all of the covenant promises He had made to them as his chosen people (1 Kings 8:10-13).

Tragically, they rejected His glorious purpose and rule, thus coming under His judgement with the rest of the nations (Isaiah 43:10-15) (Amos 3:1-2) (Jeremiah 13:8-11). We are told in Ezekiel 10:18-19, that in response to Israel’s continuing in sin, God observably withdrew His glory, the light of His presence in the Temple, from them.

However, that glorious light would appear one last time in Israel on this glorious night, frightening the Shepards.  It is there to reveal to all people that God’s glory would never again dwell in temples made with human hands, but that His glory would on that night and forevermore be displayed most prominently, manifested most clearly and demonstrated most fully in the person and work of God the Son – the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 17:24).

Thus, the shepherds would be the first to see the glory of the Lord – not just in the cosmic light show that initially frighted them, but in the one whom the angel directed them to, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  They would see that which the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 the whole unbelieving world has been blinded to – and that is the glory of God revealed in the face of this newborn babe, glory that can only be revealed to men’s hearts by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 4:6) (John 16:12-14).

We are told in Hebrews 1:1-3 that Jesus was then and is now the brightness of God’s glory – the express image – the exact representation His divine being – the one whom also made the universe –  the one who at great cost to Himself accomplished everything necessary to save us from our sins – restoring the glory of God both in creation and in those who believe upon His name (the truth of all He reveals Himself to be in all of His glory) (Revelation 21:1-5).

And thus, we read in Luke 2:20 that the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen – all that God had opened their spiritual eyes to see and enabled their heart to embrace regarding the glory of this holy child.

Jesus Christ, God the Son, came into this world on this first Christmas to reveal to mankind the infinite glory of God’s person, that we may come to understood that we were created by God to enjoy Him, to delight in Him, to be enthralled by His beauty, to be satisfied by His abundant goodness, to be excited by His awesome power, to be mesmerized by His infinite wisdom and most importantly, to be amazed by His mercy and grace, by His overwhelming, never-ending infinite love (John 3:16).  To those who are, and who receive Him into their hearts as their infinitely glorious savior, God gives them the right to be called the children of God (John 1:12).   Does that describe you this Christmas, 2023?  If so,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!