The Radiance Of The Lord’s Glory

Shepherds staying in the field

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. - Luke 2:8-10

I imagine that day began much like any other. Although all faithful Jewish people were waiting for the promised Messiah, they had been waiting for so long that for most of them, the longing was buried under the stuff of life. I’m sure it peppered their prayers and was talked about around the dinner table so that even the youngest understood the promise but there were meals to be cooked and clothes to be washed and sheep to be guarded. Yes they were watching, but they were watching for wild animals not the wild wonder of the glory of God to split the night sky.

Into the midst of everything that was bad news in their lives came the best news of all, I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! - Luke 2:10-11

Initially they were terrified but soon the air was alive with the armies of God singing His praise. Worship changes everything. It infuses the ordinary with eternity and lifts our eyes and our hearts above out lives and into our eternal destiny. The angels of heaven came to the poorest of men with the greatest news of all.

Nothing would ever be the same again, for them or for us. All human history had led up to this moment when God in Christ stepped out of eternity and into our today. The shepherds hurried into Bethlehem to see with their own eyes what the angels told them. Then they told everyone else what they had seen and heard but then what? The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

That’s the legacy for those of us whose lives God has invaded and who believe beyond what we can see. We go back to doing what we do and once again we wait.

This time however we’re not waiting for a fragile child in a teenage mother’s arms but for the glory of the coming Christ and this next advent will be seen by everyone!

Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see Him. - Revelation 1:7

As we wait for this new Christmas morning how will we wait? Will our waiting to celebrate the wild wonder of all God in Christ has done be buried beneath crowded shopping malls and family recipes and short fuses? Will the pure joy of knowing that we are loved just as we are be lost in the frenzy of the futile search for that ‘perfect Christmas’?

My prayer for each one of us is that we will carve out a space on the hillside of our lives to lift our eyes and our hearts toward heaven and sing with wild wonder,

O Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

Credit: Sheila Walsh