Our scripture reading this morning is the first 20 verses of Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. This taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. To be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child, And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the end. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them." So far we read God's holy word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the story of Jesus' birth is so simple that all the children here this morning know the story. and can understand the things that the Bible say about that birth. And yet at the same time, it is so profound that there is no man who will ever plumb the depths of what happened on that day so long ago when Jesus Christ was born of Mary. We read in this chapter, it is introduced with the words, and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. The actual taxing was done later. It says that in the next few verses. But everyone had to go at that particular time to register for the tax that would actually be coming later. everything being done very decently and in good order by the Roman governor to be sure they got all their money. Everyone had to go and register. They had to register in the town from which their family came, their origins. For Joseph that meant he had to go back to Bethlehem to register. So Joseph with Mary And Mary by this time carrying the wonder of God in the flesh, carrying that wonder within her womb, they made their way from Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea. A journey of some 100 miles on foot to Bethlehem. When they arrived, they found, as we all know, that there was no room for them in any home, in any inn. No one had any place left where they could spend that night. So they found refuge in a cattle stall, a place normally reserved for cattle. And it was there, in that place for cattle, Mary gave birth to her firstborn child, to Jesus, the very Son of God. The wonder child. The miracle of all miracles. That God united Himself to human flesh. To flesh that is just like ours, except for one only thing different. Namely, that there was no sin there. No guilt. No corruption of sin. otherwise no different from us. God united himself to that human nature. That's the profound part beyond anything that we can ever begin to comprehend that God the infinite is united to the human. No one was there to help. No one was there to celebrate. No one even knew it except for Joseph and Mary. That was it. No one was there to rejoice with them in this wonderful event of God come in the flesh. And that was intolerable. That was impossible that only they would be the only ones who would know this, what had come to pass. And therefore, God sent his angel to a handful of shepherds. in the dark night, taking care of their sheep in the middle of the night. In the middle of the night, the darkness of the night is split wide open by the glory of an angel that comes and talks to them, shining with the glory of heaven, coming from the very presence of God with a message about a birth. We read of that message. The angel of the Lord came to them. They were sore afraid. Of course they were. The glory of heaven is shining around them. And the angel says, as he always does, fear not. Don't be afraid. For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Not judgment. Nothing to be afraid of. Good tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, he said to them. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And as soon as he was finished with that, suddenly there was, with that one angel, a multitude of the heavenly host of angels there singing, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. And then they were gone. And so the shepherds, immediately recognizing the importance of this, filled with joy, said, let us go and see this thing which has been made known to us. And they went and found, exactly as the angel said, Joseph, Mary, and the Savior, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, a place normally where you would lay that the cows could eat of it. That's where Jesus lay His first night. Our attention tonight is drawn to the angels' song as it explains something of the tremendous significance of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider that song of the angels under the theme, which is what their theme was, glory to God in the highest. Notice, first of all, the reason for this song. Secondly, the goodwill revealed. And thirdly, the praise of His glory. The praise of His glory. Glory to God in the highest. First of all, the reason for the song of the angels. We take notice that after the one angel finished his message, that there was that multitude of angels that joined in the singing of these words. How absolutely fitting that angels would come and sing this song of praise to God, because they are heavenly messengers performing the work of God That's what an angel is. He's a messenger sent by God to deliver a message from God to the people on this earth. Angels are, in some ways, like us. Angels are creatures. They are therefore limited. God, of course, is unlimited. There is no boundary to God in any way. Not in space, not in time, not in glory. There's no limitation to God. But angels are limited. They are creatures. Angels are limited in the sense that they have a beginning. God has no beginning. But angels have a day when they started to exist. They existed not in eternity, but God formed them in the first week of creation, even though we're not told when, what day He created them. Probably right away at the beginning that they could behold the glory of the creation. But they have a beginning, a birth day, a day when they were formed as Adam was formed in the seventh day, the sixth day of the creation. They are limited not only in time that they have a beginning, but they are limited also in their bodies. Angels cannot be everywhere present. An angel can only be present in one place at one time. They are creatures. Because they are creatures, they are dependent. They cannot exist on their own. God has to sustain them in their physical being just as He has to sustain us. They are creatures formed by God. And yet they are different from us because they are spiritual creatures. They are not of the earth. They are not of the material of this earth. Wood comes from this earth. And the stone and everything we see around us is earthly. And our hands and our feet and our eyes are of material things that belong to this earth. The angels are not like that. They are creatures. They have a body. They've been formed by God. But they are not material things. They are spiritual creatures that God has made. They don't belong as part of this realm. They belong as part of the heavenly, the spiritual realm that God formed in that first week of creation. If any time an angel could come and speak to man and man could actually see the angel and hear the angel, you understand it's because that's a miracle. God made it possible for men to see that angel and to hear him speak. Angels could be all about us and we couldn't hear them or see them because they are not of the earthly. They are of the heavenly spiritual realm. They are created spirits. Angels are perfect creatures. They are created holy. They are created sinless. Some of them we know rebelled following Satan, who was probably the head of all the angels. And he led a good third of them away, it would appear, from various places in Scripture. They followed Him and they are now not called angels any longer, but devils. They are rebellious angels called demons. But not all the angels fell when Satan did. God chose some of the angels to remain holy and sinless. And God's grace preserved them so that they did not stumble and fall as Satan did. They remained holy. And because they are holy, they are totally devoted to God Himself. They don't have any concerns about themselves. There's not a proud angel in heaven. There's not an angel who ever thinks about His glory. He's only devoted to the glory of One that is God because the angels are perfectly holy and therefore consecrated and devoted to God and His glory. You recall, children, that when that wicked king Herod took the apostle James after Jesus had ascended into heaven and put James to death, and then took Peter and put Peter in prison, that he was such a proud man that when he was given his speech and the people said foolishly, wickedly, said, it's the voice not of a man, but of a God, that Herod liked that. And because of his pride, an angel smote him with worms that he died. The angels are jealous for the glory of God above all else. That's all they care about is God's glory. But the angels are created servants. Servants not only of God, which is ultimately the one that they always serve, but servants of us. We read of that in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1, the last verse, verse 14 says, are they not all, I'm talking about angels now, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation." They are ministering servants sent to minister to the spiritual good of those who will receive salvation. That's us. They are servants of the elect people of God, somehow serving our spiritual good. That's something we can hardly even understand. The Psalms give us another small hint of their spiritual guardianship as we read in Psalm 91, verse 11, For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, to preserve us somehow in our way, in the way of godliness. But because their work is to minister to the saints. And for one other reason, which we'll say in a moment, the angels are very, very, very interested in God's work of salvation. And particularly interested in the coming, therefore, of the Messiah. Interested because their goal is to serve the saints who shall be saved. But interested also because the Messiah is their Messiah. Because when the chief of the angels fell, it put a certain negative shadow upon all the angels. They all felt the guilt, if you will, of the head of their realm falling into sin and a whole third of their group leaving God and becoming the enemies of God. And they're looking for the one whom God had appointed to be their head as well and the one who would redeem them also. Not redeem in the same sense that we are redeemed from sin. These angels didn't sin. Nonetheless, they are zealous for the coming of the Christ who will now be their head and take away all that embarrassment, all that shame of Satan and his guilt. We read of their great zeal for this in 1 Peter chapter 1. In 1 Peter chapter 1, where it speaks of how in the Old Testament the prophets would come with a message concerning the glory of Christ and the sufferings of Christ and that it was revealed, we read in verse 12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, that is the Old Testament saints, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Then this, Which things the angels desire to look into? The angels desire to look into it. And God, already in the Old Testament, revealed that urgent desire that the angels had to look into the things of Christ as you recall that there was the ark where God dwelt. And over top of the ark, you children remember what was over top of the ark, two angels with their arms, their wings stretched out and their heads looking down at that ark. Where once a year, the high priest would come and sprinkle seven drops of blood. The angels were zealous for the coming of Christ and for the redemption that God promised through that, that coming Savior. So every time that God would give any kind of hint to man about the coming of the Messiah, because you understand, the angels are creatures. They don't know what God's plan of salvation is. But any time that God would speak a word about that coming Messiah, the angels would be all ears, so to speak. When God said, I will send the seed of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent, the angels heard that. And every time a prophet spoke, they were there listening. And they desired to inquire into that. And they must have gone back to each other and said, now did you hear what the angel said there? Did you hear what the angel was sent to say to the men? And did you hear what the prophet Isaiah said? And did you hear what the prophet Micah said? Did you hear that? And they were zealous to know what was coming. So eager they were for the coming of the Messiah. They could hardly wait for the full revelation, for the coming of the Messiah that would redeem God's people of whom they were ministers and even redeem them and become their head. You understand then, that in that field where the angels came and sang that glorious song to the shepherds, It was not a choir that was merely fulfilling their duty. That God said, well alright, these are the people, these are the angels I want to go and sing this song. And so they sort of carried out their duty in a detached manner. No way. They were excited. They were so full of enthusiasm. The Christ was born. When they sang, glory to God in the highest. It was, if I may put it that way, with all their heart so full of zeal for the glory of God and for the salvation of His people. That's the angels. They sang, therefore, with all their might. They had every reason to sing. The Christ was born. Now, that might not seem to be something all that great in the eyes of men. It wasn't that impressive in the eyes of men. A baby was born. That's not that impressive a thing. It happens all the time that babies are born, and the parents are excited, and the relatives are excited, but really it's not that big a thing to have a child born into the world. And anyone who would have gone to see that baby lying there would not have been very impressed by that if they only looked at it with the eyes of natural man, born in a cattle stall. wrapped in rags. That's what swaddling clothes are. That's the dress, the clothing of the poor who have no money to go out and buy fancy clothes for their children. They had to wrap them in swaddling clothes in a kind of rag and lying in a manger. And the parents weren't anything special. They were obviously dirt poor. They were ordinary people. The child was nothing special. He cried when he was hungry, just as any other child did. There was no crown on his head. There was no halo about his head. What's the big fuss, man would say? Why would you have angels singing about the birth of this child in Bethlehem? But the angels knew better. This was Christ. This was the Son of God. This is the one they'd been waiting for for hundreds and hundreds of years. And not Gabriel brought the message to Mary that said, the child that shall be born of you will sit on David's king forever. This is the king. They knew that. Holy Ghost shall come upon you, Gabriel had said. The power of the highest shall overshadow you. Therefore, that holy thing that shall be born shall be called the Son of God. The angels heard that. They knew the message that Gabriel brought. This wasn't an ordinary child. This was the very Son of God. You couldn't see it. The glory of the Son of God was covered with the human flesh. That's all that you could see with the natural eye. That's all the angels could see too. But they knew. This was the Savior's promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This was the hope of all the believers. This was the hope of all the angels who were in glory. The desire of the nations. Glory indeed. They pronounced that because it was a most glorious birth, this Son of God, God in the flesh. But then they added, and this is a reason for their great joy, peace on earth. What does that mean, peace on earth? It is commonly understood that this peace on earth is some kind of a pronouncement that God makes that there will be no more war. That there is no war. Let there be peace on earth, at least tonight, while the babe is lying in Bethlehem. Let there be peace all over the world. No wars, no strife, no enmity, no bickering in the homes. Let there be peace all over the world. That is not What did it mean? That's not what the angels were saying. Let there be a moment of silence, so to speak. Let there be a moment where there's no fighting in all the earth. Where there's nothing but peace on the earth because of this special moment. That's all they meant. That really isn't all that impressive at all. The President of America can say, let's have a moment of silence to commemorate some event. That's all the angels meant. That's not that important. And the proof of that is, first of all, that the Bible doesn't use that word very often at all simply to say, let there be no war. That's not the importance of peace. And Jesus said, in fact, quite the opposite in Matthew 10. He said, think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. Don't think that. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." In fact, the exalted Christ is the one who sends out the red horse. And the red horse gallops through the whole of the earth. And what does it do? It brings war. It brings bloodshed. So Christ did not come to bring peace on earth, as this is so often misinterpreted. No, this peace is much, much better than that. It is a spiritual peace that the angels announce at this moment. A peace between God and man. And the great importance of that is that man and God were at war with each other until that very moment. They were at enmity with each other because of man's rebellion against God. Originally, God created man to be in perfect harmony with Him. Adam lived even in the blessedness of being like a son who could enjoy fellowship with God. And he could go to God and God would come to him and they could speak in the garden and enjoy tremendous fellowship together. All of that was lost when man sinned against God and became a rebel against Him. Tried to rob God of His very authority and power and say, no, I will rule here on the earth in my name. And so God cursed him. God put corruption and death upon him as a punishment, a fitting punishment. Man became full of sin and death. He could not love God. He could not serve Him. And there could not be a friendship between this fallen rebel and God. There could not be a friendship. God couldn't even love such a thing so unholy, so corrupt and vile. That's impossible. God is the Holy One. There is enmity between God and man. God determined to make peace. between himself and man. To restore man to friendship. To make man able to love God and able to serve Him. And this little child lying there in that manger in Bethlehem is the one that God will use to accomplish that. To bring about this peace once again between God and man. To do it through suffering. To do it through death. To take upon Himself the sins of those given to Him eternally by the Father. And to pay the penalty of their curse and their guilt and their death. And to bear it all away. Then by his active obedience, not only to take away the sins of his people, but to earn a righteousness for them. A righteousness that would make them have the right to go to live with God and to be at peace with God. Righteousness is the key. Absolutely. That's why Romans chapter 5 shouts that great message. Therefore, being justified, that is, being declared righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ, we have peace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness. and peace. We sang of that in Psalter number 232. Righteousness and peace are at harmony with each other. Before the coming of Jesus Christ, there is righteousness, but there cannot therefore be peace with fallen man. But now righteousness and peace are met together in the cross of Jesus Christ and His suffering and death. That's why Paul can say to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5.18, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. God took us, His people, and reconciled us back to Himself through Jesus Christ. And also, says Paul, that's why we come with a word of reconciliation and we say, We are ambassadors of Christ, for Christ rather, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God. Live at peace with Him. Approach unto God. You have that right because God has reconciled you to Himself. Peace there is, the angels declare. But even it goes beyond that. And that's why the angels can say, peace on earth. Because you see, the Savior Jesus Christ would not only redeem the angels, would not only redeem His people, He would redeem the world. God so loved the world, Professor Engelsmo will preach tonight. And that world includes not only the elect, but it includes the whole of His creation. That will be redeemed by Jesus in His cross. There will be peace. God will reconcile the whole of the creation to Himself in Jesus Christ. That's the significance of the song of the angels, peace, peace on earth. And goodwill toward men. Goodwill. What does that mean? The meaning of that phrase depends a little bit on the meaning of the translation that is given to this text. As we have it in the King James, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. And perhaps you're aware that some of the modern translations translate it a bit differently and say, peace on earth toward men of His good pleasure. Toward men of His good pleasure. The difference therefore is Based on that translation, the translation goes back to the fact that there are different Greek manuscripts. There are in fact thousands of different Greek manuscripts, most of which agree almost entirely. But once in a while there are copying mistakes because they hand copied all these Greek Testaments. And there are some of them that have that other reading. Peace on earth toward men of His good pleasure. For myself, I can very well go with exactly what we have here in the King James, and really it isn't going to make that much difference which translation we take. This one is a very good translation. There's reason to remain with it, as the majority of the Greek texts have this. And it's a very smooth translation. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men. I say it doesn't make that much difference because it doesn't if you look at what it means. God's pleasure. God's good pleasure. What is that exactly? His good pleasure. Well, it is God's good pleasure is what delights Him. It's what delights Him. It's what is pleasing to Him. His good pleasure. And the Bible uses that in a number of ways. For example, in Ephesians chapter 1, the Bible says, according to His good pleasure, He chose certain men to salvation in Jesus Christ. That's His good pleasure to save those men in Jesus Christ. And that obviously would be the men of His good pleasure. God works in His people both the will and the to-do of His good pleasure, Philippians. Paul writes to the Philippians, the will and the to-do of what pleases God. His good pleasure. God rather said about His Son Jesus, My Son is well-pleasing to me. I am well-pleased with Him. That's the same idea. His good pleasure. For again, Jesus said, it seemed good. That is, it was the Father's good pleasure to hide the truth from the wise and prudent and reveal it unto babes. That was God's desire, His good pleasure. So it's clear, no matter what translation you take, that God's good pleasure, that in which He delights, is always particular. It's not for all men. He delights in His people. God cannot be pleased with sin, with rebellion, with everything that is contrary to Him, He cannot be pleased with that. He can only be pleased with righteousness and holiness and that which is good and true. The angels do not, therefore, announce some kind of a universal goodwill toward men. That's impossible. At the very moment that the angels sang, was God well pleased with the Pharisees who didn't even want the Messiah? who only wanted people to be impressed with them and their works that they performed. And when Jesus came, they would show how wicked they were and how corrupt. And Jesus would expose their wickedness. Was God pleased with them? Of course not. Was God well pleased at this moment when the angels sang with Herod, who would try to kill all the children of Bethlehem in order to destroy the Christ child? Was God well pleased with him? Of course not. The angels are not pronouncing some kind of good will toward all men. That's impossible. Nonetheless, they sing it. And it's a beautiful song. Because at this moment, on that Christmas day when Jesus is born, God is displaying His good will toward men as it had never, ever been seen before. Good will toward men who knew, I do not deserve anything good from God. I deserve only God's wrath. And now God sings through the angels, My good will is to you. That's purely what it is. God's good pleasure. His good will. God doesn't need this. God doesn't need anything that happened on Christmas Day. He is the most blessed God. He is the most beautiful and glorious God, whether He saves people or whether He has no one. When God created all the myriad of angels and they began to sing His praises, it wasn't as if now God is more glorious than He was a moment before that. And if God should take the whole race of mankind and destroy every last one of them because they are wicked and deserve it, God is not more glorious or less glorious. God is the eternally, infinitely glorious God. He doesn't need to save anyone to add to His glory. But it's simply out of His good pleasure that He determined gather to his people, gather to himself a people, his good pleasure. No one deserves it. All men deserve to perish eternally in hell. But God, out of his good pleasure, sends his Son, Jesus, to be born in human flesh in order that he might, in the likeness of sinful flesh, live among men, nor that His Son might be despised and rejected by men. He came to die. Surely the angels could see some of that. They couldn't see the whole of it. They didn't know what was in store, a dreadful cross, and the rejection of men. And yet, they had to understand something of it as they saw the Christ child born, not in a mansion, not draped in purple robes, but lying in a manger wrapped in rags. They had to understand that the glory of this Son would mean suffering. This was the first step in his steps of humiliation. that would lead ultimately to the depths of hell. The angels had to understand something of what was coming for this Messiah. That he would die, not only at the hands of men, but bearing the very wrath of God for rebels who did not deserve it. This sending of His Son is a manifestation of the good will of God. That's all you can say about it. Because nobody deserves it, I say again. But it's simply God's good pleasure to redeem His people. You can understand then why the angels sing with such enthusiasm for the glory of God. As God has revealed His good will to the people that they, the angels, are serving, are trying to bring down the right path. They see God's good pleasure and they sing of it. To the men, to the earth. It isn't merely to Jews any longer. This will be to all people in all lands as the angels testify. And all of that as one goal. To magnify the glory of God. That's the goal of it all. Glory to God in the highest. What does that mean? That phrase, glory to God in the highest. It could mean that God is the highest. And that's true, of course. The Bible says that Jesus is the Son of the highest. in the sense that God is exalted and everything else is creature. But the interesting thing is that in the original, this is plural. Glory to God in the highest. Plural. As if to say, glory to God in the highest places. And what the angels have in mind there is that This is a reference to the heaven of heaven. that in the glory of heaven, where even the angels shine forth with holiness, that in that heaven of heavens, their God deserves to be praised in all His glory. Glory to that God who inhabits the heaven of heavens, who is in the highest places. And you understand then, if the glory of God is to be proclaimed there in the highest of all the heavenly places. Surely His glory fills the whole of the creation. Surely His glory fills all of the earth as well. And there's an implied exhortation to us people of God, if the glory of God is on display in the highest of places, ought not you to be giving God the glory as well of the earth? That's the implication of that. Join us in giving God the glory. But what is that glory of God? The glory of God is His perfections. His infinite perfections. If you would take all His perfections, His truth, His love, His mercy, His wisdom, His power. Take all of the perfections of God and you recognize that those perfections are infinite. There's no limit to those perfections. Take that perfection of God and the radiation from that is God's glory. God dwells in a cloud of glory to which no man can approach. The angels cover their faces before the glory of God. It is so glorious. So brilliant. God's glory. All His infinite perfections. The glory of God shines forth in His works. That's when Jesus performed the miracle of the changing of wine. We read there, this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His glory. His glory was seen in the work of changing water, to whine. When Lazarus was sick, Jesus said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. So that when He would raise Lazarus from the dead, that would be for the glory, the power of God. His infinite power is evident to raise one from the dead. Even the heavens and the earth declare the glory of God, we sing in Psalm 8. God created angels for His own glory, the Bible says. Even the wrath of man praises God somehow. That too reflects His glory. But of all the works that God has ever done, you understand the one work that manifests the glory of God more than anything else is the work of saving His people. There the glory of God is on display above all else. That He elected a certain people out of a lump of humanity, so to speak, one lump of clay. That He elected a certain people that He fashioned to be vessels of mercy. That He would pour into them His glory. God determined that from all eternity. filling them with the fruits of righteousness for the praise of His glory, bringing them one day to heaven, an innumerable host that each individual saint would reflect in a creaturely way some small aspect of the glory of God. That's why we will be in heaven, to reflect His glory. And so the angels sing of that. And how do you glorify God? How do you do that? You don't add anything to His glory, but you do what the angels were doing. You ascribe to God the power and the glory, the wisdom. You ascribe it to Him. You speak of His righteousness and His truth and His wisdom. You speak of His infinite perfections. And when you see that glory, you humble yourself before it. That glory which is on display in His Son. The glory of the Savior. The glory of the infinite God united to human flesh. This is where the glory of God is on display. This is beyond our comprehension. That great work of our God. When you see the glory of God as a covenant God, taking to Himself a people, giving His Son into the flesh in order that He might gather to Himself a people that would live with Him and know His glory from experience, not merely behold it, but know it. All glory. That's the purpose of God sending His Son. Don't ever forget that. The purpose is not, as the Arminian says, well, to save us. Well, yes. But that's not really why. Ultimately, the sending of His Son was for His own glory. The glory of His own name. The riches of the glory of His grace are on display in heaven forever and ever. That's why Jesus was born. That's why the angels sing. That's what they recognized. Glory to God in the highest. That's their song. That's their theme. The rest of it only is supporting evidence. Peace on earth, of course. Goodwill toward men, of course. But glory to God. That's the theme. Thanking Him. Praising Him. That's how we sing praises to God. In our thanks, in our prayers, in our songs. But there's more. We praise God when we tell others about the glory of God, when we talk about it amongst ourselves, and when we tell others about what great things God has done. If when we hear the song of the angels and we recognize the great glory on display on Christmas Day, if we are not able then to go out and tell others about it, then it doesn't mean very much. then we're not very impressed with the glory of God. If we can keep this in and not tell anybody about it tomorrow, then we're not giving God the glory. We're not. We tell others. That's how we give God the glory. We give God the glory when we live a life of praise. When our life is a testimony to the power of His grace. When we want to keep His commandments out of thankful obedience, we are giving honor and glory to Him. We join the angels. And yet, you do know that we praise God in ways that angels cannot praise God. You can sing in a certain sense with more understanding when you praise God than the angels could to the shepherds. They are moved at the glory of God. They sang this song because of the glory of God. And they know, of course, that Christ is their salvation too. But you and I, Sing as participants of that glorious salvation that God has determined for His people. We are participants in that. We are those who know sin. We are those who have looked into the depths of hell and say, that's what I deserve. And now when we stand at that manger in Bethlehem, we say, there's our salvation. There's our deliverance. This means we're going to heaven. We get to live with God forever. We're not perishing in hell. If anyone in all the world can sing, glory to God in the highest, it is we. May God give us that grace. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God, we thank Thee for the gift of Thy Son and for the work of the Spirit that enables us to understand, to know this as much as we can and to live out of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, giving glory to Thee. This is what we desire now and eternally. So, Lord, hear us. and grant that our hearts are full of praise and thankfulness to Thee all the days of our life. For Jesus' sake, Amen.