We remember that first Christmas night with crystal clarity. In Bethlehem the inns were full of people, who had come for the census. The streets were willed with Roman soldiers, many of whom were drunk. Villagers were carrying on their normal activities. And all were unaware that something spectacular had happened. Jesus, the Savior of the world, had been born.
In the fields outside Bethlehem, some lonely shepherds were watching their flock. Everything was quiet and peaceful.
Then we made our appearance. I appeared first. The glory of the Lord – that heavenly brightness that manifests God’s presence and power – lit up the sky like the sun. The shepherds struggled to get to their feet, but they couldn’t. So bright was His glory that it pushed them back to their knees. I could see them shaking with fear.
“Don’t be afraid,” I said. “I bring you good tidings of great joy. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
I told those shepherds that they would find the Savior wrapped in pieces of swaddling cloth and lying in a manger.
Suddenly, I was joined by thousands of my colleagues, angels descending from heaven. Together we said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The greetings we bore from heaven that night were destined to produce the greatest joy of all time. What greater joy could there be than to know that God had provided a Savior, that he had given a solution to life’s greatest problem – the guilt and consequences of sin.
It was a night to praise Jehovah. It was a night to thank the Savior for leaving the glory of heaven to come to earth and assume human flesh. It was a night to thank God for keeping His promise made so long ago in the Garden of Eden.
If we, as angels, had reason to praise God, how much more reason do the people of earth have to praise him? For they are the ones who need salvation. They are the ones who can rejoice that the Savior has come.
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