Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!

On May 21st, 1738, Charles Wesley lay seriously ill in bed fearing for his life. But as he lay there fearing for his life, he feared more for his eternal soul because at that point he had no assurance of salvation. He and his brother John, had been pursuing a religion of Christianized good works and morality. They were part of a group called the Oxford Holy Club, and they sought to earn their salvation by good works, by mission trips, by other things, but they had no assurance of salvation. They only had ever-increasing anxiety about eternal hell and destruction. For almost two years they sought this assurance.

John and Charles Wesley had been on a mission trip to the New World and on the way back, they were in a serious storm with a group of Moravian believers. They saw the supernatural joy and peace and confidence even in the midst of that storm that those Moravians had. They had absolutely no fear of death, but that could not characterize the Wesleys at that point, so they began to study the religion of the Moravians who often spoke of the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the soul of a genuinely converted person.

The Wesleys had seen that supernatural peace during that storm, and they longed to know it, a total freedom from death. The Moravians linked that sense of assurance to the promise in Romans 8:16, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children, but they had not experienced that testimony, that assurance at all. If anything, things just seemed to get worse and worse for them until that day, May 21st, 1738 for Charles Wesley, ironically, Pentecost Sunday, Pentecost Sunday commemorating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church.

Charles Wesley had been fighting for his life against his illness, but also pleading with God for assurance of salvation. As he lay alone in his bed between visits by his brother John and doctors and well-meaning friends, Charles had a personal encounter with God through the out-poured Holy Spirit that changed his life forever. Assurance flooded into his soul. He felt strange palpitations in his heart, and he cried aloud, “I believe, I believe.” He wrote in his journal that day, “I have now found myself at peace with God and rejoiced in the hope of loving Christ.”

Now his more famous brother John Wesley would soon have his own conversion experience at a prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street there in London. Though John Wesley would become the leader and driving force of the movement known as Methodism, Charles Wesley would become the movement’s poet and hymn writer. He wrote over 6,000 hymns seeking to put the theology of Christianity in lyrics that illiterate people could understand easily.

Seven months after his conversion, Charles Wesley was walking through the streets of London on Christmas day. The bells were ringing, celebrating the birth of Christ. He hurried home and wrote the poem that would become arguably the most celebrated Christmas song of all time, now known as Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.

The original poem that Charles wrote was, “Hark! How all the welkin rings. Glory to the King of Kings.” Welkin means “heavens.” A number of years later in 1753, the greatest Methodist preacher of them all, George Whitfield changed the lyrics to what we know today, “Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy mile God and sinners reconciled.”  That improvement is well appreciated. It’s already a challenge to have one obscure word, hark meaning “listen,” and even more obscure archaic word, “welkin,” would probably have sunk him for good.

The heavens were indeed ringing with the praise of angelic army the night that Jesus was born. We can obey the word “hark” to listen to their celebration only by faith. Faith in the word of God. There is a listening of the soul with the ears of faith that we must do to be able to listen to them celebrating. There’s a seeing to see the incarnate Christ laying there. There’s a seeing we can only do by faith, faith in the word of God.

The call to listen to the angelic praise is a doorway into my Christmas meditation with you today. I want to trace out over all of redemptive history, even before history began, angelic worship of Christ. Angelic worship of Christ. My purpose is not that we will merely hark to angelic worship of Christ, but join with them in understanding the greatness in the majesty of Jesus Christ and that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven through that worship. Hebrews 1 makes it plain. When God brought his son into the world, He wanted the angels to worship him. Hebrews 1:6 says, “When God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’”

This is an amazing statement if you think about it. It’s an open claim to God of God concerning the deity of his son. The scripture makes it plain that God commands all worshiping beings, angels and humans to worship him and serve him only. Worship is reserved for God, and yet here’s God calling on the angels to worship his son when He brings him into the world. That is proof that the Son of God, the birth of Jesus is a matter for worship. This is deity coming into the world, and the angels complied.

“The scripture makes it plain that God commands all worshiping beings, angels and humans to worship him and serve him only. Worship is reserved for God, and yet here’s God calling on the angels to worship his son when He brings him into the world. “

I want to trace out more fully the history of angelic worship of the second person of the Trinity and follow it in historical order in nine steps. First, angels worship the pre-incarnate Christ. Second, angels announced the coming Christ. Third, angels celebrated the birth of Christ. Fourth, angels protected the newborn Christ. Fifth, angels strengthened Christ in his weakness. Sixth, angels announced the resurrected Christ. Seventh, angels celebrated the heavenly ascension of Christ. Eighth, angels assisted in the spread of the gospel of Christ’s kingdom. And then ninth, angels will celebrate Christ’s glory for all eternity.

I. Angels Worshiped the Pre-Incarnate Christ

First, angels worship the pre-incarnate Christ. Christ alone of all human beings that’s ever lived, made a voluntary choice, a willing choice to enter the world as a human being. He’s the only one that that is true of. He made this assertion to Pontius Pilate when He was on trial before Pilate in John 18, “Jesus said to Pilate, ‘You are right in saying that I’m a king. In fact, for this reason I was born and for this, I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’”

In other words, “I chose to enter the world and I chose to enter the world to build a kingdom based on truth and to invite people into that kingdom of truth.” That was a choice that Jesus made. He’s the only human being that ever was pre-existent before He took on a human body and chose to enter the world, and that is to build a kingdom of truth. So also this statement in John 6, Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life and I will raise Him up at the last day.”

It is the same thing. “I chose to enter the world not to do my will, but to do the will of the Father. And this is the Father’s will that I save all the elect that He has given me.” Philippians 2 makes it plain that Jesus shared eternal glory with God on a heavenly throne of glory before He entered the world. He had equality with God, a radiant glory with Him. That’s what Charles Wesley meant when he said, “Mild he lays his glory down, born that man no more may die.”

Before Jesus was born, the angels saw that glory and they worshiped him in his glory. Two key passages show this in the Old Testament, Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. First, Isaiah 6:1-3 says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs. Seraphs each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another. ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.'”

The Lord the seraphim worshiped was Jesus. John 12:41 makes it plain that Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. The seraphs are angels, an order of angels, the spirit beings of the word. The Hebrew word literally means “burning ones.” They’re like on fire. They’re brilliant, they’re bright. This lines up with the statement made of them in Hebrews 1:7 in speaking of his angels, he says, “He makes his angels winds as servants, flames of fire.” The seraphim are burning ones, they’re on fire, a holy fire.

This fiery terminology also lines up with the vision in Ezekiel 1 of cherubim, fiery beings that could almost defy description and who move mysteriously below a throne of glory.  Ezekiel 1 says this, “I looked and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north, an immense cloud with flashing lightning surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in that fire was what looked like four living creatures.” Picture a cloud that is radiant and bright and in the center of it, it’s on fire, a fiery cloud. In the center of that are these four living creatures called cherubim. These cherubim have four faces and two sets of wings, and there are these high mighty, awesome glorious wheels under them. Wheels sparkling like diamonds and the cherubim move like lightning with fire flashing back and forth among them. Ezekiel 1:13-14, “The appearance of the living creatures were like burning coals of“fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures. It was bright and lightning flashed out of it.” The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. It’s energetic, crackling with energy, crackling with light and fire, and that the cherub had moved north, south, east, and west with lightning speed and whatever direction the spirit moves them.

High above those cherubim sat the enthroned pre-incarnate Christ. Ezekiel 1:22 and following, “Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice and awesome like a barrier, like a ceiling. And under the expanse, their wings were stretched out, one toward the other and each had two wings covering its body. And when the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.” This is awesome. They stood quiet under the voice of the one seated on the throne. There’s a reverence that they have and a quietness. They lower their wings and they wait to hear him speak. They’re ready to do His will. They’re motionless, they’re reverent. They’re waiting on the voice of the pre-incarnate Christ.

This is the description of that glorious throne, Ezekiel 1:26-28, “Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up, he looked like glowing metal as if full of fire. And that from there down he looked like fire. And brilliant lights surrounded him like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day so was the radiance around him.” This was the appearance of the likeness, of the glory of the Lord. ‘And when I saw it,’ says Ezekiel, ‘I fell face down.'”

You have this angelic activity moving wheels within wheels that just defies description, and brightness and loud noise and power and then a barrier and then high above that a throne and one seated on it. That barrier represents the infinite gap between creator and creature. It’s an infinite gap between God and the highest archangel and all creatures below. That gap represents that difference, the holiness of God, God, the creator over all creation. They recognize it, and they’re quiet under it.

Ezekiel the prophet was granted this vision of the pre-incarnate Christ on the throne of heavenly glory. This is the glory that Jesus laid aside when He entered the world and was born of the virgin and was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. This is the glory laid by, this is the glory you wanted back at the end of his ministry. When He said in John 17:5, “And now Father glorify me with the glory I had with you before the creation of the world,” it’s a glory He deserves. A radiant display of his greatness, which He laid by.  Before Christ was even born, the angels in various orders of various types worshiped and served him.

II. Angels Announced the Coming Christ

Secondly, the angels announced the coming Christ. The word “angel “is just a transliteration of a Greek word, which means “messenger.” Those that are dispatched with a message from God to earth. God regularly in the Old Testament dispatched angels to bring messages from God. At the time of Christ being conceived, the angel Gabriel was dispatched. The angel Gabriel told in his encounter with John the Baptist’s  father, Zechariah, he said  “I’m Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God.” He has the honor of proximity, of closeness to the throne of God. That’s Gabriel.

He was sent also to the Virgin Mary with the most amazing message that any angel has ever carried to any human being. In Luke 1, he said to Mary, “’Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You’ll be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.’  ‘How will this be’, Mary asked the angel, ‘since I’m a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high wall overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.’”

This is a message that Gabriel spoke to Mary, the deepest theology ever communicated in the pages of scripture. “Mary, you’ll have a baby and the baby will have no human Father. He’ll be conceived miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit will overshadow your body and that’s where this baby is going to come from. This baby will be the Son of David. He’ll have a genealogy through you and also through Joseph, and he will be rightly called the Son of David. He’ll be human because he is your baby and also descendant of David of the house and lineage of David. But he will also be divine because he’s called the Son of God.”

This is the mystery of the incarnation, the mystery of the virgin birth. It’s central to our faith. Jesus Christ was born in the normal way, looked like any other human baby that was born, but He was conceived by the supernatural power of God on a virgin’s body. And so this doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus as being fully God, fully man is central to the Christian faith, was initially announced by an angel, announced by an angel to Mary.

The angel was also dispatched in a dream to Joseph, the guardian of that Holy Family to give him a different version of the same message. Matthew 1, “Joseph, Son of David, ‘Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She’ll give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.”

The angelic message to Joseph concerning this baby’s mission is a little bit different, but easily harmonizeable to Mary.’s  The child born is going to reign on a throne forever. To Joseph, He’s going to save His people from their sins and we know that that’s by His death, His bloody death on the cross, but the theology of the essential nature of who this baby is is the same. I mean fully God, fully man is wrapped up in the word Emmanuel, “God with us”, conceived in a human mother by the power of the Holy Spirit. The angels were dispatched to carry this message and the theology of Jesus Christ to Mary into Joseph.

III. Angels Celebrated the Birth of Christ

Third, angels celebrated when this baby was born, they were there to celebrate the birth of Christ. This is the most famous angelic involvement. Angels were sent to Bethlehem the night that Jesus was born, and they were sent to worship Him. This is the direct and obvious fulfillment of God’s command in Hebrews 1:6, when God brings his firstborn into the world, He says, “Let all God’s angels worship Him.” They came to do that in  direct obedience to the command of God.

First an angel, a single angel, is dispatched to the shepherds on the hills outside Bethlehem, as we’ve already heard. “There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks. At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. And this will be as sign to you. You’ll find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Again, angels are given a role of dispensing theology to human beings. But this time it’s simple working-class shepherds who are just out there at night watching over their flocks in the hills surrounding Bethlehem. Suddenly an angel comes with heavenly glory, a radiant display. This is one of the key texts for me. Understand that glory involves sometimes physical light, a radiant display. And so it is. This angel came with the glory of the Lord that shone around there at night, and it caused instant terror. The angel gives the message that Christ the Lord is born in Bethlehem. He is Christ, He is Lord, He’s Savior.

These terms are initially understandable. They immediately take root in the heart of any believer, but they will take all eternity to unpack in their fullness. The shepherds understood these words. The simple proof of the angel’s words was the oddity of seeing a baby wrapped and laid in a feeding trough for animals. That’s highly unusual. So when you go down and you see this baby wrapped up in swaddling clothes, that will be a sign that our words are true. “Then suddenly a huge multitude of the heavenly host appears. A great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

This must have been what Charles Wesley and George Whitfield had in mind when they wrote, “Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King.” God told them to do it. It says, “Let all God’s angels worship Him,” and they did it with gladness and with powerful voices.

I want you to understand a word that is easy to misunderstand and that is the word “host.” I asked some people earlier this week, “What is a heavenly host?” And they said, “Well, when you host somebody, you’re opening up your home, you’re welcoming them.” Friends, that is not what host means here. It’s not like the angels are saying, “Hey, you all come.” I know I’ll never say it like you guys do, “Y’all come,” saying, “I want you to come and enjoy.” That’s not what’s going on. It’s not what the Greek word means. The Greek word is “stratia”, which is a military term. This is an army, a huge army.

Imagine how that would’ve looked to us rebels against heaven to have a heavenly army arrayed in military weaponry surrounding us. It really would be terrifying. It’s not a choir of angels, it’s an army of angels. If you want to see the kind of damage they can wreak on planet Earth, read the Book of Revelation. The kind of damage that they wreak gladly when God tells them to do it, pouring out wrath on the ecology and on the people of Earth before the Second Coming of Christ. It’s an heavenly invasion.

But not that night, though they could have done that kind of damage because we all deserved it. We’re all rebels against the throne of God. They were there to celebrate the birth, effectively, of our and God’s champion who came to fight on our behalf. They’re there to celebrate as He went forth, as David did in the day when he defeated Goliath. He is the representative of heaven and of us, the people of God to fight our battle for us.  They’re there to celebrate, and there’s lots of them. It’s not a little, it’s a huge army. They’re not there to invade rebellious Earth and destroy it like we all deserve, but they’re there to proclaim, “Glory to God and peace from God to those on whom his grace or his favor rests.” That’s the message. This is the same army of angels that will be dispatched in waves in Revelation to destroy all sinners at the end of the world. But at this point they’re there to celebrate the birth of the Savior forth.

IV. Angels Protected the Newborn Christ

God also dispatched an angel to warn Joseph in a dream to flee the murderous King Herod and his killing soldiers. Matthew 2, “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the Land of Israel for those who are trying to take the child’s life are dead.’ So he got up and took the child’s mother and went to the Land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judean places, his father Herod, he was afraid to go there having been warned in a dream. He withdrew to the district of Galilee and went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”

An angel was dispatched to Joseph in a dream to say, “Get up and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you.” They escaped just in time before the soldiers came and killed all the boy babies two years old and under. Then later, once Herod was dead and the danger had passed, the angel came and told Joseph to bring the child back. Certainly angels protected Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus at that point, but I’m certain that angels protected Jesus throughout the 30 years that He was growing up. The demons knew who He was. Satan knew who He was, and yet He lived a normal upbringing.

He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God. When He grew up, He was a carpenter. When the time came, He was revealed out of obscurity by John the Baptist. But in all of that, there must have been a wall, an angelic wall of protection, around Jesus as He was growing up. Revelation 12 depicts the devil as a dragon ready to devour the male child who will rule over all the world the moment it was born, but he couldn’t do it.

V. Angels Strengthened Christ in his Weakness

Fifthly, during Jesus’ life on earth, He was subjected to all the same weakness that we are— pain, weariness, hunger, thirst. At two key moments in Jesus’ weakness, his physical bodily weakness, angels were dispatched to strengthen the King of angels. First, after his temptation by the devil in the desert. In Mark 1:13 it says, “He was in the desert forty days being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and angels attended him.” It’s an amazing thing how Jesus, the infinite King of glory, was so weakened by his fasting that God had to send angels to keep him alive and to feed him out in the desert.

Second, in his agony in Gethsemane, in Luke 22 it says, “An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him and being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” We cannot fully understand what was happening in Gethsemane as Jesus was fully aware that He was about to drink the cup of God’s wrath in our place on the cross and to shed His blood in our place. God, I believe, mysteriously revealed to Jesus’ human mind what it would be like to be under the wrath of God and it just about killed Him, dropping Him to the ground, and He was growing faint. An angel was dispatched in some mysterious way to strengthen Him to survive that moment in Gethsemane as great drops of blood were pouring from His face. It is a marvelous and an amazing thing that this infinite King of glory needed help, physical help from angels at those two times.

VI. Angels Announced the Resurrected Christ

After Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, angels were sent from heaven to tell his followers that Christ had risen just as He had predicted. In Matthew, an angel came down and rolled back the stone and sat on it. I’ve always loved that picture. He’s very comfortable in the presence of Roman soldiers. He’s not afraid of them at all. They’re terrified of him and he just easily rolls a massive boulder and sits on it. It’s just a beautiful picture. But he’s there announcing the resurrection.

The same thing in John’s Gospel. You have two men dressed in white sitting in the empty tomb where Jesus’ body had been. One at the head, the other at the feet. In Luke’s gospel, the same thing as women went to finish the burial rituals that had been hurried because the Passover was coming. It says in Luke 24, “Suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, ‘Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen just as he said.'”

Angels are not usually dispatched to proclaim the facts of the gospel of Christ’s death and his burial and his resurrection, though they would do an amazing job, ordinarily not. But here at the very beginning of the spread of the Gospel, after the resurrection of Christ from the dead, angels are dispatched to tell his immediate inner circle of followers what had happened.

VII. Angels Celebrated the Heavenly Ascension of Christ

Seventhly, angels celebrated the heavenly ascension of Christ. After Christ rose from the dead, He spent forty days with His disciples, giving them many convincing proofs that He was alive.He was training them and teaching them and getting them ready for the spread of the Gospel worldwide to the ends of the Earth. After that, after He had given all of that proof, at the end of that time, forth days, He ascended from the surface of the Earth up through the sky, through the clouds, and ultimately into the heavenly realms.

The Book of Hebrews tells us that He passed through the heavens, plural, through circles of heavens, so higher and higher. First, the atmosphere, and then beyond all the physical realms of heaven, what we call sky and outer space and beyond that into the circles of heaven, the heavenly spheres of existence in the spiritual realm. He passed through all that. The author of Hebrews gives us the language of passing through, and the scripture reveals that as He did, the angels celebrated his passing as a triumphant conqueror. In Psalm 47, it says, “God has ascended amid shouts of joy and the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our King, sing praises.”

It’s a marvelous picture we get of the angels celebrating the accomplishment of the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. I also think it’s interesting the angels were dispatched to tell the disciples to move along now and get on with their lives as they’re standing there outside Jerusalem with their heads craning up, looking and waiting for the Second Coming of Christ 2000 years ago. God sent two angels to say, “Time to move along.” “They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going when suddenly, two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, ‘Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you’ve seen Him go into heaven.’”

VIII. Angels Assisted the Spread of Christ’s Kingdom

Eighth, as I just said, Scripture does not assign to angels the work of evangelism and missions. The ministry of reconciliation has been entrusted to us, the followers of Christ. That’s our job. It is our work to go to the ends of the earth and to proclaim the gospel. As the scripture says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?” But it’s not angels that do it. However, angels have consistently assisted that spread as they were dispatched from heaven to do. For example, in Acts 8, an angel working along with the Holy Spirit told Philip the Evangelist where to go so he could proclaim the Gospel to an Ethiopian eunuch. We can see angels dispatched to guide evangelism and missions in Acts 8.  So also God dispatched an angel to rescue Peter and the Apostles from prison in Acts 5, and also Peter from prison in Acts 12, causing chains to fall off and making the twelve soldiers guarding him to fall into a deep sleep. Also an angel is dispatched to Cornelius the centurion, to tell him to send men to Joppa to find a man named Peter who would bring a message by which he and all his household would be saved. The angel was not dispatched to give the message. He could easily have done it, but instead to send messengers to get Peter to come and do it. So it was angels that did that.

“The ministry of reconciliation has been entrusted to us, the followers of Christ. That’s our job. It is our work to go to the ends of the earth and to proclaim the gospel.”

In heaven, we’re going to find out throughout thousands of years of redemptive history, how active the angels have been in the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. As the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1:14, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” They have helped the spread of the gospel for 2000 years.

IX. Angels Will Celebrate Christ’s Glory for All Eternity

Ninth and finally, angels will celebrate Christ’s glory for all eternity. As I said before Christ was born, angels worshiped and celebrated all along. As redemptive history has unfolded, we are told that angels were learning. “They long to look into these things,” Peter tells us. 1 Peter 1:12, “Even angels long to look into these things.” They weren’t omniscient. They didn’t know where all this was heading. They were learning as events were unfolding. As we see for example in Daniel 12, one angel asks another angel about timing and timetable. They don’t know when the timing is going to be for all of these things. They’re eager to learn, and they are learning as events unfold on planet Earth.

As those events unfold, they celebrate them, like the birth of Christ. They’re celebrating. It’s not like they didn’t know it was coming, but now it’s broken into history and they are celebrating.  They’re tracking events unfolding, and they’re learning and they’re celebrating with pure hearts. I believe that they’re going to celebrate when all is said and done for all eternity. They’re going to celebrate what was done to rescue a multitude of sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation. They’re going to celebrate what God has done through the second and the third person of the Trinity. By the working of Jesus’ bloodshed on the cross, by His resurrection and by the outpouring Holy Spirit on the people of God, the spread of the Gospel, the angels are going to celebrate every detail of what happened for all eternity.

In Revelation 5:11-12, it says, “Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 times 10,000, 100 million angels. They encircle the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And in a loud voice they sang, ‘Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.’” So there’s 100 million angels celebrating the Slain Lamb, who by his blood rescued people for God. Just as it said earlier, “You are worthy because you were slain and with your blood, you purchase people for God from every tribe, language, people and nation.” You’re going to celebrate that, that radiant glory for all eternity they’re going to celebrate.

We wouldn’t even know about it except that God had dispatched an angel to John to write the Book of Revelation. As it says in Revelation 1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John.” An angel was entrusted with the Book of Revelation to bring down to John and the island of Patmos.  Then He says, at the end of Revelation 22:16, “I, Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and I’m the bright and morning star.” Angels will be worshiping and celebrating Christ’s victory at the cross for all eternity. Revelation 7 says, “After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the lamb. They’re wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands and they cried out in a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne to the lamb.'”

The next verse, “All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, they fell down on their faces before the throne. And they worship God saying, ‘Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.'” The angels are celebrating a redemption they didn’t need. It wasn’t for them that Christ became incarnate. Surely it is not angel He helped but the sons of Abraham, us, flesh and blood, and yet the angels are celebrating with every bit as much joy as if it had been them. They’re going to celebrate it for all eternity.

So what about you friends? What about you? We here at First Baptist Church do not believe in a secular Christmas. We believe in Christ at the center of it. We want to join in that angelic worship and celebration. We want to see who this child is, this incarnate son of God, and we want to join the angels in celebrating. What about you? What about you? I understand at Christmas time it’s a time for people to go to church maybe with family and friends. My desire is that there’d be no person listening to my words today, who would be in a lost, dying state.

All you have to do is hear all of this truth that you’ve been listening to of who Jesus is, of why He came. Of what He did at the cross and of how God raised him from the dead, and understand it is by simple faith in that story that you will be forgiven of your sins. There is no reason for anyone in this room to end up perishing eternally. To be terrified when that army does invade and punishes the rebels who never would yield to God and to Christ. There’s no reason for that.

All you need to do is cross over from death to life is simply listen and hear like, “Hark, the herald angels sing.” What are they singing? “Glory to the newborn King.” See this incarnate deity laying there. See in that, your own salvation. If you are already a Christian, I want to wish you all a wonderful merry Christmas. You’re going to enjoy time with your family tomorrow, but as you do so, let’s bring Christ right into the center of that time. I don’t know what your traditions are, what your habits are, but in our family, we love to read scripture as part of our celebration, to talk about the actual facts of the birth of Christ, of the gospel. Choose some Scripture and read it together with the people that you’re with. Make Christ the center of your celebration.

Close with me now in prayer.

Father, we thank you for this time of year in which we get to focus on a vital detail of our Christian faith, and that is the incarnation of Christ, the giving of the God man, the birth of Jesus as the savior of the world. We needed Christ. It was a rescue mission. As the angel said to Joseph, “You’ll give him the name Jesus, because he will save His people from their sins.” Lord, we need that. We thank you. I pray, oh Lord, that you would be working deeply in the hearts of people who hear this message that they would believe and trust and follow you. And for all of us who years ago did, Lord pray that you’d renew our faith and help us to celebrate as the angels did In Jesus’ name, Amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

On May 21, 1738, Charles Wesley lay seriously ill in bed, fearing for his life. But he feared more for his eternal soul since he had no assurance of salvation… he and his brother John had been following a religion of good works and hard discipline and it had brought him no comfort but only ever-increasing anxiety about his eternal destination. For almost two years, John and Charles had been studying the religion of the Moravians, who spoke often of the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the soul of a genuinely converted person. The Wesleys had seen a supernatural peace in a Moravian group during a terrifying storm in the Atlantic, and they longed to know the source of that peace, that total freedom from fear of death. The Moravians spoke openly of the assurance of salvation the Holy Spirit gives directly to the heart of a genuinely converted person:

KJV Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

But they had not experienced that at all… if anything, things just seemed worse and worse. Until that day… May 21, 1738… ironically Pentecost Sunday. Charles had been fighting for his life against that illness, but also pleading with God for assurance. Alone in his bed between visits by John, the doctors and well-meaning friends, Charles had a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit that changed his life forever. Assurance flooded into his soul; he felt strange palpitations in his heart.

He cried aloud, “I believe! I believe!” And he wrote in his journal that day, “I now found myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in hope of loving Christ.” His more famous brother, John Wesley, would soon have his own conversion experience at a prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street there in London.

Though John Wesley would become the leader and driving force of the movement known as Methodism, Charles Wesley would become the movement’s poet and hymnwriter. He wrote over 6000 hymns, seeking to put the theology of Christianity in lyrics that illiterate people could understand easily.

Seven months after his conversion, Charles Wesley was walking through the streets of London on Christmas Day. He heard the bells ringing celebrating the birth of Christ. He hurried home and wrote the poem that would become arguably the most celebrated Christmas song of all time, now known as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”

Now the original poem Charles wrote was “Hark how all the Welkin rings, Glory to the King of kings!” Welkin means “heavens”. In 1753, the greatest Methodist preacher of them all, George Whitefield, changed the lyric to what we know today:

Hark! The Herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn king! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!

The improvement is well-appreciated… it is already a challenge to have one obsolete word—“Hark” meaning “Listen!” An even more obscure archaic word “Welkin” might have sunk the hymn. But the heavens were indeed ringing with the praise of an angelic army the night Jesus was born.

We can “Hark”—LISTEN—to their celebration only by faith in the Word of God; just as we can SEE Christ’s birth, Christ’s life, Christ’s death, and Christ’s resurrection only by faith in the same Word of God.

The call to LISTEN to the angelic praise is the doorway into my Christmas sermon this year. I want to trace out the angelic worship of Christ through the whole of scripture. My purpose is that we will not merely HARK to the angelic worship of Christ but join in from our hearts. That God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And what is God’s will for the angels in heaven? More specifically, what was God’s will for the angels the night Christ was born?

Hebrews 1 makes it plain:

Hebrews 1:6 when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

This is an open claim by God the Father to the deity of his only begotten Son… for the Scripture makes it plain, God commands all his worshiping beings—angels and humans—“Worship the Lord your God and serve him ONLY!”

But when Jesus was born, he commanded all the angels in heaven to worship his Son! Presenting the incarnate Christ as eternal deity to be worshipped! And the angels complied!

But I want to trace out more fully the history of angelic worship of Christ and service to him; following in historical order

Angels Worshiped the Pre-Incarnate Christ Angels Announced the Coming Christ Angels Celebrated the Birth of Christ Angels Protected the Newborn Christ

Angels Strengthened Christ in His Weakness Angels Announced the Resurrected Christ

Angels Celebrated the Heavenly Ascension of Christ Angels Assisted the Spread of Christ’s Kingdom Angels Will Celebrate Christ’s Glory for All Eternity

·       Angels Worshiped the Pre-Incarnate Christ

o   Christ alone of all human beings existed before his birth and willingly chose to become human; that is true of no one else in all history

[On trial before Pontius Pilate] John 18:37 Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

So, Jesus willingly chose to be born, to come into the world for a specific purpose… to build a Kingdom based on those who listen to the TRUTH of the gospel

So also this statement:

John 6:38-40 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

o   Before Jesus became human his was on a throne in heavenly glory and Philippians 2 makes it plain he willingly chose to lay aside that glory… “Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die!”

o   Before Jesus was born, the angels knew his glory and worshiped him as God

o   Two key passages: Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1

Isaiah 6:1-3 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The Lord the seraphim worshiped was Jesus, for John 12:41 makes it plain that Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him

The seraphim are angels… the Hebrew word literally means “Burning Ones”… as if they are characterized by FIRE. This lines up with the statement made of them in Hebrews 1:7

Hebrews 1:7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.”

This fiery terminology also lines up with Ezekiel’s vision of cherubim, as fiery beings that almost defy description move mysteriously beneath the throne of the pre-incarnate Christ:

Ezekiel 1:4-5 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north– an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures.

The cherubim have four faces and two sets of wings; their were high and glorious wheels under them, wheels sparkling like chrysolite.

These cherubim move like lightning, with fire flashing back and forth among them:

Ezekiel 1:13-14 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

These cherubim move north, south, east, or west with lightning speed whatever direction the Spirit moves them.

High above these cherubim sat the enthroned pre-incarnate Christ:

Ezekiel 1:22-25 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome. 23 Under the expanse their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. 25 Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.

This is awesome! They stood transfixed at the voice of Christ coming from the throne of glory… they lowered their wings and waited to hear him speak, ready to do his will. Motionless, reverent, waiting on the voice of Christ.

And here is the description of his glorious throne:

Ezekiel 1:26-28 Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown

Ezekiel the prophet was granted this vision of the pre-incarnate Christ on a throne of heavenly glory. This is the glory Christ himself spoke of in his prayer in John 17:

John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

This is the heavenly glory Christ laid by to enter the world as a baby in Bethlehem. This is the glory he now sits enthroned in at the right hand of Almighty God. This glorious preincarnate Christ was worshiped and adored by these mighty cherubim, powerful, energetic, like lightning and like fire. Reverently waiting with wings lowered. Ready to serve him. Ready to move at his word.

·       Angels Announced the Coming Christ

o   The word “angel” is a transliteration of the Greek word “angelos,” meaning “messenger.” Sending messages to humanity from God is only one of their functions, but it is vital

o   God dispatched the angel Gabriel who stands constantly in the presence of God… he sent him to Mary with the most amazing message any angel has ever carried to any human being

Luke 1:26-35 “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

o   This is the deepest theology ever communicated in the pages of scripture; first spoken by the angel Gabriel to a young Jewish woman

o   You will have a baby, conceived in you by the Holy Spirit

o   This baby will be the Son of David… but also the Son of God; fully human, because he is your son, Mary; but fully divine because he is also God’s Son

o   The mystery of the virgin birth is central to our faith; Jesus Christ was born in the normal way in Bethlehem, but conceived miraculously by God’s direct power on Mary’s body

o   The mission of this miraculous baby was to reign eternally on David’s throne, a kingdom that would never end

o   An angel was also dispatched in a dream to Joseph to give him a different version of the same message:

Matthew 1:20-23 “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.”

o   The angelic message to Joseph gave a different aspect of mission than the one Gabriel gave to Mary … Jesus was coming to save his people from their sins

o   The theology of the essential nature of this baby was the same… fully man, fully God; IMMANUEL, God with us, conceived in a human mother by the Holy Spirit

o   SO… angels were dispatched to carry the message and the theology of Jesus Christ to Mary and Joseph

·       Angels Celebrated the Birth of Christ

o   Most famously, angels were sent to Bethlehem the night Jesus was born to worship him; this is the direct and obvious fulfillment of God’s command in Hebrews 1:6

Hebrews 1:6 when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

o   First, an angel was dispatched to the shepherds on the hills outside Bethlehem

Luke 2:8-12 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

o   Again, angels are given a role of dispensing theology to human beings… simple, working-class shepherds, keeping watch on the hills surrounding Bethlehem

o   The angel appears in HEAVENLY GLORY…a brilliant light surrounding him, causing instant TERROR

o   The angel gives the message that Christ the Lord is born in Bethlehem… his is CHRIST, he is LORD, he is SAVIOR

o   These words would take a lifetime to take root, and an eternity to fully understand

o   The simple proof of the angel’s words: a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough used for animals

o   Then, suddenly, a huge ARMY of angels appeared to celebrate Christ’s birth

Luke 2:13-14 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

o   This must have been what Charles Wesley and George Whitefield must have had in mind when they wrote “Hark! The Herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn king!’”

o   God told them to do it… “Let all God’s angels worship him!” And they did it with gladness and with powerful voices!!

o   The words “a great company of angels” is in KJV “a multitude of the heavenly host”… the Greek word “host” is STRATIA, clearly a military term… related to the Greek word for an army that is ENCAMPED

o   And there are LOTS of them!

o   But they are not there to invade rebellious earth and destroy it like we all deserved… no, they are there to proclaim “Glory to God” and “on earth peace” to sinful human beings who are the recipients of God’s grace

o   This is the same army of angels that will be dispatched in waves in Revelation to destroy all sinners who choose to continue in their rebellion… to wipe out the earth with Christ when he comes in glory to destroy his enemies and save his people

·       Angels Protected the Newborn Christ

o   God also dispatched an angel to warn Joseph in a dream to flee from the murderous King Herod

Matthew 2:19-23 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.

o   Certainly angels did far more than this to protect Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus as the fled to Egypt, and as Jesus grew up

o   Revelation 12 depicts a dragon as ready to devour the male child who was born to rule all nations, but he and his wicked angels (demons) were thwarted; undoubtedly holy angels fought demons all Jesus’ life to keep them from killing Jesus in a way contrary to the scriptures

·       Angels Strengthened Christ in His Weakness

o   During Jesus’ life on earth he was subjected to all the same weakness we also are… pain, weariness, hunger, thirst

o   At two key moments in Jesus’ weakness, angels were dispatched to strengthen the King of Angels

■        First, after his temptation by the devil in the desert

Mark 1:13 he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

■        Second, in his agony in Gethsemane

Luke 22:43-44 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

·       Angels Announced the Resurrected Christ

o   After Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, angels were sent from heaven to tell his followers that Christ had risen just as he had predicted

o   In Matthew, an angel rolled back the stone and sat on it

o   In John’s Gospel, two men dressed in white were sitting one where Jesus’ head and one where his feet had been

o   And in Luke’s Gospel, as the women went to finish the burial rituals of Jesus

Luke 24:1-8 … suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen!

o   Though angels are not generally given the gospel to proclaim, yet at the beginning they played a vital role

·       Angels Celebrated the Heavenly Ascension of Christ

o   After Christ rose from the dead and spent forty days with his disciples instructing them and giving them many convincing proofs of his resurrection, he ascended to heaven

o   Hebrews tells us he passed through all the heavenly realms and is seated high above them on God’s throne of glory

o   The angels celebrated his passage through the heavenly realms

Psalm 47:5-6 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

o   So also God dispatched two angels as men dressed in white to announce Jesus’ Second Coming

Acts 1:10-11 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

·       Angels Assisted the Spread of Christ’s Kingdom

o   As I just said, in Scripture it is not commonly given to angels to proclaim the gospel to human beings, for the ministry of reconciliation has been committed to us

o   But an angel, working with the Holy Spirit, maneuvered Philip to preach the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch

o   So also God dispatched an angel to rescue Peter and the apostles from prison in Acts 5, and just Peter from prison in Acts 12… causing chains to fall off and making the twelve soldiers guarding him to fall into a deep sleep. An angel appeared to Cornelius in Acts 10 telling him to send to Joppa for Peter who would preach a message through which he and all his household would be saved

o   So, in heaven, we will find out just how active angels were in the salvation of Christ’s elect and the advance of Christ’s glorious kingdom

Hebrews 1:14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

·       Angels Will Celebrate Christ’s Glory for All Eternity

o   Before Christ was born, angels longed to look into the things of the gospel predicted by the prophets

1 Peter 1:12 Even angels long to look into these things.

o   As we see in Daniel 12, angels don’t fully understand the messages they bring and ask questions about it… so they are able to LEARN as events unfold on earth

o   And as those events unfold, they celebrate them… like we see when Jesus was born in Bethlehem

o   The angels are thus tracking events unfolding and are learning and celebrating with pure hearts

o   And they will celebrate Christ’s achievements for all eternity

Revelation 5:11-12 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

o   The final glory of the New Heavens and New Earth, and of the radiant New Jerusalem, all those glorious foretastes of what heaven will be like have been delivered to us by ANGELS

Revelation 1:1-2 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John

Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

Summary and a Christmas Exhortation:

Angels have been eager observers of the glory of Christ from before he was incarnate through every stage of redemptive history until now… they have seen it, learned from it, and celebrated it with all their considerable might and power

Angels have also been willingly active in whatever roles God has given them—whether to worship his only begotten Son or to serve him and his people in some way

And angels will be right there alongside us, celebrating our salvation:

Revelation 7:9-12 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

What about YOU, my dear listening friend? Jesus wants us to do God’s will on earth as the angels do in heaven.

And what he wants from all of us is to see in this miracle baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger the incarnate Son of God, sent to die in our place on the cross and to rise to a throne of eternal glory. Surrounded by holy angels who never needed to be redeemed, and by sinners who did need to be redeemed. When you celebrate his birth tomorrow… do it with that same reverence that the seraphim and cherubim did so many centuries ago… and what they will do forever and ever.