{"id":3079,"date":"2015-12-26T21:50:04","date_gmt":"2015-12-27T04:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3079"},"modified":"2015-12-26T21:50:04","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T04:50:04","slug":"candlelight-glory-god-highest-luke-21-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3079","title":{"rendered":"Candlelight – “Glory to God in the Highest” (Luke 2:1-14)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"C-12<\/a>It\u2019s time, but it\u2019s not time for what you think. It\u2019s time for a registration, or a tax census. The government wants its money and that means that it requires people to return to their home city to pay up. And so Luke records for us, \u201cAnd Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.\u201d<\/em><\/span> This seems like such an ordinary, boring way to start a story.\u00a0After years of waiting, the dramatic story planned long before is revealed, and it begins with, of all things, taxes.\u00a0Why would God begin this most wondrous, heaven-shattering story this way?<\/p>\n

First of all, He does so to show that His Christ was born in ordinary history.\u00a0This is no mythical god born in never-never land, once upon a time, long long ago. No, this is the real God invading and inserting Himself into what we thought was our history.\u00a0Humans thought that the way it works is that God stays in heaven while we live our lives on earth, and He leaves us alone to go about our business.\u00a0But that is not the God of the Bible.\u00a0History is His, under His control, accomplishing His purposes.\u00a0The purpose was hidden, but on Christmas we see the secret purpose revealed: God came into human flesh to be born as one of us, our Brother.<\/p>\n

But let us move on to something more heavenly, more Christmassy, so to speak.\u00a0We may not be thrilled with the report of taxes, but we love the news that the angels bring.\u00a0They tell us, \u201cGlory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.\u201d<\/em><\/span> We love these words, because they are straight from God, announcing the new age dawning with the birth of the Christ Child.\u00a0Here pure light and life are announced, that shall never fade for us in an eternal kingdom of blessedness.<\/p>\n

If you grew up with the King James Version or have ever seen Charlie Brown Christmas, we are more familiar with this wording: \u201cGlory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.\u201d<\/em> <\/span>Which one is right? Is it that God on Christmas was bringing peace and goodwill to all people?\u00a0Or was He saying through the angels that His peace would rest on those with whom He is pleased? There is truth in both.\u00a0Christ came as Man for all men.\u00a0He took human flesh in such a way that He is the perfect representative of all people \u2013 whether male or female, young or old, of whatever race imaginable.<\/p>\n

For all men, He became incarnate. To pay the price to atone for all sins, He took flesh that could be pierced, and blood that could be shed, so that every man of every place can say, \u201cJesus, the Son of God, became my Brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the meaning behind this night, that God would be born among us in order to die for us. Luther, in one of his sermons for Christmas, writes the following: \u201cThis Gospel is so clear that it requires very little explanation, but it should be well considered and taken deeply to heart; and no one will receive more benefit from it than those who, with a calm, quiet heart, banish everything else from their mind, and diligently look into it.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Just what does Luther mean? Everyone has heard the Christmas Gospel time and time again, and yet it is hard for us to accept this for what it is. It is simply the promise of salvation fulfilled for mankind.<\/p>\n

This is the reassurance of the Gospel, that no one has to wonder, \u201cWas He born for me?\u00a0Did He die for me?\u201d The answer is always yes.\u00a0For all, He came.\u00a0For all, He died. On some, God\u2019s chosen elect, He will create faith through His Word.\u00a0These will receive the gracious gift.\u00a0They will enjoy eternity, not because of anything they have done, but because God\u2019s favor rests upon them. Again, Luther writes, \u201cHe does not simply say, Christ is born, but to you<\/u> he is born, neither does he say, I bring glad tidings, but to you<\/u><\/em> glad tidings of great joy. Furthermore, this joy was not to remain in Christ, but it shall be to all people.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Just what takes place in the manger is nothing short of a miracle. We see here how Christ, as it were, takes our birth from us and absorbs it in His birth, and grants us His, that in it we might become pure and holy as if it were our own, so that every Christian may rejoice and glory in Christ\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n

This is indeed great joy that the angel speaks of to the shepherds. This is the comfort and exceeding goodness of God that, if a man believes this, receives the peace that the angel declares, a peace among those with whom God is pleased. In this case, that is us. We, the chosen ones, have God\u2019s peace. This is a peace beyond understanding, a peace that is always with you.\u00a0It is the peace that Christ purchased for you, the peace of knowing that your Brother is God\u2019s own Son, and therefore all will be well with you.\u00a0Christ takes care of His family, so He will take care of you.\u00a0He has already purchased forgiveness and eternal life for you.\u00a0He will not forget about you or let you slip through the cracks.\u00a0You are His own.<\/p>\n

For us, we should do as the angel says: \u201cFear not.\u201d<\/em><\/span> God became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and accomplished our entire salvation. He sent His Son into our world and won salvation for it. He sent and continues to send messengers to proclaim the marvelous news of salvation in Christ: \u201cFor unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.\u201d<\/em> <\/span>In Jesus\u2019 name, amen. And now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time, but it\u2019s not time for what you think. It\u2019s time for a registration, or a tax census. The government wants its money and that means that it requires people to return to their home city to pay up. And so Luke records for us, \u201cAnd Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15607,9016],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3081,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079\/revisions\/3081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}