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To take a more contemporary read on vs. 13-15…”Suddenly a whole slew of angels pitched up, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rests.’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘What the heck was that?!’ ‘I don’t know but let’s go to Bethlehem and check it out.’”
The historical setting for this visitation was the ‘Pax Romana’ or Roman Peace. The longest recorded span of time without war. The reason for that was the Roman Empire owned most of the western and Middle Eastern world making for a large, relatively peaceful dictatorship. Despite this world peace, the shepherds were so moved by the angel’s words they immediately went to see the Savior of the World who brings peace.
Of course, even during the Pax Romana the world was still violent, and people were oppressed. In fact, just two years after Christ was born, Herod sent his troops to Bethlehem. Herod, as king, was threatened by this infant who was proclaimed King of the Jews and set out to eliminate the competition by having all males 2 years and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding area killed. So much for peace on earth. I wonder what the shepherds thought when they heard about that. Fortunately, Jesus’ parents were warned by angels to flee to Egypt until Herod was dead.
So, what about peace on earth both then and now? Take a look around; we are at war – again. We can’t stop killing each other! It has been estimated that in all of recorded history there have been only 7 years of peace.
Were the Angels lying? Is this God’s idea of a joke? God may have a sense of humor, but he is not a liar. No, this is yet another of the Bible’s many ironies – such as, to live you must die, and to be first, be last. To understand all of these things we need to go beyond our human perspective and try to see what God sees.
I submit to you that when God considers peace he first sees the need for us to be at peace with Him. It is from peace with God that our experience of peace flows. In other words, spiritual peace leads to emotional peace and then physical peace or peace in community. While that sounds simple enough let’s put it in the context of the annunciation and what was going on behind the scenes, as it were.
In Luke’s account of Christ’s birth we see only some of the angels that night, there are many more and they aren’t singing. There is also another king, and he too is very threatened by this baby King of the Jews.
Let’s take a look at a parallel passage in Revelation Chapter 12. It is called Revelation because it was revealed to the apostle John in a vision while he was living in exile. As one might imagine with visions, this is pretty wild. John gets to see what is going on in the spiritual dimension of reality. So, where Luke recorded the 3 dimensional reality of Christ’s birth on earth, John gives us a look at the goings on in the spiritual dimension of reality.
The angels are at war! The King of this world is Satan. It is clear from this passage that he is not happy about God showing up. Satan hates everything about God – and since God loves us, Satan hates us all the more. It is his personal mission to make us as miserable as possible and that includes stealing our peace, both spiritual and physical.
In a daring move, God establishes a beachhead on Earth in a bold midnight raid led by… an infant! Only God would be so audacious and counterintuitive. What’s more, who is at this beachhead landing with the infant? A choir!
Now, I was in an army band for six years. We had some real soldiers in our unit, expert shots and physically fit. But honestly, in battle we would have been little more than cannon fodder. You just don’t send the band in first unless you hope the enemy will run out of ammo shooting the band!
When we see Xmas as more than God visiting Earth and also see Christmas as an act of war, we are reminded that we are actually living life in a spiritual battle that is played out in out 3 dimensional reality and in the spiritual dimension of reality. Peace for those on whom God’s favor rests – a spiritual reality – a state of mind – peace with God, a hope for 3 dimensional peace as well.
Are you experiencing peace with God this season? Peace with God is the beginning to finding emotional peace, as well as physical peace. And on our spiritual journey we will find seasons of peace, and seasons of turmoil. We will experience violence, hatred, anxiety, depression, because we live in a messed up world and we in turn are messed up. But the message of Christmas is that through Christ we can have peace with God and we enter into a process of becoming more like him.
The angels didn’t lie. If anything, we have had too narrow a perspective. I have found Christmas becoming more and more meaningful as I think of it as more than Christ’s birth, but a daring and bold act of war as God brings the battle into Satan’s back yard.
I encourage you to reflect on your view of Christmas. How might seeing Christmas as an act of war change, and hopefully enhance, your view of Christmas and what God did that night 2000 years ago? Like it or not, you live in a war zone, but are you at war with God or at peace with God?
I always enjoy reading people's comments and the same is true for this post. Agree or disagree, all I ask is that you sojourn with me.
To read more about this concept check out this article by Philip Yancey.
