King of the Carols - Hark the Herald Angels Sing - The Unique Glory of God

A Top Ten Carol

In the BBC's poll of the most popular carols, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, comes in the top ten, and with good reason. The words are wonderful, the tune is easy to sing - and joyful too.

 

1  Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th'angelic hosts proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"

2 Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin's womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th'incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.

3 Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.

Our carol focusses in on the part of the nativity story which tells of the angels appearing to the shepherds. 

 

I say angels plural, but the story begins with just one angel.  

A Terrifying Sight

 

We read in Luke chapter 2 that the shepherds were terrified, which gives us an idea of the brightness and the glory of this heaven-come-to-earth scene.

What caused the shepherds to tremble? Not the glory of the single angel, but the glory of the Lord, the divine brightness that shone all around the heavenly messenger, "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them."

 

Glorious blinding light is an apt image for the sheer wonder, majesty and power of our Creator God, who, says Paul, "dwells in unaproachble light, whom no-one has seen or can see." (1 Timothy 6:16)

 

The Unique Glory of God

 

Let us pause to remember today God is glorious, that only God is glorious, and that he is jealous of his glory too, “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols." (Isaiah 42:8).

 

Let us remind ourselves that all other glory is reflected glory, derived glory, borrowed glory. 

 

As the moon has no glory of its own but merely reflects the glory of the sun, so the angelic beings have no glory of their own, but reflect the glory of their Maker. 

Two Big Lessons

First, if we have gifts let us never boast about them, but always be careful to redirect glory to where it belongs. "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:31).

One day King Herod, dressed in his royal robes, gave a speech. He was worshipped by some in the crowd who cried out, "this is the voice of a god not man" (Acts 12:22-23). And because Herod did not right away give the glory to God - he did not say something like, "God gave me those speaking gifts" or "God helped my royal designers come up with such majestic clothes" an angel of the Lord "struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died."

Let us watch out for the sin of pride, the terrible, satanic sin of pride.

 

And second, let's give glory where it is due, as our carol does:

"Glory to the Newborn king!"

 

The babe in the manger was the incarnate Son of God, the Word, the second Person of the Godhead, the Creator. He, the Lamb of God, is worthy to "receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!" (Revelation 5:12)

A SONG FOR THE DAY

Here's this lovely carol sung by the Gettys. 

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our glorious Father in heaven,

We give glory to you, and to the Holy Spirit and to the Son.

 

We acknowledge that all we have comes from you, and we praise and thank you for everything. We thank you for the terrifying glory the shepherds saw, which has reminded us today of your power and majesty and awe.

Keep us from every proud thought. Forgive us for every boastful notion. Help us whenever we are tempted to boast to boast in you alone.

And help us to glorify your Son, born in a manger for our salvation.

We ask these things in the humble exalted name of Jesus

Amen.