Heaven’s Praise for Earth’s Savior

As if seeing one angel was not enough for the shepherds, at the declaration of Jesus’s birth, a whole host of heaven turned out to shout with one accord the praises of Him who was marking a new beginning for the world. Imagine being there to witness a worship service of celestial beings illuminating the night sky with a perfect harmony of ethereal voices chanting God’s praises. Who else’s coming has ever been announced in such a glorious way that rent the veil between heaven and earth? 

I cannot imagine hearing crowds of thousands upon thousands shouting and cheering at my appearance, but earthly royal figures and some modern Hollywood and musical celebrities probably have tasted it. The cult of personality has remained alive and well in history. The definition of royalty has simply changed. Yet who is worthy to receive such praise and acclaim on earth? There is a story shared by Alexander Solzhenitsyn that people attending an assembly for Josef Stalin in Communist Russia fearfully clapped until their hands hurt because no one wanted to be the first to stop cheering his honor!

What has any one person on this earth done for us that comes close to who Jesus is and what He has done? People today who say that Jesus was just a nice person, or a moral prophet, mock Him. It was no ordinary child or prophet the angelic choir royally honored that night with a festival of worship on Bethlehem’s rolling hillsides. It was the birth of the Son of God, the new Adam who would reign sovereign over sin’s curse.

Do our shouts and praises for those we admire on earth compare with the praises and cheer we give to God for His good news of salvation? What cult of personality consumes our attachment or personal devotion and perhaps even overshadows our praises to Him whose glory and beauty surpasses the universe, whose fame rises infinitely above all creation, and yet whose love is beyond comparison? How boldly do we praise the glory of this God to a lost world around us? Have our praises mellowed, or have we even become ashamed to praise His glory in our public life—the God who in Christ showed us such unmerited favor? Doesn’t our broken world still need to hear the angel’s good news?

Prayer

God, You deserve the loudest and highest praise my created lungs can give. Forgive me for desiring my own praise and glory more than Yours or for not treating You or Your Name with the highest worth that it deserves. It is easy for me to profess that I adore You more than anyone, but I am often bolder to talk about my admiration for other people than to boldly praise Your glory publicly in a lost world that still hungers for good news.

Who is holier, and yet Who has loved me like my God? May I join with the heavenly host and angelic choir that visited Bethlehem that night in unashamedly praising Your glory and your salvation for all the earth to hear.  

Amen.