Sometimes, you need a wingman. That’s the pilot term for your partner in the air - the guy who flies alongside you to help you, and you help him.
Sometimes, you just need another person alongside you to help you through - a 2nd set of ears at the doctor’s office; a witness to the business deal; someone to plead your case before a judge; a person with experience when you sit down with a contract.
Or, maybe you’re leading a nation across the Sinai Desert and you really have no idea what you’re doing at times. That was Moses. And Moses was feeling the pressures of leadership and inexperience. So he told the Lord, “Please, Lord, if You’re presence isn’t with us, please don’t make us go.” Then he asked a favor: “Show me Your glory.”
Exodus 33:19-23
And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
God did as He said, and Moses was allowed to look upon at least a part of God’s glory. Only, it had to be filtered. No one can look at the full glory of God and live.
Isaiah also saw the Lord’s glory. It was in a vision of some kind when God called him to be a prophet, and Isaiah wrote about It.
Isaiah 6:1-5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, 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.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Both of those scenes begin to give us some appreciation for the real gravity of God’s glory.
We’ve been following the theme of light in the Christmas story, and today I want us to look together at the true source of that light: the glory of God.
We use this word “glory” in a light of different ways; so does the Bible. But the chief way the Bible uses it is when it speaks about the ways God shows His greatness.
Follow the light in the Christmas story, and that’s what happens in fields outside of Bethlehem the night that Jesus is born.
Luke 2:8-14 And 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 that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The night that we’re focusing on here right now, God pulled back the shades a little and made this an occasion to shine a bit of His glory. It’s not something that happens every day, but you’ll see with me how it was very fitting for what the Lord was doing.
It was an appropriate time for God’s glory to shine
Ill - Up until just a few years ago, Tom Bodett was the spokesperson for Motel 6 - the cheaper alternative to many of the other hotel chains. Bodett promised, “We’ll leave the light on for you.” It’s a way of saying, “We’re going to make an extra effort for you to feel welcomed here.” No one wants to show up to stay at a place where the lights are all turned off. It’s very appropriate to turn on the lights for guests when you expect them to come visit.
Last year, we moved into our house one week before Christmas Day. We just didn’t bother with Christmas decorations. This year is different. This year, we have people coming over, only not to help move; and family is going to be here later. This year, it’s time to get out the lights, set up a tree, and hang up some mistletoe! So, now, we have lights up. It’s that time of year. Later, we’ll take them down. In fact, outside, our HOA requires us to take them down!
The night that Jesus was born, it was dark outside, literally. It was also very dark times in several ways for Israel. They needed the great light that was about to make its entrance into earth. So, it was a very appropriate time for God to “turn the light on for you” when Jesus was born. The entrance of God into this world is a big deal! Why not turn on the lights? Why not make it obvious, at some level, that something really big is happening? I get the impression that Heaven found the glory was not an overkill.
Since then, there has never been an inappropriate time to reflect God’s glory.
It was an appropriate response to be terrified
…because Heavenly things aren’t ordinary or weak. Encounters with the softened version of God’s glory sent people into panic attacks. One of my favorites is the scene of Israel, waiting at the base of Mt. Sinai as Moses goes up to receive the 10 Commandments. Somewhere in the midst of the smoking mountain, flashes of lightning, and the sound of blaring trumpet, the people were scared. They told Moses, “You go speak to God and tell us what He says, but don’t let Him talk to us, or we’ll be dead!”
So, let’s paint the picture of some shepherds, outside Bethlehem at night. First one angel, and then “A great company of the Heavenly host…”
Heavenly host. Let’s get that straight. “Host” doesn’t mean they’re like a concierge at a restaurant. The Heavenly Host are God’s armies of angels; angels, not little naked babies with wings. Angelic beings are nothing to be trifled with. They comprise an army of supernatural warriors.
Luke, ch 1, when Zechariah questioned the angel’s message, Gabriel told him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” Loosely paraphrased, “If you would think for just a moment who I am and where I come from, you wouldn’t be saying what you’re saying at all!”
Meanwhile, in the fields outside Bethlehem…
v. 9 - The glory of the Lord shone around them and “they feared a great fear!” That’s an appropriate response when the glory of the Lord suddenly shows around you. It seems the shepherds realized it!
Where has this kind of realization gone? Where is the sense of awe, the sense of “Oh, no! I glanced at the Holy One!” the sense of “Please, I can’t bear to look or to hear any more!”?
What have we done with the glory that inspires shepherds to fear a great fear? Heaven has been cartoon-afied. Angels have been emasculated. The armies of Heaven have been reduced to hall monitors. The glory of Heaven has been displaced by the thrill of laser lights projecting on garage doors. The awesomeness of Divine power has been filed away with everything else we so casually call “awesome.”
I submit to you that losing an appropriate sense of awe regarding God’s glory and the glory of all things Heavenly has paved the way for lazy and loose attitudes to our Creator. If we were to be awestruck once again, down on the ground with our faces turned away because we can’t stand to even face the glory…
we’d find worship comes much more naturally; (Somehow, glory is something we can “give to God”)
we’d find that giving isn’t something we struggle with;
we’d find that obedience isn’t something we try to get out from under;
we’d find that giving our deepest attention to what He has to say to us isn’t so hard either.
Among the joys and wonders that we think this time of year, among all the traditions and emotions and sidebars, may I direct your attention to the first recipients of the news of Christmas and the first and most appropriate response to Heaven’s glory? They were awestruck.
When God showed His glory to Moses, set him in a cleft in the rock and covered it up just to spare his life, we read in Exodus 34:8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
As we think of the glory of God this time of year, let’s keep it in context. It’s the light that inspires reverence and worship. And at the same time, these awestruck shepherds were sent off to find a baby…simple, humble, vulnerable, dependent, Who is God’s light sent into the world. How do you put those two things together? (We’ll get into that next week!)
Today, I’m thankful for some scared sheep watchers who show me a right posture around the things of Heaven. Speaking of sheep watchers…
It was an appropriate audience to hear the news
…because Jesus came for every person - even those who often aren’t regarded. When God shines His glory on shepherds, it’s a reminder that His message of hope is for every person.
I’ve read different ideas about the way shepherds were looked upon in 1st Century Israel. Some suggest they were kind of the riffraff of the day - a sort of unwashed, smelly bunch that most people didn’t respect much. But, sheep and caring for them were an important part of their culture. They always had been. Taking care of peoples’ sheep was a much-needed position, whether someone did that himself or hired it out. Either way, what we have here is a group of guys, out at night, guarding sheep. They had to work the night shift. Most other people were asleep. Society was at rest. What we would consider “an unlikely few” were chosen, by God, to be the first to hear the news.
Remember
Isaiah 9:2 - The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
I can’t get over the way that, all along the way, God has chosen for His light to shine in places we might not expect or choose - the Jewish nation, under Roman control; a scrubby little village called Nazareth; a young peasant woman; a baby born a peasant. It’s another one of those peculiarities about the story of Jesus’ birth where we would do well to listen to the message: the good news about God’s Light Who came into the world is good news for everyone.
The word “angel,” by the way, means messenger. They aren’t the ones making the plan. They’re just delivering the message, and they don’t even fully understand it themselves. The decisions are being made higher up. Somewhere in Heaven the decision was made about who would receive the first invitation to see God on earth. Shepherds.
The angels didn’t decide that. Their job was to deliver the news and let God’s glory shine. It was appropriate, whether we agree with it or not, whether we understand it or not, and whether we repeat it or not. It was right, and holy, and good, because the One Who decided it is all rightness and holiness and goodness.
God is deliberate to shine His glory in places we often wouldn’t choose, and in ways we wouldn’t choose.
Conclusion:
In Exodus 34, after Moses returned from his encounter with the glory of God, there was something different about him. He glowed. It wasn’t like the “glow” of a woman who’s expecting a child. (Seriously? What’s that really look like??) Moses’ face glowed.
When I was a kid, the reason you bought and ate cereal was because of the prize in the bottom of the box. Some of my favorites were things that glowed - little frisbees, bouncy balls, or other items that you would normally never play with in the dark. But, hold them up to a light for a while, and they would glow. Then, after a couple minutes, they would stop glowing and you’d have to recharge them all over again.
So, Exodus 34, Moses has been in the presence of the shining glory of God, and like that glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball from the bottom of the box of Captain Crunch, Moses is glowing. Only, he doesn’t realize it.
Exodus 34:30 So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
Time to be frightened again! Moses had to call them back. “Moses, you’re shiny!” Read on and you’ll see that it wasn’t a permanent condition. It faded away, and just like that glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball. But he’d glow again after being in the presence of God’s glory. Moses makes a re-appearance, 1500 years later, standing alongside Jesus. It’s long after he has gone to be with the Lord, and he’s, you guessed it, glowing.
It makes me wonder…
Those angels who appeared to the shepherds - where did they get their shiny-ness? Why is it that, when they appear in the sky, the “glory of the Lord” shines all around the shepherds? It seems like, when angels make appearances in Scriptures, there’s some shining involved. Outside the empty tomb of Jesus sits and angel, whose “appearance” is “like lightning,” and whose clothing is “as white as snow.” Satan tries to disguise himself as an angel of light, but he’s not one of them.
Could it be that the reason angels of light are shining and brilliant is because they are around the throne of God? Could it be that they “reflect the glory of God”?
Over and over, God’s people are called to be, figuratively, children of light, to walk in the light, to shine like a light - all of it a reflection of the glory of God. It makes sense to me that the more we’re in the presence of God, the brighter we’ll shine.
So, how’s it shining these days?
Moses shined because he had been in the Lord’s presence. Moses communed with God, on a personal and regular basis. Some of you here today need to begin that kind of a relationship with God through His Son Jesus. We’re going to ask you to do that in a few moments.
