16 December

The glory of the Lord shone around them

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.” Luke 2:8-9 

The presence of God is a fearful thing. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his face was so radiant that Aaron and all the Israelites were afraid to come near him. Thousands of years later, in fields around Bethlehem, an angel radiating the unmistakable glory of the Lord appeared to shepherds. Understandably, like Aaron and the Israelites, they too are filled with great fear. They could only imagine how gloriously shiny, and fear inducing, this newborn ‘Christ the Lord’ would be. 

Of course we now know that the glory of the Lord was to be displayed in a very different way: “He gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross”. Phil 2:6-8

Sean Green