December 6, New Testament Fulfillment in Luke 2

Today, I want to share a part of the sermon from last week. We’ve seen how all the prophets predicted that the Messiah would bring an ever-increasing peace with Him. Luke 2 highlights the fulfillment of this promise in Jesus.

13      And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 

               14      “Glory to God in the highest, 

         And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:13-14).

God’s glory isn’t the only part of the equation. The angels also make a declaration, “On earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” The Old Testament prophets also talked a lot about peace. Isaiah 9 even tells us that a child would be born called the Prince of Peace and Eternal Father. When He is born, the heavenly host shows up to declare this peace. This Greek word for “among” (εν) here is a pretty versatile word. It could mean among, in, to, toward, for, or anything similar. So, delineating the exact trajectory of this peace in this verse is kind of difficult. I think since Adam’s fall in the garden, people have made war against God. While God disciplined nations on some occasions, His majority response was to pass over people’s sin. When the messiah is born to deliver people from the consequences, presence, and power of sin, God responds to people’s declarations of war against Him by declaring peace between Himself and His people. Sinful people are the ones who want war, not God. Consider Acts 17:30-31,

    30      “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 

          31      because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

When people truly could not see God, God overlooked those times of ignorance. Now, because God literally pulled back the heavens and made Himself visible in Christ, all people everywhere are called to repent. God didn’t punish people for their ignorance. But, now the time for ignorance is past. Not only was God visible, He furnished proof in the resurrection so we are truly without excuse. God will judge the world in His good timing. We gain more insight into God’s good character. He doesn’t judge people in their ignorance. We will ask the question, “What about the person who never gets a chance to hear the gospel?” I see here that God is good to ignorant people, overlooking times of ignorance. I believe salvation depends on God, not people anyway, and we can trust Him with it. He also doesn’t allow people to remain ignorant because He is good. There are people actively trying to stay ignorant, justifying their unbelief and lifestyles with all sorts of evidence that doesn’t actually justify their lifestyles and unbelief, but there are really no excuses. Jesus was actually born. He really lived. He was really crucified. He was actually raised from the dead—and we still have access to the eyewitness records and historical sources that show people experienced Jesus post-resurrection and experienced changed lives because of Jesus. The time for religious ignorance and rebellion is past. God has declared peace.

Particularly, He has declared peace toward men with whom He is pleased. There are people who still try to live at war against God. They do not accept God’s peace treaty because they are insolent and violent people—only caring about themselves. To those with whom God is pleased, there is peace. I personally don’t understand why anyone would reject God who wants peace and desires to give the gift of eternal life. It is beyond me. But, I guess there are people who would rather be their own gods and fight for their own life against the life-giver. I would rather be with God in Christ. 

Glory to God in the highest. On Earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased. This is the very first Christmas song, and the start of our advent season. It also shows that when Jesus appeared, He appeared with the Christmas vision of the Old Testament.

See you tomorrow at church as we look to Matthew 1:20-23!