At Christmas time, we hear a lot of carols about the birth of Jesus. We are reminded in one of them about the words of the angelic choir—”Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.” The only gospel writer who records this is Luke (Luke 2:14).

The angels sang audibly at Jesus’s birth, but not at His death or His resurrection. However, no one was expecting the coming Messiah to arrive as a baby! They were expecting a conquering hero who would liberate them from Rome’s oppression.

The angels start out by ascribing glory to God. We are more prone to giving glory to others and to ourselves. If we had even a small vision of God’s glory, we would be eager to worship Him and revel in that glory.

More attention is paid to the second clause (stanza?) of the song, about the peace that only God will bring. While our world yearns for peace, it looks for it in all the wrong places. God is interested in people having peace with Him through the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus ultimately provided that through His death on the cross.

This peace is not acquired by everyone. The angels note that it is for those in whom God is pleased. How do we please God? Micah 6:8 answers this question by telling us that God requires us to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. Each of these is only possible if we have a right relationship with God. So when we sing this carol, we need to think about what the angels were saying. We should rejoice in God’s offer of peace, which starts with giving Him glory. May He enable us to do so. Please comment in the box below if you have any additional thoughts