God Speaking

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests”

(Luke 2:14)

In ancient times the word, favour, was an integral part of a king’s power. He had absolute power to bestow his favour on those specially chosen by him.  The story of Esther is a prime example of a king choosing to favour Esther when she attempted to come into his presence without being invited, to beg the king to save her people.  The king chose to grant her his favour;

“If I have found favour with you, O, king, and if it pleases you,  your majesty grant me my life – this is my petition. And spare my people.” (Esther 7: 3)

The Jewish people were saved by the king granting his favour to Esther’s plea.

We too, now know that we have been saved by the words of the beautiful song of the angels as they announced to the shepherds that the long, awaited child King had been born in Bethlehem.

When we understand the significance of the word, favour, we can begin to realise that was an astounding song the angels sang to alert the shepherds that this day a King had been born and yes, his favour would now rest on his beloved family and it would come wrapped in peace, ready to envelop all those who would recognise him.

The prophet Isaiah prophesied, hundreds of years before, about this incredible day in history, and the Jewish people had waited expectantly for their Messiah to arrive.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9: 6)

The word favour may have lost some of its significance in today’s world, but we all recognise what favourite means when it is used to describe a person and we would all crave to be the teacher’s favourite when we were small children, but the good news of Christmas is that when we follow Jesus, each one of us, no matter who we are, become the Father’s favourite child.

In the hub bub of Christmas activities, it is easy to lose the sense of wonder, and to just concentrate on the sweet baby Jesus in the manger, but as we reread the story, knowing the amazing story of why that baby is the center of all the true meaning of Christmas, and knowing who he really is, we can have the same reaction as the shepherds and glorify, the Heavenly Father in all we say and do as we celebrate the birth of the Holy Child.

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2: 20)