Glory!

Luke 2:14

Merry Christmas Eve! Today’s verse is found in the Gospel of Luke’s telling of the Christmas story and revolves around one word: glory. I’ll admit, glory is a difficult word to define. I went into some of my study materials and found that there are twenty words in the primary biblical languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic that translate into English for glory. I won’t mention all twenty, but focus on two, because of how they show up in this one verse. The first definition shows that glory is revealed in God’s presence. That makes sense, because of how the angel proclaimed glory in heaven, then also pointed to peace on earth. The second definition means the One in whom you can put your confidence and hope. That is specific to God, because the scriptures offer a counterbalance stating that glorying a person in such a way is sinful due to our fallibility. So in this one verse, the angel proclaims to us today the same as some 2,000 years ago that God is present in heaven AND on earth, the Prince of Peace arrived, and He is the One in whom you can place your confidence and hope. That’s a lot in one word, but it says a lot, doesn’t it? I pray that your celebration of Christmas this year may be filled with glory. God is here with us. God is the One in whom you can place your confidence and hope. Glory, indeed!

Photo Credit: YouVersion Bible App