12 Days Before Christmas Series: 6 – 12/18/2025

Three minute read time

Read: Luke 2:8-21

If you’ve had any experience singing Christmas carols or hymns, you’ve likely sung songs about angels. “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Angels from the Realms of Glory,” or “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

As a worship leader and song writer I think these are beautiful songs. They make us feel good, but in many ways, they are not very biblical.

The angels may have been ‘bending near the earth’, but the bible doesn’t say anything about touching their harps, and if they did, we have no idea if they were made of gold. One song says the angels were ‘winging’ their way over all the earth, but are we sure they had wings?

It may have been a ‘clear’ night, or it may have been a slightly overcast night. We don’t know. The bible doesn’t say. The angels may have arrived at midnight, but it could well have been 1 or 2 in the morning.

Every year we sing that the angels were ‘sweetly singing o’er the plain,’ but was it REALLY sweet? If we simply stick with what the text in the gospel of Luke says, there is no record of anyone singing. Unfortunately, we spend so much time creating the perfect “Christmas scene” that there are some things we miss … like the armies (more than one!).

Luke tells us that there was with the angel “A multitude of the heavenly host.” (ESV) The word ‘host’ means army. The Greek literally reads “a multitude of the armies of heaven.” This was company upon company of angel warriors, not a really big choir.

Can you imagine the sound that several thousand Navy Seals world make if they all shouted in unison:

Glory to God in the highest!

And on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!

Hooyah!

That would be something that could make you, in Linus’s words, “Sore afraid!” (See yesterday’s blog)

But there’s one more thing we usually miss. The angel of the Lord said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

[Cue the sound of a needle scratching across vinyl]

The Shepherds are thinking, “the Christ is supposed to be the savior of OUR people. This is the Jewish Messiah. What does the angel mean when he says ALL people?”

Well, that’s the Good News of Great Joy. This baby in the manger had come to save all of us. This is the rescue plan for the whole world! And this Good News is so important that God sent a multitude of the armies of heaven to declare it (not sing it).

So, this year, have fun singing about angel choirs and harps of gold, and feel all the feels that come with midnight clear on a silent night. But remember that Scripture tells us that the Shepherds were greeted by row upon row, rank upon rank, of gleaming angel armies that shook the skies with this great, good news!

If you’d like to read the whole Christmas story as it unfolded more than 2,000 years ago, check the first blog in this series for a list of scriptures. If you have questions, feel free to reach out—I’ll do my best to answer.

Return tomorrow for: You Want Me to Put the Baby WHERE?

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Image Credit: AI generated by Copilot