God's 'favor rests upon you.' What does that mean?
Luke 2:13-14 (NIV)
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
Articles 1-9
Article 10: Election Based on God’s Good Pleasure
The cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God.
This does not involve God’s choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation,
but rather involves
adopting certain particular persons
from among the common mass of sinners
as God’s own possession.
Summary
As a key part of the most famous Christmas narrative, today's passage is immediately familiar to most people. But so often these 'familiar' verses are like icebergs, in that most people understand only the part they see on the surface.
Artistic renditions of this scene only serve to muddy our conception. So often Christmas cards portray chubby little cherubs singing forth, or beautifully haloed angels with great and glorious wings coming down from on high. Neither of those scenarios are very likely what the shepherds witnessed.
Rather, Luke records that a great company of the heavenly host appeared. Both of the highlighted words have a militaristic element to them. The word translated as host literally means army. In other words, God's mighty angel army, assembled at God's command to pour out His righteous wrath against sinful humanity now shouts forth in exuberant praise because today, in the town of David a Savior has been born (v11)!
Imagine the sound as this massive multitude of heavenly beings prepared to do battle against the forces of evil on earth made as they discovered that the very Son of God was on His way to achieving everlasting victory over sin and death! Their triumphant song has been forever memorialized in Latin: Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Dig Deeper
It's the final phrase of this army's song that brings us back to Christmas in March.
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The heavenly army praised God in the highest because they knew the sacrificial death of the newly born Savior and the perfect righteousness He would impute to God's elect would result in peace between God and His people.
But what does it really mean for you today, months after Christmas, to be reminded that God's favor rests upon you? Commentator John Nolland helps explain this:
And to be “of God’s good pleasure” is to be established in a favored relationship with him in which his mercy and power are experienced through his faithfulness to the covenant.
In other words, having God's favor rest upon means enjoying a privileged relationship with Him, where His mercy and power are revealed through His unwavering faithfulness to the covenant. The more you understand God's unmerited favor in your life, the more you will experience the peace of Christ that caused the angel army to burst forth in praise.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, commander of the heavenly host (army)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your words and deeds will reflect the angel army's song: Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Acts 27
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