It all happened in a moment.
It was dark. The sheep had bedded down. The shepherds were kicked back on the hillside, captivated by the lights from the little town below. And then, WHAM! The darkness exploded. The angel appeared. And the shepherds were scared out of their minds.
Christmas carols make it seem all warm and wonderful, but the Bible says they were terrified! It’s no wonder. Angels are imposing creatures, and when one suddenly appears out of the night sky right above you… yikes! Even when the shepherds got over their initial shock, there was still that blazing light all around them. And that was the real problem.
The Bible says the light did not actually belong to the angel himself; it was the glory of God. The Scriptures speak of God’s glory in two ways. First, God’s glory is the matchless honor He deserves above all other beings—His infinite worth, His excellent reputation, His supremacy over everything else in the universe. This is the glory the angels sing about: “Glory to God in the highest!”
Second, God’s glory is the brilliant light that surrounds Him in heaven. It’s the visible representation of His worthiness and beauty, the created radiance that emanates from God as He reveals Himself to His creation. This was the light the shepherds saw that night in Bethlehem when “the glory of the Lord shown around them.”
God’s glory in this sense is His radiant beauty; but to guilty sinners, His glory is not beautiful. It’s terrifying. If Santa Claus sets up shop at the mall, we’ll bring the kids and line up to see him. But if God were to show up in all His glory, we’d scatter. Remember the first time Peter realized who Jesus really was? Jesus had just blessed him with a miraculous boatful of fish; but instead of thanking Him, Peter said, “Get away from me. I am a sinful man.”
We recoil from God’s glory, not just because we are drab and He is magnificent. We recoil because He is holy, and we are sinful. God is so glorious that when He reveals Himself, all we see is a blazing light so bright, it could snuff us out of existence if He didn’t shield us from its full brilliance. All this is the backdrop that makes the angel’s message “good news” and not just “news.” A Savior for glory-fearing sinners? Good news indeed!