Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.
Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
Angels, from the Realms of Glory
By: James Montgomery, 1771-1854 (1816)
Listen to this simple piano version as you read, or watch the video complete with lyrics then read. Please make certain to enjoy the video log below.
We begin our journey through Advent this week as we make our way toward Christmas and the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Through this hymn we will consider the invitation extended herein to different groups of prospective worshippers. We start with the angel host, who get the praises started off in glorious fashion. Let’s tune our hearts.
Realms of Glory
What a neat way to describe this multitude that probably scared those shepherds half to death. Having dwelt since the creation of the world in the the throne room of God, these messengers would certainly reflect His glory, not only in their desire to do his bidding, but likely even in their countenance. When your home is the very presence of God it undoubtedly affects everything about you, from your pursuits to your appearance.
They had come from the realms of glory. The Scripture says it like this.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying…Luke 2:13 ESV
We will examine what they said as they praised God on Thursday, but focus now on a few other words.
- suddenly
- multitude
- heavenly host
One angel began the proclamation, but was joined suddenly by many more. Have you ever imagined what the was like? Did they come zooming in from afar at the speed of light? Did they just appear as if from our of nowhere? How did they travel from realms of glory to the realm of earth? Whatever the answer is we know this for sure, it was sudden.
That is made even more remarkable when we consider how many of them there were. Multitude is not very specific, but would be by definition a large number. From one angel, to a multitude, and suddenly. There were a lot of them and they arrived quickly.
Finally, we learn from where this multitude suddenly appeared, and what characterized them. The host of heaven. Often in Scripture the angelic host described a warrior like group of heavenly messengers fit for battle. We can only imagine that must have characterized their appearance here as well. They came from heaven ready to do battle. Wow!
So what is our take away from this first line, the who of the first invitation to come and worship? If angels are invited to come worship, those who existed since the dawn of creation in the presence of God, and they come, then I better make sure I am ready to come as well. Are you ready to not only offer the invitation to them, but receive it yourself? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you offer it and be ready to respond.
All the earth
From realms of glory to all the earth. Their proclamation was first to shepherds, but then to the entire world. And how fortunate that is for us.
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Luke 2:10 ESV
Angels are messengers. They carry God’s messages to the people God wants to hear. This is the greatest message every spoken, and accordingly God wants everyone to hear it, so He makes that access explicit in the proclamation itself.
That first angel brought the news of great joy “for all the people”. The exhortation to the angels in the hymn is to continue to carry that message to the entire earth. As we sing it we are effectively telling the messengers to continue messaging, while simultaneously joining in the worship of the Christ.
Certainly, they are happy to do so which we will see when we look at their song a few verse later on Thursday. It is a song that also tells the good news, a story in song. They are doing their messaging work and their worshiping work at the same time. Maybe we could learn from this.
Rather than trying to create unique moments to tell the story of Messiah’s birth, maybe we should learn to make it a more natural part of everything we do. Then we will be able to simultaneously tell the story and worship Christ. Help us Lord.
Are there ways you could integrate telling the story of Jesus as you give Him praise in your daily living? Maybe if you work at highlighting His activity in your life in your normal speech patterns, and preoccupation to tell His story may just naturally emerge. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you can better bring together your worshipping and your messaging.
Father, thank You for sending the angels to declare the arrival of Your Son. Help us to learn a lesson from them as we blend our worship and our telling. May they flow together seamlessly so we may have more opportunities to do both. In Jesus name. Amen.
Heavenly Tuning!
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Video 12.1 Transcript
Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.
Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.
Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
This Christmas carol carries the call to worship to several different groups. The first is the angelic host. Ever God’s messengers, now we get to encourage them to make known the glory in which they have dwelt since the dawn of creation. Think about that.
We are both inviting them to come and worship and to take that same invitation to the entire earth. It is marvelous to consider how with the turning of each year we commemorate their first Christmas carol with our own. Determine now to join their song.
These angels were there as God spoke “Let there be light” and they continue to dwell in His unapproachable light. They sang at the creation of all things, and were there to herald the re-creation that Christ’s coming would initiate. Praise God for new beginnings.
They were also there when the Light of the World came to dwell among us and were the first to issue the call to worship the newborn King. Thank God for making His coming known in such a glorious way, and for enabling us to echo it in our songs and lives.
Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.
Sing
Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond. Until next time, be Resonant.
Image Attributions
Angel – https://pixabay.com/vectors/angel-christmas-star-religion-2915060/
Angels – https://stevensawyer.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/angels.jpg
Wing Your Flight – https://nature.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/442204/
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