“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying…” (Luke 2:13)

“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53).

“A multitude of the heavenly host” appeared “praising God.”  From the beginning, we find that the host of heaven are at the beckon call of our Savior.  In the scripture from Matthew I shared here, Jesus is speaking as the mob comes to arrest him.  Jesus reminds his disciples that he does not lack the resources to free himself if he so choses.  Jesus’ life is one of my contrasts.  One of the greatest is between his unlimited power and the restraint of that power.  He could have come into the world in all his glory, but instead he was born as a child in a manger.  He could have called down the host of heaven to rescue him from the cross, but he chose to suffer and die that we might have life.  Praise be to our Almighty Lord who came in humility that our lowly lives might be exalted to where he is.

WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around

“Fear not,” said he, for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled minds;
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind

“To you, in David’s town, this day,
Is born of David’s line
A Savior, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign

The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swaddling-clothes
And in a manger laid

Thus spake the seraph and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels, praising God, and thus
Addressed their joyful song:

“All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from Heaven to men
Begin and never cease