And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praised God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

—Luke 2:13-14

I’m not quite as excited about New Year’s Eve as the thousands upon thousands of people who spend hours in Times Square on New Year’s Eve night, but I have always loved watching the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. For years, I scheduled my return from the holiday travels on New Year’s Eve so I could stay up that night and watch the ball drop. I would eat junk food (it’s the last opportunity before those resolutions take effect) and watch the musical performances and put puzzles together until the countdown began. 

If asked why, I would say it is a wonderful excuse to stay up late, watch TV, and eat whatever I wanted to, but really it was the excitement of something new that kept me up even after my sleep cycles had adjusted to the bedtime of a teacher. There was something sad about it too—there was something old ending just as surely as there was something new beginning—but much more powerful than the bitter was the sweet excitement of newness.

That same excitement for something new is what we see when we look at the angels. It’s easy to gloss over what happens after the first angel gets done delivering the message to the shepherds. Don’t get me wrong. It’s pretty amazing—a “multitude of the heavenly host” shows up to praise God. I’m sure I can’t even imagine how amazing that would have been, but there’s something important hidden in that phrase—the original word for “host” referred to an army.

I used to picture a shining white mass of angels in white robes with hymn books and halos, but it’s much more likely that they showed up armed and clad in gleaming armor. I think I would need a few more “Don’t be afraid’s” before my knees stopped knocking together at that sight than the shepherds did.

We have no way to know how much of Heaven’s army was present to deliver the news of the Messiah’s birth, but the angels present were at least part of the army that has been at war in the heavenly realm since the beginning of time. They had been fighting the war that has spanned all of human history, but on that night, they were there to proclaim something new. 

After all the battles and the endless ages of guarding and protecting God’s people from the evil one, they came to proclaim peace.

That’s a pretty exciting new thing. After all the struggles and difficulties of this world, we finally have an opportunity for peace. 

Yes. I said an opportunity, not a guarantee. I don’t know much about the grammatical structure of the ancient languages of the Bible, but I do know a good bit about English grammar. I looked at all the most common versions of the Bible and a few that aren’t so common, and with the exception of versions related to the political influence of Mr. King James, they all have one thing in common—a qualifier.

It’s pretty much what it sounds like. A qualifier adds a qualification that must be met. In this case, we don’t have angels proclaiming peace to everyone; we have an army of angels proclaiming peace specifically to those who meet the qualification of being those “with whom [God] is pleased.”

That can seem like a tall order for us imperfect people. There are so many rules to follow, so many mistakes we might make. But we can get a good idea of what it means to be people who please God if we take a glance back at the shepherds.

In the verses following Heaven’s military jam session, the shepherds do two really important things. First, they place their faith in the Messiah they had been told about and demonstrate this by seeking Him out. Then, when they had found Him, they turned around and began to spread the message.

I am so filled with gratitude that our God remembers we need to keep things simple sometimes. The shepherd’s response to the angel’s good news is, at its core, a summary, a picture of the life we are called to live as followers of Christ. We are to put our faith in Jesus and love others enough to let them know their salvation has come and costs no more than accepting a Christmas gift. 

As we begin the new year, this is what I hope we will strive for together—to be people who please God by seeking Him and sharing His good news with others. It can be easy to get in the swing of things after the holidays and forget to spend time with Him or to share His love with others, but our God has been so good to us. He has given us a new year in which to experience His peace, so let’s make the most of it.