Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2: Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4: Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Introduction

These are the opening verses of Handel’s Messiah. Messiah is an oratorio composed in 1741 by George Fredric Handel. Every single word in this oratorio was taken directly from the Old and New Testament of King James Bible. Handel’s Messiah is about the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the exaltation of the Messiah. In these opening verses, Handel repeats the phrase, “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed” over and over and over again. I believe Handel captured the true message of Christmas, which is the revelation of the glory of the LORD.

At the birth of Christ, we read in ...

Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9: And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

The obvious setting of the first Christmas is the glory of the God. When an angel appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Christ, the radiance of the glory of the Lord surrounded them. Then in Luke 2:14, we read a multitude of the heavenly host appeared praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest!”

This morning, I want us to focus on Isaiah’s prophecy, “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed”. 

What is the glory of the LORD? The phrase “glory of the LORD” occurs 36 times in the Bible. Glory is synonymous with honor, splendor, praise, worthiness, etc. It is used to describe the manifestation of God's greatness, honor, beauty, power, wisdom, goodness and light. The glory of God is the invisible qualities of God made visible. In other words, it is the outshining of His perfection. 

John MacArthur put it this way, “The glory of the Lord is the expression of God’s person. It is any manifestation of God’s character, any manifestation of His attributes in the world, in the universe, is His glory. In other words, the glory is to God what the brightness is to the sun. The glory is to God what wet is to water. The glory is what heat is to fire. It is the emanation, it is the effulgence, it is the brightness, it is the product of His presence, it is the revelation of Himself. Anytime God discloses Himself, it is the manifestation of His glory.”

In our text we read Isaiah prophesying that the glory of the LORD will be revealed. Throughout history God has revealed His glory and there are basically three different ways God has revealed His glory to us.

I - In the Skies

God has revealed and is revealing His glory to man in the skies.

The sky is preaching intelligibly.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 

The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky shows what God has done. The sky is preaching and it’s preaching in a language that everybody can understand. Language and culture are not a barrier.

The sky is preaching continually.

Psalm 19:2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

“There’s not a split second of time when there’s not a revelation of God in the skies. Every single day. Every single night. Every single week. Every single year. Ever since they were created. The skies preach a thousand sermons a day to the human heart.” - Mark Hitchcock

The sky is preaching universally.

Psalm 19:3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4: Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.

God’s revelation in the skies is also universal. Anyone can see it and anyone can see it anytime, anywhere. Distance is not a barrier either. The voice of the heavens reaches every corner of the earth. 

And what is the sky preaching? The sky is preaching that God is glorious! Creation reveals God’s glory and men and women, boys and girls in every age and every place have seen the glory of God in the heavens. 

Psalm 8:10 LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 3: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

I can picture David looking up at the night sky and as he looks up at the sky, he is overwhelmed what he sees and what he hears. David wants us to look up and see how God has set His glory above the heavens. God reveals His glory and majesty in the heaves above!

James A. Johnston “Creation has a message for those who notice and think about what they see every day. God has surrounded this world with a giant Omnimax screen running a full-length feature on an endless loop. Any time you lift your eyes, you see God’s glory in the sky above.”

Look at the sky; listen to the sky, what is it showing; what is it saying? It’s showing and it’s saying that God is a glorious God. It’s revealing the glory of the LORD!

II - In the Scripture

God has revealed and is revealing His glory to man not only in the skies but also in the Scriptures.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

God speaks. God is not silent. He speaks and He spoke in the past. He spoke to reveal Himself.  He did it at different times, and in different ways. To whom did He speak in the past? To the fathers unto the prophets. God revealed Himself to the saints of the Old Testament through the prophets. 

We read these words in ...

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

God has revealed Himself through the prophets and what God revealed in the past unto the fathers by the prophets and apostles are recorded in the Scriptures. 

God reveals His glory more clearly and more fully and more conclusively through the Scriptures. 

2 Peter 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

III - In the Son 

God has revealed and is revealing His glory to man not only in the sky, not only in the Scriptures, but fully and finally and ultimately in the Son.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 

God has spoken in the past through many different times and different ways but in these last days God spoke again. And how did He speak this time?  “By His Son.” 

God has revealed His glory to man in the sky, in the Scriptures, and ultimately in the Son of God. In the incarnation of the Son of God we have the full and final revelation of the glory of God. The birth of Jesus Christ is the revelation of the glory of the LORD and Handel felt that it bears repeating over and over and over again.

The whole theme of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ the Son of God is greater than the prophets, greater than the priests, greater than the angles, because Jesus Christ is the full expression of the glory of God. 

Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

The apostle John put it this way …

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

For that reason Jesus said, if you have seen me ...

John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Handel’s Messiah dramatizes two events in particular. The first is the coming of Jesus Christ as the babe in a manger. The second event that it dramatizes is the coming Christ as the conquering King. And He shall reign forever and ever. 

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

The prophet Habakkuk prophesied that there’s coming a day when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. That’s our comfort! Thats our hope! That’s our joy!

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2: Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4: Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Closing Thoughts

I declare to you this Christmas Season that the glory of the LORD has been revealed. It’s been revealed fully and ultimately in Jesus Christ and He is worthy of our worship. So this morning as you look to Jesus I hope you don’t only see a baby in a manger. I hope you see the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

God wants you and me to know Him, and He wants us to perceive Him, and He wants us to understand His self-revelation. He reveals Himself that He may save you. Oh, don’t miss it. A lot people will miss the true message of Christmas. They will miss Jesus Christ. They will miss the glory of the Lord. Look to Jesus Christ and live. Look and live! Look to Jesus with the eye of faith and be saved. 

AMEN!