The glory of humility

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. — Isaiah 40:5

I remember sitting one Christmas season in London listening to Handel’s Messiah, with a full chorus singing about the day when “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” I had spent the morning viewing remnants of England’s glory — the crown jewels, the Lord Mayor’s gilded carriage — and it occurred to me that just such images of wealth and power must have filled the minds of Isaiah’s contemporaries who first heard that promise.

The Messiah who showed up, however, wore a different kind of glory — the glory of humility. The God who roared, who if He so desired could order armies and empires about like pawns, this God emerged in Bethlehem as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or even control His bladder, who depended on a teenager for shelter, food, and love.

Rulers stride through the world with bodyguards, fanfare, and flashing jewelry. In contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in a shelter for animals, with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn King but a feed trough. Indeed, the event that divided history into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses. As Phillips Brooks put it:

How silently, how silently,

the wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts

the blessings of His heaven.

In most religions, fear is the primary emotion when approaching God. In Jesus, God made a way of relating to us that did not involve fear. — Philip Yancey

READ: Isaiah 40:1-5

In Christ, God veiled His deity to serve and to save humanity.

The Bible in one year:

• Psalms 143-145