“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).
PEACE IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH
Many of us are familiar with the angels’ message to the shepherds in which they tell us of heaven’s desire to bless the earth. This is a wonderful truth that we learn from the angelic visitors: heaven wants to bless us.
That’s good news for us, those who live in heaven have “goodwill” towards us.
We know that God himself lives in heaven, for that is what we pray, “Our Father who art in heaven”.
But there are scores of others, of whom we only know a little. We do not have a full picture, indeed maybe those who are in heaven don’t have a full picture for if this universe that we live in is big, how much bigger is the heaven that God lives in?
But these are musings, for we must wait to get a clearer picture, and that’s the way it should be. For here on earth we live by faith not by sight.
We do, however, get brief insights into this spiritual area that is higher than ours. For we have been made a little lower than the angels, as we are told in Psalm 8:5.
So if we hear what the angels said to the shepherds about peace on earth, we find, if we look carefully, that there is an answer from men back to the angels. For in Luke 19:37–38 we read about the triumphant ride into Jerusalem that Jesus made on a donkey, “When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”
Now it’s easy to miss but notice what the disciples of Jesus said using their loud voices, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest”.
The angels at the birth of Christ said, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:14).
So the disciples echo or answer the angels cry with “peace in heaven” as they praise the Lord when Jesus rides into town.
But isn’t heaven all ready at peace? After all we do pray “Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Well, it seems that not all of heaven is, or at least that section of heaven that’s called “the air”. For the "Prince of the power of the air" is a title found in Ephesians 2:2, that refers to Satan as a spiritual ruler who wields influence in the "air" which signifies an invisible, spiritual realm and "the power of the air" represents the wicked spiritual forces and influences at work.
Theologians sometimes refer to this area as the “lower heavens”. But however we describe it, we ought to note that it’s there—“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).
As Jesus made his way triumphantly to the place where he would eventually be killed, we read that what happened on the cross was an astounding powerful victory: “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:15).
So the prayers of the disciples, for “peace in heaven”, are realised by what Jesus has done. Satan has lost his position. “Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Rev 12:12). Not such good news for those who dwell on earth, but much rejoicing for those in heaven. And we know that the Lord will walk us safely through whatever happens here on earth.