The Glory of Heaven Unveiled
December 7, 2025
Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Luke 2:8-14
INTRODUCTION — KNOWING ABOUT JESUS VS. KNOWING JESUS
There is a profound difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing them. You can study a person, memorize facts about them, read their biography, admire their work, and still have no relationship with them. Our world is flooded with information. We have documentaries, interviews, podcasts, opinion pieces, and endless commentary. You can know everything about a person, a leader, or a historical figure, and yet not know them at all.
Sadly, this is the case for how many treat Jesus. Many people know facts, Scriptures, and doctrine, but have little understanding of who Jesus really is. Same thing for Christmas. People know about Christmas. They know about the manger. They know about the star, the angels, the shepherds, the wise men. They know about the cross and the resurrection. But they haven’t connected the dots in their lives personally of the significance of all these. There is a world of difference between knowing the facts of Christianity and knowing the Christ of Christianity.
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19)
When you do not truly know Him, meaning when you do not behold His glory., Christmas becomes sentimental instead of supernatural. It becomes nostalgic instead of transformative. It becomes a tradition instead of a revelation. Don’t misunderstand me, there’s nothing inherently wrong with traditions and nostalgia, but they cannot replace the person of Messiah. The manger was the first step toward the cross & the resurrection and ultimately to the coming Kingdom.
Everything changes the moment you behold the glory of Jesus. Everything changes the moment, as John writes,
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Everything changes the moment—as the angels declared—that “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:14). But only looking back fails to understand that the King is coming and when he does, will he say that he knows you? Because those whom he says he never knew he also says, depart from me.
This second Sunday of Advent, on this communion Sunday, God invites us not just to learn about Jesus, but to know Him. I want to challenge you to draw near to Him and to behold His glory and to respond to Him the way the shepherds did—with urgency, worship, and joy. When you encounter the living God, Messiah Jesus, you will never be the same.
In C. S. Lewis's novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, of The Chronicles of Narnia series, four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, pass through the wardrobe's portal to find the kingdom of Narnia imprisoned under the spell of the White Witch. Aslan the lion, who is the king of Narnia, is nowhere to be found. Although rumor has it "He is on the move," he appears to have abandoned his kingdom to the White Witch, who spends her leisure time turning the inhabitants into lawn statuary.
The four children set out to explore this strange and somewhat frightening new country that is locked under evil's spell. They come upon Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, a husband and wife still faithful to Aslan. The Beavers assure the children that Aslan is about to return to set things right and that prophecy suggests that they have a very important, even central part to play in the drama about to unfold. Indeed, they learn they are to actually rule with Aslan from Cair Paravel itself, Aslan's royal city.
Faced with all this fearful yet exciting news, Lucy and Susan's thoughts go to what Aslan is actually like. If he is a king who is safe, they reason, that will certainly be of great comfort in light of the battle being all but lost.
"Is—is he a man?" asked Lucy.
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
And friends, while Jesus is Holy and he is God, He’s the King, I tell you and we can draw near to Him today, just as we are and once we encounter the Living God, you will never be the same.
I. THE WONDER OF THE SIGN — GOD DRAWS NEAR
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12)
The angels told the shepherds, “This will be a sign to you…” (Luke 2:12). And before we rush past that, we have to admit something honest about the human heart: we are all sign-seekers. We crave clarity. We want direction. We look for signs in circumstances, in emotions, in “open doors” and “closed doors,” in political movements, in cultural shifts, even in the nightly news. The world even has its own language for it—“the universe gave me a sign.” It’s part of the human condition to want something visible that confirms the invisible longings of our souls. And yet Jesus warned His own followers against chasing after signs for the wrong reasons.
An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed. (Matthew 16:4)
Not because signs are evil, but because seeking them to justify unbelief or to avoid obedience reveals a heart that wants proof without submission.
So how do we reconcile this with the angels giving the shepherds a sign? It’s because the sign God gives is never the kind of sign the world demands. The shepherds weren’t told to look for a royal parade, or a cosmic display of power. The sign was a baby—wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Humble. Prophetic. Hidden in plain sight.
God’s signs don’t cater to pride; they confront it and humble us. They don’t confirm our worldly expectations; they overturn them. The sign of Christmas is that the greatest revelation of God’s glory came in the quietest, lowliest form. The sign God gives always points away from the noise of the world and straight toward the heart of God.
But the real tragedy is that we often are too busy looking for signs and missing the glory. We want God to show us something, but we don’t want God to show us Himself. We want God to reveal His plan, but we don’t seek to know His character. We want signs of comfort, signs of blessing, signs of breakthrough, but rarely signs for repentance and to really know Him. The sign God gave the Shepherds wasn’t spectacular—it was intimate and accessible.
The sign was an invitation to draw closer and behold because:
A. God Reveals Himself to the Humble
Think of who did not receive this announcement.
Not Caesar.
Not Herod.
Not the priests.
Not the religious establishment.
Not the scholars in Jerusalem.
Instead, the first to hear heaven’s announcement were shepherds—men considered unclean, uneducated, and untrustworthy by society. Men considered so unclean their testimony wasn’t even admissible in court. Men who slept outdoors among sheep. Yet God chose them to be the first eyewitnesses of the Messiah.
This is the heart of Advent: God stooping low so we can look up. He reveals Himself to the humble instead of the proud and to the broken instead of the self-sufficient. The message to us should be glaring: come to him now - just as you are to behold the glory of God. Let that grace and glory lead your repentance and lead you to righteousness.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
B. The Manger Is the Sign of God’s Accessibility
“And this will be a sign for you…” What is the sign? A throne? A royal bedroom? A palace? No. It’s a baby lying in a manger. We talked about this the other week. The infinite God placed in a feeding trough. Why because through him we are given the bread of life and living water for life. The eternal Son was swaddled in rags. The King of kings laid where livestock fed. The manger tells us that God is not far off. He is not distant. He is not unreachable. He is right there.
You don’t climb your way to God—God came all the way to you. He enters the dirt, the straw, the smell of animals… so that the whole world can approach Him. He came into the lowliest of places so that the lowliest of the world can behold him and be received by him. The manger is the unmistakable sign: This God wants to be known.
II. THE GLORY OF THE MESSAGE — HEAVEN ERUPTS
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:13–14)
After 400 years of prophetic silence—no visions, no prophets, no new revelation—heaven finally breaks open, not with judgment…but with glory. Why? Because the glory that appeared in the manger is nothing less than the full unveiling of God’s presence, the same glory that filled the tabernacle, the temple, and the prophets.
Let’s flesh out what this means biblically: In the Old Testament, the “glory of the LORD” (Heb. kavod) is God’s visible, overwhelming, radiant presence.
Exodus 24:17 — “The appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire.”
Exodus 40:34–35 — “The glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
1 Kings 8:10–11 — The priests could not stand because “the glory of the LORD filled the house.”
The glory isn’t abstract. It is weighty, visible, life-defining, and, yes, terrifying. But that glory departed in Ezekiel 10–11 because of Israel’s sin. For 600 years, the visible glory of God had not returned until Luke 2. The glory hasn’t changed at all, it is beckoning us to come closer.
2. The Return of the Glory: Heaven Cannot Contain It
When Jesus is born, the glory of God returns to earth—not in a cloud, not in fire, not in a temple, but in a Person. Luke says: And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. (Luke 2:9)
Why? Because the One lying in the manger is the glory of God:
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, (Hebrews 1:3)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
3. Heaven’s Silence Breaks Because God Himself Has Arrived
When the angels shout, “Glory to God in the highest!” (Luke 2:14), they are declaring: “The Glory has returned. God has come down. The Presence is here.”
Because what has arrived is not simply a baby, not only a Savior, not just prophecy fulfilled but the unfiltered glory of God wrapped in flesh and lying in the most humble of places in the world. Understand this clearly: The angels aren’t celebrating the birth of a religious leader or a wise sage. They are erupting because: the God of Sinai is crying in a manger, the God of the temple is wrapped in cloths, the God of Isaiah’s vision is breathing Bethlehem air. The eternal has entered into the temporal in all of his glory and the shepherds have been invited to behold the glory. Even more, so do we. No wonder heaven explodes.
4. The Glory of God Revealed Is the Glory of His Character
When the glory appears in Christ, it reveals the very nature of God:
• The glory of His humility (Philippians 2:6–8)
• The glory of His grace (John 1:14, 16–17)
• The glory of His truth (John 1:14)
• The glory of His love (Romans 5:8)
• The glory of His nearness (Isaiah 7:14)
• The glory of His peace for sinners (Luke 2:14)
The manger is not a contradiction to God’s glory— it is the fullest expression of it.
III. THE WORD MADE FLESH — THE GLORY WE BEHOLD
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
John writes with wonder: “We beheld His glory.” Don’t miss this. We have an opportunity today that has been given to the entire world. Not just some elect, not just the religious elites, and not just those who ‘have it all together.’ Jesus the Messiah came personally for a couple of main reasons
A. Jesus Came to Be Known, Not Studied from Afar
John doesn’t say: “We beheld His teachings.” “We beheld His miracles.” “We beheld His ethics.” He says: “We beheld Him—His glory.”
Christianity is not primarily the pursuit of information— It is the pursuit of a Person. This is the danger of those who attempt to intellectualize the gospel in Preterism, Gnosticism, and Calvinism. It is equally dangerous to those who attempt to emotionalize the Gospel and make it about feelings, like in NAR, and Charasmatics. Jesus did not come to be an idea to analyze, but a Savior to know personally.
B. Glory That Draws People Close
Throughout Scripture, whenever God reveals His glory, it draws people near: Moses cried, “Show me Your glory.” Isaiah fell on his face in awe. Peter left his nets immediately. Mary sat at His feet. Thomas touched His wounds. And the shepherds ran to Him.
When you see Jesus’ glory and realize his diety, distance becomes intolerable.b You want to draw near. You want to know Him. You want to strip away everything in your life that keeps you from him. You want to worship Him. You want to give him everything you have and everything you are for his sake.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8)
COMMUNION — DRAWING NEAR TO THE GLORY OF THE WORD
Today is communion Sunday, and there is no better response to Advent than this table. Advent announces that God has come near—nearer than humanity ever imagined, nearer than we ever dared hope. The manger declares, “God is with us,” but the table declares, “God gave Himself for us.” Advent prepares our hearts; communion fulfills that preparation by bringing us face-to-face with the reason He came. Christmas reveals God with us; communion reveals God for us. The table is where the miracle of the Incarnation meets the mercy of the atonement. It is where the birth of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ converge into one radiant display of love.
At Christmas, the Word became flesh—God entering our world, taking on our humanity, stepping into our story. But at the cross, that flesh was broken—the body that lay in the manger became the body laid on the cross. The hands Mary held in Bethlehem were pierced at Calvary. The infant who cried in the night grew to be the Lamb who cried out, “It is finished.” The humility of His birth pointed straight to the humility of His death. He took on flesh so that flesh could be offered for us. He entered a world of wood and nails so He could one day bear wood and nails for our redemption. Advent without the cross is incomplete; Christmas without Calvary is only half the story. The cradle always pointed toward the cross.
But it doesn’t end there. At the resurrection, His glory was unveiled—the glory the shepherds glimpsed, the glory John spoke of, the glory Isaiah prophesied. In rising from the dead, Jesus proved that His body wasn’t merely broken—it was triumphant. And now, at this table, we remember and participate in that glory. We take the bread as those who know He is the Bread of Life. We take the cup as those redeemed by His blood. Communion is not just recollection; it is communion with the living Christ. It is fellowship with the One who came, who died, who rose, and who is coming again. The table is our invitation to draw near to the glory of God in Christ—to behold Him, to worship Him, and to know Him.
