TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Why Did the Angels Sing ‘Peace on Earth’?

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Rick Wiles and the team at TruNews. All this week we are presenting special holiday editions of the Godcast, sharing some of the best of Rick's teachings related to the Advent Season. Also featured is the worship team of New Zion Assembly, as they share seasonal, uplifting praise to celebrate the birth of the King of Kings.

Well, Merry Christmas. Welcome to a special Christmas week presentation from True News. I don't want to talk about the bad news of this world. Instead, I desire to talk about the good news of the kingdom of God. My topic today is, why did the angels sing peace on earth and goodwill toward men? The Christmas story is told in the gospel of our Lord according to Saint Luke. In chapter one, we read that Caesar Augustus issued a decree that everybody should be taxed. Each person was required to go to his or her hometown to pay the tax. Joseph was bethrowed

to Mary, but Mary was pregnant with the Christ child. Together, they traveled from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David. While in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor, and the couple tried to get a room in the town's inn, but there were no vacancies. Mary gave birth to Jesus, wrapped him in strips of clothing, and laid the child in a manger. Meanwhile, there were shepherds living in the nearby fields, keeping watch over their flocks that first Christmas night. An angel appeared, and the men were frightened by his glory.

The angel said to the shepherds, Listen, do not fear, for I bring you good news of great joy, which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign to you. You will find the baby wrapped in strips of cloth lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel a company of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. When the angels went away from them into the heaven. The shepherds said to each other, let us now go to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. So they quickly went to Bethlehem and found Mary, Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. They told everybody in town what they heard and saw, and the people marveled at what the shepherds told them.

The angels sang, but why did the angels sing? And why did they sing peace on earth, goodwill toward men? Were the angels announcing the arrival of world peace? Were they proclaiming the end of wars and conflicts between nations on earth? No, that's not what it was about. To find the answer, we have to rewind time, go back to the creation of the universe and all life. Now, for the record, I believe everything in the book of Genesis. If Genesis

is wrong, then the revelation of Jesus Christ at the end of the Bible is wrong too. If Genesis is not true, there is no need for the gospels. According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, God created the heavens, the planets, and all life in six days, and he rested on the seventh. God the Father commanded God the Son, the Word, to create the universe, the earth, and all life. It was finished in six days. God rested on the seventh. The Lord God formed man. He formed man from the dust of the ground and he breathed into his nostrils and man became a living being. Take notice that God spoke the universe into existence,

but he used his hands to form the man from the dust of the earth. And he used his own breath to breathe life into Adam's nostrils. Another thing to notice is that Adam was not formed in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says in Genesis 2, 8, the Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he placed the man whom he had formed. Eden was a wasteland. The garden was paradise. God desires men and women to live in paradise. Instead, most humans waste away their days on earth, dwelling in Eden's wasteland. Adam didn't need to work to make a living. He didn't have to work to make the plants grow vegetables and the trees grow fruit in the garden.

God abundantly blessed the garden. God blessed the garden because he desired to have time to fellowship with the humans he formed. He didn't want humans groveling all day in the fields to find enough food to eat during the day. Now we see the same principle thousands of years later when God led the Hebrew people to a promised land. Most of the Hebrews never entered the promised land because they never entered into God's rest. The Word of God says in Hebrews 4 verses 8 through 11, For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have later spoken of another day. Therefore, a rest remains for the people of God.

For whoever enters his rest will also cease from his own works as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter that rest, lest anyone fall by the same pattern of unbelief. My friend, if you will spiritually cease from your labors and rest in Christ, the Lord will abundantly bless your garden. He'll make your life blossom. God instructed man, Adam, to tend and keep the garden. Adam's responsibility was to take care of the garden. And God gave Adam one commandment to obey. At this point, Eve had not even been formed when God gave Adam the single commandment to keep. And this commandment was,

of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. Now Eve was formed from Adam's rib after God gave him the commandment. Adam was expected to teach that commandment to his wife and his future children. Husbands, your responsibility is to tend to your life's garden and to teach God's commandment to your wife and children. God's creation was perfect. Adam and Eve were meant to live forever. Decay and death was not in God's creation plan. His desire was to fellowship with the humans he

formed, and he desired to bless them. This is the essence of why man is on earth. God truly desires to have a love relationship with human beings, to talk with them, and to bless them. Saint Lantashius was a Christian author in the early church who was the tutor of Constantine's son. Lantanus wrote, quote, when all things had been settled with a wonderful arrangement, he determined to prepare for himself an eternal kingdom and to create innumerable souls on whom he might bestow immortality. Then he made for himself a figure endowed with perception and intelligence, that is, after the likeness of his own image. So he formed man out of the dust of the ground.

End of quote. St. Irenaeus was a bishop in the early church. He was one of my favorite early church fathers. And he was led to Christ by St. Polycarp, another hero of mine in the early church. Polycarp was mentored by St. John. And speaking of the reason that God formed man in the garden, Bishop Irenaeus said, quote, God formed Adam not as if he stood in need of man, but so that he might have someone upon whom to confer his benefits. End of quote.

In other words, God's overflowing generosity and love requires him to have somebody to bless. Therefore, he formed man, male and female. If you get this into your mind and soul, it will set you free from dead religion, poverty, lack, sickness, and depression. God formed man so he would have somebody to love, somebody to bless. While things were going well on the new earth, there was trouble, however, back home in heaven. Lucifer, the archangel, became enraged with jealousy and envy.

When he observed the love and affection God had for the humans he formed on earth, Lucifer craved to be the center of God's attention in heaven. Pride came into his heart. Pride conceived sin. Sin produced rebellion. God was compelled to evict Lucifer from heaven. And a large number of angels went with him out the door too. Lucifer fell to earth.

Isaiah said, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son earth Isaiah said how are you fallen from heaven oh Lucifer son of the morning how you are cut down to the ground you who weaken the nations he was furious over his eviction from heaven and he seethed with jealousy and envy over the way God loved and blessed Adam and Eve. Lucifer schemed and plotted to get even with God, and a wicked thought came into Lucifer's mind. He desired to hurt God, to inflict pain on God, and the most effective way to get revenge against God

would be to entrap God's man and woman into violating his commandment. Why would this plan work? Well, here's the answer. Lucifer was booted from heaven because God is holy and sin was found in Lucifer. Sin cannot be in God's presence. So if Lucifer could entice Adam and Eve to sin, God would be compelled by his own principles of holiness to evict Adam and Eve from the garden, just like Lucifer was kicked out of heaven. This is when Lucifer became Satan, the apostate angel. Satan means apostate. The devil is the adversary of God's commandments. He's always tempting humans to violate God's holy commandments.

So Satan tempted Eve to sin against God. Eve lured her husband Adam to participate in her sin, and Adam could have stopped it. He could have prevented Eve from sinning, but he caved in to her suggestion, and both immediately suffered penalties. First, spiritual death came into them. Their souls died. Second, they were cut off from the fellowship that they had with their creator. Third, they were evicted from the garden. Fourth, Adam was cursed and required to work by the sweat of his brow to make food grow in Eden's dry, barren soil.

Fifth, Eve was cursed with pain during childbirth. She was also placed under the rulership of her husband. Six physical death came to them. Their physical bodies became mortal. And many years later, Adam and Eve physically died. Now, ever since that day, every human being, you, me, everybody who has been born, has been born with Adam and Eve's original sin. When we came out of our mother's womb, our physical body was alive, but our soul was dead. Spiritually,

we were stillborn. And that's why you and I must be born again. In the third chapter of the gospel of our Lord, according to St. John, Jesus told Nicodemus, a high-ranking Jewish Pharisee, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well, Nicodemus replied, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Now, Jesus was speaking of salvation at water baptism. When did the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus? It was when Jesus came out of the water at his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Jesus showed us that we must follow his example in baptism. Now let's go back to the birth of Jesus. I want you to imagine this scene in heaven. God the Father said, one of us must go to earth and become a human. One of us must live on earth without sin. One of us must be sacrificed on a tree. Now let me ask you this question. Why a tree? Because man's soul was lost at a tree in the Garden of Eden. Mankind could

only be redeemed on a tree. Now, I can imagine God the Father saying, one of us must die. One of us must be buried and descend to the place of the dead. One of us must overcome death and take away from Satan the keys of Hades and death. One of us must be resurrected from the dead and return to heaven in a glorified human body. And one of us must return to earth someday and open all the graves and resurrect all the dead. And Jesus said, Father, I'll do it. I'll go. Send me.

And instantly, in a millisecond, Jesus, the Son of God, the Word, disappeared from God's throne room. Multitude of singing angels gasped. Jesus' crown, his robe, his scepter fell to the floor. He was gone. The angels asked in shock, where did he go? And Jesus traveled at a speed that's incomprehensible to the human mind. He left heaven and traveled faster than light. He cracked through the barrier between heaven and our dimension of time, space, and matter. Jesus, the one who is ageless, unlimited, and spiritual,

entered into mankind's limited dimension of time, space, and matter. And Jesus entered the womb of a young woman named Mary. He made himself an embryo inside the womb of a woman that he formed, a woman that he breathed into her a soul at conception and breathed life into her at birth. The Son of God had miraculously become the Son of Mary, a human. Nine months later, Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem in Palestine, and the angels sang, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. What was the peace? The angels were not proclaiming a time of world peace between nations. It was not a cessation of wars and conflicts.

It was a grand announcement from heaven that the conflict between fallen humanity and the divine creator was over. Eve's sin and disobedience resulted in mankind's separation from God. Now, peace was declared between God and mankind. God declared that the long age of mankind's separation from him had finally ended. Heaven was extending goodwill toward humanity.

The time of reconciliation had arrived. The old covenant was coming to an end. A new and better covenant between God and mankind would soon be revealed. Thirty years later, Jesus began his public ministry. covenant between God and mankind would soon be revealed. 30 years later, Jesus began his public ministry. His first sermon was repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Now, let me ask you, how must you enter the kingdom? You must be born again. Why? Because you came out of your mother's womb with a dead soul. Every human is born with Adam and Eve's original sin. Sin causes death and separation from God. Only the blood of a spotless lamb atones for sin. And Jesus is the lamb. He is the lamb of God who was slain for the remission of sins. When John the Baptist saw Jesus walking toward him to be baptized in water, John exclaimed, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

How and when are our sins taken away? Our sins are taken away when we repent and with faith call upon the name of Jesus to save us. And we are baptized in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Mark 16, 16, He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. Hermas was a man held in great esteem by many early Christian churches. Some people believe his brother was Pius, the second century bishop of Rome. Hermas wrote in 150 AD, quote,

Before a man bears the name of the Son of God, he is dead. But when he receives the seal, he lays aside his deadness and obtains life. The seal then is the water. They descend into the water dead, they arise alive. Why did the angels sing peace on earth, goodwill toward men? They rejoiced knowing that God had inaugurated a divine plan to redeem fallen humanity from the curse of sin. The savior of the world was born in Bethlehem. The promised Messiah had arrived and the angels sang. God formed man to have somebody to love, to have somebody to bless. He placed man in paradise, the garden of Eden. Man fell into sin and lost possession of the paradise. Many centuries later, God led the Hebrews out of Egypt to Canaan. Canaan was their promised land. It was a miniature

paradise. The Hebrews, however, eventually fell into sin and idolatry, and they too got booted out of their paradise. Thousands of years later, God sent his son to earth in human flesh. He is the second man, the last Adam. Jesus did not fall into sin. He lived a sinless life. The Jews and Romans crucified Jesus, a perfect sinless man. The sins of all humanity were placed on Jesus when he was nailed on the cross. Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. He descended to the place of the dead. He overcame death and he victoriously rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father, and he shall come again to rule forever. Why did the angels sing? They announced a message of good tidings. The good tidings were prophesied centuries earlier by Isaiah. Good tidings means positive information about something good that is about to happen.

The angels said it was more than good information. They said the news would bring great joy meant for all people of the earth. The angels sang in the nighttime sky above Bethlehem because God was announcing that a way was made for men and women to be restored to him, the creator. The two worlds had been separated for thousands of years because of Eve's sin. But a virgin conceived and gave birth to a God-man. The last Adam, the second man, had been born in Bethlehem. This was the good tidings of great joy. This is the good news from heaven that would bring peace and goodwill from God to mankind. Fallen humanity could be restored to the creator.

The savior of mankind had been born. And someday mankind would live with God again in paradise. That's why the angels sang over Bethlehem, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. The war was over between God and mankind. Mercy triumphs over judgment. From that day onward until the end of this world, every man and woman who repents, believes on the name of Jesus Christ as Savior,

and is baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit shall be saved for eternity. Well, what about you? Have angels sang over your salvation? If you are saved, the angels sang when your name was written in God's book of light, Luke 15.10 tells us, Likewise, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. If you've not been born again by faith in Jesus Christ and in baptism's bath of regeneration, you too can make the angels sing. All you need to do is repent of your sins, believe on the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior,

and be baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for spending time with me during this special edition of True News this Christmas week. Let's close today's program with a joyful Christmas song. Here's the Flowing Streams praise team. Silent night, holy night. Son of God, love's pure light radiant peace from thy

holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus Lord at Thy birth

Jesus Lord at Thy birth Jesus Lord and thy Lord Silent night Holy night All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin, mother and child Holy infant So tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace. Thank you. අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි Thank you. Silent night Holy night Shepherds quake at the sight. From heaven afar Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia Christ the Savior is born Christ the Savior is born