And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:8-14 RSV-CE, emphasis added)
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Our traditional creche scenes that we proudly display each Christmas typically feature a single angel holding up a sign that reads “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.” Yet that one heavenly messenger is a mere representation of the vast number of angels that the shepherds saw on Christmas night 2,000 years ago.
Angels are a topic I plan to delve into deeply at the start of 2015 as they are a central part of the spiritual battle that is upon us. Their presence in our daily lives is so often forgotten and it is quite unfortunate. They are always with us, but because we can not see them, we often do not believe in them.
This was not the case for the shepherds of Bethlehem. They were privileged to not only hear the proclamation of Christ’s birth delivered by an angel, but also witness a whole “multitude of the heavenly host praising God.” The angels were overjoyed at Christ’s birth and could not help but spread the good news. In many ways we have a lot to learn from the angels and the joy they contained at the birth of the Messiah.
How Many?
So how many were there on that fateful night? A full fledged “army.” The Greek says, στρατιά,n or stratia with Saint Jerome using the Latin word militia. Both words refer to an “army.” The word previous to army is multidudo in Latin (multitude, great number, crowd) and πλῆθος or plethos in Greek (a great number). All the words used are general, but they do give us a sense.
Think of the shepherds at first seeing a single angel. Then a whole army of angels come striking in, all singing in absolute harmony. Think Peter Jackson and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. That will give you a good sense of the vast number of angels who made themselves visible to the simple shepherds tending their flocks near Bethlehem.
This Christmas, let us be reminded of the great company of angels in Heaven who rejoiced at the birth of Christ. They give us a model to follow and also reveal a side to them that we often forget: they exist and in vast number. When you think about it, everyone has a guardian angel. The current world population is 7,282,790. That means that there are at least 7 billion angels. And that’s only the lowest rank of angel in the nine choirs that exist. Just think what a whole army of angels must have been like! (see some pictures below of how different artists have depicted this scene, the first one is the most literal translation of an “army” of angels)
Angels are real and they come out in full force on Christmas Day!
