Love’s Pure Light

“Tis the season of angels, or so it seems. It was an angel who told a young Mary about the child she would bear, and several times did angels guide her husband, Joseph, as well. To the shepherds on the night-shift appeared an entire host of them, all heralding the Messiah’s birth. What an experience! But did you ever notice people’s oft-fearful responses to angelic encounters throughout the Bible? Daniel was “set trembling on his hands and knees.”¹ Soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb “shook and became like dead men.”² The shepherds were “terrified”³ that first Noel, and when an angel appeared to Cornelius, the Roman officer “stared at him in fear.”⁴ Then there’s Gideon, who thought he would die. Literally.⁵

But these were only ministering angels, celestial servants. God speaks so of them: “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.”⁶ Then if the appearance of God’s messengers is so overpowering as to cower the bravest among us, how unimaginably more so must be the presence of our holy God? Even the vision of Him overwhelmed John in the Revelation given to him: “When I saw [Jesus], I fell at his feet as though dead.”⁷ What a predicament: God’s eyes are “too pure to look on evil,”⁸ and “man may not see [Him] and live.”⁹ Not in this world, anyway. God is pure by nature, and by nature we are not.

Yet how did the angels so often reply? “Don’t be afraid.” For God is for us. He will judge, yes, but His desire for us is not condemnation, but purity, restoration, and friendship. Hear Jesus’ heart as He intercedes for us in the eve of his crucifixion: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.¹⁰ God wants us to be with Him and to see Him in full glory. And John says He has made it possible: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”¹¹ Jesus shed His blood, sacrificed His life, to purify our life, and thus purified, we will see the glory of Christ — “Son of God, love’s pure light.”¹² We need not be afraid.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Father, thank You for purifying us through Your Son, Jesus the Messiah. Bring us into Your presence in Your time through Jesus, the way. May we see His glory and rejoice before Him forever. Amen.

¹ Daniel 10:10 NIV
² Matthew 28:4 NIV
³ Luke 2:9 NIV
⁴ Acts 10:4 NIV
⁵ Judges 6:22-23
⁶ Hebrews 1:7 ESV (see also Psalm 104:7)
⁷ Revelation 1:17 ESV
⁸ Habakkuk 1:13 NIV
⁹ Exodus 33:20 NIV
¹⁰ John 17:24 NIV
¹¹ 1 John 1:7 NIV
¹² Joseph Mohr, “Silent Night,” Hymnal.net, accessed: December 23, 2025.