In the Garden, Jesus acknowledged that He had a spiritual army ready to report for active duty: “Or do you think that My Father can at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt 26:53). Satan had his soldiers and Jesus had His soldiers. The legions of angels ready to do the bidding of their Commander in Matthew 26 are identical to the legions of the heavenly host (stratia) that evening outside Bethlehem! The song sung to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth was the celestial version of “Hail to the Chief.” In other words, that so-called “Silent Night” was the beginning of war!

Luke 2 begins with the Holy Family in spare quarters in Bethlehem and continues with a group of shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem. An angel announces some great news (Luke 2:13–14), and this announcement is expanded by some special singing. Our Christmas carols reflect this quite vividly: “Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o’er the plains.”

It is hard to find these angelic melodies in the text of Luke 2. I assure you that I enjoy my family’s gathering around the tree as much as anyone, but please notice another side to this “Not So Silent Night.” That “other side” is the host of heaven gathered, not for a joyous announcement, but for war!

Host of Angels

The first matter to consider is our mental image of angels. The biblical word cherubim has morphed into the English word cherub, which evokes images of fat and cute little creatures intended to warm our hearts. Such images are foreign to the Biblical description of angelic beings. The second matter is the Hebrew term tsva, often used to describe a group of angels and translated into English as “host.” But tsva is better understood as a military term, and in Modern Hebrew, tsva means “army.”

Luke refers to these angels with the Greek word stratia, which translates that Hebrew tsva (“army”) in the ancient Greek Old Testament. “And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host (stratia) praising God and saying” (Luke 2:13). The New English Translation is bold enough to render it as “Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying …” Why would they do that?

Classical Greek uses the word for an army or group of soldiers. In the Septuagint, it is used nineteen times for human armies and often for Israel’s armies (Num 10:28; Deut 20:9; 2 Sam 3:23; 18:16).

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