I grew up in Macedonia, in the far south of Europe. This sunny land is in full contrast to the shadowiness of the Eastern Orthodox churches that fill it. Each time I would enter one as a child, my heartbeat would slow down as I was immersed in the gloomy space away from the world. The church had its own saturated glow, smell and rhythm. In its midst was the icon of Christ looking at me with love and comfort.

Although I moved to Croatia twenty-five years ago, one of the reasons that I became an evangelical Christian was coming to understand more deeply the love and comfort of Christ. I did not find it on the walls of my evangelical church but in the love of my brothers and sisters, in the prayer we shared when I felt Him close to me as never before and in the faithful Bible teaching about His redeeming life and love. In the worshiping community, my eyes are repeatedly fixed on Jesus and the love and comfort His gospel brings.

In the fourth verse of “Angels, from the Realms of Glory,” seeing Jesus is everywhere! The saints, fervently looking for “the Lord descending” and “appearing in his temple,” are in the centre, as is their worship at the altar, where they express their deep desire to give all the praise and glory to God Almighty. Interestingly, worship itself contains seeing because Christian worship involves the ability to see what is hidden to the others, to see and believe the prophecy by the eyes of faith. It includes waiting patiently “in hope and fear” for the fulfilment of the prophecy: the first coming of the Messiah for saints past and the moment of seeing the Lord face to face for us today (1 Corinthians 13:12).

The hymn alludes to Luke 2:25–32, which introduces us to Simon, a righteous and devout servant of the Lord. Simon spent years bending before the altar waiting for the coming of the promised Messiah. He had a spiritual experience of being so close to God that he received a vision from the Holy Spirit and saw its fulfilment. Simon sees and recognizes the newborn baby as the promised “salvation” prepared by our Lord “in the sight of all people.” Simon expresses his joy by singing a song of worship to the Lord who fulfilled His promise! This Jesus is the awaited “newborn King” of the saints in the song, and so an invitation goes out for all to come, see and worship Him:

Come and worship, come and worship!
Worship Christ, the newborn king!

The worship in both the biblical text and the song is a practice we all join in that makes us part of the community of believers and sets our minds free to see what is hidden and often lost to our human perception because of the realities that surround us. In worship, we bend before the altar and see with eyes of faith the first coming of the newborn King, remembering the love and comfort displayed during His earthly ministry. And at the same time, worship helps us watch longingly and eagerly in hope and fear amid life’s trials for the prophesied and promised second arrival of the Lord, remembering that this same Jesus will come again to make all things new.

There is no better way for us to remain close to our Lord but to be steadfast in worship and so to be consistently confronted by His love and comfort.